Introducing Rihanna Noel

I am going to take a break from my blog series, I know I know, it is not a series yet…give it time. But I had to write a blog about the newest addition to the Roanoke family. We are proud to welcome Rihanna Noel. Mama Kayla, Princess Sister Jessica Lynn King, and Godmother Christy are so proud of our pretty little baby.














There was a little trouble deciding on a name for our baby. At first I was thinking of names that I have always dreamed of naming an petlike Denver and Vogue. But then realized I wanted her initials to be RN, get it?! I thought it would be fitting. So I asked Thad to name off every state, city, and regular name that started with an R to try and help me figure out a name. He graciously agreed, but nothing was working. Plus there are no states that start with R and very few cities. Then he had this brilliant thought: Rihanna. We all love the girl and her boyfriend Chris Brown for that matter, but more importantly her name starts with an R. And the Noel is because we got her at Christmas and it starts with an N.

I would also like to give a shout out to Carlon and Brandey for donating the fish’s home. I will always think of you all when I feed Rihanna.

I do not think there is a more loved fish on the planet.

Top 8 Photos of 2008

2008 is coming to a close in less than a month, so I thought that I should write a series of blogs that have the top 8 of different things, such as the top 8 best things that have happened, my top 8 accomplishments of the year, and the top 8 funniest incidences of 2008. 8 instead of 10 for two reasons. Obviously because it is 2008 so 8 is appropriate and because it may be difficult to think of 10 items or events on all these lists. I was thinking about writing a list with the top 8 books that I have read this year, but let’s be real, I probably have only read about 6 books, 3 of which were twilight. Anyway, I thought I would start with my top 8 photos of the year. These are personal photos because I know that some of those ridiculousSpener/Heidi photos would be at the top, haha. So here they are...














#8. Christy and I giving Keith a little color. He is scared or in pain. He also probably did not want anyone to ever know about this.
















#7. Rachel, Alicia, and I are playing the game where the photog says something and the photees have to react. I wish I could remember what Chris had said to get this reaction. Funny anyway.
















#6. On Mass St. immediately following KU winning the national championship. Rock Chalk forever!















#5. Hannah and I playing with silly putty for hours to pass the time in Kentucky.
















#4. Jen is a RockStar everyday.















#3. Jess and I are ready for a party, the 80s, and our modeling careers.

#2. Getting Christy ready for her 21st birthday party.

#1. Of course this one is #1! Thad and I at Wicked Chicago.

Watch for more top 8 of 2008.

Crappy Day

This has been quite the week! And to top it off this is what I walked out to yesterday morning at 7:45…

Hahaha! Oh my gosh! So we have a large family of crows who have decided to make Roanoke Parkway their home. We have a ton of trees around our place making it a nice spot to proliferate and poop. We park our cars along the street behind out condo, usually no problem. I had to literally scrap my windshield so I could see though all the crow poop! No joke! I threw away the ice scrapper because I was gagging a little just looking at it. My roommates found my car on Thursday night and almost woke me up to tell me and get a good laugh about it. I am glad they did not because the suprise and shook value was incredible to wake up too.

So I was driving to school and people were laughing and pointing while we were stopped at stop lights. I was trying to act like I did not know why, but then I would start laughing with them. After school Jess and I went to the carwash together. She was catching everything on film so that we can relieve this day whenever we are having a bad day.

At the carwash, we paid the man in the booth and his reaction---“Oh, shit.”---literally.

Then we drive around to the washing part of the car and the two men spraying off the cars started laughing but tried to hide their giggles until they saw Jessica and I crying and taking pictures. The car in front of us got sprayed off for less than a minute, us---about 5. Hilarious! I am glad that it all happened just because it was the funniest thing that has gone down here for a long time.

A Cup of Unity

I am sitting with a cup of coffee, Coldplay singing to me (yes, to me personally) and a dimly lit room. All of this to try and sort out a jumble of thoughts that have been floating around in my head for a few days.

Today I heard the quote that pulled all these random thoughts together: “Unity is holding both harmony and our differences in the same cup.” ~Shana Puckett

Tuesday was a funny day for me. I was really excited to find out who our country would choose to be the next leader. And I am not going to tell you how I feel about the results, that is another blog entirely. No, I was equally as interested in people’s reactions as the actual results. I got on facebook after it had been announced that Barack Obama had been elected and people’s reactions were heartbreaking.

There were two distinct reactions. Elation, relief, hope, and excitement. And then there was disappointment, disapproval, and hate. I was stunned by the lack of respect, the lack of kindness, the lack of love.

This is what I found heartbreaking: Many people I know who voted for McCain did so based on beliefs that stem from their relationship with Christ. Many people I know made a decision to vote for Obama based on this same relationship. I am not trying to say that there was a more “Christian” candidate, but what I am trying to say is this: the people who voted for McCain based on their relationship with Christ---which is love---acted against these same convictions when they responded in hate when they didn't win.

I think I may actually give you a little of my opinion so that you might be able to better understand what I am getting at. I am a moderate in the truest sense of the word. I can see both sides of almost every issue. Give me an issue, I dare you, I could probably make an argument for both sides. I took a quiz on ABC.com to see which candidate I was more compatible with. I was split 6 and 6. No joke, I warned you that I was moderate. I had a heck of a time deciding who I was going to vote for.

The last thing I want is to come across as judgmental. This would be heartbreaking to me as well. There are three things that make me cringe. Legalism, judementalism, and hypocrisy. Can I even say that words in a blog? I mean I really hate them. Let’s not think about the election for a second. Pretend that Christy's (my lovely roommate who should be given some credit for this blog coming together) boyfriend broke-up with her. She really loves this boy, and yeah, she is angry that he broke-up with her. But based on her values which are a result of her relationship with Christ, she chose to act in love and continue to love her ex even through her negative emotions. Now this does not mean that she would agree with his decision to break up with her. What if she spoke hatefully about him, would this bring her any peace, any relief from her hurt or disappointment? Because she loves Christ and wants him to reign in her life, she chose to continue to act in love, even when it was uncomfortable.

