And God said "BINGO!"

It seems to me that sometimes God is sitting up in heaven waiting for us to say the right thing.

Last night I was trying to center my thoughts for today and I mentioned to God that I had been given some small talent for public speaking. Maybe not a lot, but a little and I was going to try to use that.

Bingo! (Yes I think God uses the word bingo sometimes. At the very least He uses the emotion behind it). Then came a reminder of the parable of the servants entrusted with their masters money. The two that exercised what they'd been given saw it multiply and grow. But the third servant was scared and buried his talent. It just sat there, in the dirt doing nothing. Even if he had put it in the bank and let it sit, at least it would have gained something.

How many of my own skills and gifts do I refuse to use because I am afraid. Afraid of failing, losing or looking like a fool. Even if it takes all my faith to let certain gifts sit in a locked, glass case, where others can glimpse them once in awhile, that's better than locking them in a deep dungeon of my heart where there is no sun or fresh air.

God's just wants me to be willing. He's like a patient teacher, as long as I try, He can work with me.

"'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has 10 talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and mashing of teeth.'" Matt 25:28-30

From that perspective, maybe trying and failing isn't such a bad thing....

Field Hand's Angel

If it sounds over dramatic or dumb
Then you've never been a kid wishing it was noon
Longing for your neighbor's pool on a 100 degree day
After hours of dust raised by five pairs of boots
A plastic bag of soda is holy nectar straight from heaven

Dreams of cannon balls so real you can hear the "kaplooosh"
Instead of droplets of water, heat waves make the plants dance
Out of the baking oven, squint, sure enough
Ice cream sandwiches hand delivered "Enjoy" - God

Lumpia and BBQ, I'm convinced that's what angles eat
Every time you made it you remembered those hungry kids
We'd plaster our faces to the window and watch the hand off
Impatiently waiting for Dad to get back in

Every Christmas a gift
A toy or two for the little one
Candy for us to split

Why did you do it?
You never got anything in return
Working, serving, you never gave up or quit

Unable to really move or speak
Grandma remained a Catholic devout
'Cause you faithfully served her communion in a Mennonite nursing home

Loud, sweaty, grubby, cranky, you saw
And I'm sure heard us at our worst
It was through a pair of Filipino hands God kept Elijah fed
And if God let's you into His kitchen
Man I can't wait for that feast

In honor of Pete & Candi Blanco

Musings about a Dust Pan

I realized today that we’ve gone through countless brooms in my lifetime, but we’ve always had the exact same dust pan.

Yellow Arrows

On the Camino Portuguese you mostly follow yellow arrows that are painted on various things, trees, rocks, random poles etc.

Here are some thoughts from my journal.

“We’ve learned when at a crossroads with no way mark to go as straight as possible. If after a bit you still don’t see one, go back and try the other way. (Yes applicable to life). 

The arrows remind me of the pillar of fire by night and cloud by day that God lead Israel with.”

10 Cent Miracles

“10 cent miracles?” I hear you ask, allow me to explain.

A 10 cent miracle is whenever you pray, or need help and God let’s you see what He’s doing. It’s what our trip in Europe was full of.

Sometimes they’re something unexpected, like a free place to stay in London for two nights. Or when we couldn’t get a hold of anyone at that free place, and were hopelessly trying to plan how to get there Emily’s friend just showed up.

Sometimes they appear when you use your brain or listen to Em’s gut and don’t stay at the, 100% guaranteed you’ll catch some horrible disease hostel in Oxford. Instead we ended up at a jolly bed and breakfast where no one puked their brains out at 3 am.

A 10 cent miracle was the amazing place we stayed in Cerri Italy.

Sometimes they’re a specifically answered prayer, like the fridge, hot water boiler, and tea that was provided in our above mentioned room.

Sometimes they’re a stranger setting you straight. On the Camino when we were walking and searching for way markers we couldn’t find, someone would on their own, stop what they were doing and set us in the right direction.

