In 3 hours...

I will have to be awake again.

I am going to Wichitaw, Kansas this weekend with the Mortonaires. The Mortonaires are a mens' singing group from the Morton AC Church. They have a history of traveling out-of-state at least once a year, and this is carried out by a dandy "bus ride."

Looking back into my gradeschool days, I see many melodious memories of Kristi Daniel, Abi Witzig and I (us 3 being the daughters of Mortonaires- a very important title) riding many-a-bus to many-a-state and camping out there for the weekend while getting to listen to wonderful music sung by well-practiced brothers in our church. We would usually bring plent of games, one of the famous games being Rush Hour. That is a good game. Nonetheless, these trips in the bus were unforgettable and a highlight of my younger days.

And so now I will return to this adventurous journey and venture over to Kansas. I go mainly because I have family in Kansas that I rarely get to see, so this was a great opportunity for me to visit them. My friend, Holly, will also be going for the same reason, and she will also serve as a companion of my age to keep me sane. :)

I won't mention that I rode on a bus for over 30 hours last weekend. That would be besides the point.

I will mention, however, that although I am making this sound like more of an obligation than a happy choice, I am quite excited. "Trips" are always fun, no matter who the company and where the destiny. Which brings me to an excellent analogy...

Our lives are like "trips." Why? Because we aren't really here to stay. When you go on vacation, it's not like you are going to decide to live there. You're just there for a few weeks. Well- our lives are likened to a vapor in the Bible, and that is sounding pretty miniscule and fast to me in the grand sceme of things; kind of like how vacations are fun little trips sprinkled into our vast lives. When we travel our destination on a trip, we need a means of transportation and, of course, some gas to get there. Let's see this as our journey (traveling) fueled by the Word (gas). With these two very important factors, let's not leave out the biggest factor that is the DRIVING FORCE behind it all- Jesus Christ. If we don't have a good map and good directions (or a GREAT leader), we will get lost. We will either hit a dead end, get slowed in the process, or end up somewhere that we don't want to be. So it is when we don't let Christ lead us...so- take this lesson- if we view our lives as a "little trip" in which we are only just here to do the Lord's work, we can look forward to our final destination- Heaven!

I have found over the past couple of years that my mind works hugely in analogies. I find connections between everything, and while they may make sense to me, I apologize if they just seem like a big unorganized mess of words to others. We all think differently; some of us in cut and dry logic, some of us in patterns and analogies, and others of us in pictures and illustrations.

Tonight, I went to Uno's Pizzeria in Chicago with some friends, and I just have to share the most delightful part of my evening. Topic: FOOD. I had the most amazing meal; a DEEP DISH pepperoni pizza and then I split a luxurious peanutbutter cup topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, drizzled with peanutbutter sauce and chocolate. Mmmm. Following are some pictures of this experience. Tracy definitely helped me out on this one. Thanks, Trace. I'm glad we made the right choice.

Before


After


Well, I'd love to stay in chat, but I'm pretty sure I'll regret that if I stay up any longer, so for the sake of the others who will be riding with me tomorrow... I best be off. I love you all, and don't you ever forget that! Jesus does, too.

T