Catching Up

I think it's well past time for me to get caught up in Blogger world, and move on to what is actually happening in the present. That said, here's the rest of our infamous trip from oh, over a month ago (why does it feel like a year ago?) Anyway...

Here you see Sarah continuing on the Russell legacy of outrageous athleticism.

The day after "the surprise" kicked off fall break for Sarah and Christopher, so we spent some quality time enjoying the gorgeous Fall weather with some football and soaking up the sun on AU's campus.

Thanks to my sister for capturing this pretty picture of Michael 

and me thoroughly enjoying all things Indiana.

The whole gang. Sarah and Olivia make a cute couple, yes?

And here we transition to our adventures in TH. Which, sadly, meant we had to say goodbye to Sarah. But on the bright side, sunsets over freshly harvested corn fields are something I will never take for granted. Indiana will always be home to this girl.

Christopher, Alison, Michael and I spent the day wandering around the farm and setting up camp under this enormous tree.

Here we have our campsite and a super old tent more accurately described as "vintage" since that makes it infinitely more cool...which it was.

Before dinner we spent some time with the babies, and this is one of my favorite photos. What you can't see, is that another very curious calf was inches away from my face, literally breathing in my ear as I snapped this picture :) He just loved whoever had the camera and pretty much followed it around everywhere.

After a big tasty home cooked meal, we set out for our campsite where Chris whooped us all in Clue multiple times.

We got tired of losing pretty quickly so we moved on to more entertaining ventures like star-tripping and expressing our theories on evolution...Kidding! Good old Indiana had a fire ban and after all the fun wore off we decided it would be much more comfortable sleeping in a warm house with beds. So we did. The next morning we had a yummy breakfast and then headed back to Cville so that Michael could catch a Wabash football game before we left for Indy to see some of our good friends get married!

 And they lived happily ever after...

while we went straight to bed before waking up early Sunday morning to make the drive back to CO.

As I've reflected on this trip over the past...month, I can hardly understand where the time has gone. It was such a jam packed week filled with so many faces and places and lessons along the way. I will never forget the looks on the faces of the people I love most when they realized who was standing in front of them. And I will forever be grateful that I always have them to come home to. But this trip was so much more than just ten days of fun and surprises; I learned more in those ten days than any other. The thirty hours spent driving across the country with my husband was a blessing straight from heaven in a time when we so needed to be united and closer to Jesus than ever before. The Lord totally used our impulsive decision to pick up and leave to reveal some things to us about ourselves that we otherwise may not have seen; to convict us of the things we were not doing well enough; to reveal to us things we never knew existed; to teach us humility and love; and to show Himself to us in grace and mercy. We came back to CO excited, exhausted, faithful and with a renewed sense of purpose and awareness about what God had called us to.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

THE END.

Surprise Part Three

Wednesday afternoon when Olivia got out of school for Fall Break, Michael came back from Terre Haute to pick us up and head to Anderson. We were a little nervous about how this particular surprise would turn out because we had already been in Indiana for over four days, and since we all have a lot of the same friends, we knew there was a chance that someone might inadvertently spill the beans. Lucky for us, no one did and we also had some pretty sneaky people on our sides. Christopher's girlfriend, Alison, was our big in and kept us current on their schedules and helped get some of Sarah's friends involved to make everything run smoothly. We knew that Sarah would show up in the RA office that evening because she thought she had to work (but her friends covered for her...they are saints, seriously!) so we showed up in the office a few minutes before she got out of chapel and it went a little something like this...

"Why are all these people in here, and why is that person taking pictures of me?"

Realization: cue piercing scream

Fall to the ground crying, laughing, and still screaming still.

Peel Sarah off the ground.

Hugging and more crying and asking how we're there.

Sarah is still not functioning while Michael and I die laughing at her reaction.

Hugs for Olivia.

And more hugs for Michael.

I don't think the phrase, "a picture is worth a thousand words" has ever been more true. So now that you've had a visual, here is a little word from Sarah explaining her side of the story...

