A Year Old

My crazy, wonderful dog, Malu, is one year old today. A lot has happened in the last year. But I'm so glad she's been with me for the move and the adventure of being in a new place. Happy Birthday Malu!


Here she is at 5 weeks old:

Here she is just a couple of months ago:

HI-larious!

This blog made my day. Actually, Don Miller's blogs often do. So funny! And smart! Ok, so maybe I have a tiny little crush on him. But anyway...it's good stuff. So, while I don't have anything brilliant to say today, I thought I'd just post a link to Don's latest blog. Enjoy!

Why isn't it easier?

Do you ever wish it could just be a little easier? Life, I mean. My mom has a quote she loves - "Hard is good. Easy rots the soul." I can't remember who originally said it, but I think it's true. Still, I wish it was just a little easier sometimes. I've been meaning to update my blog for awhile, but somehow just couldn't get past the stuff going on in my life right now to write something. I won't go into detail because, well, BORING! But I've decided to just admit it. Life's been a bit hard. Just the way it is right now. And just when I think I see a glimmer that indicates things are getting easier, something happens that throws me right back into the midst of it all again.

Thankfully, I have wonderful friends (shout out especially to Sarah and Jill who came to visit me over my birthday weekend - DEFINITELY the shining highlight of the last month or so!!!) and to my amazing family. We have a habit of processing with each other. You'd think that would be hindered by the fact that I live in St. Louis, my parents are in FL, Seth & China are in Denver, Lindsay is in Switzerland and Corrie & Torsten are in Germany. Not exactly conducive to long family chats. But we just use email. It's a huge encouragement to know that if I need to, I can shoot an email out to them with all my thoughts and struggles and they chime in with their thoughts and ideas. Most often, we discover that most or all of us are going through similar things and that makes it a little easier somehow.

Anyway, don't really want to progress into whining, but I wanted to write something since it's been awhile and figured I'd just be honest and maybe this way I'll get past it and actually be able to post something else.

3 little words

When I'm feeling down - and I have been lately - there are some things that are an automatic pick-me-up. One of the best things, of course, is hearing someone I love tell me that they love me. Always helps. Today that happened for me. And even better - it was my nephew, Fender. I answered my phone completely expecting to hear my brother Seth's voice. Instead it was the sweet, sweet voice of my very favorite 2 year old in the world. At one point in the conversation (most if it quite garbled actually) he said, " I LUH YOU!" And he said it as if he was trying to convince me of it. As if it was the defense of an argument about whether he loves me. Very emphatically and strongly. I was convinced. And there's not much better than that amazing little guy proclaiming that he loves me...unless he had his wonderful arms around my neck while he said it...but I'll take what I can get. I hung the phone up with a smile on my face which makes this day a whole heck of a lot better!

The amazing Fender Lewis Kent:

Spoiled!

I'm truly spoiled! My day today included kayaking on the bayou in Tarpon Springs while watching the manatees lazily swim around and then kayaking on the gulf with a dolphin frolicking nearby. Blessed is what I am. Seriously! I've been back in Florida since Dec. 22 staying with my parents in the house on the gulf and enjoying time with family over the holidays. It's been busy much of the time, but the last few days have been good vacation-like ones. Yesterday we rented the kayaks (my parents are buying some and so we rented 3 different kinds so they could try them out) and took them out to Fort DeSoto. I'd requested a trip to Fort DeSoto at some point while I'm here. Mostly for nostalgia's sake. We camped there a lot when I was a kid and I hadn't been back since I was about 15. We kayaked through the back waterways and then mom and I walked through the fort and then walked on the beach looking at shells. The only thing that would have made me feel more like my childhood was if we actually camped and then rode our bikes to the beach and fort and I ran through the rooms hollering to hear my voice echo through the rooms.

Now we've just come back from eating down at the sponge docks in town at one of the greek restaurants and I feel again as if I'm very blessed. There is abundance in my life and I'm so appreciative of this time to relax, play and soak up the time with my wonderful parents. In 2 weeks I'll be working at my new job and life will be very different than it is in this moment.

Moving day

I'm sitting on the bed in the guest room while 3 strangers pack my stuff. It's a strange and surreal feeling. It's crazy the amount of stuff they've gotten done already in 4 hours. I got pretty emotional about it at first. I mean, this is it...I'm leaving Colorado. When did that happen??? It seemed like it was this thing that was going to happen...someday...in a few months. And now "in a few months" has arrived. They're packing today and loading tomorrow and then I drive out on Wednesday. As excited as I've been about this change and opportunity, I'm so sad to be leaving Colorado and especially all the amazing people who have been part of my life here. I'm going to miss them. I'm planning to visit as often as possible. For now, I'll sit here, with my snoring dog by my side and try to keep myself busy while the strangers keep packing.

Hope! Love! Rejoice!

I haven't made a secret of the fact that I supported Barack Obama in this election. He wasn't my first choice for a candidate, but when it boiled down to McCain and Obama and then McCain picked Palin, my choice got a lot easier. Now, let me be clear and say that I read a lot of things, did a lot of research, looked at each of their platforms and made a decision according to who I felt most represented my viewpoint. And once I picked my candidate, I got pretty excited about it. For me, this was the first election in a long time...maybe ever...that I was truly excited about my candidate instead of voting for "the least of two evils" or against a particular candidate. This was a vote cast for someone who I truly believe is the best person to lead our country. That said, I completely respect the fact that others, many of them much more intelligent than I, disagree with me and think I've made the wrong decision. That's ok. We don't have to agree.

This morning I awoke with a sense of jubilation. The idea that there's something to look forward to and that maybe, just maybe, the massive mistakes I think have been made in the last 8 years can somehow be remedied, even if just in a small way. So, when I was faced today with comments from many who disagree with my politics that were disappointed, upset and sometimes downright hateful, I was disheartend, to say the least. Now I realize that some level of disappointment naturally comes along with the deal when your candidate doesn't win. I know I'd be extremely sad today if Obama was on the losing end. So, I realize that jubilation is a little much to expect. But I think I hoped for a little less in the way of dramatics. I realize that it's easy for me to say, since I voted for the winner, but I would hope that if the situation were reversed, I'd be gracious to those who voted differently than I and that I would then turn my energy to hoping and praying that the President-elect would be able to lead our country in a wise, humble and effective way. Now, I tend to have some strong opinions, so I'm not saying I'd do that perfectly, but I really hope I wouldn't be as fearful, hateful and despairing as some I'm hearing.

So, here's what I'm proposing. Let's hope instead of fear. Hope that President-elect Obama can do even part of what he's promised, hope that our situation in the USA and in the world is better in 4 years than it is now. Let's love instead of hate. Love the friends who disagreed with us, sometimes with hateful words and disparaging personal attacks, love the people who support positions and ideas that we strongly oppose. This is the only way we can move toward any unity in this country. Hate only produces more hate. And let's rejoice instead of despair. Rejoice in the knowledge that God is in control, regardless of who the President is. Rejoice because whether or not he was your choice, we've reached the point in this country when an African-Amercian win the Presidential election. Rejoice because so many people who normally feel apathetic and disenfranchised now feel like they have a voice. There are many reasons to rejoice if we will just look for them.

After all, wouldn't you rather hope, love and rejoice? It's a lot more fun than fear, hate and despair any day.