The Faith of a Child

This is my beautiful cousin Kelsey:

6 months ago, this is what she looked like due to aplastic anemia:

I've been keeping up with her story through her carepages blog. She's been on a roller coaster ride battling this disease. There was a moment when we all thought she was healthy again and would be able to live a relatively normal life, but that's no longer the case. Yet despite all that, this 9 year old still her faith never wavers. Here's an abbreviated version of what she said in her latest update:

"My cheeks are chubby. I think I will be Sandy (the squirel off of Sponge Bob) for Halloween. Dr. Radhi even said I have a little belly. I have only gained 2 pounds but it all went in my cheeks, so now I am up to 57 pounds. I went to church tonight and said a little prayer. God is watching out for me I know, but I wish he could send me a note telling me what is His plans. Please continue to pray for me and my family and my hospital and carepage friends Matthew, Lillie, Claire, Jordan, Fred, Josef, Bill, Sergio, RC, Alex, Amanda, Gavin, Maddie, Kenna (who just found out after a year of waiting she has a bone marrow door) and everyone else that I might have forgot to mention. Take care."

If anyone has reason to be bitter and angry at God, she does. Her little 9 year old body has gone through so much, she's had more blood taken than anyone I know (not only that, but she knows how to take her own blood :-). Impressive, I know!). I've learned alot from her on what it looks like to have life turned upside down, yet handle it with grace and a trust in God that is amazing! And through it all, she still thinks about others. She could be so self absorbed, but no, she's even more aware of what others are going through.

Just wanted to brag on her :-)

"The Motions" by Matthew West

This might hurt, it's not safe

But I know that I've gotta make a change

I don't care if I break,

At least I'll be feeling something

'Cause just okay is not enough

Help me fight through the nothingness of life

I don't wanna go through the motions

I don't wanna go one more day

without Your all consuming passion inside of me

I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,

"What if I had given everything,

instead of going through the motions?"

No regrets, not this time

I'm gonna let my heart defeat my mind

Let Your love make me whole

I think I'm finally feeling something

'Cause just okay is not enough

Help me fight through the nothingness of this life

'Cause I don't wanna go through the motions

I don't wanna go one more day

without Your all consuming passion inside of me

I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,

"What if I had given everything,

instead of going through the motions?"

take me all the way (take me all the way)

take me all the way ('cause I don't wanna go through the motions)

take me all the way (I know I'm finally feeling something real)

take me all the way

I don't wanna go through the motions

The Gourd Stealers…

This past weekend I was in Tulsa with Kristen visiting my sister and her husband. On Saturday we decided to go to the Philbrook (an art museum). The original purpose for the property was a home for the Philbrooks who were in the oil industry. They designed the house and gardens in 1926 and spent something like 1.2 million dollars on the land, construction, landscaping and furnishing of the home. Several years later the home was gifted to the art community for a museum. They have some beautiful gardens there. One of the side gardens was full of vegetables that the museum donates to the food bank in Tulsa. It was a fun way to design a vegetable garden. They had these gourd vines crawling up terraces that were situated over benches. The gourds were hanging down and it was just a pretty display.

Once we were done walking around the garden we went back inside the museum and looked out the window to see a guy climb up one of the terraces and pulling two gourds down. He handed them to his mom. Now, just in case you think this is okay, let me assure you, it’s not. They have guards walking around to make sure people don’t disturb the statues, plants and vegetables. I also think it’s important to mention that the window we’re looking through is a HUGE floor to ceiling window that’s tinted so we can see out, but they can’t see in. Okay, back to the story…

So this mom and her son are walking when a guard starts coming towards them…this is when we all took seats to watch the confrontation. The guard was casually walking towards them saying something, and they picked up their pace and headed towards a corner of the garden that connects with a fence outside. When they reappeared, they were gourd-less. The guard finally reached them, we almost starting cheering until we surmised the guard was simply letting people know it was time for the building to close. Confused at how easily the gourd thieves gave up they bounty we continued to watch, finally realizing they had put the gourds on the other side of the fence and were going to pick them up on their way out.

We booked it outside to see if our theory was correct and there sitting outside the fence were two gourds. We turned around the saw the gourd thieves walking towards the parking lot, car keys in hand. We all looked at each other thinking, “what should we do?” We didn’t want to leave the gourds there and let them get away with stealing, neither did we have time to find a guard. So, in a quick decision I ran towards the gourds, picked them up and ducked around a corner of the fence, fairly out of sight of traffic leaving the building. Nate stood by keeping a look out for the thieves, while Val and Kristen headed back towards the car. It felt like a movie…wish it could have been captured on film. I carefully placed a gourd on the other side of the fence and then using that one-hand then the other method I walked it down to the ground and shoved it out of reach. I was just walking the second gourd down when I hear a whistling noise. Assuming it was Nathan’s way of warning me to get out of there, I quickened my pace. Satisfied both gourds were out of reach, I ran back towards Nathan. I made it to him as the thieves were driving up in their truck. We casually walked back towards our car until we got around the concrete fence, then ran to the car, got in as quickly at possible, and exited the grounds.

