Road Trip

So much to say - where to start? I spent the long weekend in the Okanagan - Scott, Chris and I went to Penticton to visit another Crew alum, and it was a blast. (Trevor couldn't come cause he's on the worship team for the fall TEC, and he had to play at the meeting Friday night, and he was taking the youth to the Labour Day Classic.)

We left Friday after work, and didn't get in till almost midnight. We listened to a lot of music, and this comedian, Bill Engvall, best known for his "here's your sign" jokes. Here's a link to a video of his - he's probably the cleanest comedian I've ever heard, and I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard. We had such a good time, I was almost sorry to get to Sam's!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jovsckwNF6U

I got up fairly early on Saturday morning, and spent some time on the deck, overlooking the lake, with my Bible. It was fantastic - I wish I could start every day like that! We went to the beach in the afternoon, and I had some time to just sit and work some stuff out with God - I don't know when I spent some quality time with Him like that last. It was probably a good thing I'd forgotten the power cord for my laptop, otherwise I would have spent the afternoon working.

We went mini golfing in the evening, and I swear, Chris is the most dangerous mini golf player ever. He swings like he's playing real golf - the ball ricocheted off a rock, nearly hit him in the head, and went in to the bushes. He had to go ask for a new ball at that point... The very next hole, he does the same thing, except this time it rebounds off the rock...and right at my ankle. I was not amused... Then we get to the last hole, and you'd think he'd have learned his lesson by this point, right? Wrong! It comes flying back, nearly hits me in the head, and lands in the stream. (Picture me shaking my head and rolling my eyes here...)

On Sunday, Scott and I went in to Kelowna for church at First Lutheran, and I got to see Sarah for a bit. I really like First - they've got a beautiful building, and a great congregation. The Okanagan circuit churches all seem to have really great staff, too. I haven't been to Concordia in Penticton, but that's where Chris went on Sunday, and he really liked it. I noticed today that they're hiring a secretary, and I realized that I would maybe like to do that again some time. I really surprise myself sometimes...

Anyway, we also went to Summerhill Winery, which makes my favourite kind of wine, and had some free samples, which is always good. On the drive back to Penticton, we cranked the worship tunes, and I got to spend some more quality time with God - who'd have imagined that the best worship time I've had in ages would be in the back of a car? Kind of ironic! In the evening, we had this fantastic jam session out on the deck - Scott on guitar and Sam's dad, Chester, on congas. It was pretty cool, and I ended up staying up until 2 am working on my testimony for Survivor. I've given up asking God "are you sure I have to do this?" and started asking "what the heck do I say?". I'm pretty nervous about it - there's a lot of people that I know that have no idea about my past crap, and the Lutheran grapevine moves pretty quick, and I don't know how the kids are going to respond to it. I'm trying not to think about it too much, cause it makes me nauseous. Such a pain...

On Monday morning, I spent more time on the deck with my Bible, and we just spend the morning chilling with Sam. We had some great burns at Chris, and he even burnt himself really well at some very opportune times - 'twas awesome. We left around noon, and didn't get back to Calgary until about 10. I got some time to work out my testimony a bit more, and then from Golden on, we had some great conversations. Chris used about half a dozen big words, and it was just some really great hang-out time - it was cool, because while we hang out a lot, but we don't really talk about important stuff.

We came up with a grand plan that involves me and Trevor, Scott, and Chris moving to the Okanagan and buying houses all next to each other. I think that sounds like great fun - it would be such a blast. I really want to move away from Calgary at some point, I'm really not a city girl, but I really don't want to leave my friends, either, so taking them with me sounds like a good idea, hey? And while Lake Okanagan isn't an ocean, at least it's more water then Calgary has, and it's not too far from the Pacific. Who knows if it would ever work out, but it's fun to think about, anyway.

So, it was an extraordinary weekend. I made some new friends, got to know some old ones a little better, had some awesome times with God, bought some wine, and came home to Trevor. It was such a relief to not have any work or responsibilities, and Sam's family was so hospitable, it was totally relaxing to just hang out there. So much fun - I'm so blessed!