May 29: tulip lamp

May 28: pajama day

Today I caught up on my life, sleep, and the pile of mail that was waiting for me after being gone for a few weeks. The perk of this kind of day is being able to stay in your pajamas all day long, and opportunity that I of course took advantage of.

May 27: zoom in to see an introvert

Grand slam in the first inning...Indians Win! It was a great, albeit frigid, night to be at the Jake (yes, I am going to continue to call it that)...we were sort of fascinated by the man who chose to sit all by himself at the top in the middle of the section of the nose-bleeds.

May 26: long day over

Garrett worked really hard today keeping the campus safe and secure even though much of the world had off for Memorial day. I'm glad he got to rest a little at the Longacre's.

May 25: John Maxwell

A scotchman whose life direction was drastically influenced by the pizza of all things. He's lived a few doors down from my family for my entire life and been the kind of neighbor you'd hope for! He is sort of a walking auto-biography, he can tell you the full name of everyone he's ever met even if it was only for five minutes in 1967. I'm not kidding. And all these people have awesome names like Bucky Jones, for example. I love sitting and listening to all the little snippits of his life story. Tonight was the "how he met his wife" edition and I was pretty glad I was around to hear it.

May 24: shipping off

The car was legitimately full this morning but not that full. I was baffled by Dan's choice to carry the laundry bag on his lap while driving. I quickly learned that it was being dropped off a few yards away. I was in the car most of the day and didn't take any other pictures...but now, finally, I think I'm all caught up and I didn't even miss a day! It's nice to be home for a few days. Hope you all are well!

May 23: dappled sunlight

This particular tree looks ten times more brilliant in real life.

May 22: Mini-dunk

I always look forward to Thursday nights at Chapter Focus Week. After the day is done, the staff team congregates in an undisclosed location and throws a sweet party. There is usually a theme and this time it was "Miniatures"...we actually played a game of knockout on this little basketball hoop and it got pretty rough. There was also a mini pool table, mini games of euchre going on, mini oreos, mini bananas, a collection of children's furniture, and the song "Tiny Dancer" on repeat until that got old. It was a very satisfying event. Additionally, Tim's outfit was really dazzling, don't you think?

May 21: Wednesday night

Tonight I finally learned how to play this Settlers of Catan game that everyone has been telling me about. I was glad to be playing with patient people who were good at explaining it all. Joe looks a little distressed here. I think he still won. (Thanks Sam!)

May 20: handstands

This week I got to work with forty students from around the region who are going to be small group Bible study leaders on their campuses next fall. (Hi guys!) They patiently put up with me every day AND they were full of ambitious ideas of things to take pictures of. Here we have the first of many good ideas.

May 19: moon rising

There have been some really pretty nights at Cedar Campus this week. Tonight the moon was reflecting so brightly on the water.

May 18: dock

May 17: Twins :)

I took some family pictures for this lovely family. Laura also looked beautiful but unfortunately for the purposes of this picture she wasn't making the same face :)

May 16: last night

Friday night with the Wooster students before they left for home. There were lots of oreos involved.

May 15: Katie in the kitchen

Chic wherever she goes...even while doing dishes.

May 14: Seagulls at Sandy Cove

The whole camp had a cookout at the water's edge today. It was a really pretty evening to be out.

May 13: surfing

This afternoon we did some team-building excercises. On this one we were supposed to balance the platform with all five of us on it and then switch sides. We failed miserably at but it was a lot of fun.

May 12: morning quiet

May 11: Joy-riding

Some of the students have to cross from one side of camp to the other on a boat to get to their track time. My little friend here doesn't need to be any particular place, he just enjoys going from one side to the other over and over again. I think he is rather cute.

May 10: balloons

Day 1 of Chapter Focus week. This week at Cedar Campus way up in the non-mitten portion of Michigan, we have over 300 students from around the region here to hear from God after a busy semester. There are 12 of us from Wooster and I'm looking forward to the week ahead with them. This is the program director demonstrating how to blow up a balloon to all the college students, just in case anyone was unclear.

