catching up...

Time lapses and then I feel like I have to catch up and then more time lapses and I don't blog current thoughts because I feel like I have to catch up the missed sections - but, I'm just going to start from scratch...because I keep missing the ability to add quirky little tidbits of life...such as the afternoon that I laughed at the tiny chihuahua hanging out of the window of a huge truck...or the fantastic dinosaurs that my neighbor kids drew - joys such as this that soon pass out of memory.

This weekend I've been working on painting. Next Sunday is the opening to the first art show that I've ever taken part in. It's quite exciting. It's really neat to be part of LA Street Productions, it's a really cool group of people from my neighborhood. I feel a lot of pressure about the show. It's just nervous picking something that you think is showable. In order to live up to my standards it needs to be aesthetically pleasing as well as thoughtful.
I've been working on a four painting series around the notion of displaced peoples. I'm not sure if that's what I'll end up including...we'll see.

I think that's all I'll write for now...I do need to catch up from last weekend, I attended a conference on child sexual exploitation and trafficking that I'd like to share about...but my brain doesn't have the thought capacity at the moment :)

a delight

Last Friday I was downtown attending an AIDS training - which just happened to be near my favorite place...the Central Public Library! I've been away from it for a couple of months because of busyness (and an unpaid late fee!) I decided to stop in and browse for fun. To my delight, they had a new art exhibit up in the Getty Gallery - the art of Fred Marcellino. He's an artist that died in 2001 and did a lot of book-cover illustration and then later in life, many children's books. Some of his most known books are Puss in Boots and I, Crocodile. I'm always impressed with the little shows that this library gallery puts up...and this one was particularly great for me. First of all, children's book illustration is just wonderful (when it's good.) Such a blend of fantasy and reality and imagination! And I really enjoyed getting to look up close at so many fantastic specimens of colored-pencil work. I really have never been in love with colored pencils...but seeing the great work they can produce, under skill, really makes me want to give them a chance! And who knows...maybe one day I finally will write that children's book - and fulfill my 4th grade teachers prophesy on what my future profession would be!

Another delight, was tonight. I've been attending this new church the last couple of months - which I really like. And tonight was the first night for small groups to meet in homes. We're doing a study on the book of Ephesians. And it was just a really unexpected delight for me to get excited about learning and talking about the Bible with a group of Christians! It's just not something I've been excited about for a long time...so it makes it all the more delightful. I think there's good things in store for that group :)

all who wander are not lost

I see this phrase on bumper stickers every so often...and am filled with a mix of solidarity and worry. With solidarity because on one hand - I know the value in wandering. I think it's great to wander some, you get to find out new things and explore something you never would have otherwise found. But on the other hand it causes worry because life filled with only wandering seems somehow meaningless to me...if that wandering never leads to something more substantial. At some point it seems the wandering should crash you into something you'd actually like to invest in.

The reason for this ponder is I spent some time wandering last night. I don't know if it really applies to what I just pondered about...but it was wandering - I did receive joy from it - and it did lead me to somewhere...in more then one way!

My friend Paul and I, who normally jog together, decided to join the Sierra Club at Griffith Park for one of their night hikes. The hikes start at 7 and go until 9. We arrived a few minutes late and saw the last couple groups heading into the hills. We managed to catch up with one, however, it was the group of highest difficulty. We decided to stay, even though Paul wasn't quite up for that level of difficulty this particular evening. Well...the leader, Andy, a man not altogether different then what I'd imagine a hobbit to be except for the bright red highlights in his hair, thought the group should give me a little initiation. So Andy led us across the 'balcony' - kinda like scaling a rock face - and then we continued on through the bush and steepness to the top of Hollywood Mountain. It's a fabulous 360 degree view from up there, it was really magnificent to look at LA all lit up, and particularly with all the dust that was in the air yesterday due to high winds - it created a very orange, lit up sky. So that was great. It's neat to be completely absorbed in nature, when you're actually in the middle of a huge city! And I found it very amusing to watch the 10 other people in our group and interact with them. They were characters! Only together because of hiking...no other way would this group of odd figures hang out!

After hanging out at the top of Hollywood Mountain, the group began to head back down - and Paul and I decided to take the road, an easier route. The road winded at a very leisurely pace down and around the mountains and we took quite a long time getting back to the car (it was the last one left in the parking lot!) But...it was a great time...talking, hearing the crickets, seeing an owl, enjoying the strength/health that God has given me, feeling part of this strange new city. Our wanderings meant that our hike was about an hour longer then everyone elses...but it was an hour well spent, even if we were kinda wandering!

fantastic fantasticness

Before time gets away from me too much...I had the most wonderful week in Seattle! It was wonderful in every way :) The weather was unbelievable - it was only cloudy the day I left and the day before that it broke a record at 79 degrees! The people, my friends, and family were soooooo good to be with! And I was really providentially taken care of in many, many ways.

I arrived in Seattle last Monday morning...not sure if I would be picked up. I knew the day might be an adventure - so I was prepared :) Since I wasn't picked up - I got to dink around downtown Seattle for awhile. It was a cool town - it felt a little like SF but smaller, cleaner, and friendlier. I did do touristy things like visit Pike Place Market (I didn't see any fish being thrown...they must do that early morning.) I sat at the park and ate some great food. And I found 2 Doc Watson records at an antique store (and also a sex-ed booklet from 1947!!...it's a trip.)

