Working

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.

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!)

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 :)

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.

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...

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.

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:

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*

One Week with Lukie B

Last week I took off work and spent the whole week in DC being a full-time aunt. It was so much fun!

I would like to direct this post to all of you who constantly visit The Bradley Family Blog and always wonder things such as, Why don't they post more often? Is it really impossible to take more pictures and put them on a website? Do they think we don't care?!!

The answer to these questions is this: Yes, know you want to see more of the Lukester. But taking care of a baby takes WAY MORE TIME than you think. Some of you more mature and reasonable people probably weren't as impatient as I was, but these were the questions going through my head. The other major answer to the question is that taking pictures/videos of Luke is practically impossible unless you have the camera ready and he happens to not notice that you're getting ready to take pictures. Otherwise he won't do or say anything until you let him hold the camera. He can be very controlling sometimes.

Here's another answer for you: Yes, you're right, Lukie B really is the cutest and sweetest 1 year old boy on the earth. I was amazed at how quickly he adjusted to being with just me. There were still moments (especially when he woke up from his naps) when he seemed to be looking for Emily, but other than that he was pretty content. And there were even a few occasions when he would be playing with his toys, then look over to see me sitting on the couch, crawl over to me and get on the couch and give me a big hug and a smile, then go back to his toys. It was just so heart-melting.

The thing I enjoyed most about it, that really renewed my desire to have children, is just the unconditional love. It can get annoying at times that there is just utter dependency and no break at all EVER (until his parents come home), but for the most part, I really reveled in the love fest we had. If I ever went to the bedroom to fold laundry or put something away, I would promptly hear him crawling down the hall to follow me. He just enjoys being in your presence and doesn't want to be away from you. He would rather play at your feet than 15 feet away even though he can see you. It's such a wonderful feeling. And he's very good at unloading the dishwasher. You still have to pick up the dishes off the floor and put them away, but that's all part of the deal. :)

Here are some pictures/videos:

Lukisms:

1. He loves to hit his head while reading the book I Love You Through and Through even though the boy in the book never hits his own head (I checked).

2. He really likes sandwiches with turkey. And he would love to try cream soda - he's pretty sure he would like it.

3. He doesn't like to wear shoes, especially when it's 90+ degrees outside.

4. He really likes to watch the video of U2, though he gets tired of it after about 5 minutes.

5. Favorite toy: Gagun - that's the cell phone. [he will even alert you when your cell phone alarm goes off, just in case you didn't hear it.]

I love you Lukie B!

TGIF

Oh my goodness gracious alive. Or, as Jeffrey would say, "Holy Christian Santa Claus!" (don't ask...)

I can't tell you how thankful I am it's Friday. I absolutely love my job and how I spend Monday - Friday, and most of the time I enjoy the work week just as much as the weekend because I've been learning how to engage God during work and have fun while doing it, but today I'm just so happy to have a weekend coming up.

Last night I got home from work, mentally exhausted, and plopped down on the couch, hoping to rest for 10 minutes before getting up and going for a run. After 5 minutes, at about 9 pm, I pulled myself up off the couch, made a smoothie, drank it, and went to bed. I woke up, still sleepy, at 6:20. This has happened about 4 times in the last 3 weeks (sleeping 12+ hours consecutively). Two weeks ago I blamed it on being sick, which definitely was a factor, now I'm realizing I just need to get more of God because life in general is weighing a little too heavily these days!

There are quite a few impossible situations at work that just need to become possible. That's really the truth in it all...

This morning I read a scripture that was very comforting:
Heb. 2:10 : For it was an act worthy of God that He, for Whose sake and by Whom all things have their existence, in bringing many sons into glory, should make the Pioneer of their salvation perfect - should bring to maturity the human experience necessary to be perfectly equipped for His office as High Priest - through suffering.
Heb. 2:18 : For because He Himself in his humanity has suffered in being tempted, He is able immediately to run to the cry of those who are being tempted and who are therefore being exposed to suffering.

