The River

Upon seeing that I have updated my blog, you may assume that its about Christmas. Think again. It's not. Sorry about that.

I have been thinking about some of my biggest fears lately. Two of my biggest fears are heights and something happening to my family and not being able to provide for them.

Please take just a minute to watch this video before reading on (scroll over the word this to see the link).

After watching that video, I know I could never do it. My focus is on the huge rocks that this kayaker maneuvers through. I focus on the height and all of the things that could potentially harm me.

Despite all of this, I have been challenged in my own thought recently to hit the zoom out button on life. I have been challenged to look at the bigger picture. The kayaker knows that the river calms later on and that the water will keep him afloat. He is not focused on the harmful things.

Does he acknowledge their presence yes, he would be foolish not to, but are they his focus no. I often get stuck with tunnel vision. I see that there is something that is potentially harmful in my way and as a result, I get out of the river and walk around. Or even worse, I turn around terrified of what is in front of me.

I have been examining my walk with God here over the past few months and have found that I have this tunnel vision focused on the rocks. I have not been seeking, to the best of my ability, the Living Water that I have flowing within me. I have not been zoomed out on the calmer, and greater waters to come.

Hit the zoom out button. Walk to the river. See what God has been, is, and will continue to do. Are your fears standing in the way of what God is calling you to do?

A Sad Day in History

Sellout. Generally we think of big stadiums and large crowds of people, but I am talking about the New York Yankees.

I am realizing just how much I hate the Yankees. As I watched the grounder to Robinson Cano with two outs in the 9th, my heart sank. I was crushed. Derek Jeter is fine. The rest are sellouts. I hate the Yankees because of what they stand for.

They win because they have more money than everyone else. take a look at the payrolls. The Yankees in 2009, as the country is entering a recession signs three players combining for a total of $420+ million. Take the Florida Marlins for example. They finished second in their division behind Philadelphia with a TEAM payroll of $36.8 million. Oh, and did I mention the $1 billion new stadium that Steinbrenner conned the people into paying for?

Anyone heard of the 1919 Black Sox scandal when the White Sox threw the Series for money. This is the exact opposite. Baseball is America's past time, and when teams are literally able to buy their way to a World Series Championship, it is sickening.

I want to mention the three largest sellouts in the history of baseball right now, CC Sabathia (SP NYY), AJ Burnett (SP NYY), and my least favorite of all Mark Teixeira (1B NYY). Oh, along with A-Roid.

Feel free to send nasty comments, hate mail, whatever you would like. I am just saying that they New York Yankees are sell outs. The only reason they win is because they have the most money.

Fall

I have been sleeping outside lately, actually, for the past month, and really enjoying nature. As I have let my mind wander in the vastness of the world, I have recalled the sunsets and sunrises over the ocean at the beach. I have thought about looking out over ledges in the mountains while listening to a waterfall in the distance, fog rolling in and covering a lake secluded by mountains. I have looked out into the night sky, watching little pieces of debris cause shooting stars.

In all of this, I see beauty. I see God in a new light. I see the beautiful God who created each and every one of us. As I stare off in amazement, I cannot help but to think about this beauty. I wonder what is this beauty, and why does it create such a stir within me?

Beauty is such an amazing word that I do not think many people really comprehend, including myself. As I have thought over the last month, I have come to realize that beauty is beautiful because we cannot grasp it - it's unknown. And in that unknown, beauty makes it self present.

See, when I stare into the sky at night, I don't know what to think. I don't know how many stars are out there. I simply cannot comprehend the little lights glimmering in front of me. I just know that it is beautiful.

When I stand in the mountains looking at the changing leaves, listening to a waterfall in the distance, I know where I am, but what about the trees? Where did they come from? How long have they been there? Why do the leaves change? In all of this, I see beauty. Not just because I can see it, but because there is something inside me that wants to know it more.

"Where did the fog come from? How long has this lake been here? What lives in there?" I wonder as I stand on a dam. Beauty. I see these beautiful images and come so close to understanding, but I don't have the capacity to understand.

As I wake up to red, orange, and yellow skies, I cannot help but to think, what lies beyond the horizon? What makes these colors? What does today hold in store for me? Once again, beautiful. Yet, I cannot grasp this idea of beauty.

When I look at the cross, I see something ugly. Something I would never want to see again. Yet it is beautiful? It is beautiful because we cannot comprehend why He would do such a thing.

But one of the most beautiful sights I have seen is not a sunrise or mountain scene, a starry sky or fog over a lake. It is a group of people who typically meet on Sunday mornings. These people have tasted this beauty and understand it in different ways. Ways that I do not always understand. These people have potential - an unknown amount of potential.

Just as each star flickers differently, no sunset is the same, no lake is ever covered by the same fog, and the leaves express themselves with different colors, they are different, each having their own ways.

Be beautiful. Let people see you, but make them wonder what is different about you.

Prank time

SO, I am college guy who does typical college guy things. Like watch movies, procrastinate, have ridiculously crazy fun conversations, do really stupid things, and lastly prank people.

Now this is a classic. It has been done many times by many people. It is not original. However, it was really fun and it takes a lot more work than one might think to make something like this look good.

David, my roommate has done nothing wrong. We are not fighting. I just wanted to pull a prank on him. So, what do I do? I pull a bit of a prank. He works from 1-5 on Thursdays giving me four hours to complete my project.

After buying 1015 square feet of aluminum foil, and three and a half hours of working, this is what you get:

Shooting for the Stars

I don't know about you, but stars and the night sky have always fascinated me. I love looking up on a clear night and seeing countless amounts of stars scattered across the sky. While I was in Romania, I had numerous opportunities to go star gazing in a place with very little light pollution. Talk about AMAZING!

Well my friends, last night was amazing as well. As I laid outside underneath the stars with the temperature dropping below freezing, I was captivated by the stars once again. Normally, when I sleep I have to take my glasses off so I don't roll over and damage them or anything. Well, last night I was extremely sad to take off my glasses. In the almost two hours that I watched the stars beaming in the sky, I saw roughly 15 shooting stars. And again when I woke up at 6, I saw another five shooting stars dart across the night sky.

I have been wondering about shooting stars and where they come from, how do they get moving so fast, where are they going, how does something like this happen? I know it can all be explained scientifically, but the fact that I don't know allows me to see them as something more beautiful than just another fact.

I wrote a blog when I first got introduced into this world of blogging entitled stars, talking about how we are to be the light in the dark world. But my question now is should the light be stagnant - standing still - sitting there? If we are the light to the world should we be stagnant?

I have been reading in Luke 3 and more specifically the story of John the Baptist and how he prepared the way for Jesus. Verses 8-11 say:

Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don't just say to each other, 'We're safe, for we are descendents of Abraham.' That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. Even now the ax  of God's judgement is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire. Then the crowds asked, 'What should we do?' 

See once we are saved, we are to be lights of the world that force people to ask questions about our lifestyle. We should be different, we should live a lifestyle that catches others attention.

