Over due poo

Ok, so while i was in Iowa Luke was taking care of the house. Getting the mail, over feeding the animals(Bailey now weighs 8.5lbs)..ect.

Anyway, by the time i got home the litter box was way over due(plus larger poos because of the extra food). We actually closed off the downstairs bathroom for a day because when you opened the door the stink filled the kitchen.

I had forgotten that we had taken these pictures. I dont think i need to explain anymore. The pictures describe it so much better than i can.

"oh! You mean 'Old Man Rick'?"

Happy Birthday Rick Sherman!!!
He turned 55 today.

Tonight we went downtown to celebrate Rick's birthday. It was really a humbling experience. We did the gifts, the cake and candles.. the whole sha-bang. But really just getting on the ground with him and hanging out for a while was so incredible.

Long story short, Allie met him a couple months back and God has really drawn her back to him many times. She kept saying there is something different about him. And tonight i saw it. I think that Aaron said it best. He said that his eyes still have life in them..like he still has hope for something better. so many of the people we meet are shadows of who they use to be, swallowed up by addiction and worn out by the life style. But Rick has something.

We found out that he has a niece that visits him and she goes to church. I wonder if that will play into this later.

Anyways, it was awesome. I really see God using Allie in this in so many ways. YOU GO GIRL! <3

RAIN

YAY!!! Today is the first day that it rained and i wasn't properly dressed for it. WOOT!!!

IOWA.

This is my mini journal about my trip to iowa. I know your wondering," why didnt she just write on her blog?" Valid question... no internet. So, with a little cut and paste from Word,, ..here you go.


Nov.1

Nebraska…woke up to Tornado sirens.

Freaked

Me..

Out.

I knew that they were for tornados because of the show ‘Storm Chasers’. If you haven’t seen it, they follow around they huge tornados and tell about the death and destruction that comes from them.

So as I realize what that means, I grab a blanket and proceed to find someone (hoping that they haven’t all already ran to the basement leaving me to sleep in my bed). I open my door and there stands my mom, … smiling.

“I thought that would get you up.”

It was a test.
The End

Tomorrow I’m going to see my dad. I’ve seen him once after he left. I think that was when I was 17. I feel really weird about it. Mostly because I don’t have any strong emotions pulling me either way. So I guess we’ll all just have to wait and see, won’t we.

Today my grandma took us out to this lunch/girly/dress up thingy.. in this tiny town called Loisvill. It was way cool. There were only like 4 shops and all of them were super girly and fuzzy and pink. And that’s about all the entire town had. Plus a train runs through the town. It’s like out of a movie.

Nov.2

I just got back from my grandma’s house. I re-met my dad and grandma, and I met my 2 half sisters, Katlyn (who is 8) and Cali who is 4). On the drive over I didn’t really feel anything. I was nervous only because I didn’t know what to feel. On one hand here was the man that created me, that was my father for the first 11 years of my life. On the other hand, here was the man that left my family 10 years ago.. a stranger. For so long he seemed like a man from a story. I knew about him and what happened but he was just the man in the story. He has been a memory for so long.

As we pulled up to the drive way I was struggling to think about what I needed to feel about what was about to happen, when we saw two little girls playing at the end of the driveway. Before I could get out of the car there they were with a hug.

I said," Hi. Whats your name?"
"cali. Whats yours?"
"Lauren."
"I have a big sister named Lauren."

..and that is when I realized what I was feeling. These girls already knew our names. They talked about my brother and I, calling us “my big brother and sister”. Katlyn had been asking for the past 2 years when she would get to meet us. She told me she loves watching the dvd my mom had sent them of me singing.

I finally turn to see what else is turning my world upside down around me, and I see my dad and my brother hugging, and my dad crying. MY brother, who didn’t even want to see my dad. He just wanted to see my grandma.

So we sat outside and talked. My brother and my dad talked a lot. Just trying to catch 10 years up in a little over an hour. They talked about work, Paulina and his wedding coming up. My dad said he really wanted to try and make it out for Jesse’s wedding if he was invited.

All the while I was bombarded with questions from Katlyn. Who bears a striking resemblance to myself. She loves to dance, sing, draw, perform. She wants to be able to play guitar and sing. She writes songs. I just wanted to cry at this point. I was so heart broken, but still so overjoyed about this child that I had never met before, but was me just 13 years ago. My little sister. My sister that somehow I had influenced, even when I didn’t know she was out there.

