Sometimes I Write

Since I shared about Linda a few weeks ago, I don’t want you to think I’m going to profile all of my friends on my blog, because I’m not. There are a few I just feel like talking about, that’s all.

Mike had a post about Chris (his son) and Austin’s friendship since birth. I thought it was sweet, but I couldn’t relate. We moved a few times and I never really kept a continuous friend. I tried a few times, but it always seemed that I was more interested in the friendship than my “friend” was.

I would have to say my cousin Jodee is my oldest friend. We are 6 months apart in age, and as junior highers we became inseparable – well at church and camp anyway. We sure kept the phone lines busy too! We had the same last name, so everyone thought we were sisters. We remained close until college. We both went to York, but I was a grade ahead of her and we made different friends, and had different interests. She married my friend Brian, and now they have a wonderful family with two beautiful children, Addison and Hayden. We’ve been through our share of difficulties, including me almost losing her to meningitis. She’s still one of my favorite people in the world. She loves to tell the story of a Christmas when we were small. We were getting dressed for pictures and I was getting ready so fast that I put my underwear on over my pants – her mom has the picture to prove it. (there Jodee, now the whole world knows) It tickles me when we talk on the phone and she’ll ask the kids if they want to talk to Aunt Niki. She must love me like a sister too 🙂 I miss her so much!

Michelle was my college roommate. She was from Arizona, and me from Wisconsin. She was guarded, but funny. I was serious, but more than willing to tell my story to anyone who would listen, and able to freely share my opinions. ( Ha Ha – Some things never change!) She had never dated, and I was, well, experienced in that area. She was very conservative. I liked to buck the system. She came from a two-parent, never been divorced family, I came from a mess. I played sports, she played guitar. We were in different social clubs, and even different dorms our freshmen year. I don’t remember exactly how we became friends, I just know I don’t know what I would do without her in my life now.

As different as we were (and are) we had a lot in common too. We were both sopranos in the choir, members of the creative writing club, the Bible club, and eventually we were both dorm staff. We became really good friends, and formed an unbreakable bond. She taught me how to drive a stick-shift in her little white Ford Festiva. You know that took patience!
Michelle and I have laughed and cried through many of life’s tough lessons. I haven’ t seen her since Max was a baby, but every few months we spend hours on the phone catching up on our separate lives. Lastnight was that night. I’m thrilled that she’s planning a road trip this summer and I’ll get to see her again.

Tawnya is also a college friend. She is the third and final of my honorable mentions today. She is my artist friend and is Uber creative! Tawnya and I lived across the hall from each other and we were both members of the DOE club. (I’ll have to post about that again sometime) That’s where our bond began. She too was in choir and a lot of the same groups/clubs Michelle and I were in. We managed to keep in touch after York, and she even came through Indy to see me when I was pregnant with Max. This woman saved my sanity when we moved to Wichita. She was already living there and she is what made my transition so much easier. Unfortunately (or so I thought) she moved to Kansas City nine months after I arrived in Wichita. Although I was extremely sad, it ended up coming in handy when my family experienced not one, but two car accidents in the K.C. area! She is so easy to talk to and everytime we’re together we cover just about every subject there is. Of the three, she and I talk the most often. Somehow Tawnya and I switched lives. She wanted to marry a minister and settle down with kids. I wanted to be a career woman. We can look at each others lives and know God has a sense of humor. She is smart, creative, funny, beautiful, and loves the Lord. I’m so glad she’s my friend!

I have been very blessed with great friendships in my life. These three are the women I have known and been friends with the longest and most constant. They knew me when…(I was seventeen and had all the answers – was a promiscuous teenager – was loud and bossy, pick one)…and love me anyway!

How about you? Who are your oldest, closest friends?

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After the deep thoughts of my last post, I want to skim a little closer to the surface for a minute. Here are some sweet thoughts on a sunny Saturday morning. (O.K. they aren’t all sweet.)

