Camp Lauren

 This past Wednesday I dropped by Heather and Ash's in order to pick up a garage door opener, car seat, and this:

Leaving for a three day get-away the very next day, Heather and Ash needed to ensure that Kate and Sarah's world would continue to spin under the watchful eye of Your's Truly.

Hence, when Thursday afternoon rolled around just in time for school pick-up, Camp Lauren kicked into high gear.

Essential elements of Camp Lauren involved some
typical taking-care-of-life things,
such as walking to school, brushing our hair and teeth, dripping ear drops into rebellious ears, reading ourselves to sleep,

and feeding ourselves on a pretty routine basis--

goodies like

 "bunny cheese",

 pizza and sushi,  

strawberry pancakes,

and Dairy Queen.

(We love Dairy Queen...)

Other essentials were more in the category of recreation, like play-dates and bubble bath (not all at the same time, of course...),  

tree-swing swinging,

and popcorn/movie/let's-all-fall-asleep-on-the-couch time.

The recreation category was important, because there was also a lot of work that needed to get done:

 We had to tend to the garden since there were tomatoes longing to be picked;

we had to feed the cats, change their litter box,

and catch them when they figured out how to open the screen door and sneak outside;

we had to finish a sidewalk mural as a surprise for Heather and Ash,

fight off monsters in Michael's with a giant foam sword,

and host a photo shoot for our favorite American Girl Doll and her cuddly pets.

With all of these essentials, you can imagine that Camp Lauren was pretty intense.  

We are happy to report, however, that by the end of our 47 straight hours together the inventory showed a multitude of smiles, a bevy of belly-laughs, and an overload of photos-that-should-be-erased (courtesy of Kate).



And now--to give credit where credit is due, let the credits roll:

 Camp Lauren would not be very interesting, fun, or successful if it weren't for the parenting of Heather and Ash, the sweet thoughtfulness of Sarah, and the hilarious impishness that is Kate.

When can we do it again?

A Piece of Early Fall Late Afternoon Peace

Out of the mouth of one of my favorite babes

I laugh pretty routinely in my day to day life, but today afforded me a giggle unlike any I've had in a long while.

Allow me to set the stage:

School is back in session, so the Summer of Heather and Lauren has officially evolved into: 

Thursday evening dinner.  

Tonight I arrived a bit later than usual, and we were all quickly swept to the overflowing table and the delicious food waiting for us there.  We began to eat with gusto when--suddenly, halfway through--Heather stops and looks at me and says "OH."

I prepared myself for the worst.

She said:

"Today, Kate brought me this card with a picture of a horse on it and she said--

'Mom, I love this horse.  It reminds me of Lauren!!' "

Laughter was immediately burst into by all present.  

[Yes folks.  My own little Katela likened me to a horse.]

Kate ran to get the card, in order to show me.

"It's the curls!", she said.  

"It's the jewelry!"

Then, I read the inscription:

"Let the world stay a beautiful place to live"

Kate said:

"See? That's what you do!"

I giggled with my head in my hands for at least the next 5 minutes.

And here's the ironic thing:

I have always secretly thought I look like a horse.

[Leave it to Kate to say it out loud.]

But what she didn't have to say, and what I took away?

My world is a much more beautiful place to live, thanks to the love of such a special little friend.

The Danger in Real Friendship

Here is something I have come to believe:  

Our God is a Dangerous God.  

I used to look at scenes like these and see only Beauty--look at those clouds! Look at those colors!  Look at the Loveliness of God!

I also used to fight against the Reality of Burden in my life and the lives of my friends, thinking "This can't be from God.  God is Beautiful.  God is Good.  God is Lovely!!!!"

This weekend, however, I sat on the waterfront in Harrisburg and watched the clouds roll determined through the sky.  I felt the wind blow powerfully through my hair.  I reflected on the heavy movement of the water as my dear old friend Dorea and I discussed--with similar heaviness--those Realities of life, and I thought of what has been the theme of my past few months [but really my last 10 years]:

When we signed up to be Children of the Living God, we agreed to allow His Power to be unleashed in our lives.

What we didn't realize is that this can only mean one thing--

Get ready to be uncomfortable.

I was reminded that God has a standard, and He'll stop at nothing to make it a Reality in the lives of His children.

And as we shed some tears I thought--
Discomfort feels like DANGER!!! and causes us to flail about in despair, desperately attempting to make it go away, forgetting some very key things:

He hasn't left us alone in our journey.
And, it's a sure sign that good things are on the way.
It's a sure sign that He cares to take us out of our broken state, because a Dangerous God is a zealous God.

I thought of these things again the next day as I sat quietly with my tried and true Harrisburgian friends, a smile on my face and peace in my heart as I listened to the laughter and the banter being tossed lovingly back and forth through the air over dinner.

We are people who have walked through the Realities of life--together.

And I thought about the reality that allowing God to work His Power in your life, with the help of the people in your life, involves even more DANGER!!!!!
because it involves a nasty little word: Vulnerability.

I hate Vulnerability.

And yet.

