First of all, I went on a great weekend camping/floating trip with several wonderful friends from my small group.
The best part of the campout was jumping off this little cliff. It doesn't look very high, unless you're the one up there trying to get up the courage to leap off of it! After encouragment and patience from Rob, I did it!The extremely low part of the trip would have to be when my stinking suit top broke, giving nearby canoers a bit of a free show. Amazingly I didn't get any beads or bills! :) Casey saved the day by single-handedly rowing us to safety, and my other swimsuit.
Secondly, Kate and I kept up the "end of year do something crazy to our bodies" tradition. That's right, we got tattooskies!!! Kate was as cool as a cucumber, going first and not flinching
once. No hand holding needed for her!
Here's Mikey getting the job done. We were pleasantly surprised to find him to be quite agreeable in every respect. Not a foul word or rude comment made.
It was a little different story for Miss Erica. After Kate's unflinchingness my courage was bolstered and I was ready to go!
After we were a few minutes into it, trying hard not to let myself whince or whine, I took a breath and told them it was hurting pretty badly, and asked if I was just a baby. Kate and Drea were quick to quip up with, "Yes." But Mikey proceeded to say that he hadn't wanted to tell me before that I'd chosen one of the most sensative parts of the body to tattoo.
Thanks, Mikey! Anyhoo, I made it through, with much hand squeezing, concentrated breathing, grimacing, and little breaks for a sip of my iced latte. The end result was well-worth it; a little tree symbolizing Psalm 1- the tree planted by streams of living water, who's leaves don't whither, and who bears fruit in season. Also, Jeremiah 9 (see the bottom of my blog page), and John 15 (abiding and all that).
Finally, Kate and I joined Harvest's annual trip to South Dakota, to minister to our friend Pastor King, who works on the Standing Rock reservation, in the village of Wakpala. Kate has a great blog on all this, which you can go to for further info. I'll just keep mine short and sweet, and say the best parts were growing closer to PK (Pastor King), and spending time with Harvest friends. Here are a few cute pics.
Kate, Sara and I on a walk
The younger end of our group.
Sara, me, Rand, and Kate
I should add a final note about the amount of weddings I've been singing in, but I don't want to depress myself. Not that I hate it, it's just the sheer volume of them of late. I mean, one every month since last October??? That's a little OTT don't you think?
