...and i'm a hugger!

I think this is hilarious.

               

Side note: please note I am not attempting to critique online dating by posting this video...I simply appreciate this and hope you find it funny as well!

How we can stop "V-Day" from becoming "D-Day"...

Today I felt much love from students, from friends, from my family and my "family".

The day started with a card Carleigh handed to me this morning: Gary made everyone in our house valentines cards, complete with a ziploc bag filled with a handful of peanut m and m's. I even got a fruit roll-up in my ziploc (that brought me back circa 1992). I'm thankful for this brother of mine.

Throughout the day, I was blessed with small gifts of cards and chocolate, notes on facebook, special text messages: reminders of love from those God has blessed me with on my journey. I came home after work to dinner with the Davey clan...complete with a good hour of post-dinner play with Charlee and Bodhi, acting as my "doctors" fixing every remedy from my "broken leg" to some sort of ear, nose and throat infection (I'm assuming, seeing as they tried to stick everything they could into my ears, nose and mouth). They assured me all is well, except for a mild temperature of 300 (according to Charlee).

It was a good day.

And while it was filled with generous acts and kind words, I recognize I am blessed with love all days of the week, not just today.

I am often reminded (when my eyes are open to it) that love is not found alone in romantic relationship. While we who are without this ever-desired relationship will long for it, we are also in danger of finding it...and not appreciating it. As I walk through life at this moment as a single, I must learn to find contentment here, now, today. My attitude and my perspective will not magically change once I find this type of love.

So, if you are one of the fortunate in one of these relationships, I hope you appreciate it.
I hope you are quick to forgive, slow to speak, long to listen, oft to tell that person you love them.
But I also hope you do not limit these actions only to the one to whom you are committed, for I truly believe the Beatles were heading in the right direction when they told us "all the world needs is love".

I know it's really all I need.

Thank you to those who share the love with me.

May I ever seek to share it with you.

the receptive, courageous heart.

To reach satisfaction in all, desire its possession in nothing.

To come to possess all, desire the possession of nothing.

To arrive at being all, desire to be nothing. 

To come to the knowledge of all, desire the knowledge of nothing.

To come to the pleasure you have not, you must go by a way in which you enjoy not.

To come to the knowledge you have not, you must go by a way in which you know not.

To come to the possession you have not, you must go by a way in which you possess not.

To come to be that which you are not, you must go by a way in which you are not.

When you turn toward something, you cease to cast yourself upon the all.

For to go from all to the all, you must deny yourself of all in all.

And when you come to the possession of the all, you must possess it without wanting anything.

Because if you desire to have something in all, your treasure in God is not purely your all.

-John of the Cross

warning...

...you are about to listen to country music.

Every once in a while I get a craving (I think it has to do with the year I lived with Kelly Moir), and so yesterday at the gym I watched the countdown on the country music channel. And I have to admit, I loved it.

So here's a new favourite...and for those of you who "don't like country", you may even like this, and if you don't, then don't complain to me, because I gave you fair warning.

balder...dash.

Living with a family provides this single girl hours of entertainment. 

Honestly, hours. 

Sometimes after dinner I find the time simply flies until the kids go to bed, because they are just hilarious. 

(Their parents, who don't get to then escape to their room in the basement, may not agree with me...)

Anyways, last night, Carleigh and I were having dinner with the kids (Gary's away on business this week), and Carleigh was playing her new game with Charlee: we'll call it, "tell me what this means". Carleigh comes up with a random word, asks Charlee to repeat it, and then to tell her what it means. Charlee, at age 4, comes up with some of THE best definitions. This little girl's got a knack for it, we've decided. Carleigh's given me permission to make this my blog post...so, enjoy.

Definitions by Charlee Davey:

 

Haggis: when people are rude to nice people

Saskatoon: when babies are in their mommies' tummies and drink (drink what? we don't know)

Juniper: cats that purr (and maybe are named "June"?)

Nunavut: people who don't want babies

Baba ghanoush: papa baking poop

New Brunswick: when people aren't doing the right things

Bargain: when people get their babies back (to which Carleigh and I replied, yes, that sounds like a bargain...)

Tonsils: it means you like nachos (there may have been some reference to our dinner here...)

Cylindrical: "I was walking along with a click, click, click..." (there may have also been further reference to poop that I have omitted for your sake...poop seems to be a big deal around here, as well as doing the right/nice thing and babies - no Carleigh is not pregnant, but Charlee really hopes Skippy Jon Jones will have kittens.)

Uranus: to which Char recited our address perfectly, and Bodhi (age 3) piped up with: "no! It's like this" threw his head back, made crazy eyes, and shouted some type of war cry: "....Wahhhhhhh!"

I love these kids.

Charlee calls this last one her "lady pose" although here she looks a little more drunk than lady-like...I'll have to try and get a better shot of it. The essentials are: sweet smile, head tilt, shoulder to the chin. We have no idea where she picked it up, but I looked across the table at her last night at dinner, and she did it to me...and when I asked her what she was doing, it was the first thing that came out:  

"it's my lady pose, Kaleen!"

Costa Rica, te extraño.

If you know me, you know that I have a love affair with Costa Rica that started in 2003. Between 2003 and 2009, my passport was stamped 7 times para entrar my second home. Now that I've started working on my graduate studies, I have had to put Costa Rica on hold. And I'm not sure what that looks like or when I'll return. I only hope that God will lead me there by the hand one day and that I'll have enough courage to listen and follow Him. But ultimately, it's in His hands...si Dios quiere...and I'm willing to go where He wants me. I know Costa Rica is just one part of the story God is weaving through my life. And I'm thankful for it. Tengo tanto para agradecer.

Every once in a while I have a day where I miss this dear país.

Today is one of those days.

I miss waking to rice and beans for breakfast along with the best cup of coffee.

 I miss getting caught in a flash storm and ducking into the Catholic church to wait it out, "forced" to pause and to pray and to interpret Biblical stories through stained glass windows.

I miss catching myself thinking in Spanish.

I miss thinking "what the heck?" along with a healthy dose of reality check that the Western World is a minority in so many ways.

I miss mi familia.

I miss nights the power goes out.

I miss living with 16 people in one house (did I actually just admit that?)

I miss knowing and loving God in a foreign place, in another culture, because it shows me how united we all are and gives me hope.

And so, mi estimado Costa Rica, know you are missed today...along with a lot of dear people who share my affection and have had a love affair of their own.