Whirlwind

That title pretty much sums up my weekend.

It was one of those weekends that was completely unplanned except for the fact that my parents would be out of town for their 31st wedding anniversary. Yeah, you read that right they have been married for over 30 years and are probably the happiest I've ever seem them.

Things started out pretty normal for a weekend spent at home with just me and my younger brother, David. [I can't really say little brother anymore because he, at the age of 12, is practically the same height as I am.] I pick him up Friday from school with a large Ocean Water from Sonic. Not sure why, but for awhile now David and I have had this unwritten rule that we stop at Sonic whenever possible, especially between the hours of 2-4pm for happy hour. [I always wished I had a cool older sibling around that could drive when I was in elementary school, so they could pick me up and I could avoid the bus, haha!] Came back home and settled in on the couch excited to watch the Aggies play in the Cotton Bowl. Sadly, the Aggie defense decided to stay home for the game so we kind of got our butts handed to us. David and I felt like the loss was going to put a damper on the weekend, but it didn't.

That evening I decided to start reading, "I Would Die For You", which is an adaptation of journal entries, both physical and online, from a 15 year-old boy, BJ Higgins. BJ had a radical and blunt way of spreading the story of Christ and I found myself unable to put the book down. Once I reached the halfway point, at 1am, I decided it was time to call it a night, but just couldn't sleep. I ended up reading chapter 5 of Ephesians and just openly talking with God, something I had been halfheartedly doing over the break.

Saturday, we went to watch Gulliver's Travels, which was really cute. [It's kind of a thing David and I always do, going to the movies that is.] After the movie, I, Kathleen Elise Sullivan, coughed up the big bucks and bought an iPod touch4. Anyone who knows me, knows that I absolutely hate dropping large amounts of cash on anything, but I had been saving for a new mp3 player for awhile. Anyway, we picked up the iPod and headed home to get it all set up. For the first time ever, David showed me what was up! Showing me how to navigate through this new touch screen business and everything, haha! It was pretty awesome. We order Panjo's to go, since I had been craving their pizza for about a year and then got cozy at home and watched another movie. We finished the evening with a hilarious game of Chubby Bunny, in which we both had marshmallows coming out of our nose and ears. I don't think I have laughed that hard in a really really long time. I decided to read more of the before mentioned book and before I knew it, it was 2am and I was finished. My face stained with tears and more continuing to run down, I turned on my new iPod to just make a quick update on Facebook and Twitter.

A status caught my attention and I messaged the writer. The status was questioning what God meant by the commandments and what was sin. I made somewhat of a overview of God's love for us and the sacrifice of Jesus for our sin, told the writer I would be praying for them, and told them to not be afraid of asking any questions. For the next hour and a half, I [terribly] typed on this new gadget, afraid to switch to a computer and miss another question or opportunity to talk about God and Christ. Not since Uganda had I felt God so close to me. I prayed and prayed that God would speak through me and that I would not turn this conversation to be anything about me. The writer had so many great questions that I myself had asked and these questions provided me with an opportunity to dig through old notes from sermons, bible studies and personal study times. I found myself reading over an old journal and reading bent up note cards shoved into the spine of my Bible. The entire time I kept thinking to myself, "Don't stop asking questions!" When I finally signed off, I was completely restless. I turned on some worship music and just sat in bed talking to God. I don't think I had been that open with Him in quite some time. At the end of it all I just felt this peace. And I realized that this was again a refreshing moment for my faith. Another time that I would look back on and say "You see what He did there? Yeah, He made me even stronger and He showed AGAIN how much He loves me and desires a close relationship with me." I realized at the end of it all that God is never far from me, He is always that intimate. It is I who focus my attention on other things. It is I who find distractions and time consumers more important than my time spent with my Father. Again, God reawakened my heart and reassured my soul.

Today, was another simple day. After a restless night between God rocking my spiritual world and a crazy storm threatening to rock my physical world, I was pretty exhausted. I knew my parents were coming home in the evening so I decided to cook. I had been lovingly pampered all break, but my parents deserved to come home from a restful weekend and not have it completely collapse on them. Sadly, my sweet angel, Snickers, would take her last breath at 7:55pm. She was such an amazing cat and even as she passed she was purring. It was comforting to know that she wasn't hurting and that she knew we were all there with her. It's crazy to me how attached you can become to an animal. Snickers was my companion for 17 years. She consistently licked my hands/face, especially when I was crying. Snickers found us, in a way, right after we had taken in another cat, Cowboy. Cowboy, after fighting with kidney failure for years, passed away over Thanksgiving break. Since then Snickers had slowly begun to decline. To say that animals do not love is an obvious lie to me now. Without Cowboy, Snickers just slipped away. So heartbreaking to be without her, but she was truly a companion to me and that is how I will remember her.

After a very emotional good-bye, we sat for a re-heated via microwave meal. Not as delicious as I intended but still good.

As I headed into my room to begin typing this post, David walked in. He stated that he had really enjoyed this weekend, and then started to cry. I thought at first that it was about Snicks, but then he said, "It's just the last one." Well, I fell apart all over again. You see, he knows that this is the last break I will have at home for some time. Physical therapy school starts in May, so unlike most years I won't have a summer vacation to spend at home with him. It was in that moment that I realized just how much I loved my little brother and how much he has grown. That kid seriously blows my mind. He's so funny, it's absolutely ridiculous. He has this manor about him and his personality is uniquely him. It's not often that a girl, at least for me, sees her brother cry but those glimpses of the little boy inside are really beautiful.

This weekend began unplanned and ended with unexpected events. It's these sorts of days that remind me that God has a rehearsed plan for my life. He's in control. It's my job to be open to talk, but also to be still and listen.