Can you picture this? A world where Christians are not afraid to be different? Next time you get a chance (tonight is supposed to be very clear as well),go out and look at the stars. But don't look for the shooting stars, look for the beauty in the subtle differences. Examine how you can make a difference right where you are. I think you will be amazed at how different each and every star is.

Sonny and Cher

As many of you know, early this year I bought three fish. Sonny and Cher and Captain Jack Sparrow. Sadly, Captain Jack left this world after a mere three months and lots of travel between Thomasville and Boiling Springs. It was a very sad day as I considered Captain Jack Sparrow one of my children.

Today, Sonny and Cher (I am not sure which one is which, so they are both Sonny and Cher) is in his last stages of life. He has been going down hill slowly for the last week and a half. He has been lethargic and slow to rush to the top for food. He has not been his normal happy, swimmy self. And as I sit here typing this, Sonny and Cher is laying on the bottom of my tank not moving. I would like for this to be my commemoration to Sonny and Cher. He has been a great fish and I have loved him like no other. I will miss him dearly.

But I do have somewhat of a message for this blog. For the last thirty minutes, I have been watching my hang on to life. But what is interesting about this situation is that the other Sonny and Cher is doing everything he can to help his friend. He has been pointing out food and nudging Sonny and Cher to hold on. Sometimes I wish we were more primitive. Sometimes I wish we could all drop everything we are doing to help others in need, to encourage them and to lift them up, and to be there for them.

Twins trounce Tigers in 12th

Cool crisp mornings, leaves changing, the feeling of fall is certainly in the air. What does that mean? October baseball. There is nothing that gets me more excited than playoff baseball. Virginia Tech football comes close, but when the battle of for the last playoff spot comes down to a tie breaker in a 163rd regular season game, my nerves go crazy!

The Detroit Tigers collapsed in the last three weeks of the regular season allowing the Minnesota Twins to take the division.

After a 16-4 finish to the season, the Minnesota Twins took the AL Central title in a playoff matchup that needed even more one game. Alexi Casilla of the Twins singled home Carlos Gomez in the 12th inning to win in walk off fashion.

After the Tigers took an early 3-1 lead in the third, the Twins clawed back and in the 6th inning after an Orlando Cabrera bomb, the Twins found themselves with a one run lead.

In a back and forth game that saw three lead changes and two ties from the 6th to the 12th, this game was not over. The Tigers would not give up  that easily. Magglio Ordonez connected with a Matt Guerrier pitch and sent it soaring into the left field stands to tie it up at 4 in the eighth.

Both teams were held in check until the tenth when Don Kelly scored on a Brandon Inge double to deep left. The Twins would not give up, thanks in part to a misplayed ball in the bottom half of the inning.

On what should have been a single, Ryan Raburn wanted to be a hero. Raburn slid allowing the ball to scoot past him and Curtis Granderson for a Michael Cuddyer a lead off triple. Matt Tolbert took advantage of the triple with a single to knot it up at 5.

The eleventh inning went quickly to set up the intense twelfth inning. The Tigers were able to load the bases with just one out but could not capitalize. However, in the second half of the frame, the Twins were able to upend the Tigers on a single.

AL Batting Champion, Joe Mauer, went 2-4 and finished the season batting .365. Miguel Cabrera finished the night 2-5 with a double, homer, two RBIs, and a run.

Listen

I am a little nervous about posting this blog. Why? Because it is not Saturday, October 10th yet. I wrote a blog saying that my goal was to turn my phone off for one week and check my email regularly in case of emergencies. I said that I did not want any distractions for the week. I said that I wanted to further my relationship with God and those around me. That was my goal.

What I seemed to forget about was that the things I stopped using can be used for good things. This weekend, without my phone and computer and television has been amazing! I have been able to grow much closer with two guys in particular, which is what I have desperately been looking for.

I have also had time to grow and listen to what God has in store for me. For more information, contact me personally, by cell phone, or email. I have been focused on the goal of one week but now that I have had this time to look and listen without distractions, I see a need for action. I need to further my relationship with these guys and to do that efficiently my cell phone, computer, and tv will be back on.

These things can be used for good things in moderation, sometimes we just need time away to sit back and listen.

Freedom

Free. That is such a lovely word. Anytime I see a sign pointing to free food, I make a break for it! Free. In our society these days we are always trying to get more for less. My mom has started buying loads of groceries using coupons and saving lots of money while getting more food. Each time I call her, I can always count on hearing how much more food she got for less than its listed price.

We do this when purchasing cars and homes as well. We make offers lower and try to talk people into giving us more for our money. Everywhere I look, people are trying to get more for what they have. Take a look at our daily lives. We each have 24 hours a day - thats it. But yet we have so many things going on that we cannot keep up. As a result, we use computers, cell phones, television, and other things to keep up with everyone and everything. These items allow us to do more for our time. And yes, this is great! It allows for many, many opportunities to open up. However, there is a point where it becomes too much.

As I was sitting at the Verge tonight, a person next to me had their cell phone out the entire time. During the songs, this person was texting; during the talk, this person was texting; during prayer, this person was texting. I was furious. We have allowed our technologically advanced, more for what we have society consume our being. We have allowed this society take the place of our relationship with God.

Tonight, I have been thinking a lot about how much I fail to make time for God. I have realized how much my cell phone, computer, and television get in the way of my relationship with God. I have been trying to get more of the wrong stuff for my time. So, starting Friday October 2nd, I will check my cell phone once at night for emergencies. I will check my email 3 times a day: morning, lunch, and evening. I would challenge each one who reads this to give this a try with me for one week. Friday morning to Saturday morning, October 10th. I want to stress one thing though. The time you would be texting, on the computer, or watching television, or whatever it may be for you, replace it by spending quality time with God, and furthering relationships with people you may not otherwise get to know. If you do decide to try this with me, please leave a comment so that I can pray for you through out the week.

Uncontrollable

I like fire. Fire is fun to play with. I can remember many instances when I have played with fire and also been amazed by fire. As a kid, however, we were always taught not to play with fire. Why? Well the obvious answer is because it is dangerous, right? Well of course. I am going to use my brother and sister as an example for this.

When we were living in Salem,Va in the apartments, there was a little store just up the street. We would always go spend our money there on snacks and drinks. Tim, my little brother, found out that he could by matches - naturally he bought some. At the time he was 12, maybe 13. The hallway leading to our apartment was carpet. You might be able to see where I am going with this. Tim started little tiny fires all up and down the hallway for weeks on end. He was always able to put them out. But one day, if I recall correctly, one got a bit too big and he put it out with the fire extinguisher. Fire can tear apart homes and forests, it can destroy lives, and it is uncontrollable.

As I was watching a torch burn the other night, I was entranced by the fact that I never knew where the fire would go next even though it was a torch. I could not predict what or where it was going. Uncontrollable. Since I have been back in the States, I have developed this uncontrollable desire deep within me to be with underprivileged children, loving them and sharing the uncontrollable love that Jesus Christ has for me.

