for the love

One of the the most influential people I met during my trip to Panama was Big Sarge. He was one of our translators, a native to Panama, and as his name suggests, a former Sargent in the Panamanian military. On the first morning of our trip, Big Sarge came up to our breakfast table and told us a story about some of the more 'traditional' Panamanian tribes. He told us how the culture of the female tribe members was such that they did not wear 'anything up here' (as he motioned over his chest). One of my favorite quotes of the entire trip came from this man, and it goes a little something like this, "when the ladies go a-walkin', their breast go a-knockin'... if you are hot (because it is ALWAYS hot in Panama), they will fan you!" And then he did a little shimmy dance, and walked away. Oh yes, yes he did. Big Sarge had a lot of funny stories and insights into Panamanian culture, but there is one thing that has stuck with me above and beyond his impression...

T his is My body broken for them. I will be broken so they may be whole. This is My blood poured out to cover them. In the place of their sin, may He see His Son.

Last Monday at work we got a collective and non-directed-at-any-one-person-because-we-don't-want-to-call-anyone-out hand slap. A couple of our computers had contracted a virus and the company now feels compelled to begin blocking certain sites in order to prevent more severe like-occurrences. One of our sales guys is in charge of the IT decisions. What can I say, we're all about cross-training. So he says in our Monday morning staff meeting..."we've had some people going on some of the sites that are out there like Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo... and Myface." I inadvertently laughed out loud. Yet, he didn't skip a beat, and he didn't even crack a smile. He was serious. It was cute. I just wonder if they're also going to block Spacebook...

It's official. My super-sweet Canon 30D is no longer cutting edge, state of the art, newest phat cat in town. This is. I knew it was going to happen. I knew it would happen in September. And I'm really not one to have to have the newest and the best of anything... ..but it was fun while it lasted. Don't get me wrong. In the six months that I've had my camera, we have bonded as only photographer and camera can . I still heart this digital wonder, and I always will. *sigh* aaaannnndd......I'm over it. Onward.