Let’s go back to that unity idea. What would the world think if people who associated themselves with Christ and the church decided to act in love, even and especially when it is uncomfortable? I think that would be irresistible and Christ would be honored. We don’t all have to agree. We each have a personal relationship with Christ which means that each of us are going to experience Christ a little differently. He created us to have ideas, convictions, and life experiences that cause us to see the world differently. And he did not expect us to all agree on who we think is better suited to be the president of our country. But he does expect us to love. He makes that more than clear. He does expect us to build one another up in love and hope and peace.

And he does expect us to be able to hold both love and disagreement in the same cup.

Reality Show Rewind

Jess, Christy and I typically watch America's Next Top Model together every Wednesday. Last night, Jessica went home and watched it before Christy and I had a chance to. I received a text from Jess that read: Oh my. Did you watch top model! My heart got anxious because last week another one of our favorites, Clark, was kicked off. Poor thing. So Christy and I were watching and my dear Lauren Brie (personal favorite) produced a not-as-amazing-as-usual photo and unfortunately got kicked out. I thought it unfair because there was definately a photo that was worse than hers, but it was Tyra's favorite. Lame.

America's Next Top Model is no longer on the show. LB is going to go places, with or without Tyra.



















"This very well may be the best photo in Model history," Tyra Banks.




















So I might be obsessed with this show...i don't know. haha

A Break from Harry Potter

I was running the other day. I was beautiful outside and I didn’t feel like going back home yet. I stopped in at Barnes and Noble Bookstore without a credit card. I looked around at the bestsellers section and then at the new in paperback books. I saw a few titles that I recognized and even a few that I had read. I also looked at the journals and wanted to buy all of the pretty ones, happens to be a weakness of mine. Then I moseyed upstairs and checked out the Christian living and Christian inspiration section. I got the giggles just looking at the book titles. What Would Jesus Eat?, hmm, good question. Well considering that He was Jewish… Or what about Live in the Moment, can we really learn that, or better yet experience that by reading a book?

I recently read the book The Shack by William Young. I had no expectations before reading the book. I personally liked the book for the most part. The author did a fantastic job of conveying emotion in the relationship between the main character and God. I would recommend the book, but I would also remind anyone who has already read to is going to read the book that the author wrote a fiction book. Yes, the author does convey his views of God, but that is what it is, opinion. It is a fiction book and should be read that way. It also needs to be read with an open mind. I think that if the book was read only to dissect it, the overall story and feeling of the book would be missed, which I think is the whole reason the author wrote the book…reminding us that emotions are a part of our relationship with God.

The Shack was a break from reading the Harry Potter series. I have read the first two books and am planning to keep reading the series. I am not a fanatic…yet. They are good though. I don’t have the third book yet so today I started reading True Believer by Nicholas Sparks. I do enjoy his writing and the movies. I saw Nights in Rodanthe this weekend. Good but not as good I was hoping for. Not the A Walk to Remember or The Notebook caliber. It is written more to an older age group than the other two.

My New Place

I’m baaack. I am at a completely different PLACE in my life since we last chatted.

P is for priorities. Every time life changes on me, which I feel happens a lot, I have to reevaluate my priorities or maybe direction is more the word I am looking for but it does not start with a P. Where is my life headed? Am I scared to continue to pursue my dreams now that they are within my grasp and just take a lot of work instead of dreaming and planning? I would have to say that at the beginning of this life change I was scared, but now I am loving being busy and working toward something that is what I always wanted.

L is for location. I am currently living in Kansas City. It is a lot different from Lawrence and the college-town thing, but I like this too. I live blocks from the plaza and blocks from Westport…beautiful. I go on runs down by the river one day and then straight through the plaza the next. I walk down to Latteland for coffee more than is healthy for my body or my bank account. Until now, it has only been a dream to live downtown. I love the city: always have and I think I always will.

A is for academics. I am currently going to KU School of Nursing which is in the top 5 greatest things that have ever done. It is a lot of work, but I am finally getting to learn about what I have been waiting for. I have completed my first clinical which was at a nursing home. I will start my second rotation next Friday in community health. I have already learned so much in the last 6 weeks. Not so much information, well yeah information too, but mostly just learning to think like a nurse.

C is for courting. Haha, gosh I hate that term…dating, but again does not start with a C. I am not doing so well on this acronym. Anyway, yes I am dating someone. And it is wonderful. Ask me about it sometime.

E is for environment. My living situation is amazing. I am living with two of my best friends, Christy and Jessica. We live in a condo in a cute neighborhood. I am always excited to come home to be here and share life with my friends. I actually live in the dining room. It is really cute believe it or not. We hung up some red curtains and vola! a room. I have posted a few pictures.

I am loving my new PLACE. That is it. I love it all.
















Cute little dining room.
















Cute little nursing school students.

Camp, the Theme, and an Apartment

Deepest apologies for once again slacking in the blogging. Not due to a lack of blogging material, camp is quite the blog material generator. I feel overwhelmed by the amount of stories that I could share with you about this summer so far.

I like my job as wellness director. I am busy with giving meds in the morning and then have free time in the afternoon. I usually have to take care of a few minor crises such as tick removal, splinters, and the occasional rolled ankle. We have had a few possible broken bones that have been sent to the ER but luckily, all have come back ok. My evenings are also busy with meds and program jobs. I also have the occasional night run to a cabin due to sickness. Overall, I really enjoy what I am doing and have more time to just enjoy camp and community than I have ever had in previous roles.

A theme in my own life this summer has been beginning to understand my identity in Christ as a woman. This may seem like, duh! But I have heard a few amazing sermons at Jacob's Well on women of faith in the old testament, and then how Christ changed religion and culture in general to include women as equals in Him. Also, I am currently reading Captivating by Stasi Eldredge. The book speaks specifically to women and understanding who we are created to be in the context of Christianity and femininity in community and relationships.

Last Saturday Mom and Brandey came up to KC to spend the day with me. It was a great day of being together and shopping and loving. I was a little zombie-like a couple times due to a lack of sleep the night before, but even that was fun with Mom and Brandey laughing "with" me. Good day, really good day.

Jessica, Christy, and I have a cute little condo to move into. After much searching and a little stress, we found an amazing place. It is small but so cute, and blocks from the plaza! I am really excited to move in.

That is a little update on my life. I would love to tell you that I will try to do better at keeping up with blogging, but I am not making any promises, hah.

