Recalculating.

That's what my roommate's GPS lady says (in a rather irritated voice, if you ask me) when you make a wrong turn.

That's also what I did today as I met with Sandie (Lydia Today director) and her husband Jean (financial guru extraordinaire, who will be in charge of my accounts). In a spreadsheet of expenses and up-to-date numbers, including living/travel expenses, work expenses, language school, insurance, etc., I will need to raise nearly $4000 a month. Blast that euro. (Or, maybe blast our dollar!) That is so much money. Not to mention the moving costs: plane ticket, apartment start-up costs, any furniture or other things I might need...these outgoing expenses will be in the $10,000 range.

Did I mention I'd like to be there by November 1?

So that means I need that outgoing amount raised, and commitments for probably around $3500 before I can go. Mostly before I can even buy a plane ticket.

Pray! I still feel so confident and 100% sure that this is what I'm supposed to be doing. So any panic I might ordinarily feel about these numbers is lowered significantly by that, but I can still feel it a little if I let myself.

dream

I have an email pasted into my journal from March 12 that caught my eye last night. It is from a dear friend who had had a dream about/for me, and she emailed it to me from where she was at the time, in Switzerland. At that point in my life, I was about to visit Greece for the first time, with thoughts and questions about a possible move there. After I got back, that door totally closed, and then reopened, and now I am in fact preparing to move.

So I reread this dream last night in light of this and it brought tears to my eyes!

"I dreamed I visited you...you had just moved into a new apartment...by yourself. Boxes were still left half unpacked, it was a bit messy, and it was clear you had just moved there. I asked if you liked it better there, and you said 'yes.' Then I was surprised to see bright Christmas lights of many different colors all around your apartment...and in the center of a bedroom was a christmas tree which was also lit up, though it was not Christmas. The tree was modest but not prominent, in the center of the room...

"...I think that the 'move' is not just to a new place but your life. You clearly made this life change on your own, but where you end up is new and better/nicer. Obviously from your response in the dream you like it better. The half unpacked boxes may represent that it will take time for you to completely settle in...the many strands of bright lights were the main colors of the rainbow...which signifies the promise(s) of God in your new life. The prominence of the Christmas tree in the center of the bedroom (a strange place for a Christmas tree) signifies the centrality of the intimate worship of Christ in your new life."

We will have to see what comes to pass. :)

"fine"

It's been a few weeks like this...you sail through life answering "fine!" to the question "how are you doing?" without really thinking about it. Because if you thought about it, you'd have a lot more to say, but you just don't have time to deal with it.

I sat with a friend tonight at coffee mentioning a few things that are happening and I realized that I sounded really overwhelmed. I AM overwhelmed - I just haven't really noticed. This is because instead of dealing with work, cleaning (I still haven't unpacked from Seattle!), preparing for Bible study (I teach tomorrow...have I begun? Not answering that), thinking about finances and insurance and fundraisers and other preparatory things for Greece...I just sit here and can't get anything done. So on the surface - which is about as deep as I've let myself exist of late - I AM fine. Because anything more than that is too overwhelming. :)

love me some PUPUSAS

I have always loved pupusas. I had them a long time ago and it's been awhile... Now, working in LA so much, Ruben and I have the great fortune of breaking from outreach in the nearest pupuseria. I told Kristin I wanted a pupusa once and she was not quite sure what I was referring to. "Do you need a bathroom?" she asked. But after I described the majestic glory of a pupusa, she also wanted one!

Yum yum yum. It is simply a thick tortilla stuffed with something like meat, cheese, or beans, or if you're lucky, all of the above! Those peeps in El Salvador were brilliant on that particular day that pupusas were invented. There are so many exciting things happening at work that I cannot write about (somehow when ICE is involved, it just isn't a good idea), so I guess instead you get pupusas. :)

today's news

Mt. Rainier, from the plane last night...

1. The new Target is open across the street...a few days early!

2. "They" are so pleased with the work we are doing with this human trafficking grant that it looks like it will be extended. My job will be extended. Except I'm leaving the country.

3. Breast cancer, of someone close.

I am just sitting here, back in my own bedroom, without much going on in my brain tonight.

if only I didn't have to work...

I've already said it, but it's so much easier to think about and look forward to Greece when I don't have other things to think about!! :) I am hoping, after my job with the Salvation Army ends at the end of September, that I can take at least a month to get myself ready to go. With larger organizations, future "missionaries" are put through months of training in cross-cultural issues, culture-specific training, language acquisition, etc. I am the first person ever to be "sent" by Lydia Today, so we are making it up as we go along. It will really be like I am plucked out of one life and dropped into another. So several weeks of transition time would be good.


We had family and friends over this evening to eat Greek food and talk about what I'll be doing. It was really good to talk about it. I had been trying to work a bit while I was up here (for my real job), but Thursday I gave that up, and I've been able to relax more and think ahead ever since. So tonight I was prepared to discuss, answer questions, and even look forward to what is coming in just a few months!


A family friend came tonight who lived in Athens for 4 years and worked with many of the people I'll be working with. It was so good to talk about it with her. She helped answer some questions about Greece and pr0stitution there. I think I made her miss Athens a bit. :) It was just a good evening for me to be able to be excited and have positive feedback and look forward to this.


P.S. Happy birthday Mom! (With Travis at his graduation last year. The beard is long gone, by the way.)

memory lane

Four girls started college 11 (!!) years ago this fall. They lived in Hill Hall on the 5th floor. Made lots of friends along the way but stuck together throughout their years at SPU doing Bible studies together, terrorizing their floors after hours with "sticker fun," random birthday celebrations, husband predictions, road trips, boys (quite a wide variety), gross dissected animal parts left outside of dorm room doors, the "action bed," lots of talks, and dreams of all living in the same cul-de-sac when they were were "all grown up."

