I am not bitter...

What's this you ask? Well I (Scott) thought it would be fun to teach Cat a new card game so that she could have fun playing and not just be stuck keeping score. Obviously I kept score (see the above scribbles that resemble numbers). So it was a lot of fun right? Yeah until the end when...

This was the final score. So don't let her tell you that she isn't good at games (see previous post). I think she actually enjoyed herself while finding a way to beat everyone else. Beginner's luck.

p.s. sorry Malorie. I thought about not including your score but decided everyone needed the whole story.

games

it's a new thing to me. either you're from one of those game families or your not. i'm not. we did weird things, like:

1. put on concerts for our parents. our favorite part was when dad would say "INTRODUCING... SARAH AUGHTMAN". then sarah would come in and do a cheer. probably "who rocks the house" if my memory serves me correctly. "go jets! we're number 1!"

OR

2. we would guess which bird noise dad was making... only to find a screeching crow at the end of the line up.  i guess the game phase of mine and sister's lives were spent growing up in beauregaurd. so give a break. 

it just all depends on where you're coming from.

some like board games

some like cards

  others just prefer keeping score.

[let's just all agree that malorie winning was the best thing that could happen for mary and zach's relationship.]

well worth the wait.

friday nights we watch people come down from their rooms onto the courts. and what was once a seemingly blurry picture of the days [here in hong kong] is now being brought to life, with colorful conversations.

we've been waiting for these days.

dear scott,

when your precious locks are getting to the point where they bounce when playing soccer, it may be time for a hair cut.

garbage disposal.

we don't have one right? right. not a big deal. lots of people don't.

i've never not had one. so i'm a newbie at putting that funny little strainer over the drain. the concept is okay. the reality is gross to me. so there i stand in the kitchen, feeling the fumes coming out of my ears because i really don't like doing it. isn't that weird? it's just food that is wet. but it's food THAT IS WET. you know what i mean?

food + wet = soggy

[it's a word i can't stand saying, like i bend my knees and do a weird shrug of my shoulders type thing].

i have a choice here. i can be a snob about it and have a fuming pity party

OR

i can use it to humble myself.

oh the bittersweet moments.

our september so far.

these are just a few here and there's to recap what's been going on this half of september in our lives.

if at times your eyes feel like they need some of these:

[thanks for the illustration, malorie]

...just click the picture up top and it will get bigger to see the words.

here's proof

that we couldn't be more excited about where we are.

[breanna age 8. "long-long" age 1 1/2.]

this is a letter that we received from next door. they are cuddly little people we hope to introduce [a picture of them] to you soon.

yesterday

i walked in to find this.

scott turned a ladder into an easel. for me. in my head i love easels, but how did he know that. sometimes i just wish my brain would go beyond the word thoughtful and pull out some kind of other great word for it. 

plus one.

friday we get a shipment. of people. mary reading will be here, along with z. furr and z. benson. 

now the castello [our apartment building complex] will have some new faces. kt and malorie and i are ready for our cups of coffee to move from three to four. and still praying for the cups that are to come.

labor day weekend

although i can't see them, i for sure have a picture in my head of what it's looking like at the lake for my family.

i'll show you:

i'm guessing dad's here or at the grill. 

mom is loving the hammock. and her book. i'm sure she's probably started another one this weekend.

and we can't forget the diva.

oh, why can't you see sarah? she's asleep, of course. what were you thinking. 

it's what happens when...

scott gets a hold of my phone. how lovely. he added this doodle application to my phone, for my enjoyment right?

wrong. because i end up with a picture like this. weird enough if it were just the eyeballs and puckered up lips [and a tear?], but then he points out the "battle wound". things are never dull around here. i can assure you of that.

slinkies

remember those? kind of fun, but not really. partly because every time you attempted to bee bop it down the stairs it would end up in a wod of tangles. and tangles are frustrating. to the point of not wanting to even mess with the slinky any more because it takes figuring out the mess that's in it.

sometimes i feel like a slinky. all in a wod and not really even sure how i got to that point.

an example? sure. i love examples too.

so this wod caused me to start asking. asking why it is that i can feel all the sudden like a slinky in the middle of the stairs not being able to push forward any further, and not really understanding how to unravel my tangles. i felt this way in an area of my life that seeps into all other areas of it: knowing Jesus. and how it is i am pursuing Him.

i began asking myself why it is that someone could ask me what i am learning and i could recall nothing from the mornings i spend each day reading. that caused me to ask myself, okay if i don't even know what i'm reading about at the end of each week, then why am i doing it? scary question. because the root of it seems to be out of routine. or out of guilt because that's what i think i'm "supposed to do" every day for one hour a day. and that's gross.

somehow i adopted this mindset that my time spent in seeking the Lord and knowing Jesus is supposed to look a certain way, like a specific cut out. God even started showing me how i was comparing the way that i hear from him with the way that others do. it was an "aha" moment of...

wow. i'm trying to put limitations on the way i know and understand God.

i want to desire my time with Him. not to read out of guilt, or because that is what scott does for ___ amount of time each morning. i want to hear from Him because He is what i need. He is the only thing that can fill me.

it's when i started journaling.

[yay that he is continually doing this.]

that's why i felt so empty. through conversations with the girls that are here with me in HK, i began to understand that He is my Pursuer. He is in everything. He is everywhere that i am. and because He is, it frees me up to know Him out of desire to know Him. i praise Him that i don't worship a God who is only found in rituals or routines. quite the opposite. there is such freedom in that.

i can know Him in songs. in scripture. in paintings. He can speak to me through experiences. through friends. through drawings. He can express Himself however He sees fit.

i don't know Him in just one hour of my everyday, it's whenever and however He opens my eyes to see Him. i absolutely cannot put limitations on my God. He is specific to me. and in endless ways.

lost in translation

something was.

his name was jo. some could call him edward [scissorhands]. 

our conversation?

me: "hello, yes just a trim, maybe an inch"

jo: "okay so you want trim. same style. just trim."

and apparently, uneven ends seem to be "in". so i'm definitely stylin' around these parts.