less than a week

a week from today i will have arrived in quito, woken up at 6am with a taxi on my way to Shell, Ecuador. the journey is about 4-6 hours depending on traffic/road problems and how fast the driver drives. so, this time next week, i will have hopefully arrived in shell and i will be setting up my classroom ready to teach on thursday! our school starts school tomorrow, but i am missing the first five days of school because this sunday, one of my dearest best friends since 3rd grade, whitney davis, is getting married in indy! i will be heading down there on friday...and the wedding is on sunday...labor day party on monday...and i leave on tuesday! let me just say...it has been a crazy week..and it wont die down until ....well, im not sure when :)

this year...my goal is to only bring down what i NEED to bring...for those of you who have travelled with me, know that i like to bring a lot of options...because i never know what i am going to be in the mood to wear :) but, i have been realizing (from being in a poor/not so fortunate place) that i really dont need a huge variety of clothes to be happy or enjoy life...so the past week, i have laid out all the clothes that i might want to bring...then every day i condense the pile to what i really like and what looks good on and what i know i can wear with multiple shirts and pants...and not just bring one pair of pants that goes with nothing. let me just say...it is hard for me to do...but i know it will be worth it...and hey...i need more room to pack school stuff!! you know you are a teacher when you pack more stuff for your students than for yourself...right now, i am prob brining 2/3 school stuff and 1/3 my stuff...but i HAVE to bring my favorite kids books :)

funny/annoying story: yesterday, i was meeting my spanish tutor for the last time for a late breakfast...and i was about to leave to meet my dad at the bike store nearby to get it tuned up before i leave for ecuador. as i was unlocking my bike and getting it ready to go...i realized that the person's bike next to mine was locked to mine! they had accidently connected their lock through my gear cords!!! AHHH!! so i walked up and down the streeet and went into stores asking people if they knew whose bike it was! i called my dad, he came to check it out (luckily he was in the area) and he went to buy some bike tools to loosen the gear cable...and $32.00 later with the proper tools...it came off!

well...gotta keep on packing :) if you are in chicago on monday...come on by for a party!!

NEWS

exciting news: when i checked my results for the triathlon...i was suprised to find that i placed 3rd in my age group! there were 16 girls in my age group...and in one of my transitions, i placed 1st! cool, huh? i was really excited...you can check out the results at www.pleasantprairietriathlon.com and look for the 2006 sprint race results...and the age 20-24 age group! :)

well, i am in a frenzy about getting all my things ready for ecuador..i guess i am really leaving! everyone is asking me, "so, are you excited?" i always say, "i guess so." i think its just because i have a lot to do before then and people i would like to see! one guy said that i must be schizophrenic (spelling is wrong) because i like really small towns and a big one like chicago! i never thought about that before...and i wouldnt be suprised to find out if i was :)

i finally got my tattoo that says, walk with faith touched up. it is on my right foot on the outside of my foot..and the tattoo is right along the line where my calloused area on my foot starts..so it was coming off! so round 2~ i will see if the ink decides to live with my skin this time! hopefully...if not, i will just have to get something else, darn! :) it hurts, and the only way i can explain the pain is it is just a extremely sharp and sometimes deep scratching. i could tell this time the guy was scratching deeper into my skin so it might stay this time.

anyways...im gonna go get some more errands done :) come up to chicago in your spare time and we can hang out this week :)

pleasant prairie triathlon

well, my second sprint distance triathlon was a success! it was in pleasant prairie, wisconsin..which is about an hour away from chicago..right on the illinois/wisonsin border...it was an adventure going there because my mom had a business dinner the night before at a great restaurant...which didnt put us on the road until about 10pm...so so long for a good night's rest! we arrived at midnight...and since the triathlon had about 1600 participants..it was impossible to get a room for the night...we ended up finding a room at the Value inn :) which is an old Knight's inn...and no renovations had been done since knight's inn opened...but hey, we needed a place to stay...my brother had blood on his mattress...it was not pretty! and i was just praying i would catch some good sleep..since i was getting up at 4am...thankfully, i did sleep and woke up nervous and ready to go. i got there at 5am...got my transition area ready...and was ready to go...it was nervous and excited...it was beautiful day and it was nice having my family being there (even though that was a challenge :)) above: my bro--will (back for a few days from working at the smoky mountains), me before the race, and my dad

above: me adjusting my goggles...wiping the fog and water droplets :) ...45 seconds away from starting my race!above: me exiting the water about to get on the bike :)
above: me just finishing the 12 mile bike..and running to drop off my bike and get on my running hat and race number

above: me finishing the 3mile run and race strong. it was a good race. i kept trying to push myself harder because i had been training all summer and this would be my last race of the summer...it was good motivation..all the glory to God.

side note: waiting in lines for port-a-pottys are overrated...i learned to go without the lines :)

just when i thought it was impossible...

well, God is putting reaccuring themes in my life right now...one of them is to continue to realize that He is with my ALWAYS and that i need to depend on him for every single detail of my life...and the other is to completely trust him with everything. i know these are themes because conversations with friends continue to be focused around these points, and little lessons about these things are being revealed to me.

situation: yesterday, i went to a teacher store to start stocking up and getting ideas for my classroom this year...i knew i didnt really have that much money to spend, but these are things i need to have...i walked out knowing that i could spend the rest of the money in my bank account on school supplies and was wondering how i was gonna do it. when i came home, i saw a letter addressed to me from a church....inside was a check written out to me, for enough money to fund my school supplies this year!!!

situation: i have had the goal this summer to complete a triathlon...the hardest part for me was going to be the swim...i have never swam as a work out or anything...my best stroke was the doggy paddle!! but, i was determined..and practiced a lot...at first, i felt like a 3 year old learning to swim. it is difficult to get the breathing and stroke down....but now, the practicing and perserverance has paid off! God has given me the energy to keep at it, and now, i can almost swim 1/2 a mile without doing any other stroke but freestyle!! all for His glory! nothing is impossible!

