I love Dove

A friend of mine at work has a not-so-secret candy stash at her desk. And her favorite candy happens to be Dove dark chocolate. Dove, ingeniously, has made these little bite-sized candies that, upon consuming, one cannot stop from stuffing one's face with.

But I digress.

Each candy has a little "Promise message" (their words, not mine) on the inside of the wrapper. Here are a few from candies past:

• Go against the grain.
• Make "someday" today.
• There's a time for compromise...it's called "later."

You get the drift.

But the one I got today I thought was cute: When two hearts race, both win.

Now if you know me at all, you know I'm not all about mushy-gushy stuff like that. But I kind of liked their attempt at it today.

Dove chocolate - making your mouth, and your heart, happy.

Renters

Well, I think we have new neighbors. Why do I think that? Well, my first clue, upon coming home at 11 o'clock tonight, was hearing a seemingly large group of people on the other side of my bedroom wall exclaiming a muffled "So cute!"

Then they apparently moved (loudly) downstairs and the sounds of the group were a bit more muffled. But alas, some of them were still upstairs on the other side of the wall, apparently checking the structural soundness of the closets and doors.

The last clue, that really made me think that my initial hunch was right, was hearing the large group downstairs, outside on the patio with loud exclamations of "SO CUTE!" And thus, it seems that we now must go back to using just 1 side of the driveway again. No more sloppy parking. No more extra trash cans to use for our overflow. No more raucous parties on our side of the wall for awhile.

Ah, the death of a dream.

Seriously though, it shouldn't be that bad. Emphasis on the word shouldn't.

My personal scale

As of late, I've felt a bit like a natural disaster. I know that part, if not most, of that feeling is really off-base and very self-centered, but to a certain extent, it really feels like I should have my own personal destructive force scale.

Hurricanes have the Saffir-Simpson scale.
Tornadoes have the Fujita scale.
Earthquakes have the Richter scale.

And I should have the Kim scale. But mine would most certainly have to have a better name than that. I need a creative name, people. Any tasteful ideas should be documented in the "Comments" section. I'm being very trusting here, by the way. Only serious entries will be considered.

Ok, so I'm kind of kidding. But kind of not. Do you ever feel that most of the stuff you touch begins to tarnish rather than turn into gold? I'm sure the feeling will pass, and don't get me wrong, I'm not staying up at night pondering the not-so-Midas touch I seem to have lately. At least I haven't spilled anything on myself or fallen down any stairs as of late. But there's always time for that silliness, you know.

So anyhow, things are turning around a bit, and for that I'm glad. Now just a few things are left that keep striking the same chord in my mind. One of those being the reminder to wait on the Lord. We are told to wait on the Lord more times than I care to count at this late hour. But the one that currently resonates with me is this,

Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord;
O Lord, hear my voice.
Let Your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.
If You, O Lord, kept a record of sins,
O Lord, who could stand?
But with You there is forgiveness,
Therefore You are feared.
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits
And in His word I put my hope.
My soul waits for the Lord
More than watchmen wait for the morning,
More than watchmen wait for the morning.
O Israel, put your hope in the Lord,
For with the Lord is unfailing love
and with Him is full redemption.
He Himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.

Psalm 130
So we're told to wait on the Lord. We're instructed to do that a lot. Why? Because it seems to be one of the hardest things that we have to do. We want everything now. We want to know everything, be everywhere, do everything, and control everything. But He tells us to wait. Not just for nothing, but for Him. So wait I will (or at least I'll try...).

General observations

I think I'm learning to live life. I mean really live it. I don't exactly know what that means, but I think I like it so far.

After we go to all the trouble to spend our young years making plans for our older years, God effortlessly shows us that most, if not all, of those plans were self-centered and without vision or focus. But then, He doesn't just leave us there with an eraser in our hands. He gives us a new piece of paper. A new vision. A new focus.

And in no way am I saying that I know exactly what that looks like. Much to the contrary, my dear friends. But I am saying that there's just something about going from pause to play.

Whenever people come into town, they always want to do "Austin-y" things. But as they say, a fish doesn't necessarily know that he's in water. In much the same way, Austin, to me, doesn't always seem all that special. But I had a spontaneous, Austin-y night. Two birds with one stone folks: me being spontaneous, and me doing Austin-type stuff. And it was life. It wasn't planned. It wasn't labored over. It wasn't dressed up or cute outfits. It wasn't busy, or boring, or even all that amazing in general. And that's what was so amazing about it.

