Joel in Ethiopia

Just thought I would post a few pictures of where Joel has been lately. These are not pictures that he took but ones I found on the web after he told me on chat where he's been lately. Enjoy:

Fantale Volcano located in Awash National Park

http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=0201-19=&volpage=photos&photo=120075

Awash river in Awash National Park

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/8529539

Simen Mountains National Park (This is where they are going later this week with Martina and Robbie)

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/8498206

The Inside Scoop

MUSICAL GENE MANIPULATION: Have you ever heard a combination between a dirge and Joy to the World? If not, then come to my nursing graduation tonight at 7 pm in the Collegedale Church. You won't be disappointed.

WARNING 1: If you've played in weddings a lot, plug your ears during the beginning processional. I promise, I had NOTHING to do with the piece chosen!

WARNING 2: Don't sit on the outermost edge of the outermost pews. If you do, your hair might go up in flames.

WARNING 3: You can feel free to leave after our Joy to the World dirge. All the rest is just hoop-la that is only meaningful to the faculty. (and maybe our parents... ;) )

BOTTOM LINE: Nursing Pinning/Graduation. 7 pm. Collegedale Church. BE THERE! :D

In the arms of a little child

I have tried for years to pick my Father up. I think it all started when I saw Joel pick him up in the kitchen of our Idaho dream house. (well, I still dream about it!) After that, I tried numerous times to emulate his feat. But Dad would always do this "bendy-knee" trick to keep his young daughter from succeeding. Even when I was a strapping 17 and 18 year old, I failed to catch him unawares enough to succeed in picking him up.

It's been over 12 years in coming, but tonight, success was achieved! Now I have something to fight back with when my brother says that I'm not good at inter temporal discounting.

Today I took the road less traveled by

And it made all the difference

A Purple Confession

I have a confession to make:

I like purple...

Not just any purple... DARK purples

I haven't liked purple in a long time. My dear friend Caitlin's favorite color is periwinkle... I never liked it. (sorry caitlin!) But, I must admit, I am coming to see the purple light.

Isn't it nice that we can change our minds? I think so :)

Ludwig's Angina

my blood sugar is high

my total car mileage was 230032

i've spent 39 of the past 72 hours in the hospital. The other 33 hours i've spent driving to/from Erlanger, eating, reading, and sleeping. Nothing else. (well, maybe 2 minutes per day to check my e-mail)

i was so tired tonight that i couldn't even eat the ultra-yummy fudge at the bottom of my Turtle Caramel Nut milkshake

i don't want to get up at 4 tomorrow. but i can't get a sub because i have a book to read and a paper to write in those very precious four hours at the front desk.

i got guacamole sauce on my stethoscope because i forgot to take it off when i went into Moe's

i'm drowning in my mess on my floor. i don't know when i'll get a spare second to clean it

i got goosebumps when i saw Erlanger's life force helicoptor. *sigh*

i have no idea what time my class is tomorrow or what i'm going to write in my paper

yesterday, one nurse commented "I didn't see the Dr at all. Actually, I was so busy, I don't think i woulda seen Jesus had he walked by". at first i was shocked; then i was convicted. ouch.

it is wonderfully windy outside and i felt on my forehead the first drops of the threatening thunderstorm. if i weren't so tired, i stay out and enjoy it.

i'm going to bed

Thanksgiving Thanks

This year, Thanksgiving break was enjoyed at our little cabin in Listonburg, PA, affectionately known as "Bear Pause". We were greeted with a healthy 8 inches of powder.

There is a nice hill behind the cabin that my mom used to sled on as a kid. Of course, the hill was an open field at that time. Now it's covered with small (and not-so-small) saplings. The newest obstacle was a large fallen tree lying directly across the path. Not to be deterred, we sledded anyway. It's called Slalom Sledding. Dad demonstrates:















































Fun with my new camera:

Benefits of being a 4th semester nursing major:

Yep, that's right! Once or twice a week, for the last several weeks, I have been fed courtesy of area hospitals who are trying to recruit Southern nursing graduates. We had Panera bread twice and, most recently, Olive Garden! Add to that the annual Thanksgiving lunch that the nursing professors prepare. Needless to say, I haven't been eating at the cafe much.

