http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/magazine/24labor-t.html?em
I've had a lot of thoughts lately along the lines of this article. When I'm more awake and able to articulate sentences I am going to share those thoughts. Hopefully tomorrow. This is just a preparatory-blog-entry-entry.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Short Visit to DC
Last week I made a short trip to DC since I had a little free time on my hands and hadn't seen the semi-local fam in a few months. I also try to be mindful of how FAST little Lukie B is growing up and not miss too much of it.
One of the highlights of the trip was sitting with Luke and reading Green Eggs and Ham. I tried to show Anna how to read it to him and she almost got it. I'm attaching a cute video. Luke actually knows the end of most all of the lines of the book, but we only got through the beginning two pages. We were mostly trying to distract him so that his mom could work on dinner, but we were unsuccessful. (shocker!)
(doesn't he look so old here? Can't believe he's not even 2 yet...)
One of the highlights of the trip was sitting with Luke and reading Green Eggs and Ham. I tried to show Anna how to read it to him and she almost got it. I'm attaching a cute video. Luke actually knows the end of most all of the lines of the book, but we only got through the beginning two pages. We were mostly trying to distract him so that his mom could work on dinner, but we were unsuccessful. (shocker!)
Here are a couple cute pics... I tried to teach Luke how to use my camera. He learned where the on/off button was and was mesmerized by it for at least 5 minutes.
(doesn't he look so old here? Can't believe he's not even 2 yet...)
"A'Ash" and the Lukester :)
Monday, March 9, 2009
Turkey
Since I have 9 minutes before Heroes starts and I had two comments about Turkey, I figured I should probably write more. (I'm really good at picking up obvious clues).
Wellllll..... in the beginning of 2008, they had an interest meeting at our church for the short-term trips that New Life offers each year (usually around 12 to the different countries where we support full time missionaries). And I went and was immediately drawn to a trip to Turkey which centered around prayer and worship. I went home and prayed about it and felt the Lord tell me to "wait until next year" (much to my dismay).
So, I did, and now it's next year and here I am!
I'm so excited about this trip. A young couple from our church moved there in 2006 I believe and has been working there doing relational evangelism and basically praying for the country of Turkey. They spend the majority of their time during the day praying and worshipping and basically getting to know people. Apparently the people in Turkey are very friendly and very easy to get to know and welcoming. Jeremy is a musician and leads worship and Angie does a lot of ministry with children and girls. I don't really know them very well at all. I met Angie briefly when they were here last November.
I imagine that the majority of our time in Turkey will be spent doing what they do: worshipping, praying, and getting to know people. We'll also have a little time for leisure and taking in the TONS of history there, but mostly just praying.
The reason why I'm so very excited about this trip is because Turkey is going to be the first Muslim country I will visit (other than Israel, which never seems to count in my mind). I haven't been to a place where you really can't just evangelize freely on the streets and say whatever you want. The thing that makes me so excited is the possibility of just being used by the Holy Spirit completely outside of my own talents and abilities. I mean, if I have any effect whatsoever or any divine opportunity with someone in Turkey, it will no doubt be because of the Holy Spirit. What else could it be??? It's like a challenge.
The Perigos (the couple there) have a strong belief that all major moves of God started with massive amounts of prayer. I'm just lookign forward to joining them in some small way to believe God to do something great in Turkey.
Wooooo hooo.... oh my goodness, I'm so looking forward to getting a new stamp in my NEW passport :)
June 10-21.
And now I must go watch Sylar become the great man he's supposed to be.
Wellllll..... in the beginning of 2008, they had an interest meeting at our church for the short-term trips that New Life offers each year (usually around 12 to the different countries where we support full time missionaries). And I went and was immediately drawn to a trip to Turkey which centered around prayer and worship. I went home and prayed about it and felt the Lord tell me to "wait until next year" (much to my dismay).
So, I did, and now it's next year and here I am!
I'm so excited about this trip. A young couple from our church moved there in 2006 I believe and has been working there doing relational evangelism and basically praying for the country of Turkey. They spend the majority of their time during the day praying and worshipping and basically getting to know people. Apparently the people in Turkey are very friendly and very easy to get to know and welcoming. Jeremy is a musician and leads worship and Angie does a lot of ministry with children and girls. I don't really know them very well at all. I met Angie briefly when they were here last November.
I imagine that the majority of our time in Turkey will be spent doing what they do: worshipping, praying, and getting to know people. We'll also have a little time for leisure and taking in the TONS of history there, but mostly just praying.
The reason why I'm so very excited about this trip is because Turkey is going to be the first Muslim country I will visit (other than Israel, which never seems to count in my mind). I haven't been to a place where you really can't just evangelize freely on the streets and say whatever you want. The thing that makes me so excited is the possibility of just being used by the Holy Spirit completely outside of my own talents and abilities. I mean, if I have any effect whatsoever or any divine opportunity with someone in Turkey, it will no doubt be because of the Holy Spirit. What else could it be??? It's like a challenge.