Hearts pounding we all exchanged looks of, “did that really just happen?” Then we all started laughing, wishing we had gotten video, or at least photos, yet very glad to be away from the gourd thieves!!

Missing Kenya

I had to opportunity to hang out with an old friend the other night and he asked me about my trip to Kenya. It'd been a few months since someone had asked me to share my experiences and stories. My heart started to pound and I could hardly sit still as stories poured out about the people I still dearly love.

I had forgotten how much I love Kenya. I had forgotten how passionate I am about orphans and street kids, especially the girls. Not really forgotten...I think about Kenya everyday. I suppose it's more that I've become accustomed to pushing past those feelings so I can be fully present in Texas.

My heart is heavy tonight as I reflect on memories, picture faces, and relive adventures. Why am I still in America? I ask myself that question every day and still have only the certainty that for this period, I need to be here. I don't know why. I don't know how long it will last. But I do know that I hope it goes by quickly.

Opportunities

Last week and this current week have already been full of opportunities to share God's love and His story.

Last week, during cabin devotions all of the counselors shared their testimonies with the campers on separate nights. One of the nights (actually, my last night in the cabin due to my illness) I was spontaneously asked to share my testimony. That was an experience! It was just a random night and I had no idea it was coming. All I know is I heard the head counselor say my name, then saw several hands raised around the room. I looked at the translator who had graciously come in so I could hear everyone's story and understand what was happening...she looked at me and smiled, then proceeded to tell me that a vote had just been taken on whether or not the girls wanted to hear my story.

I was overwhelmed! The girls wanted to hear my story! Then a terrible realization hit me: I had no voice. See, I had a terrible, deep chest cough last week and had ruined my voice that day. I panicked for a second trying to figure out what to do, then realized the only thing I could do was pray. So I did, "Lord, if You want me to share my story then I need my voice. Can I have it back for just this time?" I coughed a few times and tried to speak...nothing. So said another quick prayer and tried again...nothing. I smiled at the group as a way of apologizing then started coughing again and suddenly I could speak. Such a miracle!!

After sharing my story I randomly asked if the girls had any questions...almost every hand in the room went up. I laughed because asking for questions was just a random thought, but one that, as a friend would was was "straight from the Lord". After answering dozens of questions about my life story it was well past curfew, 2 hours past in fact, but the time was so worth it. When we got ready for bed, my voice was once again gone. God simply allowed me to speak for that short time and I'm so thankful.

This is a new week, with new campers and already I've had the opportunity to share piece of my story. I always wear a toe ring that says "love never fails". It's been on my toe for five years now and many conversations about love have sparked from people noticing it. Today was no different. I was sitting outside, reading my Bible when two girls from my cabin came up and sat next to me. Almost immediately, one of them looked at my toe, read it then asked, "why do you wear that?" We got into a great conversation about God's unconditional love which was difficult for her to understand because her parent's are divorced, so in her mind, love fails often. She'd never imagined what unconditional love was, it was such a blessing to be able to have that conversation!

English classes

These are the girls in my English class. They're so precious!!

We've been having fun in English class. It's so encouraging to watch their confidence grow as they speak during class.

Today we practiced ordering food from a menu and then paying for it. It was so funny to watch the girls look over a menu and try to sort through the vocabulary they knew about food, then piece it together with what they saw on the menu. For being 13, they're all brilliant!!



One day this week we worked on parts of the body to make sure they understood...they had fun with the sticky notes! The boys (obviously) didn't get into it as much as the girls did.

A normal day at camp looks like this:
7:00- Aerobics or Polar Bear Swim
8:00- Breakfast
9:15- English Class #1
11:00- Teacher Meeting
12:30- Lunch
1:00- Teacher Prep Time
2:30- Free Time
4:30- English Class #2
6:00- Supper
7:45- Evangelism Meeting
9:00- Game
10:00- Devotions
11:00- Lights Out
12:30- Everyone finally asleep!

That a quick update for now. More stories to come!!

It's Different

After being in Hungary for a few days the differences between the American culture and Hungarian culture really start to stand out:

1. After showering today one of the girls asked me if I washed my hair EVERY DAY?! That was weird to them and I had to listen to her explain (in Hungarian so I could only understand her hand motions) why it was so bad.
2. When counting, Hungarians start with their thumbs, not their pointer finger. So if you say "1" and hold up your pointer finger, they think you're saying "2".
3. Cell phones are allowed at camp. I've NEVER been to a camp in the States that allows campers to use their cell phones, but here you see campers walking around talking on the phones or listening to their music all the time. They even have to ask the students to silence their phones during the group meeting times.
4. Not only is washing your hair everyday odd, showering in the morning (like I do) is also a foreign concept to them. They only shower at night.
   