I have noticed that most people in the States are predictable. They go to church on Sunday and maybe Wednesday. There is a structure to all the worship services, and consequently, there is a structure to their lives. When we are filled with the love of Christ, he overflows our being with love. Where has this uncontrollable lifestyle gone? Where are the uncontrollable Christians? Last time I checked, no law ever stopped Paul from sharing the love of Jesus with everyone. In fact, not even prison stopped Paul. Now we let unwritten social laws control us.

Be uncontrollable.

Just an Update

So, for those who read this and do not know, I am back in the States. I had an amazing two months in Romania, and it was, and still is, very difficult to be back here. Just a brief update on the hospice camp, it was by far my favorite camp. I had such a great time loving on those children with every last bit of stuff left in me. The camp was run by a team from Bristol, England which made things very interesting. Pants are not pants in the English way of speaking. I found that out very quickly. Pants are the equivalent of whitey tighties. Trousers is the equivalent of pants. Anyway, if you want to know more, please get in touch with me, and I will be more than happy to share with you.

Bear Cave and a Picnic

Yesterday was an AWESOME day! We took the day as a sightseeing day and also just to relax and spend some time with one of my closest friends here. Randy, Ade, Becky, Dana, and myself all went to Beius, which is about an hour and a half ride from Oradea to visit Pestera Ursilor, which is Romanian for Bear Cave.

This cave was found not long ago in 1983 when an explosion happened while some workers were mining for marble and lime. The first person to dive into the depths of this monstrous cave was a man by the name of Curta Traian. As he went through he found many skeletons of about 170 bears. These bears used the cave as a place to hibernate way back when. And at one point, the entrance collapsed and the bears could not get out.

This cave is full of stalagmites and stalactites. And, it was probably the neatest place I have yet to go to here in Romania. Mom and Dad, you both would have loved this place! Mom, you would have loved it for the mountains we were in, and Dad, well you would have liked it for the same reasons I did. But with out further ado, here are some pictures!

Some remains of the cave bears

The ceiling

The coolest archway ever

Giant Stalagmite

Bunches of Stalagmites

A stalagmite and stalactite touching!

This will take 250 million years to touch

One of the bears

Super neat stuff!

Ok so that was Bear Cave! Once we finished there, the five of us went to have a picnic up in the mountains. We found a spot next to a river and stopped there. We laid our blankets down and ate. We all had a great time resting and relaxing... while I stuff myself with four sandwiches (nothing uncommon for those who know me well). So I will leave the rest of this blog up to Randy. He would like to say a few words so here goes.

Greetings, I feel honored to be allowed to write on such a prestigious Blog such as this! As Kevin shared, we had a wonderful time at Bear Cave and seeing all of God's handy work and beauty. We went and had a wonderful picnic lunch in the Mountains there in Boga. After we ate lunch, I asked everybody if they wanted to walk down to the creek to play in the water. I had shared while we were eating lunch about how much fun we had last year playing in the creek. So I said, "Kevin the interns last year walked all the way across the creek", and of course he could not be out done by a bunch of girls. So he took his shoes off and rolled up his pants legs and commenced to step into the creek which is very cold. As he eased his way out to were the water was moving much faster, not realizing how slippery the rocks were under his feet. Well Kevin started to do a little break dance for us all, not by choice and it wasn't long before he was in the creek trying to stand back up, but down again he went.We laughed so hard, that we almost went down standing on dry land it was hilarious. Kevin slowly moved his way back to the rocks soaking wet, very calm and collected as if nothing had happened (kinda of a macho thing for us guys, like this was all planned). We packed up the lunch stuff and headed to the van were I had a towel that had got left in the van from camp the week before, ( it was my towel that I had used all week, just a little dirty) so he dried off the best he could and we put blankets on the seat for him to sit on and we rode all the way back to Oradea before he could get changed here to the apartment, which was over a hour away. It was a great ending to a great day. Kevin is one of those guys who doesn't have to say anything to be funny, it just comes naturally. Kevin has been great this summer JUMPING IN and doing what ever is needed. He has been a true blessing to us here in Romania and the ministry. We Love you Kevin and may God continue to Bless you in all you do for His kingdom!! Here is a picture of Kevin in the Creek and us enjoying. Enjoy!!!

Nihil Sine Deo.....Randy

My favorite topic.... FOOD

So before I left, I had Grace teach me a little bit about cooking since it would just be Randy and myself for the majority of the summer. Well I can assure all of you that I have eaten well.. in fact I may have put on a few pounds. However, I have not posted anything about either of my two counterparts this summer. So, I am blowing our cover and giving you a glimpse of what it is like to be a missionary for two months with Ernest and Baby.

Ernest's cooking has been great... if you like grilled cheese with ham 20 meals a week. (I cannot say much because that is all I can cook.) We eat cereal and eggs for breakfast a sandwich for lunch and then figure something out for dinner. Since I am not a picky eater by any means, I just eat whatever comes my way. My saying for the summer is "sure, why not" when someone asks if I would like more food. I may need to stop that. Anyway, tonight was GREAT! Ernest made chicken wings with french fries and coleslaw with some sweet tea. It made my stomach very, very happy.

Now I would like to introduce you to my second doppelganger:

As you can see, she has a rough life. Just laying around and sleeping man life must be rough! This is the one and only Baby! Always sleeping and taking naps. But in all seriousness she does a great job at attempting to keep Ernest and I in line and on task. She is fantastic at keeping us informed since we are not exactly fluent in Romanian.

So these are the two counterparts that I have been working with for the last two months and they have really helped me out with everything. So in my weird way of saying thank you, thank you. But for me readers, if you ever see them out and about they would love it if you called them out by Ernest or Baby!

Camp in Dezna

What an amazing last ten days. It was very nice to see people from home, however I did find myself quite distracted. I became very homesick after the first couple days and did not feel as if I was as effective as I could have been. Anyway, the camp was GREAT! Even though we were interrupted by rain on almost a daily basis, we were able to make things work.

This camp was not about seeing how many people would come to know the Lord as their personal Savior, but rather about teaching them to teach. The oldest group taught at each worship session and it was incredible to see how the lives of these children have changed since last year.

The kids in this camp have a very special place in my heart because they are the ones who I first got to love and get to know. If you would like to know more about this camp, I would encourage you to talk to someone on the team from Rich Fork, they will be able to give you an update relatively quickly. If you want to know more from my perspective, please email me or leave a comment on here. I have so much to talk about but not nearly enough time to express everything on this blog.

We are preparing for the last camp and the closer it gets, the harder I find it for myself to prepare mentally. We have the hospice camp next and we will be working with very sick children. After working with the ladies there at hospice for the last two months I have heard some pretty incredible stories and know that I will be an emotional wreck having to leave them next Saturday. As for now though, we need to go get the van fixed. I will do my best to update again before I leave for camp.

Undeserving

One question I have often asked myself is why on earth does God love me? I have never been able to put a definitive answer on it, and I don't think I ever will. However, I did experience God's love in the most powerful way I have yet to experience here.

