The nights you wait for rest...

What a weekend!

On Friday, Chels and I went to my parents' house about an hour and a half from here. We grabbed dinner at Chipotle, Chels left for the Foolish Things concert with my brother and his prom date, and I met up with Laura, my "fiance", and some of her other friends before I headed home.

At home, I hung out with my parents for a bit, grabbed the advance copy of Let's Not Forget the Story that the guys sent me and unpacked stuff in my room while listening to the album (which is incredible). I read through the liner notes and the thank yous and was shocked to find myself listed, so I just sat down and thought for a while.

And then, I went and played piano for a while (because there's nothing like playing piano when no one is around to hear). I've been working on putting music to "Meetings" and I'm really liking the result.

Chels and John got back and Chels and I went in the hottub (which was cool because it was a clear night and you could see the stars). Afterward, we watched The Incredibles and went to bed. Great stuff.

Yesterday, I was up early and trying to make sure I had everything I needed in order to head back up to school. We had lunch with my family and stopped at a thrift store on our way out of town.

Back in Fort Collins, Chels and I did some laundry and ate dinner. I had my quiet time and talked to Nick for a bit. Most people went to the ho-down put on by our college group, but I went to the Foolish Things concert instead (I've been waiting for it for about five months now, especially after not having seen the guys since January or February).

It was like a family reunion! A ton of people from my high school youth group were there, as well as the guys, their wives, our old youth pastor, and some other friends that I don't get to see much anymore. It was good to see everyone, for sure. I got to talk to Charlie for a while, which was cool... I hadn't seen him since December. And I got to talk to all of the guys, which was sweet because I haven't done that in a really long time. It's exciting for them to be where they are and it brings me such joy to see them at this point in their ministry.

Seeing them again was really convicting, though, and I think that is one reason why I haven't been so eager to go to their shows over the past few months. Having such a desire for active ministry, it's hard for me to see them do what they do and not be ready to jump in; however, God is still telling me to wait and, so, I tend to get impatient when I go to shows sometimes (if that makes sense).

I know that God is telling me to evaluate what I want to do with my music ministry and how to fit that into the life that I lead now (as opposed to that I led in high school) - to figure out what He desires of me in this area - and I'm now at a point in life where I'm not as frustrated at the prospect of figuring this out.

If my faith or my stepping out in faith makes myself or others uncomfortable, I can't change that. All I know is that, at the end of the day, I answer to God and God alone. If what He calls me to leads me away from comfort, let it be so.

I came back, though, and played piano in the basement for a while (it's such a bad piano). I was reading my book (which I am still in the process of finishing tonight so I can write my paper before 11am tomorrow) when Nick got back from the ho-down, so I talked to him a bit about how giving his testimony went and some other stuff.

So, I got to bed a little later than I really should have, but I fell dead asleep when I got there. I was so disoriented this morning that I thought it was Monday for a few hours (and wondered why my alarm was set for so early) before I realized at 10:22am that I had 8 minutes before church started.

Church was good, though, even though I was late and missed most of the music. The sermon was on suffering, how we should expect it, and how it is to be evidence of God's glory.

I had lunch with Chels and Dave (who is sick - poor guy) and set about reading my book again (which I did for a few hours) before I wound up in Nick and Phil's room, where I worked for a while and then managed to procrastinate until dinner.

Dinner was halfway decent - manicotti and corn. I then proceeded to watch a movie with my roommate until 8pm and somehow wound up talking to Charlie on the phone, who is now under the impression that I'm engaged to Kyle (which is a long story that is an inside joke and which Charlie bought). It could be really entertaining, dependent upon how many people he told before Laura got to him with the truth.

Talked to Eddie for a while, while he was on desk duty tonight, about all sorts of stuff... mostly about purpose and the future. Since then, I've been reading in the basement, with the exception of taking a Cadbury egg to Nick (who is writing a conceptual analysis of the word "flaw").

Slow night, though, especially with Dave sick and Chris not back from the Springs yet. And the trying to get papers done (which I haven't started because I haven't finished the book yet). It shouldn't be too hard, though...

So, yeah... I'm kind of tired. :) Tomorrow will actually be Monday but, after this paper is done, I'll have a day or so off, which will be cool (I have a quiz Wednesday and stuff to do for my lab Tuesday, but I'll get a bit of a break).

In other news, my dad is off to London for a few weeks (they originally wanted to relocate him for 6-9 months, but he said "No" to that very emphatically). And... I managed to get into the class that I couldn't get into last week, which is an answered prayer. My schedule is all worked out for the fall and I'm excited to be taking on a smaller workload.

Anyway... back to the reading now. It's a good book and it really should have me crying, but it's very Irish-Catholic and it's told from the perspective of a young boy, so it has me in hysterics almsot everytime I read a serious part. Go figure.

'Night, all.

Mood: Anticipatory Listening to: Foolish Things, Let's Not Forget the Story
Reading: Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes