2008: The good, the bad, and the ugly

I thought I'd take a few moments to reflect on the past year. First, there's one thing I want to clear up. This will, like most of my blog posts, be kind of a shallow, silly reflection. For some reason I feel the need to let you know that there is (at least a little) more to me than what I write on my blog. I actually do spend time at the end of most years reflecting and journaling about accomplishments/frustrations of the past year and goals for the next. I just don't care to plaster that all over the internet. So with that disclaimer, here goes...

The Good: These are a few of my favorite things.

• School. The thing in 2008 that was most different from 2007 was school. I started grad school in January, and it pretty much changed my life. I was forced to learn how to better manage my time. I'm still not good at it, but I like to think I've done a decent job with balancing school, work, friends and family. School has provided me with something to work toward, and I needed that. It has been both challenging and rewarding.
• Friends. One of the best things I have going for me is some pretty stinking awesome friends. This year, I met a few new people who have become very good friends. I have deepened relationships with existing friends, and really feel like we're "doing life" together, and I like that. My friends put up with my ridiculousness, constantly amaze me with their hilarity, encourage me, humor me, and sing and dance in my living room. Literally.
• Travel. After last year, I convinced myself that I should "settle down" a little. After all, I am in my late twenties. But who was I kidding? The bite of the travel bug has not yet healed. It may never heal. This year's big trip, of course, was to a little country called China for a little event known as the Olympics. But other trips along the way were pretty fun too... Disneyland with mom and dad, NKOTB in Chicago with Kelly and Jess, Phoenix with Julie, Bon Jovi with Kate, Gatlinburg with small group friends, and Nashville with Jordan, to name a few!
• Emma. It's always fun to spend time with my awesome niece, and this year she has been more fun than ever. I love when she randomly says things like, "Stephanie, you are a good reader." And of course the biggie... "I love you, Stephanie." I have to admit I was caught off guard a couple months ago when, on the phone, she said in her whiniest voice, "Stephanie, will you take me to Disney World? I really want to see Mickey." [Guess who said yes...]
• High school reunion. Our ten-year reunion was a highlight of my summer. It was such a blast, and so fun to see old friends again. It was not awkward or pretentious. Just plain fun. Plus, I uncharacteristically stayed out till 3am!
• Little, sometimes spontaneous things. Summer nights at Rick's Cafe Boatyard. Going down the slide at the Children's Museum. Hours upon hours at Paradise Cafe. Colts games. Random concerts. Facebook stalking. (Watch out. I might mean you.) Leisurely Sunday afternoon lunches when I should really be studying. Marrying off one Meghan and getting a new Meghan. Setting up a pinata with two ladders in the middle of the street. Wine on the ceiling. Playing "pretend we're wives of rich doctors and the kids are with the nanny," and enjoying a day of food and shopping. Writing haiku at Steak N Shake (or anywhere, really). Laughing until I can no longer breathe. Making a pre-party drink without a recipe. Attempting yoga in the living room and falling down. It's a collection of little things like this that make up life.

The Bad/Ugly. (I am combining these. And hoping for a shorter list than the "good" list.)

• School. Ok, I know I used that on my "good" list, but school is a double-edged sword. It was often a source of frustration, and occasionally sucked the life out of me. Sometimes I think of all the things I could be doing if I weren't studying. (The grad school word for that is "opportunity costs!")
• The break-in. This one's pretty obvious and doesn't require much explanation. But let's just say that I STILL don't have a window. I must admit, though, that firing the contractor brought me joy. :)
• The other break-in. Well, not really a break-in, but a broken car window. Funny how that was replaced in less than 24 hours.
• Lots of other stuff. There are plenty more things to add to the list, like that S-word that so often rears its ugly head (selfishness!), and my inability to prioritize, but I am saving those things for the privacy of my journal...

Overall, I'd call it a good year. Here's to an even better 2009. And may your "good" list be much longer than your "bad/ugly" list!

Adventures in Bell Ringing

This morning Jess and I rang the bell for the Salvation Army at the Marsh in Carmel. I may need to add this to my list of great ways to observe people and their behavior. 

We were signed up for a two-hour shift. About 30 minutes into our shift, an old lady came, dressed in her Salvation Army apron with her own bell and kettle. She said she would go to the other set of doors, but she came back shortly thereafter, saying it was too cold at that end. Plus, there was no stand for the kettle. She asked if she could sit on the bench that was next to our kettle. So she sat there for an hour and a half... every once in a while, she would ring her bell a little. Or tell us what to do. Or provide us with random facts, such as, "a kettle this size holds $1,000. The larger ones hold $1,500." This is a little perplexing to me. Wouldn't it depend on the denominations of the bills in the kettle?