Tabby, one of our translators is doing a VBS in the church she works in. She invited us to come to Campani to be a part of the VBS for a couple of nights. Randy, Ade, and I agreed to go. I was pretty excited to get to see 4 of the kids from camp last week. We got there and piled out of the van. No longer than two minutes after I got out of the van, a young girl came up to me and started asking me questions and telling me how big I am. She kind of stared at me a bit and didn't say anything.

After getting the stuff for rec out Tabby had to go set up so I was left outside with the kids and after getting to know them all I found out this precious girls name. Alisa. Throughout the time we were there she pretty much stuck by my side. And even through the lesson about trust, she spoke up and said that she trusted me. Alisa had no idea who I was. She knew nothing about me. I had done nothing to deserve her trust.

At the end of the night, I asked Tabby about her past. Alisa was orphaned at birth and ultimately ignored until she was five years old. When she was five she was taken in by a family and was finally taught how to speak. And because of this, she is a little bit behind all of the others. She is now 12 and absolutely gorgeous.

When it came time to leave our last night at the VBS, all the kids were upstairs doing crafts when we left, she grabbed my arm and would not let me leave. She squeezed my arm and just before she walked me down she said "Te iubesc". In Romanian that means I love you.

This little girl had no reason to trust or love me. I had never met her before yet she loved me. As I began thinking about this, I thought about how much our God loves us. We spit in his face, we disobey him, we constantly reject the love he offers for earthly things. See this girl loved me even though I didn't know her, but yet, our God who knows every time we will choose to reject him, chooses to love us.

Oh, how undeserving I am.

Camp in Buteni

What an incredible week I have had. I don't really even begin to know where to start this blog. So I guess the best place to start would be with Monday.

Monday was a day of hanging out and playing with the kids and getting to know them a little better. The teams all came up with their cheer and just before dinner each team got to have their moment to shine! The family group times consisted of name tags and bags and silly games to learn more about each other. This was followed by the evening worship time which was basically an overview of the week ahead of us.

Tuesday rolled around and we talked about Noah and faith throughout the entire day. For the second time this summer I have been in a room with boys who speak very little english. Thankfully though, translators were much easier to find. But we had a good time getting to know each other a little bit and talking even though we had no idea what we were saying. Charades is a popular game here. Rec was a blast. Four way soccer is a pretty easy way to wear the kids down a bit.

Hope and the story of Jonah was the focus for the worship and family group sessions on Wednesday. I sat in on rosu (red) for the first time and boy did that group have some rowdy boys. The leader, Mrs. Kristi, asked for some help in controlling them. So for the rest of the week I worked with them trying to keep them under control.

And Thursday was the big day. We talked about Peter and Love. The day was super fun with the hike and the family group times. At the evening worship, 14 children prayed to receive Christ into their lives and begin living a changed life. God never ceases to amaze me. He works through us in so many ways that we do not even see.

And to finish the week off with a bang, we talked about what to do after we have accepted Christ. We talked about investing in other peoples lives just as Jesus invested in our lives. And the then the fun began, water day! We had about 700 water balloons and were able to get through three water relays in before the chaos began. Once the water balloons were all gone, there was some standing water and so we had some slip and slide fun!

So that was the week. It was incredibly busy but TONS of fun. And now it is time to get ready for Rich Fork to come and I am pretty excited to see some familiar faces from home. I will keep you all posted as interesting and fun things happen!

Pictures

OK so as promised, I got the pictures from Flaviu. We only took pictures once we got to the top so its just the view, and if you have a problem seeing me without a shirt... dont look past the first three. It was really hot as we climbed up this mountain. Flaviu got burned similar to my painting story for those who are familiar with it. I, on the other hand, just got a little crispy. Not burned, but crispy.

Also, this will likely be my last blog until next Saturday. We leave tomorrow morning for Budapest to pick up the team and bring them back here to Oradea. I am SUPER excited to finally start camps. And without further ado here are the pictures.

Off to the left of the peak

Straight ahead

Off to the right.

Behind the peak.

Underestimated

Ok so today was a sightseeing day for us. We got started at about 6:30 this morning... and I was up around 5 to catch the end of the All-Start game on my computer (AL comes out on top once again (AL is not a player.. its the league)). Anyway, for those who know me, I am not a morning person. It takes me a while to wake up and be fully alert.

Well, in my absentmindedness, I forgot to take my camera on a sightseeing trip! But thankfully, we are going back there before I leave, so I can show you all some pictures of the beautiful country of Romania.

Randy, Ade, Roxy, Flaviu, and I went East toward Cluj and deep into the Vladeasa Mountains. We took a single lane, rock road about 25 minutes into the heart of these mountains to a waterfall. For me, I have only really seen one other water fall so this was quite an experience for me. Roxy, Flaviu, and I climbed up the side of the waterfall where Randy and Ade met us to continue further up.

As we ascended the mountain, the stream that led into this majestic waterfall disappeared underground. There was a trail that led straight down to where all the water went underground. Flaviu and I made the short hike down to that point. We went about 30 yards down to get to this point, and in those 30 yards, the temperature dropped to about 50 degrees. It was quite neat to be able to see my breath a little bit in the middle of July.

After Flaviu and I had our time down there we continued up the mountain to our picnic spot, but it was only 10:45 so we went on a little hike to an old abandoned mine no more than twenty minutes away. After scrounging around in there for a bit, Flaviu and I headed off to hike up this mountain that had a partial rock face. We had to had to head in the valley between these two enormous, majestic mountains. From where we saw them, the hike looked pretty simple not to steep at all. We were wrong.

We made it about half way up before we started climbing almost vertically to get to the peak of this mountain. There was grass that came up to my shins that was rooted deeply in the rocks that we clung to in order to continue our climb. There were flies EVERYWHERE. And they weren't the little ones like back in America, the were big. But after about an hour and a half up, we finally made it, exhausted but delighted that we only had the trip down to get the food! Flaviu did take pictures on his phone that he will be sending to me, so I will post them in my next blog.

Charades

WOW! What a weekend! I had a great time traveling and getting to know the kids from Girish and Tote. I got to see many, many beautiful sights along the way. On Friday we left the apartment around 7:30am and headed to Girish to pick up the kids. We finally left Girsih around 10 and headed north to Rau de Mori. It took us about 6 hours to get there.

Along the way we stopped at the fort in Deva around noon to eat lunch and just get out of the car. Shortly getting back on the road, we stopped at a bison reserve, and went to see some bison. And before we made it to Rau de Mori, we stopped one more time at some ruins from the ancient Roman empire. It was very interesting, and a bit surreal to be there.

That night, we played five songs at their (not so) midweek service. Then it was off to bed. But, this is where the fun began for me. We were all divided up into small groups to stay with members of the church. I went with Flourin to a holiday home in between to huge mountains. Flourin, myself, and two other boys stayed there. I was the only one who spoke english.

I now know how to play charades! We attempted to play some type of board game involving numbers and 60 points and domino type pieces, but I still have no idea how to get points. We had a GREAT time laughing at each other and trying to understand what was going on.