Every other Wednesday night I spend three hours in the RA office, simply being available to the residents in my hall in case they need anything.  Last week was my duty night, and to be honest I was not that excited about it. All that week I had anticipated being in the championship intramural football game that night instead of working, but my team had taken a brutal loss the night before. It was the day before Fall Break, which calls for an overabundance of fatigue and stress. Needless to say, I wasn't looking forward to working. As I put the key in the door and slowly opened it, I became apprehensive as the light was already turned on. Even more suspicions came as two of my best friends were sitting there on the right as I lifted my head. "Hm, maybe they want to come hang out, cool! This won't be as bad as I thought!" And then I looked straight up. On the couch at the back of the room were 3 people I never thought would ever be sitting in that room, like ever. Smack dab in the middle, Michael Angelo Russell was smiling back at me. My heart skipped a beat. My mouth dropped. Next to him was a huge camera in front of a face, and as soon as my confused brain put two and two together, I realized that face belonged to Lexi. And on his other side of Michael was Olivia. When all of this actually registered, the shocked look turned into a loud, piercing, shriek. I fell, literally fell to my knees and just started crying. MY family? My DENVER family was sitting right in front of me? And no one had even told me?!  I didn't even consider the fact that I was in the middle of the hallway, on my knees, crying, all I could think about was Michael and Lexi were here. To see me. Lexi came over and hugged me, and I'm pretty sure I was too weak to hug her back. Now I know what you're thinking. This all sounds pretttty darn pathetic. But words cannot even begin to explain the joy that was in my heart. Just that day for my teacher interview I had a writing prompt about the person I admire the most, and I had written about my oldest brother, Michael. I never could have fathomed that at the very moment that my pen was expressing my love for him, he was driving hours upon hours to come see me. You might think I'm crazy for having such a dramatic reaction, but I think you're crazy for not realizing what an amazing family I have. I am so blessed. 

And there you have it. Obviously, it was a roller coaster of a reaction including just about every positive emotion known to man. But wipe your tears because it's time to move on to Christopher who after surprising Sarah was kind of a let down in the reaction category, but still just as fun. I'm kidding! His reaction was so him and it was great...

here we have Michael reading a newspaper as Chris walks in (as were the rest of us at the table, except for me, I hid behind the camera) 

and here we have Chris completely oblivious to the fact that there was anyone else in the room.

here he is assessing the situation.

still assessing.

and one last double take...

OOHHHHHH! WAIT, WHAAAAAT?

"I'm so happy I don't know what to do"

hugs all around.

and to top it all off, a lovely group shot...

In summary: SUCCESS 

more on the rest of our AU adventures to come! 

(no promises on when though...) 

To Kristin and Sarah,

my two faithful, demanding, nagging, beautiful readers, this is dedicated to you!

I've learned my lesson, and that's the last time I put a teaser at the end of a post.

Alternate Title: Surprise Part Two

So.

Picking up where we left off...

Michael and I hit the couch around 5:30 am IN time, right after I snuck back to mom and dad's room and gave Mom a hug (dad was on a church retreat until Sunday night). The next morning, Michael and I waited for Olivia to finally roll out of bed around 10:30. We pretended to be asleep when we heard her walking down the hallway and then come to an abrupt stop, followed by twenty seconds of silence, followed by running back down the hallways, followed by running back in the living room and "waking" us up. It turns out, she walked in in her underwear (don't worry, Michael had his eyes closed!) and once she realized who was on the couch, which apparently took a good while, she sprinted to her room to put some shorts on before coming back out to this...

and this...

and the next day we (by we I me an Olivia and I) did this...

 and found nifty things like this...

and after that, we went to Curt and Jeannie's and met Bailey...

and after that we went to my Grama and Grampa's to surprise them...

