re: iguana in my mouth

so i wanted to look up a picture to show people this lizard that attacked me and i found it. i found out that it is commonly named the "jesus christ lizard" - because it can walk/run on water. cra-zy. which verifys my story seeing that my mouth was at the level of the water. in the dark. ( it looked just like this)

and that is how that sorta thing happens.

stay tunned to hear about when we almost got the poison dart frog in our mouth.
dang it.

pura vida!

this means "pure life." duh.
everyone just says it here.
here being the fabulous place of la fortuna, costa rica.
we love it. and it may not exsist in 4 years because it sits at the base of an ACTIVE volcano. so that means red lava is shooting out every 2 minutes. im not even joking - im at javalava right now looking at it.
yesterady we went on a hike through the jungle to a waterfall - on the way we found a ocelot which is like a jaguar. it was just a cub and so we played with it and picked it up, hoping the mom wasnt watching. later in the hot springs lindsay and i were hanging out in this little cave where the water is up to your neck and there are only a couple inches above your head. it was so fun and laughing and then BAM - iguana in my mouth. it was lime green and the lenth of my arm (with tail). i FREAKED out and grabed the closest stranger next me. oh yes and this cave is quite dark and small so at the time i had no idea what had just attacked my FACE. it jumped on lindsay's back and finally someone with a flash light came and caught it. at which point i forgave the poor guy and held it a bit before setting it free outside the cave. it turns out i actually loved him.

communal living anyone?

ever since i read shane claibornes book "irresistible revolution" i have thought of how cool it would be to live in a big house with a bunch of people. If there were just like 10 of us... singles, couples, kids (just no pets:)) who share the same purpose (that is to serve jesus) and just do life together. Rent would be really cheap and we could take turns cooking. We would have big bbqs and game nights. book clubs and charity events. I dont know how realistic it is but if you are interested, let me know.

Also check out thesimpleway.org - their mission is "to love God. to love people. and to follow Jesus."

"love"

this was the title of the message this morning at church. which is probably the most broad title ever, but the message was so good and i love the pastor, jim burgen. he is real and the messages are challenging in an encouraging kind of way. anyway, he talked a bit about peter walking on the water. and how we shouldn't just sit in the boat. maybe we will fail, but like a dad teaching his kid to ride a bike, God's just gonna come along side and tell us "you almost had it, keep going." he talked about the things God wants to do through us that no one would even believe. how later peter might have been sitting around with friends telling the story "this one time..."
anyway, i love this verse:

"look at the nations and watch-
and be utterly amazed.
for I am going to do something in your days
that you would not believe,
even if you were told."

habukkuk 1:5

i love it

and i wanna be apart of it

meow

"But I never felt like I had much choice with Jesus; he was relentless. I didn't experience him so much as the hound of heaven, as the old description has it, as the alley cat of heaven, who seemed to believe that if it just keeps showing up , mewling outside your door, you'd eventually open up and give him a bowl of milk. Of course, as soon as you do, ... he's sleeping on your bed every night, and stepping on your chest at dawn to play a little push-push... I was tired and vulnerable and he won... He started sleeping on my bed that night. It was not so bad. It was even pretty nice. He loved me, he didn't shed or need to have his claws trimmed, and he never needed a flea dip. I mean, what a savior, right?"

ha. this is a quote by anne lamott - a author who spoke in lakewood the other night.
i have read three of her books, and thoroughly enjoy her writing. she is the type of person that makes you think "wait, you believe what!?" and "yeah, i feel the same way" all in the same chapter. her writing is humorous and honest. she is a liberal hippy and so i was expecting the like to be at her talk. nope. all older cute little ladies. the ladies who meet for book club on tuesday and knitting night on thursday. in fact there was a lady about 3 rows in front of us who was knitting whilst listening to anne lamott. i mean i guess you cant get behind on those kind of things. and by that age you can just knit in your sleep practically. or have a serious conversation with your friend. you hear the clickity-click of the needles in the background while talking on the phone. im gonna be like that.

ANYWAY, if you are interested you should check out "traveling mercies."
i love talking about things that are controversial. and anne lamott definitely fits into that category.

here are some more fun quotes by her:

“You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.”

“A hundred years from now? All new people.”

“When hope is not pinned wriggling onto a shiny image or expectation, it sometimes floats forth and opens.”

"I do not at all understand the mystery of grace - only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.”

Salam wa aleikum

the whole time i was in egypt i said "salam" to everyone thinking it meant "hello" but i guess it means "peace"...same same. people looked at me weird either way. me and my friend lindsay walking around in tank tops and big sun glasses. what? we were in the desert! needless to say, we stuck out. even when i wore my head scarf. which i am in love with by the way and you will be too. im starting a trend. head scarves for white people. you never have to do your hair again.
the trip started off wandering around nyc with our luggage. i officially hate backpacks. the backpacking kind. i put as much stuff into it as i possibly could not considering that i would be wearing it on my BACK. dang it. from now on i am only using roller bags. even if i go to the jungles of peru. after climbing trees in central park and playing the "big" piano, came 11.5 hours of bliss, that is the life of first class. never in my life would i be able to afford coach to egypt never mind first class. 2 movies, 10 meals, and a 6 hour nap later we land in the far away land of cairo, egypt.
the first thing i notice on our way to the hostel was their driving. there is no organization. a two lane road, becomes a three or four lane road. everyone is just honking all the time. i think the horn has completely lost its value, they have worn it out. now they just have to honk longer or more. hoooonk, honk-honk, honk-honk-honk - interprets into 'passing on your left.' in the mean time there are people, and not just rushed adults, but young children, crossing the streets as they wish. yes, some are on donkeys. some our carrying recently killed chickens. our driver made a joke (well, he made it a few times) that when you cross the street you just close your eyes and pray. the taxi we were in had shag carpet on the ceiling, a broken rear view mirror, no ac of course, no seat belts, and for some reason in every car in egypt the backseat left side window is always broken. in case you ever go - dont pick that side.

DNC

colorado has been anticipating the democratic national convention...and i didnt really know what to expect exactly. all i knew was that there would be a lot of people and that i wanted to some how be in all the action (oh and make money). my friends and i thought about renting out our cars or providing some kind of service (breakfast burritos perhaps). but i was excited when my friend asked if i wanted to hang out and promote verizon downtown for $150 a day. im not sure how my friend had this connection, im not a huge fan of cell phone services, but we had a blast. mostly we sang karaoke and jammed out (next to our verizon car with huge speakers) on 16th street. if you were down there we probably gave you some sunscreen. half the people that were downtown were promoting something as well. the anti-war crowd who were pushing people (mmmm...) and the hilary clinton crowd (i dont know if they heard...). my favorite was the guy holding a poster yelling "WE HAVE A VOICE AND WE NEED TO BE HEARD!!!"...then you look up at what the poster says - "BRING BACK CRYSTAL PEPSI!" hahaha. you gotta love living in america where everyone is opinionated and everyone wants to tell you about why they think what they think. even my 6 year old nephew says to me, "rock obama is so cool."
"oh yeah?" i say. "yeah, i dont like john mccain." hmmm...i wonder what kids he has been talking to on the playgroud.