I have a new rock collection. Zoe thinks that every rock she brings in from outside is a special treasure meant just for me. Her sweet little girly girl smile complete with dimples melts my heart and I graciously accept her gifts. As my new collection continues to grow, I think about my other rock collection. A few years ago when Benny went on Trek, he brought me a heart shaped rock for every year we had been married. They varied in size and shape, but ALL had a heart like quality. I love them! A few weeks ago he took Max climbing on Grandma’s mountain (behind the house) and Max brought me back his first heart shaped rock. He was so excited as he placed it in my hand and told me all about it. Am I blessed or what??? If you visit our home in Denver, you will see my proud display of both collections. It makes you think about what makes a treasure a treasure, doesn’t it?

That same little girly girl was caught feeding her baby brother a spoon full of rocky dirt. When we asked why she was doing that, she said it was the ice cream she made, and asked me if I wanted some too. 🙂 Meanwhile Pete was happily shoveling it in his mouth and grinning. The story takes a terrible turn. We keep a bag outside for stinky diapers, which seems to be plentiful these past few days. Pete got it open and found his latest contribution. Let’s just say I’ve never been so grossed out, and that’s big for a woman who has caught newborn poopy in her hand to save a clean diaper…don’t ask…I was delirious from lack of sleep. As Pete would say in his 15 month old English…GUCKY!!!

(My family continues to be my biggest source of entertainment.)

I was reading my latest copy of U.S. News & World Report this morning and came across a blurb for an article. It was titled, “What I did on my multi-purpose summer vacation” followed by this blurb: Multi-tasking kids can find a program for every possible combination of interests; do-gooders can volunteer as far away as India. But take note: Even a fantastic experience may not impress college admissions officers. Wasn’t that encouraging? (Sarcastic ahem) I read the article by Diane Cole and was a little irritated at her approach at teens in general. Under a picture of teens carrying logs, the tagline reads, “Teen Paradox: At home they are too tired to pick up their room. On Landmark Volunteer programs, they measure joists and clear trails.” It was an interesting article, but I ‘m a little in your face about teen issues, and I could care less how volunteering and its details will look on college applications. I agree with the high school guidance counselor quoted in the article, “Do it because you believe in it.” I will never encourage a kid to volunteer because it looks good on an application. Can they really learn the lessons that come with volunteering when their focus is impressing others? Hmmm…
It did offer a link that helps teens find volunteer opportunities close to home. I haven’t checked it out yet, but here it is: www.networkforgood.org

Well, my treadmill, the laundry, and hungry, playing children are calling to me. Happy Saturday!

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The following comes to you from Mike Cope’s blog. I vowed to spread this story to everyone I know. Please read on, and to read the comments that followed this post, Click Here.

Rwanda and Sudan.
For those who read and pray about what’s happening in the world, those are two countries that bring shivers. The former suffered a genocide a decade ago; the latter is experiencing one now (in the area of Darfur).

This summer, two young couples from Highland–grad students at ACU–are traveling to those countries to consider the possibility of planting mission teams there. They’re going with their eyes wide open, eager to see what God may have prepared. I almost don’t have words to describe my admiration for their faith and spiritual passion. Greg and Sara Kendall-Ball will be visiting Rwanda, and Houston and Kelly Shearin will be going to Sudan. (They will be in the southern part of the Sudan–quite a ways away from Darfur.) Both are going to be with older, more experienced missionaries as they survey and pray.

Think of all the prayers we’ve lifted for these two countries. Think of how often we’ve prayed for the Shalom of Christ to fall on them, and of how often we’ve prayed “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Both of these trips are very expensive. But how could they really commit to a long-term mission without visiting first? Highland has made generous donations to both couples, and both have been trying to raise money from friends, family, and other churches. But both still need several thousand dollars. (Think, for example, of the expense of having to charter a private plane just to get into Sudan.)

If you’re interested in joining Diane and me in helping them, you can make a check out to “Highland Church of Christ” and mark either “Shearins/Sudan” or “Kendall-Balls/Rwanda.” Also, if you’re possibly interested but would like to visit with either couple by phone or e-mail, please let me know (e-mail gina@highlandchurch.org) and I’ll pass that along to them. I don’t think I’ve ever done this before in the history of my little blog. But this is weighing on me.

