lauren laughs

my great grandmother, doris (dorie) hamilton, died friday at the age of 101. she is survived by two kids, 6 grandkids, and too many great grandkids to count (all of whom are really very cool). i wrote about dorie back in march during my visit to texas. the time i spent with her was very intentional and meaningful. i knew that particular goodbye was a bit weightier than past partings. still, it’s sad to know i won’t get to listen to her tell her stories anymore. i’ll miss writing her letters. i sent her a kangaroo postcard from australia, which my granddad took to the hospital last week and read to her. she thought the picture was funny. i’ll miss her reassuring reminders that she prays for me by name every night. prayer was really important to my great grandmother. and i believe she’s probably still talking to Jesus about me. and i think they probably laugh together too. here’s a pic of dorie at her 100th birthday last year… if you know her, you can tell by her expression she’s about to say something she thinks is pretty funny.

how to dispose of a dead beached whale? dynamite is NOT the answer. take 3 minutes to watch this. with sound. you will not be disappointed…

this was used in a seminar at yfc training to discuss how not everything always goes according to plan. classic.

i’m training with yfc this week in indiana at huntington university. it’s pretty much in the middle of nowhere. great place to learn as much info as possible in 10 days, though.
here’s a pic of leslie, me and megan. leslie is a new friend. she just graduated from uva and is headed to geneva, switzerland in august to do sports ministry with the international school there. she’ll basically be snow boarding 3 days a week with children of some of the most influential families in the world. fun? yes. but also extremely important, i think… this is probably part of what her boss josh would call “plotting goodness.” megan is the first person i ever talked to at yfc. she is the missionary recruiter and processor and works at yfc headquarters in denver. we totally hit it off back in september, so it’s great to have time with her this week. she’s also my roommate in the oh-so-lovely huntington dorms. bleh dorms. bleh dining hall. but YAY friends.

so i really did fall in love in australia. for one, the country and its people are absolutely lovely. so considerate. instead of signs saying, “keep off grass,” australians are more likely to put up signs saying, “please respect the grass.” and we call baltimore the charm city? some more pictures…
here’s a pic of simon, jase, meg, anna and me after a night of merrymaking. meg is one of anna’s girlfriends from school. i’m glad anna has girlfriends, and meg is super cool.
here’s me and anna chillin’ out on a tree limb. the start of a crazy night.
here’s simon, me and jase at hungry jacks (aka burger king) later that same night. i was disgusted by the sandwich. i also developed a huge (secret) crush on simon, who not only lives in australia, but also has a girlfriend. i can say this because i know he won’t read my blog. don’t tell him!

everyone at home is still in may, but i’m living it up in june. here are a series of stories and updates.

margaret river wine region:
anna, jason, simon and i went to yallingup in western australia’s wine region on sunday and stayed through tuesday. we had a lovely little apartment on the coast, in walking distance to the indian ocean, salmon fishing and wineries. during our time there, the boys enjoyed some surfing while anna and i caught up on 4 months of talking. we visited lots of wineries all the way from cape naturaliste (the most northern point) to cape leeuwin (the most southern point) where the indian and southern oceans converge. awesome. we also did a lot of singing in the car as well as at our apartment. we’re pretty much a traveling band. here are some pics.
me, anna and jason with the steve irwin (crocodile hunter) memorial fountain at laurance vineyard.
anna and me at cape leeuwin. one more ocean to check off the list.
i am now officially a tree hugger.
brekkie on our porch, watching the waves.

anna learns to drive:
anna and jason have rented a car while simon and i are visiting, so anna is taking advantage of the opportunity to bone up on her driving on the left side of the road (and the right side of the car). yesterday we decided to go to subiaco (a cute suberb close by with great shops and cafes). we walked up to the car, got in, and died laughing as we realized anna was sitting in the passenger seat and i was behind the wheel. oops. watch out perth peeps…
so much love!

after 43 hours of travel, i arrived safely (and sleepy) in perth. it was sooo nice to see anna’s smiling face at the airport. actually, it was a bit of a fiasco. jason (anna’s australian boyfriend) and i met up in san francisco, where he was working and i had a 10 hour layover. while at lunch he informed me that he was returning to perth with me (he was supposed to leave the following day) to surprise anna. we flew separately to sydney, met up again in the airport there, flew together to perth, and then he stayed back while i exited to find anna. we had a grand scheme of how to surprise her (we both figured she’d have some idea after not talking to him for 14 hours) but schemes are often foiled. anyway, she was *kinda* surprised. we had fun.

i took a nap and a shower once we got home, then we went out for a long walk. we passed this blue house (this is actually one of anna’s pictures) which is apparently photographed all the time. it sits out there all by itself… there is nothing else near it. so it’s kinda funny to see this random blue house just floating there. we also walked through the botanical gardens which anna has blogged about before. it was fun to actually see what i had already pictured in my head.

today we had a busy morning, starting with a delicious breakfast. reminds me of english food (serving tomatoes with breakfast, or baked beans) but much better. anna ordered these banana pancakes that looked sooo good. sitting atop the stack was what we thought to be a huge piece of banana and a strawberry. yum. but as anna cut into the “banana” and ate it, she quickly found it was actually a large slice of honey butter. bleh! honey butter is good, but not by itself… yick! very funny though.

we drove around all morning to different beaches and lookouts, walked a bit more, came home for lunch and a “nap” that turned into an all-out sleep for me. i’m actually a bit under the weather. think it might have been the guy blowing his nose every 2 minutes that sat next to me on the way to san fran. anyway, i plan to be 100% by tomorrow when we leave for the beach. we’ll be gone a few days. i’ll report back later.

for those back in the states, enjoy the long weekend. i’ve already got a day’s start on you… goodnight!

this weekend graham came up from atlanta for a quick farewell visit. we camped the backcountry at assategue island on maryland’s eastern shore. we hiked in about 4 miles (barefoot in the sand!) before setting up camp behind some dunes. very cool. i haven’t developed my pictures yet, so here’s a picture of one of the feral ponies on the island… contemplating a swim.

two other firsts today… i got stitches! my doctor said i did a great job, which i thought was funny since she did all the work. i have an excellent doctor. also, i’m about to write my first letter of resignation since today is my last day at work. i’ve been putting it off. i really do love my job, and life in general here in maryland… but africa calls (and by africa, i really mean God)… and THAT is exciting.

don’t know how much i’ll be blogging the next few days/weeks. i’m headed to perth, australia tomorrow to visit anna… YAY!

though i see my family pretty regularly, very rarely are all 5 of us in one place at one time. i mean, it’s been way over a year. so while this weekend marked several celebrations, being with my parents and brothers was chief among them. saturday night we had a nice dinner at pazo… the food was spectacular. the waiter even threw in his favorite dessert dish and said, “happy graduation!” on the way over, we all piled into my little cabrio convertible (which is for sale still). seeing all three boys crammed in the back was quite comical. they got a few shout outs from peeps on the street. mom took this pic of them, which i love.