tagged, again!

8 shows I love to watch
1. the office, a newly discovered awesome show that makes me laugh SO hard! (we can instant stream it from net flix over the xbox!)
2. I used to watch a lot of Alias
3. Also used to be preeeetty addicted to the Gilmore Girls
4. Watched 24 pretty regularly when I lived with my p's
5. Our tv doesn't actually play any tv
6. just movies and video games
7. hence the lack of fav shows
8. sorry, I just read a lot, I like books better anyway : )

8 things I look forward to
1. the home group progressive dinner of awesomeness on Thursday!!
2. going home for Christmas, on Friday!!!
3. Christmas break - two whole weeks of freeeeeeeedom!
4. getting up to the mountains to play in the snow while at home!
5. Marc coming home from his friend Dan's house in an hour or so!
6. eventually not being sick - could this crud not drag on forever??
7. learning how to make chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles with my mentor!
8. seeing Marc's sis and her hubby and the kiddos on Sat.!

8 things that happened today
1. woke up late (7:15)
2. still managed to get out the door by 7:50 or so, whew
3. shivered my way to work through the weird fog
4. enjoyed having a sub while I met with the other physics teachers to write tests
5. was taken out to lunch by the nice chemistry folks
6. barely stopped myself from throwing my piece of junk phone across the room when it hung up on Sarah K (it hangs up on people a lot lately)
7. ate a cookie from the batch I made last night to send to the bros
8. caught up on blogs (hence finding that I was tagged...awhile ago...sorry)

8 favorite restaurants
1. BJ's - mostly because of the pizohokies...ahh, heaven in a pan
2. Kuby's Sausage House - mmmmgood german food
3. It's Greek To Me - ok, I've only eaten there twice, but it was delish both times
4. Weck's - a delicious taste of home
5. Twister's in Albuquerque - green chile cheese fries to die for (and which may actually kill the eater...)
6. Satellite Coffee in Albuquerque - not really a restaurant, but they have delish drinks and some good sandwiches too
7. Sugar Brown's in Lubbock - again, not so much a restaurant, but my fav coffee shop in the world
8. Jazz in Lubbock - delish cajun feasting

8 things on my wish list
1. a new cello case someday, when I win the lottery
2. a trip to Macedonia to see Emily K.
3. lots of books...really, that's all that's on my amazon wishlist : )
4. a dutch oven, double boiler, and a veggie steamer (and I NEVER thought I'd actually want to get those kind of things for gifts...ha, funny)
5. a big dog (first a house with a backyard though)
6. a massage
7. a trip with just Marc to somewhere we've never been
8. snow

8 people to tag
1. Mel, when your internet works again, of course
2. Emilou
3. Emily Kay, if there's time amongst the studying : )
4. Tiffany
5. April W
6. Angela
7. Emily Bryant
8. Angela H

pray for my crazy brothers

My bros, Ian and Luke, are both in the military and both in Iraq right now. One is a Gunner for the Air Force, the other an Infantryman in the Army. Both of them love what they do - they love "the ruckus" as they call it, and both are proud to serve our country. Both need Jesus, and both covet your prayers (and so do I for them!). They have been such good little brothers - always protective, often hilarious, passionate about what they love. They've both become good friends to me as we've gotten older, and they are best friends to each other. Dear God, please protect them!

Tagged by Melissa

I've been tagged to tell about a miracle...so here's an old one:

My family used to take a family vacation every summer, and since there are 6 of us, we drove everywhere because flying was mucho expensive. My parents made the driving pretty fun for us, stopping at various places en route to our destination, so even trips to Massachusetts (where my grandparents were) were pretty fun despite being on the road for 3 - 5 days. On one of these trips, we were on our way home (I think) and it was pretty late and my parents were exhausted and we (the kids) were probably pretty cranky and obnoxious by the time we got to a city to stop at. For some reason we didn't have a hotel prearranged - I really don't remember why, maybe we were having car trouble or something. The downside to no hotel reservations was that randomly that city had experienced a power outage and so every hotel was filled with the city's residents. Now that I think about it, I have no idea why the hotels had power but the houses didn't...curious. Anyway, so we tried a couple hotels with no luck, and all the time we're getting whinier and my p's are getting more and more frustrated. At the last hotel we stopped at, the hotel people told us "sorry, no room at the inn," but then some guy came up to my p's and said that the hotel people were mistaken, and that there was a room. So, my p's, assuming this guy works for the hotel, take the key and we unload and hit the sack. The next morning, my parents want to thank the guy, and he is nowhere to be found. In fact, the people at the front desk have never heard of this guy - he did not work for the hotel, he was not a guest. Very twilight zone-ish... but my parents' response was to thank God for sending an angel to rescue us when we needed a place to sleep. Who knows why the hotel people told us there wasn't a room available, when there actually was, but our "angel" sure did save the day, or rather, the night. It sure would have been a miserable night spent sleeping in the van!

So now I want to hear more miracles! Comment here or post your own!

Thanksgiving is my Favorite holiday!

Top 10:
1. I am thankful that God chose to save me, and that his grace is irresistable to me
2. I am thankful that I've been given a husband who beats my old "wildest dreams" every day...one who shows me so much more about God's love than I could ever have known without him
3. Parents and siblings who are believers
4. Siblings who aren't believers, but who love me well and whom God will hopefully call soon
5. My brothers, Ian and Luke, who are both serving in Afghanistan and Iraq in order to keep all of us at home safe and secure
6. Laughter, lots and lots of laughter
7. A good job and a comfortable life
8. Friendships that stretch across a lot of miles, girls who know my heart and love me anyway
9. Netflix streaming over the x-box which has lead to an Office marathon...all 4 previous seasons in less than 2 weeks...holy moly, that is a funny show
10. big dreams for the future, and a growing contentment with the present

