I've always had the desire to move somewhere new... where all I have is myself, a job and the Lord, & then see where He takes me from there. The thought of moving is scary, but it's one of those fears that excites me! I feel like after being stuck in Arkansas for 23 years, I need a little change of scenery. However, it scares the beegies out of me thinking about being in a new city with people I don't know, perhaps no one at all! Since high school, I've made such stable friends in Fayetteville and in Little Rock. I've established friendships that are so strong I can hardly bare the thought of being away from them for a few years, much less permanently! What if I can't build new ones that give me the same sense of security? What if I lose touch with those that I'm close to now, & then those friendships dwindle? Now THAT'S a scary thought! What if I hate the city? What if I can't afford it? What if I get blown away by a tornado or a hurricane? What if, what if, what if...
These worries only remind me that I'm not trusting God with all that I am. I need that friendly reminder: "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." -Jeremiah 29:11-13.
There's a specific city that has been popping up in my mind, & I'm not sure when or why I started thinking about it, but it's there. "Hurricane" by Jimmy Needham (I've included a link at the bottom) has been on repeat since I first heard it. There's a line in it that says, "I am Yours and You are mine. You know far better than I. And if destruction's what I need, then I'll receive it, Lord, from thee." I have no doubt in my mind that I would probably cry myself to sleep for a few weeks if I followed through with this whole moving thing. But, if that "destruction" is going to be the challenge I'm craving that tears my walls down so that God can reveal Himself to me more than ever, then so be it.
Of course, I'll be static in LR until next May, so I've got a lot of time to think about this. I prayed about this for the first time tonight, and I would appreciate nothing more than for you to pray for me, too! It's never too early to ask God for something :). You never know what could happen in a year!! I've been pretty emotional about this thought today, & if it's any indication as to how I'll feel about moving when it's really time to job hunt, I'm going to need all the praying I can get!
"Hurricane" by Jimmy Needham
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
3 leetle letters
Ok I'll just fill you in on every day since I last updated a month ago... Not really. :) That'd be way too much.
Chapter 7: A Willing Spirit
Though humans have so many ways of messing things up (ie procrastination, cough cough- me), God chooses to use the most unlikely people in the most unusual ways to perform His most perfect will. But it all starts with one word: yes. I don't know why God chose Mary to carry His Son, but she sure had the willingness to say yes to God instead of questioning and resisting Him--to lay down her own dreams so that God's plans could prevail. Yes: that simple, 3-letter word (unless you say si or wi, of course) that we tend to so often contradict. For it's one thing to want God's will and quite another to do it. A willing spirit, like Mary had, is a heart and mind that says yes to God and a will and a body that sets that yes in motion. Saying yes is our simple job. We don't have to accomplish God's will- that responsibility belongs to Him alone. After we say yes, all we have to do is follow through, one request at a time.
Truth: saying yes to God brings blessing, but it can also bring pain. That's why we need a submitted heart that keeps on believing... even when it hurts. But remember: God is who He says He is and He can and will do what He says He will do. God knows what He's doing. When we can't trace His hand, we must trust His heart. God always sees the bigger picture-- after all, it is He who is the Creator, the Alpha, the Omega, the Great Shepherd, the Overseer, our Father. He will use whatever method is needed to make us more like his Son, even if it hurts and even if we struggle to understand, for He makes all things new.
Do you find yourself listing the reasons you can't rather than the ways He can? ...Yep... Resisting His love rather than resting in His arms? ...Guilty... Mary lived a life that proved that great and important things always begin with saying yes to God, and then moving along one yes at a time. When you keep in mind that your whole life is holy ground, you keep yourself open to the wonderful opportunities He has planned for you. God's overall intention is to continue to bless you just as He already has. Although saying yes to the Lord means you may not know exactly where you'll end up, you can always find your way home.
Ironically a friend of mine was watching Jim Carrey's "Yes Man" earlier tonight. Without reading too far into the movie, I think it could be a good minimal analogy. And although we're not hypnotized or under a spell or anything, we should say yes to God, even when we're fearful and doubtful. All resistances aside, "Here I am. Send me," (Isaiah 6:8).
