I work in a coffee shop

But I'm not a barista.  During the fall and winter months, when I'm not at Malibu, I can do my work from wherever I have internet and phone access.  Some days I work at home.  Some days I work in my office @ the Bellingham YL office.  Most days I end up in a coffee shop.  There are 2 reasons for this last location, the first being...well...coffee.  The second reason is people.  When I work form home or even from the YL office, I often can go hours or even days without interacting with a single soul.  So to avoid feeling like (or becoming) a recluse, I head to one of the many coffee shops in Bellingham to get things done.

When you sit in a coffee shop for hours on end, you have the privilege of observing many strange and lovely things.  Below are some of my favorite coffee shop observations:

• A large bearded, flannel-wearing man walks in, grabs a cup of coffee, sits in a leather chair in the corner and proceeds to pull out yarn and knitting needles.  Unexpected.
• A man walks into a coffee shop (which is nowhere near the bay or any body of water) wearing a fleece, sandals and a full wet suit.  Peculiar but not surprising.
• A young family leaves the grocery store across the parking lot, arrives at their car with groceries and a large bouquet of balloons.  While loading the car with kids and groceries, the balloons are forgotten, let go of and drift away.  Beautifully tragic.
• A woman whose motorized wheel chair boasts a sign indicating that a drunk driver caused her injuries, rode off the curb, tipped her chair over and fell to the ground.  Two kind gentlemen rushed to her, righted her chair and helped her back into it.  Caring, kind humanity.
• A young guy walks in with a single red rose in his hand.  He proceeds to a table where he sits and waits nervously.  Blind date I infer.  He and I both wonder at each woman who walks through the door.  She arrives, spots the rose, offers a hug and sits down. Sweet and awkward.

People watching provides great entertainment and encouragement as I witness people being interesting, unique and caring.  Bellingham is a beautifully unusual city and I love the months that I get to spend here.

the Kiwis have taken over

This winter we have some international guests staying @ Malibu.  2 are Candians, 3 are Brits and 17 are New Zealanders (henceforth referred to as Kiwis).  They are mountain bike trail builders working for NZ Trail Solutions out of New Zealand.  They are building mountain bike trails on 1,700 acres of land down the inlet from Malibu.  The land is owned by a private investor group with 2 goals in mind: land conservation and extreme mountain biking.


The boys are staying with us for somewhere between 12 and 14 months.  They've already been living @ Malibu for 2 months.  They work 6 days a week and rest on Sundays.  They eat breakfast @ 7am and then head up the inlet to the work site and return "home" around 4:30pm.  Sharon & Stacie serve dinner @ 6pm and then the rest of the evening is theirs to watch TV, rock climb (when I'm in camp), play basketball, email home or play Settler's of Catan.


A few weeks ago, we taught them how to play hockey...Harold was proud of them, as they did quite well and caught on to the important notion of passing.

We're learning a lot of great Kiwi vocab words like jandals, heaps, keen and mate.


As you think about Malibu, would you pray for our Kiwi friends?  Pray for their safety, as they are working in a very remote place doing very physical work.

My 2 Worlds

I am in the middle of transitioning back to the States for the Fall and Winter and am fully realizing the different mindsets, accessories and quirks that come with working @ Malibu.  Below are some of the differences between the 2 places that I live and love.

Malibu | Bellingham 

VHF radio | iPhone        

walk everywhere | drive most everywhere

days only have numbers | days have names and calendar dates

slow satellite internet | lightening fast internet

leave 5 min before needing to be anywhere | leave 30 min before needing to be anywhere

carry pocket knife everywhere | no need really for a pocket knife.  ever. 

beware of bears and cougars |  beware of cats and dogs
food comes in by boat...limited options | unique and diverse grocery and dining options  

is this real life?

 

I work in one of the most beautiful places in the world.  It's true.  It's extraodrinary.  It's spectacular.   It's God's handiwork.   The following pictures are of a day off adventure to Secret Cove, up the Jervis Inlet in the Hunaechin area.  We hiked through the woods, making loud noises to ward off any grizzlies and then waded a ways up this stream to the end, which is where these waterfalls and pools are found.  Incredible.  Indescribable.  Our God is good and so creative.