Saturday, was a day of touring the area and having a semi restful day, along with some practice for Sunday. We went to a monastery and got to go inside and look around. I have never seen anything like it before. Next stop was the dam up in the mountains. I have never seen anything as beautiful as this place, despite the rain (see above). The cabin I stayed in was about 15 minutes away from the dam.

By Sunday, we were all exhausted, not from doing so much, but from traveling so much. we did our program on Sunday morning for Church ate and then left. We arrived back in Oradea late Sunday evening and went straight to bed. It was quite a new and exciting experience for me, especially with the language barrier but fun nonetheless.

Emporium

Wow the last two days have been quite busy, but very fun! Yesterday we spent the day going around running errands and getting things finalized for the first two camps. We made hotel reservations here in Oradea and also got the bus lined up to take us from Oradea to Bhutan, the villagae the first camp is in, and then Dezna, which the team from Rich Fork will be in.

And after a full day of running around, Randy, Ade, Sammy, Becky, Roxy, Flaviu, and I went to see Ice Age 3. It was quite a funny movie. I enjoyed it a ton! It was a GREAT time to be able to relax and watch a movie.

Today was pretty much, planning for next week as far as games and worship time talks. Randy and I are in charge of speaking at the worship services along with doing the planning the rec. We then went to meet with Anka, the girl who will be playing guitar with Roxy this summer, at the Emporium. The Emporium is a pizzeria with about 50 different kinds of pizza, including one with french fries, which is what I had. When we ordered the pizza, they brought it, and they were full medium sized pizzas like you would get from Papa Johns or Dominos. Naturally, I ate my whole pizza.

We also had a handbell rehearsal in Girish, which was a BLAST! And tomorrow morning we leave at 7:30am for Rutor Demor, which is a village about 6 hours towards the northern part of Romania. We will be playing in a church on Friday night, touring on saturday, along with a hike perhaps, and then Sunday we will play in church, have lunch, and then hopefully begin our return back to Oradea. I am VERY excited to get to spend the weekend with all of these children from Girish.

Drivers Ed

We all remember the first time we drove a vehicle for the first time. We all remember those times in drivers ed when the instructor had a brake pedal so they could slam on the brakes if you did something wrong. The intimidation of the old lady or man sitting in the passenger seat was unbearable. If you went a mile an hour over the speed limit, they would tell you to slow down.

I would like to tell you a story of my own from drivers ed, one which scared me so much that I nearly peed my pants. Not because I almost died, but because I didn't want to fail the test on the last day.

I was driving on the highway at about 65 mph and it was about time for me to switch with the student who was riding with me. My instructor, who happened to be a driving Hitler, told me to pull off at a rest stop to change. So I pulled off using my blinker and everything. I pulled into a parking spot, turned off the car, put the emergency brake on, and took my seat belt off. But before I could get out of the car, I got a stare that told me to stay seated. She informed me that I did not turn my blinker on when I turned into my parking spot. Apparently, according to her, I can get a ticket for this. I was scared out of my mind!

Why do I tell you this story? Because I was more nervous than after that moment this evening. We were pulling out of the church in Tote after handbells. Randy stopped and called me up to drive. The van is a stick, which I know how to drive. Nothing was different. I am just 7000 miles away from home. I guess thats why I was so nervous. I sat stiff as a board for a full thirty minutes while I drove part of the way back to Oradea. Laugh all you want, it was probably a pretty funny sight to see. But I drove, I didn't kill anyone, or anything!

Birthday!

Last night I went to my first Romanian birthday party! Becky's grandmother wanted us to come over and celebrate with them. Becky's whole family was there and we ate and had a GREAT time!

For those of you that came here last summer, you may remember Christina. If you dont remember her.. look to the right... ill give you a hint. She has grown up SO much and is just as cute as can be. Randy and I brought a kite to fly with the kids there. For all of them, they had never flown a kite before and the wind was just perfect! They had a blast flying that kite. We were out there for about an hour just looking up in the sky at the kite.

The kite had a picture of CARS on it and Christina said, "I don't like this kite." We inquired why and she responded with "it has CARS on it. Those are for boys. I want one with a princess on it." It was quite funny.

As we were walki thing back from the field, Christina and Marina started to attack me. They were tickling me and jumping on my back. They had a GREAT time, and so did I!

Orphan

Sorry I have not posted in so long. I did not have any internet access in Ukraine. So here's the update! Odessa is a BEAUTIFUL city. We did not stay in Odessa however. Our place was an orphanage about thirty minutes outside of Odessa in a village called Ushni. I have many, many stories about this place some of which I will get into on this blog.

I misunderstood Randy when he told us we would be doing a creative ministries camp. We did not teach children how to be clowns and do puppets. We taught middle aged people how to do things such as juggling, magic, face painting, balloons, and makeup. This part of the trip was fun, frustrating, and very interesting at the same time. We had a good time teaching and having fun with these people and teaching them to use their talents to minister to kids across the Odessa region in orphanages and hospitals.

Our housing conditions were incredible. We stayed in an orphanage in Ushni, which is a village about 30 minutes outside of Odessa. There are 10 children living there. Yana's gorgeous smile, Irra's tender heart, Natasha's precious attitude, Peter's adorable laugh, Vicka and Valea's stunning eyes, Valea's cute freckles, Marina's laugh, Sasha's incredible work ethic, and Masha's captivating quietness all captured my heart almost instantly.

These children found out that we were walking back from the church we were working at (its about a 30 minute walk) and ran to us to walk back with us. Each time we came back from a session, they were there to greet us with a smile and hug and take our bags upstairs. As we were packing and preparing to leave on Tuesday night, they all came up to our room and gave us something of theirs to take with us. There were two in particular that stuck rather close to me. Irra and Yana. Irra and I developed a secret handshake, and Yana taught me how to count to ten in Russian. Yana and Irra teamed up and gave me a picture frame with a picture and a note from them in it. "I be bored without you! Our home always open with you and your friends!"

These kids just wanted attention, along with the ones we visited as clowns. I am amazed by what a handshake, counting to ten, and loving them can do. Not just for them, but for me. I was scared and lost in the world, without a father who could protect me eternally, but rest comfortably knowing that God loves those children along with me.

Shopping already

I am having a BLAST! I just wish that I could hurry up and get used to the time change and not be so tired. I did, however, get a full nights sleep last night. I went to bed around 8:30 woke up at 1 and then slept until 6:30.

First thing when I got here last night he sent me with Adelina (one of our translators) to the store to get some Parmesian cheese to go on the Spaghetti we had for dinner last night. After dinner, we watched a movie entitled Sahara and about halfway through I had to go to sleep. I was just too tired. Oh, and I have my own room. Heres the view.

Today has been INCREDIBLY busy. I was up at 6:30 had my shower and had some breakfast. Adelina came by, and since we are leaving tomorrow at 1 for Ukraine, we all went to the store to get some food for the trip.

I mentioned that we would be working with Hospice my last week here, well we went by to see them and how things were coming along. They invited us to sit in on their Bible study. There were 11 women that all led us in a song in Romanian and then one of them taught a lesson about watching our words and making sure that our words represent God in a way that is pleasing to Him.

