Roadblocks

It appears every time I turn around I am hitting a roadblock! Literally. In the form of winter storms.

I ended up coming back to my home state for Christmas and then had plans to journey further on between Christmas and New Years. For a couple of reasons. Namely, to visit my dear dear friend Jenny. Who worked at camp for one summer and then ditched us. Something about God having other plans for her life.

My other reason is a bit more ..... non concrete. I have been very bored and restless with the ordinary lately. I am crying out for adventure and it isn't happening! I think I place too much emphasis on what I imagine adventure to be and then when my expectations are not met I end up throwing a tantrum like a 2 year old. The only difference is that I do mine internally. For the most part. At least most of what I externalize is coherent. Most of.

Anyways. I was all set to leave bright and early this morning. So I come home last night (pretty late ... after spending 6 hours at Perkins .... but it was lovely!) and check the weather. What do I see? Michigan is covered in a winter storm warning. No where else. Just Michigan. Exactly where I want to go. Roadblock.

After discussing it with my family and listening to their wise and sage advice (and not what I wanted to hear!!) and trying to make other situations work to our advantage I had to give up on the dream to see my Jenny. Sigh.

So, now what? Well, since my home state is Minnesota (are you noticing a trend with the M's in my life? Cause I sure am!) and I have been east, west, and south of here, there is only one direction to go.

Canada here I come! One of my brothers has graciously given up his plans (well .... he didn't really have any so I didn't have to twist his arm too hard) to come with me. So, Lord willing we're going to head out on the road in the morning. If, ya know, the winter storm that we are supposed to get doesn't hit. Roadblock!

On a cheery note for the day - since I didn't leave at o'dark thirty this morning I was able to go to my home church. My lovely, fun, growing, full of people I love church. It was great!

I felt like I was in high school again. My best friend ended up sitting with me and my mom and we laughed and giggled and poked each other and told secrets through the whole service. While paying the utmost attention of course!! Mom gave us dirty looks and passed us notes. What fun!

Ya'll came to my blog today to see my smiling face right? RIGHT?

Well, why else would you come?

So to oblige, here are some pictures from the past few weeks.

(Oh and the ya'll comes from me reading a highly entertaining blog from down south. However, I can't lie to you. I have started to throw it into the mix of my own vocabulary. Slowly. Just a few here and there. And it's not from reading her blog either. Its just something that feels normal. I like to build things up naturally so it's not a huge shock. Obviously. Cause I'm just like that. I mean I started mentioning moving to Montana a loooong time before I did ... err .... does 3 weeks count?)

Picture #1 of my smiling, face ::

Whoops! Well .... it is of my face! That counts right? Plus it's not just my face. You can also see the faces of some of the fabulous Christian people that I share my town with.

Picture #2 ::
See, smiles all around! This my friend who teaches at a country school close to where I go to church. Yes, a country school. As in, 1 room, 3 kids of varying grades, and in the middle of nowhere. My hero! We were at THE annual event for Christians to be at. Imagine us all getting together and eating food and listening to singing. And guess what! I was part of the singing. No really. I was. STOP IT! I can hear ya'll from here! It wasn't a solo or anything. Just a group song. And I sang softly. So there!

Picture #3 ::
I have this habit of taking pictures of myself. Almost everywhere I go. Mostly it's for one of two reasons ::
#1. I travel alone a lot. Therefore, there is no one to take a picture of me in a cool place. And that's just sad! So my skills as a self photographer have much improved!
#2. I get bored and antsy very easily. Especially in group settings where I don't have a role. It is just a hard situation for me so I must entertain myself. Especially when I am not involved in a conversation. So I take lots and lots of pictures of myself. To the amusement of those around me. Hey. I just like giving people something to talk about!

Anyways. This picture was taken at our staff Christmas party last week. It is one of three variations. I chose this one for several reasons. None of which are important, so I'll just move along.

Picture #4 ::
This isn't of me. (Did I ever mention that people around here call me Captain Obvious? Still a little fuzzy on that one ... ) This is one of my good friends, with whom I spend lots and lots of time. He was anxiously waiting for his turn in the gift exchange.

Picture #5::
Here is my other good friend with whom I spent lots and lots of time. I say spent because he is leaving us today. Something about family obligations and the Army sending him overseas. To which I say whatever! Well, actually I don't. Cause it's cool that he is willing to serve. And I am honored to be a friend to a serviceman. But he's still going to be missed! There is just going to be something weird about having only two of us. Sad.

I would like you to compare his picture with the one of our other friend. Cause he had already taken part in the gift exchange and received what he had been wanting for awhile. As in a long time. And so he was content. Content enough to ignore everything else that was happening around him and take a nap. Apparently he didn't want to share in our joy!

Picture #6::
These two darling, funny, Southern (there's that ya'll again!) packed up a U-Haul and left us to go back to the warmth. Coincidentally enough they left right when it got below zero. Coincidence ... right? They will be missed!

Picture #7 ::
Those two guys in the back are part of the coaching staff at our local high school. Which means they get volunteered for stuff. Like playing in charity volleyball games. So, we made them signs and went and cheered them on. Loudly. It was glorious! (oh and it's cause I work with them that I did this. just sayin'!)

Picture #8 ::
Now, for this, you need some explanation. Let's be honest. Ya'll(that's #3 and I think my quota has been reached!) are looking at this and thinking "hmmmm .... that's a lot of snow blocks ya got there." And the response to that is "yup!".

Now for the story. So, on Sunday morning I go to let my precious puppy outside at approximately 5:45. Now, thats sleeping in for her, so I was ecstatic! Anyways. I look out my door before I unlock it and I see this guy staring at my fence. AND THEN - I see another guy join him. Now, I know I live in small town and all that, but that's just creepy!! So I stare for awhile longer and I realize that I do indeed know them. WHEW!

Remember the guy taking a nap while wearing a Santa hat? Well, he had a brilliant idea involving my fence and lots of snow blocks. And he wanted it to be a surprise. I was supposed to go out of town last weekend but because of the storm decided to stay home, cuddled up in blankets, reading books and watching movies. That threw his plan off and so he had to do it in the middle of the night. Apparently they got to my house around 2 AM and worked until I caught them at 6. It was a mere -20 outside, so why not right?

a picture is worth .....

This picture was taken at approximately 4:53 AM Thursday, November 28.

There are several things of note about this picture:

1. It was very early to be taking pictures of Rachel

2. There are other people in the picture, which means I was in civilization.(see them? right there! no, not there. over there!! don't you see them?? really they are there!!)

3.We left at the lovely hour of 2:10 AM to be where we were when we were photographed.

4. Apparently I am a morning person. A very bright, gregarious, cheerful (insert obnoxious) morning person. Especially on two hours of sleep. I'm a joy to be around!

5.Also, apparently the people that I choose to go shopping with at o'dark thirty are not as much of morning people as I am. As evidenced by the "I will smile and give thumbs up with you, but only to placate you and really I just want to be sleeping or drinking a HUGE cup of coffee" smile my friend has going on.

6.I would just like to take the opportunity to point out that this trip was not my idea, I was just tagging along. Oh, and also that I did not have any caffeine. Nope. Not one sip of coffee, pop, cappuccino, chocolate or anything else that carries that deadly substance. This is all natural baby!