Tonight we met again, all four of us together for the first time since Robin's wedding 5 and a half years ago. Life looks a little different now with husbands and kids (I am seriously slacking in this area!) and three states between us, but what a great time of catching up and remembering what our friendship together was all about. A lot of life has transpired in the last few years, so it meant a lot to be with these girls again, all together.

Kelsey, Robin, Kristin & Amy ~ 11 years later
(We haven't aged a bit!) ;)

boring update post

So, I am in Seattle. The first few days were almost like detox, but now I'm able to relax and enjoy being here. Cloudy Seattle weather has taken over the last couple of days, but for the first half of the week it was glorious - hot and sunny - and it's supposed to be like that this weekend too.

I have spoken three times about human trafficking and what I'm going to be doing in Greece. One more time to come, this weekend. Without the distractions of weekly job requirements and quotas to fill and long commutes and day to day BLAHness, it's been a lot easier to think about moving and being there this week. It still feels like another world in another age, but talking with people about it and answering questions (that I CAN answer!) has been refreshing, in a way. It's nice to be able to think about it without everything else I'm trying to get done edging its way into my consciousness. :)

Just about the time I get all settled in and remember what it feels like to be caught up on sleep and relaxed, it will be time to return to real life.

omg, I need to go swimsuit shopping!

People ask a lot of questions I don't know the answers to. It's becoming kind of draining. I don't have all the details about Greece, I don't know all the answers they want, and I am fine with that...but there are always more questions.

Someone asked today if I am "just soooo excited"? I told her I haven't really had a chance to think about it much. She thought that was weird. She wanted me to say yes, I'm so excited! and then to go off and live my glamorous exotic life on a Greek island wearing my swimsuit all the time. I know that's what she wanted, because she said "you're going to need like 12 swimsuits for Greece!"

For the record: No, I do not know what I'm going to do with my car while I'm gone. Or my cell phone. I don't have an apartment or know where I'm going to live in Athens. It will get worked out, but I just haven't had a chance to think about these things. I don't know the answers.

And I'll just be honest: NO, I'm not excited right now. If people want to think my life is going to be all blue water and white rooftops and the acropolis and feta, that's fine I guess. What I think about is leaving my friends, familiarity, certainty. I think about being single overseas, and having to rebuild community. And no, I'm not excited about that, not at all.

So I'm feeling a teensy bit tired of being asked all these questions that I have no answers to, and trying to act excited for other people.

Don't stop asking me questions - it helps me to think about the transition and what's coming. Just don't be disappointed if I don't have it all thought through and planned, or I don't have the response you want.

newest trailer

If you haven't seen the latest Call & Response trailer, check it out. It's new since I last posted about it. This should be in theaters in September, please go see it!

29 is not lookin' so bad...

Had tons of fun celebrating with the girls last night at Melting Pot...what better way to ring in the last year of one's 20s but with cheese and chocolate!?

Modeling the "Kiss Me, it's my Birthday!" pin...I'm not sure what's going on here:

I arrived in Seattle this afternoon for about a week and a half. Looking forward to time with family and friends and no responsibilites :)

skid row

Ruben and I spoke at a church on Skid Row last night. I want to hit these downtown churches and ministries because a lot of their congregation and people they reach out to will be aware of where things are happening and even know people involved. I did my schpiel on human trafficking and then Ruben brought it. The man preached. Haha. And 5 people accepted Christ!!! See, human trafficking and evangelism go together! :) It was a great night.

Test Drive

Our LA County Unity Coalition Anti-Trafficking PSA (public service announcement) was released today. I saw the finished product at a press conference this morning and it's already on YouTube:



It was done by Michael Cory Davis, a filmmaker who is part of the coalition, who is also working on a feature-length film on trafficking called Cargo. What do you think? (I'll be honest...I think it's a little soft.) :)

I'm a yankee doodle dandy

I'm laughing because I put this mosaic together and did not know which picture would come out in the middle. :)Happy 4th of July! (on the 6th!)

And thanks to Tynitra the paparazzo for some of these pictures...I felt like a celebrity all night long!

waiting...

...for my laundry to be done, so I can go to bed. So I can wake up and speak at another class at church in the morning. Earlier I went to Kinko's and spent 3 million dollars on letters and response cards and gold-plated prayer cards. I'm raising support, baby. So I can pay for my brochures. So I can raise support.

So the 4th of July was fun. I had two actually; one on the 3rd, and one on the 4th. Double the BBQ and double the fireworks. (Sort of on the fireworks; the ones that we drove all over southern california to find on the actual 4th were rather disappointing. But we did provide our own soundtrack, which was amazing.) Anyway, good friends and good margaritas and really good burgers and stuff...fun was had by all. And some wii, and some frisbee, and some dancing, and some Prince. Not in that order.

I will most likely post more photos later, when it's not 1:00 in the morning.

(You can't tell, but I am cocking one eyebrow right now)

I was on the phone with a pastor this afternoon, discussing scheduling a training/educational event on human trafficking at his church. His voice became very echoey for a few minutes. I covered my free ear so I could hear him better and continued to tell him the kinds of things that a training would cover and answer his questions.

Suddenly, a toilet flushed.

He continued talking, as if nothing happened.

Really???

I'll say it again

I love college girls! :)Our summer girls' bible study

a poll

should I start a new blog for Greece?

Should I:

1) Keep two separate blogs, this one, and a separate one for Greece (for supporters and such)
2) Start a new one altogether, and just have one, personal & ministry
3) Keep this blog and just keep writing on it (the problem with that would be I don't want to have three years of blog archives just hanging out for supporters and whoever else to look through)

???