Dream On

You know that pressure that you have on you in high school? That pressure of deciding where you are going to go to school and what you are going to study when you get there. My important decision went something like this: KU wasn’t even on the radar until all the other options, which I thought were good options, turned out to be not so great options (great schools, just not for me). So at a point of desperation, I visited KU in February my senior year. And in my desperation I came into the visit knowing that this was my last option (at least in my mind) and I had to like it and make it work. I visited, I liked, and the rest is history.

The idea of nursing popped into my head one day my senior year. My Chemistry teacher Mr. Mac mentioned that he thought it was a great profession. I think that is all he said about it, but it got me to thinking. I had thought of nursing before because mi madre is one, but not until that day did I get serious about possibly becoming a nurse. However, Mom, a nurse, actually tried to talk me out of the idea. She would claim she was just warning me, “Baby cakes (that is what she likes to call me…sweet and affectionate I think), you can become anything you would like, but know that you are getting into nursing for the same reasons that I did. I get frustrated because I just want to take care of people but you can’t do what you want exactly. There is red tape and papers and HMO’s. You will see sadness and inequality and you will get upset.” Well, nursing school is still Plan A.

But being the planner that I am (to those who are laughing because I referred to myself as a planner: I like to plan big things like dreams, not so hot with the details…) I have thought of some other career options.

Plan A- Nursing school. I want to be able to physically see people being healed and love them and take care of them.

Plan B- Cosmetology school. I love doing hair and nails and I think that I would enjoy doing this. I would open my own salon and it would be called Cuts by K.

Plan C- marry into money. Just kidding…sort of. On Saturday night I was telling the three girls that I was with about this blog. When I said that Plan C was marrying into money, all three of them in unison said, “why isn’t that Plan A?” haha…

Plan D- Opening a pottery store. It would be called Ceramics by K and it would have pottery from different cultures and I might make some of it also.

Plan E- Chemistry teacher. Chemistry by K? I don' t think that you get to name your business if it is teaching. But anyway, I heart chem!

Plan F- Parenting coach. There are some bad parents out there who could use some assistance. Since I am not a parent, I would take a few classes and use the great role models that I have in my own parents, and maybe I could help some people. Like Super Nanny. Children by K…that sounds more like a surrogate mom business than a parenting coaching organization, scary.

Plan G- opening Sharrie’s. When I was a young girl of about 13 and Logan was 9ish we would stay home by ourselves during the day in the summer. At the house we lived at, there was a window in between the kitchen and the dinning room where you could sit. Logan would sit at the window and call me Sharrie (a good name for an ice cream lady we figured) and order a peanut butter shake. We didn’t have a blender at the time so we would have to use a wire whip to “blend” the ice cream, vanilla, milk, and peanut butter. Haha, oh dear goodness…I am sure that a peanut butter shake sans blender ice cream store would work, right?

Dont Get Your Hopes Up

I would love to write a new blog. It would probably be about something funny or interesting that has happened recently. But I do not have time for that because I have to write a lab report on the hysterectomy of a lab rat. Yes, removing a uterus from a rat. Oh KU, you are educating us so thoroughly!

Part 2: Thoughts

I am still living the life now, but it has been a little different since Spring break. I resigned from my job at Brookcreek before Spring break and since then I have had a lot of free time on my hands. At first I really enjoyed this extra time, but as the semester has gone on I have been getting restless. God has blessed me with this time in my life to learn to slow down. I have taken a sick sort of pride in the way that I was overly busy, over committed and somehow able to maintain some sort of sanity. “I needed to kill super-Kayla.” God gave me this time in my life to learn to take a chill pill, to calm down enough to be able to understand what is going inside me, and to truly care about what is going on inside of others. So it has been hard in a strange way, but good to be able to have this season of rest before I hit the craziness of summer.

In my previous blog I said that I rarely think about dying. Well, I would say that this has changed quite a bit since February. Good friends of our family were in a bad car accident over spring break. I was able to see them the week after the accident---it was so hard to see them like that. Then the night that KU won the national championship, we were nearly hit by a car on Tennessee St. If Jess or I had been driving instead of Micah, we would have been hit. Micah hit the gas and flew out of the way, I would have hit the breaks, and that would have been really bad. Since then I have been thinking a lot about accidents, I have tried to be more careful while driving and more aware of the possibility of something bad happening. I guess that this is a natural reaction to a situation like this. Sometimes when I am driving I think that I am going to hear a crunch…unsettling.

And about faith, God is good at what He does. He has a plan and sometime he chooses to allow us to see a little glimpse of it, and that is a fabulous blessing. I just finished rereading Sex God by Rob Bell. He is so articulate about humanity and spirituality and life. You know that feeling you sometimes get. That feeling of excitedness, almost giddiness. The feeling when you are reminded how awesome and sovereign and intricate and, well, amazing God really is…

Part 1: Thoughts

I wrote this blog some time ago. I am not for sure on the actual date, but by judging by the content I am going to guess Feb. 5, 2008. I did not post the blog after I wrote it because I didn't like it. It wasn't sounding the way I wished, and it would take some major revision to make it sound decent. I was in the middle of writing a new blog (which coincidentally was not coming together well either) when I decided to go back and read this old one. I made some necessary revisions and decided to post it now. It is interesting to me that I am still thinking about these issues a lot, even more now than I was when I wrote this blog. I am going to write another blog soon that will touch on these issues that I wrote about back in February and how my perspective has changed since then.

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My parents and close friends often ask me how my brain works. Especially my mom is interested in how my mind jumps for topic to topic. It is in the networking I think. But my thought are fluid to me. So for everyone who is interested, I am going to write in the transitions from topic to topic in this blog.

First I must say that I am living the life right now. I mean I go to class which is sometimes not fun, but honestly, it usually is. And then I work about 12 hours a week at Brookcreek which is usually quite exciting. I do homework, I talk to my friends, I go places with my friends, I go out. I call my mom and sometimes my brother. My dad has phone phobia, but sometimes I talk to him to. Then I go to coffee with Leah, I go to Jess's, my roommates are hilarious. I go to the gym some, I watch E News, I write. Simple pleasures in life. Seriously.

[Transition: I love my life. I always want to love my life. I want my life to be enjoyable forever. But last night I was reminded that I am not going to live forever.]

