50 States Part 2

I am in North Dakota tonight, one of the states on my list that I had never visited. I updated the rest of my list tonight. It looks like I have 6 or 7 states left to go (Hawaii, Alaska, Nevada, Montana, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Mississippi). I have to check on MS and SC, I'm not sure about those. But here is a continuation of the list I posted last month, me trying to remember the first time I visited each state.

KENTUCKY – many trips to visit friends in Louisville over the years…can’t remember the first time, but probably late 1980s.
LOUISIANA
MAINE – 2005 I went on a work trip to southern Maine. I got to eat fresh lobster at the home of a lobster fisherman – the highlight of the trip! Oh, and the L.L. Bean flagship store in Freeport.
MARYLAND – I think I visited Baltimore for the first time in the late 1980s on a choir tour. Maybe? More recently I visited Annapolis and Baltimore with a friend from PA.
MASSACHUSETTS – 2005 after my trip to Maine I rented a car and drove to Boston and stayed in a great hotel (my first venture into priceline.com) and walked the Freedom Trail. I loved Boston!
MICHIGAN – mid 1990s I made several trips to visit my friend Char. When I lived in Illinois we made annual trips to the sand dunes in Michigan every August to kick off back to school and camp on the beach with the youth group.
MINNESOTA – my first and only trip to MN was in college when I worked for the National Center for Fathering. We drove to Minneapolis to hold our first national fathering convention.
MISSISSIPPI
MISSOURI – many trips to Kansas City, Branson, St. Louis, Columbia, etc over the years. Next thing I want to do in Missouri is visit President Truman’s library.
MONTANA
NEBRASKA – many trips to Lincoln and Omaha over the years to visit friends.
NEVADA
NEW HAMPSHIRE – 2005 I visited this state on my whirlwind tour of new England and stayed two days in Concord and drove through beautiful mountains in the north.
NEW JERSEY – 2007 my first and only trip was last year when I met Julie and her family in NJ (after a VERY expensive cab ride from Manhattan) to go see the Statue of Liberty and then sat in a horrible traffic jam on the bridge trying to get back.
NEW MEXICO – Many drives through the state on my way to Phoenix and one stay during a choir tour trip in 1989, I think.
NEW YORK – mid 1990s I made my first trip to the state by driving with the youth group from Illinois to Poughkeepsie, NY where we spent a week doing a VBS for a church plant. I had to drive a 15 passenger van through downtown Manhattan on our tourist day…that was a little scary. Then in 2007 I spent a crazy three days with Julie and her family touring the city. Here's a photo of Lizzie in front of the Statue of Liberty.
NORTH CAROLINA – I’ve attended several Smart Start conferences in Greensboro, NC. Also spent some time in Elizabeth City at Roanoke Bible College doing presentations when I worked at AIM.
NORTH DAKOTA – Never been until today! I’m spending three days in Bismarck doing a training for work. It’s really cold.
OHIO – Annual trips to Cincinnati when I lived in Indiana. We always ended the summer by taking the interns to Kings Island and Cincinnati Bible College.
OKLAHOMA – lots of trips to Stillwater as a kid to see my Uncle Jack and his family. And lots of trips all over the state since then.
OREGON – mid 1990s I spent two weeks in the northwest visiting churches and doing presentations with some coworkers from AIM. So pretty….I loved driving up the Oregon coast.
PENNSYLVANIA – my first trip was in the 1990s to visit a church near Williamsport. A few years ago I visited friends in Carlisle and went to Gettysburg, which was really interesting to see.
RHODE ISLAND – 2005 on my tour of new England I spent about 5 hours in the car trying to navigate this crazy state. It was bumper to bumper traffic from the time I entered from Massachusetts until I finally made it over to Connecticut. I visited one mansion in Newport, which was amazing.
SOUTH CAROLINA - ? (I need to look at some old journals to see if I have ever been here)
SOUTH DAKOTA – as a kid we rented an RV and went with my grandma, aunt, uncle and cousin to see Mount Rushmore and the badlands. It was a really fun trip.
TENNESSEE – first trip was in 1988, but I can’t remember what city. I’ve been to Nashville and Memphis since then.
TEXAS – Dallas in high school for a girls shopping trip. I think that was my first time. Oh wait. I lived in San Antonio for a year when I was 2 or 3. I don’t remember it.
UTAH – 1989 or 1990 went to Salt Lake City on choir tour. I remember touring the morman tabernacle, which was really cool.
VERMONT – 2005 again on my new England tour. I drove through lots of small towns in Vermont doing some shopping and site seeing. I didn’t get to stay for more than a day, so I didn’t see that much.
VIRGINIA – My first trip was to Virginia Beach on a trip with AIM in the 1990s. A few years ago I had a work trip to northern Virginia and spent an afternoon driving through Shenandoah National Park, which was beautiful!
WASHINGTON – mid 1990s on my trip with AIM coworkers we visited several churches in Washington, both in the Seattle area and in the eastern part of the state.
WISCONSIN – late 1990s when I worked in Illinois we took our youth group to Wisconsin to go skiing every winter. The hills weren’t as good as Colorado, but it was still fun.
WEST VIRGINIA – 1988 on choir tour we went to visit the home of Alexander Campbell and all I remember is that we had a birthday cake to celebrate his birthday (he is dead) while we were there. It was a little creepy. It was near Bethany, WV.
WYOMING – Sometime in college I went to Colorado with my friend Rebecca to stay with her family, and we traveled to their cabin in Wyoming for a few days. I can’t remember for sure where it was though. I really want to go to Yellowstone National Park sometime.

