Give me the Son, With all His Beams Full Dazzling!

You would think, after countless moments of God revealing his faithfulness, I would expect him to pull through before I expected him to ignore me.

Until today, the sun forgot about the existence of Kooskia, Idaho, leaving us off its daily appearance list. We live in the valley that the sun boycotts, but today, those cheery rays graced us once again.

Monday, it hailed. Tuesday, it snowed. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, it rained. Six weeks of dark and wet weather. That's 42 days...1,008 hours...60,480 minutes...3,628,800 seconds. Can you sense my depression expanding!?!?

But today, yellow beaming, warmth dripping, full-body surrounding SUN!!!

Josh is in the yard, with one of the cutest 8-year-olds I've ever seen, doing yard work. The mower is running, the boy is laughing, Josh is hollering over the noise, and I'm digging out fifteen hard-earned dollars for David, our new 3rd grade landscaper.

This morning our church had its first community event. Alongside the Chamber of Commerce, Eternal Hope Wesleyan Church put on an Easter egg hunt in the park. Nearly 150 kids, with probably 150 additional adults, showed up, baskets in tow, ready to "hunt the wabbit."

I checked my watch when Josh announced the hunt to begin- 10:02. At 10:04, there were no more eggs to be found. In two minutes, 150 children gathered over 2,000 Easter eggs! What a sight to see!

Along with the sun, God has remembered that Josh and I are still here, trying to reach this valley with His light. The winters are so long, but the Light is coming! Hope is on His way.

Doors are opening, and we find ourselves so very blessed.

Josh has been asked to speak at the community bachiloriette the end of May, my senior students have asked me to give the benediction at their graduation ceremony, and Josh has been asked to preach at the community Church in the Park this summer. Slowly, we are seeing the community embrace us, and we are praying that God will grow the body here in this little valley.

The winters may be long...as C.S. Lewis states in Narnia, "Always winter, never spring"...but the plum trees are showing their blooms, the grass is beginning to grow, the hills are turning green, and the Light is eating the dark. As promised, the Son will thrive.

Happy Easter!

A Revolutionary Conversation

I think I finally caught a glimpse of the allure of the epic toddler battle leading to the question, "Why."

For no particular reason other than sheer curiosity, and maybe slight boredom, I used no word other than "Why" for an entire conversation with my husband. Josh was the guinea pig- and he played along quite smoothly.

Because of one leading question, "Why," we spent ten minutes talking first about a topic neither of us can actually remember, which segued into the galaxy's make-up, Facebook, the Pope's childhood traumas of insecurity and his personal blame for his little brother's death (which Pope you ask? It doesn't matter- I'm fairly certain it applies to them all), the king and queen of England, drugs, conception of viruses, and finally, beauty.

Keep in mind, to really play along, the "Why" asker must change voice inflection, and the answerer must be willing to bend the truth with creativity. Or sheer tomfoolery.

Our conversation end piece, beauty, satiated me. After probably 200 "Why's," Josh finally said something noteworthy, true, timeless, and raw. It was absolutely cheesy, and yet, profound.

Ready? Here goes.

"People have to be ugly."

"Why?"

"Because if everyone is ugly, then no one can be beautiful."

"Why?"

"Because if everyone was beautiful, then beauty would only be skin deep. And there would be no room for someone who has a good heart to be called beautiful."

"Okay."

Try it. It will blow your mind.

WARNING: This activity will make you question the title of "adult." Be prepared to feel like a toddler when participating in this toddler activity.

Bathrooms as Photo Galleries?

I need your help understanding something.

I'm not incredibly old, and I work with teenagers every single day, but sometimes, I'm totally clueless to their behavior.

Of all the places to capture photos of yourself, the restroom? It makes absolutely no sense to me at all. Three times this week while using the restroom, I've noticed female students standing in front of the mirrors, snapping shots of themselves for what I can only assume will end up on Facebook or MySpace.

A. I'm never letting students go to the bathroom again, because now I know why they ask, and it is most definitely not to go potty.
B. How appealing can it be to have a picture of yourself, trying to look sexy, with three toilets in the background? If that's sexy, then I have failed.

I thought this was the new fad in northern Idaho only, but I just logged off of my own Facebook page and saw four...count them...FOUR other bathroom profile pictures from my own friend list, which includes mostly mid-westerners.

I'm lost. The bathroom is the last place I want to snap a picture of myself.

On a side note, this week I had a team meeting with the cranky mother who sent me on an early spring break. The four male faculty teachers in attendance surrounded me with their presence, one of them declaring he would absorb a punch if the meeting should come to that.

When the mom entered, my blood pressure sky-rocketed. I had an instant migraine from the pulsing blood in my brain.

The loner the meeting went, the more tense I became, but I was vocal. I truly do want to see the student successful, so I wanted my voice to be heard.

The longer the meeting went, though, the stranger the facial expressions of the men sitting around me.

They each cocked their heads a bit, their eyes grew slightly more narrow than usual, and they looked confused. It wouldn't have caught my attention had they not all been making this face at me.

At the tail end of the meeting, the mother did apologize to me in front of everyone, but at the same time, she told me to get over it. Let the past be the past. Move on! Let bygones be bygones. I'm sorry, but if someone chews you out, tells you you're a horrible teacher, then hangs up on you, saying, "Let the past be the past" is the very worst way to indicate remorse. Then she actually said these words: "You should be glad I hung up on you. I felt cuss words coming, so I did what I had to."

In my brain, I was having my own conversation.

"No. Being cussed out is one thing, but being hung up on infuriates me. I hate it- it's the ultimate sign of disrespect in my book when dealing with other adults."

"I'd rather be cussed out, because at least the other person is willing to get the frustration out and then move on to productive conversation. At least I get my say. Being hung up on severs communication. As nasty as being cussed out is, at least communication is still going on."

Again, cue the narrow eyed, head cocked, confused look from the other teachers.

The meeting ended, I grabbed my things, and speedily walked down to my classroom. Another teacher followed me in, and I said, "Okay- what is it? Do I have a big booger on my nose or something? Am I covered in sweat???!"

My teacher friend looked at me and said, "Ashley, you are covered in hives!"

My body betrayed me!!! I was trying to look so calm. I was breathing deeply- I was tightening muscles and letting them relax. I was doing everything I could think of to appear calm.

Curse you, hives!

Now I know, to preserve and document moments like those, I need to walk down to the restroom, snap a picture of myself, and then upload to this blog.

What was I thinking?!

Is a Week Too Long?

Rather than travel all over the Northwest, Josh and I opted to stay home this spring break, but I'm beginning to think we've both caught cabin fever.

The following conversation occurred during dinner tonight, when Josh starting choking and coughing. Me, being the helpful, loving wife that I am, offered, "Quick! I'll give you the Heimlich!"

Now here's where I started to realize we've both officially lost it...

Assume a German accent.

Josh: "Heimlich- that's the boy who steals my lunch money."

Ashley: "Yeah. Every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday."

We both looked at each other in total shock, then burst up laughing for a very hearty two minutes.

We need to get out more, but acting like children with German accents is, in all honesty, quite a hoot!