I thought it was very interesting that the suffering Jesus went through was temptation. Of course, the death on the cross seems like enough suffering, but it is always confounding to my pea brain to imagine that Jesus was tempted in every way that I am solely for the purpose of being able to sympathize with me and become a perfect sacrifice. There's so much humility in what he has done, lowering himself just so he can become like us, so that he can die in our place. And even though in every way he is absolutely God, in many ways it is right for us to think of him as being like us so that we will cry out to him in our time of need!! And that's just where I am.. needing help!

So, let that be a comfort to you too! No matter where you are, you're not alone. There is at least 1 person who has felt exactly what you are feeling now.

Thanks to our troops...

While I *am* really grateful to all of our military personnel for everything they've done, it seems like I appreciate them even more when I get a holiday out of it. And not just once, but every single year!

Annalee came up on Sunday just for one day and it was so wonderful! It was one of those times when time seems to be going really slowly and you have lots of great experiences in a very short amount of time. Good conversations, good food, lots of walking and talking, and we even made it to the beach for an hour. The water felt like ice water, so we opted to stay on the sand this time around. Here's a picture... Anna actually is wearing her swimsuit, she's just doing some clever maneuvering to work on her tan lines. You know what I mean.


I asked her if she liked this picture and she said, Ash, your eyes are closed! And I said, "Are you insane?! If I could shut my eyes even more than I am already, I would. This sun is SO bright! I can hardly stand to be laying on my back. I'm going to roll over."

It really was very bright.

Random comment: I saw a very good movie on Saturday called In the Shadow of the Moon. I highly recommend it. It's a documentary about the 24 guys who went to the moon in 1969. Very informative, especially if you weren't alive in the 60s.

Direct Deposit from the IRS

Aren't those the best?! Today when I looked in my checking account I found the $600 stimulus check from the IRS, such a pleasant surprise. Now I just have to go through the arduous process of figuring out what to do with it. So many ways to spend free money... Whenever money like this comes into my hands, I always get very concerned about making sure to hear exactly what God wants to do with it (since it feels much less like "mine" than all the other money I come into). Sometimes I make it more complicated than it actually is...

In other news - I'm coming to DC the week of June 2. I'll actually be there probably May 31 to June 6/7. I'm going to be watching the cutest boy, Lukie B, that week while Em takes a prep class for the bar (see www.richandem.com to verify the cuteness) Soooo.. if you want to get together that week, please let me know! Of course, in my naive mind, I'm thinking I'll be free for lunch and dinner and whatnot, but I'm sure I'll be shocked at how much constant attention Luke requires. This is going to be like Parenting 101 - The Life of A Stay at Home Mom. And as I leave, I'll be telling Em (and every other mother) over and over again how incredible she really is.

In closing, here's an appropriate quote for my current feeling:

“It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like "What about lunch?"
Winnie the Pooh
A.A. Milne

Picture time!

So I finally remembered to bring my camera from home to upload some pictures I took of my condo for people to see who haven't been fortunate enough to visit the lovely city of Norfolk, VA...

Note the wall clock and mirror - two additions from the mother! She's so kind. I still need to hang up a few pictures, hang up a mirror, and add a shelf to to the wall for my mugs (below). Hopefully I'll get all that done in the next two weeks (before my grandparents come to visit!)

Here are two pictures of some mugs that I recently made in my pottery class. I'm actually very happy with them (which is unusual). I've made a couple other things, but haven't gotten them back from the glaze firing yet. One of my goals for this year is to set up a website and start selling my stuff. I'm going to run out of places to put it pretty soon...

And here's a cute pic of the Lukie B. I think this was taken when Rich, Em, Anna, and Luke came to visit in February. I have a feeling that the light is so bright because he was trying to grab the camera and pull it to himself. Crazy kid.