People are funny, and I love watching them. Here are a few highlights:

• Several people pointed out that we were inside the doors rather than out in the cold. This wasn't our choice - we went where the kettle was. One man even clucked at us. Really? At one point, I said to Jess, "I wish we'd been keeping track of these comments." To which she replied, "Five so far."
• Sometimes, people walk by with no intention of giving, then you say hello, or wish them a merry Christmas, and then they stop and dig for money. 
• I said "Merry Christmas" to one lady, who told us she was half Jewish. She then said, "Did you know there are Jews who believe in Jesus? We meet at 72nd and Keystone on Friday nights at 7:30. I play the tambourine and dance. And I'm 80!" We loved this woman.
• There was a man with two young kids in a cart. He said, "See this nice lady? I want you to talk to her while I run to the car to get the grocery list." So we were not only bell ringers, but also babysitters. I looked at Jess and said, "What if he doesn't come back?" But no worries, he did. We let the kiddos ring our bells. And they didn't even donate any money!
• Another man sang the praises of the Salvation Army and said he donates to them instead of Goodwill, because Goodwill sells things instead of giving them away. He obviously hasn't seen that commercial explaining how Goodwill works to create jobs...
• We saw one guy walking in from the parking lot and Jess said I needed to talk to him. I didn't... and he walked out with a dozen red roses. Totally proposing today, I bet!
• One older man commented on how full the kettle was getting as he squished his dollar in. I told him it was because we were doing a good job. He said that's why they send the cute girls instead of the old men...

The moral of the story? Watch how you act around the bell ringers! They may blog about you later. :)

Standing Out Among the Masses

I don't think I can begin to count the number of electronic holiday greetings I have received at work over the past couple of weeks. It seems like every hotel, CVB, and AV company wishes me a "holiday season of peace and light" or something like that. And don't get me wrong - it's not that I don't appreciate their sentiment, but when you get a lot of these they all start to look the same. 

This afternoon, I received a rather unique one from Tony in Anaheim. (I met Tony in March when I was there for a visit. We had an enjoyable lunch, and discovered we both have an affinity for Spree candy.)

Here is what I received:

Dear Hershey...

It would be really nice if you could sell unwrapped Kisses for baking purposes.

Love,

Steph

Seven Days of Cable Knit

Yesterday, I successfully completed Meghan's "Seven Days of Cable Knit" challenge. "How does such a thing come about?" you ask. Meg saw me last weekend wearing cable knit on both Saturday and Sunday and said, "I bet you could wear cable knit for a whole week." So I did. No one would have noticed at work had I not told them what I was doing. 

I have at least two more that I didn't wear this week, so I guess it really could have been "nine days of cable knit."

I would like to give a special shout out to the Gap Outlet, which was along for the ride with me, furnishing 3/7 of this week's sweaters, plus the two that could make days eight and nine a reality. Thanks also to Target, Banana Republic, Carson Pirie Scott, and Kohl's, without whom this would not have been possible. And to God, of course, the creator of cable knit. (Sort of.)

Update

Well, friends, it is finished! With five and a half hours to spare! Those little marks coming out of the top are the extra half page I wrote. Yep, ten and a half pages! Check me out, going above and beyond.

School and I are on a break now. And I couldn't be happier. I am going to sit in front of the television for the rest of the evening, and not feel guilty about it.

Paper-Writing Essentials (Or: I am a big dork)

I'm not sure why I dread writing papers so much. I like school. I really do. And I like writing. But there's just something about reading things that ten other people have written about a subject and then summarizing it into my own paper that just drives me nuts. I guess I'd prefer to write about my experiences rather than writing about what other people have already written about and researched.

That said, when it comes to writing papers, I am a major procrastinator. Tomorrow at midnight, I have a 10-12 page paper due. I started writing this afternoon...

As you can see, I have some essential items on my table. First there's the Mac. I spend more time with the Mac than with any person in my life. Is that pathetic? Maybe. You can also see my giant Figment coffee mug. In addition, I have a bowl of popcorn (not too buttery or it would upset Mac), a Fannie Farkle's cup full of Fanta, plenty of dry journal articles, and one more thing...

