So what CAN'T you sue for these days??

I HAD to laugh when I saw this. What a great solution!!! If it doesn't work out, just SUE! BRILLIANT!!

What is that, Mom?

I finally made it out to the infamous FIRE ISLAND, New York this past weekend. I've heard so much about it from Sara but have never been able to make it out there due to that retail position that took up EVERY weekend of my summer...no, I'm not bitter. So since I quit, my weekends seem a bit more free. Sara called me up saying that these people that she babysits for needed her and another sitter to watch theirs and their friend's kids for a party they were having out there. So I agreed and we went out with them Saturday morning. You have to drive to the other end of Long Island and then take a ferry over to the island, because only emergency vehicles are allowed on the island. The "roads" are more of extra wide sidewalks really. But it was SO cute and relaxing! Besides the screaming children, of course...easily forgotten when staying at the beach. There was about 10 New York kids between 6 months and 8 years which made for an interesting night, especially when there was still 8 parents "mingling" and having cocktails in the kitchen all telling the kid something different...makes a babysitter's job fun really. Anyway, by the time they all actually left for dinner it was almost 9:00 and the older kids had no intentions of going to sleep any time soon. They were all piled on the floor in front of the TV. Finally at about 10:45, Sara convinced them to play "sleep over". We brought out the blankets and turned down the lights and everything. We even went as far as to tell them to "trick" their parents when they got home by closing their eyes and pretending to be sleeping. HA the joys of getting children to do what you want...it's such a game. So the tricks worked and most of them fell asleep soon thereafter.

But funny story...the next day, we were over at the house with all the kids (we stayed at the hotel that Sara's aunt manages next door -- the one in the picture above) and another one of the moms was borrowing an iron. The cutest little girl grabs her mom's hand, points to the iron and says in a very inquisitive tone, "MOM, what is that???" All the moms and Sara and myself laughed at that one. The girl is about 4 so she's had ample opportunity to be exposed to an iron, but apparently Mom doesn't use one of those. I'm sure she thinks that clothes just come out of those clear plastic bags that the doorman brings up all clean and ironed all by themselves...oh the life...

Anyway, it was a good weekend. The weather out here has been great with fall coming in so that made for a good time. I think we were even chilly at one point which i LOVED. So maybe next summer I will be able to actually get out there in the summer season to enjoy it...crazy thought. The pic below is me in one of the many wagons that the people "park" by the ferry dock. It's like a parking lot except cars aren't allowed. You don't really get the full picture but just imagine about 4 times more wagons than you see there and you've got it about right. It was fun.

Costly grace

This was the passage for reflection in the front of the bulletin at Redeemer on Sunday. Just thought I'd share.

"Cheap grace is the enemy of the church... Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance...grace without discipleship, grace without a cross...Costly grace is the gospel...it is costly because it costs a man his life, and grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because is cost God the life of his son...it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God...When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die. That is why the rich young man was so loath to follow Jesus, for the cost of his following was the death of his will. In fact, every command of Jesus is a call to die, with all our affections and lusts." Dietrich Bonhoeffer from The Cost of DIscipleship (1937)

May we never forget the cost of the grace so freely given...

Did you know that the sun hasn't risen yet at 6:00 AM?

So today was hospital orientation. And it was at the Brooklyn campus. WAY out of the way. The whole thing started at 8:00 AM which meant that I left my apartment at 6:10 (I think that there were still people out from previous evening...shady people at that...) to give me some time to figure out where I was going. I then got on the train to Booklyn and found my bus down to the hospital. And it was early...let me just say...it was early. But my friend Iced Coffee has been a reliable companion on these early mornings. She wakes me up and helps me get through long mornings...life is good.

On other notes, here's a thought. Tell me if you agree. Apparently if you are male, slightly average in appearance, decent personality, but non-christian, to you, I have some irresistable appeal that causes you to ask me out without knowing that I am most definitely NOT the girl for you to go out with, and put me in the super-awkward position of trying to think up a good excuse for saying 'no' without giving the real reasoning and sounding like a crazy person because there is not time to explain myself completely. Why do such situations ALWAYS happen to me? I then find myself suffering from, what I've named, the even more awkward Post Date-Acceptace Regret Syndrome (or PDARS, if you will...rolls off the tongue doesn't it?). Ugh.....the symptoms are pretty rough but I'm handling it well. Prescription: counseling from friends, 15-year-old-ish interventions by friends of said, non-christian male (think note writing with boxes for marking "check yes or no") and some well timed text messaging so as to avoid actual phone contact (because we all know text messaging is 95% of the time a serious cop out...i admit it...i've done it). As the symptoms lessen, I will let everyone know how I'm dealing...

