It's all in the hair...

I have no idea what is going on lately, but I have two guys that seem to be interested in me. This is all new to me as I am usually the one watching all my friends get hit on! I'm convinced it is all because of my new hair! Well it also probably has to do with the fact that I have re-gained some independence and confidence in myself and I know that other people can pick up on that...especially guys!

So, first we have Jason who asked over facebook chat to go to dinner sometime this week. I kinda said yeah, maybe on Friday. I should have just said no because I am not interested at all, however, it is flattering to have a guy ask, despite it being a lame method (facebook chat).

Next, there is Brad.

I sold Brad hiking boots at REI. He asked if I wanted to ever hang out with him at all because I seemed "pretty cool." He got my number and texted me 1 hour after he left the store. He is 26 and from Nebraska. He is also 6 ft. 6 inches tall...LOL. We are supposed to hang out on Monday. Seems like a sweet guy...much sweeter than Jason. However, I do not think Brad is a Christian....or rather his facebook profile does not lead me to believe that he is.

So, there ya have it! I move into my own place, get some sweet hair, put some make-up on, regain some independence and confidence and boom...the boys start coming!!! I'm just hoping the right one comes cause I am going to get real sick of being pursued by all the wrong ones!

More pics!!!

Here is another pic of my apartment...my kitchen table! The kitchen is to the left and the front door is to the right. The two photo frames on the wall are empty right now but will soon be filled.

And here is my crazy dog. She has adjusted very well and has decided that her toys belong all over the floor...see the frog and squirrel!

A picture a day

The apartment still needs a couple more things hung on the wall and I still need a couch, but I am going to start posting pics anyways! A picture a day...

This first pic is of my amazing bike rack...a gravity stand! No holes in the wall at all!

WMBA

For the past month I have been having a blast with these ladies...the Women's Mountain Biking Association of Colorado Springs. At first I was pretty skeptical and scared that the girls would be odd, but in reality they are some of the coolest people I have ever met...and most of them are AMAZING at mountain biking. Most of them are married and range in age from 25-40. Below is a group picture from our ride in Ute Valley Park. Every Thursday evening there is a group ride lasting for about 2 hours. They are a blast!!!

Below is a picture of all of us at Palmer Park.Here we are checking out a technical part before we give it a shot. And here is me going for it...oh I mean about to go over the handle bars. Luckily, I was able to save it...that could have been bad!

Here is my second attempt...success!

Here is me loving life!

Below is Kennon...she races for "Spike." She also played college soccer at Utah State and picked up mountain bike racing right after she stopped playing soccer. See...soccer and mountain biking go hand-in-hand. :) She is so amazing on the bike...here she is doing a very technical part that none of us were willing to try. The last time I tried it, I went over the bars!

Meet Jason...

He is 31 and single and there are many reasons why, which I have recently come to find out! I met Jason while serving at Famous Daves and found out that he attends Pulpit Rock Church. He got my email address and emailed me the day after we met. We ended up hanging out with a buddy of his Wednesday night. He was kind and rather gentlemen-lly. However, he kept referring to girls that he dated in the past and how they were all "stuck on themselves" and how he now believes that all girls are "stuck on themselves." His loss I guess!
I then saw him again on Saturday at a car show. Jason is in to old cars...he has a 1957 Chevy Bell Air that he has fixed up. The show was a rather odd atmosphere and Jason had a poor attitude the whole time because the Mexicans brought their ghetto, pimped out new cars with tinted windows and pics of skanky women on the sides. He was complaining the whole time and made it seem like he honored and respected women and hates the way the Mexicans were portraying them on their cars. Cool I thought! Well then we started talking politics and well, you see, Jason is not just a Republican...he is a right-wing activist. I found this out when he said, "I know this isn't very Christian of me but I wish someone would just shoot President Obama in the head." Well okay then! He is very opinionated and very outspoken when it comes to politics.
Then he asked me if I wanted to walk over to Hooters for some wings...Hooters??? Kind of odd considering that it is full of skanky, huge-breasted female servers. I don't think Hooters is a place where you take a girl....just my opinion! So, whatever, I went to Hooters. He asked me a bunch of questions but every question he asked was asked in a judgemental way. For example, he asked me how long I have had my nose ring and what it is for but he did it in a way as to sound like he was judging me for it. I also mentioned a car that I would someday like to own and he looked at me like I was an idiot for wanting that. He also told me that he never wants kids because this world is so messed up that why would he ever want to bring kids into it. Okay then!There is just this harshness and unkindness about him that I do not like at all. Kinda makes me think that he is "stuck on himself."