I decided to make a thermometer tonight. I used to make these when I was raising support for summer projects, but I'd never made one for writing a paper. As you can see, I added some motivational messages. As you can also see, I am only at 4, and still have a long way to go. My favorite might be what I wrote at the bottom. I wanted to be able to color it in as soon as I made it, so I even added "title page." Yikes. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

And finally, what's a blog post without an unflattering photo of me? (Thanks, Photo Booth.) This is very reminiscent of Meghan's photo when she was studying for boards. But my paper is way less hard than boards!

Big-Haired Flight Attendants

I'm currently sitting at the food court in Chicago's Midway Airport. (DELAYED is a word I've seen more than once this week.)

As I contemplate the ins and outs of travel, I wonder... are flight attendants told during training that big hair is essential to the job? Don't get me wrong - I respect these people. They have a job that's often crappy and most of them are a lot nicer than I would be if put into the same situation. But I'm pretty sure that about 49 out of every 50 flight attendants have both enormous hair and too much make-up. Any idea why?

Best movie scene ever.

I'm watching Bridget Jones's Diary instead of being productive, and I just thought I'd share what I'm pretty sure is my all-time favorite movie scene. (I, too, am wearing flannel pj pants and may have been singing along.)

I love this kid...

Today Emma decided she wanted to take photos of her favorite things. She used my camera to take nearly 100 photos around mom and dad's house. Here are a few of the better ones. Most of them were the couch, the chair, or feet... "Smile, chair!"

Also, hearing Emma try to say "photographer" is one of the funniest things ever. ("Hallelujah" is another one that's pretty funny.)

Em's room:

Me with Valentine Kitty. She sleeps with him every night.

Self portrait!

A photo she took of mom and me with Calliou. Not bad...

I took this one... I thought it turned out pretty well.

More bad news for the Mazda...

My poor car. It's been through a lot over the past couple months. First it was taken from my garage by a #%^$& and driven to the ghetto where it ran out of gas. It sat in an impound lot for a few days, was dusted for fingerprints, then hung out at the dealership for a week where it got new locks.

Tonight, it suffered another injury. While I was inside a friend's house, the driver's side window was broken. I was sure that my iPod would be gone, but nope... nothing was missing. There was glass everywhere... on the street, in both front seats, in the cup holder, and on the floor.

We think someone hit the side mirror, and it flipped in and hit the window and broke it, but we're not sure. The policeman wasn't much help. (That seems to be a theme in my life lately.) Tim asked him to clear out the glass, and he basically made it all fall into my seat.

We got most of it out of the driver's seat, and Tim and Amanda ghetto-fied my car by putting a fitted crib sheet where the window once was. I made it to the end of their street with that, then decided I would rather be able to see and be cold. So I made the 25-ish minute drive back to mom and dad's with nothing covering it. Needless to say, it was a bit chilly!

Reliving my childhood

I used to go to Gatlinburg pretty much every year for fall break with my family. Often, other families from our church would go at the same time. There are many good memories of those trips. This weekend, I went to Gatlinburg with eight people from my small group. It was a lot of fun reliving some of those things...

We packed a lot into a few days. We went to Fannie Farkle's three times, went on the sky lift, into the mirror maze, to the outlet mall, the aquarium, mini-golf, and the Pancake Pantry. Plus, we still found time for some quality porch-sitting and hot tubbing. We tried for the alpine slides, but they were closed because of rain.

What's with this? We used to eat at the Brass Lantern. But apparently it's just "Brass" now. Where did the lantern go? (I think it might be under that fall foliage.)

In middle school, I spent hours and who knows how much money at Fannie Farkle's. It turns out my friend Jess did, too, so we were super excited to introduce this amazing place to our friends. We played ski ball, and redeemed our tickets for a frisbee and a magic wand, among other things. I can still smell the sauerkraut... And where else can I hit Mark with an inflatable hammer?

Top of the sky lift!

Yummmm... the Donut Friar. Always a favorite.

My friend Ashley from middle school lives near Gatlinburg, so we got to spend some time together on Saturday. It was great to catch up with her... we've only seen each other a few times since she moved away in 9th grade.

Best purchase yet?!?

This week Target has their Wii games buy two get one free. I 'needed' to replace my Guitar Hero, and I also wanted Wii Music. So that left me with a choice. Because I could justify it as being free, I chose High School Musical 3 Dance.

I bought these three games last Sunday, and HSM Dance is the only one I've opened so far. It has provided hours of fun for Meg, Jess, Jordan, Mark and me. 

Some things overheard while playing:

"You know I'm white, right?"

"How do you skip?"

"Why does it think I didn't jump?"