Sabbath Blessings

• Jen and her ten toes and their plans for stained glass architecture
• Moccasins
• Peppermint tea
• Timothy and his "throw"
• "Shall we, sometimes forgetful of where creation starts, with science in our pockets lose wonder from our hearts?" (Hymn #562)
• Parsnip leaf gravy
• Cheesy Queso sauce
• Barry and the attack of the savage chair
• Sparkling pear juice (and the bottle choir!)
• Jonathan and the leaf pile
• My third experience with toilet's and cellular devices (note to all: they don't make very good friends)
• Ting and Acts 2
• The haunting recorder
• John Elliott and my all-time favorite Bach cello suite: Sarabande from Suite no. III.
  
• Caitlin and "Esto Les Digo"
• I Cantori: a balm for anguished souls
• Calzones
• Losing appendages in the "Worst Case Scenario" (What would YOU do if bothered by a man in Italy or locked in a public bathroom?)
• My Mom and her motherlyness :)

Why buy expensive toys?

I love these videos my mom sends me!!!

"Shantung Compound" Summaries

I am taking Honors Seminar, a class that all Southern Scholars are required to take. We read books that our teacher, Dr. McArthur, has picked out as being profound and educationally enlightening. Once a month we turn in a paper and discuss that month's book.

This past month we read Shantung Compound by Langdon Gilkey. It describes the author's experience in a Japanese Internment camp in WWII. Their experience was nothing like we frequently think of when thinking of prison camps. The prisoners were allowed to create their own community within the camp. The guards were there only to make sure they didn't escape and to provide supplies. They had to make teams to cook, teams to clean, teams to bake, teams to build, etc. Shantung Compound is derived from the author's diary of his experience and what he observed about mankind from his time there.

Here's an excerpt from my paper:
"The story of prisoners at Weihsien, an internment camp for Ally civilians who lived in China during World War II, provides an unusual look at human conduct in a rare and pure form. What happens when the unnecessary externals of a society are stripped away? How do people react and what becomes their motivating force for life? Digging deeper, we are able to see a spiritual microcosm in which sinful human behavior exists. When only the basic necessities of life are left, we see selfishness versus self-sacrificing love played out on a level playing field. These problems crystallize and define themselves when reduced to a small community. They become easier to manage, and subsequently, more applicable to our own lives."

The book is so complex, touching on so many areas of life, that when it came time to write the paper, I was at loss of where to start. So I decided to clump together what I felt Gilkey's main observations were during and after his time in the Internment camp. What follows is a mental exercise in summarization. Hopefully it will provide you with an idea of the book and some thoughts about life.

And by the way, it's a great book. I would highly recomend it.

General:

• Things such as intellectual ability and social status become irrelevant when the basic necessities of life are threatened. Our common humanity is finally acknowledged. This is similar to Maslow's theory of a Hierarchy of Needs. Only once basic needs are met can humanity feed their souls.
  
• Mankind has an amazing ability for adaptation; the ability to change and accept a new "normal". This is how humans are able to survive in a sinful world.
• Morality or immorality comes from the deepest spiritual center of a man. This provides for a life its final security and meaning. When this center is about self service and it becomes threatened, he is no longer able to be rational or moral. When his center is not threatened, he can be rational and moral about situations outside of himself. In other words, sinful mankind is hypocritical when issues deal with himself.

Economy/Government:

• Work must have meaning beind it or one cannot stand it.
• We are not defined by our work roles, there must be a core identity that supersedes all else.
• Without moral health, a community is as helpless and lost as it is without material supplies and services.
• Just programs are programs that, idealistic or not, can be practical and able to be enacted.
  
• Law is necessary due to self-interest. It is more than simply outlining what is right versus what is wrong. It is about controlling self-interest and molding it into socially creative rather than socially destructive patterns.
• "A democratic society can possess no stronger law than the moral character of the people within it will affirm and support."
• Our sinful world has a paradoxical dilemma: 1.) Mankind must be moral (concerned about others over self) if human community is to be possible. 2.) Mankind (by their own power) is unable to overcome their love for self to gain this morality.
• No matter the society or political situation, the up or downs of life, if our main meaning of life comes from service to God, then this is our constant in a continuously changing world.

Reason vs. Self

• Reason is an affect of social harmony rather than a cause.
• People serve self-interest first and foremost, then come up with rational and moral reasons to defend themselves.
• When the security of self or a basic condition of one's life is threatened, objectivity ceases and morality is no longer a main concern.
  
• Rational behavior (putting self aside to focus on others) is a moral achievement.
• Wealth, if not in the hands of selfless people, is demonic.
• "A man's moral health or unhealth depends primarily on the fundamental character, direction, and loyalty of his self as a whole."
• Mankind is continually involved in a battle against self. (Paul's concept of our "old man")

Religion:

• Christianity should be about love for your neighbor and not "holiness" (superficial acts to be holy)
• If self wins, religion is an instrument of sin; if God wins, religion is a possibility for good and service to others.
• All men are religious; but to whom does their devotion lie?
  

