switzerland's out

So, after all that yesterday, Switzerland are out. They lost on penalties, which is so frustrating because they were doing so well. At least England are still in to play Portugal the day of John's brother's wedding! I don't think I'll be able to catch that game!

John left today to be there the week before the wedding. He's currently mid-flight without about a million hours to go. I'm on the same flight straight to Chicago on Thursday night. The nice thing is it will give us lots of miles. In the mean-time, we're busy here with the DTS, with a student already arriving tomorrow. Craziness!

jules rimet

Switzerland play Ukraine tomorrow. Switzerland might just win. How amazing would that be? They would go to the Quarter-Finals. That would just be bleeding cool.

Have been really annoyed at the time difference between here and Germany as well as our current schedule which means we can watch about one game every 3 days or so. Tomorrow, I can only watch the first half of the game, as I'm going to the airport to pick up our translator. It's all good though... Soon, it'll all be over and then we'll forget about it for another four years. ARGH, all this build-up, we wait four years, and then I can hardly watch any of the games. Oh, well. And of course, I'm in America, where no one cares about it anyway...

Hop Suisse! Allez, allez, allez.

hunger and hair-maintenance

Hungry is a state I'm in often. I'm not used to being in a place where the hours when I eat are regulated by an external force and I find myself constantly hungry without many means for me to find food. This is due to:
a.) cheap-ish food is far away to walk to
b.) the cheap-ish food is actually quite expensive as it's hawaii.

Yes, did I mention, I'm in Hawaii. It's pretty cool being here, though I have to admit it's very body-hair high maintenance, and that I do not like. Who knows when we might next pop to the ocean and go swimming. I have to remain hair-free just in case we suddenly decide to go. Being hair-free is something I'm not good at since I am a fan of the waxing/sugaring. In which hair must grow to a certain length in order to be pulled viciously out of the skin.

But, yes I'm in Hawaii. It is quite beautiful and very relaxing for John and I. I think we're averaging on one minor fight a day now. And that's the average. Sometimes we have none at all. Sometimes, we have two. But, that's still pretty good.

Oh, yes, Hawaii...

the beach...

Still in Hawaii, it's still hot and my legs are still sticking on seats - yucky. But, it's beautiful here and different and there are tons of people and there's the World Cup...

Yes, I'm enjoying the World Cup a lot, but unfortunately not enough. The matches here are at 3am, 6am and 9am. Which means that the only real games we can watch are at 6am, though I am seriously considering getting up at 3am tonight to watch Switzerland vs. Togo. Dang these time zones.

John and I went to the beach for the first time on Friday and it was exactly what I needed. We'd been stuck in meetings and in the DTS office all week and it was the perfect break. This is kinda what it looked like (though I think this is the north side of the island). Beautiful!

humidity and salamanders in hawaii

Yes, we have arrived after around 48 hours of travel (with a stop in Urbana to sleep and repack somewhat) and now we are here. And it is really nice. I have to admit I was a bit concerned with the whole huge YWAM base thing again after an interesting experience these past few years, but in meeting our DTS leader and in wandering around, I think John and I are going to have an amazing time. We are already arguing way less, which means we are starting to relax!

I feel like this will be a good summer for me and for us. I feel like there is a lot of opportunity for us in our relationship, for discipleship, for connecting with people, and for future options. God is continuing to build peace in my heart and I am really wanting to use this time to relax more and enjoy life more. The last few weeks, I have been "processing" somewhat (I put processing in speechmarks because I don't really know what processing means) this last year at Taylor and realising how hard it actually was and how much I really just did not enjoy being there. But, the plus side of that is that, during this year, I learnt to enjoy life more even though it was not necessarily enjoyable. I was able to have a more positive outlook, and not get so caught up in how crap my life is.

I feel good about being here and being with John and where we're headed and what this summer will be like for us. And, bloody hell, I'm in Hawaii!

florida - what more can i say

Florida!!!

Yes, after a long car journey where we watched about a million episodes of The Office (US edition - thanks Sam!), quite a few movies, we arrived in sunny Florida. We all battled to stay awake for the first few hours all falling asleep at some point or other during the watching of the rest of The Office - love that show! And here we are, and we're still catching up on sleep in between enjoying watching hours of TV, playing Timesplitters on PS2, going to the beach/pool and eating lots of ice-cream and floats! The joy of vacation. We eagerly await the arrival of the rest of the fam!

Hawaii calls. In just a week, John and I head to Hawaii. We are so excited for this next stage of our lives and can't wait to fly together there!