Two weeks really isn’t a long time at all, but leave it to me to cram in as much as I can in that short period of time.  The first weekend of the shutdown was spent with 90+ kids (6th - 12th grade) and 14 other counselors at Huntington College (Indiana) for a youth group retreat.

 
What an exhausting weekend – activities seemed non-stop starting early Friday evening up till the retreat was over early Monday afternoon.  As tiring as it was, it was such a great experience…I loved the girls in my small group – most of them were already believers and the one who wasn’t a believer experienced what its like to know God sometime during that weekend.  It was an emotional time for me when she decided to share with everyone what she learned and felt that weekend because she said that I helped open up her eyes to who God is.  It was unbelievable…unbelievable because God can use anyone to carry out His plans, even though that someone has been struggling for the past month or two with her faith and has been walking in the opposite direction from Him.  Thankfully, He can overlook our failures and countless number of times we reject Him and still reach out to us with wide open arms. Unbelievable.

Next, there was California.  Lynn’s now in Santa Monica and a 10 minute walk from her apartment will take you here:

 

I also went down to San Diego to hang out with everyone there.  It was nice hanging out with everyone, and especially cool that I got to hang out with people from Michigan.

 

I also tried surfing!!  It’s tough, but it was fun.  I think I really should learn how to swim better before trying that again.  The ocean waves are a force to be reckoned with.  From the shoreline, the waves look so harmless as they come and go, but when you’re standing out there and the sound of the waves crashing down engulfs you, it’s much more intimidating.

This trip was followed by working two full days at the restaurant as a waitress. I have rediscovered how much respect I have for servers. I was on my feet from 2pm-11pm the two days I worked, carrying around trays of food, clearing dirty tables, tending to ridiculously needy customers, etc etc. Being the "young and healthy" one, compared to my aunt who normally serves at the restaurant, I was so beat and worn out by the end of the two days. I'm more weak than anything else...where's my stamina? I remember it being a lot easier back during high school. Kudos to all those who serve for a living. Be nice to your waiter/waitress!!

The last portion of my two week shutdown was spent in chicago w/ pat. Unfortunately he had to work a lot that weekend because of a deadline at work, but I really didn't mind since he was able to work from home. It was just nice to know that we were seconds away from each other rather than 250 miles apart. At least I finally found time to watch movies I haven't seen yet: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and CastAway (if you were in that situation, what would you have done? I don't know if I'd be able to survive, nor would I know if I'd have the will to survive). But don't worry, it wasn't all work and no play. We managed to go to Ravinia and check out CSO's performance. It was really nice just chilling on the lawn with pat and listening to music. The concert ended at around 10pm so we were able to see stars in the sky too. I love star gazing even though I don't know too much about constellations.

And so that was it. Today was the first day back to work, back to reality. Vacation is nice, but so is having the means to pay for it. =)

Wow...that was a long blog. I wonder if anyone made it to the end of this?
On that note, does anyone want gmail? I have a few invites.
Oh, and congrats to Porta for finishing a triathalon!! =) Go Porta!!
and finally, see jmz run...and mike run faster. =P