... and of course, "TTTTRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"

Seriously, this game is awesome. It has tons of songs from HSM 1, 2 and 3. There are quizzes like, "What's in your lunchbox?" and "What is your school mascot?" Here's to more hours of fun with good friends and the HSM cast! 

Embarrassment.

I've never been one to hide my embarrassing moments from people, so I'll just go ahead and tell you what I did today. It probably won't sound as funny as it really was, but I'll give it a try anyway.

I was going through the drive-thru at McDonalds for my hamburger, fruit & walnut salad, and Orange Hi-C... It was busy and there were several cars behind me. Not sure what I was thinking, but I drove right past the speaker where you order. My first thought was to just bail and pretend none of this ever happened. But there was a curb there so that wasn't an option. "Crap," I thought to myself. I looked behind me and started to back up a little. There was a man in a pickup truck behind me that was laughing harder than me. I backed up as much as I could, which wasn't much. I was still pretty far from the speaker, but I just yelled my order into it. 

Even when I pulled up to the window, the man in the truck was still cracking up. He's probably blogging somewhere about the stupid girl who forgot to order. Glad I could provide you with some material, pickup truck man.

Weekend of Fun (or stupidity)

I think it would be fair to say that this month has made its way onto my "Top 5 Craziest Months Ever" list. (No, I don't really have a list like that, I'm just saying...) It has been busy, frustrating, challenging, hilarious, exhausting, thought-provoking, fun and terrible... all at the same time. 

In the midst of the mayhem, I had a really fun weekend. I traveled most of last week for work, then ended by flying to Chicago to meet Kelly and Jess for the New Kids on the Block concert. If you knew me in the late 80s/early 90s, you know how big of a fan I was. Ok, and still am. It's funny how songs that you haven't heard in years can instantly come back to you. NKOTB, you were worth the 15 year wait! Here's a shot of my boys:

Jess, Kelly and I had fun times in Chicago!

Some say I'm spontaneous, but I think sometimes spontaneousness equals stupidity. Jess and I had talked awhile ago about going to see Steven Curtis Chapman and Michael W. Smith in Merrillville, but knowing it was the day after we were driving home from Chicago, we had decided to forgo that one. But... on our way home from Chi-town, we saw the billboard... and were unable to resist. So, just a little over 24 hours after driving from Merrillville to Indy, we drove back to Merrillville for this once in a lifetime (ok, maybe not) opportunity. Saturday evening and Sunday on the way there, we were rocking out to some old-school MWS - the Go West Young Man and Change Your World albums, to be exact. On the way there, a crazy wind storm was blowing corn across the interstate. Welcome to Indiana. We were waiting for a cow to hit the windshield.

Needless to say, it was an awesome concert! We heard great songs, new and old... including "Friends." Ahhh, the memories.

Then we had to drive home.

Getting home at 1:30 am isn't the smartest thing to do on a Sunday night. But alas, we did have a good time in the car pretending to be Jennifer Knapp (and drinking our gas station coffee).

Here's a shot of two of the hottest 40-somethings out there: haha.

Sometimes, all you can do is laugh.

It's been a crazy few days!

Comfort & Joy

One of the things that's good about crappy situations is that I tend to learn something about myself. Here's this week's lesson: When something bad happens, I tend to run for the comfortable and familiar. 

Last weekend, that meant tagging along with Jordan for a quick visit to Nashville, Tennessee, where I spent time with my friend Chelsey. I've known Chels for about 13 years. (Wow. That's a long time.) Even though I only see her a time or two each year now, she knows me, and she gets me. She asks the right questions, and speaks the truth when it's not always pretty. We didn't do anything amazingly spectacular - just kind of hung out. It was relaxing and refreshing. Just what I needed.

Ten hours in the car with good company and good music + ten hours with Chelsey + ten hours of sleep + a quick visit to the Pie and Ice Cream Kitchen with mom, dad, and Emma = the perfect weekend.

Good & Evil

Because this is the Internet, I'm not sharing details of what happened to us last weekend. Most of you already know. I will say that I'm pretty sure it's been the second worst experience of my life. It's going to take awhile for things to get back to normal. 

What I do want to share is how thankful I am to have some really amazing friends. Your prayers, emails, dinners, phone calls, gelato, offers to stay at your place, offers to stay at my place, chocolate, amusement park tickets... and the way you force me to use the "good shampoo" have all been very much appreciated.  

No more being nice to strangers.

I wish we lived in a world where we could assume the best about everyone, and believe people were generally truthful with good intentions. But alas, we do not. 

