Thank you Lord for making me perfect and whole through your Son. No matter how hard I try I could never make myself perfect. I try everyday to be a better person and to work hard and to do my best, but I know it's not possible for me to have it all figured out. But because of you I can always be a work in progress. I am your beloved. Thank you for that assurance.
Isaiah 40:31
Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.
2 Timothy 2:11-13
For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him; If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He will deny us; If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
The Adventures of Holly and Katie
Holly and I had quite an adventure Friday, even though most don't find our stories as adventurous and hilarious as we do. We were both in Houston for the TMTA (Texas Music Teacher's Association) convention. I drove down Thursday night right after I finished all my piano lessons. I had a car full of laundry and a couple of books for reading in dull moments, which really didn't happen. Friday, my dad wanted to take my car to work so that he could be there when my windshield was replaced. It had a very nasty crack right in the driver's line of sight. But I paid for it. 275 dollars! grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Anyway. I had to drive my dad's Buick Le Sabre. Holly didn't mind when I picked her up because that's what her mom drives and once you experience the Le Sabre you'll understand that it's a great source of happiness. Mainly because it's really funny looking, especially when it's old and faded, with cracked leather seats in which the foam stuffing peeps through (however, these seats are also very comfortable). Holly's mom says it's wonderful because when you drive the Le Sabre, everybody gets out of your way because they assume you must not have insurance. hehehe. So I maybe took that to heart and was more daring than usual on 59. It's been awhile since I went driving anywhere in Houston, and I forgot how terrifying it is. So Holly spent a good deal of time laughing at me while I was complaining about how crazy everyone else was, driving along, cutting me off, or slamming on their breaks, or running stop signs. Sometimes you can hear me mumble for a few minutes "crazy! all these people, where did they get their licences! all nuts, all of them..." One time, it was a really close call. There is a lot of construction on Kirby over by the Rice Village. And everyone knows how narrow all those lanes are anyway, and to have a giant crane taking up four it feels like at any second you might be kicked off the earth. So we were driving down, Holly waving at all the construction guard men because they are probably a foot away from her face, and one of the cranes has it's arm swinging full circle to my car. Oh boy, both Holly and I yelped like scared puppies. And then we both cracked up. It was very funny too, because we had just bought these big white sunglasses, matching, at White House Black Market (and Kendra, you weren't there!), and we couldn't take each other seriously in them.
But before that we showed up at the Hyatt Regencey in downtown off of Lousiana at 8 am, and we were very impressed with the four elevators which were exposed all the way up to the top level, 30. We go down to the exhibit hall, check out the schedule, see that we really only want to see one session, and figure it's not worth 50 dollars, plus 30 for the parking. So we go out to the lobby with the extremely high elevator view, look at some jewelry in a shop, buy some coffee at a different shop (where ladies were laughting at us because neither of us could find where the coffee dispensers were), ate an apple tart making a mess at the table, and finally worked up the courage to ride the elevators.
We planned to pick a floor near the top and pretend to look for the ice machine. So we headed over to the elevators, where a ton of people were waiting, one slightly creepy guy stared Holly down (she really got this a lot on Friday, probably three of four times), and an elevator arrived and the crowd got on, and Holly and I hung back not wanting to squeeze in for our ride, stopping on every floor. We caught the next one and just had a couple of convention ladies with us then. We arrived at 27 and stepped out and decided to go to the end of the hall and look out the window at the neighboring skyscraper which is probably five levels higher than the Hyatt. We peeked over the edge of the shoulder high wall down in to the lobby. We could see all thirty levels of rooms, a few had cleaning ladies working and so we went down to peek at a few of the rooms. I guessed they were on level 24. But when we got in the elevator again and nearly stopped at 24, I realized that it was 23. "oh, I mean, we need to go to 23!" It was fairly obvious by this point that we were aimlessly wondering and didn't really belong on this elevator at all, but our fellow riders just smiled and pressed button 23. Holly thought it would be good to ask the cleaning lady where the restrooms were. So we peeked in the rooms, (they were pretty nice, not spectacular or anything) and Holly asked the lady, who responed "I don't speak English."