We’ve asked the Lord to raise up workers and now workers have been raised up. Will we send them?

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I received a forwarded email today from my friend Toine. *Just a warning to all of you out there who love to forward stuff to me, I don’t read it if it says FWD in the subject line.* If you want to snail mail me that stuff, that’s great, but my computer time is precious to me and I would rather spend it reading blogs :)! Here’s the exception to the rule. Her email also said it was about Breast Cancer Research. My dear friend Toine lost her mother to a rare form of breast cancer, so I read it. I have edited it to save space, but the important info. is still there.

Those of you who are great at forwarding information to your e-mail network, please read and pass this on. As you may be aware, the US Postal Service recently released its new “Fund the Cure” stamp to help fund breast cancer research. The stamp was designed by Ethel Kessler of Bethesda, Maryland. It is important that we take a stand against this disease that affects so many of our mothers, sisters and friends. Instead of 37 cents for a stamp, this one costs 40 cents. The additional 3 cents will go to breast cancer research. A “normal”book costs $7.40. This one is only $8.00. It takes a few minutes in line at the Post Office and means so much. If all stamps are sold, it will raise an additional $35,000,000 for this vital research. Just as important as the money is our support. I would urge you to do two things TODAY: 1. Go out and purchase some of these stamps. 2. E-mail your friends to do the same. We all know women and their families whose lives are turned upside-down by breast cancer. It takes so little to do so much in this drive. I think we can all afford the additional 60 cents the new book costs. Please help & pass this on.

I would also add that when I purchased stamps this week, I had the privilege of buying “Stop Family Violence” stamps. These stamps are .45 each (book of 20 = $9.00) Same concept, the “extra” goes to the Department of Health and Human Services to support domestic violence programs. Both of these causes hit close to home for me, and I’m happy to do my part – as small as it seems. So start buying stamps people! Use one of them to drop me a letter – I love mail in any form – as long as it’s not a forward! 🙂 May I also remind you that though we live in the wealthiest country in the world, we have the cheapest postage. ( I used to work for the USPS, so I know)

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Six years ago today I came home from work early and spent the rest of the day glued to the T.V. and the telephone. Every channel had footage of the Columbine High School massacre taking place. The live coverage sent my heart racing as I quickly called Benny and had him call our friends three hours away in Littleton. Our friend Alan was the youth minister at the Littleton c of C, and Benny had just been there to do a retreat for them a few weeks earlier. I was worried that one of the kids we know might be trapped in the school. It turned out that one of them was. Shannon was on the last bus of the kids taken to the library to meet anxious parents. The waiting was agonizing. Not just for news of Shannon, but for news that it was finally over. Now, six years later, the last of the lawsuits has been settled or dropped. There are still unanswered questions, parents without children, a wife without her husband, and a school that remembers.

The Oklahoma City bombing was also remembered this week. I watched a mother on the news remember her two young sons that were killed in the blast. She said it gets easier, but the mourning never ends.

The Challenger exploded in front of my eyes when I was in 7th grade. Our school was watching it on T.V. and we took special interest in it because our Science teacher was one of the 100 finalists of teachers that had applied. He was in a daze the rest of the day.

On September 11th, I was at BSF when I got the news of the World Trade Center attack. I didn’t yet know about the other two flights. Someone turned on a T.V. in the auditorium just before the first building fell. I watched in horror as my mind tried to grasp that it was really happening. My very first thought was that I had to get home. My husband and baby were there and we needed to be together NOW. If anything was going to happen to me, I wanted to be with them.

T.V. can be both a blessing and a curse. It brought me news of all of these terrible tragedies. I have long since tired of eager reporters not having all of the facts before they speak, stations claiming they are the only ones with the exclusive reports, and witnessing other peoples lives being torn apart on national T.V. It’s so much to take in.

My response is the same…I want to go HOME!

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