I am the person who never gives money to those people on the side of the road with the cardboard signs. I never believe them. I'm sure some of them are truly in need, but I would guess most of them are scammers. Sometimes I end up feeling guilty about my unwillingness to help.

I've been feeling extra selfish lately, so when a lady asked me for help today, I decided I would actually try to be of assistance. I'd been studying at Paradise and was packing up my stuff when she came inside and asked me what time it was. I told her. Then she asked if I was leaving, and told me a story about how a family member died, the bus couldn't get her all the way to the church, etc., etc. She simply wanted a ride to a church that wasn't too far away. Seems pretty harmless, eh? 

On the way to the car, our conversation went something like this:

Lady: What church do you go to?

Me: Traders Point.

L: Oh, I knew I had seen you there. Great church. The one with Pastor Steve.

M: Um, no, not Pastor Steve.

L: Right, right. The young guy.

M: Yes, Aaron.

L: That's right. Aaron.

Then as we got in the car and headed out of the parking lot, things began to change... she told me she needed to get to Alabama for the funeral, and something about being on disability, and not getting her check till the end of the week. Long story short, the bus ticket was $319 and she still needed $71. At first I told her no. Then I told her I'd give her $20 or $30. She was convincing. The next thing I knew, I was at the ATM and giving her $80, then driving her to someone's house on 46th St. After all, how much did I spend on new clothes yesterday? The guilt had kicked into high gear. 

As soon as I decided to actually give her the money, I resigned myself to the fact that I would never see it again - even though she promises to give me $100 back. Maybe I can think of it as an investment into the image and reputation of my church. At least now she won't think, "those people from TPCC are stingy and have no compassion." 

As we drew nearer to her destination, it became more apparent that I'd been taken. She tried to talk more about our church. 

L: "I really love that one pastor - the shorter guy with the dark hair."

M: "Oh, I'm not sure who you're talking about."

L: "Wait, he's the blonde guy."

M: "Uh huh."

When she got out of the car, she said, "So I'll see you at church?" Yep, lady, I'm sure you will.

So, people truly in need, I'm sorry, but I'm probably not going to help you because of people like this.

Going, Going, Gone...

Today was a historic day in Indy - the Dome was deflated. Here are a few photos of the view from room 1433 at the Westin.

Then & Now

Then: Summer 2000

Julie and I met when we were in college, a couple days before going to Turkey for eight weeks together. We, along with the others on our team, became fast friends. I even puked on her on the way there, and she didn't disown me. :) 

 This photo is on the way home. I was much less happy on the way there in the midst of my illness.

Here we are before heading out to the middle of nowhere (literally) for our village experience. I was SO sunburned in this photo! 

Now: September 2008

Julie and I hadn't seen each other since fall 2001. Last weekend, we spent a few days together in Phoenix. It was fun to catch up while relaxing at the lazy river at the Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort. (Yay for points!) Unfortunately, I got sick and spent most of Saturday in bed. But... at least I didn't puke on her again!

Pre-lazy river.

At the pretty fountain. And I don't think we've aged a bit! 

Meet Pokey.

Standing about 20 inches tall, Pokey is a stuffed pink leopard-print cat. She sports a red, white and blue WNBA uniform. But she also knows how to accessorize. Not only does she wear a green bow on her ear, but she also has some sunglasses (that aren't really wide enough for her face), and a stylin' denim purse.

Maybe Emma and I need to work on fashion, matching, and accessorizing. Because Pokey was her creation when I took her to Build A Bear yesterday.

Here she is standing on the pedal that makes the kitty come to life.

Giving Pokey a bath...

... and I'm a big fan of this face. :)

Before we got in the car to go, Em asked if I had a map. She seemed really concerned that I didn't know where I was going. All the way there, she was saying, "I LOVE Build A Bear!" I asked her how she knew she loved it since she's never been. I never really got an answer. Despite Pokey's odd fashion sense, we had a fun time!

A broken toilet, a trip to Lowe's, and a country song

I was anticipating that something from this evening's experience would be blog-worthy. Me. Taking a trip to Lowe's. Alone. Looking for a part for my toilet. And right I was... but not in the way I was expecting.

Yeah, I wandered aimlessly around the plumbing section. Yeah, I called my dad to make sure I was getting the right thing.

But the interesting part was checking out. There were three lanes open. Two of them had lines. So I did the obvious thing and went to the cashier with no line. Then I think I learned why she didn't have a line. 

