alex!

alex is great. he's a neat guy who specializes in being awesome, security, soccer, duke basketball and jewelry making. what a champ. he's pretty much the nicest guy ever and really made our team feel at home at the school.

thank you alex for all you did for our team. you reflected Jesus to all of us.

stingray in the water.

i probably should have gotten out sooner.

how to be a man (bored in the airport edition)...

1 day...

we leave soon. very soon. under 14 hours. but i'm not counting.

i'm sitting here exhausted. i just got done playing some basketball up at the church with some great guys. twas fun, but now i don't have the energy to start another load of laundry. i'm content to just sit on the floor and type this while watching the march madness selection show. duke gets a two seed which is great and gonzaga got a four. those are the two teams i'm going to root for. the cool thing is that the tourney starts when we're in belize and honestly, i could care less about basketball when i'm there. it's just not that important in comparison. but it's fun and i'm a sports nut, so i'll fill out my bracket when i'm bored on the plane and then put basketball away for the week. the game we play is to fill out your bracket and then the person with the most wins....well....wins! so print off one and let me know how ya do. liz...you have to do this. oh, and i need a new record to listen to while we're flying. if you have any ideas let me know.

if i don't update the trusty blog this week it's because i couldn't find an internet connection. or it's because we're so busy that there's no time! please keep the team and the kiddos of belize at the school in your prayers!

i'm gonna go play fetch with da bear.

g

2 days...

the packing has begun. well, the laundry has begun. i don't usually separate lights and darks...sorry mom. it gets done faster if everything is thrown in together! and i need ziploc bags. the gallon size with the little slider that goes across. those things are just so handy. so are earplugs!

on most trips, i usually pack pretty heavy. i'm going do a little experiment on this trip and try my best to pack extremely light. i'm such a risk taker, i know...watch out.

i've got to go because my dukies play at 3 against the terps in the acc tourney. it's a big deal and we have to win...i can't stand losing to maryland! lots of good bball today. it's march! enjoy your saturday day everyone!

2 days away. oh my.

g

3 days...

today is the start of spring break. today is good. really good.

it's snowing in lubbock. "this is the north pole!! no it's not, where's the snow?!" (name that movie). but really, it's snowing. i love snow. and winter. and winter jackets. i love snow and winter jackets. always have. the weird thing about lubbock is that it can be 87 and sunny one day and then it turns into days like today. it gets everyone sick, but i'll take a cough for a couple days if means it's going to snow.

it's friday and that means i've got lots of things to do because we jet to a warmer place on monday.

(hold on a minute)
the funniest thing just happened! im at a coffee shop here in lbk and the coolest little long blonde headed kid in a sweet fedora hat came over to where i am sitting near the window to ask me if i see the snow. he's great! he just spouted out, "it's nice to meet you" i think! something like that anyway. i can't quite understand. i told him my name is garrett and he's struggling to pronounce it. ha. he just said carrot! i think he might be four. but the truth is he could be 10. obviously, i'm a great judge of kid's ages! he's a little bit taller than the table. does that help? he's done trying to pronounce my name at this point. i understand. he just wants to see the snow. he's so close to the window that his breath is fogging up the glass. i'm laughing out loud at this point.

he's in awe of what he's seeing. like nothing else matters at this moment. it makes me think. a small picture of maybe what david was talking about in those four verses in psalms from yesterday. i don't know. an interesting thought though. hmm.

like i was saying...it's friday. so much to take care of. so much to get ready for. i'll pack and head to wally world the night before we leave around midnight or so. it's more fun that way. i probably won't be able to sleep anyway. okay...i'm still thinking about how that little guy was looking at the snow. i believe everything happens for a reason and i think the kid has served to remind me that none of the packing or laundry or the buying of super small toiletries items at wal-mart matters unless my heart is in absolute awe of what i hold to be the greatest. like when Jesus brings up the kid to sit in his lap in front of all the disciples who were in awe of themselves and the details. he wants me to trust. and i think he wants me to be in awe of Him above all else. far above all else.

faith like a child.

g

4 days...

