In the midst of chaos...there is peace

First off, let me say that I'm so grateful that my relatives have left New Orleans in order to seek shelter from Ivan. This may be harsh to hear, but if my grandfather was still alive, I doubt my grandmother would have left New Orleans. He was stubborn and probably would have tried to withstand the hurricane. Thankfully, my uncle and aunt took my grandmother away and now they are all safe and sound. I have many friends from North Carolina and I don't know how they do it...how they are at peace in the middle of chaos with hurricanes.

In other news, my life is chaotic. I was talking with my friend Allison last night, and I told her, I don't know if I had ever been through such a year of chaos and change. And I realized as I said that, I probably had, but never in my life had I been able to deal with it all in a healthy fashion. I'm still learning how to grieve, I'm still learning it's okay to be angry, but I can handle change much more now. I could list them all but here are just a few:

• I changed jobs (well, places where I am doing my internship, which basically was a job change)
• I changed offices (and yes the window is a nice change of pace, even if it is a little one)
• People I am extremely close to in the internship moved on and graduated
• Elevate (my old ministry) was turned upside down
• Oasis and Champions (my new ministry) are in constant change
• There is a huge new freakin' building that was built in front of my eyes and it changes the way I am able to do ministry.
• We have a new check in system with computers that don't work

See and that's only a few...I took a vacation to Denver, which was awesome and I loved it, but I feel like since my ministry kicked off on Monday (that's right, September 13th) I need another vacation. My desk is a mess, my planner is a mess, my car is a mess, which all means that I'm not taking time to slow down. The director of the internship has an acronym H.A.L.T. (Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired) and if you are any of these, you need to halt and take some time for yourself. Except I've changed it to C.A.L.T. (which doesn't make sense, but if I changed it to talc, that would just be weird). Instead of being hungry, angry, lonely or tired, I know I need to stop when I am cluttered, angry, lonely or tired. I'm hoping this weekend, I'll have some time to relax, which it looks like Saturday and Sunday for the most part will be okay and I'll be able to C.A.L.T.

On a different front, I think I'm breaking away from the good ol'Franklin Planner and buying a pocket pc (a.k.a.-palm pilot). It's just so bulky and I hate the fact I have to erase and/or white out when I have to change things. Plus, I would like to use my Outlook a little more often. Who knows, by the time I write next, maybe I'll have one.

Yes, I know Kansas State lost last weekend...I still have faith.

No, I haven't found a dance class yet...I think that's going to be my search this weekend.