Meaning of life:

• That which motivates a man to work usually motivates his total life.
• "Injustice to other men is the social consequence of an inward idolatry. The moral problems of selfishness, the intellectual problems of prejudice, and the social problems of dishonesty are all together the result of the deeper religious problem of finding in some partial creature the ultimate security and meaning which only the Creator can give."
• True morality comes only when we find meaning beyond ourselves.

"The only hope in the human situation is that the 'religiousness' of men find its true center in God, and not in the many idols that appear in the course of our experience. If men are to forge themselves enough to share with each other, to be honest under pressure, and to be rational and moral enough to establish a community, they must have some center of loyalty and devotion, some source of security and meaning, beyond their own welfare.

"This center of loyalty beyond themselves cannot be a human creation, greater than the individual but still finite, such as the family, the nation, tradition, race or the church. Only the God who created all men and so represents none of them exclusively; only the God who rules all history and so is the instrument of no particular historical movement; 0nly the God who judges His faithful as well as their enemies, and loves and cares for all, can be the creative center of human existence.

"Given an ultimate security in God's eternal love, and an ultimate meaning to his own small life in God's eternal purposes, a man can forget his own welfare and for the first time look at his neighbor free from the gnawings of self-concern.

"From this we can perhaps now see what the man of real faith is like. He is the the man whose center of security and meaning lies not in his own life but in the power and love of God, a man who has surrendered an overriding concern for himsel, so that the only really significant things in his life are the will of God and his neighbor's welfare. Such faith is intimately related to love, for faith is an inward self-surrender, a loss of self-centeredness and concern which transforms a man and frees him to love."

so... I kinda want to move to Alaska...

Da Likkle Helper

Election Day

"Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost." -- John Quincy Adams

Autumn in Virginia

1/2 of the Martin Family (plus me)

View from the Martin's Front Yard
Marrissa Martin - the dearest friend in the world!
Bald Eagle in the front yard:Afternoon Walk with my favorite Siberian Husky: Glacier.





Bonfire with friends:

Courage does not always roar, sometimes it is a quiet voice at the end of the day, saying... "I will try again tomorrow." -Mary Anne Radmacher

Only as high as I reach can I grow
Only as far as I seek can I go
Only as deep as I look can I see
Only as much as I dream can I be
-Karen Ravn

you and your suitcase

i felt sorry for you then
an awkward sorry
you and your suitcase
too big for the time

it was old
as you rumbled down that path
dusted with fallen leaves
and my unvoiced pity

i wanted to protect you
but you weren't worried
you had bigger thoughts
than to be embarrassed
by that old suitcase

i thought i had learned
from you and your suitcase
to respectfully ignore
the standards of those around

i tried to push it away
but there it sat, nagging

and so here i write
5 years later
about you and your suitcase

...a memory

Psalm 32:3, 4

When I kept silent {about my sin,} my body wasted away Through my groaning all day long.
For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was drained away {as} with the fever heat of summer.

10.03.88-10.03.08

After working this morning from 4-8 at the front desk, I was faced with a whole day to do what I wanted. (I don't usually have classes on Friday.) Returning to my room, I decided that, since it was my birthday, I deserved to get a few extra hours of sleep. This prospect pleased me greatly. Closing the blinds, I hopped back on the top bunk and was asleep in a matter of seconds (literally).

Three hours later, without the help of an alarm clock, I awoke- fully awake and refreshed. Opening the blinds to let the sunlight stream in, I sat at my desk and contemplated the day before me. What did I want to do on my birthday? The possibilities were endless! I was now twenty years old, after all, with a car at my disposal and only time to kill.

I composed a list:
play guitar outside on lawn
read Sanctified life and write in journal
go look for leather belt at thrift store
go to barnes & noble to find Kite Runner, a book for my southern scholars class
eat lunch at Fresh To Go- a new restaurant I've been wanting to try
run errands (Bank, music building, Brock)
Orchestra rehearsal at 3
Ultimate Frisbee at 5:30

Oooh was I excited! This was going to be a great day!

After finishing my errands around campus, I headed off to the first thrift store. No satisfactory leather belt was found but I did make another quite exciting purchase. That's the problem with me and thrift stores- I just can't walk out empty handed! I decided to try another thrift store my roommate had told me about. No good belts there either BUT I got a few other items!!

