Apollos, Cephas and Paul

"What I mean is that each one of you says, 'I belong to Paul,' or 'I belong to Apollos,' or 'I belong to Cephas,' or 'I belong to Christ.' Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?" 1 Corinthians 1:12-13

Going to church here in MD has not been as easy or delightful an endeavor here in MD as it was in GA. I went to a church picnic yesterday, and, while folks were somewhat friendly, I really only had conversations with a few. There were many people who only glanced at me, said hi, and kept walking...didn't even introduce themselves. I even walked up to a few people to introduce myself, which is a stretch for me. Conversations that I did have were short as well. I didn't expect much attention, far from it...but I didn't feel very welcomed. This morning at church was worse, which is odd since I'd just met most everyone there the day before. I once again, both days, got to stand there awkwardly by myself.

I'm somewhat used to this in church, and I know that my connection to the community is partly on my shoulders, and I'm making a stronger effort here than I have in the past. I'm struggling, however, because it's nowhere near as welcoming and loving as the church family I had in GA - and this congregation is better than most in the area, I think. I really miss my church in GA and it makes Sundays very difficult. I miss those folks and their genuine love for God and each other. I guess I'm also seeing how I need to welcome folks into the church (and in my home, and in general) more openly, as well, rather than being shy as I usually am. To be proactive and conversational in loving them, which is, again, not in my comfort zone but so necessary.

And so when I'm sitting in church, missing my GA church, I keep butting up against the chapters in 1 Corinthians about divisions in the church. I know that Christ is not divided and He works mightily, no matter which church I'm in, for wherever two or three are gathered in His name.... I know that He can love me and speak to me no matter which church I'm in. But is it wrong to feel so much more part of one church than another? I don't rightly know. Maybe it's something I have to get used to as I potentially keep moving all over the place. Maybe it's something I move back to Savannah for, to be in that church, to be in that "milk and honey place" as a friend put it. I don't really know....I just know I need to joyfully plant in this church and be open to meeting Christ and His people there.

teenage mutant ninja flowers

Today I saw perchance the coolest flower I've ever seen in my life: a giant mutant siamese-twin black-eyed susan. I wish I had a picture of it to show you, but here's one in words (so it'll probably take a few thousand): There's lots of black-eyed susans on the island I work on, as it's apparently a native grass/plant that they like to have their in the recreated high marsh. Anyway, so we were walking along today and happened to be talking about the black-eyed susans, when I see one that looked more like a medium-sized sunflower. Lo and behold, it's actually a giant mutant siamese twin, or something like that. The stem was like a wide ribbon, about 1 1/4" wide and flat, with a rib on either side (like 2 stems stretched apart). At the top of the stem, it looked like 2 flower heads fused face to face, with their stamens super-enlarged (it almost looked like lips or a venus fly trap) and their small anthers circling them, with the peduncle (if that's what it's called? I forget) on the back of each half. It was crazy-looking.

What else this week...I've been getting bombarded by mosquitos and dive-bombed by common terns (they drop & fly about 1 foot above my head, because we have to walk close to their nests). I have mosquito bites all over my arms and neck (hey, just like my tan lines!), but I guess at least the mosquitos are well-fed.

Oh yeah, and I have an awesome Indiana Jones-ish hat now. It makes me enjoy every day just a little bit more because I get to wear it to work every day. Even my shadow makes me smile in the midst of the mosquitos and sand and all :-).

Cool things I saw this week:
- Mutant flower
- Divebombing terns
- tenacious mosquitoes
- the faces of high school students on a tour when I tagged one of the turtles they were releasing with a 12-guage needle

C Minor

"Open wide my door, my Lord, to whatever makes me love you more." - mewithoutYou.

For the second day in a row at work, no nests. But, I did get to see a mating aggregation of horsehoe crabs, which was really cool. Lots of males jockeying for position with the females (avg. 6 males per female; males 5-8" across, females 12-14" across). Lots of clusters of these all up and down the beach, and a number of males were washed up on shore, too. I don't know if it was the time of year or the abnormally cool weather or what exactly prompted them to do this, but we saw at least 70 horseshoe crabs today. And although the cool day at work meant no nests, it also meant that walking was far more comfortable and less exhausting.

Then tonight I watched my little brother's high school graduation - I'm so proud of my little bro! I also got to see extended family members, which has become a rare treat as I move to more distant locales and don't have regularly scheduled (if any) holidays.

I also got two letters today that were a huge blessing to me. I like letters, a lot. It turns out I can get mail down in MD, so if you want my address, please ask!