Later in that afternoon I boarded the bus and rode 60 miles north finding my way to Tierra Nueva...a place where a few Mission Year pals live. Tierra Nueva is kind of hard to explain - but it's a church/community that does a lot of work with immigrant farm-workers. I found Nick there, and he didn't really know I was showing up - but it worked out terriffic anyways(My other friend Troy who knew I was coming had been out of town.)

It was just so good to be with some great people - you know people who just automatically understand you and people who you can have really good conversations with. It was also really great to be in nature some - I got to work on an organic farm planting potatoes for half a day, visit the blooming tulip fields, weed some in their little community garden, and paint a little mural for it. And it was great to connect with friends - spending some time with Troy and also (surprisingly) getting to have a heart to heart with John and Jude, from the LA Innerchange team (they just got up to Washington for sabbatical!)

Time came to leave Tierra Nueva on Thursday - I was tempted to just stay there! But I journeyed back to Seattle to spend some time with the 'other' Christen, a friend I'd known in SF. It was great to see her life there and catch up and share together. I love when you can pick up with someone like you've never been apart!

Then on Friday my Uncle Allen picked me up and we ended up going for quite a hike! We climbed a mountain that paragliders jump off of. It was completely clear - we had a great view of Mt. Ranier and also got to watch the paragliders drift down to earth. Later that night I got to have dinner with his family and meet his wife and 2 cousins I've never met. It was so good finding new family! And they really were terriffic. (umm...sorry no pictures for this section!)

Unfortunately I came down with a bit of a cold and slept through half of Saturday. But, we were able to stop and see the boat locks before leaving. The locks are pretty neat, they move boats between the two different water levels of the Sound and the lake. I was so glad to get to spend some time with Uncle Allen and his familia.

And lastly...I actually got upgraded to 1st class on my ride home! Never has that happened to me before. I felt very fancy with service, leg room, real water glasses, good food, and a white linen napkin covering my seat tray! Way to go United!

So...perhaps this is a long description...but I just had such a great trip! I feel very renewed and ready to tackle all the decisions that I'll be wading through in these next few months :)

AND hope ya'll had a joyful celebration of Easter! My church had Easter in the park with picnics that followed. I got to hang out with some good friends and eat way too many deviled eggs!

updates and engagements!

The past couple weeks have been quite eventful! I'm sorry I haven't been better at keeping this updated...there's so many different thougths I could share if I sat myself down when they were in my head!

At work I finished up two of the classes and began another group of 7th graders. The new class I'm in is in a first-year teachers classroom...so there's much less teacher control - and I have been exercising my disciplining skills and so forth! Fun times! I didn't know I could get such a serious and stern voice! The first week I wasn't prepared for it...but this past week I psyched myself up and was prepared and I found that (although not perfect) I was able to handle the classes much better - which is challanging, but fun to learn new skills.

Also, my parents were here in LA to visit this past week. So on Thursday I got to take my Mom with me to work! It was pretty fun. Part of the day was spent speaking at a career day at the local high school...in one class Mom got to contribute to our discussion...the kids asked what my Mom thought of me teaching sex ed!! It was funny to tell them to ask her themselves, they were quite surprised!

Then on Friday my Dad had arranged a tour of CECO, one of the only two factories in the US that makes steel-forged sinks! He buys lots of sinks from them for work so arranged with the sales-guy to take us around the factory. It was really interesting and quite a treat to get a special inside look. Steel-forged sinks look like normal enamaled sinks/toilets/bathtubs...but they're much thicker then stamped out sheet-metal and so can hold a much thicker layer of enamel(which looks glassier and doesn't chip.) So in the factory they have to melt down the steel, pack the mold with sand, pour the metal into it, brake it out, grind it, primer it, bake it, and powder it with two coats of enamel. It's alot of work and a cool process. Anyhow...

Other fun things I have been doing are some more art/painting...and I finally got to go dancing! Kim took me out for a special night and surprised me with swing dancing...she knew I needed the complete unrestrained joy that goes into a good moment of dancing! So that was really fun...and she introduced me to a friend, Casey, whom she works with and is a kindred soul as far as swing dancing goes :)

It was also quite fun to help plan a surprise engagement for my best friend, Kim! Her boyfriend (fiance'!), Travis, lives in Detroit (they were Mission Year team mates,) and he came into town to propose...but there were some details to work out...it was my job to get her dressed up and out to dinner. From there I (and Anna, another friend who was helping out) disappeared and
Travis walked in and then they were whisked off to a romantic sailboat. So...that's super exciting and fun to watch. I'm excited to see how God grows their lives together.
This does mean that I'm losing a roomate! I've got all sorts of things brewing in my head...and am a little tired of thinking! Which is perfect timing that I'm off to Seattle this coming week! I've been wanting to go up there for some time. I have a few friends and a relative up there. Since it's spring break for the kids I teach, I decided I'd rather go up there then sit around my office for a week! Anyhow...I'm really looking forward to letting my mind have a rest and being able to be with some people dear to my heart!