Chapter 7: A Willing Spirit
Though humans have so many ways of messing things up (ie procrastination, cough cough- me), God chooses to use the most unlikely people in the most unusual ways to perform His most perfect will. But it all starts with one word: yes. I don't know why God chose Mary to carry His Son, but she sure had the willingness to say yes to God instead of questioning and resisting Him--to lay down her own dreams so that God's plans could prevail. Yes: that simple, 3-letter word (unless you say si or wi, of course) that we tend to so often contradict. For it's one thing to want God's will and quite another to do it. A willing spirit, like Mary had, is a heart and mind that says yes to God and a will and a body that sets that yes in motion. Saying yes is our simple job. We don't have to accomplish God's will- that responsibility belongs to Him alone. After we say yes, all we have to do is follow through, one request at a time.
Truth: saying yes to God brings blessing, but it can also bring pain. That's why we need a submitted heart that keeps on believing... even when it hurts. But remember: God is who He says He is and He can and will do what He says He will do. God knows what He's doing. When we can't trace His hand, we must trust His heart. God always sees the bigger picture-- after all, it is He who is the Creator, the Alpha, the Omega, the Great Shepherd, the Overseer, our Father. He will use whatever method is needed to make us more like his Son, even if it hurts and even if we struggle to understand, for He makes all things new.
Do you find yourself listing the reasons you can't rather than the ways He can? ...Yep... Resisting His love rather than resting in His arms? ...Guilty... Mary lived a life that proved that great and important things always begin with saying yes to God, and then moving along one yes at a time. When you keep in mind that your whole life is holy ground, you keep yourself open to the wonderful opportunities He has planned for you. God's overall intention is to continue to bless you just as He already has. Although saying yes to the Lord means you may not know exactly where you'll end up, you can always find your way home.
Ironically a friend of mine was watching Jim Carrey's "Yes Man" earlier tonight. Without reading too far into the movie, I think it could be a good minimal analogy. And although we're not hypnotized or under a spell or anything, we should say yes to God, even when we're fearful and doubtful. All resistances aside, "Here I am. Send me," (Isaiah 6:8).
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Up to bat...
I could write a novel right now based on the recent events of my life. I feel like every day throws some sort of curve ball at me. Now I'm not too baseball savvy (although I would be kidding myself if I said I didn't like watching the players), but I'm pretty positive that's the one where you think the ball's gonna go one way; and then before you know it, it takes an unexpected turn & you're left thinking "What the [insert word here] just happened?" That, my friends, is a thought that has crossed my mind numerous times lately. I should have a journal solely called "Curve balls" where I write down everything that was unexpected and out-of-the-ordinary that day. That might be interesting! I have to disclaim, though, because not all curve balls are bad. I think curve balls are God's way of giving us a little break from a seemingly routine life. Sometimes they're minor bumps in the road (or potholes... "Did I do thaayut?"), and sometimes they're those minute things that make your day a little brighter. They can temporarily transform your mood, or they can change your life forever.
Now in my case, these particular baby curve balls have only reiterated the fact that life is anything but boring and predictable. Let's count these suckers...
Curve Ball #1: Victoria is finally sharing her secret with me...
In lieu of the [hopefully] beautiful weather in Destin next week (feels good to say that!) and the upcoming sunshiny days, I have already purchased my bulk of swimsuits for now. While I was picking out mix-n-match itsy bitsy bikinis, I noticed that Victoria's Secret was having a few special offers. Special offer #1: Free swim tote with purchase of certain swimsuits. Well, you slap the word "free" on something and I'm all over that ice cream... like sprankles. Special offer #2: Free VS Reward Card (worth at least $10) with any purchase. The card could be one of $10, $50, $100, or $500! I love me a good mystery :). Here's my thought process: Purchased separately, 4 swimsuit pieces = 4 free swim totes = 4 free reward cards ($40+). So I make 4 separate orders. Swimsuits come in, and 3 of the bags have not one but TWO reward cards!! For those of you that failed Advanced Math for the Not-So-Advanced-in-Math, that's 7 cards = $70+! You can imagine my excitement to get a) new swimsuits, b) 4 beach bags so we Auspies will all be chic on the beach, and c) not 4 but 7 gift cards! If that wouldn't throw your average day for a loop, then just stop reading now.
