long dark blues

it's not the best picture, but... I'll be studying in Cuernavaca this summer! For a whole month! I'm very excited. I'll be taking 6 credit hours worth of class, plus we'll be taking excursions to all sorts of fancy historic sites. I'll be staying with a Mexican host family and learning even more Spanish. It will be like school and vacation mixed! The only downside is that I will lose my job, which I love. With being gone for a month, they will need someone to take over my duties, and company protocol doesn't allow anyone to be off for that long. So that will be sad- i've put a lot of hard work into my job and have really come to enjoy what i do and the people i work with. However, come fall i will be taking more classes at school and therefore will be working less, so it may be a blessing in disguise. we shall see. wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

yes, it was today. i am the ripe old age of 26, and i cannot begin to tell you how many people in the last two days have told me that i look 17. my parents and i split the cost of a nice new futon as a birthday present. it's awesome. it's a pretty brown color and obviously it folds into a couch and a bed, but the head of the bed also clicks upward into 5 different positions, which is really nice for reading in bed. i'm excited about it. it makes my bedroom seem much more livable. eric got me some awesome gift cards to places i enjoy shopping in, a wooden crate for records, and an out-of-print damien jurado album that i mentioned i was looking for when we first began dating nearly two years ago. he definitely deserves credit for remembering that. mom and dad took me out to buca di beppo last night for an amazing italian meal (my favorite, sigh). then we went to visit my brother patrick who is a bartender at a popular bar in broad ripple, but we didnt stay long due to the ine

1) spring break is coming to an end. sad that i didnt get to do anything fantastic, glad that i got to relax. 2) mom is buying me an awesome new futon for birthday, and i may be switching to a new bedroom in the house. i'm a sucker for novelty! 3) i am so sore all the time anymore, i feel like i'm 80. got a massage today and had to sit around for an hour because i felt so rubbery afterwards. 4) AAAALLLMOOST saw built to spill tonight! argh! should have bought tickets yesterday. 5) turned in a scholarship application yesterday to a woman who thus replied, "oh good, i dont think we've had anyone else apply for this one." deadline is tomorrow! fingers crossed! 6) possible trip to the new (much closer!) ikea in west chester, ohio! possibly this weekend! i would die and go to furniture heaven. 7) gave my car a good scrubbin' both inside and out. a nice way to usher in spring. 8) diagnosed with TMJD last week. clicking jaw abounds. 9) bought many good presents for u

i got an awesome blessing at work today. a lady who i have a friendship with gave me a plaster kit so that i can make d'arcy's paw prints. it was really super sweet of her; i know she knows how much my dog means to me and how much it will suck when d'arcy is gone. i finally finished a whoppin' spanish paper. now i have to figure out how to return to normal life! hanging out tomorrow with old friend, hopefully many inspiring spiritual discussions will be had. keep praying for dad!

praise report #1: i have a friend who has been athiest as long as i've known him. last week i said a few prayers for him, asking God to reveal himself to my friend. he emailed me yesterday.... after he'd come home from church :) praise report #2: d'arcy has been miserable. i didnt think she would live through last night. she has difficulty breathing, walking, eating, etc. today while i was at work feeling sad about the situation, i asked God to heal her. when i came home, she was still in my bed where she spends most of her time, but she was wagging her tail! she does not do that much at all anymore. later tonight as i was cooking dinner, she got a toy out and started playing with it, and she wagged her tail even more when mom came home. then she ate a bowlful of our dinner AND some of her own dog food. her spirits are so much higher than yesterday! ironically- and i realize this might be cheesy- the "daily bible verse" on my google homepage was psalm 36:6- &quo

i felt like the world woke up a little today. church was nice, i finally returned to vecinos after about a 2 month hiatus. seeing people was nice and actually having conversations with brothers and sisters was great. our new pastor is pretty great too, i'm excited to talk with him about bloomington and its current deadness. the weather was beautiful. too bad i didnt have time to get out and do something to commemorate it. i'm so thankful for progress. thankful for waking up again. thankful for grace and mercy and forgiveness.