Oh dear! Three o'clock is fast approaching. Which items shall I omit?

Reasoning that my paper on the Kite Runner isn't due for a another week (plus the fact that I had read my last book the day before class and wrote the paper that night), I decided to continue on to Fresth2Order. And boy oh boy, did I make the right decision! My Vegetable Panini was, as my Grammy would say, absolutely "delish-nutrish"! I even tipped the waiter who brought me my to-go order. I bounced back to my car with a smile on my face and a skip in my step.

Next, I did something I rarely do. I went to a Starbucks and ordered something that I really had no clue what it was. It was something I've heard my friend order so I decided I couldn't go too wrong repeating the same order. So I tried to make the words "Tall Skinny Iced Mocha Latte" flow off my tongue like I did this every day. It didn't really come out right but I think the guy taking my order got the general idea. Tall was the size (tall equals small in Starbucks terms), Skinny (I think) means non-fat, Iced means on ice instead of hot, and Mocha Latte was the flavor. I was quite happy with what I received and felt quite "20-year-old" for having successfully ordered from Starbucks without having to stand in front of the menu for 20 minutes deciphering the jargon.

With my sandwich in one hand and the steering wheel in the other, I started to make my way back towards Southern. Passing by a roadside fruit stand, I decided that I was already late to Orchestra so a few minutes more wouldn't hurt anything. I had always wanted to stop and get some fruit there so I turned around and found a parking spot. And as I type, I am enjoying the fruits (haha) of my decision. A ripe, juicy peach. Yes, walking into Orchestra a few extra minutes late was definitely worth it.

Orchestra was absolutely joyous! I coudn't keep the smile off my face. It was just such a good day! And it didn't hurt things that the music we're playing is lots of fun!

After Orchestra, I took my guitar and sat underneath a tree near the ultimate frisbee field. It was lovely to play my guitar as the sun warmed my skin and the breeze rustled the leaves. Guitar was followed by a rowsing game of Ultimate Frisbee. Man that grass is itchy!

InTents tonight was awesome. I'll probably post my favorite points later.

And just recently, (as in I was interrupted when writing this) a group of friends threw me a surprise party with cake, ICE CREAM, balloons, and everything! :)

All in all, it was a great day only dampered by the fact that I MISSED A CALL FROM MY DEAREST BROTHER WHO IS IN ETHIOPIA! Silly me, I had decided to go without my cell phone while I was in the store and it just happened to be the hour my brother called.

Here's to your next birthday being as great as mine was!



in other news....

I decided that twenty years was long enough to be without a twin:

Got Life?

Notes on Peter Gregory
InTents - SAU
Monday
9.29.08

Background
Garden - Surrounded or covered
Eden - Pleasure, delight, or happiness
Garden of Eden - Hebrew meaning: Surrounded by pleasure/covered with delight/immersed in happiness.

In the Garden of Eden there were 4 rivers. A river, in Revelation, is life. River of Life. (Revelation 22:1-5) The Hebrew meanings for these 4 rivers, all have to do with being ALIVE!

• Pishon - grow up/increase/get bigger
• Gihon - bursting forth
• Hiddekel - rapid/speed
• Euphrates - much fruit

We all want to live our lives like this! Growing up! Bursting forth! Moving forward! Being fruitful!

What they lost
When Adam and Eve sinned and left Paradise, they weren't leaving things such as flowers, animals, and beautiful lakes. Those things were outside the garden as well. But they were leaving 3 things they could not take with them.

1. Tree of Life - represents that life should be eternal (Quantity of time)
2.Garment of light - represents that life should be lived without shame (Quality of time)

• Genesis 2:25 - Adam and Eve were naked but they were NOT ashamed
• Genesis 1:26 - We were made in God's image
• Psalms 104:2 - God has a covering of light
• Conclusion = They were not ashamed because they had a covering of light just like God

3. Face to face communication with God - life should be full of conversation with God

• Genesis 1 - "God spoke and it was..." Genesis 1 is full of God speaking!
• We were made in God's image so we were also made to talk
• Because God speaks and we are made in His image, then we represent God and his character by our words!
• God gave us the ability to talk so that we can talk to HIM!

After sin
After sin, there are three main desires that humans always try to fulfill:
1. We want to live forever - do everything we can to postpone age
2. We long to shine - be the best at whatever we do
3. We long to talk - communication and relationships with those around us

Sanctuary: an answer to our need
Exodus 25:8 - Let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them.

