long time, no see.

i know, it has been a while. but as commented to my sister, there just isn't a whole lot new in my life at the moment. i think i pretend that i too am part of this whole "back to school" mentality - but truth is, my life just goes on as normal. but i guess i can try to adopt some of the mentality in my own life - the idea of starting over, of freshness, of new beginnings, of new motivations. i was pleased this week to realize that i was finding myself enjoying aspects of my job again. yes, then i had a friday morning meeting that completely wiped all of that away, and made me wonder whether i shouldn't quit my job. this is not at the fault of the clients i met with - i actually really enjoy them. it was more at the frustration of feeling like my boss should be doing a better job, as should our crew. the whole idea of, if you can't do something well should you be doing it at all, came to mind. and it seems to be the theme of the weekend. it carried over into our linC leaders breakfast meeting this morning. not that we are going to get rid of linC or youth group (no way, not at all) but are their aspects of it that we should do without.

okay, not at all what i intended to write about when i clicked "new post" with the mouse. sorry for my lack of focus. actually, this is going to be a random post. forget organizational paragraphs and coherent ideas. i'm just going to throw things at you...let you deal with them.

first, a picture of my grandma (nell schuurman) and myself in one of our summer excursions to michigan. a short and busy long weekend, but so enjoyable and inspiring. the reason for our trip was my cousin keith's wedding - which was beautiful and wonderful in itself. but being all together as a family, with the exception of adam, was great. and i post a picture of myself with my grandma because to me, it was all about her indirectly. we celebrated my cousin's wedding, yes, and my parents 35th wedding anniversity, yes, but what it comes down to is a celebration of what she and my grandpa did. their love. their faith. its worth celebrating.

okay, so i realize that i look a bit "under the influence" of something in this picture. but be assured that i am not, other than some chocolate milk and blasted goldfish. meet kristen lindsay and jamie van buiten. two girls that bring so much joy to my life, but more importantly are solid and quality examples of what it means to be living in Christ every day, even at their young ages. i may be their coach (and friend) but they are a blessing to me.

we recently enjoyed another celebration - matthew's 14th birthday - at carmine's in nyc. family style italian dinner. good times. simply put, mamamuchi (for those of you who don't know, "mamamuchi" means "its all good")!