there are many other situations, but these stick out in my mind this morning. have a great day! what themes are God trying to put in your life...are you listening?

summer event pics

this is a picture of me and my grandma helen (mom's mom, me, my gma jackie and gpa bill (dad's parents) who came to support me at my first triathlon at eagle creek state park, Indiana.

i am about to begin! the swim caps are color coded depending on certain age and group factors.












this is all of the women about to start swimming...the men just went...and everyone swims by waves...the waves are usually 2-5 minutes apart















here is my wave beginning...you will see me in the blue suit waiting to go because i didnt want to get kicked a lot...

















this is a blurry pic of me starting the 3 mile run...which is the last part of the race









at the end of july, one of my great friends, whitney, wanted to come to chicago to attend the annual Filene's Basement bridal sale. at this sale, you can find great designer dresses for 200-599 dollars...which is a great deal...i had no problem with this, and i was excited to be apart of this famous event. i casually asked whitney what time we needed to be there, and she said around 2:45 am...which i thought she was kidding...come to find out, it was true! that morning, we woke up at 2:45 and got to the downtown location at around 3:45 am...when we parked and got there, there were already people in line! some people had been camping out, with chairs, blankets and all....we were very unprepared, but we made do...suprisingly, the 4 hour wait didnt seem that long...considering we were sitting on concrete :)

this is a crazy event...people come in teams and have matching shirt and signs with what size dresses they need. when the doors open, you are supposed to run in and grab as many dresses as you can, and even though you may not like the dresses, someone else will...so you should keep it to trade and bargin...so..we had the mindset of grabbing as many dresses as we could hold and run into a corner and find eachother...luckily, we were only the 5th group from the beginning of the line, so we knew we would get some dresses...the people at the end might walk into the store and not find any dresses.




so...the time finally came. there were news reporters and radio stations there to keep chicago updated on all the happenings :) they finally did the countdown and everyone ran down the escalator (it was turned off for safety reasons :)) and i grabbed as many dresses as i could...(wedding dresses are heavy!! as i told that to the camera man who was filming me!) we ran to a corner and met up with whitney as she looked at the dresses...it was kind of difficult to find a dress that she liked, because she already knew what kind of dress she wanted, so she didnt even want to try on dresses that she didnt think were pretty....so from all the dresses we grabbed, she didnt like any...but kept a couple she thought would be good trades...after about 30 minutes, you would hear groups of girls scream loudly...this meant that the bride to be found the dress of her dreams...these screams added to the pressure, because you wanted to be the one sceaming with the perfect dress.

so we split up and walked around looking at dresses girls were trying on..if we thought whitney might like one, we would stand around, see if they wanted to keep it...ask them...or stalk them out and keep asking them...i did this a couple of times, but even if the girl thinks the dress is average, she will keep it just in case...finally, we talked whitney into trying on the dresses she had in her hand from the beginning...come to find out, she LOVED the dress she grabbed from the start...and it looked amazing! you know a dress looks great when the other girls in the store walking around are complementing you on how great the dress looks...because there are a lot of girls trying on dresses that look pretty bad...so we knew it was a keeper! and yes, we all screamed to celebrate our success :) believe it or not, it only took us one hour to find the dress...that she had since the very beginning!!!

here is a pic of whit and trishelle waiting to go in the doors..it was pretty exciting...im just glad we found a dress...too bad i cant post a picture of it... :)

...

i just saw the movie, little miss sunshine...and, i have to say it is one of my favorite movies of all time. there was a lot of truth in it...but there were definately things i did not agree with as well...but..youll have that in every movie i suppose. i love movies that you watch and you walk out thinking about them and how the theme applies to your life and how your life will change from it. its just like sermons too...i love listening to sermons where you know the pastor has really sought the Lord about what He wants him to share with His people. you can always tell the people pleasers from the Lord pleasers.

over the past month or so, ive had the opportunity to share about my ecuador experiences with 2 groups: my grandparents sunday school class and my aunt's youth group. both experiences were great and completely different. its funny that way...when you seek the lord about what to share...he will give you something completely different...because each group needed to hear something completely different. it was a great experience with each...and the Lord gave me all the ideas and creativity for both talks. his timing is perfect.

it was interesting speaking to a middle/high school group because i remember when i was that age and i listened to speakers. i thought they were sooo cool and were perfect. but i let them know that just because i was up there talking about "heart cleaning" that it was an every day battle for me and i am still dealing with it and that even though i am up here talking, i dont have it all together. i think that is important to hear...because when i was new and learning about living for God, i thought i was going to reach this point that i didnt have to learn anyhting more, i would reach this point with God...and then i would have enough to do the important things that i wanted to do in my life...like teaching, get married...have kids, etc. but it was in college that i realized, hey, this is a life journey!! it is kind of overwhelming, but exciting at the same time, because we dont just reach one point...we keep learning and learning and growing...wow.

so..on another note :) i completed my first triathlon! it was really fun! i really enjoyed it and didnt die on the swim like i thought i was going to :) i finished the race not really being tired..which tells me i could have pushed myself more...but hey, it was my first race and i didnt know how tired i was going to be. my final time was 1:21...which is ok for my first race. i signed up for another one on sunday, aug 20 in pleasant prairie wisonsin...i am excited for that--but it is a 1/2 mile swim..so that will be a little harder...but it will be a great experience.

i finally have my ticket to go back to ecuador..september 5, and i start teaching on the 7th!! talk about no transition time :) it will be good to get back and get back into the teaching groove...

read velvet elvis. go see little miss sunshine--the more open minded you are, the better...