• By creating an earthly sanctuary, God was bringing Eden down to the human race to answer those needs that humans had been trying to fill on their own
• The Sanctuary was surrounded/enclosed/covered - just like the Garden of Eden!
• The Sanctuary was a mobile Garden of Eden
  

There were three things when you enter the Sanctuary that immediately fulfill our 3 needs:

1. Table of Showbread - Everlasting life
2. Golden Candlesticks - Light
3. Altar of Incense - Prayer (Communication with God)

Our answer today
Again, God has provided 3 ways to fulfill these needs that we still have:

1. Showbread = Bible
2. Candlestick = Holy Spirit
3. Incense = Prayer

Through these three things, we can have our own Paradise on earth. When we use these to fulfill our needs, we will feel Alive in Christ and be fruitful!

Aaron's Rod

• The rod was a piece of stick. It was dead. There was no life in it.
• Many times we are like Aaron's Rod - spiritually dead. Not even a desire to come alive.
• Numbers 17:8 - When the rod was placed IN THE SANCTUARY, it came alive!
  
• The rod went through the Garden of Eden experience!
• WE need to go through that same Garden of Eden experience. We need those 3 essential things to become ALIVE!
  

At first, it can be very boring. It can be monotonous. You've been dead, so it's not very fun. But consistency is key. Even if it's only 5 minutes a day, make it a consistent 5 minutes every day. Stay with it and experience life!

In order to buy back the Garden of Eden for us, Jesus spent time in the Garden of Gethsemane

• In order to buy back the tree of life, Jesus carried the tree of death
• In order to buy back our garments of light, Jesus became naked and was covered in darkness
• In order to buy back our face to face communication with God, Jesus was cut off from God
  

Jesus Himself was the essence of the Garden of Eden

• "I am the bread of life"
• "I am the light of the world"
• "In my name you pray to the Father"

CONCLUSION
We try to buy our own paradise by working all our life for monetary goods. And finally when we have made "enough" money and are ready to enjoy our "paradise", then our body fails.

Why are you here?
What are you trying to buy?

When you wake up in the morning, do you buy your paradise in heaven or on earth?

ALWAYS Remove That Tourniquet!

It was a quiet day on 300, a Pediatric Floor of T.C. Thompson Children's Hospital. A group of young Southern students were standing at the nurse's station looking for something interesting to do, as their patients didn't require a lot of monitoring.
Seeing an opportunity for a learning experience, the clinical instructor sent two of them down to the Children's ER for some observation time. Upon arriving at the ER, they were saddened that there weren't any patients with life threatening situations. It was mostly kids with fevers who would rather pay $500 for a note to get out of school then to just skip school itself. They had just missed out, they were informed, as a half an hour earlier they had saved a small infants life who had been seizing continuously and wasn't breathing.

Not to be deterred, these two assertive nursing students started asking the nurses (and the Dr's) if they would like to have an IV started on them. None of them volunteered their services but they did provide the supplies for the nursing students to practice on each other.

After one failed stick, the first student, let's call her Christy, hit crimson gold and successfully threaded the catheter up the vein, attached the tubing, and flushed it. Now it was her turn to be "practiced" on.

She sat on with an almost convincing stoic expression on her face as her friend, let's call her Dellyn, attempted a stick on her left hand. After a bit of fishing (apparently it wasn't the right type of bait), she attempted again on the right AC. It was a direct hit! In her excitement, Dellyn forgot to release the tourniguet that was milking that liquid gold. The force of the blood against the needle began to push it out from the cather before Dellyn had pushed the catheter fully into the vein. Blood began to flow freely down Christy's arm. She looked on in a calmed daze, seemingly indifferent to the pool of blood forming beneather her arm and dripping onto her white clinical pants.

Dellyn (royally freaking out): "What should I do!? Did I hit an artery! I'm just going to take this thing out! Uh, we're bleeding over here. Hey! Nurse! You! We have a small problem!".
Christy: "Um... maybe you should put some more pressure on it"
Dellyn: "That's not stopping it!"
Nurse 1 (quite calm - they're very used to this kind of thing) : "Well, first, you might want to remove the tourniquet."
Dellyn: "Oh! Yeah, probably should do that"
Nurse 2: "And you might want to push the little white button on your needle"

Christy stared on, realizing that the needle Dellyn had hurriedly taken out of her arm was dangerously close to her clinched fist.

