EXODO 2010

Here it is-

What I've been thrust into by the hand of God seemingly, knowingly, thankfully.
It's time to go on another missions trip! I'm so excited and getting nervous and can't stop thinking about all the million and one things that could happen, that I hope happen, that are sure to happen.

One of those things is that the Lord is glorified through our group! With so many overlapping relationships already there, and awesome testimonies of God's faithfulness, there is so much to bear witness to of God's love and mercy for his children! I'm already enjoying getting to Lorna and Carmela, my fellow BGV girls!

Let me tell you about our little group, which has been named Exodo 2010.
The band is Xavier Sr (my dad), Oscar, Jerry, David and his wife Carmela, Lorna, Chicho (Jose'), Xavvy Jr (my bro), and myself. At some point, Chicho, my father , Lorna, and our pointman back in Ecuador who is setting everything up, Carlos Concha (craziest man I've ever met), were in a band in the late 70s in Ecuador called Exodo. So, I guess this will sort of be their reunion tour for them, but things that come around a second time years later can be so much sweeter. They have updated old songs, learned a lot about life and the Lord, and are willing to bring the gospel through song to whoever will listen.

I think since this will be my first time back in Ecuador since I was born, I will start to understand all of what I don't at this point. We weren't raised in Latin culture so for me, this really will be a cross-cultural experience. I can't wait to have that "Ohhhh...ok" moment. My mom will also be joining us on the trip as will David and Carmela's two kids. It's a big crowd, but the Lord as always will find ways to use us whether we expect it or are ready for it. We pray that we will be ready though!

This picture was taken at our last rehearsal.Our next one is this Saturday, and I'm looking forward to it.

I'll write more about where, when, how, and why next time.

Check, check, check-iemos el blog

Wow.

Have 2 years already gone by?

Haha, oops! I forgot I had a blog. Nevermind. Its good to know its always here for me.

Fall apron swap!!

Im doing the sassy apron fall swap and didn't realize it would take me this long to figure out how to do a simple apron. yikes.

Lately while away from old Deb (my sewing machine) I've been having a heap of fun on youtube watching the Chupacabra, and cruising Urban Outfitters for haircut ideas. Im getting it cut today in St Pete by my dear and most beautifullest friend, Mary. Shes a gem. We met in Philadelphia my first semester in college and we were the only two sane people who didn't love snow (being native Floridians you know, we're OK with hurricanes and that sort of thing-just not freezing weather). Ive since changed my mind about snow but not about our friendship. She truly is such a generous and lovely person. Everyone should have a friend like her!
I'll post pics if it's not a complete bust, which I'm sure it won't.

Updates of Note: I sewed a beautiful pink and brown themed retro apron along with an oven mitt that was sent to someone I have never met in my life! For some reason my apron never made it to me though, so I guess it wasn't really a "swap". So, I emailed a few people, and found out that it had been sent but to the wrong address. This address though had received the package and kept it! I was miffed when I found that out, so I sent them a little lovin via USPS.
I wrote to them to please contact me because I didn't know who they were but my apron was making itself at home there apparently. To make a long story, well, longer, I was contacted back by said thieves only to find that they were the two girls I was supposed to live with in Gainesville, FL in the fall of 2009. Oopsies! Talk about onset senility- How did my apron end up there I wondered and how did I not remember having it sent to that address!? Must have been the dang computer's cut and paste. So, I made arragements for it to be sent back, but still, no sign of my wandering apron. I guess I'll let them keep it for now!

Opportunity, by John James Ingalls

Master of human destinities am I.
Fame, love and fortune on my footsteps wait,
Cities and fields i walk; I penetrate
Deserts and seas remote, and, passing by
Hovel, and mart, and palace, soon or late
I knock unbidden, once at every gate!
If sleeping, wake- if feasting, rise before
I turn away. It is the hour of fate,
And they who follow me reach every state
Mortals desire, and conquer every foe
Save death; bot those who doubt or hesitate,
COndemned to failure, penury and woe,
Seek me in vain and uselessly implore-
I answer not. and I return no more.

The things that matter

Public libraries are becoming an obsession of mine. I see it as a refuge, a workplace and my office, a gathering of the community. Here in this little place that I am surrounded by years of wisdom and wit, decades of people struggling to find some sort of existence in the power of words, and in the thick of it, us newborn strugglers, a whole new generation of searchers who seek to be taught, shown and have our minds expanded. . .obviously I spend too much time there.
Yesterday, I picked up some books that are in line with my ever harebrained ideas of what to do with my life. This question in no way has any bearing on what sort of means of income I might find this summer becuase really. . .the one thing I've found out so far is that most of the time your dream job (which consists mostly of idealized versions of oneself doing not much work that produces self-aggrandizing results) does not coincide with what pays rent. More's the pity.

Among my acquisitions for the week that I borrowed from the thinking place, as I like to call it, I got one book about the stages of life as seen through 7 different literary works. Jane Eyre, which I must read again soon to not look the fool,speaks of Jane as one who learns to move on from the past and to know that what she believes, whether in good or bad, is what grounds her.
I want to say her words. . .

"I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad- as I am now. Laws and principles are not for th times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour . . . They have a worth - so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is because I am insane- quite insane: with my veins running with fire, and my heart beating faster than I can count its throbs. Preconceived opinions, foregone determinations, are all I have at this hour to stand by; there I plant my foot."
-Jane Eyre

What does she mean by this??

Is this thing that really matters, a belief that one sets oneself up on, looking neither to the right nor left, but holding onto this as the bouy that saves in the storm?

You go Jane.