Happy cats

Halloween fun with the cats

I had a little halloween party with the cats on Friday night. Here are some highlights.....

Good times were had by all. Except for the cats, who did not like dressing up in costume.

50 states part 1

It has always been my goal to visit all 50 states and I'm finally getting down to my last 8 or so. Next month I have a work trip to North Dakota and I'm very excited to knock that one off my list. I've been wondering how I was going to get there, so I was so excited when I got a call that they needed me to come and do a training in Bismarck.

One of my rules is that I can't count the state unless I did something there, either spend the night, visit a tourist attraction, something. Flying through the airport doesn't count, and driving through the state with only restaurant stops doesn't count.

So I started making a list, trying to make note of the first time I visited that state, (if ever) so I could determine which ones are still on my list to visit. Here are the first 16:

ALASKA
ALABAMA – 2003 spent a week in Mobile, AL with the Crossroads Christian Church youth group at Taking The City where we did service projects and practical jokes on each other all week.
ARKANSAS – 1970’s visited my uncle Jack’s family when they lived in Little Rock
ARIZONA – 1988 spring break trip with my freshman college roommate, Cindy, to Phoenix (first of many trips). Oops…I just remembered I went with my parents when I was a kid too. And on choir tour 1989 where we got sunburned tubing on the river and altitude sickness in Flagstaff after visiting the Grand Canyon.
CALIFORNIA –1990-something spring break trip to Thousand Oaks with Kami and Tracey to visit Tracey’s brother Kevin. He was pretty annoyed with us by the end of the week.
COLORADO – 1980s family vacation to Denver and Estes Park, multiple youth group trips in high school to various ski resorts and camps.
CONNECTICUT – 2005 tour of New England after a work trip in Maine. Visited the Mystic Seaport Museum, but that’s about all I had time for because Rhode Island traffic sucked away all my day.
DELAWARE – 1988 choir tour. I think we performed at a church in Delaware, but I need to confirm that. Not sure how I’m going to confirm that though…maybe someone else remembers?
FLORIDA – 1986 or 87 High School Marching Band trip to Disney World and other locations. Funny, funny times. Very hot, sweaty band uniform.
GEORGIA – 1986 or 87 Stranded for many hours in a bus station in Atlanta in the middle of the night because the air conditioning on the high school band bus broke down and we had to switch buses. 2004 or 5 spent a week in Atlanta for another Taking the City trip with Crossroads Christian Church youth group. Fun, but not quite as entertaining as the week in Alabama.
HAWAII
IDAHO – mid 1990s visited Boise Bible College to do a presentation with coworkers from AIM (Adventures in Missions). Also visited Shoshone Falls which was beautiful.
IOWA – 1980s Des Moines on choir tour with college. I think we performed in Grinnell also.
ILLINOIS – early 1990s drove to Chicago for the first time with college friend Rebecca, after attending a wedding in Springfield. Maybe went here on choir tour in 1988 too, I just can’t remember. Lived in Wheaton/Lisle/Naperville for four years in late 1990s.
INDIANA – 1991 spent the summer living in Bloomfield, IN as an intern with Adventures in Missions. Lived there from 1993 to 1996.
KANSAS – 1969 my birth in Manhattan. I don't remember it, but I have verification that I was there.