Curve Ball #2: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie disaster...
This pitch has 2 parts... Part 1. I decided to bake cookies last night to bring to aphasia group today. I get out the recipe and all the ingredients and mix them accordingly. After I finish filling up one cookie sheet, I look to the left & notice a bowl of pre-measured flour. Oops... forgot that! So I scrape the dough back into the bowl and get the beaters out, again. After the flour was all mixed in, I emptied the dough onto the cookie sheets & let them bake. With 3 minutes left, I take a little peek in the oven, and what I saw made my jaw and eyebrows part ways. I had apparently done 2 things wrong: too much dough per cookie and not enough space between each one! Each cookie sheet looked like I was making one big OCC cookie cake. (Not to mention they sort of tasted like plastic...) *Just a quick Q for all you bakers out there: how important is 1 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp baking soda? I didn't have either ingredient, so I just left them out. I didn't figure 2 tsps would be missed in the grand scheme of things...*
Part 2. Sweet, simple, & bake-free. I open the Quaker Oats box to pour them in the dough & I see 4 brown things in there that look like rocks. They were no-bake cookies from last summer that I hid from myself... & now they are paperweights. I must have thought it was brilliant: I'll hide these in here so I won't eat them so fast.
(Notice the one on the bottom left that looks like a pancake... yep.)
Curve Ball #3: Just a classic case of the giggles...
I was about to work on auditory comprehension skills with one of my aphasic clients today. The plan: read a short story and have him answer "wh" questions about it. Take note: I hadn't looked at these stories prior to therapy, so I was unaware of what I was about to read to him. I start the first story: "Mac and Bell are brothers. Mac and Bell have a big house. The house has a big yard. The big yard has a big fence around it. Mac and Bell have a dog. The dog's name is Sam." It's safe to say my auditory feedback is well intact and I was fully aware of how stupid this sounded as I was reading it out loud. (Seriously... you read that quote out loud to yourself & see if you can refrain!) Every ounce of my being tried to hold back laughter, but I couldn't help it. I started cracking up... in the middle of therapy... & I'm covering my face with the stimulus book as I'm doing so. I apologize & return to the story: "Mac and Bell like to play with Sam." Oh no, here it comes again... Laughter. Middle of therapy. Covering my face again. Another apology where I acknowledge my lack of professionalism while secretly hoping Hutton isn't watching. I return to the passage: "Mac and Bell..." That's as far as I got before I started laughing again. This time even harder because by now I know that I can't control my laughing! And I'm talking full-out unstoppable giggles! I finally just closed the book and said, "We're not doing this today."
I'm out. ;)
Now in my case, these particular baby curve balls have only reiterated the fact that life is anything but boring and predictable. Let's count these suckers...
Curve Ball #1: Victoria is finally sharing her secret with me...
In lieu of the [hopefully] beautiful weather in Destin next week (feels good to say that!) and the upcoming sunshiny days, I have already purchased my bulk of swimsuits for now. While I was picking out mix-n-match itsy bitsy bikinis, I noticed that Victoria's Secret was having a few special offers. Special offer #1: Free swim tote with purchase of certain swimsuits. Well, you slap the word "free" on something and I'm all over that ice cream... like sprankles. Special offer #2: Free VS Reward Card (worth at least $10) with any purchase. The card could be one of $10, $50, $100, or $500! I love me a good mystery :). Here's my thought process: Purchased separately, 4 swimsuit pieces = 4 free swim totes = 4 free reward cards ($40+). So I make 4 separate orders. Swimsuits come in, and 3 of the bags have not one but TWO reward cards!! For those of you that failed Advanced Math for the Not-So-Advanced-in-Math, that's 7 cards = $70+! You can imagine my excitement to get a) new swimsuits, b) 4 beach bags so we Auspies will all be chic on the beach, and c) not 4 but 7 gift cards! If that wouldn't throw your average day for a loop, then just stop reading now.
Curve Ball #2: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie disaster...
