Fun in the Sun!

As the sun peeked through the clouds at the end of the day today, it made me think of all the fun we've had thus far this summer. Here's a few shots of our adventures. Here's a shot of our nephew and our dog, Mia. They are good pals, especially when they get to play together in the water.

Here's me getting ready to go for a kayak ride. NO, Mia, you are not going with me!

Lastly, here's Mia splashing in the water. She likes to try and bite the water, which results in her drinking a huge amount! On this day, she realized that she actually does like swimming. Usually she just wades in the water, but here she finally swam, getting her entire body wet!

Tommy Needs a Van

We have a young man in our youth group, Tommy, who has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and is in need of a wheelchair van. Please visit his website to learn more about his needs. Also you can see their blog to learn about their progress in raising money. I really hope and pray that Tommy and his family will be able to get the money they need for this so that Tommy can participate in the normal, everyday activities that he enjoys, such as coming to youth group.

My Sister's Wedding

My little sister got married on Saturday. It was an exhausting weekend, but everything turned out nicely. Here are a few photos from the event. Of course, I was in the wedding so I didn't get to take any of the actual ceremony.

My Fortune

I like Chinese food. It's yummy. Sometimes I buy it. A few weeks ago, I stopped by a new Chinese place on Main St in Bangor. I got what I usually buy - Chicken Chow Mein with Pork Fried Rice and a side of Teryaki Beef. It wasn't the best Chinese food I've had, but it did the trick of curing my immediate hunger pains.

The most interesting part of the meal was the fortune cookie. Now, while I find any "dessert" that doesn't involve chocolate to be proposterous, I still usually eat my fortune cookie. When I opened mine up, I found the most absurb fortune ever: "You love Chinese food." It made me laugh, along with everyone else that was sitting around watching me eat. What kind of fortune is that anyway? You bought the food, so of course you like it! It's not a fortune at all, it's simply a statement of the obvious. I mean, it's not that I put any faith in the "fortunes" in fortune cookies, but come on - it should at least be something that makes me wonder... "You'll meet a true friend today" or "Your truest friend will betray you"... be creative already!

So, to whoever writes those fortune cookies, here are a few suggestions:

• Find a way to incorporate chocolate into Chinese food desserts.
• Don't simply state the obvious in the fortune cookies.
• Or, if you do state the obvious, make it funny. ("You'll be hungry 1 hour from now").

Being Sick

Well, being sick isn't fun. Over the past 2 weeks, I've been sick quite a bit and I am ready to be done. I am feeling better right now, but as I learned Wednesday, just because you feel okay for a few days doesn't mean you're all better. I finally went to the doctor on Thursday because I though something must be up. So apparently I have a sinus infection, which is probably what was causing the major headaches, followed by nasuea and vomiting. Oh, yes, fun fun. So now I'm on an antibiotic and hopefully that'll help. I guess if it doesn't we'll be looking at migraines possibly. Who knows really. I'm looking forward to having full energy again and being able to go out to eat with my hubby as we had planned for our anniversary (4 years!).

I realize that this is an extremely boring post but when you've been sick there's not a lot of exciting things to write about...

Promised Photos

Sea Otters at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. This is where we spent our last night during the wonderful CM trip to Monterey in May. We had the whole aquarium to ourselves, and we spent the evening seeing all the amazing sea creatures. I have to say that sea otters are my favorite!

The Lone Cypress on the Seventeen Mile Drive. This was such a beautiful spot on the California coast. I was so excited to get to go on the drive with some fellow CM Consultants that I met while in Monterey. This was my favorite part of the trip - I love adventure and couldn't pass up the opportunity to see more of God's amazing creation!

The My Space Debate

So there's this discussion going on between myself, my coworkers, and my friends. It's in regards to blogging, particularly on "myspace". The more and more I see and hear about my space, the more I am concerned about the state of teenagers right now. I definitely think having a place to air your thoughts and feelings is great... the problem is when this becomes someone's primary form of communication. And when the communication is also full of inapporpriate, sometimes pornographic photos.

Here's a conversation I had with one of the kids at the group home where I work.
Me: We are not going to allow my space to be used anymore during your internet time.
Teen: But I won't be able to talk to my brother.
Me: Doesn't your brother have access to a phone?
Teen: Yes, but he doesn't like talking on the phone.
Me: Well, there are plenty of other options to communicate with people outside of my space. I'm sure you'll find a way.

It's amazing to me that some teens now think that this "blogging" world is the only way to have relationships. Note, I am using broad generalizations here. I recognize that not everyone who uses my space is living in a bubble with no other communication. However, it is concerning to me because I was a teen not so long ago, and I remember the ease of having very open conversations using "IM" and email. Now, that is changing more to the "my space" world.

Well I guess I am undecided on this issue. At the group home, we finally decided to just stop allowing them to use my space because so much of it was inappropriate. However, I do think that there is some benefit to this type of interaction when it is used appropriately. Any thoughts? Post a comment.