We got home about 11:30 and have been packing since. It is now 1:45 in the afternoon here. Around 4 we will be leaving to pick up Becky (another translator) and going to the church in Girish to have a hand bell practice with another church from a village about 3 miles up the road.

Im here!!

So, I am now here in Oradea, Romania. I got here and now have time to relax and get some rest before packing and getting ready to leave for Ukraine on Tuesday.

All of my flights went well. I was too scared to sleep on the way to Frankfurt so I have been up for an amazing 31 hours! I just want to thank you all for keeping me in your prayers as I go about my journey here. I will post some more stuff and pictures later. Right now, I am far too tired to post anything of much significance.

cancelled

Literally about two minutes after I posted my last update the flight person came over the intercom and informed us that my flight to Chicago was now cancelled. It was cancelled due to terrible thunderstorms in Chicago. SO now I don't leave until tomorrow at 4:20. My flight goes from Charlotte to Frankfurt, Germany and then from Germany to Budapest. Yay for cancellations.

Delays, Delays, delays

I am currently sitting in Charlotte at gate A9. Apparently Chicago is having some terrible thunderstorms which is causing numerous delays. My flight was supposed to leave originally at 6:50. It is currently 7:22 and I still have not boarded.

This is a blessing in disguise to me. I get to think through all of my feelings and emotions. While I have an incredible amount of questions about what the next two months hold for me and the students in Romania and Ukraine, I am filled with a peace that I have never had before. I am finally here and there is nothing left for me to do but get on the planes. I now have time to sit back and not worry about forgetting anything and let God begin to prepare my heart, mind, and soul in a way that was not possible during the summer.

My fears of flying are somewhat subdued, although I am not terribly excited about flying through storms that have cause delays of up to 3 hours. I am desperate to get out of here and let God take control. I have planned as much as I possibly can and now it's Gods turn to shine through.

Inadequate

Fear. One thing I have not expected about the summer.. with the exception of actually flying there. I have been preparing spiritually, mentally, and emotionally since I got back last summer. One feeling I have did not think would show up was fear. Not a fear for my life or that I will be in any physical danger, but rather, a fear of inadequacy.

I have been asked by Randy to prepare a number of talks to do, which normally is not a big deal for me, except now. I am terrified that I will say something incorrect or present an idea in a way that does not make sense to the people there. I am terrified that something will go wrong and I will not present what God wants me to.

I simply have ideas. Ideas that I do not have a clue how to go about presenting them. I am struggling to see - actually, I do not see how I am at all qualified to teach the word of God to more knowledgeable and experienced people than myself.

People have often asked me "Why are you going?" My answer is simply to spread the love of my Savior across the world. But, how do I go about doing that? Why me? What credentials do I have?

The unknowns are so great and I have no idea, none whatsoever, about how they will be fulfilled. I know that this is a part of my trip - finding the unknowns, seeing God work in ways that I never thought possible. And, I guess this is just a part of the process.

God is showing me how weak and inadequate I am so that when He shows me answers and speaks through me, I will have another way to see just how strong He is.

I'm going to Romania

It has been a VERY long time since I have posted a blog. Sorry about that but things have been INCREDIBLY busy with the end of school, packing, unpacking, preparing for Romania, and catching up with everyone back home.

I will be leaving for Romania in exactly one month and I am beginning to think to myself "what have I gotten myself into?", but at the same time, I cannot wait to be back with the students in Romania. Coincidentally I also found out that my monetary needs have been fulfilled as of today! It has just started hitting me within the last thirty minutes or so that, "yes, Kevin, you are going to Romania for two months." As the date gets closer, I ask that you will all continue praying for me so that I can be a spokesperson for my God that has given me this incredible opportunity.

I have also been informed that I will be speaking a good number of times and that doesn't necessarily bother me. However, I have been wrestling with the question, "How can a 19 year old teach older, wiser, more experienced people?" Once again, I ask only for your prayers that I will be just a mere mouthpiece for my Savior.

Unknown God

Down here at school there is this guy, who will remain nameless, but I will refer to his as bearded music man throughout, who has recorded a CD, he has played for the Gardner-Webb radio station, and, he is doing a concert tonight on the quad. He has also put his music up on myspace and different websites so people can listen to it.
Everyone that I know of down here that has heard him, thinks he is TERRIBLE, including myself. And because I think his music is terrible, I have found myself thinking he is a terrible person because of his music - judging him based on what I know about him.

I think I find it very easy and almost comfortable to say that we judge other people on a consistent basis. I find it comfortable because I know that everyone else does it. But what do we judge about others? We judge the areas that we think they are lacking in. The areas that that person might not be so strong. In the example above, I judge bearded music man because his music sounds AWFUL. We all have these areas that we are not as strong in. We all lack in some area and can be judged by others accordingly.

I am reminded of the passage in Matthew 25, The Final Judgment in which Jesus is talking to people about Judgment day. He talks about those who clothed Him when He was naked, those who fed Him when He was hungry, those who gave Him something to drink when He was thirsty, etc. Then some more outstanding people in the community came and asked, “When did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? … Or naked and give you clothing? ...” Jesus continued the story by saying in verse 40, “I tell you the truth when you did it to the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!”

This has really hit home to me lately. I think that because of the phrasing of verse 40, it includes the hurtful things we did to the least of his, or those who were lacking in an area. So when I judge people, I am also judging God.

I have found that over the past few months I will trust God when I know He can do it. When I have seen him do it before, but if I haven't seen Him come through, I take control over the situation attempting to fix it myself. I judge God based on what I have seen Him do before and tend to take control over the areas I haven't seen Him work in.

It is easy to subject ourselves to things we can physically say are true, but how much more difficult is it to take second place to a God we have know so little about?

Waffles!

Most everyone who reads my blog knows that I am not a morning person at all. I generally do not wake up until about 5-10 minutes before class then rush to class completely not awake. Well, since Easter, I have been REALLY busy with homework in which I have been needing to egt up early to do some work. Well about mid last week I decided to try being a morning person until the end of the school year. I have been getting up at 6 getting my shower and going outside to watch the sunrise in my hammock and then come in to do some homework before class.

So far, I have thoroughly enjoyed it. Until this morning. I got up did my normal routine except instead of coming in to do homework, I was hungry (surprise I know) so I went and got some breakfast. I got my plate of french toast sticks, sausage, eggs, and a biscuit. Then I went to get some yogurt. I didn't see any of the closed yogurt container things but I saw some stuff that looked like blueberry yogurt sitting next to the waffle iron. Except I didn't notice the waffle iron next to it.

I continued to proceed to my seat and eat my main meal and once I finished I went to delve into the delicious yogurt that I had been craving. I got this great big spoonful and shoved it in my mouth. It was waffle batter. And, not only was it waffle batter, but it was waffle batter with blueberry chunks in it. I gagged immediately, managed to swallow the batter, and my breakfast was finished after that. Maybe, I should try paying attention... or just being awake when I go to breakfast.

