i have been a bad, bad blogger! but i'm determined not to have lunch until i've said something. or a few things. let me tell you about some of my friends... my sister nathalie is in ecuador for two months, learning to be an even better doctor. my sister alice is in thailand this week, presenting at the international hiv/aids conference. my sister sharon got a piece accepted to the ohio state fair art gallery. my boyfriend daniel is going to be an amazing husband for me. my church family is stepping into their gifts and our little gathering is really starting to feel like the church. my aunt finally got e-mail. my parents love me unconditionally. my brother has decided to become a teacher. i love my people! this afternoon, i'm driving down to cincinnati to visit one of my foster kids. she's a teenage girl who has been doing things like staying out all night. no big deal, but right now i have two girls who keep making dumb choices. did i think that the world revolved around me when i was 15? probably. do i get annoyed when these kids don't realize that the world is much bigger than themselves? definitely. and i know that the world is bigger than my frustrations with silly teenagers. it's even bigger than the kids with much deeper issues... anyway, i'm really getting excited about my little road trip - i'm going to stay in cincinnati for dinner with my old roommate - see my old apartment and my favorite neighborhood in the world. what have you been reading lately? i went on a frenzy this past weekend - finally finished the fifth harry potter book, and read a novel by t. davis bunn in an evening and a morning. now i've started tolstoy's "anna karenina" (again!) and am going to finish it this time...daniel and i have been going to the downtown library. i get so exicted there - SO MANY books, and they're all FREE!! there are deeper things that have happening, but things that are not appropriate for public discourse...strange dreams...an underlying aching for the grief in those around me...but the deeper the grief, the deeper the potential for joy... that is all for now.