free hugs anyone?

Have you heard about the "Free Hugs" campaign?

This one guy, Juan Mann (who looks like Jesus with glasses) started it all in Sydney, Australia. If you haven't seen the video or read his story, you can check it out here.

Anyway, Wednesday night we are having a "Random Acts Of Kindness" night at the college group. We have these nights every other month. They are a great way to get out into our community and share God's love.

What are we doing this time? Yep. Free Hugs. We'll be splitting our students up into groups of 5 and sending them all over the county. And they will be holding up signs and giving free hugs to complete strangers. How will it go? How will people respond? Will police be called? Will it bring smiles to peoples' faces? Will they think we are weird?

I'll let you know.

** UPDATE (Friday Feb. 27) **

The night ended up going really well! We made posters and then had 5 groups go out to different locations. Some people were wary and walked by with a "no thanks" but for the most part, people were TOTALLY into it! One group went to a bowling alley and it was like a hugging frenzy. There was one crew in front of a grocery store and a woman came out and found out they were from a church and asked for prayer! The students prayed with her right there in the parking lot. Love it. My favorite part of coming back and seeing everyone's pictures was noticing how everyone hugging (or being hugged) had a huge smile on their face. One simple act of kindness can make someone's whole night.

observations

Here are my observations after spending the day with my nephew.

* Sorry to everyone else in the world who has a baby. He wins. He is the cutest and most adorable.

* He loves being changed. I'd lay him on his changing table and we'd just smile, make noises, play around.

* Speaking of smiling, I mention this in the video below but he smiles so much! Every time he smiled, I would squeal loudly and then he'd stop smiling and look all concerned. So I had to learn to just keep my mouth shut and not let any obnoxious sounds come out of my mouth.

* He spit up. A LOT. His clothes and mine got soaked.

* He sleeps. A LOT. I barely have time to play with him before he is fed and put back down for another nap. That's the life.

* I realized that I am a bit envious of babies. First of all, if you know me, you know I LOVE to sleep. And that's a ton of what babies do. Also they eat a lot. Sweet! I love food too. Also, people play with you and bring you whatever you need. Heck, you could be sitting in your stroller, chillin' and having a nice poop and they will even clean it up for you!

* People's voices raise about four octaves around babies. Judah and I went for a walk and I would say hi and have conversations with people on the street. It didn't matter if they were young or old, male or female. They'd talk in normal tones with me and then turn to Judah and in high pictched voices say, "Well, hello there!! Aren't you the sweetest thing!" It was awesome.

* I love watching his eyes. He looks around at everything and I wonder what he's thinking.

* I'm sorry friends, I have become one of those annoying aunts who always talks about their niece/nephew. I promise to blog about something other than Judah very soon.

* I LOVE HIM!!!

Top Ten Things Sarah Is Thinking About

10. Yeah for President's Day. A lovely day off yesterday.

9. Day 13 of my cold. Seriously? Be gone!

8. Can someone please explain the $787 billion stimulus plan to me?

7. Rain, rain, rain. We need it. So that's good. But Sarah needs to see a glimpse of the sun to not go crazy. Maybe tomorrow?

6. My co-worker Jeff and I are working on a 90's playlist. All our favorite songs from the 90's. Blog coming soon about that. I'll want your input. Start thinking now...

5. Going to the orthodontist on Thursday to get rubberbands put on my braces. Time to straighten that jaw! Bring it.

4. Saw "He's Just Not That Into You" last week with a friend. We laughed ourselves silly. Definitely a movie to see with some ladies. There were a couple things I didn't like, but overall it was very entertaining.

3. The author of The Shack is coming to my church in a couple weekends. It will be cool to hear him share.

2. Judah-time in 3 days. Yes, I will be taking a ton o' pictures and maybe a video or two. Can't help it.

1. We're doing a series on Christian apologetics in the college group. Last week we talked about "Is the bible reliable?" This week is evolution vs. creation. Coming up next month: Heaven and Hell (are they real?) and Jesus (did he really exist? Was he the son of God? Did he really raise from the dead on the third day? etc) Some amazing conversations have been going on! I like seeing students wrestle with this stuff.

being an aunt is the coolest

I get to go to my sister's house next Thursday, spend the night, and then play with Judah ALL DAY FRIDAY!! I have not seen my adorable nephew in weeks, so I feel like the luckiest person in the world. Amy sent me a video to get me excited for my up-coming Sarah/Judah hang-out time.



Love you, little man.

cell phones and rainbows

Today I met a long lost friend for lunch. How did we re-connect? Facebook. Love it. Anyway, we decided to meet in between where we both live so we each only had to drive a half hour. It was so wonderful to see her and catch up on life. We both brought pictures and chatted for hours. However, after she left and I was walking back to my car, I realized...where's my cell phone?

I dug through my purse again and again. Not there.

I searched my car. Could it have falled out? Nope.

I ran back to the cafe. No one had turned it in.

I paced up and down the streets I had walked. Up and down. Up and down, scouring the sidewalk for any sign of it. No luck.

So then I went into mini-panic mode. Um, crap. I've never lost my phone before. I don't know if any of you have, but it is NOT a fun feeling. And then just to make things worse, it started to rain.

The first scenario that ran through my head: it was out in the street somewhere (fallen out of my purse) and had been promptly run over by a car and then rained on. I imagined the noises and sparks coming out of my phone (like you see in movies) as it slowly died.

Second scenario that ran through my head: some creep found it and was now using it to make long distance calls to Herzegovina and my bill would be two million dollars.

Third and most hopeful scenario: some kind person found it and would try and track me down. Not the most likely, but one can hope, right?