so last the last couple days i've been focusing entirely on four verses and really trying to "adopt" them i guess you could say. i stink at learning good stuff because my brain tends to forget what it read the next day. thus, i've spent a week now on four verses. i need to let it sit..."marinate" as gabe would say. gabe tends to be right a lot (except about SEC football).
maybe some of you have brains like mine. anywhose, as a kid growing up and even as a kid now i tend to get stuck on the technical aspects of God. i want to understand all the theology and reasoning and i find myself at times getting stuck on all the details of "christianity" when i should have the heart of the guy in the four verses i've been focusing on for the last week. i'm not saying the details are bad. in fact, i believe they can be really good. i just think when all i see is details i miss the big picture. and the big picture is awe-inspiring.

david meets with God in the desert of Judah in Psalm 63 and his heartbeat for God is something i really want to know.

david's in awe. he's not worried about the details at this time. he's seen God work. seen Him move. and he is still. and it's more than enough.

david tells God he's tried everything. everything. and nothing satisfies. nothing. in a dry and weary land, david tells God that only He will satisfy Him. he goes on to tell God that He longs for Him and that after seeing him move and seeing His glory that He is changed and thus david's heart wants God. not details. just the awe-inspiring God He's come to know.

i want that.

all the time.

and i want it for each and every kid in my middle school and each and every kid in belize. i better get to praying more.

i just want to be in awe...all the time.

it's possible.

g

ps...gabe...this guys about to score on the dawgs. go dores!

6 days / 5 days...

i love to talk. there. i said it. but not "talk" in the way you're probably thinking.

i do like to talk, but i love to preach. that kind of talk. it's scares the junk out of me every time but i have grown to love and embrace it.

i just got home from our middle school wed. night event and He was great! i love the feeling of seeing God move, both in the days leading up to the talk and the talk itself! i thought i'd sit down and try to describe it to you. i don't think i can give the feeling i get justice with words, but i'll try...

it's a strange yet divine mix of adrenaline, nerves, and that ever-present knot in my stomach that seems to creep it's way up my throat in the moments before its time to talk. the adrenaline reminds me of the exact moment when the Scripture i'm about to talk on changed my heart. the change triggers the passion. the nerves tend to make me sweat. haha...stupid nerves. and the knot in my stomach is the constant reminder that it's not me who supplies the words or the power. it's Him working. and that gives me great confidence. not in me, but in Him. colossians speaks much of this..."Christ in me the hope of glory."

it's just the neatest thing. the fact that he would let me be a small instrument is just so cool to me.

why? because i know my faults. i'm by no means perfect. i goof. and yet He picks me up, wipes off the dirt and somehow at the same moment calls me to be holy while also calling me his kid. take a minute and think about that. His love never stopped. He still wants to hang out with me and that absolutely blows my mind. i know of nothing better. there is no rival. that's His love. offered to me and to you. a love worth talking about. both on wednesday and every other day.

toodles.

g

(and yes, i know i didn't blog yesterday and i'm sorry. i'm not perfect but i'm still in the hug -thanks louie. i was eating great food and some of the best cake i've ever had)

oh, and for the record, i agree with porky.

7 days...

the photographs for today come from our trip a couple of years ago to belize city. i love these shots because they were pretty much the first ones i ever took. most of them were blurry and just plain stinkers. "es es stinky." thanks ry. i honestly had no idea how to use dad's camera. i didn't know what all the fancy schmancy buttons did or what an f stop was. i'm not sure i do now for that matter, but i'm learning and content to just point, shoot and hope for now. i don't love these because of their photographic quality...i'm really a complete freshman at this point. i just loved pressing the button and seeing the story that popped up on the nifty little screen on the back of the camera. i found joy in it. in them.

what i love about these shots is what i have come to learn from the joy and struggle in their faces. it's apparent and it's real and they're not scared to show what they're going through. most of the shots i took on that trip were awful, but the stories told through the blur and/or lack of light taught me a ton.

my dad always tells me the difference between professional (him) and recreational (me) photographers is that most professionals never show you the stinkers! most never show the over-saturated or under-produced stuff that lands in the trash bin on their desktop. most will only show you their best and that's what you see. and that's totally fine and i completely understand.

but i kinda like the stinkers. maybe it's because i take A LOT of them or maybe it just reminds me that i have yet to arrive. dad has shown me that there is beauty in the stinkers. i just have to look past whether or not i like the lighting or the color and see what the picture is really saying. all i'm saying is i don't ever want to get to the point where all i'm worried about is the lighting and the actions and the billions of colors and i miss the reason i came to love photography in the first place...the story that's told on the nifty screen on the back of the camera.

sure, i want the shot to be absolutely perfect, but not so much as to miss the the story that's captured.