The Perigos (the couple there) have a strong belief that all major moves of God started with massive amounts of prayer. I'm just lookign forward to joining them in some small way to believe God to do something great in Turkey.
Wooooo hooo.... oh my goodness, I'm so looking forward to getting a new stamp in my NEW passport :)
June 10-21.
And now I must go watch Sylar become the great man he's supposed to be.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Not really an update...
I wish I was the kind of person who just cared about all the silly little things that happen on a day to day basis. I'm sure my blog would be much more interesting and consistent. And while it's true that I find a lot of excitement in the everyday, mundane happenings in life, it just doesn't ever seem blog-worthy. Most of the time it's fleeting anyway and I go back to thinking about whatever recent thing I've been thinking about in my internal processor mind.
Anywho - today I read this article and it just broke my heart. It reminds me of an account of the genocide in Rwanda that I heard recently about reconciliation between the murderers and the victims' families. I always wonder what I would do with the "kill or be killed" command.
So, don't read this article if you're hoping for something light and fun! ;)
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/03/04/darfur.rape/index.html
On a much happier note and more update-ish, in case I haven't told you yet, I'm going to TURKEY this summer! It's with a short-term missions trip from our church. I'm very excited. I had to mail in my passport to get it renewed - it's amazing how fast 10 years went by...
Anywho - today I read this article and it just broke my heart. It reminds me of an account of the genocide in Rwanda that I heard recently about reconciliation between the murderers and the victims' families. I always wonder what I would do with the "kill or be killed" command.
So, don't read this article if you're hoping for something light and fun! ;)
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/03/04/darfur.rape/index.html
On a much happier note and more update-ish, in case I haven't told you yet, I'm going to TURKEY this summer! It's with a short-term missions trip from our church. I'm very excited. I had to mail in my passport to get it renewed - it's amazing how fast 10 years went by...
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Thankful for 2008...
I think the last two or three years in a row I've spent New Years Eve at home and fallen asleep before midnight (it's a rare occasion that I stay up that late anyway). Last night was no exception. After a relaxing evening of dinner and cards with the Stefanos, I headed home and layed on my couch and just thought about the last year. After 15 or 20 minutes of pondering, I fell asleep and eventually moved to my bed at 12:30.
This morning as I woke up and made breakfast, I've just been taking an account of the last year and what it means and how I wished some parts of it were different and how I'm hoping next year will be better in some ways. And then I had the brilliant idea to ask God his thoughts about the last year and next year and he said simply, "Forget the past. Let go of the good and bad alike. The good in the past will never be as good as the future."
And then I realized that so often I try to superanalyze every part of my life, at least what I've experienced so far. I don't think so much about the future (or the present) and all the hopes therein because I'm caught up trying to figure out what happened yesterday! What a waste of time!
So, I say all this to say that I really am thankful for 2008. It was truly a year of new beginnings. Though I've been living in Norfolk for a year and a half, I find that it's still new to me in some ways and I'm still adjusting. The growing process of settling in and building community and connecting with new people has been good in the challenging why-is-this-so-difficult, kind of way. Things at work have stayed mostly the same and I find it's still a blessing everyday to have the job that I do.
Two of the "new" experiences of 2008 that I really valued were:
1. Getting back into ceramics again. As you know, I studied ceramics in college and for a couple years after graduation, I was somewhat befuddled as to what to do with it. I just didn't have a lot of direction or creative juices flowing, so I took a break for a while. In January of last year I started taking classes again at a local studio and have really enjoyed it. I find that one of my favorite things in life is to work my body really hard doing something I love until I'm exhausted enough to collapse. Strange isn't it? If bookkeeping were a physically intensive job, I would probably love it even more. When I go to the studio on a Saturday and have several free hours just to hands create whatever my mind can envision, I feel so satisfied. There's just a small part of my heart that gets really fulfilled and bubbles up with excitement. I'm really thankful that God opened up that part of me again.
2. Gaining an awareness of cross-cultural missions. I took a class with our church's school of missions called Worldwide Perspectives. The goal was to give students who have any interest in missions a quick (3 month) study of the biblical foundation for missions, the history, and what is currently happening in the world. You want to talk about exciting - this class was just over the top. I suppose not everyone would get as much out of it as I did, but if you have any kind of interest in international things combined with an interest in what God's heart is for the world, it's perfect. I felt every week like I was stepping out of my small world that revolves mainly around me to see how big God is and how much he desires people to know him. It's so simple. Sigh...