Back to the subject and the opening sentence...God has been giving me little things to smile at throughout the day to lift my spirits and remind me He's close, I think. It's pretty lonely in MD, even with research assistants coming and going each week. And around a bunch of scientists and other folks who don't always put God first in their language, well, it feels like it's easy to miss Him. But there are little things, little ways He makes me smile. So small I can't even recall most of them off the top of my head..but enough to lift me and remind me that He's there with me, watching out for me & loving me. And hopefully the ensuing, enduring response will be to love Him more.

tidbits

We found 3 nests today, which isn't too shabby, but less than I was hoping. We did get one nest right as the mother was finishing laying it, so we captured her to take measurements and tag her (as we do with all live terrapins we find).

There were also an insane amount of mosquitos today. I literally could hardly walk for swatting them - I must have killed 50 on my arms alone in 3 minutes. One I got in the middle of a big, juicy bite. The prof doesn't like deet on the eggs, but we didn't really have a choice but to use bug spray (on ourselves, not the eggs). I did see a river otter, a muskrat, an eagle, the eagle being chased by least terns (which are maybe 6" long), and some very big horseshoe crabs.

The prof. and I have been talking a lot about setting up a side experiment regarding the terrapins. I'm definitely excited about this, and it may lead to masters' research material it seems. I definitely need to seek God's direction on what to do with that potential future step and where He wants me to go, as I'm still not feeling very strongly pulled in one way or another career-wise.

I've also been trying to find a church down here in MD. I went to the one church on the island 2 Sundays ago, and it wasn't a good fit for me: the people weren't very welcoming, and there were some statements that didn't seem quite theologically sound. I found a PCA church in the next decent-sized town (40 minutes away) this Sunday, which I like. The people aren't as friendly as in GA, but are fairly welcoming for a northern church, I guess. I'm hoping that I'll get to go there often enough to put down some roots; I'm still not sure when and how much I'll be working on weekends. This weekend I won't get to go because I'm going home for my little bro's high school graduation! Yayyyy! I'm really excited for him, and excited to go home.

Cool things I've seen the past few days:
- A hail storm while sitting inside a car with a sun roof. So cool!
- Another wicked storm blow out of the north last night, big thick black clouds.
- Black-eyed susans all over this barren island.
- Turtle nests, of course. Actually, I see those in my sleep, literally.

Fair skin used to be stylish

Farmer tan, farmer tan
Looks as cool as a sunburn can
Rings my neck
and my arms
'Neath the sleeve, pale to alarm
Look out! Here comes the farmer tan.

Is it red? Listen, bud
It's as red as mosquito blood.
Does it hurt
every day?
It's been marked by burning rays.
Hey there, There goes farmer tan.

In the heat of sun
Thanks to photons galore
My tan line's begun
It is a real eyesore.

Farmer tan, farmer tan
All my neighbors have farmer tans
'Cause our work has no shade
But hey, at least
we get paid.

If I'm inside, all my fun's up
So any day that the sun's up,
You'll find the farmer tan!

we have a winner!

so...I found my first turtle nest today!

It poured buckets yesterday and this morning, so a) I was soaking wet by 9AM and b) it washed away all the tracks/nest marks that turtles had left this weekend and c) terrapins like to nest right after it rains. Not only did I see the telltale tracks, but I was able to see & dig up the nests too! It's pretty cool, I'll put up a picture once I get a digital camera (which will be, um, soon?).

The nest starts about 4" below the ground surface, and is flask-shaped, so when you're digging the first way you find it is when this little hole 4" under the ground caves in and your finger pokes through the little hole and into the bigger opening (the "egg chamber"). Then you excavate a little more and inside the egg chamber are usually about 9-14 1.25" long, .75" diameter eggs that look...well, kinda like light pink rugby balls is the best way I can describe it, I guess. Blunt ends, not like a chicken egg. When they're freshly laid, they're pink; after about 24 hours they turn white and once they turn white you can't handle them anymore because the baby turtles have started to develop inside and you don't want to scramble them. The shells are leathery, and easy to bend/break, not like a bird egg. Then you dig up the eggs and count them and mass them and record lots of data (but only if they're pink do you count/mass them, of course). Then you put them back, mark the nest with flags, recover the nest with dirt, and put mesh on it to keep out the predators.

We found 6 nests today, 5 of which predators hadn't gotten to yet. It was pretty cool, to learn how to follow more cryptic turtle tracks and see what I'm actually looking for and find the nests. Last week I had a couple days where I saw tracks and I dug and dug and couldn't find the nests no matter what, so finding these today felt pretty good.

Cool things I saw today:
- A 5 foot long, 2" diameter banded water snake that I nearly stepped on and I'm surprised didn't bite me
- A willet nest I almost stepped on (I was looking too hard for turtle tracks, I guess)
-Turtle nests!
- An osprey catch a fish and fly away with it in his talons