sorrow and joy intermingled

I heard a story about a wedding this weekend that was pretty powerful. Apparently this wedding was held out in the country at a very nice resort ranch, and so the wedding party rented the resort for the night before the wedding. After the rehearsal, the family was out walking (maybe back to their cabins?) when the grandmother tripped on a step and fell backwards, hitting her head on a stone that was part of the steps. These stairs were pretty rustic, so the stones were jagged and sharp and the one she hit her head on cut into her scalp. Those nearby rushed over and helped her to sit up and to stop the bleeding. They figured that she'd probably need stitches, and that she might have a concussion, but they decided to wait for a few minutes to let her get her bearings. After a little while, the grandma started to bleed out of her nose and to throw up, so they rushed her to the hospital which was 20 miles away. Sadly, the nose bleed was a sign of a hemorrage in her brain, and the grandmother died that night. Late that night, as the bride and groom were trying to decide whether to go on with the wedding or not, the daughter of the grandmother asked them to wake up remembering the joy of the day, not to be burdened with feeling like they should be mourning. So, with that release by the daughter, the wedding went on. One of the things that the pastor who married them said was that he'd witnessed a man kiss his wife of 40 years for the last time the night previous, and they were about to witness a man kiss his wife for the first time, and how that was such an incredibly moving picture of the joy and sorrow intermingled in this life. While we wait for heaven, we experience such sorrows, and yet God has also provided us with such beautiful joys as well.

The story has had me deep in thought the last few days...realizing that life is not forever - it can be taken in the least expected moment. So what am I doing with the moments that I'm given? Do I recognize the beauty as well as the sorrow? Do I focus on one or the other? And how am I loving those around me? Would they know that I loved them if I were to fall and hit my head and die within a few hours? And that line about a man kissing his wife of 40 years for the last time and another man kissing his wife for the first time...geez, I tear up everytime. Life is fragile - am I loving with everything I have?

I love this song

musica que bueno!

Marc and I got to go to two awesome concerts recently and I thought I should share the wealth with all of you -

First, we saw Flogging Molly (http://www.floggingmolly.com/) at the House of Blues and were totally blown away by the greatness of the band. Flogging Molly is an Irish folk/punk/rock band that has been around for a long time. I don't think they get played on most mainstream radio stations, but you may have heard them on your local rock or alt. rock station around St. Patty's day. The themes of their songs include Ireland, drinking, pirates, and love - all with a mixture of guitar, accordian, fiddle, penny whistle, bass, drum, and more. I've liked them for a long time, but seeing them live was an incredible experience. They are all fantastic musicians and their music seems like a wild celebration of the craziness of life. If you ever get a chance to go see them, do it, but be prepared for a pretty rowdy crowd.

The second show was The Swell Season (http://www.theswellseason.com/), with Iron and Wine(http://www.ironandwine.com/) opening. Iron and Wine was an unexpected surprise as they hadn't listed an opening band, but I was pretty excited to see them as I've enjoyed their music for the last few years. Turns out Iron and Wine is one guy - Samuel Beam , and he brought along a pianist/slide guitar guy to play with him. They were great, although I wished I had seats to listen to them as the music was pretty mellow and it had been a long day, too long to stand at a concert of mellow music. I really enjoyed Sam Beam's voice and his guitar playing - his music is perfect for a rainy day's dreaming. The Swell Season is a band from Ireland with the two musicians from the movie "Once" (Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova) as leaders. They are both incredible musicians and they play so well together - beautifully perfect harmonies and haunting lyrics and interesting musical lines. It turns out that they are also pretty funny and have a great stage presence - they not only played their own music but covered some hilarious songs like "cry me a river" (yes, the justin timberlake cry me a river). They were so responsive to the crowd that you felt like it was a really intimate show, despite probably several hundred if not a thousand people crowding into the venue. Their violinist also played a piece that he'd written, and it was fantastic. We got his cd - the Hare's Corner - and I have had it playing nonstop for the last couple weeks. It was an awesome show and I would definitely see them again and, just like flogging molly (but maybe even more so because the Swell Season's music probably appeals to a wider range), if they are ever in your city, go see them! The tickets are well worth the price.

Here's a video of Colm Mac Con Iomaire (violinist for the Swell Season):

Sudan

The worship leader of our church just returned from a visit to Sudan with several others from the church - a vision finding trip to see how The Village can be involved. He's posted pictures and stories on his blog and they are pretty incredible. If you want to see the beautiful faces of Sudanese people and read some stories about orphans and water wells and such, check it out: http://thebleeckerblog.blogspot.com/

Hilarious!

Large Hadron Collider

Pretty awesome - a particle collider was started up today in Geneva that will hopefully be able to test whether the Big Bang Theory actually happened like science currently thinks it will. They'll be doing lots of other experiments as well, including looking for the "God Particle" (see the second link). http://public.web.cern.ch/public/en/LHC/LHC-en.html
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/03/god-particle/achenbach-text (the pic is from this natl. geographic article)

yo ho ho and a bottle of rum

Hello friends, sorry it's been awhile. School has sapped all energy...
School is going well so far, for those of you that want to know. This year has definitely been an improvement on the last two teaching wise - it's nice to not be the new kid anymore! Also nice to know what I'm teaching and be more comfortable around the kids. My fourth period was a little squirrely during the first week of school so I made a seating chart for them and explained that when they decided to act like juniors they could once again sit where they wanted - whew, they were seriously ticked at me, but so far it's worked like a charm! Yay for growing a little bit of a spine (on my part) : ).