This pitch has 2 parts... Part 1. I decided to bake cookies last night to bring to aphasia group today. I get out the recipe and all the ingredients and mix them accordingly. After I finish filling up one cookie sheet, I look to the left & notice a bowl of pre-measured flour. Oops... forgot that! So I scrape the dough back into the bowl and get the beaters out, again. After the flour was all mixed in, I emptied the dough onto the cookie sheets & let them bake. With 3 minutes left, I take a little peek in the oven, and what I saw made my jaw and eyebrows part ways. I had apparently done 2 things wrong: too much dough per cookie and not enough space between each one! Each cookie sheet looked like I was making one big OCC cookie cake. (Not to mention they sort of tasted like plastic...) *Just a quick Q for all you bakers out there: how important is 1 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp baking soda? I didn't have either ingredient, so I just left them out. I didn't figure 2 tsps would be missed in the grand scheme of things...*
Part 2. Sweet, simple, & bake-free. I open the Quaker Oats box to pour them in the dough & I see 4 brown things in there that look like rocks. They were no-bake cookies from last summer that I hid from myself... & now they are paperweights. I must have thought it was brilliant: I'll hide these in here so I won't eat them so fast.
(Notice the one on the bottom left that looks like a pancake... yep.)Curve Ball #3: Just a classic case of the giggles...
I was about to work on auditory comprehension skills with one of my aphasic clients today. The plan: read a short story and have him answer "wh" questions about it. Take note: I hadn't looked at these stories prior to therapy, so I was unaware of what I was about to read to him. I start the first story: "Mac and Bell are brothers. Mac and Bell have a big house. The house has a big yard. The big yard has a big fence around it. Mac and Bell have a dog. The dog's name is Sam." It's safe to say my auditory feedback is well intact and I was fully aware of how stupid this sounded as I was reading it out loud. (Seriously... you read that quote out loud to yourself & see if you can refrain!) Every ounce of my being tried to hold back laughter, but I couldn't help it. I started cracking up... in the middle of therapy... & I'm covering my face with the stimulus book as I'm doing so. I apologize & return to the story: "Mac and Bell like to play with Sam." Oh no, here it comes again... Laughter. Middle of therapy. Covering my face again. Another apology where I acknowledge my lack of professionalism while secretly hoping Hutton isn't watching. I return to the passage: "Mac and Bell..." That's as far as I got before I started laughing again. This time even harder because by now I know that I can't control my laughing! And I'm talking full-out unstoppable giggles! I finally just closed the book and said, "We're not doing this today."
I'm out. ;)
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
It's past my bedtime...
This is so long overdue I honestly don't even know where to start or what to say without rambling like I always do. We're doing teacher evals in our classes this week- do we always do them this early? Is it really March already??
My "I'm gonna get in shape for Spring Break/summer starting Feb. 1" has been pushed back to "I'm gonna get in shape for Spring Break/summer starting March 1." Me & my procrastination habits... Why do I always find something to occupy myself when I am fully aware that I should be doing something more productive? Even something as pointless as organizing my binders from undergrad has kept me from doing what I need to be doing in the moment, such as SOAP notes, lesson plans, studying... you name it, I'm not doing it!
Glancing through "Having a Mary Spirit..." This book has changed my perspective on so many random things & I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a good book that will really initiate a change in them. Just about the whole section called Faith is Our Withdrawal Slip from the chapter "Dying to Live" is underlined. Here it is in a leetle nutshell:
This chapter said a lot to me because so often do I think that no one wants to hear about my problems day-to-day. When in reality, there is One who wants to take them on... all of them! It's hard to fathom how I have any right to put all of my burdens on God, for He has already done so much for me. But, He is willing to let me cast all my cares on Him. He wants to take them from me- how cool is that?! I would be foolish to pass up the opportunity to hand over my worries to the Creator. It makes me think of the Cares Chorus: I cast all my cares upon You. I lay all of my burdens down at Your feet. At anytime I don't know what to do, I will cast all my cares upon You.
It is now officially March 4... one day closer to SBOneOh! I neeeeed/really really really want this break! To say I'm frickin ecstatic would be an understatement!! Can't wait to fill a few frilly pages in that "Auspie QB!!" :)
Syonara!