Even now I have to hold back tears. Will I ever see her again? Does she know that I love her in a way I didn’t know that I could, until she called me her big sister? Does she know that Jesus loves her even more than I do? It’s so sad for me to think all of these things.

All of the sudden I feel so much more of a responsibility to write. I always felt so crushed that my dad left me. He never tried to get a hold of me. But now I feel like, how could I have expected him to. He is weak, he is lost in this world. I have strength through Christ.(2 Cor 4:7) And I should have made the effort. I should have called or written. And now I see that. Now I feel that.

It wasn’t bad. I actually wish we could have stayed longer. My dad looked better then the brief time I saw him years ago. I can’t tell if he is still doing drugs or not, but he looks better. He told Jesse and I that he wants to keep in touch. He wants to call and write. I hope that is true. I think I can help that be true now.

2 Cor 12:15 “I will gladly spend myself and all I have for you, even though it seems that the more I love you, the less you love me.”

13:4 “Although he was crucified in weakness, he now lives by the power of God. We, too, are weak, just as Christ was, but when we deal with you we will be alive with him and will have God’s power.”

I have to love them, each one of them. They are hopelessly lost in this world and I might be the only one they know that knows the joy, healing, strength, purpose, comfort, and LOVE that God has for them. That He has always had for them.

I am so thankful that God has shown me what role I need to take now.

Thank you so much everyone that was praying for me.

Its long but good. read it .

Pushups for Donuts

There was a boy by the name of Steve who was
attending school in Utah.
In this school Seminary classes are held during
school hours. Brother Christianson taught Seminary
at this particular school. He had an open-door policy
and would take in any student that had been thrown
out of another class as long as they would abide by his
rules. Steve had been kicked out of his sixth period
and no other teacher wanted him, so he went into
Brother Christianson's Seminary class.

Steve was told that he could not be late, so
he arrived just seconds before the bell rang and he
would sit in the very back of the room. He would
also be the first to leave after the class was over.

One day, Brother Christianson asked Steve to stay
after class so he could talk with him. After class,
Bro. Christianson pulled Steve aside and said, "You
think you're pretty tough, don't you?"

Steve's answer was, "Yeah, I do."

Then Brother Christianson asked, "How many push-ups
can you do?"

Steve said, "I do about 200 every night."

"200? That's pretty good, Steve," Brother
Christianson said. "Do you think you could do 300?"

Steve replied, "I don't know... I've never done 300
at a time."

"Do you think you could?" Again asked Brother
Christianson.

"Well, I can try," said Steve.

"Can you do 300 in sets of 10? I need you to
do 300 in sets of ten for this to work. Can you do
it? I need you to tell me you can do it," Brother
Christianson said. Steve said, "Well... I think I
can... yeah, I can do it."

Brother Christianson said, "Good! I need you
to do this on Friday."

Friday came and Steve got to class early and sat in
the front of the room. When class started, Brother
Christianson pulled out a big box of donuts.
Now these weren't the normal kinds of donuts,
they were the extra fancy BIG kind, with cream
centers and frosting swirls. Everyone was pretty excited-it
was Friday, the last class of the day, and they were
going to get an early start on the weekend.

Bro. Christianson went to the first girl in the
first row and asked, "Cynthia, do you want a donut?"

Cynthia said, "Yes."

Bro. Christianson then turned to Steve and asked,
"Steve, would you do ten push-ups so that Cynthia
can have a donut?"

Steve said, "Sure," and jumped down from his desk to
do a quick ten. Then Steve again sat in his desk.

Bro. Christianson put a donut on Cynthia's desk.

Bro. Christianson then went to Joe, the next person,
and asked, "Joe do you want a donut?"

Joe said, "Yes." Bro. Christianson asked, "Steve
would you do ten push-ups so Joe can have a donut?"
Steve did ten push-ups, Joe got a donut.

And so it went, down the first aisle, Steve did ten
pushups for every person before they got their
donut.

And down the second aisle, till Bro. Christianson
came to Scott.

Scott was captain of the football team and center of
the basketball team. He was very popular and never
lacking for female companionship. When Bro.
Christianson asked, "Scott do you want a donut?"

Scott's reply was, "Well, can I do my own pushups?"

Bro. Christianson said, "No, Steve has to do them."