"el baño?"
"o, lobby? on lobby..." So then we escaped to the elevators, but to ride down the side that is exposed to the street, so the people watchers in the Lobby who had been tracking our adventure would lose our trail. Another thing that happened a lot on Friday was that Holly had to use the restroom all the time. :)
When we left the hotel we wondered through downtown and found ourselves visiting the Houston Public Library. Here we thought for a split second that we locked ourselves into one room, and tried to log on the computers in the main building but couldn't of course, because we're not HPL card holders. Well I am, but I didn't have mine with me and didn't want to sign up for a new one. When we finally left downtown, we had only spent 13.50 on parking. Better than 30, that's for sure. Driving back was an adventure all it's own. We visited Rice University, and stopped in the Village for some sunglasses. Around 11:30 we went to the Phonecia market for lunch and had delicious hummus and spinach pies and falafel and baklava and Turkish coffee. Then I had to take Holly back to Stan and Tiffany's to clean bathrooms. Poor Holly. And I took a nap. I've been taking a lot of naps lately. I must still be recovering from senior year. I wonder when I'll be back to normal. ;)
It was a fun adventure, but I'm sure nobody will find it nearly as funny as Holly and I did at the time.
Anyway. I had to drive my dad's Buick Le Sabre. Holly didn't mind when I picked her up because that's what her mom drives and once you experience the Le Sabre you'll understand that it's a great source of happiness. Mainly because it's really funny looking, especially when it's old and faded, with cracked leather seats in which the foam stuffing peeps through (however, these seats are also very comfortable). Holly's mom says it's wonderful because when you drive the Le Sabre, everybody gets out of your way because they assume you must not have insurance. hehehe. So I maybe took that to heart and was more daring than usual on 59. It's been awhile since I went driving anywhere in Houston, and I forgot how terrifying it is. So Holly spent a good deal of time laughing at me while I was complaining about how crazy everyone else was, driving along, cutting me off, or slamming on their breaks, or running stop signs. Sometimes you can hear me mumble for a few minutes "crazy! all these people, where did they get their licences! all nuts, all of them..." One time, it was a really close call. There is a lot of construction on Kirby over by the Rice Village. And everyone knows how narrow all those lanes are anyway, and to have a giant crane taking up four it feels like at any second you might be kicked off the earth. So we were driving down, Holly waving at all the construction guard men because they are probably a foot away from her face, and one of the cranes has it's arm swinging full circle to my car. Oh boy, both Holly and I yelped like scared puppies. And then we both cracked up. It was very funny too, because we had just bought these big white sunglasses, matching, at White House Black Market (and Kendra, you weren't there!), and we couldn't take each other seriously in them.
But before that we showed up at the Hyatt Regencey in downtown off of Lousiana at 8 am, and we were very impressed with the four elevators which were exposed all the way up to the top level, 30. We go down to the exhibit hall, check out the schedule, see that we really only want to see one session, and figure it's not worth 50 dollars, plus 30 for the parking. So we go out to the lobby with the extremely high elevator view, look at some jewelry in a shop, buy some coffee at a different shop (where ladies were laughting at us because neither of us could find where the coffee dispensers were), ate an apple tart making a mess at the table, and finally worked up the courage to ride the elevators.
We planned to pick a floor near the top and pretend to look for the ice machine. So we headed over to the elevators, where a ton of people were waiting, one slightly creepy guy stared Holly down (she really got this a lot on Friday, probably three of four times), and an elevator arrived and the crowd got on, and Holly and I hung back not wanting to squeeze in for our ride, stopping on every floor. We caught the next one and just had a couple of convention ladies with us then. We arrived at 27 and stepped out and decided to go to the end of the hall and look out the window at the neighboring skyscraper which is probably five levels higher than the Hyatt. We peeked over the edge of the shoulder high wall down in to the lobby. We could see all thirty levels of rooms, a few had cleaning ladies working and so we went down to peek at a few of the rooms. I guessed they were on level 24. But when we got in the elevator again and nearly stopped at 24, I realized that it was 23. "oh, I mean, we need to go to 23!" It was fairly obvious by this point that we were aimlessly wondering and didn't really belong on this elevator at all, but our fellow riders just smiled and pressed button 23. Holly thought it would be good to ask the cleaning lady where the restrooms were. So we peeked in the rooms, (they were pretty nice, not spectacular or anything) and Holly asked the lady, who responed "I don't speak English."