"This then is how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything." -1 John 3:19-20
My "I'm gonna get in shape for Spring Break/summer starting Feb. 1" has been pushed back to "I'm gonna get in shape for Spring Break/summer starting March 1." Me & my procrastination habits... Why do I always find something to occupy myself when I am fully aware that I should be doing something more productive? Even something as pointless as organizing my binders from undergrad has kept me from doing what I need to be doing in the moment, such as SOAP notes, lesson plans, studying... you name it, I'm not doing it!
Glancing through "Having a Mary Spirit..." This book has changed my perspective on so many random things & I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a good book that will really initiate a change in them. Just about the whole section called Faith is Our Withdrawal Slip from the chapter "Dying to Live" is underlined. Here it is in a leetle nutshell:
A lot of Christians are like the hitch-hiker carrying a heavy load. The driver of a passing wagon offers him a ride, and as he joyfully accepts, he keeps his pack on his shoulders. The driver asks why he doesn't lay down his heavy load, his burden."Oh, I feel that is almost too much to ask you to carry me," the man said. "I could not think of letting you carry my burden too."Like the man in the story, many of us continue to let this accumulated weight of the world bear down on us to where we are practically crawling. When, all along, Jesus has been waiting to bear our load.Faith--believing that what Christ did on the cross was enough for me, for my life, for my situation--is our withdrawal slip. It is the debit card that accesses our account. For to settle for so little when Jesus provided so much is like having a billion dollars in our bank account and never using a penny.It's as if God is telling us this: "Give me all. I don't want so much of your money and so much of your work--I want you. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good.... I will give you a new self instead. In fact I will give you myself, my own will shall become yours." (C.S. Lewis)It's the great exchange. Christ's life for mine. The original holy makeover.
This chapter said a lot to me because so often do I think that no one wants to hear about my problems day-to-day. When in reality, there is One who wants to take them on... all of them! It's hard to fathom how I have any right to put all of my burdens on God, for He has already done so much for me. But, He is willing to let me cast all my cares on Him. He wants to take them from me- how cool is that?! I would be foolish to pass up the opportunity to hand over my worries to the Creator. It makes me think of the Cares Chorus: I cast all my cares upon You. I lay all of my burdens down at Your feet. At anytime I don't know what to do, I will cast all my cares upon You.
It is now officially March 4... one day closer to SBOneOh! I neeeeed/really really really want this break! To say I'm frickin ecstatic would be an understatement!! Can't wait to fill a few frilly pages in that "Auspie QB!!" :)
Syonara!
"This then is how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything." -1 John 3:19-20
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Something to think about
In honor of Valentine's Day (or Single's Awareness Day, whichever you prefer), I want to share with you something that was sent to me last week. So here goes:
"Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4
God doesn't give us what we want. But He will give us our desires when they are first shaped by a delight in Him. In order to receive this promise, we must first meet the conditions attached to it: love God above all else. Verse 3 says to trust in the Lord. By doing so, our hearts will be seeking what He wants for us. Wanting the same thing God wants for us?! I can bet you that that will lead to lots of desires being met! Besides, I'm getting tired of begging God to want for me what I want for myself as if I know what's better for me than He does. And after all, His purpose for me can only be revealed when I put my full trust in Him and learn to seek His will for me.
When applying this to V-Day specifically, Marci put it pretty well: God wants us to have a man after Him. And we shouldn't settle for less. So... all my single ladies, flaunt your status! If Valentine's Day is all about love, then I'm celebrating the greatest love of all!
Take THAT, Valentine's Day!
God doesn't give us what we want. But He will give us our desires when they are first shaped by a delight in Him. In order to receive this promise, we must first meet the conditions attached to it: love God above all else. Verse 3 says to trust in the Lord. By doing so, our hearts will be seeking what He wants for us. Wanting the same thing God wants for us?! I can bet you that that will lead to lots of desires being met! Besides, I'm getting tired of begging God to want for me what I want for myself as if I know what's better for me than He does. And after all, His purpose for me can only be revealed when I put my full trust in Him and learn to seek His will for me.
