I Love You Like A Chicken

Just be prepared that this post is going to be a long one because there are so many things to say!!
First, I'll explain my title for the Post.

I went on a weekend retreat for Middle Schooler's this weekend. It was really great. I was surrounded by 190 middle schooler's, that's got to be good!! The Synod brought in a woman named Celia Whitler to do all of the worships for us. On the first night she was talking about her sons. One of them is 4 years old and each night he would say something to his mom like "I love you 100" or "I love you 1,000" or "I love you like candy" and one night he said "Mom, I love you like a chicken". So that was our task for every day was to tell as many people that we love them like a chicken. It was great. What an easy way for Middle schooler's and even the older sponsors to tell other people that they love them and care for them. So if I come up to you and tell you that "I love you like a chicken"...that's where that came from.

The weekends theme was stories of faith, and one of our activities was to think of a family memory or tradition that has stuck in your mind. It's one of those things where it's always hard to think of something on the spot. But for some reason, a memory or my grandmother's house popped into my head out of the blue. She passed away in 2000 and it took me this long to just sit and think and remember. It's a simple memory, but it almost made me cry:
Growing up, every Sunday after church we would go to my Grandma's house one weekend and then to Nani and Pop's (they didn't want to be called grandma and grandpa) on the other weekend. Every time we would go to Grandma's house in Falls City she would either cook us Polish Sausage with Fried Potatoes or Chicken and Dumplings. I'm sure there were other dishes that she made but those are just the two that always stuck in my mind. And every time I would walk in her house I would go up and give her a hug and go straight to the stove to take the lids of the pots to see what was cooking. I know it's a simple thing, but she always expected it to. I was always the one that checked what was cooking for lunch. I guess you could call it a tradition...it was just something that I did. And now that I think of it, it's a sweet memory that I will always have. It was obviously a part of my life.

Needless to say I learned a lot about myself this weekend. There are other stories that I learned about my life that has made me in the person that I am today and that has pruned me into the woman of faith that I am today as well. I always get so much more out of the weekends that are intended for the youth than I do out of the weekends that are for the adults. Oh well.

It was also my first gathering without Lauren. :( Sad, I know. But that just meant I got to spend more time with my sponsors that I brought. Which was great, because they were super fun people that I'm really glad came along for the weekend activities.

Another story from the weekend. I drove our 15 passenger Van, that has dulley wheels in the back. It's AWESOME! Well to fit that many people into one vehicle, there has to be many rows. There's the front bucket seats and then 4 rows of youth in the back. Well one of the girls in the third row back got a little car sick. No, let me rephrase that...got a lot car sick. Good thing we had some plastic trash bags in the vehicle. Yes, she did make everything into the bag, but poor thing had to do her business surrounded by lots of other youth. Then there's me in the front seat who has the worst gag reflexes EVER. I thought I might get a little "car sick" myself. I had a hard time listening to the regurgitation in the back seat, driving 12 other people, and smelling the sweet aroma of the waste...I Gagged.... A LOT! But we made it back safely and without any more incidents.

When we got back into town I had just enough time to go home and take a quick shower before coming back to work to meet with my high school youth.

Monday was going to be my day off. It was for the most part. I had to get up early to go to the Orthopedist for my 6 week check up. He claims everything should be fine with me as long as I keep doing my excersices (which I'm not gonna lie, I don't do them as regularly as I should be). The shooting pains in my arms and legs to me are signs of a pinched nerve in my spine...but Mr. Dr....seems to think I'll be fine. So we'll see!

Other exciting things from Yesterday.

My parents had their 30th Anniversary. THIRTY YEARS!!! That's very awesome.

My friend Keith, his mom and my mom have been friends since the 8th grade, so we basically grew up together. He's like my 4th brother. Well he called yesterday afternoon...his wife delivered there son!! Yay!! Noah was born at 2:30, he was 8 pounds and I'm sure some ounces and 21 inches.
Congratulations to the new family!!
I'll be in that area this weekend so hopefully I'll get to pop in and see the new family!!

I had my usual phone call from my cousin last night. It was a long one. With council meeting getting out late and the unually long talk with Bryan, I missed watching Hero's and Studio 60 which makes me a little upset because I really like those shows. But family comes first. Anyways:
Of course there was girl problems, which I hope my cousin just grow some and realized that he's an idiot and shouldn't be dating girls that are 9 years younger than him. At least not right now.
He also shared with me that he is an Atheist. Or in his words, he's at least 97% sure he's an atheist. The other 3% is skeptical. So of course we got into a discussion about that. I noticed that I don't know how to handle stuff like that. It made me more sad than it did make me mad. He was a Marine and had been through lots of stuff and now he's a state trooper and I just figured that so much as happened in his life to support the fact that there is a God that he wouldn't have any reason to doubt. I guess I was wrong. He keeps our Grandma's Rosary in his bullet proof vest. He said that was part of his 3%, so I'm hoping that his 3% grows into something a little more. I just had no idea how to handle situations like that.

I feel that I should have all this knowledge to poor out to him because I work in a church, but I almost didn't have anything to say. I did say something, but I was so speechless that it was almost embarrassing. I told him I would pray for him and he said he would appreciate that. I'm hoping he's just going threw a confusing time right now. I know lots of guys go through a time when they don't go to church and just wait until they're married...the same ol' excuse I hear from many people. I asked him what he's going to do if he marries a christian and he said "I'll fake it". How do you fake something like that? To me if you're faking it, there's got to be a little Jesus in your hear that you know of, know what I mean.
So if any of you have any advice for me on how to handle this let me know. Advice to where it doesn't sound like I'm preaching to him...I don't want to turn him away...