So....Jason, the 31-year-old Christian electrian., is single and now I know why!
As a side note...as I write this, I think he is preceding to ask me to dinner over Facebook chat...how lame is that???

Here is the convo...you can see that I am quite confused because he is not making any sense...
9:28pmJason
good just bbq with dad & step mom, u got a busy week?
9:28pmLindsey
yeah, pretty busy
9:30pmLindsey
what about you?
9:34pmJason
plenty busy, work work and ???work
9:36pmLindsey
sweet...making that money!
9:37pmJason
hardly when you want to go for dinner or bbq whatever
9:38pmLindsey
true, very true
9:40pmJason
whats true??
9:42pmLindsey
that making the money isn't that sweet when you want to go for dinner or a bbq
9:44pmJason
this week late??? yyou?
9:45pmLindsey
huh?
9:45pmJason
later this week??
9:47pmLindsey

go to dinner or a bbq?
9:50pmJason
yes dinner or bbq or whatever,LOL???
9:50pmLindsey
oooohhhhhhh....lol

Gosh...

I can't wait to move out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:)

"Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel...the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood."

-Susan B. Anthony

Oh the joys of working in a restaurant!

Most of the people that work in restaurants...wow...where did they come from? There is this girl- her name is Stacey. She used to work at Famous Daves and she would sell purses out of her car during shifts. But, these weren't just any purses- they were expensive stolen purses. She would go into department stores and steal (rip off the security tag) purses that retail over $100 and then sell them to FD employees! About a year ago she was fired from Daves and she has been unemployed ever since. Instead of working she has started her own business...stealing stuff and selling it! Tonight while I was working she happened to come in with some stolen goods from Zumiez: 2 shirts retailing at $45 each. She sold them for $15 each. I couldn't believe it! I mean I worked with some shady people at Ted's but no one quite like this! Furthermore, this girl is freaky...like I would not want to get in a fight with her. She is decked out with tattoos and has 3 kids by 2 dads. She also manages to wear a bra that pops her boobs out of her shirt...like it looks like her bra is about 4 sizes too small! Gosh, some of the people at that restaurant just make me laugh! I just better not ever see her in REI!

Guilty...

The guilt has set in and it threatens to consume me! I can no longer defend myself; I am guilty. I have screwed up. I have no one to blame but myself. No one else has contributed to my failings...it is only me! I am so sorry!

In transition...

I always used to look back on my life and consider the best days of my life to be my soccer playing days. When I stopped playing soccer I figured that my best days were over. Between playing in a state championship my senior year, playing college soccer, playing semi-pro soccer, and traveling overseas to play, I thought life would not get any better for me. But then I started at Denver Seminary and for 3.5 years I figured that I was being equipped to really start my life. I was hoping and praying during those years that the best days of my life still lie in the future. And now I'm done. I must grow up and actually do something with my life. I can no longer use the excuse of school as to why I live at home, work at a restaurant and REI. So I will not! This fall marks the biggest transition period of my life. I will move out of my parent's house for the first time. I am absolutely thrilled and deathly scared at the same time. I am also facing some of the toughest issues I have ever had to face...I must finally, at 26, confront myself and work out the issues that have resulted from my upbringing. Also, I have been given the opportunity to travel around the country this fall and teach with a ministry, Axis Worldview Training (axisworldview.com). Each trip is one week long and I would go as a volunteer but everything would be paid for. Their schedule for this fall is booked and I am considering heading to Texas with them at the end of September. What an amazing opportunity!

