Excerpt from "Through Painted Deserts" part 1

I ease my aching body from my sleeping bag and stretch my back. I reach for the sky and yawn. Rolling over, I set my hands against the ground and stand. I feel the bones in my back and my ribs separate from each other. My legs are stiff and my feet are jolted within by sharp points of pain. My belly is empty and past hungry. Paul is sitting out in the dirt about twenty yards away, out in some sunlight. "You were right about the cereal, Paul." "What's that?" "The cereal. Being the best thing to eat right now. I could go for a big bowl of Raisin Bran and cold milk. I might even take that over the eggs and tortillas." "Now you're coming around." Paul gets up and leans forward to stretch his back. "You know," Paul beings, "it's funny. Two weeks ago when we talked about things we wanted or our aspirations, we would have talked about houses or boats or cars. Now that we've been on the road for a while, everything is reduced to a bowl of cereal." Paul develops a smile as e stands straight. "Isn't that beautiful? Cereal. There are people in this world who are killing themselves because they want more and more of nothing. And the only thing you and I want in this word is a bowl of cereal. That just shows you how the things we think are important really aren't important." "And a boat," I say. "What's that?" Paul asks. "I wouldn't mind a boat," I tell him. "A nice, big sailing boat with a wooden hull. I'd like to eat my cereal on my boat." Paul rolls his eyes and shakes his head at me.

(From page 122 and 123 of "Through Painted Deserts" by Donald Miller.)

Is It Crazy Men Day, Per Chance?

Ok, so today I've encountered 3 crazy men (not that that's weird, but these guys were pretty entertaining)...

The first one (whom I've seen before) was a skinny old white man who was waiting for the light to change (as was I) on the sidewalk across from me. He was wearing kelly green pants, a long cream colored coat, an American flagged scarf, sun glasses, winter gloves and a crocheted baby pink beanie with a pom pom on top (for your information, it wasn't super cold outside). Right after I stopped at the edge of the sidewalk ('cause the light had just changed) he lifted his arms up and started to shake his glove covered hands. He did this while staring at me and I could not figure out why. He then stopped for a few seconds before going back to shaking his hands. When the light finally changed, he stopped and we passed each other while crossing the street.

The second man (whom I've also seen before) is a crazy drunk and almost completely toothless Nigerian who's been barred from our shelter, but keeps trying to convince Sandy, the director, that he didn't do anything and that he should be let back into our shelter. Today, he sat down next to Sandy (who was folding our newsletter and putting it into envelopes) in an area that is in front of my desk and talked to her for about two hours. I giggled a lot. Especially when he started telling her that his mom is a millionaire back in Africa and that he's taken care of, but that he still needs to stay in our shelter. I wish I had a video of the whole thing! Sandy is such a patient and funny person!

The third man (whom I've never seen before) came in to the office telling me all this stuff about himself and asking me to help him with all kinds of different things (clothes, food, a phone call, being able to visit his mentally ill lady in her nursing home, etc). I kept telling him that I could not help him, but that if he went down the hallway, through the door, and asked for Lydell, he's our case worker for single men and he could help him. The guy kept looking at me (well, not at my face...) and just kept repeating everything over and over. I could tell that he wasn't exactly all there mentally either and that he didn't believe me and wanted ME to help his every need. He was a very weird man. Thankfully, I finally concinved him to go find Lydell and he slowly left my office, looking back at me every few steps...I hope he got help.

Men in Uptown Chicago sure are interesting!

Spring and Fest For Us

Ways to know that it's finally Spring in Uptown Chicago:

• You don't feel like your face, ears, hands, and feet are going to freeze off of you when you walk outside
• The seagulls are back from wherever they migrated to
• There's more trash than usual on the sidewalk
• There are some buds forming on a few trees

Needless to say...I'm so happy it's Spring!!! 6 months of winter is a LONG TIME, people! And, actually, I'm not even sure if the cold is fully gone yet...but I'm excited nevertheless!

Last night we decorated some of the first floor of our building for our Easter Celebration (JPUSA is really into decorating). There were two teams that were in charge of decorating: one was in charge of the dining room and the other was in charge of the senior's dining room (for our senior program which is like an old people's home kind of thing) which during Fest For Us turns into our coffee house/ball room. The two teams did not talk to each other about their ideas, but in the middle of decorating, we realized that they both had the same theme! Both rooms had a garden theme with a sun in a certain spot that said JOY! We all thought it was so cool! Of course, the styles are completely different, which makes it even cooler =) I'll have to take pictures and post them on here for all of you to see.
Today is the first day of Fest For Us (our Easter Celebration). We're going to have a service tonight and then afterward we're going to have treats and live music and maybe something else (I don't really know what the schedule is). It's going to be great!

