Get ready for story time! This is going to be a long one!
Friday the Thirteenth. [Somebody told me that there would be 13 of these this year. At first, I believed them. Then I realized there are only 12 months in a year. um? There are only 3 in 2012. I checked.]
I'm not superstitious, but I will admit that a veces ("sometimes" - gotta use some Spanish vocab to keep it fresh, ya know?) it is fun to play along with society's silly juegos (games). So, in fitting with the rules of this particular game, this weekend, starting with Friday the 13th, was pretty bad. Bad as in good. No, bad as in bad. This has always been somewhat of a problem for me...I generally view bad times as good times because you learn and grow a lot more from them than you do in the good times. So call it what you will, I will now recount for you some of the goings on of this weekend.
Friday - I wake up super early [5 a.m.] to go to work for Dad so that he can work on my laptop instead of manning the counter at SquareBean CoffeeHouse. [You should check it out.] He's too sick to come in. [Poor guy.] Luckily, he does still come in and take my laptop home with him for the weekend. [What a great dad!]
In the afternoon I drive over an hour to Lancaster to get a tour and see what I'll be doing as an intern for SACA (Spanish American Civic Association). The meeting was to start at 1:30. I was back in my car and on the road for the hour and a half drive home by 1:47. Three hours of driving for a seventeen minute meeting in which they told me that they already gave away all my hours to another intern from Messiah. "But maybe they could find something for me to do 'downstairs.' We'll be in touch..." Riiiiiight. All of this could have been told to me in an email instead of wasting a whole afternoon and half a tank of gas. Oh well, I had some good meditating and worshiping times during the commute.
That evening at precisely 6:10 p.m. I get a text from Isaac asking me to pick he and Steven up at the Rutters on 174 and 74. Thinking they ran out of gas, [right by a gas station, Rachel? Why would they need you?] or had some sort of car trouble, I headed right over to find that they had just been in a car accident! I didn't believe them at first. But yes, it was true. The company car had already been towed away by the time I got there. I was so thankful that everybody involved was okay. But a little bummed to find out that Steven's laptop didn't make it through. [Moment of silence for the laptop ... aaand moving on.] Speaking of cars with issues...my check engine oil light came on my car. I haven't even owned said car for a month yet. [Great.]
Earlier in the evening Steven had been telling me that his Grandma's Parkinson's disease and dementia were progressing causing her to be unable to eat. Nobody knew how much longer she had to live so a trip out to visit and support Grandpa was imperative.
So Friday was kind of a big day...I wouldn't say we were feeling especially bubbly, but God is good.
Saturday began with a pretty great meeting focusing on how to best continue leading the youth of our church. It was encouraging. Afterwards my handy brother-in-law stuck a code reader on my car to figure out what the check engine light was about. I don't remember all the technical terms but I remember the words "oxygen" and "cooling." He erased the code and said that if it came back it'd be like a $50 - $70 replacement of the oxygen something-or-others. Not so bad. Still annoying.
What's more annoying? Steven discovered that their van was leaking coolant. [shoot.] It needed to be taken to the shop, but it was already the weekend and Monday was a holiday. So we let it sit in the driveway until Monday night and used mine instead. Good thing I bought it even though now I probs don't need it for the internship. Praise the Lord, it made the whole trip to Grandpa's and back without the check engine light coming back on! [win.]
Speaking of the trip to Grandpa's, it was a good one. Grandma even talked to us a bit! - first time I'd ever heard her voice. Grandpa's spirit seemed lifted by our company. We enjoyed a good game of Up the River Down the River [they play Down the River, Up the River, actually.. :p], watched the Giants pwn the Packers, and ate a delicious lunch [thanks, Sara] and treats from Grandpa.
What did I learn from this weekend? 1) Store up your treasures in heaven where moths and rust and car accidents do not destroy. 2) Keep trusting in God, even when it feels like he took a little break from watching over your life. He's still working things out and if you wait long enough, you'll see it. 3) Steven and I handle stress pretty well. Sometimes we joke that we should try fighting so that we know how we will handle it. This weekend was a better test of our coping skills than any mock fight. :)
- Dad did get my laptop fixed [thanks!]
- Steven's laptop is still unusable but insurance and/or my dad will take care of that
- My car is doing fine for the time being.
- The van is in the shop
- I'll wait and see what God does about the internship thing - He knows what's best, I'm not worried.