The school of missions has a second and third phase in the spring and summer which culminate with a 10 week stint in another country living the life of a cross-cultural missionary. As exciting as that sounds, I decided not to continue with the next two phases (at least for right now). However, I am hoping to go on a short-term trip this year. Our church hosts maybe 12 trips each year all over the world and I would just love to be a part of one this year.
I really am amazed at the extent of God's goodness in my life. I find that it's all around and seems to be only increasing. I hope you'll join me this year in forgetting the past and pressing forward to what lies ahead.
And, just for fun, I'll give you the Cryptoquip that I did today that comes in the Virginian Pilot. They have a new one everyday, so fun!
QDMKFHBX EJHXYSJL KIDNZDHXYS, YD TRRTNDBSJL CDMHCDC HS ZTE SHFD SK JDTID SYD RTEST QDYHBC YHF. Today's clue: Y equals H.
This morning as I woke up and made breakfast, I've just been taking an account of the last year and what it means and how I wished some parts of it were different and how I'm hoping next year will be better in some ways. And then I had the brilliant idea to ask God his thoughts about the last year and next year and he said simply, "Forget the past. Let go of the good and bad alike. The good in the past will never be as good as the future."
And then I realized that so often I try to superanalyze every part of my life, at least what I've experienced so far. I don't think so much about the future (or the present) and all the hopes therein because I'm caught up trying to figure out what happened yesterday! What a waste of time!
So, I say all this to say that I really am thankful for 2008. It was truly a year of new beginnings. Though I've been living in Norfolk for a year and a half, I find that it's still new to me in some ways and I'm still adjusting. The growing process of settling in and building community and connecting with new people has been good in the challenging why-is-this-so-difficult, kind of way. Things at work have stayed mostly the same and I find it's still a blessing everyday to have the job that I do.
Two of the "new" experiences of 2008 that I really valued were:
1. Getting back into ceramics again. As you know, I studied ceramics in college and for a couple years after graduation, I was somewhat befuddled as to what to do with it. I just didn't have a lot of direction or creative juices flowing, so I took a break for a while. In January of last year I started taking classes again at a local studio and have really enjoyed it. I find that one of my favorite things in life is to work my body really hard doing something I love until I'm exhausted enough to collapse. Strange isn't it? If bookkeeping were a physically intensive job, I would probably love it even more. When I go to the studio on a Saturday and have several free hours just to hands create whatever my mind can envision, I feel so satisfied. There's just a small part of my heart that gets really fulfilled and bubbles up with excitement. I'm really thankful that God opened up that part of me again.
2. Gaining an awareness of cross-cultural missions. I took a class with our church's school of missions called Worldwide Perspectives. The goal was to give students who have any interest in missions a quick (3 month) study of the biblical foundation for missions, the history, and what is currently happening in the world. You want to talk about exciting - this class was just over the top. I suppose not everyone would get as much out of it as I did, but if you have any kind of interest in international things combined with an interest in what God's heart is for the world, it's perfect. I felt every week like I was stepping out of my small world that revolves mainly around me to see how big God is and how much he desires people to know him. It's so simple. Sigh...
The school of missions has a second and third phase in the spring and summer which culminate with a 10 week stint in another country living the life of a cross-cultural missionary. As exciting as that sounds, I decided not to continue with the next two phases (at least for right now). However, I am hoping to go on a short-term trip this year. Our church hosts maybe 12 trips each year all over the world and I would just love to be a part of one this year.
I really am amazed at the extent of God's goodness in my life. I find that it's all around and seems to be only increasing. I hope you'll join me this year in forgetting the past and pressing forward to what lies ahead.
And, just for fun, I'll give you the Cryptoquip that I did today that comes in the Virginian Pilot. They have a new one everyday, so fun!
QDMKFHBX EJHXYSJL KIDNZDHXYS, YD TRRTNDBSJL CDMHCDC HS ZTE SHFD SK JDTID SYD RTEST QDYHBC YHF. Today's clue: Y equals H.
Monday, August 18, 2008
How To's
On my google homepage I added a section for WikiHowTo - it has two links to a How To article everyday. Today's were "How to Hypermile" and "How to be Good".
Reading the first I thought, "How to what? Hyper..meaning, high or fast, mile..meaning..mile.. does this mean how to drive many miles in a shorter amount of time? Well, duh, I could tell you how to do that." No. Actually, what it refers to is how to drive many miles on a shorter amount of gas, which actually means, how to drive SLOW! The tone of the article I thought was really quite comical. It's advocating some techniques to maximize your fuel efficiency, and while this is a great thing, it's not the way most people drive nowadays. One quote was really great,
"Even if your brakes are perfectly fine, driving in this manner improves fuel economy because you maintain slower speed, reduce acceleration, and place fewer demands on the engine by going easy on the brakes. This may be frustrating and difficult, however, if other drivers keep cutting in front of you."