5. You ALWAYS wash the dirt of your shoes. Every bathroom has a brush that looks like a big toothbrush and all the students clean their shoes, well, at least their sandals, every night.
6. Chap stick/lipstick/etc., according to the Hungarians is also bad for you. I got bombarded by girls in my cabin trying to explain (again in Hungarian) how bad it was for my lips as I put on my chap stick before leaving the room.
7. The food...dinner is the lightest meal of the day. Tonight we had sliced white bread, a slice of cheese, sliced meat (ham and salami), a mix of vegetables (tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers) butter and jam. It was all good, but in my mind that's what I eat for lunch. Lunch was noodles with some stroganoff sauce, vegetable soup and white bread, it's their largest meal.
   

Those were a few of the things I've noticed thus far. More to come later...

Trip over, Coca Cola and First Aid

We're in Hungary!! After leaving Dallas at 4:20pm we flew to Frankfurt, Germany. After going through security twice, we arrived at our gate we all sat down exhausted from the overnight flight. I went in search of drinking fountains to fill up our water bottles, Janet found three seats and took a nap, my mom grabbed a book and Rick decided to check his email. I discovered there were no drinking fountains in our section of the airport and went back to re-join with the group. After not sleeping at all on the plane, I took a nap and amazingly fell asleep; so asleep that when my mom woke me up to tell me she had coffee for us to share I told her that I was sleeping and didn't want any (that story was relayed to me on our next flight, I had no memory of it :-)).

It was getting close to our boarding time and the gate wasn't full at all, so wanting to double check, we went to the desk to make sure we were in the right spot only to discover we were in the wrong section of the airport. We quickly made our way across the airport to arrive just in time to board our flight behind a team of grade school soccer players who were good enough to travel internationally to play. It was a fun flight with all those kids on it, everything to them was an adventure to them. Every time we hit turbulence (which happened ALOT) you would hear them gasp, and conversation would break out anytime the clouds cleared enough for the kids to see the ground. When we finally landed in Budapest the kids all cheered (I'm not sure if they were trying to thank the captain and flight crew or just excited to be on the ground again).

We made our way through Budapest and I thought I was back in Kenya. Our driver was trying to beat the incoming storm and was dodging cars and mopeds left and right while laying on the horn. I was so sure he was going to hit someone that I had to close my eyes.

After arriving and lugging my mom's suitcases up to her room, I went to go find where I was staying only to realize the storm was here. I grabbed my suitcase and walked outside only to hear this ruckus coming from "the castle" (pictured above and below) and turned in time to duck as this gigantic piece of plastic came barreling towards me. Part of the building is under construction and the wind was so strong it had been ripped off. After catching my breath one of the staff members came running towards me yelling "get in the car! get in the car!" I turned to head towards the car and ran while dodging huge pieces of bark and branches that were falling on my head, trying to knock me out :-). Once safely in the vehicle, we drove to the opposite end of camp and I finally made it safely inside a building!

As I walked into the dorm room I was greeted by 5 counselors who were enjoying their day off. They greeted me in Hungarian to which I replied "Hello, I'm Lauren".
"American?" they asked
"Igen" (one of a handful of Hungarian words I know). As soon as Hungarian came out of my mouth they got all exicted and started talking to me. I crushed their hopes when I explained I only knew English.
We all just looked at each other, then one of the girls pointed to my shirt and said, "Coca Cola in America?"
"Yes" I replied
"In Hungary" there, we had found a common thread between us and that's all it took. At that moment I was very thankful Coca-Cola is universal and knew we could overcome the language barrier.

I spend the rest of the afternoon laughing with the girls as we all tried to communicate with our limited knowledge of each other's languages mostly understanding through body language and motions we would come up with. Then it was time for supper. I sat witht the girls who introduced me to one of their English speaking friends and we were able to confirm or correct what we all knew about each other. After a meal of grilled chicken and sausage, some vegetable mix with lot of maynaisse and white bread we made our way back to the dorm where one of the girls pulled "Uno" out of her bag. I spent the next hour learning how to play Uno by their rules (I lost every game except the last one), and learned the Hungarian for red, green, blue and yellow :-). Then I taught them how to play "Go Fish" and we worked on their English numbers.

Once the girls headed off to their counselors meeting I started making my bed and organizing my stuff when another girl came limping into the dorm. Thankfully she spoke some English so I was able to ask her what was wrong. She had been walking around barefoot and had several splinters in her toe. I went to get my tweezers and offered my assistance. She accepted and as I was pulling splinters out she asked if I was a doctor. I laughed, and said "no" then giggled again. She asked me why I was laughing. I thought about it and said, "I never thought about having to use my first aid here so I think it's funny that God likes to remind me that I can use it anywhere." She seemed to understand. I had her bandaged up and out the door in 20 minutes where I finished unpacking and finally fell into bed at 9pm and slept solidily through the night, didn't even hear the girls come back into the room.