Here's a photo of my group hanging out in a park in downtown Mobile, AL. The park was across the street from the homeless shelter we worked in all week.

Why I like Facebook

Here are the reasons why I like facebook:

Earlier this week I had an email from an old youth group friend that I had not talked to in many, many, many years. The email was because he had a question about something that popped up on facebook, and gave us a good chance to catch up. It's fun to catch up with old friends, and I probably wouldn't have gotten the opportunity to get back in touch with Todd had it not been for facebook.

Then tonight, instead of going out partying on Friday night like usual (just kidding....i think I did that one time in high school and hated it....i've been a home body ever since), I decided to log onto facebook and finish uploading old youth group pictures that I have for our alumni page.

But then I saw my friend Ryan was online, so I chatted with him for at least an hour. I haven't seen Ryan in over 10 years, but we keep in touch through email and facebook. He lives in Tennesee now, after spending several years in China. He went on two mission trips with me, one to Cayman Islands, and one to Poughkeepsie, NY. He has the best sense of humor and can entertain me online for hours at a time! I quickly set aside my youth group photos and started uploading funny photos from our trips. We cracked up and starting wondering about the other members of our Cayman Islands team.

Then I got an instant message from my friend Tammi who lives just outside of DC. Tammi also went on mission trips through the same agency Ryan and I did (AIM), although she didn't go on any with us. I told her what Ryan and I were doing and she started looking at the photos too, and promised to help us hunt down a couple of friends from our trip that she knows. Yeah!

Meanwhile, I was also very entertained by several high school friends who kept posting silly remarks on my status. Silly remarks make me laugh every time! I love reverting back to middle school maturity levels.

Next, I got to chat with Chanda in New Jersey, who has been off facebook for a while and I'm happy to find her back on. We were both doing other things, so we didn't get to talk very long.

Ryan finally had to go to bed, so I decided to start posting my youth group pictures. My old high school friend Leslie was on from New Mexico, so we chatted while she looked at all the old photos I had of her from various retreats and ski trips. Leslie stayed up after all my other friends went to bed and kept commenting on my photos as I posted them, keeping me entertained.

Next thing I know it is about 2:30 in the morning and I noticed my friend Jason was logged on. He lives in Florida, so it is even later at night for him. I sent him a quick note and he explained that it is actually morning where he is. He is currently in Svalbard up in the artic ocean between norway and the north pole. He travels there frequently to do research on glaciers. He couldn't chat for long because the helicopter was coming soon to pick them up for their work. He's also an old friend from AIM that I haven't seen in at least 15 years, but keep in regular contact with over phone and email and now facebook.

And finally, my night on facebook ended with an online chat with Rachel who was on her computer up in Salina. She filled me in on plans to move to Chicago, God speaking to her through a veggie tales video, and her new kittens. She really cracked me up, but I'm not sure if it is because she was that funny, or just that it was 3:00 am. She would say it is because she is so witty, so that must be it.

Oh, and one more friend showed up after that. Sherry, another high school friend, evidently couldn't sleep so she started commenting on photos too. All these friends that I treasure, but probably wouldn't be in touch with nearly as often (or at all) if it weren't for facebook.

So in conclusion, I'd just like to share that I feel really blessed to have so many friends in my life, both old and new, and I'm thankful that facebook has been a good tool to keep us connected. And while it is true that I may have wasted about 5 hours on the computer tonight, I got to talk to friends in Tennessee, Virginia, New Jersey, New Mexico, Norway, and Kansas. How fun is that?

The Rosary

Tonight I went to a Rosary at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in west Wichita. I was there to support a friend from work whose father passed away this weekend. Since I'm not catholic and I can never remember what I am supposed to do or not to do when I am at these things, I quickly grabbed a seat in the back row and watched all the people come in and do their catholic stuff: touch the water, kneel beside the pew, pull out the kneeling bench, and all that other stuff I never really understood.

As the service started I quickly forgot about Tim and his father and my mind starting flooding with memories from growing up, and the role this church played in my childhood. I was never catholic, but this church (or parish, or whatever it is supposed to be called) still played a role in my early years.

