what's important

whats important, originally uploaded by sarah_laughingguts.

Remember.

He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8

So that's what's been on my mind lately, getting ready for the summer season of camping. Remembering what's behind, striving for what's ahead, yeah, that's great. But doing the important things as well, and holding fast to truth, goodness, justice, mercy, and all that with humility.

Whew! A tall order! But exciting too.

Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart

Interesting book I came across in my daily Powell's e-review (in these comments, a brief breakdown of chapters), one of the chapters talks about how the person who cares the least in a relationship wields the power. Never quite thought of it this way before, but when I think of my friends and family, and the different levels of connection we have to each other, I do notice it's true! The ones I wish I were closer to, well, they have the power to make it happen. Try all I might, I can't get them to spend more time with me or share more of their lives with me if they don't do it.

Conversly, there are some I think of that the people involved would like to be closer to me, and it's I who sets the boundary levels.

So today I've spent some time wrapping my mind around that simply obvious statement.. and I guess I'm glad to have it spelled out for me.

Happy Spring!

Joys of Unplugging

Well, this summer at Cedar we're encouraging even further unplugging from technology, and worked out the details just this week. I think it's interesting that I also came across this article on unplugging today.

Since I was just nominated for community services by the Peace Corps this week, I've been surfing for more information in that area as well as other programs and organizations committed to service. There is so much out there, it has me a little sidetracked from my 'homework' of looking into costs and details for traveling to and around Tanzania, Morocco, Spain, and France!

Happy April, everyone. I hope you're enjoying the rain which brings green back to us! As for me, I'm still seeing snow and might just drive home through a blizzard tonight.

Midwest travels

It's been a big weekend for my main man Gilbert and me. We've zipped from Cedar Campus to Mount Pleasant to Chicago to Pleasant Vineyard to Cincinnati to Sturgis and back home to Cedar once more. Not counting all the times I had to turn around to find the exit or an alternate route, we added about 2,000 miles in 5 days to Gil's odometer.



He ate that road up, giving me as much as 37 mpg! I guess prayer works :)

And as for me, I gained some amazing conversations and memories out of the deal. I had the chance to reconnect up close and personally with a whopping 13 friends! They've known me in various stages of life, from all my life, high school, college, and camp to camp. Lisa, Liz, Susan, Meredith, Ya Li, Gao, Dong, Rob, Lance, Bob, Kathy, Maribeth, Kat, my grandparents, and my mother got the most time.. but there were a bunch more I was able to sit and chat with.. It's really interesting for me to see how they view me and how they see me taking them in, and to hear how life has been since the times we lived alongside each other. They definitely were conversations worth driving for, each of them. And the hugs!

It was crazy, fitting it all into 5 days.

I also had the chance to interview with the peace corps while in Chicago, eat authentic home-cooked Chinese dinner, walk and talk camp and life with Rob while walking the watery grounds at PVM, attend Chinese church for a Good Friday service with great music, gab with awesome people at Applebees, bowl and haul a player piano with Eric and Lance, and spend lots of time thinking as Gilbert took me from place to place. Sometimes I wish I didn't think so much.

Work today was difficult, sitting to the task once more of getting ready for the summer camp season, knowing that I am so far from those friends who have known me for so long. I realized last week that it's been 5 years since I first started working in the camping world. Remembering that little girl puts a smile on my face. She would have totally done what I just did this weekend, too, trying to squeeze in as much face-time as possible with pals. I'm glad I haven't changed that much!

She would have been less tired and sore at the end of it, though.

Bummer.

At least I know I can still do it! It's not forever, I think, that I will be able to just pick up and go like that. So here I treasure it.

Zai Jian!

Stunned

These images are amazing.

I am shocked and awed. The artistry in the colors, the depth of the feeling conveyed in them!

That person is in the right business. And I'm glad it's online so that I can see away up here in northern michigan.. images from Indonesia.

Maybe someday I'll make it down that way (-;

skibench

skibench, originally uploaded by sarah_laughingguts.

I went here awhile back.

It's nice.

Idealist

I like to think my husband will play this song for me someday... Boys, this is one way to make a girl swoon... And don't think I'm joking. I just watched John Denver sing this on PBS - a man who's been dead 10 years now. And it still worked :) So if you happen to have a halfway decent voice, it'll work! The ability to accompany yourself on guitar helps ;-)


This old guitar taught me to sing a love song
It showed me how to laugh and how to cry
It introduced me to some friends of mine
And brightened up some days
It helped me make it through some lonely nights
Oh, what a friend to have on a cold and lonely night

This old guitar gave me my lovely lady
It opened up her eyes and ears to me
It brought us close together
I guess it broke her heart
It opened up the space for us to be
What a lovely place and a lovely space to be

This old guitar gave me my life my living
All the things you know I love to do
To serenade the stars that shine
From a sunny mountainside
Most of all to sing my songs for you
I love to sing my songs for you
Yes, I do, you know
I love to sing my songs for you

Words and music by John Denver

Sorry no picture..

but usually night-saunas aren't camera-worthy for my particular canon. Maybe that will change this week when the new one arrives!