When applying this to V-Day specifically, Marci put it pretty well: God wants us to have a man after Him. And we shouldn't settle for less. So... all my single ladies, flaunt your status! If Valentine's Day is all about love, then I'm celebrating the greatest love of all!
Take THAT, Valentine's Day!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Just a little something..
It bugs me how since my last post, I've thought "Oh I need to blog about that!" plenty of times. Now that I'm here, I just don't know what to say. It's like writing a paper... the introduction paragraph is always the hardest for me!! Some people have said to write the paper, then go back and write the intro. Never done it, though!
UALR was closed Monday & Tuesday... you know what that means: no school AND no clinic!! Which turned out to be a pretty good thing because today was my day to lead Aphasia Group, and wouldn't you be surprised to find out that I hadn't typed up a lesson plan yet. Still haven't. I'll get around to that later on this week... after I study for Fluency Disorders & write Semester Treatment Plans & eat sushi with MG. Procrastination has made itself a priority in my life this semester, which is a really bad thing. It needs to go somewhere. Classes just aren't as interesting as they were last semester (with the exception of Dysphagia), and I'm sure my lack of motivation has something to do with it, too. It certainly doesn't help now that we can iChat & get on facebook during class. I need to kick this habit just as bad as Tejada needs to kick a fieldgoal... heh.
Hands & Voices was this past Saturday morning. Marcdawg & I met Ang at Starbucks at 8 then headed over to the Arkansas Children's Hospital East Campus. While parents were in the H&V seminar, we got to w
atch their chitlens. I try not to pick favorites, but it usually happens anyway. Most, but not all, of the kids had some kind of hearing loss. Some wore hearing aids, & some had cochle
ar implants. Some even had a BAHA.
This first picture is of a little boy with bilateral cochlear implants. He was the sweetest thing in the world, & he taught me lots of sign language words, like "eat" and "play." He & his brother (behind him) kind of took to me, & I kind of took to them also. Needless to say, I sort of followed them around all day... is that creepy? We played in a tub full of shaving cream.... & you can see how that worked out. It was all in their hair and on their clothes and all over us. They loved it!!
UALR was closed Monday & Tuesday... you know what that means: no school AND no clinic!! Which turned out to be a pretty good thing because today was my day to lead Aphasia Group, and wouldn't you be surprised to find out that I hadn't typed up a lesson plan yet. Still haven't. I'll get around to that later on this week... after I study for Fluency Disorders & write Semester Treatment Plans & eat sushi with MG. Procrastination has made itself a priority in my life this semester, which is a really bad thing. It needs to go somewhere. Classes just aren't as interesting as they were last semester (with the exception of Dysphagia), and I'm sure my lack of motivation has something to do with it, too. It certainly doesn't help now that we can iChat & get on facebook during class. I need to kick this habit just as bad as Tejada needs to kick a fieldgoal... heh.
Hands & Voices was this past Saturday morning. Marcdawg & I met Ang at Starbucks at 8 then headed over to the Arkansas Children's Hospital East Campus. While parents were in the H&V seminar, we got to w
atch their chitlens. I try not to pick favorites, but it usually happens anyway. Most, but not all, of the kids had some kind of hearing loss. Some wore hearing aids, & some had cochle
ar implants. Some even had a BAHA.This first picture is of a little boy with bilateral cochlear implants. He was the sweetest thing in the world, & he taught me lots of sign language words, like "eat" and "play." He & his brother (behind him) kind of took to me, & I kind of took to them also. Needless to say, I sort of followed them around all day... is that creepy? We played in a tub full of shaving cream.... & you can see how that worked out. It was all in their hair and on their clothes and all over us. They loved it!!
"Stolen Away on 55th & 3rd" by DMB just came on my iPod... I forget how much I love that song, & I think it's because of the saxophone in it- I find it sort of... seductive, in a way.
Okay people. I gotta study. 10-4.
(In about 5 minutes, I guarantee you that I will think of a billion more things to write about. But what good is a guarantee... you could sh!t in a box & put a guarantee on it, but at the end of the day it's still sh!t in a box.) --- name that movie!