With all that said, I admit that I am scared to death because I am headed into a time of uncertainty...more uncertainty than ever before in my life! But, I am also excited and hopeful. I know that the Lord is at work in my life and He has orchestrated each of these opportunities for growth. I can honestly say that I truly believe that the best days of my life are not in the past but rather they lie in the future. I'm excited, so excited!

Live and learn

I'm learning that sometimes even the best of things can go terribly wrong if we are not careful. What was once so life-giving transpired into something so life-sucking. I hate that! I hate that something so encouraging and wonderful was replaced by something so debilitating and sinful. I repent! Forgive me Lord for I gave Satan an inch and he took a mile. I allowed him to deceive me into thinking to rely on my feelings instead of my reason. I knew better! I so knew better! Paul says it best in Romans 7:
14We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

Well, change is here. All the powers of darkness must be trembling!

A ray of hope

It feels like I'm born again
It feels like I'm living
For the very first time
For the very first time,
In my life
Make a promise to me now,
Reassure my heart somehow,
That the love that I feel,
is so much more real than anything
I've a feeling in my soul,
And I pray that I'm not wrong,
That the life I have now,
It is only the beginning
It feels like I'm born again
It feels like I'm living
For the very first time
For the very first time
It feels like I'm breathing
It feels like I'm moving
For the very first time
For the very first time

An Un-American church in America???

I wondered if it existed. I've always searched for an American church that doesn't pride itself on being "seeker-friendly," relevant, emergent, contemporary, careful, etc. Well, I have found one. The International Anglican Church of Colorado Springs is part of the Anglican missionary movement of Rwanda, committed to reaching the unchurched of America. The Anglican Mission was established by Anglicans from Africa and Asia, deeply troubled by the spiritual crisis in this land that sent missionaries to them for generations. For many this is quite the paradox. Aren't we as Americans supposed to go to the Global South to plant churches there and reach the unchurched? Doesn't it seem backwards that the Africans and Asians are coming to "Christian" America? Don't we have enough churches here? No, no we don't. Not enough churches like this one. We have enough "American" churches, but we need more international churches. The International Anglican Church is just what I have been looking for.
Here is what the website says:
Today, more than ever, we live in a world full of paradoxes. We have more ways than ever to "be connected" electronically, yet we often feel lonely and isolated. We have all kinds of technology to enhance and prolong life but often miss the joy in that life. Outside appearances may say that we are strong and secure, yet many things in our lives are transitory and unstable. Our lives are often full and we are "on the go," yet we lack any sense of real or enduring purpose and often question our worth.
All too often, all that churches offer in the midst of all these paradoxes we face is a list of things we should or should not do -- not helping us navigate through our world, but increasing our guilt and burden.
Jesus has so much more for us.
The International Anglican Church is a people gathered to discover and delight in that "so much more" of Jesus and share this good news with others. Through relevant Biblical teaching; dynamic and Spirit-led worship that is contemporary, ancient and international; prayer; nurturing relationships and compassionate service, we step out of a world bound by confusion and empty promises and step into the spaciousness and life of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit.
We are open to all who are looking for a church home or who merely want to explore what the Christian faith has to say about the issues and questions of life we all face.
Whether you simply want to explore who Jesus Christ is and the foundations of the Christian faith or whether you want to move deeper in your relationship with Jesus Christ, you will find the International Anglican Church to be a welcoming and challenging community of faith.

The service is about 2 hours long filled with worship (no light shows and just the basic instruments), communion, prayer, sermon based on readings from the OT, NT, and Gospel, and liturgy. The service is very structured but in a good way. Also, the congregation is very diverse. You get a sense that you are connected to the Global South...the whole service is based off of African church services.

So, as I move to the Springs I will be much closer to IAC and I have decided to make it my church home and to get plugged in. I already have some friends who attend this church so it is nice to walk right into community. It is also nice that the congregation every Sunday never reaches more than 150 people...feel more like a family!