rock climbing...and....MARTHA!

wow, so much news. i recommend you go to bugbitten first and get the pictorial story, and then read this short overview of what's been going on!!!
i'm a bit tired, so this is rushed and poorly written, but you get the facts with some subjectivity here and there :)
so. last friday night james, myself and three other guys (from bivouac/climbing gym circles) left for the Red River Gorge in Kentucky. it takes about 6.5 hours to get there. we arrived at 1:30 am, set up our tents and jumped into cosy sleeping bags in the nippy air. the next morning we woke up all excited and ready to CLIMB!
my first climb was a bit of a disaster. i climbed half way and then asked to be let down due to excruciating pain in my toes! apparently because it was cold, my shoes were cold which meant they were hard and weren't moving with my foot. so i taped up my toes, gritted my teeth and tried again...i felt like a ballerina with bloody toes. i made it to the top (only 60 ft I think) - my first outdoor climb :) later we moved onto other routes - the hardest i did was a 5.9, which wasn't particularly difficult, i was just getting used to the wall.
climbing outdoors is somewhat harder because the routes are not laid out, but easier because you can't 'cheat' - anything you can find is 'on'. mind you, there were parts without a good hand or foot hold, where i had to pinch at a nob on the rock and pull my big butt up the wall....thank God for ropes and a trusty belayer!
so rock climbing was excellent. i can't really describe it. the scenery was brilliant also - the leaves were all still green and the sandstone rocks were beautiful. just wonderful.

favourite moment = lying on a big flat rock, watching james ascend the wall, with trees and rock potruding over me about 80 ft up, staring at the big blue sky...just enjoying His creation by sight and touch...

on to other things...
over the past few weeks marth and i have been trying to coordinate meeting up somehow...and after much umming and ahhing and uncertainty (she is a free spirit haha) she told me the other night 'i'm catching a bus tomorrow. see you tomorrow night' HOW EXCITING. so, after school yesterday i was all abuzz and jumping around like a 3 year old post-fairy floss...i started making dinner and we went to get her...i was literally jumping up and down when her bus came in, and then she was here. crazy.
we chatted in the car nonstop and fired questions at each other and laughed about american curiosities...we went home and i made dinner for myself, lois, her and james and then we headed downtown. i showed her ann arbor by night, including the graffitti wall which so often reminds me of her, and the cool theatres, which i knew she'd love. we met up with james, got free ice cream from a friend of his and then headed home on the bus. there wasn't a pause in conversation until 12:30, when we finally settled down in our beds and fell asleep. how brilliant that God put our plans together. my acute homesickness is temporarily cured, because she's brought home here.
i'm still in shock about her, MARTHA, being here...in ann arbor. i'm so excited about the fun times ahead.
tonight we go to see jars of clay. i can't say anything here that will describe how much their music has meant to me and how pivotal it has been in God's plan for me. 'i'm excited' does not do a hint of justice.
i'll blog again soon, friends :) for now, i love you.

SONG THAT'S GOT ME SMILING ON THE BUS IN THE MORNING:
eva cassidy - way beyond the blue :)