Okay people. I gotta study. 10-4.
(In about 5 minutes, I guarantee you that I will think of a billion more things to write about. But what good is a guarantee... you could sh!t in a box & put a guarantee on it, but at the end of the day it's still sh!t in a box.) --- name that movie!
Monday, February 1, 2010
"My clarinet brings all the boys to the yard." -LMcD
11:15 ... I should be in bed right now, but I'm not because I have recently become a huge fan of iChat. That wildfire spread like herpes & now all of us Auspies are going to flunk out of school because of it. So, thank you Apple for cheating us out of our careers.
While watching the ProBowl last night, we got to talking about the Haiti chaos. We talked about how sad it was-- & sad is an understatement! It's absolutely devastating that the poorest country in the West Hemisphere is having to endure this. It'd be a tragedy for anyone to have to go through something so destructive. Another thing I find disturbing (because I'm not sure whether to think of it as blunt journalism or horrific exploitation) are the pictures of the Haitians in the rubble. I came across a picture one day that instantly made me choke. It was a picture of a father holding his dead daughter (she looked somewhere from 6-9). The pain on his face was indescribable... something that I hope I never see ever again. Posting pictures of people all bloodied up and bruised and piled in the rubble is different- those pictures of course are sad & break my heart all the same. However, this one photo stood out to me and I just didn't know what to think about it being public. This father looked so helpless and vulnerable and heartbroken.
On a lighter note--an uplifting one--I slept in til 11:30 this morning! I didn't really mean to, but I turned my 10:00 alarm off thinking I would fall asleep for about 30 more minutes. Oopsies :). Anyway, I read a really good devotional when I woke up. I usually underline a few key phrases & what not, but today I think I underlined the whole page!! So of course I need to share this one with you, so I'll show you what I underlined. Here it goes:
Who Deserves the Credit?
When we experience success, it's easy to proclaim, "I did that!" It is very easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements in comparison with what we owe others. In other words, reality breeds humility. The greatest among us are the humble servants who care less for their own glory and more for God's glory. If you're tempted to overestimate your own accomplishments, resist that temptation. Give credit where credit is due, starting with God. And, rest assured: There is no such thing as a self-made man. All of us are made by God, and He deserves the glory, not us. "We are never stronger than the moment we admit we are weak." -Beth Moore
I'll wrap this up, but I can't end this post without giving you faithful readers a recap of the Snow Days Twenty-Ten (even though you were there, hah!). In very little detail, this is how the weekend played out:
-Dinner at Tori's Thursday night... yum. yum. YUM! I think it's such a nice gesture when someone is willing to cook a lot of food for a lot of hungry, poor, living-on-student-loans graduate students!
-Friday: "The Edge of Darkness." SO. GOOD! (I love talking in periods... I like how it emphasizes!). Definitely a keep-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat movie, which I love! Several parts in the movie made me not only jump, but scream. Yes, scream like a little girl. Afterwards- Tori's house... Scattergories & Catchphrase!! Built pyramids bc girls just... like to do that. I walk into Tori's living room just in time to catch the last few seconds of the pyramid fall as Katie arm-plants into Tori's glass coffee table!! We all nearly peed our pants laughing- or we did!
-Saturday: Game night at Weston's. Catchphrase and Scattergories... again! I love how Catchphrase somehow makes you spit out words that don't even exist, like "dumbos." Then back to Tori's only to play Catchphrase once more... "Black girls like to do this." "JUMPROPE!!" How in the world Tori guessed that on the very first try, I have no clue. & another: "He was an anti-semitic!" ... It was Walt Disney. I just don't get why he didn't say, "He has his own world in Orlando!" One small detail that I cannot leave out from this night: My dear friend, Lindsey, must've found inspiration in the X-Games when she decided to sled smack-dab into the front of a parked Suburban! How brave you are, Linds... we all love your battle wound :).
-Sunday: Bittersweet because it was the last snow day. The snice spoiled us! Mallory & I went to Weston's house to "watch the game." We get there & the Pro Bowl was about to start. Turns out we were watching that game, not the Razorback game! Then the Grammy's were on so of course we had to watch those.
