Cold Showers, Baptism, and The Hour Exchange

My house is hot.  And sticky.  And I want to move to Antarctica.  Maybe I can help Eskimos deliver their babies.   Everyone who has lived with me has learned my love of hot water.  The perfect shower temperature is just below the point where it actually burns your skin.  I come out of the shower red as a lobster and I have found the best part of apartment living is having a much larger hot water tank than would ever be installed in a house.  (I admit I am a hot water hog and will wipe out the whole tank in one shower killing many fishies in the process.  No shame.)

I think tonight was one of the few cold showers I have ever taken in my life.  I usually hate them, but tonight in my house that is currently running around 88 degrees, it was nice.  Refreshing even.

This past weekend our church hosted a baptism service outdoors in a lake.  As cheesebally as it sounds, my cool shower reminded me of this past weekend, and my prior baptism.  It made me remember how it felt to come out clean.  Washed of the sweat of my own failures.  God is good.

My super generous friend let me borrow her nice camera to see if I really wanted to invest in one (I do by the way if you want to chip into my fund).  So I took pictures of the baptism.  I had so much fun experimenting with the camera and am sold on buying one.  Trying to sell my husband.  I am sure an old Polaroid could have captured the beauty of this day, because you just couldn't escape it.

Story Boards

Studly Husband

God must have thought Jeff was in need of a good cleansing given the wave that came at him.

Yes there is an old flubby woman walking in her bikini by the cross.  She walked by 3 times.  I'm glad she is confident and I found it hilarious.  

On a totally different note, we watched yet another documentary that rocked my world.  It talked about Portland's Hour Exchange program.  Apparently there is one in Chicago but I don't know how well it is established.  The whole concept is you give an hour of your time and can then cash in that hour for something on the website.  Frickin brilliant.  I love that it treats all time as equal.  The example from the documentary was a handy man working on an old lady's basement for an hour, and then he cashed in his hour for a sailing lesson.  How awesome would that be?  I would spend an hour doing anything is someone could repay me in an hour of water skiing!!  I want this idea to grow and spread, and I want to be on a boat right now.

Time to enjoy labor day weekend and sweet time with family and friends.