Spain Wins!!!!

GOOOOOOOAAAALLL! And with a score of 1-0, Spain won Euro 2008. The excitement is more than we can bare.

Soccer Ecstasy

In case you've just emerged from a bunker, today was the final game of Euro 2008. Some have described the Euro games as second only to the World Cup. Spain and Germany are in the final (game is still going on) but I think we're enduring all the stress, ecstasy and joy we can handle :)

Oooh, Torres just scored. Go Spain!

Eating Rubber

In the past few days God has laid before my eyes the story of the woman caught in adultery. I read it in a devotional, heard it in sermons and came across it in various readings. So you'd think I would have been asking God, "Why are you teaching me about not judging others?" You'd think.

This week we had our company's trustees in the building, and I immediately was on edge. I've not always agreed with some of their decisions, and I tend to fear them. Part of me wanted to skip our weekly meeting because I assumed I couldn't benefit at all from hearing from the guest speaker, one of our trustees. I really had to eat humble pie afterward, though, because the speaker was not just inspiring but he also was humble, spot-on and deep.

So I really put my foot in my mouth this week with some of my judgmental thoughts and words. It would have been so much easier if I had simply learned the lesson when God tried to teach it to me from His Word.

Love is ...

Last week Mike and I had an intense conversation - not quite a fight - probably tied to me losing my ring. And it's not why you think. Mike wasn't upset that I lost my ring; he was upset that it took me 3 days to tell him. There's a really long answer for why I hid the mistake from him, but the short answer is that it has something to do with insecurities.

But that's not the point of this post. After our intense conversation, I worried the next day about how Mike would respond to me: would he forgive me, resent me, suspect me? I was tense and uptight ... until Mike called me at 9:30 to ask me to meet him at the front desk. He had gone and bought me my favorite drink, a grande caramel macchiato. 

The moral of the story: it's possible to fight with respect and love. And I am easily bought.

Current favorite photo

A friend spotted this lovely shot just as the sun illuminated this single flower. So nice :)

Lost and Found

This past Wednesday, I did something that's even clumsy by my standards. I lost my engagement ring at the gym. I had placed them in my shoes thinking, "surely I'll see them there and remember to put them in my bag before I leave." Somehow I remembered to get my wedding band but not the diamond ring. Thankfully, a kind, compassionate soul found the ring that night. She left a message with the gym for them to pass her phone number to whoever came looking for the ring. Problem - the gym lost her name and phone number. 

The gym allowed me to post fliers in the ladies' locker room on Friday, and by Saturday morning I received a call from Jennifer. Thank God for kind finders who take pity on hapless losers.

Special Olympics

Thanks to a friend, Mike and I got connected with the Special Olympics' summer games which were held in Richmond June 6-7. We had the extreme honor of escorting a group of 11 pentathletes to their various events, and even with the brutal heat we had an awesome time! Here are some shots from the days.

Jo-seth clearing the high jump bar.

Tony (in back) and Amir run for the finish line.

Carlos the kangaroo. This guy was awesome! He ran the 100 in 13.1 seconds, jumped 4'7" and won every event in the pentathlon. 

This guy was last in his heat during the 100 meter race, but the crowd cheered as though he were the first to cross the line.

Katie (in back) and Abria head for the finish line.

Shakib, Danilo, Jonathan, Carlos and Michael - friends more than competitors.

Camera fun

I'm trying to learn how to use the aperture and shutter speed features on my camera, so I took it out this evening to see what I could capture.

My only complaint with the Canon Powershot is that it tends to focus on what it wants when I zoom in. Not so great when there are multiple objects in the shot and you are wanting to focus on only one item.