The kids come today!! Whoo Hoo!!

There's Wi-Fi in "the castle" (which I didn't know about) so I should be able to blog/email fairly regularly.

to live is ___ and to die is ___

Have you ever had those moments when you question why you're doing something, or how you got involved? That happened to me tonight.

Tonight was the last night of Celebration with our refugee kids and it was a rough night. The entire evening I was talking to kids about their attitudes, mostly their ungratefulness. No matter what we do, or what snack we have, or how many volunteers there are the kids ALWAYS complain. Tonight it was the worst. We had planned a special night for the kids. After playing games and talking in small groups we ended with a pizza party and chocolate chip cookies. The kids got one slice of pizza and two cookies each and all they could do was complain, "I don't like this kind of pizza/cookie"or, "the pizza is cold" or, "the cookies aren't warm". I just wanted to take it all back. In reality, I wanted to make them all sit down and give them a speech about their attitudes, but settled for one on one interaction with several individuals instead.

At the end of the night all the volunteers just sat down and we all felt discouraged. We didn't commit 3 hours each Monday night to hear, "I hate you!" or be cussed out by kids. None of us came to break-up fights or try to maintain peace. Or did we? As we talked about why we were there I started searching my own motives and realized part of me came because I wanted to make a difference. I came because I thought I could be an asset, because working with kids from Africa fulfilled a need I had. However, I kept coming back because I belong to a Lord who desires for all of those kids to know Him.

Philippians 1 talks about the gospel being preached for two motives, a right one and a wrong one, but that Christ can use both. Verse 21 says, "for me, to live is Christ and to die is gain". I had a professor in college who once wrote that verse out on a white board with two blank spaces: for me, to live is _____ and to die is ______. As we talked about this verse she said something I'll never forget, "unless the first blank is Christ, the second will never be gain." That was a reality for me tonight. Through all the hardships and attitudes, during all the times I've been spit on, cussed out and flipped off, at the end of the day, if I endured it all for Christ then it wasn't for loss, but for gain.

It was a hard truth to remember during a rough night, but also encouraging and challenging.

I know the kids enjoyed celebration, I know they want to come and I know they talk about it when they get home. We made a difference, even if it doesn't seem like it, even if it seems like no ground was gained, if we were all their for God's glory and not our own, then we succeeded!

"Auntie L"

I love being called "Auntie L", it makes my heart so joyful and brings back such pleasant memories. That, among others, is one of the reasons why I love the refugees.

They're such a funny bunch. No matter what you do with the kids they always say, "it's BORING" (I've always despised that word). Yet, when you bring them back home, they can do nothing but talk about how much fun they had. Go figure!

They're also a rowdy group. Last week I lost it and definitely yelled at them. This week as one of the older girls was getting on the bus, she found me and said,
"Auntie L, you’re the one who yelled at us that first day at camp, right?” (camp is what they call West Dallas).
“Yes, I am." I replied, feeling remorseful for my actions, yet at the same time, knowing they behaved much better the rest of the day. "Do you think I was wrong to yell at you?” I asked?
“No, we was being bad...you probably shoulda’ yelled at us sooner”
Such blatant honesty! I loved it and that comment most definitely brought a smile to my face.

Unfortunately, that smile was quickly wiped away as some older boys try to get on the bus. That was an interesting experience. It was a moment I wish there was a man around because I felt very small and un-intimidating. Nothing dramatic happened I could just tell the three of them were debating how serious I was when I told them they weren't coming. The flirtatious teenage girls didn’t help my situation. The boys looked from them to me and replied, "What if I got on the bus anyway?" I hate 'what are you going to do about it' challenges like that, especially when I have no idea how to respond. I tried something basic, "it's not going to come to that, cause you're going to turn around and walk away" surprised my response came with much more calmness than I felt. They looked at me, looked back at the bus, back and me, then walked away. I said a quiet thank you to God and let out a HUGE sigh of relief. Here’s hoping they don’t come back.

There are times with the refugees when I feel at a completely loss of what to say or what to do, but I'm beginning to see a change in them. They still push the boundaries (just like all kids do) and drive me crazy at times, but I love them.

We haven't made much progress as far as getting them to interact with the West Dallas kids, but we still have 3 more days :-)

Through the West Dallas camp we've had 20+ kids (West Dallas and Refugee) accept Christ as their Savior. Praise God for that!!

More stories to come...

Prejudice

Lately, I've had the opportunity to be involved in the lives of some refugee children and I've learned so much through those experiences. I've re-learned that my heart is pulled towards Africans, I can't help it, I just LOVE them so much! I've learned that I get much more feisty when I hang out with African teens (and I talk differently). I've also learned alot about prejudices.