In other news, Marc and I have finally found a home group through our church and it is so great. A lot of the couples are in a similar stage of life as we are, but some have more life experience and wisdom as well. The leaders are in the process of trying to adopt a little girl from Guatemala and that has been pretty incredible to witness. Marc and I have also had some Mormon missionaries visit us once a week for the last month (we keep inviting them back) and there have been some pretty great discussions. The guys are really nice and I have genuinely enjoyed trying to form a relationship with them. The best part of it all though is that talking with them has made me really dig into my Bible to figure out whether what I believe to be true is actually biblically based (like whether baptism is necessary for salvation, etc.). They're making me think hard and define my beliefs much better than I previously had. We're praying that God would allow us to plant some questions in their hearts, or at least offer them some friendship while they're here. This is a website that Marc has found that has really great info regarding a whole lot of different religions and questions: http://www.carm.org/

And finally, I feel like all I hear lately is wives complaining about their husbands and it's causing me to really watch my tongue. I've noticed that when women are together in a group, their husbands' failings come up in conversation and are discussed freely. They haven't been mean-spirited conversations, but I am very aware during them that I really, really disagree with airing a husband's failings to all around. I talked to my mom about it, and she tells me that this is the way it works everywhere - women complain about their husbands in casual conversation, meanwhile men rarely, if ever, complain about their wives to other men. So what is wrong with us women, why do we tear our husbands down in others' eyes while our husbands are able to maintain our good reputations in front of their friends? Aren't we called in love to focus on what is best in our husbands, especially in front of others? Not that we are dishonest, but that we keep failings to ourselves. And if we are struggling with something that our husbands are or aren't doing, maybe it's ok to go in confidence to a wise woman to ask for advice, but never ever to make jokes about it in front of every other wife in the room. That is definitely NOT protecting or loving our husbands. Oh God, teach me to love like You do!

funny

I've posted this before, but it's been a long time, and I watched it today and it cracked me up!

Good morning, goood mooorning!

I recently watched Singin' In the Rain for the first time and I loved it! Ah, the singing, the dancing, the comedy! A great, great movie!

And, a slightly random thought, if I should happen to die before you, please sing this with joy:
I hear the Savior say,
Thy strength indeed is small!
Child of weakness, watch and pray,
Find in Me thine all in all

Jesus paid it all
All to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow

Lord, now indeed I find Thy power,
and Thine alone,
Can change the leper's spots
And melt the heart of stone

Jesus paid it all
All to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow

For nothing good have I
Where-by Thy grace to claim
I'll wash my garments white
In the blood of Calvary's Lamb

Jesus paid it all
All to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow

And when before the throne
I stand in Him complete (!)
Jesus died my soul to save
My lips shall still repeat

Jesus paid it all
All to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow

a year of bliss!

Marc and I have been married a year today! What a year it has been! God has blessed me with a husband who is so much better than I'd ever dreamed a husband could be - He has fully outdone my best imagination. Marc loves God, and he loves me in such a way that he is continually showing me new facets of God's love. What an incredible picture of the Lord and his bride, the church. What a mystery marriage is...I cannot fully fathom how God keeps enlarging my heart to love Marc more and more each day. He has matched me perfectly with Marc and I cannot be more grateful. Oh, how much the Lord loves us!

identity

I've realized recently that my identity is very much wrapped up in how I look and feel...it came as a bit of a shock to realize this. I thank God often for the fact that I have a body that works like it should, but somehow along the way I let body image become more than just an avenue for thanksgiving. In the midst of a total meltdown last weekend I came to the conclusion that part of my identity as Sarah Marian is being skinny. As my husband put it so well, we're on a down hill slope from here on out as far as how we look and whether our bodies do what they're supposed to or not...and that is, of course, completely true. I'll be 26 next weekend, and already I begin to see changes that aren't exactly to my liking. So, in the aftermath of the meltdown I tried to logic my way through it - my body is on a downhill slope, check; the only one who really matters (my husband) tells me I'm beautiful both inside and out, check; I'm not 200 lbs and am finally starting to feel like working out is having a measurable effect (I feel better and I think I'm getting stronger), check; my identity should be in who God has made me - in my love for life, in my easy laughter, in my shyness, in my creativity - things that are actually important, and NOT in the size of my jeans, check.... and yet, with all these brain thoughts, my heart just wasn't with it. So, I started thinking about what God says about the body, and the verses that came immediately to mind were that "I am fearfully and wonderfully made, I know that full well" and "man looks at the outside appearance, the Lord looks at the heart." Hmmm, so my body is not completely discounted as unimportant - I am fearfully and wonderfully made, and yet God places the greater importance on the state of the heart. The conclusion that I've finally arrived at is that it might be ok to have a bit of my identity based in what I look like and how my body works - in the sense that it's ok to find some identity in having green eyes, brown hair, being 5'8, and that it is truly miraculous and incredible how the body works on the inside - that my heart just keeps beating and my brain keeps waving and my lungs keep breathing, all without ever consciously thinking about it - God truly has made the human body a fearful and wonderful thing. And yet, my main identity must be found in all the good things that God is working in me, transforming me into, knowing that my identity and individuality is given completely by Him. I don't know that this conclusion is completely as it should be, I just know that somehow my body turned into a bit of an idol and that isn't acceptable, that must change. Sorry to get so personal with you today, I just thought that I'm probably not the only one who deals with all this, especially for those of us of the feminine persuasion, and if I can get to the age of almost 26 when this suddenly dawns on me, maybe it might be good to write about it so that others might be inspired to think about where their identity comes from...and to know that you're not the only one.

kids are funny

So this weekend I was down in Hewitt visiting Marc's Granny (who recently had surgery) and my sister-in-law and her kids were there as well. One night we were eating dessert - pound cake with whipped cream and berries. Melissa (sister-in-law) said something about the "white puffy stuff" and her 3-yr old son turns to look at her and says "THAT is cream" in his little tiny 3-yr old voice, complete with eye-rolling inflection. Ah, it was a good moment. Kids make me laugh : ).

movies: more than meets the eye?

Marc and I went to a thing called "Culture & Theology" at our church (www.thevillagechurch.net) last week and the topic was how to engage movies, since we are a culture of movie watchers. The speaker encouraged us to engage the movies we watch by asking questions about 3 different topics: Purpose, Spirituality, and Experience.

In terms of Purpose, what was the purpose of the movie? What question(s) is the movie asking me?