And sometimes a 10 cent miracle makes no sense. One of the days on the Camino I was positive I would be writing a blog about how we had to quite because Emily’s Achilles was acting up. After four hours of indecision, and being positive (at least in my mind) walking was wrong, we set out again. At the end of that gut wrenching time, we hadn’t come up with a better plan, so we decided to hike and see how her foot was by the end of the day. This time on the way out of the city I was more ok with the thought of walking. The amazing part, Em’s foot was fine for pretty much the rest of the day! It remained sore for the rest of the hike, but we finished it.

A 10 cent miracle was when we were allowed into a private garden to pick figs as the rain started pouring down. I realized later that was the hardest it rained all day, and in that moment, when I was the least than excited about walking in the rain again, God gave encouragement in the shape of a fig.

Why 10 cent miracles? One of the days we were “hiking” through an industrial zone, after awhile we decided to take a break at some shrine or memorial that was on the side of the road. I took my shoes off because my feet needed to air, and I sortta had some blisters by this point. While we were eating I knocked my backpack over and some stuff fell out which I put back in. We finished resting and headed out again. We’d gone maybe a block when I had to stop and get whatever it was in my shoe out. I thought it might have been the moleskin on my toes had come off. However when I reached into the shoe I discovered it wasn’t moleskin, it was 10 cents. It was like it was dropped in there from heaven. Hence in the sprit of Brother’s K (one of Emily’s favorite book), 10 cent miracles were born.

The cool thing, they’re still happening. In San Fran Mom was looking for a place to park, and after unloading the groceries at my brother’s apartment she drove around trying to find something. 10 minutes later she came back, I didn’t know until we left, she’d gotten a spot right outside the apartment.

The thought behind 10 cent miracles isn’t to put God in a box, or limit what He can do. It’s simply a way to recognize His work and marvel at what He does, every day, big things and “small” ones.  

When we were waiting in Santiago (the end of the Camino) for the bus to take us to the airport, I dropped 10 cents and couldn't find it. Some how it seemed fitting... 

Home

The thing with being by the window on an 11 hour plane ride is that it's much harder to get up and move around with two people between you and the isle. So I sat there the entire flight; reading, trying to sleep, eating, I even watched three movies! My legs were very happy at the end when I got to stand up. I haven't decided yet, but I may prefer the isle for flights longer than 6-8 hours. (Shocking I know.)

I must say the flight was much more "classy" than Ryanair, the flying commercial, but the safety demonstration was less epic. 

The real excitement happened at the airports. Here's a recap.....

Yesterday I became the random person who got pulled aside in Frankfurt and "searched". The whole thing was so funny. I made a mistake and made eye contact with a aimlessly wandering guard on my way to the bathroom. (At last I understood when he asked if I spoke German). I was trying hard not to laugh as they patted me down/checked my bag, I think it weirded them out a little because I kept chuckling. But we give Casey so much flack. The guy examining my bag, must have felt self conscious. because he was kinda clumsy in putting stuff back. Before that I had to unzip my bag in Salzburg for security, to show my water bottles were empty. Anyway, in addition to making me think of my sketchy brother, it seemed similar to when I would try to get ushers for MH, so I actually kinda felt sorry for them. As I laughed my head off of course.

As I was waiting at the airport a small girl either thought I was someone else, or I was wearing something that made her think of someone else. She kept staring at me even at the end of the flight! and kept trying to tell her mother something but it wasn't in English. (I think she cried every time she was awake on the flight. She'd work herself up to the point she'd be coughing). 

To end this very long email, when I was tying to get your bag out of the trash bag and on my back, the security beagle took an interest in my backpack that was on the floor. So I had to unzip my bag and show the food I had in there. Actually the guy asked if I had fresh fruit in there, and I told him I had some in there earlier. He basically believed me I think, but just had to "check".

I always knew it would be harder for me to get back into the country than leave. My flight got in at noon yesterday, but I didn't get home until 10:30 pm. Mom, the little girls and I drove around San Francisco sightseeing/waiting to meet up with my brother who is studying there this quarter. It was a long day, and sadly for my Mother and sisters I was a bit overtired. 

Flying and lessons learned: 6 am flights not necessarily so great. 3:20 wake up calls SUCK! I do like airplane food. I love Ryanair's safety demonstration. It's the best part of the flight. 

