give up your SOLE

This is a SOLE tree. Alex and I found it on our way to California, out in the middle of nowhere. I had never seen one before...but it's AWESOME.





There are so many different kinds of shoes, that represent different kinds of people.


We didn't contribute any shoes...but we did think about taking some...

roasty toasty

Aloe Vera: a very short-stemmed plant with thick leaves with soothing mucilaginous juice; leaves develop spiny margins with maturity; native to Mediterranean region; grown widely in tropics and as houseplants.

I was excited about laying out in my pool this afternoon. Now I'm a little less excited.

I'm not a very patient tanner...I've discovered...cause this seems to happen every year.




Let the tan-off begin Nate Dubs.

growth.

It happened today.

In the middle of Macy's.

It was probably a combination of things that brought it to the surface. I hate shopping. And more than that, I hate seeing shirts that cost $50 and jeans that cost $100. I hate materialism and I hate that sometimes (ok a lot of the time) I find myself getting sucked into it.

I'm different than I was when I left. Things that mattered before, don't now. And things that do now, didn't before. I feel these differences in my soul, and see them come out in my interactions with some friends. I love the people here, love them. It's just different, I'm just different.

Today, I missed Southern.

Today, I missed being understood.

Today, I missed the people who watched me grow and helped me do it.

Piggly Wiggly get better!

Today my dad told me that you don't get the Swine Flu from pigs...the reason that it's called Swine flu is because pigs can get it from US when we have it! Did everybody already know this?

So...people have stopped eating pork, for no reason... maybe Adventists are behind this epidemic.

ree-YOU-knighted

Nothing has changed.

I don't know why I thought that it might.

Emily picked me up half way from Spokane yesterday to take me to Walla Walla. It was awesome. The reunion has been LONG past due. On the way home we attempted to catch up, but there's still so much more to say and share...we'll get everything out, I'm sure...

What a beautiful thing friendship is. What a beautiful thing CONNECTION is. I've missed this girl. Tons. We've both changed a lot, our experiences this past year have changed our souls...but not really who we are. We are still the same people at the core.



Emily still forgets that she's not wearing shoes when she leaves the house. Alex and I still gang up on Emily and see who can get the best reaction. She still shoves her feet in my face, and I still brutally retaliate when she does it. We still stay up late talking, and sleep in the same bed because we don't like to sleep alone. Aw the good ol' days...thank you God that they aren't over.

it's a combination of things...

I haven't posted anything in a long time...and right now I kind of feel like posting, but I don't have the energy to write something insightful and meaningful. But here's an update.

School is out. It's summer. For the last few days I've been staying in the Foote's basement. Which has been absolutely....awesome. This place has become the new Dogwood 8, essentially. Everyone comes here to chill, laugh, play futilism, and just...be.

Amanda just made enchiladas, she's amazing. It's a wonderful thing to make such a close friend in such a short amount of time.

We watched a truck drive into the river today. On purpose. There were 8 cameras recording it...and two dummies in the front seat. It was for a movie, obviously. That MY friend wrote! I felt so proud watching him do his thing...my friends are awesome, I realize once again.

I've been presented with a couple tough scenarios this week...some tough issues about our school that need to be addressed...but mostly I feel helpless, because I can't do much about it. These things seem so obviously unjust, so obviously frustrating. So why don't people see it the way I do? The administration is filled with well-meaning, Godly men...so why does it seem like they are getting it wrong sometimes? I think I've mostly just realized that it would be so hard to be in big leadership positions. Decisions are hard, and not always black and white. I need to remember that.

I am going home on Monday. Home...where everybody knows my name. Did you guys ever watch Cheers? Did you guys ever watch Friends where Joey is in England and watches Cheers? Anyway, home. I'm getting pretty stoked about it. I'm making a mental list of all the people I can't wait to see and hang out with when I get there. The list is long, and promising.

This year has been amazing, absolutely incredible. But I'm feelin pretty ready for the next step. Pretty ready for Walla Walla, camp, maybe California, then ROAD TRIP back to Southern for another awesome year.

God is really good. really really really gotten good. (I'm gonna miss you this summer J Jones)

bitter...and yet sweet

BITTER

SWEET

We have 15 days of school left.