"You look back at a certain moment which changed everything. But moment is too long a word; was it a period of time at all? There came a thunderclap. But no, thunder may rumble for two or three seconds. This was a lightning-flash cleaving straight across the road on which you walked. You shut your eyes instinctively; when you opened them the road looked different. And it was different. Nothing will ever be again as it was before that lightning-flash. This, and this, and this you will never do again. And the road will grow duller and darker with every mile you go-- is that your thought?
A Voice speaks within you. "Things will never be as they were before? That is true; for they will be better. You will never do this and this again? That also is true; for I have other things for you to do. They are not what you would choose? But they are indeed the best that Love can choose for you. The road will grow duller and darker with every mile you go? The path is like a shining light; like the sun that you have watched on many a lovely morning coming out of his chambers and rejoicing as a strong man to run a race. Does the light on that shining race-course of the sky grow less and less? No, it shineth more and more. So shall the path of My beloved be, not darker, but brighter as it nears the perfect day. This is the heritage of the servants of teh Lord. This, not that."

------- Amy Carmichael in Gold By Moonlight

Boys, take note...

As I headed to Subway for my usual turky sandwich on wheat, a guy inside who was eating lunch with a friend saw me wakling across the parking lot and actually got up from his seat to open the door for me. I'm not talking he just happened to be already standing by the door-- he got up from the corner table just to open the door for a girl he didn't even know.
That's true manhood.

Hero of the Day

Things were looking quite dismal for awhile over here at Apartment 11. As Sonia and I both discovered on Saturday, the showers in this place are horrible. I'm talking worse than the wagon bathrooms for all you camp people out there. I'm talking you can't even feel the water on your head kind of bad water pressure. We were not digggin' it. We hated this shower so much that we actually did not take showers for the past couple of days, just because the thought of it made us bitter.
Speaking of bitter, enter Jig. Our most frequent visitor to Apartment 11 decided yesterday to take it upon himself to fix our shower. And fix it he did, people. We're talking close to tipi shower pressure here. It is amazing. Absolutely wonderful. He even put on a new shower head for us.
Thanks, Jig. You've made our daily hygeinic routines much more pleasant.

Adventures With My Roomie

So today I come home from lunch with friends to my ever-so tempting bed, exhausted from four nights of staying out past midnight, right off the last week at camp-- two of those nights being at camp. But anyway, I walk in to find the room I now share with Sonia in a shambles as she attempted to organize her stuff without any furniture to put anything into. She suggested an Ikea trip, and I jumped on board. Having never been to Ikea, I figured I would have to discover the joys of the world's largest furniture store sometime. We jumped in the car and headed west.
Now, for those of you who know me well, you know that me and going places I've never been before don't mix. Lucklly, Sonia knew exactly how to get there, and though we ended up in the mother of all traffic jams right outside the stadium, we made it to Ikea in one peace.
Now, the describing of Ikea is a completely different story, and as this blog is about only one specific adventure, I'll have to describe it some other time. We got back in the truck after loading up three boxes containing Sonia's new bed and head west once again, because Sonia says this is the way to the freeway.
Well, long story short, we ended up passing the 163, found ourselves on the backside of Fashion Valley Mall, drove past Sea World, and finally arrived at Mission Bay-- all in our attempt to arrive home in good ol' El Cajon. Fortunately, we were finally able to find the onramp for the 8 east and cruised home in style at a comfortable 70 miles an hour.
More adventures to come, I'm sure....

Yea, us!

Our apartment rocks.

And we're only paying 300 a month.

And we've got people from camp and CHC in the same complex.

And there are two bathrooms.

And there's tons of closet space.

And we're getting wireless internet connections.

And I got a great deal on a desk and bookcase, not to mention a free bed.

And Dan Blair built my bookcase for me today.

And Jesse bought me the pink and brown down blanket I wanted as a housewarming present.

God loves me so much ;)

Apartment Hunting

Today Sonia and I, along with Jig, set out to find our dream apartment. After an hour of frustrating internet searches, Jig finally dragged us away from CHC to get out and just find one. We were on the freeway for a total of about two minutes when suddenly everything came into place with an apartment Mandy Gervasi already had in her possession. So now Sonia and I will be sharing a master bedroom in the famous Cobblestone Park, home to CHC-ers and camp staff alike. It is amazing. Although I did remark to Jig somewhere along the journey, "I'm almost disappointed that the search is over before it has even begun."