I remember as a kid, I was always so anxious to pull my teeth when they were loose. A nervous sort of anxious...I was very much against pain. I guess that would justify me being a wimp. Secretly I admired the brave kids. The ones who would yank out random teeth, just because they could: "So what, they aren't loose? Well...I'll just show that sucker! Tooth fairy here i come! Cha ching!!"
On the other hand, I was a "waiter". I was afraid to pull them out myself. It just...wasn't my thing.
Totally out of character, on Friday I helped a girl pull out her first loose tooth. No telling what came over me, but I was this little girl's cheerleader. This tiny girl, Marissa, is possibly the gutsiest kid around. She had a tumor on her pinkie, but it didn't phase her at all. She had a pink cast, so it was cool. You should have seen her with that tooth. Well...you should have seen us with that tooth.

I have a funny feeling. A good feeling! It is just a feeling that everything is going right. I can't help but wake up and smile. I am so happy, and about nothing in particular. We will see where the feeling takes me...I guess I can get used to this.

loosechangeman02: Katy... she is an excellent source of protein. Like in English class she would sit across the room from me and we talk and talk and talk in our secret language of nothing. Sometimes when we were reading books we would look at each other and laugh for no reason what-so-ever. That is how she is. It's like we are neighbors now and that is freakin' rad. Sometimes I will go to her house, I haven't yet, and we will just hang out. What I am really trying to say is that, Katy is a damn freakin' AWESOME girl. She is so cool the way she wears her glasses, and when I say "Katy" I mean "K-T."

thank you, aaron. father my children?

leah is here!
wow. july is an incredible month for leahs.
halelujiah!

I'll Pick You Up at 7?

he slipped her daisies through the mail slot
pressed his eye to the peep hole
and listened to her singing
on the other side of the door

she buckled her mary janes
moving with the second hand tick
waiting for a knock
on the other side of the door

her pearls gleamed in the moonlight
the smile on his face reminded her that she was lovely
tonight she would tell him
this was a gift she would treasure

her eyes twinkled in the moonlight
the smile on her face reminded him that she was lovely
tonight he would tell her
she was a girl he would treasure

I believe that all men are created equal and that everyone has within himself the power to make a better world.
---The Lone Ranger's Creed
adios and thank you for the inspiration and the quote, Cody Hill!


Happy Birthday Leah! You kick my ass! 15 years. ow ow!
You are my hero, lu, and I love you.

Oh, Mexico
It sounds so sweet with the sun sinking low
Moon's so bright like to light up the night
Make everything all right
-James Taylor


Sing it Sweet Baby James

We are back from Mexico, but part of me wishes we had never left.
It was an incrdible time of playing, watching,
talking, singing, swinging, laughing,
hugging, working, relaxing, learning,
teaching, changing,
and I couldnt have had more fun doing it.
Maybe it was because of the 100 Mexican children,
always at our feet or crawling into our arms.
Maybe it was the 100 screw holes into sheetrock,
or the 100 strokes on each mudded and taped seam.
Maybe it was the 100 times Aaron growled
"You gonna' eat yo' cornbread, boy?"
Maybe it was the 100 times we heard Fabio say "Amen"
...at our share times.
Maybe it was the 100 dishes we had to wash after every meal.
Maybe it was the 100 tresses we made into a jungle gym
to jump on, a seat to talk from, a bed to lay across,
a support for the roof of a house we built.
Maybe it was the 100 times we had to walk from our dorms
to the 2 houses we worked on.
Maybe it was the 100 times the electricity failed us.
Maybe it was the 100 cows that were hunted.
Maybe it was 100 bottles of joya we drank with delight.
Maybe it was the 100 degree weather that kept us hot and still.
Maybe it was the 100 words we knew in Spanish.
Maybe it was the 100 crashing waves at the beautiful beach.
Maybe it was the 100 pictures we took
of the 100 colors in the sunsetting sky,
or the 100 stars we could count before our eyes got lost,
or the 100 smiles that never tired,
or the 100 people who brought the smiles,
or took the smiles,
or loved the smiles.
Maybe it was the 100 things that God blessed each of us with
at each moment that we were too dizzy to see.


commentary:
All these maybe's add up to one thing i am sure of:
I had an amazing time.
I learned things about myself and about people I love. I learned to love things about myself and people I didn't love. I learned how people feel about me (more good than bad). I learned how I feel about new people in my life I can love. I learned about God, and in ways, I am closer to him than ever, but still, I find myself distant. However, I also learned that God is patient with my imperfections, and he is teaching me to be patient with mine as well as those of other people. I just love God, even when I don't feel close to him.
So, Mexico was beautiful and lovely. Different, yes. But wonderful all the same.