A few days later, some of our staff saw 4 orca whales in the inlet.  So we loaded in boats in search of these creatures...

And find them we did...

Is this real life?

welcome to the main event

Sometimes I think that this thing we do here called Young Life camping isn't really so different from a circus.  Life is never dull or boring here @ Malibu.  We have a rhythm and routine to things, but compared to the average bear's work environment, Malibu is quite abnormal.

The following are things that are part of a normal work week for me:

• Throw and direct anywhere from 10,000-30,000 lbs. of freight and luggage every 6 days.  And by "throw" I do mean throw.
• Catch kids @ the bottom of the water slide @ the end of our obstacle course to keep kids safe and things moving along (sometimes I catch a foot to the shin and last week I got kicked in the neck).
• Get creative for intern fun night-a few weeks ago we had a floating bonfire in the middle of the inlet and made s'mores while sitting in kayaks
• Play silent floor hockey from 11pm to 1am every night 4.
• Put on a carnival, dance party and pool party all in the course of about an hour and a half.
• Get a "ride" home from bible study in a ski boat @ twilight.

We often say to each other how much we love our jobs and how we can't believe that this is where we get to work and what we get to do.   I am blessed by this place and what we get to do in serving kids and their YL leaders, but what I have been caught up with lately is how blessed I am by the people I get to work with.  Last week on my day off, I was moved to tears as I thanked our God for the people in my life and specifically who I work with here.

I am beyond grateful for the interns in my department-for the stellar work that they do in their roles and also for their hearts and character.   Assignment team, leaders, other staff and interns here have all been huge blessings to me as of late.  This week we have a fantastic medical team with their families who have been a joyful blessing to me.

God is so good.  This place is incredible, and the hearts he has given his people bless me greatly.  We might run a circus around here, but it's lovely and is affecting eternity.

osm

When you are 5 years old and learning to spell and you write a note to your mom telling her how great you think she is, you might spell awesome like this: osm.

And we do, and likely will forever.  The Friesen family is as near and dear to me as my own blood relatives.  I met them at church almost 9 years ago and babysat for them all through my college years and even beyond.  Their oldest, Samantha, is the creator of osm.  It was her note to Shelby that revealed this brilliant and clear spelling of awesome.  This word has caught on to friends and has even been the catch phrase of a Young Life program team.  I encourage you to embrace and use this treasure of a word.

Speaking of osm, I saw this for the first time last night @ Men's Weekend Entertainment Night and it is entirely osm!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ssXJtzFOjA

marking time & other musings

Here @ Malibu we mark time in a manner that is much different than the rest of the world.  Here the days have no names, just numbers.  If you stopped me suddenly on the boardwalk and demanded to know the day of the week, there is a 40% chance I would be able to answer you correctly.  I will know that it is Day 2 or 4 or that it is boat day, but there is a very small chance that I will know the actual day of the week.  Friends and family members' birthdays and anniversaries fly by without me realizing it (please forgive me if I miss yours).  It's different, it's crazy and it's also lovely.

Most days feel like 2 days in 1.  Tomorrow is quite literally 2 days in 1.  It's day 7/1.  The Princess will arrive around 1:30pm with our new group of campers.  Meanwhile, our outgoing camp will line the boardwalk waiting to board the Princess after the new camp disembarks.  For a brief 30 minute period we have 2 camps (roughly 600-700) kids in camp at once.  The average day 7/1 is a 15-18 hour work day for me.

It's a very good thing that the day before day 7/1 is day 6 and my day off.   Emma, one of our interns, shares my day off with me.  She stayed @ my house last night, so this morning we slept in, drank coffee, ate granola and peaches and watched Gilmore Girls until it was time to head into camp for lunch.  The rest of my day off, as usual, was spent cleaning, doing laundry and trying to sneak in some quality time with friends who are here for the week as leaders.