And here's my view of Norfolk at sunset from my living room. When it's not too cloudy, there is always an incredible sunset... I love my city!

Contentment

Last week I had an experience which was very brief, but somehow seemed very important at the same time. I am hesitant to share it because it seems so insignificant, but I've thought about it a couple times since then and not many experiences get that much thought :)

I was sitting at work at my desk (it was most likely on Wednesday since that's normally my favorite day of the week) and I was going through my normal routine - filing papers, entering numbers into the computer, reading and responding to emails, generally trying to tidy my desk, blah blah blah, when suddenly I paused and I felt this overwhelming sense that I was really genuinely happy. It felt like my heart was beating outside my chest and I was on the verge of tears - all in an instant! And I didn't have any real reason to feel quite this happy. It was like a combination of contentment and peace and joy and rest all just melded at once and it was apparent at that moment that I really genuinely happy.

Now, please don't get the wrong idea - I'm not happy all the time. I'm not even content all the time. Since I've been in Norfolk I've been trying to learn the balance of keeping a healthy contentment for where you're at right now and a hunger to strive for more. For example - I've had a deep desire to be married for a couple years now. But, as you can see, it just hasn't happened! And every time I pray about it and ask God what's going on, I just feel him give me a desire to set my mind and my hands to work on what's in front of me right now - meaning, keep busy with the things that have opened up, like working on my pottery or being involved with the prayer ministry at my church, or building new friendships with people here, etc, etc. And as I've done that, it's given me a contentment that replaces the dispondency I can tend to feel...

From Psalm 105:
Honor his holy name with Hallelujahs,
you who seek God. Live a happy life!
Keep your eyes open for God, watch for his works;
be alert for signs of his presence.

I guess what I have learned is that when you keep your focus on what God is saying and he is doing, rather than all the other stuff that you lack answers for - it makes it much easier to appreciate Him and really be glad and thankful. And of course, we always keep asking and keep seeking Him and keep contending, but it's also good just to stop and be content.

So, what are you passionate about?

Let me first just say that I love Easter! I really do. I can't think of any other event in the history of time that has more profoundly impacted my life personally (not to mention the rest of the world).

Needless to say, our Pastor preached an excellent message about the Resurrection. He titled it "Live your Best Life" and talked about how the resurrection is what enables us to actually live the very best life that God has for us. At one point he asked the question, What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail? I've heard this question before, but in the past I've always dismissed it because it is too overwhelming for me to think about. I've always thought to myself, "Well, God has his own timing for things, and if I just take step after step, I'm sure He'll lead me to the right place and I'll get there at exactly the right time." But what I really was feeling was simply fear. It was fear of failure combined with fear of walking away from the Lord combined with a general dose of laziness. But Pastor Dan mentioned something on Sunday that really set me free from all that - he said that no amount of your own will power can get you to your goals or dreams. It's not dependent on anything you can work up or produce. It's simply the power of Jesus and his resurrection inside of you that can produce any amount of change in your life!

Now, I've heard that before, and I have come to the realization in the past that I can't do anything in my own strength, but somehow when he said that on Sunday, I just thought, "Oh, well, if it's not about me and it's up to Jesus, what would I do?" What would I do?? And the first thing that came to my mind was, I would take my little self to Sudan and sit there and pray until Jesus does something miraculous. The second thing that came to mind was, I would ask God for divine opportunties to speak the gospel to every person in my condo building. Can you imagine how awesome that would be?!

I was talking with Dave about my thoughts yesterday and he said, "And you do realize that the things deep inside that you're passionate about are the very things God wants you to do? I mean, doesn't everyone do only the things they really care about?" And I thought, well, that would make sense, but I don't think it happens very often in the real world.

Yesterday I found a website of a photographer who has traveled the world taking pictures of many major world events/tragedies. He is Danish and there isn't a whole lot of background on his site on why he does what he does, but it's pretty clear from his portfolio what he is passionate about. http://www.jangrarup.com/ I always wonder if people can tell just by looking at my life what I care most about...