Which went something like this: Olivia rang the doorbell and peaked through the window while Michael and I stood pressed against the door. As soon as the doorbell rang I heard my Grampa (who sits in a chair watching tv two steps away from the door) say, "Lana! You gonna get that?" who responded, "Bill, I'm cleaning the kitchen floor!" Soon enough Grampa was out of his chair and caught a glimpse of Olivia before opening the door and announced to Grama that Olivia was there. He opened the door to see Michael and I and stood their shocked with a precious grin on his face before wrapping me in a bear hug as I heard Grama yell, "Hi, Olivia!" from the kitchen. Moments later Grama hurried around the corner absolutely clueless before stopping dead in her tracks and proclaiming the most hilarious response I've ever heard from my sweet, mild mannered, five foot nothing grama. Eyes wide, arms crossed she said, "you little shits! I just talked to you on the phone!" And so the night begun. Later we went to my house for pizza and conversation mostly centered on Grama's reaction and wise words from my Grampa on the origins of the "S" word. According to him, it stands for Store High In Transit, an acronym used in the good old days when ships hauled manure across the Atlantic. Don't you feel better knowing that? Me too.

Moving on to surprise number three. Dad.
Dad had been on a church retreat the past four days and got home Sunday night just after reading letters that all of us had written him as a part of the retreat. Needless to say, it was an emotional weekend for him. And if you know my dad, you know that he still cries every time I leave the house and is, in general, an emotional basket-case when it comes to anything involving his girls (mom, Olivia and me). Anyways, back to the surprise. He rode home with one of his best friends, Kevin Parker, who had been updating us on how far away they were, and when they pulled in the driveway all of us were out there playing basketball. Dad was crying before he even got out of the car...

Chalk that up as another successful surprise! We ended the night with a good old fashioned game of horse, or maybe it was more like thirty games, followed by family time in the living room and fun stuff like four-person-push-ups...

The next day, Michael went to Terre Haute to see his parents and help his dad with harvest while I stayed at home and caught up with good friends and surprised one last very special lady, my dad's mom Grama Gerry.

Grama Gerry is a stubborn, no-nonsense, straight shooting woman who's all bark and absolutely no bite. She's my kind of woman. She is in her late 80's and while she's mentally sharp as a tack (minus a tiny bit of forgetfulness) she isn't very mobile, so she sits in that chair all day watching t.v. So this time I thought I'd bring a movie to watch with her even though she always insists that she "doesn't like movies." Someone tell me how the lady who watches t.v. all day won't watch a movie? I still don't know, but at least I tried. Like I said, she's stubborn. So I gave in and watched t.v. as we ate our BK value meals that I brought for lunch and she stole my french fries. She also always mutes the commercials. Why? Again, I don't know because half the time she sits there wondering what the commercial might be about. And I'm all like, "you know you could just leave the volume on!" But no. Instead we made a game of guessing what each commercial was for before the other. I creamed her. If it's starting to sound like I'm dissing on my grama, I am, but it's ok that's how our relationship is, we have an understanding. And she knows I love her!

That about covers all the Crawfordsville surprises! Next...Anderson!

blahblahblahblahblah

Ever have those days? 

Well, that's me right now. 

I've started about five drafts of the next "surprise blog," but I just can't get it finished. Not because it's hard, but because I just don't want to. For some reason, writing lately feels a whole lot more like a chore than an escape and I'm just not up for it. I feel like there are 8,000,888 things that I need to do, but don't have the slightest idea of where to start, and not even blogging (one of the easier of the 8,000,888 things) sounds fun right now. I know I'm sounding all "woe is me" which I'm well aware is never very attractive, but I just need to sort through some things. 

The past few weeks have been something else. I don't even know how to explain it, and I'm still processing. But it feels a lot like I've been standing in front of a fire hose getting blasted in the face for about two weeks straight. My skin is raw, I'm sore and beat up, and most of all I am exhausted from holding my ground, trying to stand firm and let God use this time to blast away all of me that isn't good and replace it with something useful that will bring glory to Him. Somewhere inside of me I know that Jesus has access to the on/off knob and is allowing it to stay on because it is best for me, and while that is comforting, it doesn't make it any easier or less painful. But, as we all know, life's not all about ease. So right now I'm clinging to the truth that He is faithful. That he will complete the work He has started in me.  That He understands. That He is bigger than everything else around me. That He is just, merciful and loving. And that He has a purpose, and wants me to be a part of it.