Have a great Easter weekend everyone!

Beds and Stools

Ok, I have no idea what's going on here...Am I just clumsy or is my room after me?
Earlier today, during my lunch break, I slipped backwards and banged my head really hard into my bed. Just now, I was getting down from my bed to get something and my stool (my bed's the middle bed of a three bedded bunk bed...is that what you would call it?) slipped and I banged my knee really hard into the stool. Pain is not fun! Especially dumb pain that is caused by dumb things!
Anyways, I'm going to bed now before anything else happens to me!
Good night =)

P.S. I just started reading Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller and I like it.

Food, Glorious Food!

Some people get excited about a new art project.

Others get excited about running a marathon.

Others more get excited about writing a new song...

I get excited about cooking and baking new things!

(Among other things of course)

=)

Three Things I Need to Learn

Today I came to three conclusions (which I've come to before....many times before):

First off, I am a terrible procrastinator and my life would be so much better if I didn't leave things to the last minute.

Second, I do not deal well with stress and really need to work on it.

Third and last, I can't eat Indian food, my stomach gets really angry at me afterward...

I actually could add a fourth thing, which is: I am really bad at self-discipline, especially when it comes to food. I have been eating WAY too much for the last 5 days...Might be because of the weather changing back to being dark and cold and the fact that I was a little stressed with reports (which, by the way, I was able to finish and turn in on time today!!! =) ). Hopefully I'll be able to get back at being better with what I eat starting tomorrow...

Have a great week everyone!!!

Forgiveness, Rainbows, and Working At The Shelter

Yesterday RL was good. (For those who don't remember, RL stands for Redeemed Lives, a course that is twenty-six lessons long and is supposed to be for those who struggle with their sexuality. However, it really can apply to everyone 'cause it helps you work out all the junk in your life. I already went through this last year during Project 12, but decided to do it again). I've been a little bad with keeping up with the classes lately. In fact, I missed the last two classes before last evening's and, really, I've dreaded going to class almost every Tuesday, though I have stuck to it...but I liked yesterday's lesson which was on Forgiveness and Healing Memories. Mario (the RL teacher whose videos we watch) talked about how memories can still hurt us years after a certain event happened and that time doesn't heal, but forgiveness does. He reminded us, though, that the healing of memories is not an alteration of reality. What changes is how our memories effect us. So he encouraged us to think of bad memories we've been holding on to or that often pop up in our minds and effect us, and to forgive the person/people that wronged us. He added that if we feel incapable of forgiving someone, the Lord in us can. Therefore we can ask God to forgive them and to help us be able to forgive as well.
So, after the lesson, we were asked to just take a minute to think of bad memories that we have stored in our mind that still effect us and to forgive the person or ask God to forgive them. I did find one old memory, but it wasn't too hard to forgive the person. This morning, however, I thought about a certain person that was a real jerk to me some time ago and I thought that I never wanted to have to work or see that person again...and then I remember the RL class, and although I felt bitter, I asked God to forgive the person and help me to forgive them, too. It feels so nice to just give stuff up to God!

Another nice thing about yesterday was that I saw a full rainbow while in the car with a friend. It was kind of weird seeing something so naturally beautiful in the city. It's been a while since last time I saw a full rainbow...it was so amazing and so colorful! It made me really happy =)

Well, the first quarterly (Jan, Feb, March) reports are due on Monday...which is a little scary 'cause I have A LOT to do. But fortunately the new report forms look easier than last year's and I also have a little help (which I didn't have at all last quarter!).
Please pray that everything will go well with the reports. Also, please pray that we can find someone to replace my job here at the shelter when I leave this summer (I should start training the person soon!).

By the way, today I had a great conversation with a friend of mine (Eve) who's been living at JPUSA now for 13 years and came when she was my age and was also placed to work at the shelter. Talking to her was really good for me. It helped me realize even more that, yes, the shelter is where God wants me, even though I don't particularly love it, 'cause I've grown and learned a lot.
It was so nice to hear that it has been difficult for almost every new person working there, too, especially when they were/are my age. Eve told me though, that if that's where you're called to be and you're there for many years, you grow and learn more and more each year and get to the point where you actually love the shelter and know how you need to be (like Sandy, the director, and all the other people that I admire that have been working at the shelter for years).
That was all very comforting and encouraging. It's so nice to know that it's not only me and that the fact that I struggle with working here does get better after time....