So I sadly got in my car and drove home. The first half of my drive I was still freaking out. I was thinking about the hassle to cancel the number, go buy a new phone (which are flippin' expensive), get it activated, put everyone's numbers in all over again (ahhh!), not having a phone for awhile if people needed to get ahold of me, etc etc.

But then.

Through the rain, a huge beam of sunlight came shining through. I immediately looked around and - WHOA. There it was. A big, beautiful rainbow. It was like I had literally just driven under it. And here's the best part....I could see where it touched the ground! I have never seen that before! I've never been close enough to see it where it touched the ground. But it was right there!

Instantly, my heart calmed. I breathed. My mind cleared. Suddenly, all my worries didn't seem so bad anymore. Thanks God.

I got home, feeling a lot better. I went into the kitchen and saw there were two messages on our machine. Who were they from? My mom and my sister. Both messages said:

"Hey Sarah? Just wanted to let you know a lady named Ashley found your phone. It was out in the parking lot where she works. She's holding it for you. Here's her number..."

Snow Blast countdown

We're home!

It was a great weekend. I'm still sick (you'll hear me losing my voice in some of the videos), but thankful for such a wonderful trip. Here's the countdown:


40 cupcakes made for Michael's "birthday"

Michael's "birthday"


28 games of pool played (yep, our cabin had a pool table AND hot tub!)

23 of us on the trip

18 times Steve (a leader) said, "That's not okay..." (way too many funny and/or inappropriate moments on this trip)

15 games played (Apples to Apples, Speed Scrabble, Catch Phrase, Monopoly, cards, etc)

13 times people sledded into trees or bushes

sledding


11 movies watched over the weekend

10 skiiers/snowboarders on Friday



9 times Sarah started driving too fast on the freeway and then slowed down for the others (I kept forgetting we had to stay together on the road)

7 snowmen made



6 snowball fights



6 racketball games played (there was a rec center nearby)

5 store runs (we need TP! paper and pens! cake mix! tupperware!)

5 vehicles taken for the trip

4 epic games of telephone pictionary

telephone pictionary


3 guys in bikini tops at dinner one night

3 times Jesus tried to take the wheel from Jeff (we had a bobblehead Jesus on our dashboard and he kept falling and sliding over to the driver's side)

2 amazing cooks (leaders) who spoiled us with delicious food all weekend

2 screams in the middle of the night (one girl had a nightmare and woke us all up at three a.m. by screaming "DON'T!STOP!" So freaky....but memorable)

2 In 'N Out stops (one on the way up, one on the way down)



1 trip to church Sunday morning

1 day of a student snowboarding with his luchador mask on (he got many, many looks)

1 midnight hospital visit (a girl had an asthma attack)

1 Expedition stuck in the snow with the tires spinning

1 mullet haircut in the bathroom



100 moments of laughter, new friendships, and fun.

sick

I'm sick.

Luckily, it's not the throwing-up-chills-and-sweats flu. But I still feel yucky. I took yesterday and today off. I HAVE to get better because tomorrow I'm taking 25 students to Tahoe for our snow weekend. So here's my agenda today: sleep, take medicine, drink lots of fluids, suck lozenges, and sleep some more.

** UPDATE THURSDAY FEB. 5TH **

Still not feeling well. But leaving now to go to Tahoe. I'm just going to take it reeeeeally easy. If you think of it this weekend, please pray for me to feel better soon and for safety. It's snowing up there so we are gonna need extra protection prayers. Thank you, friends! I'll share pictures and stories when I get home!

Superbowl XLIII recap

Did you all watch the Superbowl yesterday? Great game! First off, how amazing was Jennifer Hudson with the national anthem?! Sing it, girl!! Then the game: I'm not the hugest football fan, but I was rooting for the Cardinals. Larry Fitzgerald is my new hero. His arms seemed to stretch out of nowhere and grab onto whatever Kurt Warner threw him. I loved the end of the 4th quarter when it was 20-16 (Steelers were ahead) and he ran straight down the field past everyone else for a touchdown. I screamed my head off (my throat hurts today).

I seriously thought the Cards were going to win. I had been eating throughout the game, but from that point on, I was "nervous eating" with my eyes glued to the tube. In the end, the Steelers won, but the Cards gave it their best.

Thumbs up commercials:

1st place - Denny's. The mafia-looking thugs in the booth talking about "takin' care of someone" and then the waitress spraying whipped cream all over their pancakes. Classic.

2nd place - Bud Light with Conan O'Brian. Don't worry Conan, they'll only see this commercial in Sweden.

3rd place - Monster.com with the moose head through the wall. So funny!

Runner up - E*trade talking babies ("Take these broken wings! And learn to fly again!")

Thumbs down commercials:

Any commercial that degraded women - the Fast and the Furious trailer, GoDaddy.com (both of them), Doritos (the guy's "Lucky Day"), Teleflora talking flowers, etc. I was disgusted and dumbfounded. KIDS are watching these commercials! Families are watching these commercials! I AM WATCHING THESE COMMERCIALS. They are not appropriate or acceptable no matter who you are.

And then for the best part...a whole hour of The Office! *cue opening song* I thought it was a great episode. I laughed at so many parts. The chaotic beginning with the smoke and throwing objects at windows, doors, and the vending machines, Angela's cat toss, Oscar's feet breaking through the ceiling, Stanley saying he has to stay calm in the office ("I'm gonna die"), Kevin doing CPR on the dummy and quitting, saying "Call it..." Dwight cutting off the dummy's face, Michael's roast, Pam sharing that he falls for internet scams all the time, Kelly's list of who'd she kiss before Michael Scott (Lord Voldemort), the list goes on and on. It made my night.

What were your thoughts on the Superbowl, commercials, Office episode?