What Have I Been Doing Lately?

TRAVELING. Lots and lots of traveling.

So where have I been? Let's start with San Diego. Myself along with a few work colleagues headed to San Diego to present at a regional conference on Math Science Partnerships. Yes, I know, San Diego doesn't quite seem like its 'regional' to us, but hey, it was an option, so we thought we'd take it! :) Our travel started off ok- we all met up at the Indy airport and headed to security. I figured this was going to be a day for me to be stopped, so I just resigned myself to the fact and acted like I was ready to take it. Well, Pamela and I got in the same security line- it turns out they had to rescan one of her bags, so that threw her a position behind me in line. So they tell me to go ahead and step on through. And I made it through without any to-do... and grabbed my stuff. Well, I look back and not only did Pamela's bag have to be rescanned, she also got her magic moment in the full body scan machine! I thought perhaps I had transferred my luck to her and we were scot free! So we go to the all too familiar Gate A21 to wait for our flight to Houston. We board the plane. And then we sit on the plane. For 1.5 hours. And no, its not moving. Turns out there was a loose wire that someone from maintenance needed to come sign off on- and they kept telling them it would be 10 minutes, then 30 minutes, then another 30... so they finally let us off the plane and started rebooking everyone. Turns out that San Diego is not such an easy place to get to via Indianapolis. Finally after lots of calling around, they were able to book us on another airline. We had to go through Philly to get to San Diego..but they were able to get us there. And we got there very late. :) Bill who had come along with us was supposed to fly out the very next day... so I'm not even sure if he was there for more than 12 hours. :) All in all, the conference was good, the beach was lovely, and the weather was awesome!

So, that was back in February, we concluded that week with a Grocery Drop project for our Church and my Science Olympiad Regional that I run. CRAZY BUSY WEEK.

Grocery Drop
Let me stop here on my travel stories to update you about the Grocery Drop. Ok- I stole the idea from my sister's church. The idea was to collect bags of groceries from people in our congregation and then deliver them to a low income area of our town. The idea was to just go randomly knock on a door, give them a bag of groceries and be on our merry little way. Well, the elders at our church didn't like the idea of random door knocking. So they made us come up with some other way to target families. We worked with a local school that sent home letters to families telling them when we would be where. That was our next best plan. Well, we ended up collecting 24 bags of groceries and purchased 24 additional bags of personal items to go with the food. Well, about halfway through our time there to distribute, only 3 families from the school had stopped by and we still had lots of groceries left. So we asked the apartment manager what she would like us to do- she suggested we go out and find people by approaching them in the parking lot or knocking on doors to let them know she sent them and there were groceries for them in the clubhouse. :) I love how God works. Its not that I didn't believe these families from the schools didn't deserve the groceries, but I really had more of an idea of God leading us to people randomly that would need these things. It was totally awesome! We also put a reply card in the bags that people could send back for prayer requests, rides to church, other needs, etc. And we've gotten a few back already! So yay- Go God! :) It's awesome to see the Spirit move in such a way!

Now.. back to travels....

Houston
Ok-I'll admit it, I love the Rodeo. I have no idea why. It's not like I grew up ropin and ridin. Sure my grandpa was a farmer, but even when I went to visit, I'd be more interesting in riding the tractor than one of the bulls. But a few years ago, visiting Houston, people said the rodeo was 'the thing' to do while there.. so we did. And I loved it. So, I've been to a few events here in Indiana since then, but I wanted to go back to the mack daddy of 'em all...the Houston Livestock and Rodeo. :) So... I headed down to H-town for vacay and to visit my good friend Tom. My dear friend Rachel volunteered to drop me off at the airport... and as we were pulling up, I saw this guy who standing curbside who looked familiar. I brushed it off thinking nothing of it and went and got in line to check my luggage. Well, as soon as I turned around from checking my luggage, here was this guy again!!! And sure enough, it was Tom Adler. Who is Tom Adler? He used to date one of my friends and was active in a college campus ministry quite a few years back!!! Turns out not only was it him, he was on my flight to Houston! Such a small world! it was nice to catch up with him. On to other details about the trip... so much for thinking I'd passed along my bad fortune to Pamela two weeks before.. this time, I got my chance in the magic full body scan machine. I felt like such a prisoner in this glass tube. Kind of creepy. Note for those of you traveling- both Pam and I had on sweaters with big buttons the day that we were traveling and got screened... not sure that automatically labels you... but just word to the wise. :)

So I made it to Houston... and had lots of Mexican food. Friday dinner at Chuy's, Friday night snack at Lupe Tortilla's, Sunday breakfast at some authentic Taqueria, and Sunday lunch at Alicia's Mexican Grill. :) Saturday was our Asian Day- went to Chinatown for lunch and walked around the Hong Kong Market, and then had DELICIOUS Korean food Saturday night! Tom almost burned down the Korean Restaurant...but all ended well. :) They cooked at our table! It was awesome! For fun... we went to an Azalea festival on Saturday- turns out the Azaleas weren't in bloom though. :) It was a cold winter down there. :) But saw lots of other pretty flowers... Then Monday was our very eventful day.. I learned all about my Texas history when we went to Washington on the Brazos- the place where Texas declared their independence (personally- I don't think they have stopped doing that yet... ) Then we went to the Blue Bonnet Ice Cream Factory... and went on the tour.. and I have to say, I'm not a big fan of ice cream, but this was good ice cream! :) After our whirlwind tour of Brenham, TX, we headed back to go to the rodeo! I made Tom wear his boots.. i don't think he was too happy with me... but its the rodeo!!! You have to wear boots! :) I think most people in Houston go to the rodeo for the concerts afterwards.... not me... I go for the rodeo. But... I do have to say that Tim McGraw was the after rodeo concert, and he's pretty darn good! :) Oh, and it was good to see Tom too- and I always love worshipping at their church... so quite a refreshing weekend!

Milwaukee
So I got home from Houston on Tues the 9th and then had to turn around on Wed the 10th and head to Milwaukee for a conference. Crazy! I have to say, Milwaukee was kind of disappointing. Plus, I got sick, and I think I was just ready to be home. But.. the conference was good... so that was a positive. That's all I really have to say about Milwaukee.

Where next?
Oklahoma... I've never been to Oklahoma. And people tell me that it's not that exciting. But the reason I'm going is exciting! It's for my buddy Justin's wedding! woo hoo! It would have been really easy to just say, no, I'm not coming, too far, too expensive, etc. But turns out, I really liked this kid and wanted to be at his wedding. So all those excuses didn't seem to come up. And the investment to go to his wedding seemed worthwhile. So that should be fun. I will know all of 2 people at the wedding though. Justin, the groom, and Tom, a groomsman. I've decided I'm going to pack my best outreach skills and make a game out of meeting new people... perhaps I'll watch Four Weddings and A Funeral before going to get some ideas. :)

I guess that's about all for now on the travel front...

Other news.. I've been reading Francis Chan's Forgotten God- its rocking my world! Y'all should read it! :)

hope that appeases you for now.. I'll try to write more often to keep you coming back. :)