Can I get an AMEN?

When you have to visit a public bathroom, you usually find a line of women, so you smile politely and take your place. Once it's your turn, you check for feet under the stall doors. Every stall is occupied. Finally, a door opens and you dash in, nearly knocking down the woman leaving the stall.

You get in to find the door won't latch. It doesn't matter the wait has been so long you are about to wet your pants! The dispenser for the modern 'seat covers' (invented by someone's Mom, no doubt) is handy, but empty or in some new, 'cost-efficiency' bathrooms there isn't one at all. You would hang your purse on the door hook, if there was one but there isn't - so you carefully, but quickly drape it around your neck, (Mom would turn over in her grave if you put it on the FLOOR!), yank down your pants, and assume ' The Stance.'

In this position your aging, toneless thigh muscles begin to shake. You'd love to sit down, but you certainly hadn't taken time to wipe the seat or lay toilet paper on it, so you hold 'The Stance. To take your mind off your trembling thighs, you reach for what you discover to be the empty toilet paper dispenser. In your mind, you can hear your mother's voice saying, 'Honey, if you had tried to clean the seat, you would have KNOWN there was no toilet paper!' Your thighs shake more. You remember the tiny tissue that you blew your nose with yesterday - the one that's still in your purse. (Oh yeah, the purse around your neck, that now, you have to hold up trying not to strangle yourself at the same time). That would have to do. You crumple it in the puffiest way possible. It's still smaller than your thumbnail.

Someone pushes your door open because the latch doesn't work. The door hits your purse, which is hanging around your neck in front of your chest, and you and your purse topple backward against the tank of the toilet. 'Occupied!!' you scream, as you reach for the door, dropping your precious, tiny, crumpled tissue in a puddle on the floor, lose your footing altogether, and slide down directly onto the TOILET SEAT. It's wet of course. You bolt up knowing all too well that it's too late. Your bare bottom has made contact with every imaginable germ and life form on the uncovered seat because YOU never laid down toilet paper - not that there was any even if you had taken time to try. You know that your mother would be utterly appalled if she knew. Certainly her bare bottom never touched a public toilet seat because, frankly dear, 'You just don't KNOW what kind of diseases you could get.'

By this time, the automatic sensor on the back of the toilet is so confused that it flushes, propelling a stream of water like a fire hose against the inside of the bowl that sprays a fine mist of water that covers your butt and runs down your legs and into your shoes. The flush somehow sucks everything down with such force that you grab onto the empty toilet paper dispenser for fear of being dragged in too. At this point, you give up. You're soaked by the spewing water and the wet toilet seat. You're exhausted. You try to wipe with a gum wrapper you found in your pocket and then slink out inconspicuously to the sinks.

You can't figure out how to operate the faucets with the automatic sensors, so you wipe your hands with spit and a dry paper towel and walk past the line of women still waiting. You are no longer able to smile politely to them. A kind soul at the very end of the line points out a piece of toilet paper trailing from your shoe. (Where was that when you NEEDED it??) You yank the paper from your shoe, plunk it in the woman's hand and tell her warmly, 'Here, you just might need this.'

As you exit, you spot your hubby, who has long since entered, used, and left the men's restroom. Annoyed, he asks, 'WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG, and WHY IS YOUR PURSE HANGING AROUND YOUR NECK??'

This is dedicated to women everywhere who deal with public restrooms (rest??? you've GOT to be kidding!!). It finally explains to the men what really does take us so long. It also answers their other commonly asked questions about why women go to the restroom in pairs. It's so the other gal can hold the door, hang onto your purse and hand you Kleenex under the door!

Amateur

"The word amateur has been redefined over the years and has lost the luster of its original meaning. The English word comes from the Latin word, amore, which means 'to love.' An amateur is someone who does something simply for the love of it."