On Monday nights I'm involved in a program called Celebration. It's an outreach to refugees in a certain apartment complex. The entire complex is government housing and I believe most of the families are refugees. Anyhow we go around to several different apartments where refugee families live to pick up their kids and drive them to Celebration where we have a snack, play games and have a Bible story. So, I'm hanging out with some kids desperately trying to play this game I learned in Kenya where you pull and push rocks in and out of a circle all while you toss and catch a rock in your hand. The kids make it look SO easy and either I'm really bad at it or it's not as easy as it looks (I'm hoping for the later). As the girls laugh at me when I again fail to properly complete my turn, I get asked to lead one of the Bible study groups. I gathered my 7 little girls and we walked to find a spot to sit down. I asked them to sit in a circle and that's when it happened...

See, one of the little girls in my group was Burundi, while the other girls were Somali and what I didn't know is that the Burundi kids and the Somali kids don't get along very well. "I'm not sitting next to her, I don't like her!" to which the other girls replied in some African dialect (I've also learned that when the kids talk in their mother tongue, it's because they don't want me to know what they're saying because they know they shouldn't be saying it in the first place). I looked at my sister Kristen and we had a brief conversation with our eyes, both knowing we had to stop this before it erupted yet not knowing how to. Then, Kristen picked up one of the little girls, sat inbetween them and that simple action made it all better. The Bible story that night was about the birth of Jesus and the main point was the Jesus came to save his people from their sins.

On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I've been privledged to take the refugee kids to a camp called West Dallas. This is what happened the first day:

I'm trying to organize 43 kids to get them their name tags, make sure everyone stays out of the parking lot, and makes it into the gym when 6 of my kids come running up to me, "Auntie L, we're not going in there!"
"Why not?" I asked, slightly confused
"Have you seen who's in there and how many of them there are?"
I stopped and turned around at that point beyond confused but not liking the way my kids just said them. "What are you talking about?"
"Them! (pointing to the African American kids from the west Dallas community) We don't like them!"
I just stared at them, searching for the right words. "You don't even know them!"
"We know what they're like."

Racism runs deeper that skin color. Some part of me always knew that, but I'd never experienced to this degree. I was shocked. Here I was surrounded by African kids who were prejudice towards the African American children. I finally got the Somali kids inside the building where they segregated themselves from the other children and complained about how unfriendly "they" were.

"Look, they're just staring at us. See this is why we don't like them."
I'd about had it with their attitudes at this point. A few of the west Dallas kids had walked over to say hi and my kids had gone off in some African dialect. "Well, what did you expect? You walk in here, take one look at them and decide to sit in a circle away from them."
"They called us ill!"
"Well, with your attitude, I'd call you ill too!" I stood up after that, not wanting to encourage this segregation anymore.
"No, you wouldn't. You love us."
"Yes, I do. But right now, I really don't like your attitude so I'm going to talk to my other friends."

Their jaws dropped as I walked over to talk with the West Dallas kids who wanted to know why my friends weren't sitting with them. I suggested they go and introduce themselves and see if that helps. Within minutes they were all friends and apart from some of their clothing, you couldn't tell who was who.

I've gone through this process in one form or another everyday this week. It's the same kids everyday, and it still takes about the same amount of time to get them to see the world around them in a new light. You'd think the blonde, white girl is the one they'd have an attitude towards, but no, it's each with each other.

The encouraging part is that once they move past what they think they know, all the kids can be friends. We have another week with these kids, my prayer is that after spending two weeks with each other they'll stop letting themselves be brainwashed with what other people say and form their own opinions.

On another high note, the refugee children who come to West Dallas get to hear the gospel everyday and everyday I see more of them paying attention and asking more questions. It's not all cake and ice cream though. The other day as we were getting ready to leave, an uncle of one of the children came onto the bus and basically dragged his niece off. It was so unnerving to not know enough of the situation to be able to intervene. The lady who has been working daily with the refugees did all she could, but my heart still broke. Fear rippled through the bus as kids started questioning if they were going to get in trouble with any of their relatives for going. I was reminded in that moment that Satan will do anything he can to scare us away from God's truth.

Life is Rarely Boring

This past week has been full of some adventures for my family...

On Wednesday my mom walked into our chicken pen to feed her chickens and saw this:

Yeah, not the sight most women enjoy seeing. She came into the house and informed us there was a snake in the chicken pen, of course we all had to go out and see (all of us being my dad, kristen and myself). The snake was VERY tangled in the netting. How he managed to get his head through and then get that stuck, I'll never know.

So, like all good Texas home school families, I went inside to get our snake book to figure out what kind of snake it was because I'd never seen one with his coloring before. Yes, I have seen many snakes on our property before, most of them have been found in our chicken pen.

After finding out it was non-venomous, we cut it out of the netting and my dad transported him to some location away from our home.