One more funny story: Teach sang to us in class, today. "All assimilations, all assimilations, all assimilations, all assimilations" to the tune of B's "Single Ladies." ...Was def the highlight of class!
Ok this is plenty enough for one post... probably more than enough for two! Peace out, yo :)
While watching the ProBowl last night, we got to talking about the Haiti chaos. We talked about how sad it was-- & sad is an understatement! It's absolutely devastating that the poorest country in the West Hemisphere is having to endure this. It'd be a tragedy for anyone to have to go through something so destructive. Another thing I find disturbing (because I'm not sure whether to think of it as blunt journalism or horrific exploitation) are the pictures of the Haitians in the rubble. I came across a picture one day that instantly made me choke. It was a picture of a father holding his dead daughter (she looked somewhere from 6-9). The pain on his face was indescribable... something that I hope I never see ever again. Posting pictures of people all bloodied up and bruised and piled in the rubble is different- those pictures of course are sad & break my heart all the same. However, this one photo stood out to me and I just didn't know what to think about it being public. This father looked so helpless and vulnerable and heartbroken.
On a lighter note--an uplifting one--I slept in til 11:30 this morning! I didn't really mean to, but I turned my 10:00 alarm off thinking I would fall asleep for about 30 more minutes. Oopsies :). Anyway, I read a really good devotional when I woke up. I usually underline a few key phrases & what not, but today I think I underlined the whole page!! So of course I need to share this one with you, so I'll show you what I underlined. Here it goes:
Who Deserves the Credit?
When we experience success, it's easy to proclaim, "I did that!" It is very easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements in comparison with what we owe others. In other words, reality breeds humility. The greatest among us are the humble servants who care less for their own glory and more for God's glory. If you're tempted to overestimate your own accomplishments, resist that temptation. Give credit where credit is due, starting with God. And, rest assured: There is no such thing as a self-made man. All of us are made by God, and He deserves the glory, not us. "We are never stronger than the moment we admit we are weak." -Beth Moore
I'll wrap this up, but I can't end this post without giving you faithful readers a recap of the Snow Days Twenty-Ten (even though you were there, hah!). In very little detail, this is how the weekend played out:
-Dinner at Tori's Thursday night... yum. yum. YUM! I think it's such a nice gesture when someone is willing to cook a lot of food for a lot of hungry, poor, living-on-student-loans graduate students!
-Friday: "The Edge of Darkness." SO. GOOD! (I love talking in periods... I like how it emphasizes!). Definitely a keep-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat movie, which I love! Several parts in the movie made me not only jump, but scream. Yes, scream like a little girl. Afterwards- Tori's house... Scattergories & Catchphrase!! Built pyramids bc girls just... like to do that. I walk into Tori's living room just in time to catch the last few seconds of the pyramid fall as Katie arm-plants into Tori's glass coffee table!! We all nearly peed our pants laughing- or we did!
-Saturday: Game night at Weston's. Catchphrase and Scattergories... again! I love how Catchphrase somehow makes you spit out words that don't even exist, like "dumbos." Then back to Tori's only to play Catchphrase once more... "Black girls like to do this." "JUMPROPE!!" How in the world Tori guessed that on the very first try, I have no clue. & another: "He was an anti-semitic!" ... It was Walt Disney. I just don't get why he didn't say, "He has his own world in Orlando!" One small detail that I cannot leave out from this night: My dear friend, Lindsey, must've found inspiration in the X-Games when she decided to sled smack-dab into the front of a parked Suburban! How brave you are, Linds... we all love your battle wound :).
-Sunday: Bittersweet because it was the last snow day. The snice spoiled us! Mallory & I went to Weston's house to "watch the game." We get there & the Pro Bowl was about to start. Turns out we were watching that game, not the Razorback game! Then the Grammy's were on so of course we had to watch those.
One more funny story: Teach sang to us in class, today. "All assimilations, all assimilations, all assimilations, all assimilations" to the tune of B's "Single Ladies." ...Was def the highlight of class!
Ok this is plenty enough for one post... probably more than enough for two! Peace out, yo :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)