So, what are you passionate about?

Blogging and Me

If I could put up a picture of me and my friend Blogging standing shoulder to shoulder, you would probably see me with a half grin on my face like, "help!" and a short stubbly person who I very much try to be friends with, but just can't seem to find enough time or interest to make the relationship work. Ah well, good thing this person doesn't actually exist.

So, I am happy to report that I have acquired a new hobby. "Hobby" might not be the right word, probably more appropriate would be "part time job"! For whatever reason, both of my parents seem to think I am the perfect person to help my dad with his Unified Church vision, specifically by assisting (read: doing) with programming the website! I'm not sure how they got this crazy idea in their heads, but I'm actually enjoying it so far. I bought a book from Barnes and Noble called Learning PHP and mySQL and it has proven very informative thus far. It's amazing how many new geeky computer programming vocabulary words I've learned. And despite my inexperience, it's actually pretty interesting and easy to pickup. The only challenging part is that you don't just learn one language and then the next, you literally have to learn them all simultaneously. Plus HTML - they sort of assume you already know that or can learn it just by seeing it. I guess that's how programmers work. Crazy kids.

Another exciting thing that happened to me in the last week was that a girl came up to me in the grocery store and invited me to her church's women conference! A few hours later she wanted to know if I wanted to join a Bible study. The next day she invited me to a night out dancing (which I declined) and to church the next day. I did tell her that I'm a Christian and I do study the Word and I do attend a church already, but I don't think the words were communicated very effectively. I feel as though I'm being pursued like a regular non-believer, it's great! Tonight we're meeting for a time of discipleship, so we can review the basics like repentance, baptism, salvation, etc. I'm looking forward to it... always good to review the basics. Mainly I just like meeting new people. The whole thing makes me laugh so hard, but I try to keep it on the inside when I talk to her. ;)

Off to my happy place...

Funny story of the day:

Dave (my boss) called me laughing and said, "Ash, I have the funniest story. I'm just not sure if you're going to laugh or get very angry with me." Then he proceeded to tell me about his morning:

I was driving along, answering phone calls, taking care of business, doing my normal routine. Jon called me and I had to call him back because I was in the middle of other calls. So I took care of my other calls and completely forgot about Jon. I was just strolling down the highway, content and happy as a bug. I wasn't listening to the radio or anything, I was just in my own happy place, completely unaware of anything else I had to do. Then, I started laughing hysterically! And I said to myself, "Oh my gosh!! This is the happy place that Ashlee goes to!" [This is the point at which I started laughing hysterically.] I finally remembered and called Jon back and told him the whole story and he laughed and said, "Do you think that's a place Ashlee just goes, or do you think she lives there?" [More hysterical laughter on my part.]

He assured me that they weren't making fun of me, that they just love me so much and that's why they think it's funny. I told him I think it's great to be a person that's thought of as being generally happy in and of myself without any other influences. Naturally, I instinctively dismissed any thought of implications relating to my being slightly oblivious to the world around me or forgetful of what I'm doing. That was just Dave :)

And I'm off!

From Port St. Lucie, FL

Dave sent me this picture today from his morning walk. He titled it "God's faithfulness" and commented on how the Bible says it's great. I think what he meant to call it is "Florida has the most awesome weather ever, and did I mention it's 65 all the time?!?" but of course that would have been too long a caption for one picture.






Can anyone say "road trip"???

Movie Review

[JSYK, this is my attempt at writing more posts. Quantity over quality this time around.]

Last night I saw the best movie I've seen in a very long time (PS I love you comes in a close second), and it is: 3:10 to Yuma. Excellent, excellent.