The funny thing about that is that... while trying to maintain better fuel efficiency by driving more slowly and farther away from the car in front of you, you're going to automatically put yourself in a position where the brakes will become more and more necessary than they would be regularly! [And, the first time I read this line, I thought that the link for 'cutting in front of you' would lead to a picture of someone cutting in front of you, just in case you didn't know what that meant. Actually it leads to an article about how to handle tailgaters... naturally.]
Here's the whole article:
http://www.wikihow.com/Hypermile
And here's the article on how to be good, just in case you're feeling really cheesy:
http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Good
In other, more relevant, news I've really been enjoying the Olympics! I'm looking forward to the track and field events, as well as more diving. These are the events I'm most anticipating:
high jump, pole vault, running relays (don't know why these are more exciting than just running), and high dive
Here's a lovely picture of mom and me from the last time she was in town:
Reading the first I thought, "How to what? Hyper..meaning, high or fast, mile..meaning..mile.. does this mean how to drive many miles in a shorter amount of time? Well, duh, I could tell you how to do that." No. Actually, what it refers to is how to drive many miles on a shorter amount of gas, which actually means, how to drive SLOW! The tone of the article I thought was really quite comical. It's advocating some techniques to maximize your fuel efficiency, and while this is a great thing, it's not the way most people drive nowadays. One quote was really great,
"Even if your brakes are perfectly fine, driving in this manner improves fuel economy because you maintain slower speed, reduce acceleration, and place fewer demands on the engine by going easy on the brakes. This may be frustrating and difficult, however, if other drivers keep cutting in front of you."
The funny thing about that is that... while trying to maintain better fuel efficiency by driving more slowly and farther away from the car in front of you, you're going to automatically put yourself in a position where the brakes will become more and more necessary than they would be regularly! [And, the first time I read this line, I thought that the link for 'cutting in front of you' would lead to a picture of someone cutting in front of you, just in case you didn't know what that meant. Actually it leads to an article about how to handle tailgaters... naturally.]
Here's the whole article:
http://www.wikihow.com/Hypermile
And here's the article on how to be good, just in case you're feeling really cheesy:
http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Good
In other, more relevant, news I've really been enjoying the Olympics! I'm looking forward to the track and field events, as well as more diving. These are the events I'm most anticipating:
high jump, pole vault, running relays (don't know why these are more exciting than just running), and high dive
Here's a lovely picture of mom and me from the last time she was in town:
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Olympics
Last night I was telling some friends in my ceramics class that I'm really excited about watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics this Friday. They both said, "Oh, I'm not going to watch it. I'm boycotting China." I was like "hmm... yes. An interesting predicament."
It really led me to think about how much one person can do by not watching an event on TV that is being held in China. If nothing else, a smaller number of viewers as compared to past Olympics will at least give China a message about how Americans feel. But honestly, do you think they care about that? It's just one of those things I think about..how much can I, as one person, do to affect China? Or any other major world issue?
I saw the movie Swing Vote last weekend and I really liked it. I'm a Kevin Costner fan and he was downright hysterical, but I also really enjoyed the themes that they touched on. One of them was this notion of each vote or person counting for something. What do you think??
I just found this article on CNN and it made me smile BIG. :D Imagine what the Chinese will be thinking when someone from Sudan leads the way for all the American athletes in the opening ceremonies! What a thrill. Now that's one person making a difference.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/08/07/flag.bearer/index.html
Random note: I'm also really looking forward to watching Michael Phelps swim. I read part of an article in USA Today last week about him and how his body is just made for swimming. He's got a very long torso, short legs, double jointed knees, and very long feet. Fascinating! I think God smiles when we figure out how He actually made us for very specific purposes. *smile*
It really led me to think about how much one person can do by not watching an event on TV that is being held in China. If nothing else, a smaller number of viewers as compared to past Olympics will at least give China a message about how Americans feel. But honestly, do you think they care about that? It's just one of those things I think about..how much can I, as one person, do to affect China? Or any other major world issue?
I saw the movie Swing Vote last weekend and I really liked it. I'm a Kevin Costner fan and he was downright hysterical, but I also really enjoyed the themes that they touched on. One of them was this notion of each vote or person counting for something. What do you think??
I just found this article on CNN and it made me smile BIG. :D Imagine what the Chinese will be thinking when someone from Sudan leads the way for all the American athletes in the opening ceremonies! What a thrill. Now that's one person making a difference.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/08/07/flag.bearer/index.html
Random note: I'm also really looking forward to watching Michael Phelps swim. I read part of an article in USA Today last week about him and how his body is just made for swimming. He's got a very long torso, short legs, double jointed knees, and very long feet. Fascinating! I think God smiles when we figure out how He actually made us for very specific purposes. *smile*
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