The week in review

So after a hectic week with school and work and all that, it was a great weekend! I have made such great friends here that like to be normal and go out and have fun together. It's such a great thing. I'm so thankful! So anyway, by weeks end we were all ready to have some fun so a bunch of us from school went out. Below are some pics and some thoughts.
We were walking down the street and Sara asked Alex to pick her a flower to he then proceeded to pull out an entire PLANT from one of the planters in front of a restaurant. We then passed a 1800FLOWERS store so we thought it only appropriate to take a photo.
Kim getting in the way of the photo op
Part of the crew and some random guy in a stripe shirt who we did not know. Sara: "Who ARE YOU??"
Trying to take a picture ... I don't know what happened...
When are these two just gonna get together??

Well that's all I have time for right now. It's getting late and I have to leave my apartment in the morning at 6:00 AM for hospital orientation so bed time is rapidly approaching. Most stories to come...

WHOA

If you have not already, you MUST go see this movie. Not when you're in a happy funny movie mood though. Because it is a thinker, that is for sure. This movie depicts the everyday world tragedy of ignorance that has surrounded much of the epidemic of AIDS and health care in Africa. The images portrayed and the issues that arise in this movie tug at your heart and make you think about your own life and how blessed we are to live in this country but how ignorant we become to issues in the world because we live in this country. The acting is moving, the images are beautiful and the story is sincere. SEE IT.

Welcome to the next nine months

Today was my first day at the hospital!! Although it was an early hour that I got up (my addiction to morning coffee helps that though -- another post completely) the day went relatively smoothly. A few of the high points: I have my own office -- with WINDOWS, and a COMPUTER and my name on a plaque outside the door. It says, "Christina Campbell, B.S. Speech Intern, Audiology and Speech Pathology" Isn't that great? :) I'm seriously tempted to take a picture of it to send to the fam but I'm not sure I could get away with that without anyone noticing... haha. Anyeay, today was mostly paperwork and getting set up with the system so there wasn't a whole lot of what we're actually going to be doing but it was nice to get comfortable anyway. So yeah, this will be my home, for better or worse, for the next nine months. Wish me luck.

Love that chases you down

You know fall is upon you when you go to Redeemer and Tim Keller is back in the pulpit (or stage as we have). He's doing a seven week series on the vision of the church in the city. He's spending the time going through the basics of what the church stands for (mainly, the basics of the gospel), passages that have shaped Redeemer throughout the years and how that is incorporated into life in the big city. Anyway, today he preached on the Prodigal Son passage. He talked about how Christianity is redefined from what the world knows it to be in this passage. He challenged us to think about the "persuant love of the Father" and how that can change what we think of Christianity. Even after the son had left, taken his Father's wealth and spent it all, the Father still watched and waited for the son to return. The passage says that when the son was still a long way off, the Father ran to him, meaning that he had to have been watching and waiting for him to return. Even after all he had done, the Father still loved him unconditionally and never tired of watching for, waiting for, and running to meet his son.

FREEDOM

Today is one of the greatest days of the year I think. Yep, pretty sure of it. Woke up at 10:00, did some homework (that's not the good part but it's good that it's done), went outside to run some errands and realized that it is a BEAUTIFUL day. God sure knows how to cheer a girl up. And guess what the best part of the day is?? Well I have to go to work tonight. Normally, that would make whatever good things that occur such as beautiful weather to be cancelled out. NOT TODAY. Today is my LAST DAY at ATL!!!! And I couldn't be happier, let me just tell you! If you live in the area and want a deal or want to bend the rules on some coupon please come to my place of employment today because I no longer care about that stuff!! The thought of having a weekend again is a bit mind-boggling but extremely welcome. yay for that! AND, to top it all off, tomorrow is church which I missed last week and totally need right now. On other notes, Nikki and I finally joined a Fellowship Group (aka Bible study) at Redeemer. It only took us a full year to do that...pathetic. But with both of us out of the retail world, we can now fit it in. It starts in a few weeks but I'm really excited to meet some new people and get involved. I'll keep you updated!

