Dedicated to Helena Hengelbrok

My 18-year-old neighbor, Helena Hengelbrok, complained yesterday that I haven't posted in a while. The fact that she enjoys reading my blog is reason enough to keep posting. This post is dedicated to her:

I met Helena about 5 years ago. Her family moved in down the street and my teammate, Lynette Good, met them at the grocery store. Somehow they heard each other speaking English, which is rare this side of the Berlin Wall. Lynette came running into my apartment later that day screaming, "We have friends!!!!!" True friends don't grow on trees and it was almost immediately apparent that the Hengelbroks would become true friends.

I hoped that Helena (then 13 or 14) would start attending my youth group, which she did! Turns out, she loves to learn and enjoyed studying the Bible. She liked to guess where my lessons were headed while I was still spitting out my opening "hook", and she was usually right. She asked questions I didn't know the answers to and I soon realized that she was going to give me a run for my money! I studied harder knowing Helena would be in the audience.

I'm not all that smart, but I was smart enough to invest time into a friendship with a very unique young lady. I tell her all the time that she's more than my neighbor. More than a kid in my youth group. More than a frequent status hacker. I bake with her, plan youth group events with her, watch movies with her, host sleepovers for her and her friends, talk theology (and relationships) with her, drink green tea with her, walk her home at the end of a late night . . . She's become my friend.

And now she's graduated and leaving Berlin, first for Peru and then for Princeton! (That rhymed!) I'll miss her, but I'm so thankful for the years of getting to know her, being stretched by her and having the privilege of leaving any amount of positive influence on her life.

Helena, there's no doubt you will go on to shape the world in some great way. But as you do, never forget:

Intellect, gifts, abilities, dreams and desires are gifts (as is faith).

There are no accidents. Your family moving to Max-Sabersky-Allee is proof of Intelligent Design.

The search doesn't end until you have perfect peace.

Everything natural can be proven, but a lot of things are SUPERnatural.

You always have a friend in me!

Bucket List

Visit Ireland

Go deep sea fishing

Learn to clean and filet fish

Get a book published (I'm currently writing 3 and I hope to finish one this year . . .)

Visit the tiny country of Liechtenstein

Study in Oxford (happening this August)

Milk a cow

Have a winter wedding

Stay with an Amish family for a while

Visit Prince Edward Island, Canada

Visit Maine

Live in Alaska

Tour the Holy Lands (during the winter)

Have a huge vegetable garden

Adopt a child

Walk a mile a day (and live up to my name)

Always have a job that doesn't seem like work

More to come . . .

What's on your bucket list?

E. Coli!!!!!

Yes, I know I haven't posted in forever, but this was too entertaining not to share it with the few readers that I have . . .

So, as you've probably heard, Germany is in the headlines for having and mysteriously spreading a potentially fatal strain of the E. Coli virus. We've been warned to avoid all lettuce, tomatoes and especially cucumbers! This is very sad for me because I CRAVE salads all summer long. Tomatoes are my absolute favorite vegetable. But, because I'm afraid to have an "it can't happen to me" attitude right now, I am

obediently complying with the warnings.

Of course, I didn't even hear about the virus until a few people had died from it and was eating local tomatoes from a farm stand near my house every single day (in salads with lettuce and cucumbers). Once I heard about it though, I gave up my beloved vegetables cold turkey. :-(

On Sundays, my co-workers and I usually go out to McDonald's after church. This Sunday, I ordered a "Hamburger Royal TS" and asked for no lettuce or tomato (not realizing quickly enough that the TS stands for tomato and lettuce). The guy looked at me puzzled.

"Hasn't anyone else asked you to hold the lettuce and tomato?" I asked him.

"Nope, you're the first," he replied.

He probably meant that particular burger, since any person with a working brain would've simply ordered a cheese burger, which is what I was ultimately served.

Feeling dumb and a little paranoid, I went out to brunch today with a friend at a really nice, kind of posh, French cafe. Usually, they serve little salads with every entrée, but today no salads were served. That made me feel better. It's not just me taking this seriously.

This morning on CNN, it was reported that the source seems to be German-grown bean sprouts. I was skeptical. Who eats bean sprouts??? Surely they are not popular enough to make thousands sick! I was right. Later today, the tests came back negative. It's not bean sprouts.

I bought bell peppers and onions this evening to make chicken fajitas. They are on the supposed "safe list", but so were bean sprouts a few days ago. Fingers crossed. Maybe soon the government will be encouraging us to eat junk food and avoid anything fresh . . . :-)