- Grandma's still hanging in there, we're praying for both she and Grandpa
Friday the Thirteenth. [Somebody told me that there would be 13 of these this year. At first, I believed them. Then I realized there are only 12 months in a year. um? There are only 3 in 2012. I checked.]
I'm not superstitious, but I will admit that a veces ("sometimes" - gotta use some Spanish vocab to keep it fresh, ya know?) it is fun to play along with society's silly juegos (games). So, in fitting with the rules of this particular game, this weekend, starting with Friday the 13th, was pretty bad. Bad as in good. No, bad as in bad. This has always been somewhat of a problem for me...I generally view bad times as good times because you learn and grow a lot more from them than you do in the good times. So call it what you will, I will now recount for you some of the goings on of this weekend.
Friday - I wake up super early [5 a.m.] to go to work for Dad so that he can work on my laptop instead of manning the counter at SquareBean CoffeeHouse. [You should check it out.] He's too sick to come in. [Poor guy.] Luckily, he does still come in and take my laptop home with him for the weekend. [What a great dad!]
In the afternoon I drive over an hour to Lancaster to get a tour and see what I'll be doing as an intern for SACA (Spanish American Civic Association). The meeting was to start at 1:30. I was back in my car and on the road for the hour and a half drive home by 1:47. Three hours of driving for a seventeen minute meeting in which they told me that they already gave away all my hours to another intern from Messiah. "But maybe they could find something for me to do 'downstairs.' We'll be in touch..." Riiiiiight. All of this could have been told to me in an email instead of wasting a whole afternoon and half a tank of gas. Oh well, I had some good meditating and worshiping times during the commute.
That evening at precisely 6:10 p.m. I get a text from Isaac asking me to pick he and Steven up at the Rutters on 174 and 74. Thinking they ran out of gas, [right by a gas station, Rachel? Why would they need you?] or had some sort of car trouble, I headed right over to find that they had just been in a car accident! I didn't believe them at first. But yes, it was true. The company car had already been towed away by the time I got there. I was so thankful that everybody involved was okay. But a little bummed to find out that Steven's laptop didn't make it through. [Moment of silence for the laptop ... aaand moving on.] Speaking of cars with issues...my check engine oil light came on my car. I haven't even owned said car for a month yet. [Great.]
Earlier in the evening Steven had been telling me that his Grandma's Parkinson's disease and dementia were progressing causing her to be unable to eat. Nobody knew how much longer she had to live so a trip out to visit and support Grandpa was imperative.
So Friday was kind of a big day...I wouldn't say we were feeling especially bubbly, but God is good.
Saturday began with a pretty great meeting focusing on how to best continue leading the youth of our church. It was encouraging. Afterwards my handy brother-in-law stuck a code reader on my car to figure out what the check engine light was about. I don't remember all the technical terms but I remember the words "oxygen" and "cooling." He erased the code and said that if it came back it'd be like a $50 - $70 replacement of the oxygen something-or-others. Not so bad. Still annoying.
What's more annoying? Steven discovered that their van was leaking coolant. [shoot.] It needed to be taken to the shop, but it was already the weekend and Monday was a holiday. So we let it sit in the driveway until Monday night and used mine instead. Good thing I bought it even though now I probs don't need it for the internship. Praise the Lord, it made the whole trip to Grandpa's and back without the check engine light coming back on! [win.]
Speaking of the trip to Grandpa's, it was a good one. Grandma even talked to us a bit! - first time I'd ever heard her voice. Grandpa's spirit seemed lifted by our company. We enjoyed a good game of Up the River Down the River [they play Down the River, Up the River, actually.. :p], watched the Giants pwn the Packers, and ate a delicious lunch [thanks, Sara] and treats from Grandpa.
What did I learn from this weekend? 1) Store up your treasures in heaven where moths and rust and car accidents do not destroy. 2) Keep trusting in God, even when it feels like he took a little break from watching over your life. He's still working things out and if you wait long enough, you'll see it. 3) Steven and I handle stress pretty well. Sometimes we joke that we should try fighting so that we know how we will handle it. This weekend was a better test of our coping skills than any mock fight. :)
- Dad did get my laptop fixed [thanks!]
- Steven's laptop is still unusable but insurance and/or my dad will take care of that
- My car is doing fine for the time being.
- The van is in the shop
- I'll wait and see what God does about the internship thing - He knows what's best, I'm not worried.
- Grandma's still hanging in there, we're praying for both she and Grandpa
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