cambi heat
photos are up for anyone who is interested in getting a sneak peek at some of the sights from cambodia. not a comprehensive look, but at least some starters.
www.flickr.com/photos/pinkhouser
reflections on the trip to be posted after all of my inner-processing is complete (or at least a little further along). stay tuned.
worlds collide
you know what i really love? when the many facets (sp?) of my life come together. for instance, i always loved it in college when i could bring my friends home with me for a weekend to meet my family. becuase up til then, a)i love my family and b)i love my college friends, but c)they have no experiential knowledge of or love for each other. and it is a most wonderful thing getting to introduce the people that you love to each other; to let them collectively come to love and appreciate all of the things that you love about them individually.
it truly is one of my favorite things. it makes me very happy.
i have had TWO opportunitites for this in the past week. bless my soul.
number ONE: JMU meets salisbury
first of all, i hope all of you watched the UNC/MD women's game on sunday. i was there. it was fantastic. not only because UNC kicked butt, but because i was with the most delightful of people . . . some of which i have not seen in a very long time. my dearest friend/roommate kate from JMU came up from NC. we met up with another roommate (amy), faith harr and anna harr for dinner at applebees and the game. pics on flickr.
number TWO: salisbury meets family
stephanie and eric catellier are out here in CO with me for a long weekend with my family. a great mix. lots of snow. more pics on flickr.
here we are: brandon (bro), me, steph and eric; skiing at loveland.
how cold is it in colorado, you ask? today we skied in -4 degrees. yes, you read correctly. NEGATIVE FOUR DEGREES.
and just in case you need a refresher course on ski safety, the resort prints it for you on the napkins. never leave the lodge without your own personal copy of the "skier's responsibility code."
bye bye anna peipon
friday night we celebrated our mutual love for anna peipon and our mutual sadness to see her depart once again from the eastern shore. lucky nepalesians.
(yeah, i have no idea if that's what you call people from nepal. i feel so ignorant sometimes.)
to see the night documented in pictures, go to
www.flickr.com/photos/pinkhouser
p.s. i missed getting pics of some people. some of them didn't turn out, and others i just missed. sorry bout that. i'll do better next time.
This is the point of no return.
After the sun set behind the canyon's horizon he packed his things (having only one hand available) and prepared himself for the jump. This took about 2 minutes.At that point he had the full attention of the crowd.
After that, he jumped on his thong sandals...
The canyon's depth is 900 meters here.
Now you can see that the adjacent rock is higher so he tried to land lower, which is quite steep and tried to use his one hand to grab the rock.
We've come to the end of this little story. Look carefully at the photographer. He has a camera, a tripod and also a plastic bag, all on his shoulder or in his left hand. Only his right hand is available to grab the rock and the weight of his stuff is a problem.
alive.
i shared this story with a friend recently and she said she was encouraged by it. i was glad. the lesson encourage me too. so i thought, perhaps, you might want to read it too. :-)
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i was remembering a day when i was in grad school.
it was winter. the day was bleak - cloudy, grey.
i was driving back from my internship and was noticing the trees. how dead they looked. no leaves, no color, dark, empty-looking. and how a lot of times i feel just like the trees looked.
dead, dark, empty.
but then it struck me that even though the trees LOOK dead in the winter,
they actually aren't.
for some reason it was one of those, "huh, i've never really thought about that" moments. like something in me thought that the trees died in the winter and came back to life in the spring. but they don't. they are always alive, even when they don't look it.
i was encouraged that day by the revelation. and i have been encouraged by it recently. that even at the times when i may look dead and grey on the outside or even feel that way, that i'm not. i am very much alive because i have another Life that is living in me. One that cannot die. One that, in fact, has beat death.
and it is that Life that drives my own. that will change my own. that guides my moves, understands and directs my heart and is my sustenance.
even when you feel like you are losing your battle over there, the One within you is alive and active.
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spa day
as part of my christmas present, momma and i went for massages, manicures and pedicures today. one word - FAB-U-LOUS!
a couple pics from the day: the cute little salon. complete with bamboo. some crazy, gritty purple stuff they smear all over your feet. the finished product (aren't the pretty?). 
left: momma, daddy and 
more lyrics.
these are similar to the last, but much older.
read and refresh your soul.
pray this.
i really enjoy these lyrics.
something very simple and poetic about them.
as well as truthful.
(verses only seen here)
we stutter and we stammer till You say us
a symphony of chaos till You play us
phrases on the pages of unknown
‘til You read us into poetry and prose
we are kept and we are captive till You free us
vaguely unimagined ‘til You dream us
aimlessly unguided ‘til You lead us home
passed over and passed by until you claim us
orphaned and abandoned ‘til you name us
hidden and disclosed ‘til you expose you hearts
-healed; nichole nordeman
at the cultural village.