Well, the rest of their observation time was spent cleaning up the blood all over the counter, floor and Christy's arm, hands, and pants. Peroxide worked wonders for the stains on the pants. Christy was excited because they sent for a pair of surgery scrubs (which, if you've read my blog for a while, are the most comfortable things EVER) but they didn't arrive in time.

Despite loss of blood on Christys part and fright on Dellyn's, they both learned a valuable lesson. ALWAYS remove the tourniquet on first sight of blood.

p.s. While this isn't as cool as last week's rescue (Oh wait, I never posted about that one. Well here's the basic gist: Friend falls 45 feet while rock climbing. Christy is first on the scene. Exciting!? Yep, that's what I thought too! Thankfully, friend wasn't dead, far from it in fact. We carried him out but he only injured his left foot. It was quite the miracle) it does give you a look into a day at the hospital for a SAU nursing student.

Laundry Longevity

If you're anything like me, laundry is a dreaded, time-consuming task that is not very high on your to-do list. Here are a few "laundry longevity" tips so that you can put it off for as long as possible.

• Buy extra socks. It seems like sock (especially during winter or when exercising a lot) are one of the first items to run out. And then you have to do laundry just to have clean socks! So figure out what items are making you do laundry more often, whether it be t-shirts, socks, etc and get a few extra.
• Do not, I repeat, DO NOT wear your jeans only one time and then wash them. Whoever said that jeans got dirty after one exposure to outside air. Please, that is a foolish notion that society has tried to confuse your mind with. Jeans are hardy pieces of clothing. They can stand multiple beatings before laundering. Same can go for t-shirts as well. If they didn't get sweaty and they still smell pretty, why waste water, soap and time? Refold and wear again!
• Make some friends OFF CAMPUS who have a nice BIG washer and dryer. Since you're not going to be doing your laundry as much, you'll have more to do. In the dorm, that would be a problem. But off campus, you can do it in the same amount of loads OR LESS if you plan it right.
  

Well, that's about it. And if you want to know the real reason I posted my slightly embarrassing opinions on laundry, it's because I couldn't resist naming a post "Laundry Longevity". You must admit, it's a great title.

Sssssseating Auditions (Part 2)

So, many of you might be wondering how those "Ssssscary Sssseating Auditions" went. Well, I'm kinda in the back of the orchestra. And yes, 3 of the 4 new cellists (Cello's are taking over!!!) were placed in front of me, which is most definitely understandable since I haven't been able to take cello lessons for the last 3 years. (Note: My tone of voice is more amused than defeated)

But God worked it out, because my stand partner is great! I've been wanting to get to know Allie's younger sister, Allana, ever since I first met her last year. So I was greatly excited to see that she's my stand partner!!! So we're having lots of fun and I'm very glad that I was placed with her. So that's the happy ending to my Ssssscary Ssssstory! (lol)


While it may look like she's sitting in front of a Bass, she's not. It's just the angle that I took the picture. She is definitely playing a CELLO!

"Folding Laundy In Neat Little Squares" How-To:

1. Get two crazy people in the same room

2. Fold and Color Coordinate
3. Take picture of pretty stack

4. Put laundry away (eventually)

It's been a long time since 6th grade. Nine years.
I haven't worn a skirt to class since then. (Well... There was that one time in 7th grade when I wore a skirt for picture day. But rest assured, I had a change of clothes close at hand!)

Until today...
Kasey snapped a picture to record the moment for you guys :)

Flexible Bookshelf

You can bend it into whatever shape you want.


Buy it here: http://www.highbrowfurniture.com/storage/products/bookworm/

(But I really wouldn't recommend spending that much. However, it's still cool!)

Summer Classics

3 posts in one day?

i've been feeling rather prolific tonight

but a soporific feeling is upon me

good night

how perfectly odd

20:13 me: Jon, I have to write a paper on this book called Silence by Shusaku Endo. it's a historical fiction about the persecution of the Catholic Christian church in Japan in the 1600's. its a very discouraging book (i had to keep reminding myself that it was FICTION) but asks a bunch of tough questions. i think you would like it. well, no, not LIKE it, but, like me, be made to ask hard questions because of it

20:14 Jon: hmm...maybe i'll have to read it then..it's on my list of books to read now..

20:15 me: maybe i can send it your way once i get the paper read. i got it off of amazon real cheap

20:16 and now i'm about to do something ridiculous, especially since i have this big paper looming on a book that is very confusing and my thoughts are all mottled about and so therefore it makes writing a coherent paper very difficult. anyway, i'm putting on HAPPY music (big step since that hasn't been the trend of late), sitting down with my mug, and pouring myself a nice cup of sparkling apple juice. now isn't that odd?