"el baño?"
"o, lobby? on lobby..." So then we escaped to the elevators, but to ride down the side that is exposed to the street, so the people watchers in the Lobby who had been tracking our adventure would lose our trail. Another thing that happened a lot on Friday was that Holly had to use the restroom all the time. :)
When we left the hotel we wondered through downtown and found ourselves visiting the Houston Public Library. Here we thought for a split second that we locked ourselves into one room, and tried to log on the computers in the main building but couldn't of course, because we're not HPL card holders. Well I am, but I didn't have mine with me and didn't want to sign up for a new one. When we finally left downtown, we had only spent 13.50 on parking. Better than 30, that's for sure. Driving back was an adventure all it's own. We visited Rice University, and stopped in the Village for some sunglasses. Around 11:30 we went to the Phonecia market for lunch and had delicious hummus and spinach pies and falafel and baklava and Turkish coffee. Then I had to take Holly back to Stan and Tiffany's to clean bathrooms. Poor Holly. And I took a nap. I've been taking a lot of naps lately. I must still be recovering from senior year. I wonder when I'll be back to normal. ;)
It was a fun adventure, but I'm sure nobody will find it nearly as funny as Holly and I did at the time.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Will my patience run out?
I've always been very patient. But I wonder if God really wants me to wait around for good things to come my way, or does He want me to actively pursue those good things? Or is He asking me to simply like what I have, since I can't have what I'd like?
Who knows the answers to these questions? I figure He must have had a good plan in mind for me, when He gave me my family and teachers and friends. And the amount of money we had for our needs. And the experiences I've had. And all those things that make a person who they are. I'm not going to change really. Not drastically. All of the sudden I'm not going to turn around and love to party and stay out until four. I'm not going to begin to hate music. And I'm not going to stop wishing I was a better pianist and a more beautiful girl. But sometimes I do think about being someone else, with different experiences to define me. How would I be changed? Which friends would want to hang around, and who would rather be somewhere else? But I have to say again, God must know what I don't. I belong here for some reason and I'd like to figure it out. I'm sure I never will.
I'd like to think that it will all become clear to me and all the pieces will fall into place like a funny puzzle. And I'll laugh and say "see, it all turned out right in the end!" But of course I constantly doubt this conclusion. What if there are pieces missing? Even just one piece missing? What will happen to me? Sometimes I think I'm so sure about something and then it turns out to be a complete farce. Ha! Isn't that everyone's story?
Who knows the answers to these questions? I figure He must have had a good plan in mind for me, when He gave me my family and teachers and friends. And the amount of money we had for our needs. And the experiences I've had. And all those things that make a person who they are. I'm not going to change really. Not drastically. All of the sudden I'm not going to turn around and love to party and stay out until four. I'm not going to begin to hate music. And I'm not going to stop wishing I was a better pianist and a more beautiful girl. But sometimes I do think about being someone else, with different experiences to define me. How would I be changed? Which friends would want to hang around, and who would rather be somewhere else? But I have to say again, God must know what I don't. I belong here for some reason and I'd like to figure it out. I'm sure I never will.
I'd like to think that it will all become clear to me and all the pieces will fall into place like a funny puzzle. And I'll laugh and say "see, it all turned out right in the end!" But of course I constantly doubt this conclusion. What if there are pieces missing? Even just one piece missing? What will happen to me? Sometimes I think I'm so sure about something and then it turns out to be a complete farce. Ha! Isn't that everyone's story?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