Oh and just to set the record straight, I did get a new knife in Spain, but it's a lot smaller. 

Team Name: PS aka Pope Stalkers

For those who might be concerned because you have not heard from me in awhile, I am still alive. So is Emily, we have yet to kill each other. For those wondering why I am writing every word, it is because I can not find the apostrophe key on this Italian keyboard.

I am sitting at a fancy hotel that we checked into, (it was surprisingly cheap, although the airport shuttle does not run on Sundays or at 5 am), taking advantage of their free computer usage, wearing complimentary slippers on my feet.


Funny moments with Nicole and Emily: it took us probably three minutes to figure out how the heck to get into our room. We were given a card. No problem, you just slide it in the top or side or whatever and you are in, right? Wrong! You are supposed to simply touch the card to the pad. Go figure. Then we got in the room, put our stuff down and what not and next thing we know the lights go out. Not only that we are locked in our room!


I stumbled my way in pitch black toward Emily who was at the door to hand off the key card. Turns out you have to put the card in a slot on the inside to keep the electricity on. Ooops....

Other than this charming hotel in the industrial district, we have seen much of Italy from train/bus windows and actually stopped in Rome, and the Cinque Terre area.

Rome: we were there for two nights, basically a day and a half. We met up with our friend Trinity at 1 and she showed us around the city and suggested good, inexpensive places to eat.

Before that Emily and I wandered around and saw a few sights on our own. The most noteworthy was we went to the Vatican and guess what, WE SAW THE POPE AGAIN!!! He was addressing the crowds talking about his trip to England. Ah life....


It was also at the Vatican that I discovered I was carrying an illegal weapon and had my knife confiscated.

Then we went down to the Cinque Terre region where we stayed for three nights, two and a half days or so. I do not have time to tell you all about those adventures, so I will just mention the highlights.

We stayed in an AWESOME bed and breakfast, in a small village tucked away in one of the hills. Think the 5 Cities without all the tourists. It was amazing. One day we went to actual Cinque Terre, and the other day we just spent exploring where we were.

To get to Cinque Terra we hiked 4 km to a Lerici where we caught a water taxi/boat to the first of the 5 Towns. We did not get to the last town because it was raining, getting late, and we still had to figure out the buses to get back/knew there was a good chance we would be walking again. And since parts of the road did not have good shoulders let alone sidewalks, we decided to do it in the day light.

Tomorrow we fly out to Porto Portugal to begin the hiking part of our pilgrimage. I can pretty much guarantee I will not be anywhere near a computer for the next 10 days. So if you miss us, just reread this and it will be like we never left.

Oh yeah, and always wise Em, reminded me that if you wanna pray for us as we hike through who knows where, that would probably be good. Actually we know yall are already praying from the way things have worked out so far. Mary, keep it up.

If you want a specific request, we still need a place to stay for one night in London after the Camino. Preferably near the airport.

Remember to
Have fun and......DONT DIE!!!

This is late but...

.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEIDI!!!

Did you have a good one? What kind of cake did you eat? Is anyone even reading you this blog?

I am sitting at a Library in Oxford (go figure) figuring out with Emily what we are doing next. Conclusion, Rome is EXPENSIVE. And we're not so good at hostling, we tend to go the more comfortable safe route. But hey, it's a once in a lifetime vacation right? (Well for me anyway).

We are currently staying at a B&B here, which really wasn't that much more than the hostel we looked at.

We came to Oxford because after a night and day of London, Emily and I both realized neither of us are city people, and we'd already seen what we wanted to see anyway.

The coolest part about London is that we were able to stay with one of Emily's friends and his family. It was great because they not only gave us food and a place to sleep (which is amazing in itself) but they also gave us tips on things to see, let us borrow maps and taught us how to use the Tube. We would have managed on our own, but I think because of their help we got much less lost. Even then we went in circles a couple of times.

I've learned a lot about traveling, things like, take some time before you get to the next place to figure out where you're staying. It is not fun running around a city with your poorly packed backpack thumping against your back.