Sadly enough, I don't think this movie had enough advertising or enough publicity. I vaguely remember reading an article on cnn.com about Christian Bale and how he worked for months to prepare for this film out in Arizona, riding horses and working on his scruff. You feel me. Anyway, since most of my entries have been in list form, here are my reasons for loving this film:

1. It has my number one favorite thing to happen in a movie: The character changes! From the beginning to the end of the film, they are no longer the same. Consequently, I almost always despise movies where the main character has some serious flaws in the beginning and in the end is exactly the same. Probably why I will never really be able to appreciate Gone with the Wind. Sad.

2. Christian Bale. This morning as I was getting ready for work, I was replaying the film Newsies in my head and just making mental notes of why I appreciate him so much as an actor. His acting in this particular movie was wonderful - his voice sounded like someone else's, completely unrecognizable (and I have the authority to make this judgment because on Sunday night I watched Batman Begins, so I can remember his voice.)

3. Semi-historical/biographical nature. I also very much appreciate movies that are either based on a true story, or based on a period of time where real events happen, though this particular story may not have been true. It really made me think about what life must have been like for people in the 1800s, dealing with sickness without modern medicine, having the railroad going through their land, having cowboy gangs rule small towns, etc. My previous knowledge of this time period was probably based mostly on Tombstone ("Ash, your knowledge of history is based on movies?" Yes. This is why Rich is teaching my kids history.)

4. Almost made me cry. Not many movies can make me cry, it happens rarely. I did get all choked up in this one, though, and that's close enough. I think it was in the ending.


If you haven't seen it, see it! [That's an order from The General herself.]

A Year in Review

Recently I was reading in the book of John when Jesus fed the 5,000. The next day, the crowds of people came searching for Him again and he responded to them by saying, "I assure you, you have been searching for Me, not because you saw the signs and miracles but because you were fed with the loaves and were filled and satisfied." He goes on to tell them not to toil for the food that perishes, but to strive for the lasting food which endures unto eternal life.

This concept was very challenging to me, especially at the turn of the new year. I was struck at how often times in our lives God does incredible things - answers prayers, performs miracles on our behalf, changes all kinds of circumstances - and yet, his purpose in doing all of these things is not simply so that we can be "fed", so to speak. I believe that God's purpose in these everyday workings, big and small, is to cause us to believe on Him more than we do now, to entrust ourselves into his care in a greater and deeper way. John 6:29 "This is the work that God asks of you: that you believe in the One Whom He has sent."

So, going back to my point, I've been challenged to review and take an account of the great things that God did in the last year, 2007. It was an incredible year for me...

To start off, in the first week of January of 2007, God gave me a scripture to hold on to for the rest of the year: Luke 1:37, "For with God nothing is ever impossible and no word from God shall be without power or impossible of fulfillment." Of course, I held on to this scripture for about a month and then promptly forgot it. Thankfully, God continued to do the impossible the rest of the year without my remembering his promise.

These are the "impossible" things which happened the rest of the year:

1. I purchased a home. Those of you in DC know the impossibility of this quest, especially for a single person. However, I held this dream out before the Lord, fully believing it was impossible and he came through! Of course, the circumstances didn't quite work out as I had envisioned - it was actually better than I could have imagined. Not only did I find a home that I liked and was at a reasonable price, but two incredible things happened: 1. I offered $18k less than the listing price and they accepted without any negotiations!, and 2. I had two people who were interested in investing in the Norfolk area actually put down cash on my home as an investment, thus saving me beaucoup amounts in interest and PMI! I could not have foreseen either of these things happening and it seemed like God just orchestrated it all for me. Talk about amazing.

2. I completed a triathlon. If you want to read the details, go to my first post (skip the one underneath this one, and it's next...hehe). Definitely an impossible. I actually didn't believe it was possible even on the day of the event. The whole time it seemed impossible, that's why I called that post "Doing the Impossible". There was never a point when I said to myself, "I think maybe I can do this!" No, never. It was always a mystery, that's what makes it so incredible to me that I actually finished.