As a 19 year old, I never think about dying. I drive all over creation and the thought of being in an accident and dying never crosses my mind. Or contracting a disease, I would never. I assume that I am invincible. I am taking this class called Adult Development and Aging. It is one of those independent study classes where I work at my own pace and mail assignments in as I have then finished. So far I have stayed on schedule to finish the three weeks before finals...beautiful. Anyway, last night I read a chapter on diseases that affect over 70% of the older adult population. Diseases like heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Things I would rather never have. I feel like that would put a damper on my lovely life. However, I know that I am currently living an eternal life that is ultimately not affected by earthly calamities but I would rather avoid them if possible. I guess I was just reminded that I am not as in control of life as I tend to live like I do.

[Transition: So I was thinking about life and then I remembered that I had written down a thought that I had thought during church on Sunday. Now I previously blogged about church on Sunday and did not mention this thought I had simply because it was not related. I was trying to make the blog easier to follow. As you can tell by this post, I have thrown that idea to the wind. So back to the thought that I thought during church. I randomly thought of it and wrote it down because I knew I would forget it if I did not. Then today I was thinking about life and realized that this pervious thought would try in nicely.]

The thought is: "Having your faith figured out is the most deadly thing for your faith. Faith figured out is not faith at all." In high school I would get frustrated that I didn't understand everything about the Christian faith. I went through a time when I was ready to "peace out" on the whole faith thing. I was more focused on figuring out the doctrine of faith rather than the person of Jesus that my faith is placed in.

Then I moved to KU. Last year was the first time that I had to claim my faith as my own. It became real. Jesus became real. I was not believing in some random idea or doctrine, I was putting my faith in the person of Christ. He offers me the best story for my life. My fear is that I will become ok with my current faith and not see the necessity of a constantly growing faith. I have seen people who have their faith figured out and I don't think Jesus would agree with them that they do.

Faith is trusting in someone who I will never fully understand and being ok with that.

The Relationship Hypothesis

If you haven't written a lab report before, first of all consider yourself a lucky person. Science is terrific, but scientific writing is not favorite style of writing and not what I would call entertainment. Second of all, this blog may need a little explanation before you read. A lab report should consist of five sections. Each section must contain certain information and only that specific information. The Introduction should inform the scientific community about the nature of the study and an overview of what your will be talking about throughout the report. The Methods and Material section should include the ways in which the data was collected. The Results should state the information collected. This is not a place to include opinion of any kind---only the facts. The Discussion section gives the writer a little more freedom to express opinions and observations about the data. And finally, the report must include the Sources that the data was collected from and any other outside sources used in the experiment or the writing of the report. You should also know that scientific writing comes from a community of scientist and should not include things such as “I observed” or “Then he did this.” It should always be written from the lab's or community's point of view.

I spend a lot of time writing lab reports for my classes. My goal in writing this was to prove to myself that writing a lab report isn’t inherently evil and can be just as enjoyable as writing a blog. I did enjoy writing it, but I don’t think that I totally convinced myself scientific writing is fun. We will see when sit down to write the Statistical Analysis of the Kidney Functioning for Physiology lab. But I do hope you enjoy reading an unscientific, scientific report as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Introduction: The lab observed a series of events pertaining to the interpersonal relationships within a uncontrolled environment. There are many variables that were observed and recorded. The hypothesis is as follows: Every good relationship must have a good break-up. The lab tested this hypothesis by observing a series of male/female relationships that spontaneously developed. We were unable to clearly define the independent and dependent variables so the results are only correlation case studies, but with more extensive research, we hope to be able to extend the validity and thus present a theory in the future.

*Names have been changed. However, notice the nice alliteration, haha. I thought it was a nice touch.

Methods and Materials: To begin testing our hypothesis we examined the relationship between a girl named Jill* and a boy named Joe. We observed this relationship over the past two years through lending a supporting ear, late at night to Jill and being friends with both parties. The second relationship analyzed was the relationship between Tara and Tim. Tara shared the details of this relationship with the observer due to their close friendship and sharing of living space. The third relationship observed was between Anna and Alex. This was observed through Facebook and second hand sources. The fourth relationship was between Becca and Brad. The relationship status was recorded through late-night crisis phone calls to the observer. Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal’s relationship was analyzed through US Weekly and E News. And finally, the relationship between Jada and Josh was relayed through a secondary observer.

Results: Jill and Joe were in a serious happy relationship for nearly three years after which the relationship “went on a break” for an undetermined amount of time. At the time of this publishing the “relationship vacation” was still in action.

Tara and Tim dated for 4 months and then underwent a difficult breakup due to differing personalities. However, three months after the breakup, talking between the two parties began as well as friendly hanging out.

Anna and Alex dated for several years while in high school. After one year of higher education, they decided to take a break to figure out if they were going to get serious. They got back into a relationship soon after the break.

Becca and Brad were just “friend” for three months. For the next nine months they were truly just friends. After this period of friendness, they began a semi-serious relationship which has lasted nearly 9 months and going strong.

Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal dated for 1.2 years and then broke up for the month of September. During this month, Reese dated James Blunt. After this short relationship, Reese and Jake got back together and are currently dating.

Jada and Josh dated for all four years of high school. They broke up for a year after both went to college. However, after this first year they got back together, dated for three years and are now engaged to be married.

Discussion: In all these relationships, barring Jill and Joe, the relationship was ended and then restarted after some time had passed. It is hard for us to infer any facts or generalizations about relationships from this data, but the evidence suggests that a break in the relationship may actually be beneficial and allow the relationship to progress healthier than it was previously headed. Our hypothesis in this small, hand-picked sample size was proven true. But it would be impossible to test this hypothesis on every relationship, and because the sample size was small and not statistically sound, the data set is not representative of the general public. However, even though the findings are not scientifically significant, the relationships and the data collected from the relationships are significant in the lives of the subjects.

Sources:

Friends. Dear to Me and Close to My Heart. Lawrence to KC to Hesston to Wichita to Umhmm. 2008.

Heartache. From the Book: Part of Relationships We Would Rather Not Talk About. Everywhere, Earth. The Fall-Present.

Love. Gift from God. God’s Heart. Before we were even thought of-Present-Forever.

Real Life. Stuff that Happens When You are Making Plans. Everywhere, Earth. 1988-Present.

