untitled

i have three tests this week. therefore, I don't have much time to write anything. So here is a quick recap:

1. i was reading an old journal from Redding and B.J. made reference to the idea that God inhabits the praise of His people - I felt like the Lord had something to teach me in this and I am trying to live it in greater ways. Last week at my CHOP hour I tired to just worship and praise God for who He is and what He is doing on campus/with people I know. Mostly because I greatly desired to just sit in the God's presence despite my hectic week all around me.

I wish I could write more - because there really is more - but I just need to go take a shower, read a bit more and rest. But, just for fun:



Study overload. Physiology Wednesday, Pharmacology Thursday and Chemistry Friday.

Niko understands...

Matt is wonderful and is doing the dishes so I can have a break from life...

annnnnd i really need to find time to make banana muffins.


fin.

Tin Cans and Austin's "Hurricane Ike"

What a Saturday. I was looking forward to rain and thunder and perhaps gusts of up to 50mph, but instead it was sunny all afternoon and terribly humid. Oh, weather.com - how you tease me. I've tried getting a hold of Wes a million times - mostly pre-hurricane to check his status. He lives in Houston - and Houston was just washed away by a hurricane. Silly Wes, answer your phone.

Today, since there weren't 50mph gusts of wind, Matt and I went on the great Tin Can Extravaganza of 2008. Natalie B. wants a watering can to water her garden with. Somewhat knowing Natalie's style, I decide to buy her a tin watering can. Her only requirement was that it had a shower spout (shouldn't every watering can have a shower spout...). So, off Matt and I go around 1:30p. We get semi-lost on the way to Shoal Creek Nursery (2 wrong turns) only to find their only tin watering can was huge and inappropriate for Natalie's needs. Next we go to Lowe's, then Big Lots, then Hobby Lobby (Matt wants to say, "Hobby Lobby is useless"), then Target. All during this time we are text messaging Google phone numbers to places we think would have a tin watering can. We called Home Depot, Michael's, Pier 1, Daisy Hill (we weren't sure what that was but it had the name Daisy in it), Wal-Mart and Jo-Ann's. By this time we were getting grouchy - so we went to Jamba Juice to refuel. It was about 3:00 by now. Next to Jamba Juice was an HEB so we stopped in to check their watering can supply, of course, no luck. Finally, post Jamba Juice I give up completely. I'm miserable because "Hurricane Ike" only made Austin think with humidity and I chose to wear jeans - like una mujer loca. So I say, "That's it! She'll have to find her own watering can because I don't see any cute ones! Let's just go to World Market and get her earrings!" Off to World Market, with a quick stop to Linen's and Things. We enter the store and I head for the earrings and purses. Matt wanders off and when I see him next - he is holding a tin watering can with a shower spout!!!!! But sadly, this also happens to be the ugliest tin watering can with a shower spout I have ever laid eyes upon. They took labels from baby diapers and other assorted print and pasted them onto the can. I could not buy this can for Natale with a clear conscience. So we continue to look around at their interesting display of... crap... and then, we stop. We blink. We hold our breath and inch ever so slowly towards the very object we had set our heart's desire on 3 hours before. There before us sat a small, quaint, painted white, tin watering can with a shower spout.

I nearly cried. I lunged upon the nearest World Market employee, tin can in hand, shaking it at his head, crying out with a voice of thanks to World Market and their vow to uphold customer satisfaction.

Walking out of the store half an hour later Matt said, "We just tangibly experienced God's goodness." Any man who can say that after 3 hours of running around through women dominated stores, moments away from returning home empty handed, must be a man with incredible character.

the black banana

My husband finds out where I am by reading my blog class schedule. I got a phone call at 1:05, followed by a text message which read, "Who needs Physiology?" Oh husband. (te amo.)

So, life as I now know it:
Meagan is working at Mary Jane and Wendell's which means I finally have T/Th mornings free! First things first: breakfast with Hannah the Beautiful. Sometime between now and Friday morning at 10am I need to figure out something about quantum mechanics of atoms... or something? I clearly was not paying attention in Chemistry lecture earlier today.

