In my head...

So here's a taste of my life from the last two weeks. Almost exactly 2 weeks ago, Jonathan Schmidt and I left Sioux Center in his truck, heading for...De Motte, Indiana. We were there to see two of the awesomest people ever -- Derek Bos and Anna Hubers -- get married. I was an usher in the wedding and had a fantastic time seeing them running around trying to get everything ready and to meet all the relatives and friends that he's talked about for the last two years that we've roomed together at Dordt. There's just something absolutely glorious about seeing people that you know love each other dearly promise to spend the rest of their lives together -- no matter what happens. B-e-a-utiful. So Jon and I spent a couple days up there, helping with some decorating, exploring the odd (but fun) sand dunes that were beside the church, and hanging out with Dan Hummel (my fellow usher) Mike Elders, Ginelle Bakker, Mallory Ooms, and a lot of other people. And after Dan read a touching poem at the reception about how much Derek and Anna love each other (using an acrostic poem that spelled out CANADA), we ate a lot more food, finished talking, and got ready to leave. Anna and Derek took off fairly quickly after it was all over so they could go on their honeymoon (which Derek would tell NO ONE where they were going). Just like Derek. Good times.

So Jon and I left on Saturday (the 10th) to come home, and we listened to Under the Overpass, a book on tape by Mike Yankoski. If you get a chance to listen and/or read it, I would greatly recommend it. It talks about two guys (Mike and his friend Sam) who lived as homeless people for five months in the streets of 6 U.S. cities: Denver, Washington D.C., Portland, San Franscico, Phoenix, and San Diego...by their own choice. They gave up family and school and jobs to go on this journey to see their faith come alive and experience what homeless people do on the streets. It's really amazing. To read an excerpt, go to this website. It's worth it.

http://www.undertheoverpass.com/book_excerpt.aspx?ISBN=1590524020

So Jon and I stopped by my house on the way home for a bite to eat and to say hi to my family. Then we made it back to Sioux Center before midnight. Otherwise...I have:

~Played sand volleyball with fellow Dordtians (twice!)
~Bonded with roommates (through our lovely X-Box and even lovier Halo)
~Discovered the names of 3 Hy-Vee Breakfast regulars that Tom Dykstra and talked to a lot over the past year (since we were regulars, too -- Les, Lawren, and Wilber)
~Hung out with some of my youth group kids at a Sioux Center vs. Unity baseball game --and met and talked with more of their friends (there are some pretty cool high schoolers around here!!)
~Played tennis with Andrea - and we're getting better!! Still not great...but getting better.
~Watched friends play an intense soccer game that they lost 3-2...but it was a good game.
~Went to a bonfire behind the BJ with the other summer Sioux Center people where we had s'mores and frisbee and talking and guitar and singing. Tons of fun!
~Went to lunch with Luke, Fish, and Titus (youth groupies) at Pizza Ranch where I proved that I can outeat Fish. I paid for it the rest of the day...but I outate them all. Ha.
~Suggested that this lunch thing be a weekly occurance. Met with positive reactions. Yes!
~Got a new phone, which I just tried to activate, only to find out that I have to go to the store in Le Mars to activate it because it's being stupid. Arg!

And then I'm going tonight to dinner at the Duitmans with Nathanael and Krystal. That's gonna be good. Yeah, so that's me over the last couple weeks. I'm sure there's other stuff I've forgotten to put in, too, like going to the Crossing in Sioux Falls, and reading 3 Harry Potter books. And I'm going home this weekend for my birthday, which will be the first one I've been home for in the last couple years. Oh, yeah, and I saw Derek yesterday and discovered that he and Anna were at Lake Tahoe for the last few weeks. Okay that's it. Szervusz!