Questions about Spirituality might include What do the characters value? What does the film suggest is meaningful in life? What assumptions does it ask me to make about the world? Does the film illustrate or conflict with the gospel (or both)?

And then Experience questions could include Did you find the film worthwhile? How did it make you feel (for example, if it was an action flick, do you feel like you need to drive faster when you leave the theater)? What does it make you think about? Did anything resonate with you or remind you of some detail in your own history?

After outlining all that, the speaker had us watch a short film called "Most" and then we discussed some of these questions with the people around us and then as a whole group. I found the discussion really interesting and I certainly felt like I gained much more from the movie than I would have if I'd just watched it. A couple of the people around me said that they thought deeply about the movies they watch on a regular basis, but these questions were a very new idea to me. I guess that I just watch movies and then don't really think about them again, unless something in them resonates with my life or something scares me. I don't watch scary movies if I can avoid them in fact because they stay with me. Otherwise, movies are in and out for me. It makes a lot of sense to me that I need to work at engaging movies though, seeing the amount that I watch (a lot), and how I might be able to use an intelligent conversation about a movie with a friend to point to the gospel, or to some aspect of truth. I also would benefit from thinking about the movies I see in terms of affirming that which is truth in the movies, and rejecting that which isn't. Movies can easily sway our thinking and I don't want to unknowingly be swayed by what the world says is right that isn't.

All that said, three movies that we've seen recently are Once, Wall-E, and the Dark Knight. Putting these questions to these three movies makes for a whole new movie watching experience! Marc and I talked about Once in terms of the questions, and I enjoyed the discussion quite a bit. He had a lot of insight that I hadn't seen in the movie. I've only been thinking about Wall-E and Dark Knight...Wall-E is an easier one to analyze. Dark Knight...well, still thinking about that one. I recommend all three movies. Once is an Irish film about a couple of musicians - I loved the music. Wall-E has an amazing ability to make the audience (or at least me!) emotionally attach to a couple of robots whose entire vocabulary is either "Wall-E" or "Eva." Dark Knight is incredible - Heath Ledger is unrecognizable in the Joker, probably the best villain I've ever seen.

a question

Lately I've been thinking about the promises in the Bible as they're related to the context in which they're given...in other words, how do we know when the promises are for everyone (believers) and when they're just for the people written to? I've been reading Jeremiah lately and recently came across chapter 29, probably the best known Jeremiah passage, especially verse 11 ("For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for peace and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.") I would say that throughout my life as a christian, this verse has been quoted as applying to all believers. There might not be anything wrong with that - it might be a promise to all of us. God does in fact have a future for us, and a hope that endures all trials. In terms of the context though, God is speaking to the Israelites who are in exile in Babylon. Jeremiah sends a letter to these Israelites in Babylon, telling them to settle down because they're going to be there awhile, but that God will come for them after a time to bring them back to Jerusalem. Vs 10 starts: "For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for peace and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile." (that was 10 - 14) So basically, Israel has been attacked because the Israelites would not repent from their wicked ways. Some are spared and taken to Babylon, and many are killed. At that time, it must have seemed like God had abandoned them, as King Nebuchadnezzar saw great success in conquering them. Jeremiah sends a letter to those despairing though, a letter of hope and encouragement, a promise to save the remnant of Israel.

So, is it acceptable for us to "claim" this promise as our own? Or was it written just to the Israelites at that time? I tend to lean towards it being a promise to each of us, because often I find that the words Jeremiah wrote to the Israelites could have been written to my wandering heart. "Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare..." (vs. 5 - 7) No, I've obviously never been in exile, but I often fight with my heart for contentment, and these verses remind me to settle down because God has placed me where he has for his good will. I suppose that learning from what God tells the exiled Israelites is a little different than taking a promise meant for them for myself though. Hmm, does this make any sense? I hope so. All I'm really asking is how do we know when a promise is aimed at all of us, and how do we know when it's aimed at a specific person or people (and not us)? How do we use the context of verses to discover whom the promise is meant for? What are your thoughts?

pretty awesome physics

This is oobleck (cornstarch and water) on a metal pan on a subwoofer. Ingenious : )
(Turn up your sound!)

ran out of room

this is a continuation of the last post - didn't have room for any Abq pics... (none of these are actually in Abq, rather in the Jemez mountains and Santa Fe)

Galavanting

Sorry for my lack of posts of late...and before the lack of posts at all, for the lack of posts of substance. I've had a lot of ideas rolling around my head to write about, but I haven't decided which to post on just yet. So, in lieu of a post of words, I'll give you a post of pics. We've been traveling for the last couple weeks - first to Florida for a trip to Disney World and Destin with Marc's family, and then to Albuquerque for some soul refreshment in the mountains and with my family. Here are a few of my favorite pics...

scadoosh

Pepes, Kung Fu Panda is hilarious. I heard some reviews that said that it wasn't that funny...well, my friends, those reviewers were crazy! I laughed to tears more than once... I wholeheartedly recommend it (if you like silly comedy). If you want, I will even go see it again with you : ).

Hallelujah, it's SUMMERTIME!!

3 things

I saw two movies recently that were great. First, Son of Rambow. An indie flick about two very cute little english boys making an action movie. Lots of laughs and lots (for me) of tears, all in all a great movie I thought. Second, Caspian is great! It has had mixed reviews I think, but I really enjoyed it. Wherever they shot was beautiful, I think the kids acted well, and the story is so great, thanks to CS Lewis.

Second, there's a game that's a little addictive that I kept seeing my kids (at school) play after they finished all their work - called Winterbells. http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/g3/bells.htm

And third, I learned how to make a paper clip jump just a few minutes ago and I'm pretty excited about it. Who knew office supplies could be so entertaining?? : ) http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Jumping-Paper-Clip

a little gushy

Tomorrow will be a year from the day Marc asked me to marry him...how crazy that it's been a year! I realize that it's a little goofy to have this internal clock of relationship "anniversaries" going on since we do now have a real Anniversary to celebrate, but every month on the 11th I think (and usually say to Marc) "We've been married another month!"...and now there's tomorrow, the engagement anniversary. I say these little things are worth celebrating. Not because I'm worried that this incredible-ness is going to end, but because I'm reminded how wonderfully blessed I've been by God everytime a reminder date comes along.

