I'm sad about the total lack of any new pictures here in quite a few months. Unfortunately, my camera is borken (the same kind as Ruth's). I have a few geographically distant friends who maintain very extensive photo sites of their lives and I'm constantly amazed at how well those give me an insight into their continuing world. Tip: when getting out of the canoe, make sure you KNOW how deep the water is so that you are not sinking down to your waist with your precious little Nikon tucked in your pants leg cargo pocket. Doh! Perhaps down the road when I am not a desperately poor graduate student I will actually own another camera. I was sitting by myself out on the dock at Kirby lake the other day and kept reaching for my pocket to get a shot of the sun setting over the water. Alas, I just had to enjoy it like a regular person.

My lack of a camera has reminded me of a series of stories I said I was going to write many months ago. I got one installment in, but let it drop after that. Perhaps I will pack that back up here soon.

On a sad note, I learned that Allen French will be leaving the Memorial Drive Church in Tulsa soon to head to Kansas. Allen was my first contact with that family of believers after I happened upon a website that invited me to "Start Life Over," sitting alone at my house after having packed my stuff across the country after closing the door on a dream world in a dramatic way. He was kind and gracious, even if his understanding of who I was got skewed at first. For some reason he was telling the guys that a new girl from Harding would be showing up. Ha! I guess I'll perpetually be the guy with a girl's name. Allen was one of the people who helped resuscitate my faith at that time of my life by simply being a spiritual leader with a genuine heart and a real love for God. There are no words to describe how important that was. His influence helped set me back on my feet and continue me on God's path. One of his special gifts was a keen insight into scripture. We would sit around on Sunday nights, slowly plowing through the book of Mark, and his guidance in this always gave me something I had never thought of or learned before. Amazing. I'll miss his giant hugs and incredibly loud laugh on my return trips to Tulsa.