two whole years

sometime during the second semester of my sophomore year in college, i heard about a group of people going to russia on a mission trip who were looking for a few more people to be on their team. this excited me for two reasons: 1) i had been interested in missions work ever since going to a church summer camp in 7th grade and 2) i had studied the russian language for three years in high school. so, of course, i applied to go with them and they accepted me.

before leaving to go to russia that summer, i sort of started dating a friend from high school who was an all around good guy. nothing serious and definitely safe. he ended up emailing me during my five weeks in russia, saying that we probably weren't meant to be together and he "didn't want to hold me back." he was right, and i knew it, but i was still broke up about it. since we were living and working in such close quarters, everyone on our team knew about the "break up" and a few gave me some good advice. one was one of the team leaders and another was one of my roommates who was a few years older and much more mature. they both told me, totally independent of each other, that they thought i should stay single for two years and try to concentrate on what god had to do in my life. funny enough, my dad also said the same thing, but also emphasized that i should concentrate on graduating from college. and no, i hadn't told him what these people had advised and he didn't even know them so they couldn't have told him for me. to top it off, i found out that a guy i had had a crush on since my freshman year in high school was moving across the country for a job for the next two years. i considered that my sign from god that i should follow these people's crazy advice, because obviously that guy was going to move back in two years and marry me!

i'll just tell you right now that that guy was not lucky hubby and is insignificant to rest of the story. not one week after getting home from russia, one of the guys from the trip called me to basically say that he wanted to date me. he had been like a big brother to me on the trip and i had never thought of him that way, and i figured the easiest way to let him down would be to tell him the truth: i wasn't dating anyone for the next two years! ha ha! this was going to be the best line ever. i never could have guessed that god would also have a one-liner for me.

there were three guys i had a hard time not dating during those two years. in fact, i just decided not to give them my line and try to forget about the whole two year commitment thing. wouldn't you know it, every single one of them would get no further than the second date before telling me that they "didn't want to hold me back." when the second one gave me that line, i just gave this sarcastic laugh and then had to explain that i wasn't laughing at him, but at how i knew god put those words in his mouth just to show me that he knew what i was up to and that it wasn't going to work (duh). sometimes it's nice to know that god has a sense of humor, you know?

anyhow, i ended up surviving through those terrible two years. i kid, i kid... it wasn't terrible and i'm so glad that i did follow through with the whole two year thing. i really figured out who i was, who i wanted to be and what kind of man i wanted. i think being single for that long taught me to turn to god in my loneliness and rely on him for so much more. it also really prepared me for having a hubby who deploys and has to work a lot. and it makes me feel better when i don't understand something that i'm going through at the time, because i can remember my two years and think about how it was all part of a greater plan.

if the dog accidentally stabs you with a stick, it's best not to wipe away the blood with the hand that bagged the dog poo five minutes earlier

yep, bozeman got me pretty good with a stick yesterday morning. i did bleed, but i managed to successfully wipe away the blood with a clean hand. had i not decided to wear shorts in 22 degree weather for our morning run, i probably would have avoided the whole situation.

on another note, there is a spider in my 4runner. i repeat: there is a spider in my 4runner. it has been there since saturday, and i have made LH drive me around in the truck since then. today, however, LH is at work and i am supposed to meet him on base to workout in the gym this afternoon. that means that i have to drive myself there in the spider car. i really don't like spiders. at all.

last year, while LH was deployed, i encountered a really nasty spider in our condo. i had just taken out my contacts and was reaching up to turn off the light on the fan before crawling into bed when i saw a big spot on the ceiling that hadn't been there earlier. i squinted my eyes really tight, and even with my horrible vision, i could see that it was a rather large spider. and it was hanging out on the ceiling directly over the bed where i was about to go to sleep. i put on my glasses and woke up bozeman, insisting that he kill the spider for me. unfortunately, he was only about 7 months old at the time, and hadn't quite perfected his doggy-walking-on-the-ceiling skills, so i resorted to plan b: i dashed to the kitchen, hoping that the spider wouldn't change his position while i was out of the room, pulled on my rubber cleaning gloves, got the vacuum, and attached all of the extensions to the vacuum's hose. i also decided that it was important to wear shoes in case the spider dropped down onto the bed and i had to stomp him. tennis shoes and rubber gloves make quite a statement when worn with pajamas. now that i was properly outfitted (my glasses provided the eye protection that i required), i switched on the power to the vacuum and reached as far as i could reach, but still couldn't get the spider into the hose. i realized that i had to actually stand on the bed to reach him, so i stood as far out on the corner as was possible, then reached and squinted my eyes, just in case the spider jumped onto me to avoid the vacuum's suction. thankfully, the vacuum-spider-removal process was a success and i left the vacuum running for a full minute more, just to make sure the spider was deep inside the dusty vacuum bag. not leaving anything to chance, i unplugged the vacuum and ran at full speed to the front door, which i opened just long enough so i could drop the entire vacuum outside. it stayed there until the next evening, when i got home from work and donned the rubber gloves again while transferring the vacuum bag to a trash bag and then to the dumpster outside.
i really hate spiders.

books... and a giveaway

the hubby and i had our noses stuck in the books over the weekend. when we were visiting my family a couple of weekends ago, i borrowed their copy of the lion, the witch and the wardrobe. my dad had read the chronicles of narnia to me when i was little and i have such good memories of the books. little did i know, the hubby had not read any of the books. i was able to explain parts of the movie to him because i knew more about the characters from reading the books, and this sort of frustrated him. i casually mentioned that i actually had the entire series in our office and it didn't take long for him start reading the magician's nephew. i begged the hubby to read it out loud to me, and he amused me until i fell asleep =)

seeing as how it had been so long since i read the series (or rather, since my dad read it to me), i decided to start reading the books, too. i just finished the horse and his boy and it was so good! they are definitely children's books, but i would recommend the entire series to anyone.

i also just finished a very serious book, not for sale. it took me awhile to read through the entire book because it is pretty heavy. it follows the stories of several children and adults caught up in modern day slavery. did you know that children and women in america are actually sold on craig's list? i could go on and on about what i learned in this book, but instead, i'll point you to a few websites with plenty of information. also, i'm going to give away a brand new copy of the not for sale book. it had such an impact on me, that i want to pass it on for others to read. just leave a comment on this post and i'll have a drawing tomorrow morning.

snakes. why'd it have to be snakes? i hate snakes.

bozeman (our golden retriever) and i were taking a walk yesterday and walked behind a condo building that backs up to a lake. he was busy chasing lizards around the bushes and i saw an older couple that I know sitting out on their patio so i went to say hello (bozeman was still attached to me via the leash). while i was talking to them, bozeman started looking through their plants to see if he could find any lizards. i moved over (for whatever reason, i usually don't pay much attention to what he is hunting) and saw a giant snake coiled up in the corner of the building, next to this couple's patio! i yanked bozeman back with the leash (i don't think he had even noticed the snake yet) at the same time that the snake struck out at him. it was very scary. the old guy got up, looked out and said, "oh yeah, that's a water moccasin. you don't want to mess with them!" you think? we didn't stick around to see if he killed it or not (i'm hoping he did, because it was huge).