Then Scott said, "Well, I don't want one then."

Bro. Christianson then turned to Steve and asked,
"Steve, would you do ten pushups so Scott can have a
donut he doesn't want?"

Steve started to do ten pushups. Scott said, "HEY!
I said I didn't want one!"

Bro. Christianson said, "Look, this is my classroom,
my class, my desks, and my donuts. Just leave it on
the desk if you don't want it." And he put a donut
on Scott's desk.

Now by this time, Steve had begun to slow down a
little. He just stayed on the floor between sets
because it took too much effort to be getting up
and down. You could start to see a little
perspiration coming out around his brow. Bro.
Christianson started down the third row. Now the
students were beginning to get a little angry.

Bro. Christianson asked Jenny, "Jenny, do you want a
donut?"

Jenny said, "No."

Then Bro. Christianson asked Steve, "Steve,would you
do ten pushups so Jenny can have a donut that she
doesn't want?" Steve did ten, Jenny got a donut.

By now, the students were beginning to say "No" and
there were all these uneaten donuts on the desks.
Steve was also having to really put forth a lot of
effort to get these pushups done for each donut.

There began to be a small pool of sweat on the floor
beneath his face, his arms and brow were beginning to get
red because of the physical effort involved.

Bro. Christianson asked Robert to watch Steve to
make sure he did ten pushups in a set because he couldn't
bear to watch all of Steve's work for all of those
uneaten donuts. So Robert began to watch Steve
closely. Bro. Christianson started down the fourth
row.

During his class, however, some students had
wandered in and sat along the heaters along the sides of the
room. When Bro. Christianson realized this; he did
a quick count and saw 34 students in the room. He
started to worry if Steve would be able to make it.

Bro. Christianson went on to the next person and the
next and the next. Near the end of that row, Steve
was really having a rough time. He was taking a lot
more time to complete each set.

Steve asked Bro. Christianson, "Do I have to make my
nose touch on each one?"

Bro. Christianson thought for a moment, "Well,
they're your pushups. You can do them any way that you
want."

And Bro. Christianson went on.

A few moments later, Jason came to the room and was
about to come in when all the students yelled, "NO!
Don't come in! Stay out!"

Jason didn't know what was going on. Steve picked
up his head and said, "No, let him come."

Bro. Christianson said, "You realize that if Jason
comes in you will have to do ten pushups for him."

Steve said, "Yes, let him come in."

Bro. Christianson said, "Okay, I'll let you get
Jason's out of the way right now. Jason, do you
want a donut?"

"Yes."

"Steve, will you do ten pushups so that Jason
can have a donut?" Steve did ten pushups very slowly
and with great effort. Jason, bewildered, was
handed a donut and sat down.

Bro. Christianson finished the fourth row, then
started on those seated on the heaters. Steve's
arms were now shaking with each pushup in a struggle to
lift himself against the force of gravity. Sweat
was dropping off of his face and, by this time, there
was not a dry eye in the room.

The very last two girls in the room were
cheerleaders and very popular. Bro. Christianson went to Linda,
the second to last, and asked, "Linda, do you want a
doughnut?

Linda said, very sadly, "No, thank you."

Bro. Christianson asked Steve, "Steve, would you do
ten pushups so that Linda can have a donut she
doesn't want?"

Grunting from the effort, Steve did ten very slow
pushups for Linda. Then Bro. Christianson turned to
the last girl, Susan. "Susan, do you want a donut?"

Susan, with tears flowing down her face, asked,
"Bro. Christianson , can I help him?"

Bro. Christianson, with tears of his own, said, "No,
he has to do it alone, Steve, would you do ten
pushups so Susan can have a donut?"

As Steve very slowly finished his last pushup, with
the understanding that he had accomplished all that
was required of him, having done 350 pushups, his
arms buckled beneath him and he fell to the floor.

Brother Christianson turned to the room and
said. "And so it was, that our Savior, Jesus Christ,
plead to the Father, "Into thy hands I commend my
spirit." With the understanding that He had done
everything that was required of Him, he collapsed on
the cross and died. And like some of those in this
room, many of us leave the gift on the desk,
uneaten.

Cruisin' on back to reality

I'm back! The cruise was great. Nothing was accomplished except a bit of a tan, needed sleep, and a few extra pounds. :)
enjoy the pics.