Anxiety Dreams

You know that dream right before your first day of school where you oversleep and miss class, or you can't find your classes, or you can't find your locker, can't remember your locker combination, forget to bring your lunch, etc.? 

Well, I had that dream last Saturday night, except about church. It was super weird! I dreamt that I went to the early service at First Pres and got really distracted afterwards talking with people I hadn't seen in a while and then for some weird reason I thought I had time to come home in between First Pres and South Lakeshore but when I started pulling into the garage it was way smaller than when I'd left that morning (true story: I'm already freaked out I'm going to bump into something every time I pull into the garage). I somehow managed to get the car into the garage, but then I couldn't really get out of the car so I climbed out of the sunroof. When I checked the time it was 10:43 and church started at 10:45 so I was like, "Crap, I have to leave right now....actually I needed to have left like 15 minutes ago!" So I start climbing back into the car and my step mom comes out and asks if I like how she'd fixed the garage and says she and my dad need the car so they can go to their church and they're already running late because they were waiting for me to get back with the car (true story: my step mom is in Laos right now, so it kinda freaked me out that she was back without me even noticing). So I'm pretty sure I just decided not to go to South Lakeshore in the end of that dream because I was already so late and I remember my dream-self thinking "How could I forget what time church started? And how could I have talked to people at First Pres for so long without realizing how late it was getting?"

When I woke up it was super weird because I realized that it'd been so long since I'd been to church (I didn't go all summer because I was at camp) that it was like the first day of school again. I know you're sitting on the edge of your seat right now wondering if I made it to both churches on time and the answer is yes. But, funny story, I thought I was going to be super early for South Lakeshore because I went straight from First Pres so I stopped at Winco to get some cookies (I promised I'd bring someone cookies) and when I pulled up to the church I saw the sign saying the service is at 10:30, not 10:45...so my dream was partially right in that I would have been late if I'd relied on my own memory. Anyways, I thought it was super weird to have that dream about church. I've had it about school before the first day of every new quarter (and even once this summer, weird!), but never about church. I don't think I've ever gone so long in my life without going to church. It was great to be back! I hope I don't have any more weird anxiety dreams like that, although I'll probably dream about missing my flight to Guatemala (which I bought my ticket for this last weekend!!!!!) and getting lost on my way to Spanish class. Actually, I bet I'll have a ton of anxiety dreams in the next year. Maybe this one was just a test.

Lake Chelan with the fam

My niece, Mina, and I being silly

My brother, Tim, and nephew, Jaxon

Have you ever had that moment where you realize that you're crazy spoiled? Well, I had that this weekend with my family. Thanks to my mom's amazing bosses, we all got to go stay at this beautiful home a block away from Lake Chelan. We arrived Friday evening and got to tour the house....it's amazing! I mean, there were 12 adults and 2 small children and we all had plenty of room to stretch out. My graduation party was the first time we were all together, but that was only for a couple hours, this time we got a whole weekend! 

The view from the deck

So after we got all settled in, my mom and her boss, Laurie, and I ran to the store really quickly to pick up some things and then Laurie was going to make dinner. But you must understand this  first: my mom told us that food would be provided and to me that means that my mom has a super generous boss who is not only letting us stay at their house, but also going to pick up a Costco pizza or something. So we brought snacks and stuff because we didn't want to impose on them more than we already were......oh boy! Dinner was definitely not a Costco pizza. Laurie grilled us up some thick chunks of steak and baked us some little potatoes and made a salad and, oh my goodness, it was delicious!! This was my first hint at just how spoiled I am. 
    Honestly, everything was perfect. The house was amazing, my mom's bosses were the most generous hosts I've ever been hosted by, the time we got to spend together was full of laughter and downright craziness, the food was so so so soooo good (example: tonight's dinner was my belated birthday dinner and I said I wanted chicken alfredo, so Laurie made pasta from scratch [yum!] and made the sauce from scratch [double yum!]). This weekend I got to hang out with my family, the family that I so often think of as messed up and broken, and it was the most fun I've had in a really long time. I mean, all my life God's been showing me how much He loves me by blessing me with amazing things, but I think this weekend He was just like, "No, really Lisa, look at all that I have for you. And there's so much more!"

The sunset before the lightning

Last night we were out on the deck and there was a beautiful sunset and then we could see lightning over the hills and as it got darker the lightning became way more dramatic. It was positively amazing. I mean, yeah, it resulted in a bunch of wildfires that caused the highway to be closed so we had to take a longer way home, and of course just the fact that there are crazy fires is bad, but the lightning was crazy awesome! You just don't see this kind of stuff in Tacoma. I just got to spend a weekend taking in so much beauty...yeah, outside was gorgeous, but mostly just watching my family. Just seeing how we've all grown up, yet we're still goofy and crazy. Seeing my brothers as dads is just crazy. And being able to see how Mina and Jaxon are growing more and more every time I see them. Getting to hear Mina call me "auntie Lisa" and want to have conversations with me and tell me about her favorite animals and give me kisses goodnight is like nothing I've ever experienced before. 

My family is crazy. My family is messed up. But my family is the greatest family ever and God has spoiled me rotten with them and I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've taken the time to fully realize that. I've been on tons of trips before, but I'm gonna have to say that this is by far my favorite one so far. I'm reading this book called One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp and there's a line in it that I just can't get out of my head that seems so fitting to sum up this last weekend: "God is always good and I am always loved."

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog! I hope this is easier for me to use than my other blog was. For those of you who don't know, I'm not the most tech-savvy person ever, and technology often frustrates me by its non-user-friendliness. So, we'll see. I look forward to sharing my adventures with you here!