June 19th, 2009

I know so many of you know that I will be spending the greater majority of my summer in Romania and Ukraine. So many of you have been incredibly interested about it and since this is going to be the place to keep up with me on my trip, I figure I should start giving out details now. I found out this morning that I will be leaving the US on June 19th from Charlotte. From there I will fly to Chicago and then proceed on to London and finally arrive in Budapest, Hungary on the 20th around dinner time. Three days later, I will be flying out of Romania and into Odessa, Ukraine to lead a camp there.

When I get back from Ukraine, around July 1st, the handbells group in Girish, is going on a week long tour that I will be apart of. When I return to Oradea, we will have approximately a week before our first camp begins. From there on, I will be helping in the three camps this summer, one of which Rich Fork will be leading.

Then, immdiately after the last camp, I will be leaving on August 23 and getting home that night around midnight. So these are the plans thus far. I will keep everyone updated as things change, if they change. Your thoughts and prayers are VERY much appreciated

I take things too seriously

So I am currently working on a post thats all serious and stuff but right now I have something a little more painful.


We all know that I love baseball. If I cant watch a game on tv I will sit at my computer and gamecast it or something. Anything to watch the game. We also know that I can get quite competitive. And for most, we know that I am an intramural referee. Well this spring I decided to join an intramural softball team. Intramural sports are not serious at all.. at least softball isnt. No one dives or slides or anything fun. Except me.


I got to play in my first game today and my team isnt good but I had a TON of fun and got a rally started in the bottom of the third. I led off with a sharp single up the middle. Craig, a guy who lives just down the hall from me, came up to bat and hit a short fly to right that dropped in. I had to wait half way to make sure it wasnt caught. It dropped and I hustled and slid safely into second only for the ball to be over thrown and me advance to third with ease. We ended up scoring six that inning. But still ended up losing by one.





This is the result of my slide. My pants tore that far down and that far over. Then I cut the rest off because it kept flapping back and getting stuck. The chief of University Police was there and brought me some rubbing alcohol and wipes to clean it out. I about cried... except not. Thats my fun story for the day.

Duck Tape can fix ANYTHING

So my roommate has been terrified to leave the room this week because he doesn't want anything done to his stuff. He has two classes at times that allow me to be in the room by myself. He skipped both of them this week. At first it ruined my plan, but I devised a way to get around it. Today he skipped his 1 o'clock class to be in the room while I was here. But, we both had 2 o'clock classes. So I walked with him until I had reached the building my class was in and went it. What he didn't know was that I made a beeline for the back door of the building and came straight back to my room to find my two accomplices awaiting my arrival.


I unlocked the door. We took his sheets off, then pulled his mattress out. I took every last one of his writing utensils and taped them to the ceiling all the way to the front door. Craig and Johnny were busy taking everything in the room including his clothes, pillows, books and couch cushions and taped them ALL to the ceiling. We did not have enough room to tape the bed to the ceiling in my room, so we did the logical thing and moved it to the hall way. We taped it up. I failed to get pictures of the ceiling because he came back just as we were finishing up so I only have one, maybe two, good pictures.

One last endeavor I took part in was salting a toothbrush. What a pleasant surprise for my RA tonight!

Crooked

This blog has nothing to do with prank week or anything intelligent... or anything of any importance. So if you would like to get back to what you were doing, you will probably stay smarter, and not waste however much time it would take you to read this post.

Anyway, I have been playing this game on AddictingGames.com called 50 states. The screen gives you a blank outline of the United States and at the top a random order of the states outlines. The object of the game is to put the state as close to its position as possible. If you miss it tell you approximately how many miles you were off. I have gotten an average of 1 mile before... nerd I know.

But when this game gives you a state to place, it gives you one at a time. And as I have played the game, the more I have really been bothered by the fact that the states, especially in the Northeast are extremely crooked. I know it is due to the who latitude thing. This is just an observation that has really bothered me for the last twenty minutes, so I am writing to see what other people think. I know the majority of people will think I am a lunatic... but that's ok - I still like you.

Productivity

So day 1 of Prank Week has been pretty monotonous as far as pranks happening to myself. However, I had a pretty decent idea to get my RA. He also happens to be my old room mate. In the lobby we have some furniture including some tables, chairs, and couches. I had some help with Elliott and Craig to pull this off. Here are a couple few pictures. Enjoy.

Trevor's door. I forgot to get the pictures before we stacked everything so I am using my height to my advantage.

Going back to get the tables.

Two couches, a chair, two tables (the other is on the other side to ensure symmetry)

And this is what we do at Gardner-Webb Univeristy. Education is the "priority" here. However, I prefer to have fun and slack off and use my brain for more productive things such as stacking furniture in front of my RA's door.

Prank Week

What happens when you have a lot of college guys, lots of free time, and lots of resources? Pranks. Pranks have happened all throughout the year and most of them have been quite hilarious. However, this week has been declared Prank Week.

We held a meeting to discuss some limitations on the pranks such as no physically hurting someone and some other basic ground rules that can be bent VERY easily. So as the week progresses and things happen, there will be a number of posts describing the things that go down in Royster this week. I am sure they will be quite humorous. Please stay tuned to see what happens as the week progresses. It is going to be FUN!

Suspect?

Today has been a long, but fun day. After church I went out to eat followed by some hangout time at the Rollins. Around 3:30 I left to go hangout at the Bryant's to watch the Carolina game with Grace and Paige. I was exhausted by this time and after the game everyone was leaving and I went to go play an uneventful game of disc golf since it was so nice outside.

I got to Mill's Home to play and left my keys in my glasses case got out and left to go play disc golf. It started to get dark whilst I was playing so I decided to call it quits after 16 holes around 6:55 pm. I walked up to my car only to find it locked. Time for me to get creative.

I pull out my putter which has the biggest lip on the outside and squeeze my arm through my cracked window and attempt to unlock my back door. I come up WAY short. So after approximately ten minutes of attempting with my putter, I give up on that idea and move to my next brilliant idea.

There happened to be a lot of sticks laying on the ground around my car. I pick one up and attempt to break it to test its durability. It does not break. So, I take it to my car and carefully maneuver the stick into my car window. I get the stick into my handle and as soon as I go to pull my handle the stick snaps in half. So my brain keeps on working at its full potential and I search for another, larger stick. I find one and once again I maneuver the stick into my car and start pulling the handle. Naturally, there is a problem. The stick was too large and would not come back far enough to open my door. I was attempting to unlock my car this way for about twenty minutes. When a flashing light catches my eye.

I turn around only to see a police officer pulling over a car across main street. My next brilliant idea comes to mind. I think to myself go ask the cop to help unlock your car but then it occurs to me that I would have to walk up to him at night which is pretty sketchy. So I keep trying the stick idea for about 5 more minutes before giving up and deciding to walk to main street. As I approach Main Street, the cop is in his car writing a ticket so I decide to stand across the street and wait until the officer is finished with the ticket.