First, my eyes filled with tears as I remembered the last time I was in this building for a funeral mass. It was 18 years ago this month, and I was there for the funeral of my best friend's mother. Julie had been busy planning her wedding when her mother was suddenly diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in late August, or maybe early September, I can't really remember anymore. The wedding plans continued while her mother quickly grew more and more ill over the next six weeks or so, until she died. We had the funeral in late October I believe, then two months later we all gathered in that building again for Julie's wedding on December 29th. It was a tough funeral to attend.

But my memories of this church actually started much earlier. I grew up in the neighborhood just west of the church and can remember when it was being built in the 1980's, while I was in high school I think, or maybe middle school. At that time there was only a field separating my house from this church building, although now the field is gone and a new housing addition stands there. I think I could see the church from the windows in our living room, and I drove by it, or rode my bike by it, on a regular basis. I even went to mass there on occasion. Julie and her two siblings lived across the street from me and since I was basically an only child (my older brother was graduated high school and living out of state by the time I was around 10 or so), I spent a good chunk of my childhood tagging along with them. I remember several times when I would get invited to go to the movie, or out to eat, or something fun and once I agreed to go, then Julie and her sister would inform me that I had to go to mass with them first, then we go to the fun thing. So they'd load me up in the car and take me to Saturday evening mass with the family, then we'd get dropped off at the movies, or the mall, or someplace equally fun. I never minded going to mass, but I always felt out of place. Julie and Susy would whisper or nudge me if I was supposed to do something (like kneel), or not supposed to do something (like communion). I just followed along and watched in awe at all the prayers they could recite from memory. And actually, now that I'm doing the math, I think many of my visits to mass occurred at St. Francic of Assisi parish in Westlink, before St. Elizabeth was built.

My favorite memory from St. Elizabeth parish was Julie's wedding. I was the only non-catholic in the wedding party and I was really stressed out about this. I was afraid I might do something wrong, but Julie's brother and sister were pretty good about giving me the eye when I got confused. And if I remember right (it was almost 18 years ago), her sister was on the outs with the catholic church at that time, so she wasn't allowed to do some of the stuff either. I think the wedding was also a full mass, so there were times when I was to remain sitting on the pew while the rest of the wedding party went forward. That must have been the eucharist. I survived and didn't do anything to embarrass my catholic friend, but I sure was glad when it was over! I also remember at her wedding reception (also at the church) they served punch with champagne even though most of the wedding party had not even officially reached drinking age. Her sister Susy and I were the oldest, and I think we were just 21 at the time. I think this was only the second time in my life I had drank alcohol. The first was in middle school when I was playing at Julie's house and her mother was entertaining some nuns who were visiting from out of town. They were all laughing and talking and drinking champagne or wine in her kitchen, and they gave us each of us kids a small glass of it. I remember taking one drink and then running to the sink and gulping down some water straight from the faucet because I thought it was disgusting. I never did really aquire a taste for alcohol. Except margaritas. I like those a lot.

Anyway....those were the thoughts going through my head this evening while everyone around me was saying the rosary. I called Julie before I went to get a quick refresher on the catholic rules and she told me I better kneel when everyone else did, even though I wasn't catholic. So just to be bratty, I stayed seated while everyone else kneeled. Me and the old guy in front of me. But to my defense, the priest did say "please join me in kneeling or sitting while we blah, blah, blah". It was a nice service, though I'm still confused on the whole purgatory thing. The priest said something at the end about how as each one of us prayed tonight, we helped open the gates for someone to go from purgatory into heaven. I might ask Julie about it, just so we can have the same argument we had hundreds of times growing up over who is right and who is wrong on this issue. I always lose because Julie is both smarter than me and more stubborn. I not only can't defend myself against her arguments, but I quickly lose interest and just give up and change the subject. But she's still one of my best friends :)

Update on Kate (momma cat)

My parents have been out of town all week so I have been spending some time each evening hanging out with their cat, Katie. Kate is the stray momma cat that I trapped back in April, housed in my garage for three months while she gave birth and raised four kittens, and then found a new home for her with my parents. She has always been an extremely fearful, skittish cat but my mom has been working with her a lot so she is slowly starting to warm up to people. Well, female people. She still doesn't like men for some reason. She came out to see me every night and let me pet her on her head (I was paw slapped if I tried to pet her back or tail), and even let me pick her up and put her on the couch next to me for a few minutes. And she has started to gain some weight and her fur is much softer than it used to be. She's a healthy, happy cat! Here are some photos from this week and a short video clip. She really likes laying on her back :)