Last night, Dad treated his girls (my mom, Kristen and myself) to a Rangers baseball game. As we took our seats and announcement came on that the game would be delayed at least 30 minutes due to storms that were coming our way. We stayed, hoping the game would go on...this was the result of the storms:

Needless to say, the game was canceled. Though we did sit there waiting for a good 2 hours for them to call the game so we could get rain checks for tickets.

The rain persisted into through the night. The storms, just kept developing and dumping rain on us. They also kept us awake with incredibly loud booms of thunder and bright streaks of lightening.

Now, at my house, when it rains that consistently our back patio tends to collect water. When the water gets high enough, it leaks through our foundation and into our living room, soaking our carpet. In order to prevent that catastrophe, we have to sweep the water away from the door.

Dad and Stephen took different approaches to this task. Dad gets dressed for Niagra Falls. while Stephen thinks it best to take off his shirt to show off his muscles.

When it rains 9 inches in 13 hours, the water also collects in our front yard. The property around our house was structured so that the water flows from our neighbors property, into ours, then under the culvert on our street and to the creek a quarter mile away. However, leaves, sticks (and in our case this morning peaches) get stuck in the fence between our home and our neighbors preventing the water from flowing properly.

When that happens, we have to swim through the water and pull out the junk in the fence to let the water flow. The water was pretty high this morning, Stephen was up to his waist. The downfall to this task, all the fire ants and spiders are floating in the water and latch onto to anything solid they can find then bite. Stephen came away itching, and I was so glad it was him and not me!

Once all our tasks were complete and everyone's houses were safe, Stephen, Jonathan and I made boats and had races in the water :-).

It reminded me, life's rarely boring.

"You speak Spanish?!"

Tonight Kristen and I went to a park where there was an event being held for some refugees. Funniest quotes from the night came from this 7 year old African boy.

Quote #1: I was talking to this little boy when Kristen came up and introduced herself and informed him we were sisters. He said, "you look alike but you're (Kristen) skinny and she (Lauren) is...well bigger". He has so much to learn about girls!!

Quote #2: He asked Kristen a question to which Kristen responded, "no way, hosea". The boy whipped his around and said, "Whoa!! You speak Spanish!?!" Kristen and I had a good laugh about that as we drove home.

Quote #3: As Kristen continued talking to him he informed her that she "needed to get some of the magical make-up he saw on a commercial on TV to cover up the red on her face." We didn't mention the fact that make-up doesn't really work like that.

Here are some pictures from the evening:

Change of Plans…

Right now I’m sitting in very loud, crowded sports bar killing a couple of hours…okay, that sounds bad let’s try again. I’m sipping a coke, eating a spinach salad and thinking through the days events in a hotel restaurant that happens to be broadcasting the Lakers vs. Spurs game. I’ve recently come from crashing a wedding reception at the same hotel (there’s a first time for everything I guess). This wasn’t my plan. I’m supposed to be camping at Lake Tahoe with friends right now, so how to did I get here? Let’s start from the beginning…

How hard can it be to reach Reno? That was my question as I waited for my first flight this morning to leave the Dallas Love Field airport. Well, let me tell you, it was much more difficult than I anticipated and filled with lots of adventures along the way.

As I was checking my luggage I received my first clue that this trip was going to be more than I expected. I’m standing at the baggage check-in counter waiting for the guy to hand me my luggage claim ticket when he starts talking to me. I didn’t mind the idle chat until it turned into a pick-up line, “I’ll make you a deal, I’ll give you your claim ticket if you give me your number.” I was so thrown off guard that I just started at him blankly for a beat before replying, “how about I make you a deal, you give me my claim ticket now and I won’t report you.” I know that was kinda direct, but oh well. His co-worker was holding back fits of laughter as I walked away (claim ticket in hand) and I could hear the harassing start.

I laughed as I made my way to the security screening thinking, what a way to start this trip. I’m waiting at the back of a long line when another airline worker makes eye contact with me and waves me over to the express passenger check (a line I wasn’t supposed to be in), “you didn’t think I was going to let a pretty thing like you stand in that long line now did you?” I wanted to laugh. There was obviously something in the water at Love Field airport making men go crazy. I did, however, make a mental note of my appearance in case I ever need a self-confidence boost. ☺

I finally make it to my gate, got on the plane and flew to out first stop, El Paso after an hour delay due to weather. Nothing too extreme happened on that leg of the journey. Talked to the guy next to me, but that wasn’t a big deal, it was actually a really good conversation about life.

With no delays in El Paso, we continued onto Phoenix where I encountered another delay, this one lasted 1.5 hours due traffic control in San Francisco not having space for our plane to land. Luckily, they let us get off the plane and walk around the terminal, get food, etc.