Sunday night was a good small group meeting. We each went around and shared what we felt are our long term callings, what we're learning right now, who we're accountable to, our weaknesses and strengths. It was good hearing what some people had to say, people who I never get to hear from.

Los Proeger came over for dinner last night. Nothing has been as helpful for Matt and I than to meet with another married couple, a few years down the road who pray for us, ask us tough questions and show us by example how to live and stay committed. It's pretty much the best. AND I made home made beef enchiladas and home made spanish rice and although it was initially scary because I wasn't sure how they would turn out, the result was more than satisfactory. I'm blogging about cooking... how domestic.

so, today, i brought a peanut butter and honey sandwhich for lunch with a banana. which had turned COMPLETELY BLACK in my backpack. disgusting. truly disgusting.

i wish i has something to say, but wendell is watching tv and being in the same room as a tv program fries my brain.

eric and therese are pregnant!!!! its officially on the internet. matt and i will be los tios!

i just saw a commercial from the corn refiners association about how GOOD high fructose corn syrup is... wow. interesting.

oh, by the way

it worked. Meagan is officially a Vorce. They are one flesh:

the book is over

I finished the book, "A Simple Path" (again, please note there is no underline function of which I am aware). The following are quotes from the pages I turned down (in my library! book!):

"Let Jesus use you without consulting you. We let Him take what He wants from us. So take whatever He gives and give whatever He takes with a big smile. Accept the gifts of God and be deeply grateful. If He has given you great wealth, make use of it, try to share it with others, with those who don't have anything. Always share with others because even with a little help you may save them from becoming distressed. And don't take more than you need, that's all. Just accept whatever comes." - Mother Teresa, pg. 45

I had a moment of weakness at HEB earlier. I was seconds away from indulging in an extravagance. Back story: reading this book has really made me question how much of what I put energy and funds into is mere extravagance. Mother Teresa lives like the poor, and Christ speaks endlessly it seems about the deceitfulness of wealth and storing up treasure for yourself in heaven rather than earth. I felt convicted -- really convicted -- and wanted to try to put away my so many extravagant desires. I'm not necessarily going to expand on that here, and know that I strongly believe that one person's lessons and convictions should not be another's. I'm just explaining how I responded to the words and truth from this book. Thankfully, I overcame my weakness. I handed what I wanted, yet did not need, to the cashier and she put it under her register and I walked away empty handed.

"God made the world for the delight of human beings--if only we could see His goodness everywhere, His concern for us, His awareness of our needs: the phone call we've waited for, the ride we are offered, the letter in the mail, just the little things He does for us throughout the day. As we remember and notice His love for us, we just begin to fall in love with Him because He is so busy with us--you just can't resist Him. I believe there is no such thing as luck in life, it's God's love, it's His." - a sister working with Mother Teresa, pg. 80

I feel like you feel the urgency of her message in this passage. Something about her enthusiasm and awe for God... it's tangible here.

This is a prayer in her book, I'm not sure if it is hers or another's that she found:
"Lead me from death to life,
From falsehood to truth.
Lead me from despair to hope,
From fear to truth.
Lead me from hate to love,
From war to peace.
Let peace fill out hearts,
Our world our universe.
Peace peace peace."

I met with Leigh on Tuesday. We chatted over water and sweet potato fries at Kerby Lane. It was very affirming and wonderful to meet with her. I've felt distant, and I never liked it. I used to give her so much authority to speak into my life and offer advice and correction. We quickly regained our lost ground. I want to love people really well.

So, I miss Christine. Still... never ending. Sometimes I feel it more than others. Thursday at the CHOP it came on strong. O, Egypt.

I counted and we have 13 weeks of school left. Goodness. It's hard going to school every day. That sounds silly, but because of school every day it also means I work and go to school on the same day 3 times a week. That's hard for me. I'm not sure why...it just is. I feel drained and exhausted.

I've been more and more interested in eating organically lately. We're learning about it Nutrition and I've been reading some online articles about organic and local growth. I am very interested. We'll see what comes of it.

We'll see what comes of a lot of things...