Always Be Ready

(Note: the italics are my thoughts.)

I had a very strange experience yesterday. I was at the mall, eating in the food court, when all of a sudden, a guy walked up to me and said, "May I join you?"

Axe murderer? Purse-snatcher? Super-agressive flirt? Oh well, he's not that big. I can take him out if I have too. "Ummm...Okay."

It turned out that he was indeed a super-aggressive flirt. He had dropped off his friends, parked the car, then been unable to find the friends...or so the story went. He said he was in high school, and I told him I was 25, but that didn't slow him down a bit.

Since when do high school guys flirt with 25-year-old women?

"Do you like video games?" Oh good grief.
"Are you on MySpace?" Don't even try it, buster.
"Do you have email?" I'm not THAT old...and...I give my email address to you over my dead body.

Ummmm, God? I didn't really pray for a witnessing opportunity today, and even if I had is THIS it?!?

Well, to make a long story longer, we ended up talking briefly about homeschooling, college, his idea of becoming a fireman, what the best store at the mall was, the language barrier he has with his parents (their English is lousy; his Vietnamese is lousy), and the value/torture of reading books. Guess who was on which side of that debate?

Somewhere along the way, the topic of movies came up. It just so happened that I had seen "Amazing Grace" (excellent by the way) just that afternoon!

Aha! I don't want to ask this guy a lot of personal questions or get into a very deep conversation, but THIS I can do.

So, I had the chance to tell this, uh, weirdo about John Newton and William Wilberforce. He'd never heard of either of those guys, so I told him where the title of the movie came from, which is the song. The story of how the song came to be written is basically the gospel.

So, a random high schooler at the mall got someone to talk to over dinner, and a history lesson, and the gospel.

And I got a great story.

Two Little Girls...

...and one big water tower.

Happy Birthday, Seth!!

So what's the most fun part of birthdays?

Apparently, it's lighting the candles...

...and taking pictures of the birthday boy.

Mardi Gras Dog Parade

What do you think? Is this dog having fun?

When I Went Out Walking

I found myself in need of getting out of the house today, not because anything is wrong, but because I was getting a little stir-crazy. So, I ran some errands and went to the park to go walking. There's a nice trail there, and it has a lot of little wooden bird houses along the way. On a whim, I decided to look inside one of them. Imagine my surprise when I found a SNAKE in there!! I swear I did not scream, but I must confess to jumping a bit. Thankfully, it didn't move, or I'm sure I would have jumped right out of my skin, or else gotten bitten right on the nose, or maybe both! So, that was my startle for the day.

I wonder, was it the aftermath of a sad story of a snake eating baby birds, or did somebody kill a snake and stick it in there as a joke on unsuspecting travelers such as myself?

Internet Withdrawal

Due to a mistake by workmen from the phone company, we lost both internet and phone service at my house for the past couple of days. It was quite a shock to this girl, who does banking, shopping, communicating, reading the news, Bible study, research, and even my job all online! I tried to pretend I was on vacation, and the whole thing was probably good for me, but I think I may be proof that it's possible to be addicted to the internet. However, I'd prefer to think of it as just the way I'm used to doing things. I appreciate it more now, that's for sure!

The Results Are In!

It's a little slow loading today due to high traffic volume, but check it out soon!

Heard at the Lunch Table Yesterday

"Where was Frederic Chopin born?"

"Can you define the word 'a' without using the word in the definition?" (Go ahead, you try!)

"Someday I'm going to have a baby boy and name him Riboflavin!"

"I wonder who invented Vaseline?"

This is one reason why we keep the dictionary and the encyclopedia in the dining room!