Bacheing

I debated the spelling. Should I leave off the e? Add a T? In the end I stand by Bacheing. It's what I've been doing. I said to Angie yesterday "you realize its been 2 weeks since I've seen you and the kids." She couldn't believe it. Apparently time's just flying by for her. How nice. Well dearie, it will continue to fly by another 9 days. I'm heading to Meh hee hoe. Tijuana.

Gotta be honest, I was actually looking forward to my bacheing time. Eat whatever I want, watch whatever I want, wear whatever I want, fart on anything I want. . .truth be hold I've done all these things. And its been fine. But here's the rub: I've discovered I'm the kind of guy that needs his wife. Needs his kids. I thought I didn't but I do. I thought I could go without but I can't. Angie's my best friend, the kids add energy and joy to everything I do. Without them I've felt lost, almost floating.

The good news is me and the cat have kinda bonded. Turns out Rusty's not that bad. Every night when I get home there he is meowing at me to open the door and start the party. And its not just some normal meow, its a low moaning meow almost like he's saying "I need you master. I need you to feed me then stroke me." * haha, I could insert an Angie joke here but nah. I was gonna take old Rust to the SPCA because I'll be gone for 3 weeks and then we're traveling for the year. I was gonna, but I couldn't. Which is a real surprise. The other 4 who live with me wouldn't be lying if they told you they 'd seen Rusty airborne, tumbing out the door many a time. Its true. Sometimes he annoys me. But lately he's made me soft. er. So I didn't take him. And I haven't thrown him. Instead, I'm leaving him at home while I'm gone and asking the trusty neighbors to keep watch and insure his dish is always full. See, people can change.

As I said, I'm headed to Meh hee ho. It's Mexico actually but I've pronounced it like that as long as I can remember. It makes me feel kinda neat. I'm taking 17 people with me, so it should be intense. We'll be teaching the ins and outs of God's love to 120 kids each morning while engaging in light construction in the afternoons. The evenings will be spent enjoying Tijuana's culture. Unfortunately not THAT culture. Can't expense THOSE things to the church. Can't stroll into THAT red light distri. . .I've taken 2 other groups before and its always been amazing. Arturo and Lupe are amazing hosts. In fact, they're the hostess with the mostess. Such great people. We're ending off the trip at Disneyland July 19. It'll be great. All of it. This is the kind of stuff I live for as a youth minister. We leave in 20 hours.

Before I yo quero Taco Bell myself away I should probably update you on our house and travel plans. Our house continues to be visited by many people (12 this week) but no buyers as of yet. In spite of that, we are confident it will sell eventually. It has to. Our travel plans have stalled as of late, we were hot and heavy at them for months and have kinda taken a break. We are still excited we're just more cautious I guess since our house is still for sale. That being said, we have nearly finalized our Europe plans (Sept 19 - Dec 30) and I just paid the balance on our tickets. So we're going. . .no matter what. The only thing that may change is how long we go. Should be 10 months, could be 4. It all depends on how loving God is. haha. just kidding God. I know, I know you ARE love.

And there you have it. My life for the past 3 weeks. Oh yeah, I also went to a family reunion where I saw Mark and Blair and Pete and Chels and all my other cousins/friends. The sucky thing was nobody won the Close award this year. It's wierd because we invented the award - which begs the question -why can't we win our own award? I thought I should have won. For obvious reasons. Or even Chelsey. She's nice. Granted, she's not really a Close and she charges a lot for her pictures but she was there, at the reunion, and was pretty nice to everyone. Anyways, they could have given it to me. Or Chelsey. Me or Chelsey. Or just me. . .

John