Unbelievable

Eric's best friend, Arnold, emailed me this morning to say that he and Eric have decided to go camping on the safari?!?! As I envision wild lions and elephants waiting outside their tent, it's probably a good thing Eric isn't telling me what's going on!

Play, what's that?

Eric's in Uganda and I'm not. I miss Uganda. I miss him.

But I did get to observe Eric's packing strategies and try to emulate them. I started packing my room up this morning-- nine days before I need to be out of my apartment! This is quite a novelty since I usually don't start until the night before I need to be out. It just seemed like Eric had a good method since he wasn't stressed out throughout the process by starting early. Everything big besides boxes of clothes are out of my room and I have a flexible plan for everything else-- take dirty clothes home to wash along with valuables and plants (not to wash), pack up what I need for the summer and then everything else gets stored away. I do need to sort through piles of paper, but that doesn't take that long.

I'm also trying to spend my lonely time exercising, reading, watching dvds, catching up with friends and enjoying the beautiful weather here in NJ. The shade on a sunny 70 degree day is perfect for me.

Take Away: Pastor Shawn at Summit UMC and I discussed my disappointment, God's sovereignty in relation to human free will and our purpose in life. She encouraged me to seek joy and peace in God, to be able to play in God's presence and to enjoy life. Since I'm usually Martha, the worker bee, I appreciate her advice and I'm working on it. Oh, gosh, how to break that mindset?

It's Getting Better

Eric graduated today! After an early morning communion service (with a wink, nod, Heather sing the solo suprise), we sat through a three hour cloudy commencement before enjoying a late Mexican lunch with Eric's dad and his fiance. Although we were practically falling asleep with our eyes open at the table, we managed to finish moving Eric out of his room and run some errands. This evening, we actually enjoyed a quiet dinner of steamed artichokes without the pressure to rush off to 1,001 classes, meetings, rehearsals, concerts, art shows, plays, dances and parties. We were definitely blessed by an empty apartment, little traffic outside our open windows and the unusual lack of church bell rings from the Catholic church across the street.

It's been a strange weekend, celebrating senior week activities with Eric while trying to figure how to successfully fill a non-refundable seat on a plane to Uganda this coming Monday to join Eric's mission team. Surprisingly, I had a ton of wide open doors from my parents, the church, friends, etc. until I found out an hour before I got my Hep A booster that the ticket had actually already been refunded. :-(

There were some tears and disappointed prayers, but Eric started to lift my spirits when I overheard him say that it was love at first site (four years ago even though we've only been dating for a year!). Then Mark Miller, my favorite pianist, director and composer, asked me to ad lib for the mixed-choir piece in front of four hundred people at Baccualaurate. This has been a dream of mine, just to ad lib, and I've never done it in front of an audience before. TOO much fun!! And I got to do it again this morning at the communion service!

So it's been a bumpy ride this week with too little sleep and too much emotion, however, all is well. Eric'll leave for Uganda in two days, and I'll find ways to entertain myself while I leisurely pack and try not to visualize the orphans that I wish were in my arms.

North Carolina friends-- I'm trying to figure out if Eric and I can come visit Wake Forest/Youngsville in early June... will you be around???

Are we global?

What a strange world we live in.

This afternoon, I sat in a classical choir concert and read Joseph Marshall III's "the Dance House" about the Lakota Sioux Native Americans. Then I carried my book over to the Nine Thai resturant and drank Thai tea. I returned to my apartment where Nelson Mandela's "Long Walk to Freedom" sits next to John Shelby Spong's "Here I Stand" on my bookshelf. Next to my small collection of dvds sits a wooden giraffe from Uganda and a black and blue purse from Peru.

Yes, I would agree that our media and product distribution is global. But is our servant faith-in-action global?

So busy!

Life is a little crazy here. I'm actually done with classes for the semester, but Eric and I have lots of end of the year events.

Last Thursday- PanAf Concert
Yesterday- Eric's Senior Art Show Opening (amazingly fun!)
Tonight- DUDS Ball
Tomorrow- 7 hours of church youth stuff?
Monday- TOE Jam (open house at the coffeehouse) & End of Classes Jam Concert
Tuesday- Eric hands in 2 10 page papers and mails in VISA info to go to Uganda in 2 weeks
Wednesday- my UN internship interview in NYC (trying to avoid the swine)

That's as far as I can look. Most importantly, tomorrow marks the beautiful day that Eric asked me out a year ago. :-) And we don't have time to celebrate! :-(

There's a band in my living room

Eric and his friend from home, Mike, have a laid-back band called "When Life Hands You Lemmings" and they have their first gig tonight at the coffeehouse where I work. Mike visited a few weeks ago and he and Eric spent most their time together learning songs with Mike singing and playing acoustic while Eric played electric guitar. While I was slightly stressed trying to prep for a dance that night, Mike and Eric surprised me by taking over the dinner preparations and forcing me to take a brief nap. It was so much appreciated. Of course, I was happy to see Mike again last night when we picked him up from the train. They practiced for hours last night and only stopped for the night at 1 am when they had compiled a list of 23 songs they could use at tonight's performance. This morning, after a few moments sharing a breakfast of deviled Easter eggs (that sounds strange, doesn't it?), they grabbed their guitars again and they are continuing to learn more songs. I am so impressed with both of their musical abilities and their jive of working together. I'm also impressed that their fingers aren't bleeding!

Hoping to become wise

Recently, I've been in an uber-critical mood. I've been mentally poking holes through people's comments and noting unfairnesses. Two problems though: it causes a bit of anxiety when I keep these thoughts from reaching those who they are intended for. Granted, at least I have time to think out arguments, but I don't like this feeling of awareness. It's like going to Uganda-- to see the effects of poverty up close and in my arms, the growing awareness feels uncomfortable, like swallowing a pine branch. Yet, at the same time, you know it's important. But there's something else. There's the challenge to do something about it.

So at the moment, I need to discern between what's more important for me to do something about-- I can probably ignore the downstairs resident who thinks my Chinese roommate's attempts to feed the wildlife on the fire escape is resulting in fruit flies in their kitchen (but not in ours...). There are other things that I should communicate about. I really hope all these experiences help me become the wise person I hope I grow into, one who knows how to respond in the moment rather than dwelling upon it for 24 hours and realizing what I should have said as I lay in bed waiting for sleep.