Texas, Sweet Texas!

I love that place. Really, every time I go there I wonder what it was that made me leave – but I was reminded by some Texan friends today that each time I get back to California, I remember why it is I stay here (family and friends 🙂 ). And, really, it was the Lord who opened up the doors to leave, so who am I to argue?!

Anyways, a few highlights from the short, but sweet visit to Texas:
-Fabulous Natalie let me borrow her car the entire weekend…and her and Didi will be visiting here this Thursday!
-Early Friday morning (think 3am), Erika and Lance were blessed with their new little baby girl, Macey- and I got to see her!
-A wonderful wedding celebration for Jennifer and Jonathon! Got to run errands, enjoy the rehearsal dinner, spend Jennifer’s last unmarried night with her and her family, and had a great time at their wedding and reception – great to catch up with everyone!
-A delicious meal at Cracker Barrel with my little sis, Alisha from Texas. Fun times laughing, conversing, etc.
-Yet another catching of the bouquet (some wedding stats: 25 weddings, 14 weddings that I’ve been in, and 6 bouquets caught…still single 🙂 )
-A great visit with Monica and family – even got to witness the nerve-wracking championship game that Millenia and her fellow 9 year old teammates played and came out victorious!
-Good times at Ginny and Kingsley’s – enjoying some talk time, attempting to put together lawn chairs, and eating somoas. My favorite!

Anyways, back safe and sound at Casa Schneple and ready for another busy and blessed week!

A Schweet Evening

Scho, it’s been a very enjoyable evening at Casa Schneple! Thankfully, I was done early with training for my new job today (you got that right, folks…I’m finally employed once again! I’ll be working with students with autism…just watching a video today made me cry three times. Whew! I’m so looking forward to it!!)…anyways, I got to head home in the afternoon, get a little tanning and simultaneous nap in up on the roof. By then, Jen, Jojo, and Jamie had all returned home. Got to enjoy little conversations and spend some downtime with roommates whom I love so much, but don’t get much time with. A blessing in and of itself 🙂

I then enjoyed a fabulous 4 mile run in gorgeous weather (Kristen, I pushed myself by hearing your voice in my head)! As I was walking the last little part home, I was so excited to see Jamie and Jojo out in the driveway hooping it up! Sam and Matt were kind enough to be the men around our house yesterday and put up the net we’ve had for a little while now! So, as I stretched, I watched the intense competition of ‘horse’. Afterwards, Jojo and I found ourselves in the kitchen – her cooking a cake for the bartender at the local Sports Bar our roommates frequent (which she is going to design as a pool table) and I made Jamie and I a delicious dinner, if I do say so myself!

So, despite the darn dogs being the ravenous, noncompliant beasts that they are, we are currently enjoying a calm evening at home. A rare commodity here at Casa Schneple. And what a lovely thing that it is! So, to all of you who wonder if I’ll even be ready to stop traveling and stay still…know that this is a life I could get used to 🙂 Well, for awhile anyways…until the Lord called me somewhere!

So, I’m going to go enjoy listening to some American Idol (the third in my life), watching the dogs fight (is this illegal?), spending time with roommates, and then retreating to my space (the office, that is) to get some studying in- Romans and Mark, here I come!

Beautiful Birthday Buddies!

Saturday got the me and the troops back at 6am from gorgeous Applegate and ready for a fabulous day!! The Andersons joined us around noon (although Jamie and I were out running errands when they arrived…) I was greeted by them and a fabulous fruit bouquet compliments of my sister and Andie! YUM! Received a surprise call from a friend from way back when stating that she was in Anaheim with a free evening -so Nicole jumped on a train down south to come join the festivities!!! We all went to Ra in downtown San Diego for sushi and drinks…delicious! We returned home and despite unsuccessful attempts to get me to go out, we enjoyed a “Karolyn” night in-full of: games, laughter, face shaking and photo taking, talking, and the reading of a poem – a tribute to my fabulous friends joining me for the fun! Megan and Kristen showed up at 1am to share their love and it was much appreciated! Kristen and I enjoyed a run together before making breakfast for ten beautiful ladies! I am incredibly blessed….here’s the poem that attempts to share some of the gratitude I feel:

Not long ago my life essentially was kind of a mess
Nothing I thought it should be, I must confess
I left my life in Texas for something brand new
And within a year, the Lord had brought me most of you.
From a city of ruins with walls destroyed ad ablaze
I’d been living a life of captivity stuck in my own maze
Summer 2006 brought many answers to prayer
As I begged for Him to break my heart and saw Him do it there
With the tears freely flowing, the joy came readily
He knew I needed a group of Godly friends in my life steadily
So, with trepidation, I approached FCA camp late
Right along with the Anderson sisters- this was fate!
Steph, I thank you for your sweet spirit and gentle soul
Always willing to listen, help out, and console
Bekah, you are flourishing in this life He’s given you
As you embrace the Truth and encourage me to do the same too
Somewhere along the way, Jamie and I crossed each other’s paths
On the massage table I was introduced to Kristen
Full of questions, love, affirmation, and ears to listen
Church together, conversations, many tears, and lots of laughs
The years went on and friendships continued to grow
And through each of them, the love of the Lord flowed
Each in their unique way confirmed His love for me
As I began to see what it meant to be free
At one point in time, prayer had began to be lifted up to Him
For a special girl the Lord had brought back in my life again
Within a few months, Jojo was added to the fabulous crew
Brought love, laughter, joy, music, and encouragement too
What a blessing at FCA 2008, I met my Cookie in a game
Despite Megan’s initial reservations, she’ll admit her life isn’t the same!
Pretty soon we were San Diego-bound
With some roommates, a dog, and a house found
The Lord reacquainted me with friends from the past-
What a restoration that had happened since I had seen them last
There was Jen Douville who blessed me with morning conversations
Full of prayer, honesty, and challenging questions
Pretty soon Ruth was back in the mix
What a beautiful life I’ve seen the Lord do a wonderful work with
And just when I thought my life was so complete
The Lord continued to bless me with people to meet
Rachel came in with a bang- so much laughter and spunk
Being around her makes it difficult to stay in a funk
And now around my birthday, a celebratory time of year
The Lord brought some other people in my life near
There’s Laci who called an early end to friends, partying, and fun
To come back and celebrate with us until her time in Cali is done
And a surprise phone call led to an exciting revelation
Nicole came to town – this enough is cause for celebration!
So please know how much it means to me
That out of all the places, this is where you’ve chosen to be
I’ve been so encouraged and blessed beyond measure
He most certainly has brought some sweet treasures
So, consider this my thanks for all you do!
And know my prayer is I can impact your lives just as each of you

Applegate, Here We Come!

So in approximately 45 minutes, I’ll be heading out the door to catch the bus that will drive us through the night to Applegate, Oregon. Please note I have yet to shower, pack, make my sack dinner, etc. I thrive in my procrastinational ways (I do realize I just made that up)…so what am I doing now? Just finished running five miles (with three delightful roommates) and felt the need to BLOG. A few things on my mind and in my heart.

First, a quote from Towzer’s Pursuit of God which I am currently attempting to read. “We are in his presence positionally. We need to experience His presence actually“. I am looking forward to this upcoming week of being on a beautiful mountaintop, being surrounded by friends, reading and studying through the book of Nehemiah, and attempting to apply some of its lessons to my daily life. Pray for us while we’re there 🙂

And, on another encouraging note…as I played the “question” game with a roommate last night, I was asked the question: “What if you could do one sin from your past and not have it impact your relationship with God…which would it be?” As I spent some time going through the endless list of my downfalls (granted, I still fall short daily…but it’s just sweet to be in a persistent and consistent pursuit of Truth), I realized I could not come up with anything I wish I were still able to do. What a beautiful thing that the Lord desires such a personal relationship with us that over the past few years (and particularly the past few months), He’s gradually revealed to me pieces of His character. Through spending time with Him and understanding more, the Lord has brought me to a place where I recognize He is looking out for what’s best for me (in a way that’s glorifying to Him, of course). That I truly understand and believe that “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him…that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection…”. I can look back on my life to this point and be incredibly grateful for where He has brought me. And I eagerly look forward to this journey He has set before me!

What had God been revealing to you lately?

