Beauty

By request of Peter Bradley, I am breaking my week long silence with a much needed post. Sorry for the lack of communication... life seems to be taking a lot of attention these days... but it's good stuff - stuff that swells my heart and of which I will write on later...

I've been reading the book To Own A Dragon by Donald Miller... I heart Donald Miller - the way he writes, his insights, his honesty. This book is about growing up without a father, and though I grew up with a wonderful father, it is helping me to see God in a different light and to gain a little understanding of those who did not. Here's a passage that struck me on Wednesday:

I wondered if all the relationships we have - relationsionships with our lover, our mother, our friends - are not unlike blurred photos of our relationship with God, as though they are foreshadowings in the sappy prologue of an eternal novel.

I wondered if sliding our arms around a woman's hips wasn't a kind of infantile introduction to the metaphysical. If I allow myself, I can see God holding up flashcards as I fall in love with a woman, cards that say, this is love, I am like this love, only better.

"See," God says, pointing at the flashcard with the word "love," then pointing at His own chest while I move down the woman's lips to her chin and her neck. "See," God says, putting down the flashcard with "love" and picking up the word "oneness." He says, "Get it? Do you see? It's all living metaphors. It's a hint of oneness - like My Trinity!"

I love this... this blurring the line between secular and spiritual. This knowledge that faith is so much more than sitting in a pew... it's all around us - God pursuing us in the little things. He's trying to get our attention with the everyday. How beautiful that is - to know that He is a God who desires so much more than a prayer or an hour in church on Sundays... to know that He is intimately involved in our lives - teaching, guiding, directing... loving. Beautiful.

Bono's Prayer Breakfast

If you haven't had a chance to see the footage from the prayer breakfast Bono spoke at last month... definately check it out here.

What Sarah Said

I've been mulling over this Death Cab For Cutie song these past few days... it's sad - but full of something more - something I can't quite put my finger on. It struck me with the line: love is watching someone die... and then I saw the video they have for it posted on their website and I was so moved by it - you can watch it here until March 26th. The words are written in French, so to get the full effect, here is the translation: On the mirror she writes "He loves me", On her hand she writes "A little?", On the wall she writes "Very Much!", On his arm is written "passionately", On her leg she carves "With madness", And she finishes the sentence on the mirror "not at all."

Here are the lyrics to the song:

"What Sarah Said"

And it came to me then that every plan is a tiny prayer to father time
As I stared at my shoes in the ICU that reeked of piss and 409
And I rationed my breathes as I said to myself that I'd already taken too much today
As each descending peak of the LCD took you a little farther away from me

Amongst the vending machines and year-old magazines in a place where we only say goodbye
It stung like a violent wind that our memories depend on a faulty camera in our minds
But I knew that you were a truth I would rather lose than to have never lain beside at all
And I looked around at all the eyes on the ground as the TV entertained itself

'Cause there's no comfort in the waiting room
Just nervous pacers bracing for bad news
And then the nurse comes round and everyone will lift their heads
But I'm thinking of what Sarah said that "Love is watching someone die"

So who's going to watch you die?..

slow snowy days

Check out that massive snowball! YES!

Getting ready to dominate! (Alright, we got annihilated by the boys, if truth be told)

Jed getting ready to strike... too bad his aim is horrible! HAHAHAHA!

So much snow! It's absolutely gorgeous, but torture on my car... it got stuck and it was frustrating. But, we got to go play in it... have a snowball fight. I haven't played like that in the snow for years. It made me feel like a little kid again. I've been thankful for the past two days - classes were cancelled... I am still in need of rest from the trip, but this has helped.

I'm home!

It's a weird feeling being at home... not having 47 other people around constantly. It's always a hard transition coming back from a trip like Mexico... not having the constant encouragement and company - which is weird for me to say since I am most definately an introvert. But this year our group was different - we were closer, more solidified. Deep friendships were formed, and I loved seeing the Lord in the midst of every person I talked to. It was a beautiful thing.

So, I'm home. And it's snowing buckets. It's beautiful outside - I want to go take a walk... I think I might if the wind stops blowing like it is. I'm glad for our students that they don't have school today. I secretly hope there is no school tomorrow... but that would mean that we would have no CSF which wouldn't be as much fun.

Here are a couple of things I learned on this trip (more thoughts to come later):

1. Don't put a digital camera in your back pocket... the LCD screen can get cracked. (grrrrrr....)
2. Have a sense of humor when you play riddle games with people... because you will inevitably end up looking like a giant goon in the process of figuring something out... "rice, rice, rice, I'm gonna buy some rice" indeed.
3. If you are going to spend a week shoveling "dirt" in Mexico (which really means a pile of rocks), get a massage when you get back - thanks to my friend Nicholas, I'm getting one tonight for a steal! Thanks Nick :).
4. Matt Wertz is an artist that you need to check out. (Thanks Jed for pointing him out to me, and for having great taste in music).

Thats all for now, folks. After I make myself sit down and process through things, I'll write more serious observations... and I'll post some pictures (though my camera did indeed break). Until then, I hope your day is unexpected.

muy stressed

Every year this week hits, and every year I am so surprised at how busy we are, and how stressed out I become. The countdown: T minus 3 days before we head to Mexico... ask me if I'm ready - go ahead, ask. I will answer with a resounding, "are you kidding me?!?!?!". Well, it's not that bad. We're actually ahead of schedule. But the last two days have been killers. But tomorrow, now tomorrow I have been selfish about... I want and need as much time off tomorrow as possible, or else I will be one crabby lady on Friday, and no one wants that. So, it's work really hard the rest of the time. This year I have decided to splurge when we get back and get a massage. Anyone know a good/cheaper place to go? I've only gotton one professional massage in my life, and it was heavenly. So, with thoughts of relaxation in my head, I continue working hard and getting through this trip... and hopefully after the 18th I'll be able to keep up on this blog! Hasta luego!

www.one.org

spinning dogs and dreams of a holiday

I think I may have seen the funniest thing ever the other day as I was driving to my eye appointment. In the car in front of me was a little Chihuahua in the back window. For close to 10 minutes I followed this car and watched the dog go around and around and around in circles... for 10 minutes! Constantly! Well, he would stop when the car was stopped, but once they started moving again, he'd start right back up... it was like he was creating his own amusement park ride!

What a beautiful day it was outside today! Emma and I went to the park and hung out for several hours, and the warmth made me long for summer - and all that is associated with it: sun, water, laughter, flowers, warm nights full of stars, camping, vacation. Vacation... thoughts of my vacation this summer have started flowing - ideas are forming... the East Coast and seeing friends is becoming a strong possibility... a road trip by myself, perhaps? We'll see...