3. I left DC. Now, this one is a littler harder to understand from the outside why exactly this would be impossible, so I will try to explain. In general, my personality lends itself well to adjusting to its surroundings. I normally can bend on most things in a disagreement and one of my weaknesses is that I tend to desire peace at all costs. The outcome of this is that unless a situation is extremely uncomfortable (as in, not tolerable in any way whatsoever, even for me), I won't change it. At least this was my attitude in the past. Of course, I'm always trying to be diligent about seeking God and changing behaviors in my life that don't line up to the Word. I'm more referring to big life changes, such as where you live, work, etc. An example of my past inclination would be when I stopped working at La Perla (the restaurant I worked at during college). When I think back about the kind of situations I put up with there, I'm amazed that I stayed as long as I did. God literally had to defeather the nest to an intolerable place such that I literally had an emotional breakdown at work before I realized it might be time to go. So, the amazing thing about leaving DC was simply that I did not want to leave. In every way, I loved life. I had a great church, my job was working out great, I had an incredible family and friends, and don't even get me started on the Lukie B. To leave a place of comfort required very clear communication from the Lord. After I arrived in Norfolk I suddenly realized what I did and I got so happy! I said, "God! I really do follow you no matter what! That's incredible!"

As I've reflected back about these three things and the real purpose that God had, I can see that 2007 was a year of teaching me to stand on my own two feet, just me and God. Being willing to walk away from everything comfortable to reach the goodness that God promised - that was it. And now I'm terribly excited about 2008. In every way it's a year of new beginnings. I don't have a new verse for the year yet, but in the last 2 weeks, I've already had things start changing. I look forward with great anticipation to the coming year!

What about you - what did God do for you in 07???

New Habits

After Em posted a link to my blog from her website, I decided I should probably update. My dad and I were reflecting over Thanksgiving that neither he nor I particularly feel some great need for self expression, but when I think about how much I enjoy reading his "update" emails, I acquiesce.

Since moving to Norfolk, I have developed a few new habits which I am somewhat proud of and somewhat surprised by. I'm not sure how it all happened, it's probably a combination of factors.

1. Making the bed every morning. I think this started when Rich mentioned to me that he isn't able to feel relaxed until the bed is made. And since I've been keepign my house mostly clean, making the bed just seems to make sense. And, for those of you who really enjoy sleeping and saving time and all that, I'll have you know that it only takes 1 minute on average. I've timed myself.

2. Flossing. I have never consistently flossed in my whole life. This is the most recently acquired habit, by the way. I'm not sure what came over me, but the idea just seemed very logical recently. Most likely my mom's recent experiences had no small part. She has to have a tooth removed because of -------- problems, caused by not flossing. You can see how knowledgeable I am in this area. :)

3. Reading. I saved this for last because this is the most exciting new habit. Why did the idea suddenly pop into your head to buy classic literature form the local bookstore? Well, Alex, I honestly don't have an answer for that question. It just did! I started off with East of Eden, which I absolutely loved! Now I am reading The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James. If you have never read Henry James, I really recommend it. It's slow reading, partly because his sentences are just so long and involved, but it's very rich.

Since I'm sure you're interested, I will give you my impression of Henry James' writing (not a quote, just me writing like HJ):

"As I entered my office this morning, I found it to be in its usual state: papers scattered in such disarray that one might wonder as to how I actually do accomplish my tasks during the duration of each day set aside particularly for working. Now, given my current beliefs on the matters of personal organization and orderliness and all things related to individuality, I do not find it necessary to convey to the reader the reasons pertaining to my characteristic style of laying my necessary documents. The only thing one might need to perceive is that I, as the owner of my office and my personal, and dearly beloved, space, have a very proprietary outlook toward my belongings - even those belongings which could rightly be said to belong to my employer - and would be in an utter outrage should I be required to organize them in a fashion not truly unique to me personally."

There you go. I really do love Thursdays. And Jesus.