Anyway, the news: the northern lights were out in two wide bands tonight! I walked out to the hole in the ice, and while waiting couldn't get enough of the view. Amazing.

Been noticing lately that there is so much beauty around, and most of the time, we miss it. As I was filling my humidifier with water tonight, it was hard not to notice how beautiful the bubbles made by the faucet were. Once I noticed, anyway. Once you notice, it's hard not to. I like that.

Goodnight all - and happy springing forward to yas.

:)

On the intro/extro-line?

perhaps...

Song on the brain speaking to the heart..

My roommate has this great mix of songs we jam to in the bathroom sometimes :) and that's how I heard this song, whose lyrics make me wistful:

ELI - Things I Prayed For

Things I prayed for when I was young
That my father would love me like his only son
That my mother would be patient with me
And my sister would not leave
And if my grandpa could see me beyond his grave
That he'd think his little man was so great
That my hair would not stick up in weird places
And I'd be someone someday

Years go by so easily that sometimes I forget
Years go by and make me see that there's no time for my regret
No time for my regret

Things I prayed for in my teens
That God would forgive all my evil deeds
That my father and my sister would come home
And mom could meet our needs
And if my grandpa could see me beyond his grave
That he'd say a prayer for his family's sake
That my hair would stick up in weird places
And I'd be someone someday

Years go by so easily that sometimes I forget
Years go by and make me see that there's no time for my regret
No time for my regret

Things I pray for now in my twenties
That God would still love me
That my dad would like his new family
That I could hug my sister, that my mom could rest
That my wife would still melt every time we kissed
And if my grandpa has seen me beyond his grave
How cold and silent he has remained
That my hair would not fall out in weird places
And I'd be someone someday

Years go by so easily that sometimes I forget
Years go by and make me see that there's no time for my regret
No time for my regret
These are the things I prayed for
That I'd be someone someday

I think it would be neat to see Eli come back to this song in 20 years and say what he'd pray for in his 30s and 40s too. I hope I remember there's no time for regret..and that I'd be someone someday. What will this path lead us to? In talking to the older staff here at camp, over and over again I hear that nobody ever thought they would be here in this place, with this family, with this everything. So does that mean it won't be me in 20 years? Because I could see that happening..

Whew. Got out of that one! Still no answer as to where it will lead, but where it won't lead..

maybe.

Dreaming of China

Dreaming of China, originally uploaded by sarah_laughingguts.

I'm dreaming of dusty roads and watermelons tonight..

The Fam

Seems like people keep dying.

This week in particular a handful that I knew. First, a great-aunt. And then last night, a great-uncle (unrelated to each other).

I start healing from one, then it happens all over again, and at moments, it's worse than before, when I thought I was in the absolute depths of despair. What I've learned for sure so far is that the highs go a whole heck of a lot higher than I've ever experienced, and the lows go even lower that I've known. If there's one thing I love and hate about growing up, it's that one.

Today's been a good day, though, all in all. I work with great people, who do good things for each other and especially for our guests. It doesn't hurt that it's beautiful here. :)

A list.

Things I want to remember:
-looking out on the frozen bay - all times of the day
-walking and sliding across the bay to work and home again
-ice skating over black ice and sliding on my knees like the kids for the fun of it (and later regretting it - a little - because of the painful bruises)
-talking in front of the woodstove with one of those rare kindred spirits
-remembering yet again that tv will suck your brains out
-sitting in a windowseat while reading a good book
-wakening to the sunrise and seeing fog as the bay freezes
-my coworkers
-cross-country skiing or snow-shoeing any time I feel like it
-Canasta buddies!
-Cribbage buddies!
-eating venison killed by friends..
-seeing baby bobcats
-waiting for deer to cross the mile-long driveway every morning to work, and trying to get my camera out, capturing the babies and their mamas on screen
-Libraries with records of my ancestors
-live music by accomplished musicians who love what they do and play for free
-driving across the mackinac bridge over frozen ice
-white chocolate
-squeals of delight as I'm chased around my desk by little visitors
-sleeping peacefully

Alright- enough for now. See yous later.

As I Type..

