3rd time's a charm

BAH
i go to the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre on Sundays. Ive been 3 times. Mostly so that I could possibly see Amy Poehler, my alltime fav famous person.

and tonight, my life was awesome b/c she was there.
but thats not all.

they have this thing they do @ the comedy club where they ask for a word. so everyone knows its all improv.
and when amy asked i yelled out "Pocahontas".

then... she looked me in the eye, pointed her finger at me and said "YES. thats great. Pocahontas"

thus making this night, July 19th 2009 the best night of my life.

thank you amy poehler and thank you pocahontas
[sorry for the blurry. pics are not allowed]

[amy and seth meyer. snl weekend update]

ps

oh and ps. this is what my dad sent me. i would like to take this moment to tell everyone who is reading this that my dad is a good man and he creatively thought to send this to me and even did it in purple font which shows me that he knows me. and that is a blessing. and i am so thankful for him in my life. so thanks dad. i love you.

clarity

Have you ever ate a hershey's kiss? I'm going to go with "yes." The sweet taste of the milk chocolatiness in your mouth; it is just wonderful. Its like nothing is better than that little piece of chocolate. Untill about 3 seconds after you swallow it and you realize how short lived that kiss was and how you really wish you could have had another. And when you have dug through your bag and realized you are all out of hershey's kisses, you begin to wonder if you should have just stayed away from the kiss in the first place. You wonder if it is worth it...

well as i am writing this, i am seeing the amazing way that is a metaphor for many aspects of life. But right now, for me, it relates to my past week. See Reynolda Church of W-S was here, bringing love and hugs from home to NYC. And boy was it wonderful. It was such an encouraging week. Just to be around people who I kind of knew and who i trusted and who's beliefs were similar to mine. It was great.

And then on Thursday, I hopped on a bus and rode 2 hours to Philly to meet my youth group while they were at Fuge. And seeing my church, my family, was unreal. Being hugged by a few Browns was just the best feeling ever.

and then, i had to come back here.

and then, the church went home.

and now, here I sit on my bed on a saturday afternoon, slightly saddened by the taste left in my mouth that makes me want to just have one more little morsel of home. But there is no more to be found.

BUT

i am ok

It was a great week. and it was so sweet, but right now in this moment, i realize that i am still content with where I am. If i had the opportunity to leave, there is no way that I would. Because being here where I am, even though it is far from the familiar, is exactly where i am supposed to be.

Camp is amazing. I love the cooking. I love dancing with the kids and playing games and the joys of seeing their smiling faces every morning. And even though when they leave at 3:00 everyday, I am exhausted and could just collapse, I still love it.

and so what i am begining to think is that maybe I love it for a reason.

Maybe this is what I was made for.

NYC? idk. But being around children? I am begining to think so.

So those are my thoughts.

I've been reading Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. And whether or not you agree with the Bell or not, I am begining to see truth within this book. And it is good. And I can't really put it into words, but the purpose of life is becoming a little bit more clear to me. When I carry my guitar to the roof and worship, things become clear. When i have two hour conversations with friends cross country, things clear up. When I discuss the word of God with the homeless woman across the street, my female pastor, my male pastor and my homosexual church friends in Sunday morning Bible Study, things just become clear.

Hopefully clarity will continue to come.

G I G A T T

red white and blue

The courtyard cookout..

Here are a few pictures from the roof of the nyc fireworks show. it was pretty much awesome.

Oh, and here is the mob walking back afterwards...

Hope you enjoyed your holiday.

-Steph

"dunzo"

Week One of Camp is offically over. Yesterday Robert and I were preparing dinner for the teen center and he asked me "on a scale of 1-10, 10 being you love this place and could work here for the rest of your life, and 1 being you hate it and want to go home, how would you rate your experience so far?" I told him a 9. :)

Clearly I love it. I mean, its the joy of working at Camp Mundo Vista, only you get to tell the kids to go home at 3:00 every afternoon:) Which is nice. But, this is very different from CMV. You may have heard tail of one of my responsibilites this summer. Its summed up in 2 words...

CHEF STEPH

Yes, i am the cook here this summer. I know, many of you are laughing at the sight of me in a hair net, but just so you know, i get to wear a baseball hat instead! Cooking for 65 everyday is not easy and i now have so much compassion for all my fellow cafeteria workers out there. Mad props to ya. Every day we [by we, i mean the amazing people who help me on the mission teams...couldn't do it without them!] start cooking lunch around 11 and serve lunch a little after 12. I have no clue how it happens, but we are pretty much on time. So far it has been scary, because honestly i didn't wanna be the dumb dumb who was in charge of a junky lunch or the person who accidentally poisoned camp. Yea, a lot of pressure, huh? But its been great. so from now on you can refer to me as "chef steph"

So here i am, sitting at 8:30 typing a blog. Many are thinking "why aren't you out experiencing the city?" Well, let me just tell you, # 1, im tired. But also, i ahve realized that after being here for 3 weeks, the whole New York City hoopla kinda gets old and you just realize that people live here and experience it everyday...and i am slowly becoming one of those people. Do i plan on doing lots of fun stuff, sure, but i also plan on doing fun stuff anywhere i go. so yea.

Well, i think i am going to head upstairs and do a little strightening up of the room and maybe some reading. Tomorrow is my day off and i have bookoos of plans, so gotta get bored tonight so tomorrow will be awesome.

much love
-chef steph