Looks like Em's ready to go. Time to find some tea, scones and possibly a nice romp along the Thames.

P.S. Suzi, about the note, "very funny, I almost forgot to laugh."

Today I Saw the Pope

No joke, Emily and I saw the Pope today in London. It's his first visit since, well I guess since Henry the eigth (it's too late to remember roman numerals) split from the Catholic Church and created the Church of England.

Last night we saw the musical Oliver in London. I thought it was very fitting and it was fun.

Tomorrow Oxford?

Next at bat

Austria has been great. I will be a little bummed to leave, but I must admit, I probably won't miss the cleaning or dishes, even though it wasn't that bad. And if I'm truthfully honest, I think it was a good transition from MH to traveling.

If I were a master word smith, I still don't think I could do the Austrian countryside justice. Think, foothills, forests, Yosemite, and farming, all in one place and green. It's "super awesome".

Tomorrow Emily and I fly to London. The Plan: we have 4 1/2 days to see London and any other part of England we want to visit. Oh, and it looks like we can stay with a friend of hers for at least the first night. Other than that we have a few things we've talked about doing/seeing, and that's about it.  

And just in case I don't get to this before, Rome is on deck.

Nicole + Europe. Word Vom Version

Well I made it to Europe, it took 29 hours, three planes, a bus, and two trains, but I made it. It was only supposed to be one train, but the door didn't open so I missed the stop. Thankfully, trains here are much more common than at home so I was able to catch another one and actually get off the second time round.

Since then I've developed a cold, and a horrible case of jet lag. I keep telling myself I'm too tough to be tired, but the lag knows no master.

On Saturday, after cleaning all morning, Emily, myself and some of her friends, hopped half a dozen trains to get to and from Vienna. The way there was supposed to be one train, but the bus made us miss our train, then the conductor of the next train said we could get on, but when he came to take our ticket he told us we either had to pay a bunch of money or get off. We decided to get off and try to figure out if another train was going to come by. There was another train coming that wouldn't kick us off, but we had an hour wait.  By that time everyone was hungry, so we went to the store and bought food for dinner and breakfast.

Random side note, the stores here have a circle tree logo, it makes me think of MH.

We caught the train only to discover that no other "slow train" was going to Vienna that night (please keep in mind were not even half way there yet and it's already night). The conductor on this train however was MUCH more helpful and he called to see if we could ride the fast train for free since it was the transportation people that messed up. He was told NO. So Em suggested we pray, which we did. The conductor decided to try again and this time he got a YES! We were stoked.

Because we got in so late that night we basically just hung out and didn't see much of the city that night. It was weird walking around Vienna the next morning. In some ways it was just like a normal big American city, but in other ways it was very different. I can't fully explain how except to say, the McDonalds look much nicer.

It only took three trains to get back. It was nice to be in the right place at the right time.

Since then life has continued to be crazy busy, as we finish cleaning, and Emily and friends pack in the last minute fun before they have to leave.

Monday night was a staff dinner at a nice restaurant, (they let me come) and then, well I don't know what it's actually called, I call it Austrian Bowling. The balls are smaller and only have two holes, also the point system/pin set up is different. I did better when I went over to Team 2 where my "family"was.

Tuesday after work I went on a walk with Emily, the countryside is awesome here! Later we had a bonfire and made stick bread.

Conclusions from Austria so far,
US needs some castles. Cathedrals are cool, but I would HATE to try to run sound in one.  I now recognize what "next stop" on a train sounds like in Austrian. Jet lag stinks. Kabobs are amazing. Big fire, stick bread with chocolate, fellowship, guitar/singing keeps me awake pretty dang good. German has enough words similar to English, that on rare occasion I get the gist of what is being said. I do not understand Spanish from Spain.  (Not that I understand it anyway).

I think that's long enough. And I've caught up to today anyway. I don't know when I'll have internet again or if I'll ever post anything ever again. So enjoy this for as long as you can.

Nicole. Out.

I did something

I'm really confused on how to use this thing. There's a good chance this might be the only thing I ever post, but at least the blog will look less blah.

Tomorrow I fly out. Now I pack.