We are the Champions!

I am so proud to be a Jayhawk. I am proud of this everyday but today it was even sweeter. I watched the game last night at the Fieldhouse and it felt like it was a live game even though it was a little like chanting D-fence and screaming at a movie...haha. We were in San Antonio in spirit. After the game we went to Mass Street along with 40,000 other happy Jayhawks. It was an incredible night.

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We can't believe Mario just hit that 3.

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That. Just. Happened. We are the National Champions!

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Craziness on Mass St. We are happy.

***
Then we didn't have school today because of winning the game. It was a Sabbath for me. In the book Velvet Elvis, Rob Bell explains it this way, "Sabbath is the day that I remind myself that I did not make the world and that it will continue to exist without my efforts.
Sabbath is the day when my work is done, even if it is not.
Sabbath is the day when my job is to enjoy. Period.
Sabbath is the day when I am fully available to myself and to those I love most.
Sabbath is the day when I remember that when God made the world, he saw that it was good.
Sabbath is the day when I produce nothing.
Sabbath is the day when I remind myself that I am not a machine.
Sabbath is the day when at the end I say 'I didn't do anything today' and don't add 'and I feel so guilty'."

God gave the Sabbath to his people as a gift of rest and to help them remember that he gives them life and that he desires for them to enjoy it and live it to the full.

God gave me a Sabbath today by way of Chancellor Hemmingway. It was wonderful. I slept in. I went to the Welcome home party for the players. I spent quality time with my roommate. I talked to my mom and dad and a friend on the phone. I looked at pictures. I wrote a blog. I celebrated.

It doesn't get much better than Jayhawk basketball and a Sabbath.

Vowels minus O

To fill you in on recent happenings I thought I would use the vowels of the English alphabet.

A is for Arizona. I went to Arizona over spring break. It was fun, hilarious, heartbreaking, exciting, reality checking (I am making that a verb for this. I can do that if I want to.), and wonderful. I am in the middle of writing a blog about it. Hopefully I can post it soon.

E is for exercise. Black yoga pants + black fleece + black oversized sunglasses + Flirt Alert nail polish= me getting aerobic exercise. I think it must be a hilarious and stereotypical sight to see. I have been walking instead of running lately. It is less painful on the hips and knees. I am not sure why that is really, because you take the same amount of steps either way. But maybe the speed has something to do with it. My goal is to work up my muscles around my joints so I can be running again by summer. That’s a good goal, right?

I is for Iron Man. I went to an event last night called Afterdark. The owner of Kanukuk camps, Joe White, travels to college campuses with Braddigan and presents the gospel in a unique way. It is an event that all the campus ministries hosted together. I hope that many lives were touched through last night and that it will affect our campus. During his presentation he showed a media clip of the dad who competed in the Iron Man Triathlon pushing his son that has cerebral palsy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPLCaAu_H2U&feature=related if you would like to see it. I have seen it about 5 times and cry every time. Such a beautiful picture of what Christ does for me (us).

O is for, well i don't have anything for O. But my parents and I traveled to Louisville, Kentucky last weekend to visit good friends who were in a car accident over spring break. It was awful circumstances for sure, but God is making all things new. Hannah, who is in sixth grade, and I went to see Horton Hears a Who on Friday to pass some time and get out of the hospital. It was really cute. But what was even cuter was watching Hannah text everyone she knew in my phone book. “Kayla, can I text Aubrey?” “Sure, what are you going to say?” “Hey.” And literally she would text: Hey. from Hannah. Haha, I am sure a ton of people had no idea what was going on. We also entertained ourselves for a while with sticky tack as you can see from the picture. And one other thing, that girl can eat bagels like no one else…oh my word!

U is for Ultimate. I played my first game of Ultimate Frisbee on Monday. I never touched the Frisbee but Christy told me a did fab job of marking the girl. To share some of my new Frisbee knowledge with you, marking equals defending. We play again next Monday and maybe I will touch the Frisbee then.

I would like to leave you with a quote from Joe White: “Girls, it is your job to be spoiled.”

"It's not about winning..."

I did something today that really scares me. I don't typically participate in things that I am not good at, such as badminton as previously blogged about. However, after some coaxing and a couple of one-liners such as "live life to the full," "do something everyday that scares you," and my personal favorite, "it's not about winning but having fun," I decided to try it.

I was sent the facebook group invitation with the instructions on how to register. I went to the KU rec webpage, gave away my student ID number (aka my KU soul) and clicked on the intramural team sports web site. This is not the scary part. I participated in an intramural competitive volleyball league last year. I can do volleyball.

However, this click was not on the volleyball league, it was on the …Ultimate Frisbee league?! Ultimate is not really a strength of mine. My dear friend Christy Fogelman asked me to be a part of her co-ed team. I would have typically thanked her for the invitation and declined, but this invitation came after a pep-talk with myself about doing something fun and impacting with my spare time since I am not working anymore.

Christy is going to try to teach me to catch and throw over spring break. I am not sure she understands what she has gotten herself into. She said that as long as I can run, they want me on the team because we have to have a specific ratio of guys to girls on the field at all times. If the only thing that I can do is run, than I am still contributing to the team. Hey, I can run. And it is true that is really isn’t about the winning, but that I will get to know a new group of people and hopefully learn to catch a Frisbee. Way to go me trying something new!

When the Saints

When the Saints by Sara Groves

Lord I have a heavy burden of all I've seen and know
It's more than I can handle
But your word is burning like a fire shut up in my bones
and I cannot let it go

And when I'm weary and overwrought with so many battles left unfought
I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard
I hear their song of freedom
rising to the stars

And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them

Lord it's all that I can't carry and cannot leave behind
but your word has compelled me
when I think of all who've gone before me and lived the faithful life

And when I'm weary and overwrought with so many battles left unfought
I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard
I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars

I see the shepherd Moses in the Pharohs court
I hear his call of freedom for the people of the Lord

And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them

I see the long quiet walk along the Underground Railroad
I see the slave awakening to the value of her soul

I see the young missionary and the end of the spear
I see his family returning with no trace of fear

I see the long hard shadows of Calcutta nights
I see the sisters standing by the lepers side

I see the young girl huddled on the brothel floor
I see the man with a passion come and kicking down the door

I see the man of sorrows and his long troubled road
I see the world on his shoulders and my easy load

[When The Saints Lyrics on http://www.lyricsmania.com/ ]

There is something about music that can touch a part of our human souls that nothing else can quite reach. I know that the lyrics alone may not touch your soul as deeply as the whole song has touched mine. This expresses so well what I have been learning about freedom in Christ. We often hear about freedom in Christ; however, we usually speak of spiritual freedom. Freedom from sin, freedom from judgment, freedom to live life to the full. These are all extremely important and I love talking about and experiencing these freedoms.