I hope your day is as lovely as mine! :)

Red is such a nice color

Well I figured it was time for a new look. I was ready to change things up a bit. Hope I didn't screw anything up along the way. I guess I'll figure that out. My biggest decision right now is...what do I link to from my site???

Let me know what you think of the new look!!

I need someone with connections...

So I need a new cell phone. Why you ask? I'll tell you why. A few weeks ago I looked at the thing and realized that a relatively large chunk had fallen off. A relatively large chunk that was supposed to be holding the front cover on. No biggie right? Exactly what I thought. At that point it was just "time to start thinking about getting a new phone" not a necessity just yet. So then one night I was out and get this text message out of the blue from Nikki saying, "you already told me that" HUH? I say. So I realize that my phone has now taken on a mind of its own and is sending duplicate text messages hours after I originally send them. That's annoying. And to confirm that this was not an isolated incident, I was telling a friend about how I need a new phone and he says, "Oh, yeah I got repeat text messages from you too." GREAT. Who knows who I'm "sending" text messages to??!? That's a little unnerving in my opinion.

Sooo I go in to the T-Mobile store to see if they can give me a deal on a new phone if i sign away my first born or something like that that cell phone companies do. And by "deal" I mean FREE. RIGHT. So the guy gives me a list of my options if I were to renew my contract. Basically the best he could do was give me a super ghetto phone for like $50.00 or something like that. Yeah no thanks. So then I'm about to walk out of the store and he leans in to me and says, "Just between you and me, I'll tell you what to do." Like it was a drug deal or something...shady cell phone people. "Call up customer service from your phone and tell them that you are a good customer and considering switching companies and see if they will give you a good deal on a new phone." So THAT'S how you do it!!! It's all about being sneaky and conning people into giving you your way! I finally figured life out! So I was like, "uh ok sure thanks."

I couldn't get the nerve up to be agressive enough to get my way with the cell phone people. What do I do? Call my trusty New Yorker friend, Sara. I convince her to do it for me. What a friend...she's telling this girl on the other line of customer service the deal and asking if she'll give me a deal. What it came down to was that they basically don't care if I leave the company and the best deal they could give me was the newer model of my phone which is fine but for some reason I don't want to get it. Maybe because it would still cost me somewhere around $50 and that's more than is in my budget to spend on a cell phone right now. FREE and AWESOME was the deal I was looking for! Why is that so terribly hard to come by? Sad, poor life I live...

Sorry if I don't get your messages you leave me, or if you get 200 of the same text message from me, or if my reception is so crappy that all I hear is static because the cover of my phone is now hanging by a wire....I'm doing the best I can...patience. In one year I'll have a real job that pays real money and maybe then I can afford a new cell phone. What a day that shall be....here's to dreaming.

Refreshing

I was reading in Hebrews this morning and came across these verses that resonate with me right now. Just thought I'd share:

"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not reglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." Hebrews 10:19-25

What a weekend

I spent the weekend in St. Louis with Sara, my New York friend. Sara had never been to a "middle state" as she calls them until this weekend. So my parents decided that it would be fun to dress up like cowboys for the arrival unbeknownst to either one of us. So we walked out of the terminal and I see my parents DECKED out in head to toe cowboy gear. All I can say is see the picture below...So anyway, after that ... interesting...arrival it was a good weekend. The first part was a bit busy with friends and commitments and all that but it was great to catch up with old friends and see how everyone is doing. Caught up with buddy Susie, spent some time in Lafayette Square (her 'hood), and, as seen in the pictures below, dyed the hair red/auburn/brown. A nice change.
On Sunday, Mom, Dad, Sara, and myself went out to Mount Pleasant Winery in Augusta, Missouri because it was a beautiful day and I've never been out there (what a terrible St. Louis girl I am).Me and Sara enjoying the outdoors on a lovely Missouri day Me and Sara enjoying the INDOOR wine tasting :) "Sara, this is what the blue states look like..."

Anyway, it was a good weekend of good home cookin, hangin by the pool (I apparently have mad water volleyball AND water basketball skills), and haning with good friends. Back to the real world...

I'm BAAAACK

Back in NYC and feeling tired and not ready to get back to the real world just yet. So yeah, on that note, I will update the blog sometime tomorrow probably with funny stories and pictures from my weekend. It was a great time! Check back soon...