thanks dad and happy birthday.

g

8 days...

this is my favorite place in belize. well, i think it is. okay, besides the school this is my favorite place and perhaps the most important. this is the dock that juts out about a hundred yards into the caribbean sea. it's absolutely beautiful. and i don't mean beautiful like, "that flower is beautiful" or "ray allen's jump shot is beautiful." i mean the good stuff. the really good stuff. the type of beautiful where when you're in the midst of it you really can't even speak.

you just sit. you feel. and you're in awe.

i feel like a girl saying that, but it's true. it's enough to leave me speechless and if you know me, that's not the easiest task in the world.

me telling you that i'm not a morning person is the understatement of the decade. morning and i have been enemies for years. on the weekends i like to pretend he doesn't exist and he repays me (and all of us) with breath that could kill a small ox. (well, it's not that bad, but you get the point).

but every morning, i have to be out there at dawn and sometimes a little before. i love getting up and walking barefoot from the room to the dock because i have to cross the beach and get the feel of the sand on my feet. i crave that time with the Creator. i love sitting on a dock in the middle of the sea and just being with Him.

it's a beautiful (yes, beautiful!) reminder that HE IS BIG. so much bigger than little me. it's like the more and more my heart finds out who God really is, the more and more i love the feeling of being small. He is big and i am not. cool. it's humbling to say the least and the type of humbling i long to receive again and again.

i can't wait to get there and see the morning. He changes me in those moments. He has really been changing ("pruning" as mom would say) me here in lubbock and i'm excited to see what He does down there. and the great thing is after he works on me, i get to leave the dock and head to the school to have an impact on the lives of some amazing kiddos.

and that makes me joyed. worth getting up for i'd say.

HE is beautiful. Psalm 63:2-4.

g

9 days...

this is my buddy alex. we met last summer in belize and chatted it up one day before school started. then we played lots of soccer. he's the coolest. i'm not sure if he's still at the school this year, but i hope to see him and catch up. i have no idea if he will remember me or not, but i'm gonna try and find him!

if you want to see some pics of the island and the school itself, click here.

if you are looking at the main pic on their blog, the school is at the bottom. the roofs are red and it looks like three long buildings! that's where we'll be. if you go north and cross over the bridge and keep going north our hotel is the one with the red roof on the west side of the island.

i can't wait to see what God does on this trip. if you don't mind, please pray for alex, the rest of kids and the group going as well! thanks. my prayer is that God does a great and humbling work in me this week that prepares my heart to give everything i have to the kids.

and if you haven't laughed at chunk and the shuffle yet, scroll down and click the link.

g

10 days...

10 days until we get to stick our heads out of the front of the boat. for whatever reason, we find this to be absolutely hilarious. it's one of the first things we get to do after landing in belize. we get on a river taxi and it takes us to the island where all the great kiddos live and go to school. es nice.

on a side note, if you're looking for a good laugh be sure to click here and thank me later. this is from my 2nd favorite movie of all time...the Goonies. special thanks to mac, roben and dad for showing me the beauty of this movie when i was 10 or something.

truffle shuffle y'all.

g

11 days...

i have this really great family here in lubbock that has kinda adopted me in a way. and by in way, i mean that they are kind enough to feed me each and every tuesday night and basically just look out for because mi familia is far away. i love being "kinda" adopted! yeth. one of their kids told me and keeps telling me that i don't blog enough. thank you julia.

i have come to the realization that i blog about as well as i finish a book. i'm pro at starting the chapter, but i hardly ever finish the stinkin' thing. unless it's really good.

so, in response to the outpouring of support (all 3 of you) i have decided to blog every day until we leave for belize!

there. take that. that should silence the critics. kuh-BOOM. and the one who pointed out my weakness is on the left in the picture above. they call that look the "jowler" and i thought it was worth posting. sorry j and m!

now, for important things. mat kearney's new single is out and on his myspace. closer to love is the name. listen here. the album comes out in may, just in time for summer. it's about time. take a listen and i'll see you tomorrow.

and for all of you grammatical scholars out there, yes, i am fully aware that i don't usually capitalize words and i am perfectly ok with it.

oh and if you need some really good reading, put your hardy boys and/or twilight book down and go pick up the book of Luke. i haven't gotten bored once and i made it to chapter 14 so far. yeah...it's that good. He is that good.

toodles.

g

12 days...