This paragraph jumped out at me today. I am currently struggling with some news that I received last night. This news that I cannot divulge just yet is going to require more responsibility of me that I was not expecting. I am fighting through the emotional responses currently. I waver between sadness and anger. The psychologist in me says that's the normal grieving process. During my fits of anger, I have reached the wanting to quit point. There is part of me that wants to say "Screw it all!" That's where this particular article got me this evening. What is being asked of me is something that I love to do. I won't be paid to do this. I'll have to sacrifice more of my time for this. Some unfortunate changes are happening to put this responsibility on my shoulders. I need to be willing to take on this responsibility because I love doing and I love these people. This probably makes no sense to anyone but me. I like this definition of amateur and wanted to share it.

I've been working hard at Majesty Motors. This week I'm taking pictures of the inventory and working with Joe to get it all onto the website. I have people interactions in spurts, usually around meals this week. This is my last full week of vacation. Volleyball starts next week. Teacher workdays start the week after that. School starts the next week. August is pretty full already.

I'm attempting to do some heavy duty counseling cramming. I'd like to finish this one course before next week. Then I'd like to get a good jump on one of the other courses before school starts. It's going to take some discipline, but I can do it! God is starting to form my vision of where I'm heading with these counseling courses. The details are foggy at best, but I'm still searching Him out on these. I have a big dream that only God could fulfill the details, but that might be where I'm heading. Just let me know and I'll share it with you...

Meet my new sister!

I have a new black sister, who is now living with my parents. She's a cute little thing with fur. We all knew it was only a matter of time until they got a new dog. Her name is Brandi. She's a mix of a couple of dogs, but mostly an Australian shepherd. Comparisons have been made to Aussie on several occasions, but she's pretty different. She's almost 2 years old. She was a stray to start life and then has been outside the rest of her life. She's still not quite sure about all the noises and weird things inside the house. She's a very loving dog - always willing to give kisses. She sticks pretty close to Dad. She's already been to work two days with him, so I think she'll be a regular at Majesty Motors.

Speaking of Majesty Motors...it officially opened on Thursday. As of yesterday, I was the first customer buying my new Jeep Liberty that I've been waiting for since the beginning of June. I was also added to the payroll. My job is the general whatever needs to be done. I've done paperwork and filing. Uncle Dave and I put together some bookshelves. I've helped arrange cars on the lot. I walked the dog a couple of times. Next week I'm going to work on taking pictures of the inventory so Joe can get them up on the website. It's not a high demand job and it's nice to be a part of the family business. Pretty soon they'll slap a salesman license on me and I'll be selling cars. If you need something that gets better gas mileage, contact me or check out our website.

Lumps and Bumps

I had the first of potentially many scares in my life...I had a lump come up on the back of my shoulder at the base of my neck on Friday. I've had a spot there under the skin for a few years. I had a doctor poke and prod it once and he said not to worry about it unless it started to bother me.

Friday afternoon, after a full week of volleyball camp, my shoulder was bothering me whenever I moved it. I assumed it was from over-use between the last couple of weeks in Canada and volleyball. Then I reached to massage my shoulder and found the lump. Being the female that I am, I start worrying through my diagnosis. Of course, I go to the nearest mirror to view my lump. The biggest challenge is that I have a very high pain tolerance and this one hurts to look at. I finally twist enough to see it in the mirror. It's a pretty good sized lump that is red and inflamed. Being me, I take some ibuprofen, ice it up and try to relax.

The weekend wears on and the pain increases. Given the location of the lump, sleep is hard to find because any pressure on it or movement of neck and shoulder muscles cause pain. I had Mom look at it and Dad convince me (jokingly but not taken that way) its a tumor. I tolerate it until Monday when I finally get into the doctor.

To make this long boring post short, the doctor drained the infection out of the lump. Leaving a nice gaping hole on my shoulder. He says the lump will probably reform under the skin after the infection clears up and the hole closes. I'll have to go back in so they can get to the lump without infection in the way. Currently I have gauze and tape on my shoulder. He did give me some good pain medication that helped me to sleep very well for the first time in several nights. I'm still not sure what exactly it is on my shoulder but I know that volleyball aggravates it. I'm not going to team camp this week and going to hide in my hole for a few days. Hopefully, this spot will heal without the pain and won't get infected again.

