Bandaids, gauze, splints, & stitches

"Are you okay? Are you okay? My name is Elizabeth and I'm CPR/First Aid certified! May I help you?"

I just spent 4 invigorating hours getting First Aid and CPR training. My class was from 6pm-10pm, so the nap I managed to squeeze in this afternoon was essential for my participation in this evening's training.

I learned all about how to treat hypothermia, snake bites, poison ingestion (I memorized the Poison Control Center phone number: 800-222-1222), chemical burns, bloody noses, and other stomach-churching injuries. I'm convinced that the pictures used to aid in the training process might actually induce a serious condition such as vomiting or fainting. Is it absolutely necessary to use such graphic images? I did not particularly want to see an object embedded in a man's eyeball or a severed body part wrapped in bloody gauze. Blech!

I found this line particularly interesting in my training handbook: Do NOT put nail polish on an attached tick. Hmm.

While I hope I never have to perform CPR, Rescue Breathing, or Abdominal Thrusts, I am thankful for the training and fully support its merit.

Spring Formal

Me, Sarah, Kirsten
(Student Development Employees)

I re-lived my college days at NCC's Spring Formal Saturday evening, but this time as a "chaperone." The best part was sneaking around to all the tables with unattended cameras and taking pictures of ourselves. One of them has already made its way to Myspace with this caption: "When you take my camera and use it, I will post it!"

Unfortunately, it's not so flattering. But, I suppose we deserved it! :)

Wacky Weather Words

It's almost May, and it's been raining, snowing, and hailing, often all at once.
So, what does one call the weather when these elements coexist?

Snail (n.): hail mixed with snow.
"Gee whiz, Jen, It's snailing outside!"

Railow (n.): hail mixed with rain and snow.
"By golly, Fran, this railow is cold, painful, and miserable!"

Only

If this were only a job, last night wouldn't have been so hard.
If you were only an employee, you would have treated me differently.
If I was only your boss, I wouldn't care this much.

Processing

Let it be known that I have been in a funk.
At least that's what I've been calling it, anyway.

Or maybe this is really me...trying to figure things out. Trying to get a handle on things. Trying to be ok.

My supervisor recently asked me how I process - if I am able to compartmentalize thoughts to process later, as though they are filed neatly into an organized card catalog system,
-or-
if I process things as they occur, one by one, day by day.

I think that up to this point, to a certain extent, I've compartmentalized. But now I have 6+months of stuff to deal with. Much of this 'stuff' has been piling up since I first began working at NCC.

And of course, all the life-changing happenings of Bolivia and everything in between: weddings, culture shock, unemployment, moving.

The compartments are full and I can't put it off any longer.
So now I'm processing.
The alphabetized card catalogs are bursting with what has yet to be visited. Some of it was briefly glossed over for the time being to address what I could in the present, and only now am I acknowledging their severity.

This is what I'm sorting out (in non-alphabetical order):

First real job. Planning for Cambodia. Leading Cambodia-prep meetings. No friends. New friends. Old friends. Boundaries. Personal life. Professional life. RAs who resigned. RAs who've let me down. Suicide attempts. Late nights. Underage drinking. Life outside of NCC. Burnt out. Mentoring. Doing my best. Eugene. Starting over. Being known. Feeling alone. Health issues. Being the boss. Speaking Truth. Speaking in chapel. Leading worship. Leading staff meetings. Teaching. Misunderstandings. Miscommunications. Christmas guests. Grace. Not enough grace. Love. Confrontation. Hard conversations. Feeling walked on. Confidence. My first gray hair. :) Boldness. Sex-trafficking. Mistakes. Living at work. Drama. Abuse. High expectations. Unrealistic expectations. Lowered expectations. The Holy Spirit. Gifts. Being called out. Patience. Authority. Different philosophies. Feeling like I should be older. Inadequacies. Counseling. Seminary.

These are my thoughts. I know I'm forgetting some. Some of them still linger from months ago. It does not mean I've forgotten or moved on. I've simply had to push them aside to make room for more.

I'm trying to process.
Please be patient with me.
Please don't confuse my funk with aloofness.
I am just trying to process.
I'm doing the best I can.

Pink Tulips

I bought 10 cheery, pink tulips the other day.
For me.

I needed a boost and boost me they did. :)

Cupcakes at Midnight

I bought special birthday cupcake liners and failed to remember that I don't own a cupcake tin, except for a teeny tiny muffin tin that is much too small for the said cupcake liners... and so I made teeny tiny cupcakes without cupcake liners.

I, determined to use the fun cupcake liners in some fashion or another, naively filled a square baking dish with the liners and poured in the batter.

Not a good idea!

I opened the oven to find that the wannabe cupcake batter had oozed together, creating one giant cupcake top with 12 cupcake bottoms. I had to peel them apart which resulted in cupcake puzzle pieces, cupcake triangles, and cupcake pentagons.

The last batch just came out of the oven and I'm a little bit embarrassed to share them at our small group tomorrow night.

The moral of tonight's story: don't bake at midnight.

Cupcakes with Character

No Joke

Although I wish this news was a joke, I must face the facts.

A freakish car accident Sunday evening killed a recent GFU alum in Newberg. Though I didn't know him very well, I went to the Philippines with the driver of the other car. I can't imagine the horrors they are facing right now and am hopeful this devastation will someday end...for eternity.

Heartache, accidents, tears, pain, loss, grief.... It will all be over.

Read the details here: The Newberg Graphic & GFU

More stuff keeping me awake at night

I found these videos a couple weeks ago as I researched life in Cambodia

I'm not shocked by these stories anymore
the lies are the same
and the darkness remains

Satan loves this oppression and injustice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2kj1NC0RXU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7MJVQJnHcM&feature=related