Blessed

Hello, dear friends!

Summer is officially here, and with it comes the sunshine, humidity, and afternoon thunderstorms here at Disney. :) Guests are also arriving in droves, which keeps us all comfortable in job security and lots of hours working the parades and shows. :D

Star Wars Weekends ended last weekend, and it was definitely the best year I have had yet helping the Jawas. My partner was amazing to work with and kept me smiling and laughing at her antics and personality. As I have come to realize with all the important things in life, true joy comes with developing relationships, whether that is with God, with each other, or even simply with nature. I was blessed to create so many relationships at Star Wars Weekends, causing me to call it my Star Wars family.

Aside from those I worked with, a couple guests stand out as to having formed a wonderful friendship with the Jawas. First, Josh and Kody are two brothers who come every year to the Weekends and dress up every day of the Weekends in a different Star Wars character. They come trade toys and trinkets with the Jawas at least once or twice a day, and the Jawas get so excited to see them! They get some of the best trades.. :P

Secondly, Emily and Lily are two sisters who come every year and are little chatterboxes! They taught the Jawas how to hug, and they know how to do the "Utinni dance" too! :D They would come a couple times each weekend to trade their toys and trinkets and regale the Jawas with their recent adventures with Darth Maul, the Tusken Raiders, the Cantina band, etc. :) They also got the best trades! At the end of the Weekends, Josh and Kody gave the Jawas a picture of them dressed up as Guido and Kit Fisto on a keepsake box, and Emily and Lily gave a home-made scrapbook of all the pictures taken of them and the Jawas. Both are such treasures full of blessed memories. :D

To speak of treasures, memories, and blessings, I cannot forget to mention how blessed I am to be able to share a breakroom with some of the celebrities of Star Wars Weekends. I mentioned in my last post about the wonderful chat I had with Dee Bradley Baker, and that proved to be the first of many wonderful conversations I had with some of the hosts. Ashley Eckstein is going to be selling her new Star Wars clothing line for girls on heruniverse.com, and I highly recommend checking in on her site! Jeremy Bulloch and I were able to chat about working in character costumes while rehearsing for a show with Boba Fett and Jedi Mickey, and I was able to play with James Arnold Taylor's five-year old girl backstage while he was doing a show. :D Such incredible opportunities and memories!

One of the distinct highlights of the Weekends was getting to watch Ray Park's show from the booth the day before the last day of the Weekends. After giving brief demonstrations and teaching 30 kids how to do basic martial arts moves onstage, he admonished the kids (and the kids at heart in the audience) to "listen to your teachers, your mums and your dads; find what you love to do and do it, and if you discover you don't like doing it anymore, stop and rediscover what you do love, and then do that instead; follow your heart and your passion." Talk about inspirational! :D

My pastor ends every sermon with the blessing: "The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace, for you are blessed in the city, blessed in the field, blessed when you come and go, and if the Lord is on your side, who should you fear, for who is like the Lord? Nobody!" As I finished Star Wars Weekends, I could not help but recall that blessing and feel that somewhere, somebody once prayed over me, "May you live a blessed life," and I feel that prayer coming true at moments in my life such as these.

So I pray over you: The Lord bless you and keep you; may you live an abundantly blessed life! :D