Finally everyone gets on the plane and we start to pull out from the gate then the plane suddenly jerks forward and we stop. The captain comes on, “folks we seem to have an engine problem here, we’re going to pull back in the gate and let the mechanics take a look at it.” What passenger wants to be told the plane they’re on has an engine problem?!? Despite the engine troubles, I’m starting to get worried about making my airport transition from San Francisco to Oakland. See, San Francisco doesn’t fly to Reno, but Oakland does. I researched public transport to see if it was possible to get from the San Francisco airport to the Oakland airport. Thanks to the BART it was. The route normally takes 1 hour, 1.5 hours in rush hour. I’m an overly cautious person though, so I decided it would take me a full 2 hours to reach the Oakland airport. Perfect, my plane was scheduled to land at 1:55 pm and my flight from Oakland let at 6:05 pm. So during the planning stage of this adventure I thought that was PLENTY of time, even if my flight got delayed. Boy was I wrong. It took 44 minutes to “check” the engine. People started to get irritated, the AC wasn’t working and the plane was getting HOT. The lady sitting next to me was supposed to catch an international flight to London from San Francisco, but her window was growing very slim. She got off the plane to work something out with the airline, I hope she made it. Looking back, I kinda wish I had done something similar.

So let me update you, I’m now running over 3 hours late, my leisurely time window for traveling from SFO to OAK is getting slimmer by the minute. I could feel my heart rate speed up when I thought about it. I’d never been to San Francisco before! I was thinking it’d been a fun, safe adventure to take public transport, now it was turning into a high stress moment. Another lady next to me, grew up in San Francisco and gave me very clear directions on how to use the BART system. I was feeling a little more confident as I got off the plane and went to collect my luggage. I had 2 hours until my flight left, I was thinking I could dump the liquids that wouldn’t fit in my little plastic sack and just carry my suitcase on so I wouldn’t have to mess with baggage check. I knew I’d be pressed for time, but I also knew if I could just get to a Southwest desk at the Oakland airport, they’d hold the flight for me.

I’m waiting by the conveyer belt to get my suitcase, praying it’s one of the first ones off. Guess what happened? The belt malfunctioned, “something happened to the luggage belt?” I thought…at that point I honestly felt like crying, nothing seemed to be going right, all I could focus on was that it was another delay. Finally I took a deep breath and just decided I wasn’t going to worry about it. The way I decided to look at it was that if God wanted me to make it to Reno Saturday night, then I’d make it onto my flight. If not, then I’d soak up whatever He had in mind for me in the San Francisco area. After waiting for my suitcase to finally come. I made my way to the BART system, knowing full well I wasn’t going to make it, but thinking maybe God could work it all out. I successfully navigated my way around San Francisco using public transport and arrived at the Oakland airport just in time to see what I assume was my flight take-off.

I’ve been talking with my Dad this whole time who tried to contact the airport to let them know I was on my way, to no avail. He continually assured me that I was doing my best and that he and the rest of my family were glad I was the one on the adventure because none of them would have handled it as well. After another deep breath I approach the ticket counter and explain my situation. Thankfully, the man was very understanding and offered to book me on the first flight to Reno and gave me two options: 1, somehow get to the San Jose airport by 8:30 Sunday morning, or 2, stay in Oakland and wait to leave on the next flight to Reno at 1:30 Sunday afternoon.

I called my friend Hope and explained the situation. The most upsetting part of this whole adventure was the thought that I was messing up Hope’s weekend plans. She’d been working hard all week and deserved a relaxing camping rather than having to wait on me to arrive. I told her she could go camping and I’d just stay the night in Oakland, she laughed at me, told me there was NO WAY she was letting me in Oakland alone, and with no hesitation informed me she would make the 4 hour drive down the San Francisco to pick me up. Yea, she’s pretty much the world’s greatest friend!!

So, now I have 4 hours to kill in Oakland. What does a single white girl do in Oakland? She calls the nearest airport hotel that offers free shuttles to the airport ☺. That’s how I made my way to the hotel. I explained my situation to the gal behind the counter. She told me I was more than welcome to stay and then, with a wink, informed me there was a wedding reception taking place in the ball room. She pointed me to where I could change. How funny is that? So, that’s what I did. I had brought a dress, so I put it on, let my luggage behind the counter with my new found hotel friend and walked over to the reception. I’d seen movies where people did that, but NEVER did I think I would be the one to crash a wedding reception. I ate some food, danced a little and then left the reception. Wish I had taken pictures.

That brings us to now. Hope’s on her way to get me, it’ll be a late night for us, but the adventure will continue.

"What's Next?"

It's a question I get asked almost everyday, "so Lauren, what are you going to do now?" or "what are your plans now?" Because I hear these questions so often, there are times when I feel like a failure because I don't have it all figured out. I have no idea what's next.I almost feel like people are waiting for my life to continue. Like I've hit the pause button for the moment and they're ready for me to get on with it. I'm waiting for someone to offer a suggestion after I tell them, "I don't know", but that hasn't happened yet. :-)

Questions about my future plans strike a nerve sometimes because I like to have things figured out. Believe me, I wish I knew what the next thing was, but I don't. I do know, however, that I'm not waiting for my life to continue, I know it's happening right now. However, I also know there's something missing. I'm doing things I love, but it's just lacking something I need. I just can't put my finger on what that missing piece is.