Christ is in the business of making all things new. This is one of my favorite aspects of my Savior. I am beginning to understand that he is truly making ALL things new. That is nice to think about and say in my comfortable, plush, free life. But what about, as the song says, “the young girl huddled on the brothel floor?” He is also making all things new in her life.

Last semester I went to see a movie with my good friend Genevieve. We wanted to see the movie Amazing Grace. The movie was great and terrible at the same time. It was about the slave trade industry that went on in England from 1672 to 1807, equalling 135 years. After watching the most horrible sights that eventually turned into huge triumphs, I was not sure how to respond. Am I supposed to be happy that slave trade in England stopped? I am supposed to be sad it happened? Am I supposed to leave the theatre with good feelings or bad? Genevieve in her wisdom and heart for justice said this: “I am sad. Slavery still goes on. Things like that are happening right now as we were watching that movie. I am glad that it stopped in England, but what about the rest of the world?”

I don’t really have a take home point, I don’t have all this making sense in my own head yet, I am not sure what to do with all this exactly. However, I do know that I have a responsibility to that “girl on the brothel floor,” “to the dying man in Calcutta,” to the homeless man on Mass St, and to the abused girlfriend in my apartment building. I am just not sure what this looks like yet.

Jesus came to bring freedom to prostitutes, slaves, AIDS victims, war-torn families, college students, CEOs, government officials, religious leaders, churchgoing families, children, and movie stars. He invited us all to a party.

Rain in the Desert

Recent events in my life that may or may not have contributed to the blog drought.

1. Unemployment. I resigned from my job at Brookcreek Learning Center. As of next Wednesday I will no longer be employed. This decision is bittersweet. It is going to be so nice to have 12 hours a week to: do homework, go for a run? (what is that, i have completely forgotten), or get a coffee with a friend and chat a while. But I am going to miss those kids. They have a way, in spite of their snotty noses and slimy hands, of wiggling their way into your heart. I am especially going to miss the naughty kids. They just want someone to love on them. Hmmm...

2. Westside '08! I am going back to YouthFront Camp West this summer, holla! I am hoping to be the wellness director which involves applying Band-Aids and love to hurt knees, giving out meds, and dealing with homesick campers. Some cabin leaders (and by some, I mean myself last year) would send their distraught, homesick campers to the nurse to deal with. haha...what goes around comes around. But if that position doesn't work out with camping regulations, I will be an office girl. You know, "Thank you for calling YouthFront Camp West, this is Kayla, how can I help you?" Either position would be fab.

3. Jayhawk for life. I was accepted to KU school of nursing which I will begin in the fall! I might have broken Rachel's ear drum when she read me my letter over the phone because I was in Hesston when the letter came. She forgave me and then screamed along in excitement with me.

4. Goodbyes. My bff Alicia and fellow roommate moved to Germany this weekend. No seriously, Germany. She is studying abroad until July and is already missed. Since she moved out, we assumed that a new roommate would move in. So far, 4 days later, no roomie. Rachel is worried that I am jinxing us now that I have put it in writing. Hopefully not.

5. Real Reason. The real reason that I have not been blogging is that the necessary dialogue has been missing from my head. I didn't understand why blogging had become so difficult when I tried to write something. There was no material in my head. I was talking to a friend who recently starting reading my blogs. He said that after he had read a bunch he started narrating his own life like the blogs had been. This made me realize that that is what had been missing. I had been going through life without keeping my eyes open for good material and narrating it as it happened. Then I started getting bogged down with all the material that I could possible write about because it had been so long since the last blog. See the dilemma. Hopefully, I can get the creativity flowing consistently for a while.

So all this to say that I am deeply sorry for not posting for so long. I hope that you will forgive me and continue to be the great readership that you are.

Logan ballin' in Lawrence

My good friend and brother Logan came to Lawrence this weekend. I have been looking forward to and preparing for this for some time.

I searched high and low (take this figuratively) for a ticket for him for the basketball game against CU and barely found one. It was a VIP game meaning that tons of alumni were there making ticket locating difficult. I then hunted done a student ticket, which slightly easier than getting a GA ticket, but still a feat. I got into a camping group to make sure that we could get into the game. They oversell the fieldhouse and then people, usually students, get left in the cold (literally this time). So I got into a camping group and camped (sat in the fieldhouse saving our groups place in line) for 3 and 1/2 hours. It was all worth it!

I called Logan at 9:50am Saturday morning to see if he was getting close. He freaked me out by acting like I had woke him up and said that he was still at home in bed. He pulled into the Jayhawker Towers moments after this "hilarious" conversation. We went directly to the fieldhouse to wait in line. I was the lucky one who only had to stand outside for 20 min. Logan had to wait about an hour. But his really fantastic sister had saved him a seat in Section 1 row 4. Sweet seats.

Once inside the warm and crowded fieldhouse, I did some anatomy homework and Logan soaked in the KU awesomeness. After about an hour and half of waiting, a few ballers such Brad Witherspoon and Jeremy Case grace the court. Logan was excited to see them "shoot some hoops" while we waited for rest to enter. The final phase of preparation was making a newspaper cone to place our newspaper confetti inside. Now we are ready for some bball.

The anthem was played, the confetti was thrown, Russell Robinson from NEW YORK NEW YORK was welcomed to the court, we saw a good game.

During half time, the 1988 National Championship team was recognized. It was pretty emotional. I think Logan cried...just kidding.

After my sweet Mario and Brandon and even Tyrell had won the game, Logan and I sat in traffic. Logan might have been more impressed by the traffic than the game. After driving 2 miles in 30ish min, Logan and I ate at Papa Keno's. Best pizza ever!

