Bad things happen to the best of us.

November 23 was my birthday!  I turned 4.  Do I look older?  I think I look older.  And wiser.  And really annoyed that Jo made me pose with this stupid hat on my head.  I tried not to cooperate.  But it can be hard to take a bad picture with a face like this.  Jo is really lucky.  Enough about my good looks, I've got better stories to tell.

Remember that scorpion fiasco I told you about here?  I didn't think things could get much worse.  They can.  Last Tuesday, on my birthday of all days, Jo and Jes took me on a drive.  I was so excited!  We drove a long time.  Somewhere new.  Jo got lost, I guess, she kept having to turn around.  I could hardly control myself.  Where are we going?!?!?!?!  I got so overwhelmed at one point, that I accidently jumped on Jes and scratched her neck.  Sorry Jes, I really didn't mean to do that.  Anyway, if I'd have known where I was going and what was going to happen there, I wouldn't have been so happy.

We pulled up a long gravel drive.  The sign on the road said "Doggie Kamp".  (I thought it was kind of stupid that they spelled "camp" with a "K", but whatever.)  All that really mattered was that I was coming here to play!  There was a huge field with lots of dogs.  I started going crazy.  Jo started yelling.  She does that sometimes.  Finally, I was out of the car and walking up to the gate.  There was a big yard with lots more dogs.  Too many dogs for one yard.  Before I knew what was happening, an old lady had taken me from Jo and shoved me into the yard.  Jo gave her something and she left to make a copy.  Too-Many-Dogs came up to me at once.  I had no where to go.  Jo couldn't come in.  I couldn't get out.  Jo looked worried.  But then I remembered I was big.  I broke away from Too-Many-Dogs and started to sniff around the yard.  I came back up to the fence and gave Jo a final "goodbye, I'll be fine, have a good Thanksgiving" glance to let her know that she didn't need to look so worried.  She left.  I was wrong.  She was right to worry.

Sometime in the four days I was at Doggie Kamp, I think it may have been near the last day, I got bit!  I'm not really sure what happened.  Probably I was playing like usual.  But it's hard to play with Too-Many-Dogs.  Sometimes things get out of control.  Sometimes good dogs get bit.  That's what happened to me. Right on the butt.  

Jo was not very happy with the old lady when she came to pick me up.  We left in a hurry.  I was tired and sore and limping a bit, but mostly I was just happy to be going home.  Over the next few days, my bite didn't get any better.  So this morning, Jo took me to the vet.  We waited for over 2 hours until it was our turn.  They said my bite was really deep.  They said it would need a staple.  Jo said she should probably wait outside.  She's such a wimp.  I'll admit, I was a little nervous myself.

It wasn't so bad.  I got three staples.  The worst part is that they shaved a funny looking circle on my butt.  Now I feel stupid.  At least there's a good chance I'll end up with a really gnarly scar.  That would make me older, wiser, braver... and a whole lot cooler!

A river and a promise.

About a month ago, I went to Arkansas with a group of guys from Missions Resource Network to help facilitate some small-group Bible study at World Mission Workshop.  Harding was hosting the workshop out at Camp Takodah.  During one of our breaks, Lanny (an MRN guy) walked down to check out the river, which had been dammed up to create a swimming area for campers.  When he came back, he shared the following revelation with me:

Life is like a river.  Sometimes it moves so slowly that you can't tell it's moving at all, unless you can watch a leaf or a twig swirling lazily across the top.  You know the currents are flowing, under the surface, but the river doesn't seem to be in any hurry.  Once the water gets past the dam, when the force of the river is released, it's rushing movement is powerful, unmistakable, unstoppable.  The change can happen in an instant, without warning.  And once it does, there's no going back, no slowing down, until the river changes again.

Lanny was trying to bring me some encouragement.  He was telling me to enjoy the slow pace of my river, that quicker water is ahead, and it will be exhausting and dangerous and have me wishing again for something slower.  Enjoy the slow water?  I rolled the eyes of my heart.  Slow water is boring.  I like the fast river.  The white water.  The adventure.  The rush of danger.  I nodded my head, thanked him for the insight, and quickly dismissed it.

A couple weeks later, during a week of fasting and prayer with my team, I got an email from Craig.  It was three sentences long.

"We stopped to pray for you.  As I was praying for God to fill you with his peace, something told me to take this video for you.  We love you!"

Here is the video he sent.

I watched it five times.  I stared at the screen.  Lanny's words of encouragement and Craig's prayer for peace collided.  Life is like a river.  I let the thought sink into my soul, and with it, a promise was whispered.  The promise of change.  The promise of a rushing river.  The promise of white water.  It can happen in an instant, without warning.

Snippets.

Sometimes the "same old, same old" doesn't seem too exciting... hence a 3 week blogging hiatus.  But there have been snippets of interesting mingled in with the mundane.  Figured it was time to share a few.

I've been quilting... a lot. 

I made the best chicken tortilla soup ever.  Twice.

One day last week, it rained and rained and rained.  Dakota was being extremely obnoxious because she wanted to go outside and play fetch.  So we learned how to play Hide and Seek.  I hide her ball.  She goes and seeks it.  She thought it was really fun.

I played Freeze Tag with my 8 and under swim team in the water.  They went nuts.

Had to get the timing belt on my car replaced. 

I got addicted to baseball this summer.  But now baseball season is over.  I'm so depressed about it that I've resorted to listening to MLB radio on XM.

Blah.  Blah.  Blah.