11:20 Sunday Night   The Most Amazing Mr. Happy I won't bore myself with a recap of my trip (I wrote it down on paper as it happened anyway), so I'll just say that I learned the difficulty of crying while grinning. It's not impossible, just more difficult. Also, the beach is a good place to look for money when it is rocky, and there is a hungry giant octopus out in the shallows waiting for tourists. and it may be interesting to note that I lost a contact when i almost threw a toddler-esque temper tantrum in the middle of the airport on Saturday, and was half blind when i was looking at some of the most amazing drawings ever in the national museum, which sucked but i suppose I shouldn't have been crying then, if i wanted to keep my vision. On the plane home from Wellington, I got to watch the sun set on the ocean on the west side of New Zealand even though I was flying over the east coast. It was pretty amazing. The rest of that night I spent with Caleb and watched the Rugby and did most (okay, half) of a puzzle (and gave up because all the blue sky pieces looked the same and it was frustrating), and discovered the strangest thing. Wednesday night I had been thinking that maybe if I wished hard enough for Caleb to pop into bed beside me in the morning to keep me warm, it would come true. It didn't, unfortunately, but last night I found out that thursday morning, Caleb had been sad that he couldn't run into my room, flick on my light, and sit on my bed and talk to me. sort of a weird mindlink. I went home around midnight, and got online to answer comments and I was going to write an entry, but Arina got online and i stayed up til 2 a.m. conversing with her because she's so cool. We always have interesting discussions. Last night we related our love lives to theatrical plays (that is, Othello and The Phantom of the Opera) and whatnot. Our conversation delved into much greater depths, of course, but that's what I remembered most. I went to bed, slept, woke up around 9, got out of bed around fifteen minutes later, and went to church. They prayed for my sister and me as it was our last sunday in new zealand before we were off on our journey home. After communion, the youth group went out and a woman talked to us about the absolute necessity of prayer, and how although she wanted to mission in bolivia, she ended up in Ireland, and talked about her years in Ireland, and being careful about what you vow to God because he'll take your word for it. I don't think I could give my life to God, to be honest, not fully. I wish I could, but I am not strong enough, I rely too much on material possessions and other people. I love God, but I wish I knew Him better, understand Him better, be willing and able to give my entire life to devote myself to Him. But I am not strong. I am weak- human and imperfect. I can rejoice, however, because God loves me anyway, and accepts me as His child. Naomi talked about her impending mission to South Africa, and I got some mccafe half-price coffee vouchers that, when redeemed, would givie Naomi a dollar toward her mission fund and me a half priced coffee! Yay for Mcdonald's not being really all that evil--just rich, big, and powerful. Walmart is evil, but the only issue i have with Micky Dee's really is the plastic bio-hazard hunks they call "toys" in their happy meals. Made by sweatshop workers in China or Taiwan or some overseas country where labour is cheap. Also they are really sucky for the environment. booo. but yay for half priced coffees anyway. Anyway, after church, I went to my lunch farewell thing that the youth group had organised for me. They gave me a lovely card that everyone had signed, and a beautiful paua necklace, and delicious cakes. woohoo! Zeb showed up and gave me a going away gift--Two books, Mr. Happy and Mr. Tickle! Yay! I read them aloud, hurray for the Misters. Caleb and I got dropped off back at my house, and we looked at some old photos of me and some pictures of my house in america, and then bussed to the botanical gardens where we paddleboated down the avon for half an hour, thus fulfilling one of the things I meant to do before I left New Zealand. It was so fun! Both Caleb and I lost our paddle-boating virginity. :P "it was a litte painful" "yeah, but i'm sure we would get over it" "It WAS pretty fun" "We should do it again sometime" doot do do. I took advantage of the one weekend of vodaphone's free txt and harrassed Geniesa all day with inane ramblings about money and pirates. Caleb didn't even complain, or say anything about how texting for the sake of texting is going to be the downfall of man. Probably because he knew it was my only weekend, and he knows I also agree with him (although i've found texting to be quite useful at times). We meandered through the gardens after turning in our paddleboat, danced the tango to a beat only we could hear on the empty bandstand, and then bussed to the mccafe where i could redeem my vouchers for half priced coffees and helping naomi get to south africa, woohoo! Sat in the mccafe for about half an hour, enjoying cheap-ish coffee (so much for fast food, though, right?), then walked back to Caleb's. We watched Gilmore Girls with his brother, and then worked on scrapbooking a little bit, discovered Geniesa was going to the same concert as me, had tea, and then....EEE! We went to the Sons of Korah concert! My favourite gospel group! They composed msuic to put Psalms to, which brought them to life and made them relevant and wonderful. I could try to describe the way I felt after the concert, but words do not suffice. It was pure, unrefined awesome. Went home, got locked out, called Michael's cell to have him tell my parents i was locked out (they were at Peg and Dave's), and they came home and let me in. woohoo. Then I got online and related my weekend to this diary. yay. and finished reading that e-mail caleb wrote to me. Today was so good. AAUGH! Leaving is hardcore uncool. also i feel two cold sores tingling on my mouth. i better zap them. I better go to bed. I wish i could spend forever with that boy. I never would have thought that I, of all people, would be so willing to spend the rest of my life with a single person so early in life. But you can hardly deny feelings when they arrive. Besides. He is worthy. ;) stupid twitterpation. I am so happy. So very very happy.