A few Canada Pics

Here are a few pictures from Canada. As I gather them from my teammates, I'll try to post them.

This is a picture of the team on Week 2. We did basketball camps in Parkland and Lake Chapparel. Adam, the guy to my left with the sunglasses, is from our church and spending his summer in Calgary. He's doing a great job!

This is my team from Parkland. Most of my team are rising 6th graders. We were called the Moose Lightning. I had a great week with these kids and some of them are pretty talented little ball players too. Skyla, the girl standing next to me, told me on Monday that she didn't really like basketball. By the BBQ on Friday night, she stayed an extra hour so she could play in the game we were playing.

The BBQ on Thursday night during Week 2 was just slightly cold. My beloved hoodie was the only thing I had to defend myself from the rain and wind. I buried myself in it as much as possible!

Canada Week Two

Week two is now complete and we're heading home VERY early tomorrow morning. Most of me is ready to be home but part of me always stays in Calgary. I had a good second week. I coached the 5th and 6th graders at basketball camp. Our team name was Moose Lightening. I should have a team photo within the next week or so. We did several community projects in the afternoon. One afternoon we got to deliver T-ball pictures from last week. It was good to see the kids one more time before heading home. We played some great basketball as a team. I hung in there with the guys most afternoons. We played Knock-out often and I kept the guys' egos in check by beating ALL of them every once in awhile. We had two more BBQs and had a few more hot dogs. God is really working in Parkland and Lake Chapparel communities. I had many questions asked of me this week that opened the door for God moments.

Saturday we went back up to the mountains. I woke up with a stomach bug of some sort. We had to stop at a little town along the way so I could dispose of breakfast. We went back to Lake Louise and it was beautiful again. It had more snow on the mountain because we had a really cold rain one day this week. The team hiked to the top of Johnston Canyon while I attempted to calm my stomach with a nap in the car. I wouldn't have enjoyed the hike anyways so I enjoyed everyone else's pictures. We spent a couple hours in Banff again where I got my shopping done. We went up a gondola to a very high peak in the mountain. The view was spectacular to put it mildly. Again, pictures coming in the future.

I worshipped at Trinity Baptist Church this morning with half the team and the other half went back to Southwinds. We were on kid duty again, but only had one kid come for class. I enjoyed the worship and the time in God's Word. I got to have Japanese for lunch, while part of the team had fish tacos (blah!). We got to come back and relax this afternoon. We're in the packing process. We're heading to bed early because we are departing at 4:00 AM for the airport. Our flight leaves at 7:00 - international flight - arrive at airport two hours early. It will be a long day of travel and waiting around airports, but as long as we all get home in one piece I'll take it.

Canada Week One

Week one is behind us. We finished up kids club and t-ball camp on Thursday and Friday. We had end of camp BBQs to have a chance to talk with our kids and their parents over hot dogs. We spent Saturday playing tourist in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Today we worshipped at Southwinds. This was an awesome experience for me because I've been with this church plant since it was in the praying stages. There were about 30 people in attendance today. We had two families visit because their kids were at one of our camps this week. We also served hamburgers and hot dogs to the community around Trinity Baptist. We had 950 people come to this annual Stampede BBQ. Upon returning to Cochrane, I took up the dirty laundry of the two-weekers and spent a few hours in the laundromat by myself. It was at moments boring but also some of the alone time I've been craving.

It's been a long week and I need your prayers for endurance. Jason and team 2 have arrived in Calgary and will be here in about an hour or so. Part if team 1 is leaving at 4:00 am. We head to basketball camp at 6:00 am for breakfast and orientation. I think I'm on the team that is doing two basketball camps each day. Check out my church's website for photos from our activities this week. Go to the photo page and you'll find a link there. I hope all is well where you are. I'm heading towards bed so I can get some much needed sleep.