Just a couple of girls out for the night. And now I sit here, snuggled up, ready for bed, writing and listening to David Gray, getting ready to read some Donald Miller. It's almost as if I planned it.

And I realized something about myself. Some of you probably already knew it, but I think I really saw it clearly for the first time today. I seek out the drama in life, but I'm satisfied all too often with the mundane. I'm not sure if that's necessarily good or bad, but it's something. It's a pulse.

Good night.

Another hurricane, it seems

And I'm housing a refugee and her cat. Don't get me wrong, I'm pleased to be doing so. One of my college roommates, in fact, found herself fleeing from Houston early this morning. When I say early, I mean it was barely morning when she left.

She called me at 2:15AM to tell me she was leaving. She lives in Katy, on the Northwest side of Houston. After having a nightmare (partly about a hurricane, partly about the season premiere of Lost), I woke up at around 5:30. So I tried to call her several times to see how far she had made it. After finally getting through around 5:45, she told me that she was about 20 miles outside of Katy.

20 miles!!!

3 hours to go 20 miles. Wow.

We soon found that text messaging was the best way to reach each other, so while I was working during the day, we were "texting" back and forth. You know what time she finally made it to my house today? Noon. Noon! What is normally a 3 hour trip from Houston to Austin became a 10 hour trip. How insane. But at least she's safe, and she's upstairs sleeping, since she had been up for more than 24 hours.

My other friends, God bless 'em, are riding the storm out in Houston. Jules - best of luck to you. Be safe and I love you!

Catching my breath, albeit briefly

So I have about 9 minutes before my next meeting, and I figured, why not post? There's been a lot going on in the past week. A lot. But it's been a good type of busy, accompanied all to often by a good type of tired, I guess. But I think I'm finally caught up on sleep and am back in full swing.

This week is marked with much work to be done at work, and much work to be done outside of the office.

And as irony would have it, now Texas is facing a hurricane. We've had a good time joking around with my friend Rita here at work, but in all seriousness, several of my good friends in the Houston area are evacuating. Luckily, some of them will likely land in Austin, so I'm thankful for that. Though I'm hoping that the evacuations turn out to be simply a precautionary measure and Houston/Galveston/Dickinson don't get hit too hard.

But alas, things like this happen. Although the last time I remember a hurricane coming close to my backyard was about 1988 with Hurricane Gilbert. I was in elementary school at the time, so they were showing us how to hide under our desks, and how to evacuate the building if need be. Rather than get scared, we got the biggest kick out of imagining hiding from flying debris in our classroom. I even remember eating lunch under our tables because we thought it was cool. Wow - we were awesome back in the day.

Now, of course, it's a bit different. I can comprehend the destruction that a mass of swirling clouds in the warm gulf can conjure up. Friends in Houston, you're welcome to come crash at my house this weekend. Be safe!

In conclusion

I am so glad that this week is drawing to a close. Or maybe I should look at it like the weekend is just beginning. I'm really glad that we don't have to earn weekends. They are just there. Automatically. You don't have to have a really great week in order to get a weekend. It's tacked on, right there at the end. For all to enjoy. And enjoy I will.

By about 3PM today, the only "nourishment" that was in my system for the whole day was about 4 cups of coffee and two doughnuts. It was a rough morning. But I survived nonetheless.

Anyhow, the coffee was directly related to the fact that last night was another late night. We finished another house last night. It was so great. It's for a family of 6. They have 4 girls! How fun! We started with a new group of volunteers, all eager and excited to get going on their first house. But there was a bit of a snag. Due to extenuating circumstances, when we got to the house, there was no power or water. No electricity. No air conditioning. Did I mention that we are in Texas? Did I mention that we only have 2 seasons - hot and really hot?

So we opened all the windows, and had some "emergency" lighting going on (3 lamps plugged into an outside power box via a series of extension cords). We had a few bottles of water. And we had a lot of work to do.

But we were out of there around midnight. One house down, several to go. That's the update for now. Good stuff!

To a new level

It's 10AM on Friday morning. I've already had 3 cups of coffee and two doughnuts. The degree to which I no longer care for my general health and well-being has reached a new level.

On a different note, we got a second house done last night. I'll post more about it at housestohomes, but that'll probably have to wait until later today. Good stuff, my friends. Good stuff indeed.