So, until that glorious day when God sheds some light on my future plans, I'm sticking to the knowledge that's He's in control:

He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and
to walk humbly with your God. -Micah 6:8

European Adventures

The trip started out with an interesting stop at Fry's Electronics to get a few last minute items. As Valerie and I are walking out of the store, this guy stops by the counter and asks the person who checks your receipt if he could hold onto his item while the shopper ran out to his car to grab his wallet. The store attendant gave him an odd look, said, "sure" as the shopper was quickly walking out of the store. Val and I get our receipt and items checked and started walking out the door as two men outside approached the moneyless shopper. It was one of those surreal moments when you feel as though you're caught in a movie. The forlorn shopper paused and looked around as if he was deciding whether to admit defeat or put up a fight. One of the two guys outside flashed some kind of a badge at the shopper and then other man approached the shopper. The shopper took off and about 2 seconds later was on the ground because of the other guys tackled him. At this moment, Valerie and are frozen trying to figure out what's going on. Should we call 911, say something, or just walk away? Option 3 didn't sit well with either of us, but neither did we want to get involved in whatever was going on. All the while the 3 guys are struggling, shopping carts are crashing, the men are yelling and Nathan (Valerie's husband) is telling us to "get in the car!" We were smart enough to listen to him, walked to the car, climbed in and watched from the window as the guy was dragged away in handcuffs and the Fry's started letting people out of the store again. No idea how that story ended, but it was an adventurous way to start off our trip.

We had fun in Ireland for St Patrick's day. The streets were crowded with hundreds of thousands of people. We met up with the Flannigans, a couple who my dad has supported for 35+ years and only met them once!! They were such a joyful couple. We also met up with JBU friend, Daniel Ostendorff. What would we have done in Ireland without him? It was an incredibly long, wonderful, green day. We found out that St. Patrick's Day was never celebrated in Ireland until the country realized it was a tourist attraction. We made a bigger deal out of the day than anyone in Ireland did. What was sad is that the story of St. Patrick is fascinating, yet no one knows it. For most people in the world, St Patrick's Day is about wearing green and drinking beer rather than about a man who knew he was supposed to spread the gospel in Ireland.

We then made our way to Paris. Here we have the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Valerie (who's goal in life is to have a cool handstand pose of every place in the world she visits) and Val and I at the Louvre trying to mirror the portrait entitled "Twins".

We had a fabulous time in Paris with Cyril and his family!! We learned Nathan can sleep anywhere. Cyril enjoys growing facial hair when he's on holiday from school. Funny story about this place. Kristen, my wonderful sister often has to use the bathroom which is both horrible and great on trips. Horrible because we have to stop, but great because everyone else has to go too, we've just convinced ourselves we can "hold it". So we tour this palace and once we leave the area Kristen announces, "I might need us to find a bathroom". Cyril (not being used to this side of Kristen) responds, "WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS?!? We just came from the bathroom, but we can't go back in now! Why? Why?!" Val, Nate and I are all just about dying laughing at Cyril's dramatic response. Nevertheless, he finds Kristen a bathroom then comes back and asks, "does she always do this?" It's not as funny without hearing his accent and tone, but you get the picture.

We met all of Cyril's friends our last night in Paris. Few videos below for some of our crazy times that night. And I apparently fell in love with a statue in Luxembourg gardens!!

Nathan and Valerie (well, more Valerie than Nathan) have this saying whenever it's time for Nathan to wake up from his nap, "Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey" It has no significant meaning, but Cyril's family LOVED it!!

We woke up the next morning and drove down to Marseilles where we got on board a ferry and docked in beautiful Corsica Island. Yes all of this is Corsica, beach and mountains with snow! One day we decided to hike in the snowy mountains. After Valerie and I fell through the snow, we decided to turn around. Then Nate fell through the snow up to his hip, CRAZY day!

Our final day in Corsica we drove to Bonafacio and were almost blown away!!



We jumped back on a the ferry to head back to France. That night, there was some mix-up with our room situations. The guys were supposed to have a room and the girls were supposed to have a room, however the ferry put 4 of us in one room and 1 in a different room. The guys room had 3 other French men staying in there. After the Nate and Daniel Ray tried to work it out with the ferry crew, Nate came back to the girls room (French guy behind him), as he opened the door to our room, all 3 of us shrieked a little to which the French man responded, "ooh lala" and kindly offered to switch rooms with Nathan =).


After a brief stay in Switzerland, we headed back to Belgium where we boarded our flight back to Dallas filled with lots of memories, tons of stories, and many more adventures ahead.