So tomorrow's reminder is for the day when my heart said "Yes! Home at last!" I'm glad we had such a short engagement too, because it's given us almost a year of being married. So many people told us to have low expectations for the first year, that it would be hell...learning to live with each other and all that. What a load of bullocks (at least for us) - it's been a year of total and utter bliss! I suppose that down the road we may have that period of time when we can't seem to see eye to eye and fight a lot...but I hope not. I know we both are trying to learn to communicate with each other now, and sometimes its hard, at least for me who shrinks from the very mention of conflict. It sure seems like God is blessing our efforts though, because every day I realize that I love Marc more than I did the day before, and every day I realize that I know better that he loves me.

That Colbie Caillat song "Tailor Made" seems about right for us...cheesy as it is to say, I think we were made for each other. Like God fitted us perfectly together, and then put us in different families and let us grow up, only to find the fit again. I know that Marc is good for me, and I think I'm good for him. To have someone tell me nearly every day that I'm hot...oh, how good it is to be thought beautiful by the one who counts. And to have someone support me in the things I dream about...like how I'm interested in cooking, but don't know much about how to make things other than the basics, so Marc got the magazine Bon Apetit, and he willingly tries my attempts at some of the foods I read about. Most have been at least edible, but the best part is that he compliments my efforts. It's fun to make food for someone who enjoys what I make. And to have a friend who is here, no matter what. When I come home crying, having had a crummy day, he's here to bring me more gently down to reality from my idealistic nest. When I'm hyper and crazy, he laughs along with me. When I want to try something new, he's there with me. Oh, it is wonderful.

If you've made it this far, sorry for the gushiness of this post. I am just sometimes overwhelmed by how good God has been, and I want to tell people. All of my tears of the last couple years have given way to complete joy this year. It's like God has said "Rest. For once, your idea of 'Good' and my idea of 'Good' align! Here is the one to fit you, who will love you as close to the way I do as a human can." How can I thank Him enough?! What a beautiful picture of His love marriage is. Oh, how beautiful!

interesting trend

Our last week of Perspectives was this week and it was all about what we can practically do with this huge wealth of info we've learned over the past 15 weeks. The speaker threw out an interesting (and really sad) comparison about college kids leaving for the mission field...

He said that he was at a campus where the optional chapel service was completely packed (like 3000 attendees), and where the majority of the kids there were intent on what the speaker said, laptops or notebooks open for notes, etc. He said that the president of the campus said that 60% of the students there will leave for overseas missions (2+ yrs) after graduation. Where was this incredible campus??? BYU...

Our speaker talked about how kids who go to BYU grow up with an understanding that leaving for a mission isn't an option. It's just part of life - you go to school, you graduate and go on mission, you return for the family, etc. He said that these kids would break their parents' hearts if they refused to go. Whole families have gone on mission for generations.

In comparison, the average Christian parent begs their kids not to go when the few kids who get inspired in college come home to say "I'm going to...somewhere far away." Not secular parents, these are the christian ones who say their hearts will break if their kid takes off to China or India or wherever. So, many kids who would've gone stay home.

How sad! I'm not a parent, so I can't imagine what it's like to say "see ya later" to your kid who is heading into unknown waters, but come on! The great commission is for everyone. Some will send others, some will be a strong prayer force at home, etc. - not everyone is to go out to the world, but how can we stop those who would go? God is in control! There is potential for death or pain or scary situations abroad, but there is potential for all that at home too. If Mormon parents have the faith to send their kids off, why don't Christian parents have this faith as well? Especially in light of the fact that they (and their christian kids) have the truth!

missionaries kill culture

Wait one second, do they really?
I have heard a fair amount of criticism from the unbelieving world that missionaries kill cultures. Christians go in to people who were fine on their own and destroy the culture those people have in their efforts to convert them. In some cases, I think the unbelieving world is right on this point. Some missionaries have gone in and stripped a people from every part of its culture in order to indoctrinate them on western christianity.
HOWEVER, not all missionaries do that! At Perspectives tonight we heard from a guy who spent some years in Mongolia with his family and a couple from Sweden, planting churches. Everything they did was for the purpose of changing hearts from cold and dead to alive in Christ. As Mongolians believed, they purposely taught Jesus' teachings in the most simple and direct way, making an effort to keep from teaching religious customs that came from their home churches and denominations. They knew that God didn't desire them to transplant a church identical to the one in California that they left, but rather that God desires worshippers from every tongue, people, nation. So, they taught 7 basic truths (repent and believe, be baptised, love God and love your neighbor in practical ways, celebrate the Lord's supper, pray daily, give generously, disciple others) and modeled leadership and teaching so that the Mongols could take over leading their own groups quickly. They purposely stayed away from teaching the new believers translated worship songs, so in time the Mongols wrote their own songs, in their own style, language, and understanding. The Mongol worshippers also introduced dance to the worship services, and they began to wear traditional ceremonial clothing. They developed dramas for teaching in each service, as dramatizations were a big part of the culture of the people of that area. So while maintaining truth as taught by Jesus, the Mongolian church was developed in a distinctly Mongolian way. The good parts of the Mongolian culture were affirmed and used, and the parts that promoted sin and death began to change as the Mongolian believers experienced change in their hearts. The missionaries didn't threaten the new believers, they didn't ask them to leave their culture and enter into a mission compound, they didn't try to make the Mongolians western mimics. Instead, they taught truth, and the Mongolians responded and developed the church as it is, directed by the Holy Spirit working in their hearts.
God made peoples and cultures different. He works in different ways in different places. Missionaries aren't out to make the beautiful places of the world into America or Europe clones. How incredible it is that He calls some from Every People to worship him in the style and tradition that he has created for them!

