Summer, anyone?

A typical summer day in the life of Jenica Baldwin:

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Wake up before the sun rises for an early morning bike ride around the lake. Get back an hour and a half later after 25 miles and realizing that it's only 7am and I still have the whole day in front of me.

If it's not a bike riding morning, I head down to the dock with JoAnne and my mum and jump on the boat to seek out the glassiest water in Hayden Lake for some morning slalom water skiing. Our Mastercraft's boat heater is my favorite perk.

Now that I've seized the day, it's time to realx, read, make collages, bake, watercolor paint, take Millie to the park, eat lunch out on the deck, soak up more sun, train for the triathlon, play ultimate Frisbee, or cook.

In the afternoon, we await mom's arrival back home after work and head down to the country club for a 9-hole game of golf or a family tennis match. Either way, we absolutely love the time that the five of us get to spend together.

If the weather permits, we take our dinner out on the boat & grab some games on the way for an evening out on the lake. If my buds are over, we grab the graham crackers, marshmallows, Hershey chocolate, blankets, newspaper, and matches and head down to the cabana deck for a late night bonfire - which always ends up going a lot later than we planned, but it totally okay because the night lasts forever with the best conversations.

If the weather calls for a thunderstorm, then I scream for joy and watch the lightning strike down on the lake and watch the June hail destroy my mom's potted plants. With the storm going on outside, we prepare for a Baldwin family ping-pong and pool round robin tournament.

Summer livin' at the Baldwin household is something I'm very much looking forward to.

Indy 500 in Your Head

Psalm 139.14: "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."

As I was sitting in my managerial communications class on Thursday, we were watching a clip about the mirror neurons in our brain and how they work. To sum it up, my professor said, "There's an Indy 500 goin' on in your head every second of the day." I had heard it before, but this time was different. How incredible is that? There are so many things that have to go perfectly right in order for us, as humans, to function properly.

Later that day, I was riding the bus back from a downtown adventure. I love going downtown Seattle for many reasons, but mostly to people watch. There are so many people in this world. It was on the bus that I looked around at everyone to realize that there's an Indy 500 goin' on in their head. Add about 7.5 billion more people and that's the entire world!! Unbelievable!

The best part: God made each of us fearfully and wonderfully. Every single one of us.

Watch this video to get a little jist of just how many people there are...

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

GO WAVES: Class of 2010

My sister, JoAnne, is a part of the Pepperdine University Class of 2010 making her one of the 756 (I counted) new alumni. I had the chance to fly down this past weekend to Malibu, California for the last visit to Pepperdine's beautiful campus and watch JoAnne not only walk across the stage to receive her empty diploma holder, but to receive 2 awards in the International Studies & Language Division at Seaver College for her outstanding work and accomplishments in the past four years. What a stud!

Feelings throughout the weekend were definitely bittersweet. Graduation from college is a HUGE event! Excitement: celebrating Jo's college career and all her hard work, eating lots of great food, seeing all of her friends who treat me like a little sister, spending time with my wonderful family. Sadness: watching JoAnne say goodbye to her friends not knowing when she would see some of them again, putting this little unit of her life to a close and forever planning to hold it close to her heart, being in such an encouraging place for the weekend and being touched by the people she knows for even the short time I was there.

Of all the professors, friends, interns at church, the gals in her bible study, there was not one person who didn't rave about her leadership, amazing serving spirit, her love for the outdoors, or her natural way of ministering to those around her because of her radiating love for the Lord. I have an awesome sister!