20:18 Jon: yes and no..yes because that hasn't been the recent trend and no because that's the christy i know

20:21 me: i'm glad there is still a little of the old me left

Jon: i'm glad too

20:22 i knew it was in there somewhere..

20:25 me: its a very odd feeling to be listening to happy music, drinking happy apple juice, and contemplating torture, apostasizing, and the skeleton that is the catholic church

20:29 Jon: hmm..

oh..the irony!

20:30 me: aha! and for a new blog! (i haven't posted this many blogs in forever!) I'm going to use this recent chat as my next blog! What do you think about that!?

20:34 Jon: i think that you like to blog excessively..j/k

i think that would be a good idea

i just wanted to say that cuz if you put it on the blog..then it'd be on there too

me: along with a picture that i just took! you'll have to go take a look!

20:35 yep! isn't this exciting?! You're going to be famous!

20:36 Jon: hahaha...you're hilarious

alright..well i've been grading but i gotta go..

sorry

i'll ttyl

6 minutes

20:44 me: now, at what point should i stop this conversation and copy & paste it to my blog

oh, well, i guess now would be a good time. since you're gone. bye :)

Have you ever been having an honestly AWFUL day (or week, or month, etc) and people ask the standard question of the promenade (or the cafe' line, or the dorm hall, etc)

"How are you?"

And you're really not doing great. In fact, you're pretty down under and tears might even be just about to flood over the gates you've barred up. But you don't want to tell them all that, because in reality, they don't want to know. For them it's just a formality, a greeting to acknowledge the presence of an acquaintance or old friend, and then continue on with their lives.

Synonyms for "good" rise to your lips and then fall away before ever making their escape. You don't want to lie. Because all those nice words wouldn't be the truth. And truth is important. So you stutter out one of those in-between words like "decent", "alright", "ok", or "fine". They might notice that your tone of voice is lacking in cheeriness but their mind is already reviewing for the quiz of the class that they are late to. So they rush off. And a tear overflows the barrier you've put up. and you walk on, alone.

Then you're sitting down at a club meeting, the potluck table at church, or in your dorm room. A friend sits down besides you, looks you directly in the eye, says those three words that you've been avoiding all day.

"How are you?"

And for the first time in a while, you know that the words are sincere. Finally, you muster the courage and force your tongue to form words that have been building up all day: "not so good", "awful", "not great", "could be better", "hurting", "sad". Relief floods in as you admit that the world isn't all it's cracked up to be. That sincere Christians indeed do have things that make them cry. That you're not the perfect person you pretend to be. That deep down, you're hurting as well. For the first time that day, you appreciate the three words that so many times make you cringe. And more importantly, you appreciate that person, close friend or not, who took the time to care.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not trying to be accusatory or make anyone feel bad. I just thought that maybe others have had these same feelings once upon a time. I like to say things that most people think or feel, yet never really want to say out loud. You can blame it on my friend Jon Van Ornam. He's the one who taught me.

Sssssscary (Seating Auditions)

This doesn't scare me:















This doesn't scare me:


















This doesn't scare me:























But this, most definitely scares me.























It seems no matter how hard I practice, no matter how ready I am, EVERY single time I sit down in Mrs. Minner's office for seating auditions, I inevitably play about 10 times worse than I know I can play. In fact, I've got it down to a science. I've thought about telling her my plight; somehow trying to explain the fact that I really can play it much better and that the problem is just that she scares the living daylights out of me. But.... I never thought that would go over so well. So, this morning, for the third year in a row, I walked out of her office biting my tongue and resigning myself to yet another year in the back of the orchestra. Oh well, it's good for my pride.

"Christy.... *sheepish grin* Will you help me write a symphony?" *Hopeful, eager, Jen look*

uh.... what do you say to a question like that?

Be Still, My Soul
Katharina von Schlegel
based on Psalm 46:10 and 1 Thessalonians 4:17

Be still, my soul: The Lord is on thy side
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain
Leave to thy God to order and provide
In every change He faithful will remain
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end

Be still, my soul: Thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as He has the past
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake
All now mysterious shall be bright at last
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below

Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone
Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last

"Golden apples in pictures of silver"

So, I decided to read Sanctified Life since Thomson has, as of late, been studying it as well. It sounded like a good book, after all, isn't a Sanctified Life my goal? The answer is yes so I decided to proceed. I tried to listen to it via a link that Tbird gave me but found myself distracted by the reader's slightly twangy accent and slow reading style. So I asked my Dad if I could borrow his. I just finished reading the first chapter and thought I'd put down for you the parts that stood out to me. By the way, I am absolutely loving it. It's so applicable to my life right now and the section on meekness was a-m-a-z-i-n-g. (I've been thinking a lot about meekness lately)

"The pure motive sanctifies the act." Ouch, that means that, well, basically all my acts are un-sanctified. But how does one purify their actions without having ulterior motives in the purifying process? partial answer (or is it complete?): By daily choosing Christ and little by little, decision after decision, learning to live for Him.