Love Languages…

I think it might have been in college that I first realized I have a problem with physical touch. Really what I mean by this is I’m not totally aware of my strength at times (typically during excitement) and I’ve recently realized that I lack a filter in other situations. Please read on…

My freshman and sophomore years of college, you could find me at the end of the bench (well, that was my location most of my career). With nobody on either side (somebody can vouge for this…any former Lady Eagles out there?). Reason being, when a call was made or a sweet play was completed, I would jump up and hit the person next to me screaming, “DID YOU SEE THAT?!?!”. I was usually greeted by the same reply, “We’re watching the same game, Karolyn. Yes, I saw that. Stop hitting me.”

However, it’s not always acts of violence that get me in trouble. I really love hugging. Although physical touch isn’t necessarily one of my ‘love languages’ (words of affirmation and quality time, for those of you wondering), it definitely appears to be how I show love. It wasn’t until this summer that I discovered the “Attack Hug Strategy” and my, oh my, is it a gem! Raleigh is really a trooper when receiving these hugs – she tends to just relax and go with the flow (I’d love to see one of our hugs in slow motion). The strategy has really come a long way over the past few months and many people have been able to experience this fully-enveloping expression of love. Unfortunately, it has caused minor injuries to two people (Sorry, Aunt Kathy and Steph). Through much practice, I’ve found that the best way to implement the strategy is to people who are totally oblivious, i.e. looking the other direction, engaged in conversation, lost in thought, etc. You just sneak up on them and BAM! they never know what hit them. I think I’m also really good at this because I’m so darn tall…people really can’t resist it (although, you can watch a video on facebook of different strategies you can attempt). Kristen has gotten really good at these strategies because she hates the attack hugs so much. Poor girl doesn’t know what she’s missing.

It wasn’t until we moved down here to San Diego that I realized the extent my hugging had gone. Before FCA camp, I had given J-Jax’s dad a hug. He resisted a little, but finally gave in and gave a little squeeze and called it a day. Upon returning home from camp (where the AHS was discovered), he was one of the first non-FCA people to experience the Attack Hug. His response was something along the lines of having whiplash (this was quickly turned into a marketing strategy for my massage therapy business). A few months later, Jamie’s parents drove down to San Diego and her dad donned a hand-made shirt that read, “DO NOT HUG!”. Clearly, this shirt was directed towards me – the poor guy had gotten up before day break to find Jamie’s old stencils and make this shirt! However, I should also add that in our end-of-the-semester letters, my hugs did get the most positive responses on my paper.

The real kicker comes in last weekend, when the idea for this blog started bouncing around in my mind. A few friends were in town and we were walking back from the carnival on Jamie’s birthday. We came upon a ‘situation’ (one where police and fire department had to be involved…it all turned out okay, so no need to worry). As we were wrapping up, five of us stood in a circle: A police officer, Jojo, Myself, Steph, and Bekah (in that order if you can get a mental image. The police was pretty much directed across from me). At some point in the conversation, Mr. Police said something smart aleky (is that a word?) or something, I really don’t remember what…but I do remember that in my mind, it seemed appropriate to reach entirely across our circle and give the officer a friendly little ‘nudge’ – well, this nudge caused him to take a step back before resuming his position and continuing in the conversation. While it wasn’t until later when I was recounting the story and J-Jax helped me realize that I could have been charged with assault of a police officer that I realized I clearly have a filter problem. What made me think it was okay to make any sort of physical contact with a police officer at all?! Who do I think I am?! Thankfully, we’d been talking for a few minutes so I think he kind of understood my personality and he didn’t say anything. Thank goodness!

Anyways, I’m not really sure the point of this blog or what my next steps are. Perhaps there is some sort of 12-step program I can do for forming more appropriate physical boundaries. Until then, I’ll continue to amuse myself and show God’s love to others through my hugs 🙂

(And, on an unrelated, but amusing note…I received a myspace message from a former Gompers Student (not even one of my own)…in his letter he was explaining who he was and then proceeded to mention one of his memories. And I quote (with some grammatical corrections): “i was there when u was going in side of her class with ur bike,do u remember”. He was referring to one of the times I had my students open the door in between classrooms and I proceeded to ride my bike through my neighbor’s class in the middle of her lesson. It’s moments like that when I miss teaching.)