bad news

Marc keeps finding the odd gray hair on my head...! Agh! I'm only 25!!!

funny story

I have a german exchange student (whom we will call Greta, not her real name) in one of my classes and the kids like to ask her about Germany and about how she likes (or doesn't) the US, etc. pretty often. Last week I was walking over to answer a question for a group working on the review to a test and overheard a student ask Greta whether she can speak German. No kidding, I overhear "so, do you speak German?" Greta just kinda stares at the kid who asked, I start cracking up, and some of the other kids around say "She's from GERMANY!" So the kid who asked says, "But you speak such good English." I reply something along the lines of "Americans are kinda behind the times as far as languages go. People in pretty much every other country speak at least 2, if not more, languages." Sue (what we're calling the kid who's asking the questions) says to Greta "But how do you know English so well?", to which Greta replies, "I've been taking English since 5th grade...and Latin and Italian and...."

Holy moly, asking a German exchange student whether she speaks German is almost as bad as the students I had last year who thought Africa was South America and who had no earthly idea where the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans were...(they were sophomores and juniors). I seem to be sensing a rather depressing lack of knowledge about the rest of the world. At least the German question was entertaining : ).

Jesus Saves

Here's the song "Embracing Accusation" from Shane & Shane's "Pages" album...It seems appropriate for this Easter season...if you haven't heard it, go listen!

Father of lies, coming to steal kill and destroy
All my hopes of being good enough
I hear him saying, Acursed are the ones who can´t abide

He's right, hallelujah, he´s right
The devil is preaching the song of the redeemed
That I am cursed and gone astray
I cannot gain salvation
Embracing accusation

Could the father of lies be telling the truth of
God to me tonight?
That if the penalty of sin is death, then death is mine
I hear him saying, Acursed are the ones who can´t abide

The devil´s singing over me an age old song
That I am cursed and gone astray
Singing the first verse so conveniently over me
He's forgotten the refrain.
JESUS SAVES!!!

I've been thinking about Africa a lot lately...in our Perspectives class we saw the Invisible Children video, Marc and I watched the Constant Gardner a few nights ago, and my friend Sarah is leaving for Malawi today...sometimes my heart aches a little bit for Africa. I saw just a small corner, but the girls and the children at Rafiki worked their way so far into my heart. I think about them a lot, especially the girls, wondering what has become of them, especially with all of the chaos of the political unrest. I pray that they know that God loves them, and that He might make their lives a little bit easier if that is His will. The video is a short one that I took while there. Each morning of the medical clinic, the girls from the school would lead a devotion to open the clinic. A pair would do the devotion - one speaking in english, the other translating to kiswahili. The best part of the devotions was the singing...unfortunately this video isn't that great of quality, but the way the singing works is that one girl sings a phrase, then everyone in the audience joins in. So it's all a call-and-repeat type of singing, so everyone can sing whether they know the words or not (except they all do know the words!) and there are motions that everyone does. Joy overflows the singing - and that is incredible to me because the girls and the people who'd come in from Mwiki for the clinic live such hard, hard lives. Complete joy is an incredible thing to behold!

Conjecture vs. Truth

This week at church (http://www.thevillagechurch.net/) my pastor was preaching through the end of Luke 6, and in expounding on the "blind man leading a blind man leads to two blind men in a pit" part (vs 39 and on), he gave some ways to wade through all the conjecture out there in the book world in the search for truth. "Conjecture" being what people think, and "truth" being what God says in the Bible. Matt (Chandler, the pastor) talked about how there is a ton of error in christian literature when it is lined up with biblical truth. In a day when we have a wealth of reading opportunities, both in books and in what is written on the web as articles and blogs, we need to have a way to sniff out the wolves in sheep's clothing. A way to know false teaching that sounds beautiful from what is really true about God and our relationship with him. Here are some suggestions that Matt gave for thoughts during reading:

1) What do they do with the scriptures? Do they treat them as cold and dead (and theologians as evil men in ivory towers touting scriptures not applicable for today's world)? What do they say in regards to the purity of scripture (would they leave some out)?

2) Do they add anything to the cross? ie, to be saved you need the cross AND...

3) What do they believe about the essence of man? Are we good or bad in the deep heart of things?

4) What do they do with Jesus? Is he God in the flesh, the wrath-absorbing Son of God? or a good moral teacher?

To be able to put those questions to good use, we've got to know what the Bible does with them too. So not only should we be learning from authors of other literature, but we should be pupils of the Bible first, studying it to dig out the wealth of truth in which we line up everything else we hear.

from Perspectives

A couple quotes that caught me from last week's Perspectives readings...

"Do not pray for easy lives; pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be a miracle." Bishop Phillips Brooks

"And yet mere common-sense ought to tell us that He, whose way is perfect, can make no mistakes; that He who has promised to 'perfect that which concerneth' us, and whose minute care counts the very hairs of our heads, and forms for us our circumstances, must know better than we the way to forward our truest interests and to glorify His own Name." Hudson Taylor

yes

"The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right place but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment." Dorothy Nevill

tears of laughter

Go to my friend Emily's blog for some funny, funny reading. Check out the post just before the last one. Dog Diary vs. Cat Diary... I laughed aloud! http://www.singlehappens.blogspot.com/

62 degrees and sunny

The other day Marc and I were playing around with the different Wii channels and discovered that it was warmer in Antarctica (5 deg) than Minneapolis (2 deg) according to the weather channel. I've been a little bit whiny lately about the cold and semi-gray skies, wishing for sunshine and warmth, but then I talk to my sister who lives in Minneapolis and realize what a ludicrous complaint I have! All that to say that I have really enjoyed the warmth and sun today. I'll take 62 over the mid-30's any day! And I probably couldn't hack it in a place with "real" winters (like Minneapolis) for more than a vacation. I am a pansy, that's all there is to it.