May 9: emily melts

Tonight I got two hours with my dear friend emily (who will always be from Cleveland, but now lives in Chicago). Though it wasn't much time on the clock, I'll always take what I can get and I've found that whenever we're together we can pack it in. My brothers created a welcome committee to meet her at the airport. One of them dressed up as a chauffer with a mullet and a sign to pick her up. They made me hide behind a pillar next to the escalater and the others hid behind other pillars with various recording devices to capture the moment. I thought we were going to cause the airport security to move into code orange or something. Instead the airport staff was sort of endeared towards the little mullet man and waited to see Emily's response. It was not how I expected to spend my Friday night but it was pretty great! After that we visited Sebastian the parrot for a few minutes, Neil Diamond's "Coming to America" also played a role in the evening, and then the best part was finding a seat at the bar at "The Melt" As you can see Emily loves, loves, loves grilled cheese sandwiches.

May 8: memory in a bottle

Tonight, I had dinner at Charlie and Valerie's and we were talking about how songs and smells can take you back to a moment in time in an instant. It prompted Charlie to find this thirty year old bottle of horse liniment in the basement. He'd been hanging on to it because every now and then he'd open it up and remember "Pepsi" his horse from high school. I smelled it too and it wasn't doing anything sentimental for me.

May 7: Makin' Lazy Circles...

When my parents were here to visit my dad really wanted me to take a picture of this hawk at the park. It kept flying away (as birds sometimes do)...but it was back again today. And here is a picture of it as tiny as it may be.

May 6: Table in Andrews' Hall

May 5: strawberries on cinco de Mayo

May 4: Butterfly Expedition

Today I spent a lot of time at the OARDC. There was this cute family searching for butterflies. The little girl was really, really excited and it made me really happy to watch her scampering about after them. It was such a beautiful day that I called my parents and told them about the incredible flowering trees. So, on a whim they came down for a picnic and a really nice walk. I've been a frequent visitor to this place lately and I am beginning to think it may be one of the most beautiful places in the world, at least that I can drive to. And that is really something considering that I've spent 7 years grieving the distance between me and Lake Erie. I keep wanting to write someone a thank you note for taking care of it and not even charging admission to us! But I don't know who to tell. So, I'm telling you.

May 3: shiny parking lot

May 2: end of the year picnic

Before we ran for shelter.

May 1: No easel? No Problem.

Ironically, after getting a budget briefing from York Moore today about the outlandish price of banner stands, we were lacking a neccessary stand for the easel pad this evening. Not having an extra $200 laying around to purchase one, we found that Paul sufficed.

It's that time again!!!

April is DONE! Wierd.

If you have a vote for your favorite picture of April now's the time to voice it. (Click "Comments")

I always love hearing what you have to say!

April 30: Chinese Chicken

Just what you want to recieve as you set out with a backpack on a train across Asia...You vacuum squish all your clothes down into little bags, you pour all your shampoo into tiny little bottles, you find the shoes made out of the lightest materials on earth...and THEN on day 2 of your journey you meet some generous soul who wants to express their eternal friendship to you by handing you a beautifully wrapped ceramic plop of a chicken with a big head. This seems to be my lot in traveling! Today I unexpectedly and delightfully reminisced about my trip to China a few years ago. I got to reunite over the phone with my dear friend Casey who lives way far away in the land of San Diego. He was a large contributer to my sanity that summer (Thank you Casey!) So, yeah, this sweet woman who worked at the hotel we were staying at in Beijing gave me this chicken and I felt compelled to keep it...wouldn't you know, it made it safely all the way to our destination and then someone knocked it off the table by accident and its head fell off. By that time were all sort of endeared towards its bulbous, feathery strike-a-pose self that I again felt compelled to bring it back to the U.S. And here it is in all its glory for you to enjoy today. Hope you're enjoying this beautiful weather!