She was kind of mumbling, and I was just smiling and nodding. Until I started to figure out what she was talking about. She said something about having a number one country album on the Billboard chart, and that it was called "Knee High to a Grasshopper." [More smiling and nodding.] Then she proceeded to tell me how she's written a song called (and I may not have this exactly right, but it's close) "Baby You and Me Are Gonna Be Okay as Long as We've Got Peanut Butter Sandwiches." I told her it sounded like a great country song. Then she started reciting it for me. Mind you, I had already paid for my toilet valve at this point and was just kind of standing there thinking I'd never get out. The song was something about her mom making molasses sandwiches, something, something, you and me, something, peanut butter sandwiches.

I stood there smiling.

Then we had a conversation that went something like this:

Cashier: Well, I guess I should let you go.

Me: Ok.

C: Do you think it's a good song?

M: Sounds like a great country song to me.

C: Thanks. I'm going to make millions.

M: Yep. Have a good night.

I Love This Town.

Some people say there's nothing to do in Indy. Those people are wrong. Last night was a great example. It wasn't even a weekend, and tens of thousands of people headed downtown to their sporting event of choice: basketball (the Fever - WNBA), baseball, or football, featuring our beloved Colts in their fancy new stadium.

Dad and I went to the Colts Game. It was the Colts' second game in the new stadium, and our first. It's a fantastic venue - retractable roof and all. Yeah, I'm okay with paying that extra 1% f&b tax.

We parked at my office, which is probably about the closest we could've gotten. It was a little bit of a walk, but a great night. We walked along the canal, and there was a jazz concert going on at the Historical Society. So if you're not into sports, there are other things to do. :)

Tonight I have a couple of friends in town from Louisville. One of them had never been to Indy, so we took a little walking tour of downtown. Tons of people were milling about and enjoying the evening. 

We walked along the canal, and heard a little bit of the Peter Frampton concert going on at Rib Fest. Then we walked over to Monument Circle. Two fun evenings downtown... and my next two evenings will be spent wandering the streets of downtown Chicago.

Yours

Most of you probably heard about the tragic death of Steven Curtis Chapman's five year-old daughter in May. The day I heard about it I sat on my couch and cried for a good half hour. I'm not sure why - maybe because it reminded me of the day when I lost a family member without much warning - a day when I was sitting on a different couch crying for much longer than a half hour.

Since May, I've been following the what the media has reported regarding the Chapmans, as well as Steven's manager's blog. Steven's manager, Jim, has done a great job in keeping fans and whomever else updated regarding the family's progress - the good times, the bad times, and how we can be praying for them. Recent coverage has included a story on Good Morning America, an hour with Larry King, and several pages in People Magazine. It has been encouraging to see how this family is relying on their faith through such a painful time, and how they are using their tragedy to point others toward the Lord.

After his daughter's death, Steven (I know, I'm talking about him like he's my friend, and that's a little weird) rereleased the song "Yours," with a new verse at the end. I've found myself having this song on repeat a lot lately. You should download it. Now. The lyrics are below. I look at them and think, "yeah, that's what I believe." But am I living like this is what I believe? Probably not. 

Yours

by Steven Curtis Chapman

I walk the streets of London
And notice in the faces passing by
Somthing that makes me stop and listen
My heart grows heavy with the cry

Where is the hope for London?
You whisper and my heart begins to soar
As I'm reminded
That every street in London in Yours
Oh, yes it is

I walk the dirt roads of Uganda
I see the scars that war has left behind
Hope like the sun is fading
They're waiting for a cure no one can find

And I hear children's voices singing
Of a God who heals and rescues and restores
And I'm reminded
That every child in Africa is Yours

Chorus
And it's all Yours, God, Yours, God
Everything is Yours
From the stars in the sky
To the depths of the ocean floor
And its all Yours, God, Yours, God
Everything is Yours
You're the Maker and Keeper, Father and Ruler of everything

And I walk the sidewalks of Nashville
Like Singapore, Manila and Shanghai
I rush by the beggar's hand and the wealthy man
And everywhere I look I realize

That just like the streets of London
For every man and woman, boy and girl
All of creation
This is our Father's world

[New Verse]
I've walked the valley of death's shadow
So deep and dark that I could barely breathe
I've had to let go of more than I could bear
And questioned everything that I believe
But still even here
in this great darkness
A comfort and hope come breaking through
As I can say in life or death
God we belong to you.

Yearbook Yourself

I have recently heard a few people talking about www.yearbookyourself.com, and I couldn't resist the urge to try... This post and the next are my favorites!

1994 (and maybe a little too close to home)

1984

1980

More...

1978

1968

1964

1960

1952