I've got to go to bed, but I'm too excited/busy/etc....I'm meeting up at work tomorrow at 6:30 AM to sort food and stash it for the food bank in town. Hopefully we'll be done by 9 or so, depending on how many folks show up. Sleep is scarce in our house this week, but I don't think any of us are complaining. At least, not yet. We'll see how this next week goes. Wish us luck on our next project!

It's funny how God kind of weaves things together in ways that we don't always comprehend until He's "finished" - but seriously, when is He finished? Recently, I've had the "do what you love" conversation about 7 times over the past two weeks. Questions like, "how do you know what you love?" and "how do you actually arrange to do it?" kept coming up with various friends and acquaintances. And everyone has their own two cents. Most of the people I know are not actually doing what they love, but most of them at least had an idea of what it was that they loved.

I, on the other hand, am a coward. When talking to my roommate I confessed that I didn't really know how to do what I loved because I didn't know what I loved. In her "kind" way, she called me out. And rightly so. I know it's somewhere down in there, but I think fear keeps me from realizing that it really is down in there somewhere. It just needs to come to the surface.

And right on the heels of those conversations and that wondering, opportunities abound. And not just opportunities to have fun and serve people. But opportunities that I literally am losing sleep over. Things that I can't imagine tiring of. Things that I'll drop everything else to do. Things that I can't help but tell everyone else about. And I'm so thankful for these things. Yes, it's only been a week. And I have no idea how this will all play out in the future, but I am so excited to be so excited about something, and I'm thankful for that.

Check it out!

Houses to Homes

The family

Well, I got word today that the family moved in. They are happy, healthy and safe - Praise God! It's so exciting to be a part of this. I literally cannot wait to meet them and to try to do this all over again for another group of people. And due to some late-breaking developments, that may happen sooner than I think.

Please be praying for The 95. I can't add more detail about that, namely because I don't have much detail. But it could be severely awesome. I'll explain more later. Promise.

And if you're reading this and you have any household items to donate, please leave a comment and I'll follow up with you. Think about things like pots, pans, towels, dishes, cups, linens, furniture. All the household necessities that some of us tend to have in excess. Just let me know what you've got.

And be praying for their grandma. We're trying to concoct a plan to get her from Louisiana to Austin sometime soon. And we're not quite sure how that might work....ideas?

Working on a new format...

Thanks for your patience...things will be fixed soon. Promise.

I hate waiting

Maybe that's part of the reason that we're often instructed to wait on the Lord. It's almost like we're programmed to do anything but wait. But that being said...

The family is moving in this afternoon. I have no idea who they are, where they're from, what they do for a living, what their kids like, what their hopes and dreams are...but I do know that they have a home with a shiny red door. And that makes me so excited I can hardly wait. I hate that I didn't take before and after pictures, but that doesn't keep me up at night.

What does keep me up at night is thinking about how much there is to be done, specifically to help those that are here in town, but also those that hurt like this every day. My roommate and I have traded about 30 emails today swapping ideas of how we can help, who we can involve, and all that. But for now, I'm glad that it just starts with one family. And I have no idea how this story will end, but I'm so thankful that I got to help in this tiny way.

I'm sure I'll post again when I have an update about the family. Stay tuned.

P.S. Remind me later if I don't fit this in with the on-going discussion I've been having entitled, "Do What You Love" combined with using spiritual gifts, waiting on the Lord, and being obedient. My it's an intricate tapestry of topics :)

A worthwhile evening

I just got home and it's almost 2 AM. Rarely do I ever see midnight come and go, as I like to be in bed rather early. But the last 6 hours of my life have been incredible, and I haven't even seen the fruit of my labor yet.

A very gracious and generous friend of mine recently offered up one of his rent houses to the evacuees that are staying in Austin. He just found out Wednesday afternoon that a family had been selected for his house, and that they would move into the house Thursday. So we scoured the city for extra couches, beds, posters, games, towels....all the necessities of filling a vacant house with the feel of a home.

None of us have met the family yet. My friend barely knows their names. They are a husband, wife and two young boys, and they will soon call an actual house their home for the next while.

It was just great. And I don't care if I'm tired. I just wanted to write about it briefly....for some reason.

Now, my own bed calls me. Get some rest, all.

Collecting my thoughts

I like to write. Note, I did not say that I'm good at it, but it really helps to just sort your thoughts out sometimes on paper (or paper-like substance: the category under which this website falls). I have actually been journaling for awhile. Specifically, my main journal is a prayer journal. I've been doing that for years, and my bookshelves are filling up with used journals that are starting to tell the story of my life, one day at a time.