We spent the rest of the day doing random sibling bonding activities. You know, talking about relationships, making fun of each other, laughing about our parents, watching the allstar NBA challenge-all i know is that the cupcake dunk should have gotten more recognition, am i right?

Logan and I were going to eat at Jade Garden for lunch on Sunday. It was "closed" however the sign said open and we walked right in...so we went to Chili's in honor of our dad.

Logan left Lawrence. It was a good time.

Then I got my hair cut. I sat down and explained the sitch (abbrev for situation) to Ken. His exact words to me were, "Oh girl, we have got to sass it up." And that is what we did. Love it.

This Tastes Like Fridge

Tonight Rachel and I decided to watch the KU game. So naturally I popped some popcorn. It was Rachel's last bag and for some bad reason (i don't know, health or nutrition or something...) Rachel had light and healthy popcorn. Well that is not going to work to eat during the KU game. So I jazzed it up. I melted some extra butter to add to it--usually a great idea. So Rachel and I stuff a bite of popcorn into our mouths and then look at each other and begin to laugh/cry in disbelief...our beloved popcorn tasted like fridge.

Here in 204C we have a fridge problem. This problem started sometime over Christmas break when no one was occupying the premise. A few items, perishable in nature, were left innocently in the fridge for nearly 6 weeks. Well, we get back from break and Rachel and I (do you see a common theme of who is in the kitchen?) go on a throwing away everything in sight rampage. We accidentally threw away some new good cheese in the process. (I tend to do this. overthrow. I threw away Rachel's washcloth when I cleaned the bathroom. It didn’t need to be tossed. I don't know why I did it. I just can't control myself once I start throwing stuff away!) The throwing and scrubbing and reapplication of baking soda in the fridge didn't solve the problem. Our fridge smells and tastes like bad produce. How can we put this taste into words? Impossible. So come over, we will feed you something and you will remember this taste forever.

Because our popcorn became inedible, we made some cookie dough. You know, everything accept the eggs and baking. What is the key ingredient in cookie dough, you ask? Butter...the dough tastes like fridge too.

Today I Saw a Painting

I went home for the weekend to do a few things. I was planning to come back to Lawrence while my family was at church because I had a lot of things to do today. But I decided to stay and go to church with my family. And I am glad that I did.

Pastor Greg spoke about the older brother in the prodigal son parable that Jesus told the Pharisees recorded in Luke 15. I resonated with me a lot. My favorite quote of the day was "What does it take to get a party around here?!" said by an exasperated, miffed older brother who is upset about his younger, irresponsible brother getting such a warm greeting and party from their Father. The response of the father was, "But you have been with me all along." Relationship instead of religion. Grace instead of condemnation. And the older brother was upset. He was upset that his brother was living in and experiencing grace that the older brother may not have experienced for a while.

Pastor Greg also noted that the father actually had two lost sons. One lost in irresponsible living. The other in responsible, dutiful living. Neither was experiencing the grace of the Father and relationship with the father.

This painting, Rembrandt: The Prodigal Son (L'Hermitage, St. Petersburg), was on the screen throughout the message. I listened to the message some, enough to get the main points, but I was captivated by this painting. Look at the bottom right corner of the painting. There are what seem to be steps starting here and wrapping around the area that the Father and Prodigal are on. However, look at the older brother. If those are steps, the scale in this picture is way off. The older brother would have to be around 7 feet tall while Father is a measly 4 feet. Follow the line of the "steps" up to the Fathers body, around to the onlooker in the near background and then along the bottom of the older brothers cloak. I would like to suggest that there are two hands, palms up, extended toward the Father.

Maybe I am just seeing things. But this image has shaken me today. Those need to be my hands, reaching out to the grace that the Father has for me and relationship that He wants with me. I am both the prodigal and the older brother. It just depends on the day.

Music with a little Sun and Badminton

There are some things that every person should figure out about themselves. For instance: you should realize if your sunglasses are swallowing your face, you should figure out if you are good at badminton, and you should realize if you can sing.

Now that i have said that I think we should all admit that we enjoy watching others not understand these things about themselves. We enjoy looking at picture of celebs in US weekly with bug-eyed sunglasses that are all wrong. We enjoy listening to the whiff of a missed birdie in a friendly game of badminton. And you are lying if you say you don't love watching the "next American Idol" complete butcher "Hit Me Baby One More Time."

I have tried to figure out these thing about myself. I do have oversized sunglasses; however, when I purchased them I made sure that my face was not swallowed by them. If you disagree with the size of the shades, please don’t wait to see me in US Weekly looking ridiculous, just tell me. In case you were wondering why I would be in US Weekly, I will be in once I get my own reality TV show. I have a great understanding of the fact that I can not, I mean really not, play badminton. My family has given me great grief about this over the years. I am not good at sports that require an extension of my arm such as softball, tennis, but honestly, badminton is the worse. I blame it on a lack of spatial perception. And finally, I realize that I am not the next Kelly Clarkson.

If I was on the Miss America pageant, singing would not be my talent portion of the competition. Last night while watching the pageant Jess said that her talent would be putting puzzles together. She is really good at it. Even though I am not really a great music artist myself, I would like to share my observations of music in pop culture with you.

1. If you have not listened to Sara Bareilles’s music you should. Lyrical genius! She is the girl that sings "Love Song" that is popular now. You know, "Not gonna write you a love song cuz you asked for if, cuz you need one, you see? Not gonna write you a ... " I have her CD called Little Voice and there is not a song on there that I don't like. Love Song is definitely her most pop-ish song and that is probably why it was her first single. The rest of the CD is more folky. The music is good, but the lyrics, oh my word...I don't know what else to call it but genius.

2. I personally think that Britney Spears has made quite the professional comeback considering her current personal life and her previous attempt to make a professional comeback (does anyone else cringe to remember the VMAs?). I recently got her new CD "Blackout." It really something you can dance to or work out to. Someday she will get her life back together and I and waiting with anticipation for that day. I personally feel bad for her because it is our fault that she is the way she is. Constantly being watched and analyzed and photographed and we drove her crazy--literally. Now she is just crying out for attention. So in the first-stated-half-serious-half-sarcastic words of Chris Crocker (you know, crazy you-tube guy) “Leave Britney Alone!”