Having people share your life means laying Vulnerability out before each other, admitting weaknesses and struggles and the burdens we bear, with honesty.

It means shedding heavy tears, with heavy hearts, for ourselves, for each other.  (Together.)




It means refusing to engage in counterfeit friendship, because it means recognizing that the Danger of Vulnerability is the only way to make a friendship Real.

And as I sat with these precious ladies over coffee and conversation this morning, I was shown yet again that the danger of vulnerability allows us opportunity to remind each other that God is as Good as He is Powerful.  As Beautiful as He is Dangerous.  And that Good, Powerful, Beautiful and Dangerous are all made of the same stuff.

So, after a heavy weekend full of beautiful moments, here is my conclusion:

The Danger in Real Friendship is that we can cry together, and encourage our hearts that we will be ok.  We can just be together, allowing for our brokenness and believing in a God who is at work in all things.

And we can laugh, smile, love--resting in the knowledge that this friendship is not counterfeit, because it is not made of nothing.

It is made of dangerous stuff, and dangerous stuff is Real.

Back to Life...

...but certainly not back to reality.

Today I spent the afternoon at the local Grange Fair.  Since I wrote about the many wonders of the GF last year, and since the main focus of that writing was the FOOD, I was looking for a new angle.

I didn't find it.

I was joined by my good friend Emily, seen here indulging in gooey mozzarella cubes.  [That's right folks, mozzarella sticks are for the weak of heart, both of which you will not find at this Grangiest of Fairs...]

Along with our darling friend Amy, we sat at this picnic table and went deeply into the workings of God in our lives.  [I told you--no weak of heart here!]

When we got done with the gooey and the deep, we headed with purpose toward the foot-long hot dogs we'd seen on our way toward the mozzarella. [Welcome hot dogs...]

After a short meander looking at animals and giant vegetables, we knew it was time for ice cream products

and/or funnel cake.

[Sigh.  Love you too, FC...]

And though next we had a variety of other options available to us--monkey bread, fried vegetables, peach cobbler, popcorn, sugar waffles, sausage, fries, ETC.,

we were feeling a bit weak of stomach.

We voted for lemonade.

We applauded ourselves for our choice.

And, though our weakness of stomach might reflect our physical limits, we found our hearts to be fortified--despite the artery cloggers we'd ingested.
We were together, after all.  

Goin' deep, livin' life.  

Little love bursts everywhere, and not just for the food:

With the support of friends like these, weak of heart I will never be.

An Encorial Pictorial

And now, 

some pictures that I think are fun but haven't made their way in thus far:

Meet the birds at the University of the Arts, Taipei

A nice moment with Yi-Ting

A much more typical moment with Yi-Ting

The beauty of Xitou

You should always have one of these on hand...

The chicken...

...the egg.

My very capable tour guide

Such an interesting [forbidden] garden

The view from our rickshaw

Yes Lotus Market, you are lovely

Yi-Ting makes friends wherever she goes...

Had I known it was called a "sliding car" I probably would have opted out...

Hey lady, hey!

I think we need this on our office door...

Bamboo vandalism

Man [foot stamp]--that's it?!

THE END!

Finale of Favorites: Back to where we started

My very first night in Taiwan was spent sitting on the roof deck of the Mountain Star Hot Springs Hotel with my friend Yu-Chen.  We drank in the blackness of the sky, the brightness of the stars, the lights of Taipei glowing below us.  We caught each other up on the happenings of our lives since last we'd met, and enjoyed the stillness of the night air.

As we sat quietly laughing and talking amidst the night sounds, an unexpected falling star swam gracefully across the sky. I felt it trace across my heart as I spoke a one-word wish--a prayer to the God of the heavens, whose glory was evident in the beauty of the evening and for whom my vision is too small.  [And sorry friends--no matter how much you might want to know it, that prayer is between me & the One who heard it.  Some things are just too precious for blogging...]

Eventually we made our way back down to our room, which included a bathroom unlike any I have ever experienced.  [You could say it was unusual...]    What you see before you is hot tub, shower, and sink in left to right order.  And what I had before me was a luxurious bathing experience, sitting upon a stool in the middle of a stone floor, removing all trace of traveling filth and grime before climbing into a pool of crystal clear hot springs water.

Being submerged in this water was like being wrapped in a thick, warm, blanket.  It was like entering another world, where skin is made of pearls.  It was unexpectedly and unusually heavenly.

After my bath, I crawled into a bed I swear was made from clouds, and woke to find this daytime view as astonishing as it's nighttime counterpart.

I reflected on the beauty of the place and decided that I could go home then and there--I'd seen all I needed to see, experienced all I needed to experience.

Thanks to Yu-Chen I can say--even now, after numerous more days in Taiwan and China and countless wonderful memories--the hot springs are without doubt my favorite.

So, let's end where we started--

with gratitude:

To a God who thought of falling stars, 

for an unusually varied and unexpectedly full trip.

And to you friends, for taking the time to share in it with me.  We may be at the end of all I have to say, but don't go away for long--don't you think we need an Encore?