they're here!

Yeah dude, the crew from Lacombe Alberta arrived safely. We've been planning this missions trip for them for a few weeks and it's sorta wierd now that they're here and the plans are actually happening in real life. Or not happening.... The plans 'evolved' tonight and we did something totally different that fit much better with the tone of the night. That was cool actually. I mean, everyone worked hard to make plans for tonight right? And none of it happened, but nobody seemed bummed or thought that it was work wasted or anything, it was really cool. It's looking like this week is going to be interesting. I love my friends here a lot, and sometimes they just give me joy for the most random reasons, them not hanging on to a schedule seems to be one of those reasons today.

Made it up the hill last night with no stops. Rock.

still breathing 

.pull out the stops.

So I have a victory to announce.

When I started my daily marches up the hill to the house I probably stopped five or six times on the way up every time. Soon after starting I began to try to cut out the stops, and started trying to cut down my time.

Two weeks ago I brought it down to two stops. Tonight for the very first time I've got it down to ONE STOP. I am more excited than I can explain. I think I might be able to go on the Juan de Fuca hike at the end of the year, for the first time this actually seems like it could be possible for me.

I'm realizing that so much of this is mental prep... once I cut out a stop, I dont need it anymore, but it's so hard to get past the mental hurdle of cutting it out. Somehow it's like my ability to breathe becomes dependent on knowing that I can stop in the near future.

MAN. It feels AWESOME to be conquering this bit by bit! Unfortunately celebrating with the house seems a little lame. For me, making one stop on the way up the hill is a colossal victory, for other people in the house, needing to stop on the way up the hill would be unthinkable.

There's just some stuff that can't be understood if you're not in the same headspace. I've never done anything like this before in my life... that's a hard place to imagine yourself in if you've always been active. The thing is, they all care about me, and probably want the chance to celebrate my victories... without my pre-judgement on their ability to empathize with me.

Well then, that's settled. I'm going to go upstairs and drink juice with my housemates in celebration. One more stop to go.

too tired to post.

I'm feeling awfully lethargic for a Saturday evening. I fully intend on capping my evening with reading, laundry and sleep. I lead an exciting life.

I just came in from a youthworkers conference entitled 'Youth Ministry as a Sanctuary in a Culture of Violence'. Really was a worthwhile weekend I think, I didn't 'network' much... I still haven't gotten the hang of all that, but Tony Campolo was the keynote speaker and it really was a driven sort of weekend. I sponsored a kid in Mexico named Jose, and am starting to think that if I'm going to do this whole Christ-following thing seriously, then I need to be a lot more radical about serving him with all I've got, including my money.

More later I guess.

Carnies.

So I went to the carnival today. It was a ridiculously sunny and warm day, (almost too hot for jeans). About midafternoon Jimmy started to get a little bit cabin fevered and the Lifeteamers decided that there was no better Saturday afternoon activity than to hit up the SevenOaks carnival.

I didn't really feel like blowing cash on rides or games but I was completely content to people watch. Carnies are such an odd species. I bought a caramel apple and the guy at the stand shortchanged me. When I pointed that out to him he just winked at me and took my change back.

I managed to resist the tempation to play crowns and anchors all afternoon too. Decent times had by all.

.nothing much here.

Why are people so complicated at times? Human relationships are so perplexingly complex.

If somebody passed me a little book that was entitled 'How to Love your Neighbour as Yourself Perfectly and Easily' I would drop dead of gratitude.

.barefoot in Abbotsford.

Womens shoes are pretty medieval torture instruments. So I opted to make yesterday my first barefoot day of the year and trapse around Abbotsford with shoes in hand. Me and Chris hung out and just walked around, checked out Value Village for good used books. We scored a bunch books for me for twenty bucks. Among them, a good paperback copy of Paradise Lost, some decent feminist titles, a couple of Canadian lit. gems and one really cool find by Chris, a coffeetable book called Docs. devoted to the history, politics and subculture surrounding Doc Marten boots.

Twas fun being barefoot by the town fountain... I walked in circles around the edge of it and ranted about how odd I plan to be when I am old. A bunch of people saw Chris and I and reported back to us later that they had indeed seen us toddling around Abbotsford with no proper jackets or shoes... you know you live in a small town when...

Beside that there is little of note to report, tomorrow is wildcard monday. I'm pretty sure we're going to go to a rally to raise awareness of the sexual exploitation of street involved youth in Abbotsford. It promises to be interesting times (as usual) in the Lifehouse.

Another hike.

Oh man, I think that I am going to die of a heart attack the next hike we go on. At the very least I'm going to talk to God and see if I can arrange for him to give me one.

We did a hike up the neighbouring mountain yesterday in search of a pretty mountain meadow that we never found anyway. It was really hard for me on a bunch of different levels. I had problems breathing and my muscles burned too much and I got shin splints (ick). So I was trying as hard as I could and still needing stops like every five minutes (no exaggeration here). The crew were ridiculously supportive though and helped me learn how to pace myself and stopped when I needed to stop etc. By the time we broke for lunch, the little bluff that we ended up stopping on looked like the best damn meadow that I had ever laid eyes on.

I think Lifeteams hikes would be easier if the facility was located in the prairies somewhere.

The three day Juana de Fuaca trail hike is in May and I'm nowhere near ready, I just hope that I can be ready in that amount of time. I've been walking the hill to the house everyday for two weeks and it's helping a bit, but it's nowhere near as hard as the hike we did yesterday and yesterdays hike wasn't difficult. It was short and we didnt have any packs to carry. On the other hand I think that the amount of trepidation I feel about all this is counter productive. I will do everything I can to be able to go on this hike, and ask God to take away the fear and worry that are clouding the whole thing.

Sigh, it amazes me how this year is such a learning experience for the whole person. I've probably learned more about myself from the 'outdoor adventure' component of Lifeteams than I have from any other one part of the program.

In the meantime I get to trudge up the hill everyday and keep my eyes fixed on future meadows...