I can hear the Boogie Woogie in the background, just like gramma used to play for me. There's a woman here at the Traverse Area District Library who is playing her heart out on the floor below me.

A few pieces before that, she played Clair de Lune, another favorite of mine. I had to go stand closer and close my eyes, picturing the thoughts that music floats into my mind. I saw a boat gliding through the water of a big lake, sailing into the sunset. Not the end, but a beginning. So much promise.

That said, I am thoroughly enjoying my mini-vacation at Shanty Creek Resorts. I've been in the condo a total of about 10 minutes so far, as I've spent the weekend with friends Alex and DiAnn. Now it's just DiAnn and me here at the library, as Alex had to fly back to California about an hour ago.

Tonight I'm going to a SuperBowl party with DiAnn and her husband Matt, playing games and eating tacos as her dad watches the big game.

As I look out the window, I can see a man ice fishing on the lake, and a couple snowshoing along the shore. What a beautiful place.

Do I really want to say goodbye to all this? I suppose that's what vacations are supposed to be; oases in the midst of our chaotic lives, eh? A vacation is like a good friend. And even better with a few good friends, like Kat!

Adios!

Please read - copied from my friend Lance..

The time to act is now - help save lives in China with 10 of your dollars - it could help so many children..

All you need is a facebook account and to check out the group Love Without Boundaries. They are based in Loudi of Hunan Province, China, where Lance taught last year. They do amazing things. Please click the above and read from Lance what he has to say and suggest.

Tuesday, January 29 before 12pm EST.

Book plug

I'm reading How to Learn Anything Quickly and let me tell ya, it's very informative. Combining what we know already a bit about - right and left- brainedness, the four major learning styles (visual, auditory, tactile, and kinesthetic), and what that means for whomever has those combinations that come of these pairings. It's already helping me see why it is that I don't get things sometimes - why it's difficult for me to remember things. Apparently I'm a tactile right-brainer, which means for me as a person that I'm prone to be very sensitive and think globally - I read people's body language and feelings more quickly than what they're actually saying...and on and on it goes, with precise and mostly to-the-point descriptions.

My secondary learning style is visual - I guess that's part of why I like to read so much! And just now it clicked - maybe this is why I would rather write someone an email than talk to them on the phone if I couldn't see them to talk.

So that's what's going on in this world today - that and saying goodbye to the first group of His House students on their winter retreat. After cleaning up shop this afternoon, a bunch of us went ice skating out to the shoals - it was amazing to look down through the 6-inch clear ice and see giant boulders not even 6 feet away beneath my hockey-skates! And wouldn't you know, the battery in my camera died without me getting any shots of it, today or yesterday either. It's about time to retire mr. A520, I'm thinking. Too bad. He served me well. And I don't want to hunt for another again.. Oh well. It could be worse.

Simply.. Amazing

The temperature has been incredibly cold lately, sufficiently so that the bay has frozen over enough now to walk from one side of camp to the other - or ski, or snowshoe, as you will. Tonight, I think it will be snowshoe-ing.

Can't put that full moon to waste when it's blazing in the night sky, can we?

And for the last several hours, I have been educating myself by reading a book about the peace corps in front of a cheery fire in the owl's nest.

I can hardly believe this is my life right now.

I wonder

why I like so many things...

would it have been easier going if I just knew I always wanted to be an astronaut?

it's so consuming to figure out.

and that's not even the most important thing in life..

but my narcissistic self would like to remind me that it is..

of course it's not. I like to hang on to ecclesiastes...

"1:24 A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? 26 To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind...5: 18 Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him—for this is his lot. 19 Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God. 20 He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart."

It speaks pleasantly to me when I'm bitter, and tempers me down when I tend to go sky-high with crazy schemes.

And throughout all these thoughts, the snow silently blankets this home, snuggling in to bring to this northern land snowmobilers and winter recreation-seekers. That's the reality of where I am right now. And it's getting far too late for me to be writing in my drugged (they're legal, for the cold I find also silently blanketing my throat) state.

Adios!

Hm.

Somebody's excited about applying for the Peace Corps.

But I'm not going to name any names.

My New Year

The eve of this new year, I almost forgot 2007 was leaving. Hah!

In spite of that, it was still one of the best. Farouk played 'Silent Night' on the saw, Robinson discovered the Americans knew his song from China (the song was to the english eye 'If you're happy and you know it'), Nathan burst the pin(y)ata, I had jiaozi (the real dumplings, from scratch in Chinese hands that have been in the US for only a few months), wonderful jiaozi, took pictures like a tourist, and even cried a bit because my new friends were about to leave me..

I still forget to write '08 on official documents. At least I know a lot of people do this :-)