Ready to Vacate

How sweet it is to know I only have to work two days this week. Even sweeter is the family vacation that comes on Wednesday. I won't say I'm looking forward to spending two days at Six Flags in the heat sandwiched in-between two long car rides with my family, but I am looking forward to the family. As much as I love Nashville, I also love every interaction with the dysfunctional group of people I know and love in Gainesboro. My resolution is to look through the heat and remember who I'm with, and hopefully that will squelch complaints.

The heat makes it hard to forget it's summer time, but just like at Six Flags, I have to remember how happy I really am. I'm surrounded by people I love, I'm in a city I adore, and my life is good. Good doesn't quite do justice to my peaceful, easy feeling, but it will suffice.

Llena Mi Vida de Tu Amor

Yesterday I was feeling a little burned out and tired. After I spent the morning in church I made a quick run through the McDonald's drive through on my way to work at the mansion. When I got off work I had about an hour and a half before I was supposed to go to La Iglesia de Dios Hispana with Carlos. My heart wasn't really in it because I just wanted to sit down for a minute and not think about anything, but I had a great experience the last time I went, and I also didn't want to cancel.

It seems the coolest things happen when we aren't expecting them, and even though I went half-heartedly God showed up full-force. I have trouble figuring out in my own mind what it is about going to a church service conducted in Spanish that makes the experience so incredible; I love to hear almost anything in Spanish, but the novelty isn't the draw. Perhaps it's the fact that I am reminded God is bigger than the English language. I know what kind of impact God has on my own life, but I forget that the rest of the world was spoken into existence by a God who considers all of us his. My faith connects me to a broad range of people all over the world praising a God who understands every word and every heart. I love language and words, but language is not enough to encompass all God is, and God is not limited by language barriers.

I am limited by language, and I can't quite explain this experience in English or Spanish. What I can say is Gracias, Senor.

It's Quiet . . .

. . . too quiet, perhaps?

In this case, no news is good news. I haven't been writing because things are calm on the home-front. There was some excitement today: Josh came to visit, and we waited at Grimeys so I could get tickets to see Andrew Bird at the Ryman in October! I feel somewhat like a bad friend for making him wait with me even though he's not going to the concert, but it's Andrew Bird. We also had crepes and coffee at The Perch and fit in trips to Book Man Book Woman and The Great Escape. We condensed a lot of stuff into a small amount of time, but we have shiny new (for us anyway) books and cds to show for it.

I love weekends when I'm not ruining outings by prioritizing assignments. It's 73 days until school starts, and I plan to enjoy every homework-free minute.

A Sigh of Contentment

The routine of my life is still too good to believe. Every night seems to have it's small variation that's just enough to keep me from being bored; I made dinner one night this week (and with the exception of trying to cut off my finger it was a success), last night we had free root beer floats from Sonic and then watched Donnie Darko. The movie was the first of our Netflix movies, and so far we are very happy with the Netflix service. It shouldn't be so easy to get any movie we want to see within a couple of days, and for the first two weeks it's free! Pandora has also been providing endless amusement lately because like Netflix it doesn't provide instant gratification, but it comes so close. I made a Tina Turner station yesterday that has since been named Female Empowerment Radio, and today I'm listening to the glory that is 90's country.

Tonight is game night, and I'm excited about it. It seems to be turning into a different kind of thing where more people come, but it's pretty cool because the people coming tonight don't really know each other, so game night continues to serve the function of making friends.

Life is good.