That last part is what I really don't understand. Right now I just can't see it. How or why He would want to use me for anything representing Him. Because quite honestly, I'm not a very good representation of a perfect, selfless, holy love. I don't even come close. But I suppose that is precisely why God sticks with me, with all of us. How much more beautiful is it when someone who is sinful, broken and totally unworthy is changed by the power of God to display a love that is not of this world? 

That is my prayer today and everyday. That God would rid me of myself and overflow me with His love, His joy, His peace, His patience, His kindness, His goodness, His faithfulness, His gentleness and His self-control.

Please don't read this to say that I am not thankful or blessed to be where I am, because that is so far from the truth. God has blessed me with far more than I deserve, and right now I'm just in a definite season of learning; especially learning to trust and rest, even when I don't understand. Learning to be humble. To listen. To give grace. To persevere. And to fight. 

Ephesians 6:12-13 For we do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age...Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand [the fire hose], and having done all, to stand. 

Surprise Part One (of many parts)

As Michael and I drove home from babysitting two Thursdays ago, we talked about how much we love Fall weather. This topic of course lead to imagining what Indiana must be like: invigorating crisp air, 70 and sunny, turning leaves of every color, Wabash football, and the covered bridge festival. Sounds a lot like the definition of perfection, no? As our dialogue progressed, we arrived at the conclusion that it would be the absolute perfect week to go home. It started off as a kind of joke, wishful thinking, but quickly progressed to "what if?" and then "could we really?" followed by "oh, lets just do it!" Very responsible, I know (note the sarcasm). But we did take some precautionary actions in between the above thoughts. Like checking Michael's syllabus for the next week, emailing professors, making sure Amberlie could cover us, and calling our moms to make it official. In the next few hours I frantically tackled the laundry, packed our bags, printed directions, calculated gas costs, and hit the pillow. The next morning, we left. And documented everything along the way. Literally, everything. We took a picture at least every hour of where we were and whatever was around us. So without further ado here they are. 

Departure: 9:53 am CO time.

1086.68 miles to Cville.

10:00 am first stop, Jamba Juice.

If you've never had the Razzmatazz, GO GET ONE NOW.

It will change your life forever.

11:00 am flat nothingness in northeastern CO. Smelled like poop.

12:00 lunch time. 

The secret to driving 17 hours straight through. But don't worry, 

I pulled my weight too. 13 hours out of 32 ladies and gentlemen, be impressed. 

1:00 pm frosty for Michael before we switched drivers.

2:00 pm proof that I really did drive!

3:00 pm Nebraska.

4:00 pm still Nebraska.

5:00 pm Again, Nebraska. But I'm not complaining, 

if it were Kansas you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the last three pictures.

6:00 pm sunset in Iowa.

7:00 pm Missouri

9:00 pm my iced caramel, yes please.

(no 8:00 picture...that's what happens when the other

person is sleeping and there's no one to use the camera.

I won't mention who that person was...)

 12:00 am Michael's idea, obviously.

 2:00 am Arby's chicken goodness.

 3:10 am downtown Cville, a sight for sore eyes.

Arrival: 3:15 am 

This is what our Mapquest looked like after 17 hours.

A work of art if I do say so myself,

although the top right corner leaves a lot to be desired.

No comment necessary.

Approximately five minutes after this picture was taken, 

we passed out on the living room couch and waited for my sister to

stumble upon us the next morning. Speaking of passing out...it's about that time friends.

But I'll be back tomorrow for the exciting-ness that is part two!

* or ten days later, you never know...

...

Ok, so I hyped up this really exciting post like it was going to happen asap. And it wasn't. And still isn't. Woops... But, here's a sneak peak of one of the best week EVER! And I promise that soon, very soon, I will finish the long awaited post(s), and you will not be disappointed!