"True sanctification is the entire conformity to the will of God." Entire. Conformity. Will. This speaks to me regarding areas of sin in my life. It always seems to be a battle between my will and God's. It's never a question on which one is right, that's obvious enough. It's the "entire conformity" part that always gets me.

"...while if they were truly living without sin, their very presence would bring holy angels into the assembly, and their words would indeed be "like apples of gold in pictures of silver." (Proverbs 25:11) Isn't that such a cool verse! I love that! What an amazing mental image that is. That would be a good basis for an art project.

"In summer, as we look upon the trees of the distant forest, all clothed with a beautiful mantle of green, we may not be able to distinguish between the evergreens and the other trees. But as winter approaches, and the frost king encloses them in his icy embrace, stripping the other trees of their beautiful foliage, the evergreens are readily discerned." I loved the description of the frost king. I always loved evergreens! Because, well, they are ever green!

"Thus it will be with all who are walking in humility, distrustful of self, but clinging tremblingly to the hand of Christ." Satan always has a counterfeit, doesn't he. I remember when my Dad had a family worship on that topic. Satan tries to tell us we need to be more confident in ourselves and in our own abilities. But God's plan is so different. He wants us to learn to rely on HIS power, and not our own.

"Self-denial, self-sacrifice, benevolence, kindness, love, patience, fortitude, and Christian trust are the daily fruits borne by those who are truly connected with God. Their acts may not be published to the world, but they themselves are daily wrestling with evil, and gaining precious victories over temptation and wrong. Solemn vows are renewed, and kept through the strength gained by earnest prayer and constant watching thereunto." I like lists. Somehow it's just neat to have a list of what fruits are borne. Here it outlines just HOW solemn vows are kept: through the strength gained by earnest prayer and constant watching thereunto.

"But the humble in heart, who have daily felt the importance of riveting their souls to the eternal Rock, will stand unmoved amid the tempests of trial, because they trusted not to themselves. "The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his" (2 Tim. 2:19). Look where that verse is from! (Thomson and I are trying to memorize 2 Timothy but we really need to get with it!) I want to rivet my soul to the eternal Rock.

"Religious principle has become the spring of his life and conduct, and it is just as natural for him to bear the fruits of the Spirit as for the fig tree to bear figs or for the rosebush to yield roses. His nature is so thoroughly imbued with love for God and his fellow men that he works the works of Christ with a willing heart." Religious principle, huh? That's what I need. My life is so UNprincipled. As I become more principled, I will bear more fruits of the spirit. Where to start? Now. Today. Here. I want that love to flow out of me naturally, for me to truly have a willing heart.

"All who come within the sphere of his influence perceive the beauty and fragrance of his Christian life..." I like that: beauty, fragrance.

"Angels are attracted to them, and love to linger about their path." Awesome thought!

"The most precious fruit of sanctification is the grace of meekness. When this grace presides in the soul, the disposition is molded by its influence. There is a continual waiting upon God and a submission of the will to His. The understanding grasps every divine truth, and the will bows to every divine precept, without doubting or murmuring." She says meekness is the MOST precious fruit of the spirit! How neat, especially since I've been thinking about it all summer. With meekness comes a waiting on the Lord and submission to His will, two things I need so much in my life. Again, the will will be brought under control and trained to be in submission to Christ.

"True meekness softens and subdues the heart and gives the mind a fitness for the engrafted word. It brings the thoughts into obedience to Jesus Christ.It opens the heart to the word of God, as Lydia's was opened. It places us with Mary, as learners at the feet of Jesus. "The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way" (Ps. 25:9). Now that's pretty nifty! It actually opens the heart to the Bible and fits the mind for memorization! I suppose it goes hand in hand. As you study and memorize the Bible, you become more meek and as you become more meek, you'll be better equipped to study and memorize the Bible.

Well, that's all for now. I know that was a bit long but I just wanted to write it all down. I hope you enjoyed a walk through my worship this morning! God bless as you seek a sanctified life!