On another note (almost as random, but not quite), I've been thinking about fear a lot lately. I've fought fear all of my life...as one who is prone to timidity, there have been times in my life where I've been nearly ruled by fear. Afraid of the dark, afraid of the shadows, afraid of the bad guys. Sometimes though, it seems like there is a little bit of an abatement in Fear. I'm not sure what happens to cause that, but it's like I can relax for some months, not thinking about what I'm afraid of. For the last several months, I've been in that relaxed state. Probably a lot of it has to do with being married because I feel like I have a protector now. The few nights that Marc has had to work all night, I've been a little freaked out, but still not nearly as bad as it has occasionally been in the past. Well, we watched the movie "The Brave One" last weekend and it has made me think about fear again. In the movie Jodie Foster and her fiance are mugged and her fiance is beaten to death. She responds by becoming a vigilante of sorts. It was a pretty good movie, brutal and terribly sad, but I enjoyed it as much as you can enjoy a flick like that. But it's made me think about how I would respond if Marc died unexpectedly. I have no idea. It's also made me think about the fact that there are bad guys out there, and they couldn't care less whether you're a good guy, or you're really happy, or you were just minding your own business. The incredible thing is that God has blessed me with a relationship in which I can relax in. I tend to stay away from scary movies because I just replay and replay and replay in my head. So the other night I was laying in bed awake, replaying horrible scenes from the movie. I think I must have been tossing and turning, praying that God would help me quiet my mind enough to go back to sleep, and Marc stirred. All he did was roll over and put his arm around me, and it was instant warmth, comfort, protection. I think I fell asleep pretty immediately. How incredible it is that here I've been struggling my whole life to beat back fear, praying a lot about it, trying to be smart in scary situations, but still trying to take the responsibility for beating it on my own shoulders, and God has let me struggle, but now he's given me an antidote. Over the last 6 months it continually occurs to me that God let me struggle for awhile, but now he's said "Rest. It's ok, I've got it." And because of the struggle, and the infinitely closer relationship with my God that resulted, this rest is incredible. INCREDIBLE!

lurve

Hello friends, Happy Valentine's Day!
My dad put this quote in a card he wrote us that was in our fun Valentine's Day package - o - love: "Love cures people - both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it." Dr. Karl Menninger.
This year I am giving only a short version of my go-love-somebody V-day soapbox: If you're feeling in the midst of grrr-valentine's-day-is-only-a-made-up-holiday-by-hallmark-and-hershey's-and-i-refuse-to-celebrate-grrr funk, try loving somebody. Doesn't have to be romantic love, just love somebody more obviously than usual. It'll feel good, I promise : ). (see above quote)

fun and games

So Marc and I went to see the Foo FIghters this week and it was ahhhhmazing! The Foo are incredible live! Dave Grohl is a wildman...running around the whole show, making jokes, and playing incredible music. By running around, I really mean running around. We were at the American Airlines Center (a basketball arena), and we were sitting pretty far away from the main stage. The stage had a long runway coming off the front though (like a fashion show runway) and at the end, our end of the stadium, there was another little round stage. Dave Grohl was running all over the main stage and back and forth on the runway the whole show (and they played for 2 hours!). They played an acoustic set on the little round stage, which was super cool, especially as the little stage was pretty much right in front of us. I liked the Foo Fighters before going, but now I really, really like them - they were just so musically great! And they put on such a crazy show! Ah, so great, I would definitely recommend going to see them. It wasn't exactly a family show...in that it was really loud (of course, what concert isn't), and there was the everpresent cloud of weed smoke, and Dave Grohl has a potty mouth...all of which was kinda expected, but I say this because there was a kid a few rows in front of us - maybe 4 years old. He sure was cute, especially doing the little rock on hand signs with his parents, but man, his little ears had to be ringing like crazy. SO, not the place for the babies, but for the grown ups - ah, great, wonderful, stupendous, must-go see show!

And now, for the games - this is a game another teacher sent me...it's pretty fun, in a nerdy kind of way : ). Also kinda addictive! www.freerice.com

2 posts in one day (what?!)

Marc and I've just been talking about what we heard tonight at the Perspectives class, and though it is fairly jumbled in my head at the moment, I wanted to get a bit of it onto paper (so to speak) before the week begins to happen and life gets busy and I never post it.

Tonight was just the 2nd night of the class, so the first real lecture. Jeff Lewis, of Cal Baptist University, spoke. I don't know much about him, but I was super impacted by what he had to say. First, he talked about how God is a "missionary God"...a title which he says is actually misleading because of the filters through which we hear the word missionary. Leaving that idea behind though, he talked about how the bible can be read as a traditional piece of literature, in such that it has an introduction (Genesis 1 - 11), a body (Gen. 12 - Jude), and a conclusion (Revelation). And, like reading any piece of literature, as we seek to interpret what we read, we can do so by looking for themes, usually which appear in the intro. So as we look for themes in Gen. 1 - 11, we notice 4 distinct stories (Eden/Fall; Cain/Abel; Flood; Tower of Babel) that have a recurring cycle. This cycle begins with Man's sin, which leads to God's Judgement, which leads to a Hope of Redemption...and the cycle is repetitive. Jeff went briefly through each of these stories to find the cyclical elements, but for the sake of brevity, I'll skip to the Hope of Redemption found after the tower of Babel catastrophe. The judgement for the tower was in a confusion of languages and the scattering of peoples, forming nations. So, the hope of redemption is found in Ch. 12:1-3, in the covenant between God and Abraham. Abraham is promised several things, the last of which is that he will be blessed so that the nations will be blessed. This covenant is repeated to the patriarchs, indicating that even in the old testament, God was not just saving his people, but all the peoples of the world. In fact throughout the bible, it can be seen that God's purpose is glorifying himself, in which redeeming for himself a people from all nations is part of the plan. So God's blessing of his people, of us, is for the purpose of blessing the nations (and thereby causing worship of him to flow from all peoples)...and this is what the christian missions movement is based upon.