After about five minutes of waiting for the officer to get out and approach the car in front of him a train comes along. No more than thirty seconds after the train comes along the officer gets out of his car. He talks to the people receiving the ticket and then begins walking back to his car. It is at this time that I start jumping up and down saying officer and waving my arms in an attempt to get his attention. I finally get it and he comes across the street. I tell him my predicament and he responds "What?" Once again, I explain my situation, this time a little bit louder. This time his response scares me a little. "Get in the car", he states. I reluctantly walk across the street with him. He opened the door to the backseat and I got in. He shut the door. The officer walked around the car, got in, and proceeded to ask what happened. I explained my situation and he started talking into his radio with a bunch of number and codes and such.

"Suspect approached on foot" is what I heard next. This kinda caught me off guard. I did not know I was a suspect for asking an officer to help unlock my car. He went on to ask where my car is and I pointed him in the right direction. We get there and I go to get out of the car. Except I can't. I did not realize that the officer had to let me out. He came and let me out then the officer went to his trunk and got his unlock tool thing. I informed him that the drivers side window was cracked. He goes to unlock my car and as soon as he got his tool in my car he dropped it. What a predicament. My keys are in my car along with the tool to unlock my car.

The officer now has to begin to think creatively like I had to do. He reached for his belt and pulled off the beater stick thing. He extends it and proceeds to open my car using that.

After more than an hour of thinking creatively, I was able to get into my car. The officer drove off and I returned home. My spare key is now in my room instead of in my car. Good thinking right?

SNOW DAY!!!!!!!!

This is all for gk. We got a TON of snow last night. I don't really remember anything like it. The last time I remember getting snow of this magnitude I was about 5 and lived in Salem, Virginia. So when my friend reported at about 7:30pm that it was snowing, I immediately rused to the window expecting the typical North Carolina snow - about a half inch of tiny, little snow flakes barely coming down in a flurry. I was incredibly surprised. The biggest, whitest snow flakes I have ever seen were gracefully falling from the overcast sky. After jumping up and down and running around like a little kid for about an hour, still doubting it would stick, I went outside in about an inch of snow. It was AWESOME! It covered the grass! Then around 9 it really started coming down. There were about four hundred people out on the quad having a massive snow ball fight. Some people made snowmen, and some people decided to streak through the quad. The were the primary target for snowballs. After I got pegged in the face with a snowball around ten I decided to come back in and drink some hot chocolate. there was no sleeping last night until VERY late. Here are some pictures of what we got

This was after about an hour.. just before I was about to go to the quad.

My car. Elliot almost hit it last night because he couldn't see it.

The house out behind my dorm.

Some trees

Some more trees

Walking and Talking is difficult

It is only 11am and it has been a long day already. Most of it is completely my fault though. It started when I decided that it would be a good idea to start a movie at midnight knowing that I had an eight o'clock class to go to! Brilliant idea right? Eagle Eye is a pretty decent movie - not the best, but definitely not the worst movie I have seen. Anyway, the movie ended around two and I got in bed. Naturally, even though I was yawning and tired as all, I could not go to sleep to save my life. Last time I checked the clock it was almost four.

If you remember my post about me not being a morning person, you know that I have a major difficulty getting up in the mornings. And if you dont remember that blog.. well then just know that I have a major problem getting up in the mornings. Well when I got in bed, I knew I was going to have to get up and so I set three alarms. One at 7:15, one at 7:17, and the other at 7:21. The snooze is five minutes so every time I hit the snooze after just one more minute it would go off again. I really was not happy with myself for doing that this morning but after hitting the snooze fifteen times, I begrudgingly got out of bed at 7:45. And once again my room mate had to be mr. shunshine. (he is not gay, I was just unhappy with him so I am making it appear that way.) So as I went to class, I realized that my midterm is on Thursday in that class. WOO! exciting start to the day.

It was followed by the lovely Dimensions. I am required to go to ten of these things per semester and they are basically the worst preachers Gardner-Webb could find that come to speak. This time it was a black southern gospel preacher who I could not understand to save my life. So while I was sitting there unable to listen to him I decided to text Paige (shes in my blog list thing). I had not talked to her in a while so I thought I would see how she was doing. Well after 45 minutes of utter boredom in dimensions it finally came to a close and I left, still texting Paige.

I am generally good at multi-tasking.. except for when I get very little sleep and have a rough morning. As I was walking through the cold, texting Paige, I forgot to look up. I walked right into a tree.

I don't really know how to recover from something like that when I am in a group of people who all saw it happen. So I just looked up, glanced around to see a TON of people laughing and went about my morning still texting Paige. But this time, instead of focusing on what I was saying, I decided to focus on every step, ensuring that I would not embarass myself again.

Opening Slugfest

I love spring. Technically it's not spring yet, but I still love it. The brisk mornings. The birds chirping. The buds growing on the trees. I love it all. The best part though is the sound of aluminum ringing across campus from solid contact with a 90 mile per hour fastball. The semi-green grass growing in the diamond. The smell of hot dogs and (not here at GWU) beer. The cracking of peanuts under your shoes as you walk. The salty taste from seeds. Budweiser Presents blaring over the loud speakers. Little kids running all over the place playing catch and the serious scorekeeper focused intently on the game. Coke, popcorn, and cotton candy vendors walking up and down the rows.

Today marked the first day of the college baseball season. Gardner-Webb squared off against the Canisius Golden Griffin's from Buffalo, NY. The cold 35 degree start to this mid-afternoon contest seemed to give the Golden Griffin's a slight advantage as they had to travel through a snow storm. However, that advantage did not last long.

The Runnin' Bulldogs (1-0) lefty Brett Stackhouse came out on fire. Retiring the first three Griffins with ease throwing just 15 pitches. Not only was the pitching hot, but the bats came out golden as well. Thanks to an error at first on a squibbler to first followed by a single and a deep fly ball, Brock Miller scooted around to give the Bulldogs the lead.

That lead didn't last too long as Shane Wilson clobbered one to left center tying the game at one. Gardner-Webb didn't like that too much and decided to answer back. Kurt Fulginiti lead off the inning with a sharp single to left field followed by Tyler Johnsons single to left. Catcher Ty Boyles add a beautiful sacrifice bunt down the first base line to move both runners into scoring position. Finnaly brought in by John Ahearn's fielders choice to give Gardner-Webb the lead for good.

Gardner-Webb added a three run fourth and a six run seventh and failed to score a run in only the eighth inning. Big league prospect, Daniel Cook, led the way offensively for the Runnin' Bulldogs going four for four with a walk, homerun, three runs scored, and two RBI's. Bubby Spake and Ty Boyles added dingers for the Bulldogs, and Brock Miller went 3-5 with a triple, three runs, and an RBI.

Kevin Mahue led the way for the Golden Griffins (0-1) going 2-4 with two runs and two RBI's. Shane Wilson added a homer and an RBI. Brett Stockhouse improves to 1-0 on the season while Mike Goemans drops to 0-1.

The series continues tomorrow with a double header beginning at noon and then a game on Sunday at 1. The Golden Griffins will be have to stretch out their pitching as the starter the 84 pitches in just four innings, and his relief didn't do much better - 70 pitches in just 2 2/3 innings.