And apparently now I've created a pre-journal journal. I have this little book that I take with me almost everywhere. Initially (and there's a bit of history here going all the way back to my A&M library days as a student worker - more on that later) it was just something to keep with me to jot notes down. You know, to-do lists, grocery lists, places I want to go someday, a funny bumper sticker I saw...stuff like that. Well now, it seems that I have so many things going through my head that they can't wait for my prayer journal to show up, and they make their way into the tiny pages of the pre-journal. It's so bad now that I've perfected the art of fishing the journal and pen out of my purse, opening it to the next blank page, scribbling sentence fragments on a few pages, and placing it back in my purse - all while driving 60 down I-35. Creativity may well lead to danger, my friends.

But I get overwhelmed with the feeling that I must, in some way, hang on to the spontaneous, random phrases before they leave me completely. I'm not a song writer by any means, but sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night with a few verses in my head of a song that has yet to be written - and I don't want to lose them, so I reach for the pre-journal. And it's almost rude, because sometimes I break it out in the middle of a conversation, cutting the other person off because it seems more important to me to document my thought process than to listen to a friend. My sincere apologies if I've ever pre-journaled you in conversation.

Needless to say, I had to stop this morning in the middle of drying my newly-cut hair to write a thought down about an onion. What's wrong with this picture?

The prettiness

I have to admit something - I'm addicted to (portions of) tv. Each night one of "my shows" is on with a new episode during the year, I gather 1) with 12 other friends at someone's apartment or 2) with my roommates at my house and we glue ourselves to the life-wasting box in the living room, bracing ourselves for emotional punches and fits of laughter (depending on the show) for the next 1-4 hours. Trust me - it's good fun for all.

Well, Mr. Abrams, you've done it now. Did you not hear my cries last season? Did you not notice the throngs of 20-something women cringing each time a punch was thrown in or around the general vicinity of his face? Do you just take sick pleasure in toying with us week after week with thoughts of "will they or won't they?"

The bad news.

Well, you've done it now. In the words of my roommate, "Don't screw up Lost like you've screwed up Alias."

Again I say, he's too pretty to die.

A one-track mind

I've been slacking off this week as far as posting goes.

Audience: my sincere apologies.

It's not that I don't have much to write about....ok, well, maybe I don't have a ton to write about, but there are thoughts swimming around somewhere in my head that need to get out and onto this here little page. However, it's almost as if I feel guilty for writing or thinking seriously about anything other than the hurricane and it's victims (aside from God, of course. There's always room to write and think seriously about God.). But much like a car wreck on the side of the road draws rubber-neckers, so the tv and news coverage of this disaster draws me in each night. I can't not watch. I feel myself starting to complain about something, and then an image of a family on a roof or a deserted highway fills my mind.

It's frustrating to hear people criticize this, or point the finger at that. And thousands of people are writing about it, and taking pictures, so what more could I add? Not much, I guess. I'm not there right now, nor do I know anyone firsthand who is experiencing that madness. And today alone I've received about 5-10 emails or phone calls about how to help from where I am.

My roommate and I were talking about it the other night. Actually, we were waiting for Lost to start, but it was pre-empted by an ABC hurricane special. And after it was over, I was glad that I had seen it. Those images just don't seem real to me. My roommate and I started talking about a comment a reporter made. It went something like this:

Desk Anchor to Field Reporter: Have you ever seen anything like this? (Obviously waiting for the "Never in my life!" response...)

Field Reporter: Uh...yeah. But not in America!

Wow. Isn't that just a bit true, though? Images like we're seeing used to belong to the third world. Only rarely were we confronted with such things. Yes, I remember hurricane Andrew and how it ripped parts of Florida to shreds. And yes, I remember San Francisco after the earthquake, seeing the pancake of a freeway just hanging in midair. But to even try to imagine New Orleans as a giant bowl 80% full of disease-infested waters...well, my mind just isn't used to that. And to see the thousands of people panicking and rioting, dehydrated and hungry. It's just totally foreign to me.

A co-worker of mine loaded up his car and trailer today, along with 3 other male family members, to make the trek to southern Mississippi. He is hoping to pick up his elderly family members and bring them back to safety. He is planning to stop along the way and pick up some weapons. And that, my friends, is absolutely insane to me. But he's probably safer that way, which is even more insane.

More firsthand accounts can be found here.