yesterday

yesterday was a grand day. I woke up, after at least 10 hours of sleeping (three days of teenagers and camping and hiking and rafting will provide that need), and sat on my porch swing. thinking & such on a bright sunny morning. I ate breakfast. my roomie told me we had a friend's cat in our basement. weird. Then: ready for church, where I met benton at the door (we were both only about 5 minutes late, which is good). Revelation 17 was odd, but engaging. guest musicians=very cool. later: shopping for quilt material with mom. she likes my color/pattern thoughts. I feel valued, but it's still exausting. and I was hungry, mildly grouchy. finally; back to the parents' for lunch. sat in the hammock. I mention: I have to go mow my lawn. benton says: I'll do it for $5. I pay him $10 and don't let him leave my house until we have a nice chat on my porch swing about the camping trip, shawn macdonald, summer job options, and church stuff. it was definitely a countrytime lemonade moment, as kristen said. I cut a few roses from the side yard (my landlords just plant that kind of stuff!) and have him take them home to mom. She says they smell pretty. I loan benton shawnymac's live in seattle cd and he's on his way. then: burned a fun roadtrip/goodbye mix cd, raced over to alecia's for dinner off the grill with her and blaire. Pierced was old hymns amid updated music, reminiscent of "chapel 1" in cheyenne, bsf this year, and a little old lady I met once 8 years ago who lived next to the rio grande in the san luis valley. everyone seemed to enjoy pastor-cantidate kutter, and I enjoyed the Jacob story (Gen 32) because we JUST studied that in bsf a month or so ago. sometimes I really identify with Jacob. because as pastor brian says, his name means dirty sneaky thief. now, I remember learning that my name means honesty. and I am usually, but I can be sinfully deceiving, too. perhaps it's the control part that I identify with. he physically struggles with God so much that his name changes from "dirty-sneaky-thief-manipulator" to "struggles with God." anyway, after Pierced there was the usual "hello, friend!" moments that I love so dearly each week, a support the India mission trip fundraiser, and then s'mores at alecia's. usually post-Pierced gatherings aren't necessarily full of good discussion, but this backporch campfire was. it was nice. we talked about the rumored upcoming salvation army prom, relationships, jobs, trips, nicknames, s'mores s'meeps sm'eeps and s'm'eeps. some of us pretend to be grammarians. and we decided kutter's talk was his prepared/stock "audition piece" but we liked it anyway.