3. And finally, I would like to give a shout out to The Fray simply because they are my favorite band…ever. This summer Jessica and I saw them live and I fell in love with love. Amazing music, great lyrics, and it is impossible to get tired of listening to it. It is really good music to drive to. I just really like them and I want them to make the blog.

Now you are probably thinking about if your sunglasses are swallowing your face, if you are talented in the badminton field, or if you could be the next American Idol. May you be successful in your efforts to understand yourself in these important areas.

Tat.

I am thinking about getting a tattoo. I have been thinking about this for some time actually. Don't worry, my parents already knows that I am thinking about it. Now, mom is probably still freaking out, but she has already heard about it. She has way more warning on this adventure than on my last couple. I called her while I was driving to the salon to get my nose pierced and then sent her a picture after I got it done. She didn't get any warning about the belly button. Actually, I had to get it done twice due to a "miss stick" the first time. I invited mom to go along with me to Big Daddy Cadillac Tattoo Parlor (no, it is really called that) to get my belly redone. She walked into the parlor with me, but unfortunately I was unable to get it done because the piercer was sick.

I had decided some time ago to not get a tattoo until after going to Israel. This was to allow me time to think about this decision, because yes, I realize that it is with me forever. (Although my mom tells me that removable is easier than ever…) So I have some ideas of what I might like.

1. Before going to Israel I was thinking of getting “truth” in Greek on inner surface of the arch of my foot. Get it? Walking in truth. I randomly selected Greek because I liked the look of the letters. I realize that that reason alone is not a good enough one to permanently place on my body Greek letters. I think I would get Hebrew now because I learned the alphabet (pronounced olive-bet) on my trip and I am still a big fan of truth. Truth in general and as a tattoo.

2. The second idea came to me tonight in the form of a friend. He wanted to make the blog so I asked him to please submit some ideas so that I could more easily mention him. He came up with 2. The first is a bad one. I am not afraid to hurt his feelings with that comment. He knows in his heart…someday he will learn. He thinks that I should get a purple power cat. Enough said.

3. His second idea is to get a random number such as 14. Thank you Eric Tippin, I would have never thought of this idea on my own. His thinking is that when people ask me why I have a number on me I can be mysterious. Ashton Kutcher had a 2 tattooed on his back in the movie the Guardian. He was a competitive swimmer and so the 2 let the guy behind him know what place he was getting. Let’s see how many blogs in a row I can mention that movie.

4. When we visited the Garden Tomb which is the site of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, the tour guide mentioned that the garden is meant to be an oasis of peace and beauty. He went on to say that the garden is just a location and it isn’t about the actual place but about the person of Jesus Christ. This got me thinking about how what Christ did there made it so that it wasn’t about a place but rather Christ indwelling the church, his people. We are now to be oasis of peace and beauty for the world. That is a nice thought. So all that to say that I am thinking about getting ופ שלום אואזיס which translates “oasis of peace and beauty.” I like this idea best.

Talented Life in Lawrence

School has started. We had two days of class and now we have a three day weekend. It is nice, probably unnecessary to have a long weekend so quickly, but I am not one to complain about an extra day to sleep in.

On the first night of my long weekend, my bff Jess came to Lawrence. We dinner ate at On the Boarder because we eat Mexican every time we are together, naturally. Then we went to Target to get a few necessities such as gum, US Weekly, and a tape measure. After the quick shopping trip, we went to see 27 Dresses. Really cute movie. The theatre was full of chicks and two guys. Seriously there were only two guys in the whole theatre. Jess and I like to watch movies together and we are really good at it. I especially enjoying seeing lighthearted movies with her because I can get out of the theatre with less bruises. Let me explain. When Jess and I went to see the Guardian, (another great flick, one of my favs) she squeezed my knee so hard during the intense parts of the movie that I literally had bruises the next day. In her defense, I do bruise easily.

Today we slept in, watched Dream Girls, and ate Macaroni and Cheese (another one of our many talents).

Speaking of US Weekly, Trista Sutter graces this weeks cover. If you have previously read my blogs, I believe in the post titled Observations from Grandfather's Chair, I noted my ideas about the Bachelorette . You know, the show that my blog is named after. It was a nice cover story about how Trista got back in shape after giving birth to Max. The mag was full of pictures and quotes that support my position on the Bachelorette. That is all I really have to say about that. So...

On the second night of my weekend, my friend Jenna and I are going to eat dinner at Mrs. E's. Mrs. E's is best cafeteria on campus, and I would argue that it quite possibly the best in the entire state. Take that K-state! After that we will probably do something really fun because it is one of our talents.

Once I Went to Israel

I have heard that the distance between a person's head and heart is the longest distance on the earth.

My wish for my life is that the things that I learn, see, and experience would affect every area of my life. I wish to be more than an aquirer of knowledge but that I would allow my heart to be changed by what I learn and then ultimately live out what is in my heart.

One time I went on this trip to Israel.

I learned a lot of infomation while I was there. The things that I learned connected the dots of my faith. It made facts that I previously knew make more sense and fit into a context of culture and normal life during Christ's earthly stay.

I saw a lot of sites while I was there. I saw beggers sitting in the gates of the old city of Jerusalem. I saw the wailing wall. I saw ruins of great cities of the time of Chirst.

I experienced a lot of things while I was there. I swam in the dead sea. I kissed the road that Christ walked on on the way to the cross. I touched the place where he once lay dead.

Now my wish is that the things that I have learned, seen, and experienced on my long journey (22 hours of travel time!) would embark on the long journey from my head to my heart. For me this journey comes through journaling, talking about the trip, looking at pictures, and filing it to memory.

So if you were hoping that I could sum up what the trip has meant to me, sorry to disappoint you. I probably, and hopefully, won't be able to do that for a long time. I want to be uncomfortable with what I saw. I want to struggle with these confused thoughts and emotions. I want this trip to change me.

On an airplane for 13 hours!

View from hotel window in Tiberias with Sea of Galilee in background.

In valley of Elah where David killed Goliath.

Empty tomb! Greatest things that has ever happened!

Floating in the Dead Sea.

Modeling on the Mt. of Olives. I like this picture because i think i captures all our personalities. Hah!

Riding a camel. Hey it was in Israel and on the Mt. of Olives even if it was in a parking lot.