That said, Lewis then gave us some strategies that God used in the Old Testament, including God's glory made manifest, God's blessings related to his purpose, God's creation of beauty, and a centripetal action (or moving in of peoples to his center of Israel). All of those can also be seen in the new testament, with the exception of the centripetal action becoming centrifical (or the moving out of God's people into the nations). All of these had explanations, but I'm going to skip to the application part (also known as the mind-boggling part). Lewis said that the "default strategy" currently used by God for his redemptive plan is found in the gifts of his people. In that the gifts and talents of his people are related to all those old testament strategies, those gifts should be developed purposefully, and in mind of a global gospel that we are all mandated to spread (not an option that only some follow to the ends of the earth). Not necessarily saying that we each trot across the globe, but rather that God has gifted us in some way, and we have the obligation to work at that gift in light of the fact that God places us in a certain domain because of that gift, and that domain reaches people of different nations. Lewis says that we ought to develop a purposeful strategy for developing that gift so that we can effectively act in the domain we find ourselves in.

Which leads, finally, to what Marc and I were talking about tonight - what are our gifts? What are the things that God has placed in our hearts to do? What can we do to improve and strengthen them, so that God's glory and beauty and blessing shine through us to a world of nations that God is redeeming? For me, I have in my heart a love for science, for knowing how things work, and a love for teaching. I don't love teaching as it is right now, but there is such a strong idealistic current running through me that says "teaching could be..." I've thought a lot this year that maybe teaching isn't for me, maybe this is too hard and I should find a different job, maybe I hate it and I'm no good at it, etc. etc. etc. Excuses really, in light of the fact that I know that my heart says joy when it thinks about the potential. So if I finally admit that teaching is what I ought to be doing, what then do I do to develop this gift (because as of now, I'm not actually good at it)? All I've come up with so far is to keep working at it...starting tomorrow with the start of our new semester. Keep trying with classroom management. Start learning so that I can really know my stuff. Physics isn't a strength, but I enjoy it and it is what God has placed me to teach, so I need to learn it (which means that I have to stop being lazy and start studying). Learn how to walk the very fine line between being a legal employee in a public institution and letting the kids and my coworkers know where I stand in terms of belief in God and salvation by his saving grace. Emphasizing the beauty that I see in the world, as I interpret it through a scientific lens of order and structure and purpose. Look for opportunities to interact with the world (I could teach anywhere in fact). And, though God also has put a love for wandering in my heart, learn to be content with where He's placed me now, knowing that God has got my life under control. Sigh, that's a hard one. In fact, it's all hard. Confidence and assertiveness are not my strong points, but they're really necessary in teaching. Physics isn't a branch of science that I know and understand really well, and at this point I can fake it, but I want to actually be able to earn the respect from the kids and their parents and my colleagues, especially in light of the fact that being a believer and being a scientist aren't considered compatible. So I've got to know my stuff.

All that to say that God never said that life would be easy. He seems to repeatedly put me in hard positions, in order that I might not forget that He's the boss and I can't do it by myself. He's seen fit to bless me with a husband who is an encourager and a motivator, and wow, that is incredible. I have a cheer leader who says "get up" when I fall down, and who reminds me that God is the one picking me up anyway, and that the falling is all whittling. And it's all for the purpose of God's glory. And through it, my life might be able to be used to shine some light into darkness. Whew, it's too much to take, my mind is whirling. Maybe yours is too, if you've made it this far (sorry, this is too long, I know). So, What is your gift? What has God placed in your heart? How can you develop that, especially with the nations in mind?

the cool people

Hola mis amigos, I'm sorry that I've become such an infrequent poster of late. Marc and I just started the Perspectives class (a class about the world christian missions movement) and it has been very thought provoking, so I think that I'll have lots to post about in the next few weeks. For today, I just wanted to tell a funny story, and give a little advice.

The advice is this: if you need a confidence boost, visit Wichita Falls, Texas.

The reason (and story) is this: On Friday we took a little rode trip to Wichita Falls to meet Douglas Preston who was doing a book signing at a Books a Million there. Douglas Preston is the author who inspired Marc to read (he was a cliffnotes version kind of guy before a book called Relic by D Preston was handed to him), so we took all of Marc and his cousin Ryan's books written by DP and drove a couple hours north-ish to WF after work Friday evening. (Yes, we're book nerds) We got there towards the end of the signing, so Marc and Ryan got their books signed and chatted with Mr. Preston for a few minutes. Mission accomplished, we head back to the car and decide to find somewhere to eat. Fortunately for us, a Logan's is about a half a block down the way. So, we go to Logan's and tell the hostess that there are 3 of us. She puts us down on the list and then says "I just have to tell you, ya'll look so classy. I think it's the jackets, but ya'll just look really classy." We manage an "Oh, thanks" and a smile and then retreat to chuckle amongst ourselves. In checking each other out, it seems that none of us has become any cooler than we were when we left Dallas...but our jeans and sweaters and chucks and pea coats seem to have deemed us "Cool" to the folk of Wichita Falls. I guess when you live in a city that contains many, many, many people who are far cooler than you, it's a bit of an unexpected role reversal to be the city-cool person in a small town. So this compliment was fun, but that's not all. Later, as we're seated and the waitress takes our orders, she turns to leave and then turns back and says to me "I'm sorry, I just wanted to tell you that your hair is beautiful. Not everyone can pull off short hair, but yours is just beautiful." I think I turned about as red as a tomato, but managed a "thank you". Not only are we classy, but now my hair is beautiful! I've found that pixie short hair isn't all that popular in the great state of Texas...seems the men want women to have long hair, and so the trend is long and beautiful hair. Fortunately I married a man who is a fan of my short hair, so it doesn't really matter what anybody else thinks of it, but I'm not used to compliments, that's for sure.
To make this long story over, we went to Wichita Falls to meet an author, we left Wichita Falls with a little extra pep in our step, newly dubbed the "cool city kids"...that Wichita Falls, I tell you, it's a very complimentary place! Ha ha : )