hello, pimp

So, we had a pimp stop by our house today. Twice.
He did not get through the door or any information about the girl he was looking for, but it was still really creepy.
I hope he never comes back again. He is most definitely not welcome.

snowboarding!

One happy lesson of the day: I finally discovered a fun way to make my calves grow!
I went snowboarding for the first time
AND I have some lovely bruises to show for it!

First I learned how to stand up, obviously, and then I proceeded down the hill fairly successfully on my heel side. The second time down I started to do the zigzag thing and it worked quite well for me, until I was at the bottom where I caught my toe edge and crashed forward, instantly bruising my right wrist.
Not deterred in the least, I went back to the top where Hannah showed me how to ride toe side. Basically she held my hands and walked behind me the whole way down while I tried to get my balance, haha. The next time down I was better and I tried to zigzag but basically I'm not very good, but whatever.
Then I was going down toe side and I switched to heel side, and it was really fun and cool.
(Wow, I'm sorry if this is an extremely lame and boring post)
And so the next time Hannah showed me how to switch from heel side to toe side, and I fell many times as I attempted that one, but I did make it a few times! Mostly when I was near the bottom and it was less icy and wasn't very steep. at all.
So that's pretty much all I did the whole time, but it was fun, and I think next time I'll go on a real hill and learn more.

So! It was a good adventure with few injuries other than a sore butt and knees, which isn't a big deal at all. MUCH more successful than my attempt to skateboard on a Garlock tray, as Josh was kind enough to remind me.

Anyhow, I'm going to finish my worksheet on Song of Songs now, which is really a remarkable book. I feel like I've learned so much, and there's so much more in there than I ever realized before. Which is always a typical response when looking at literature in general and the Bible in particular, but anyways, I'm going to stop chattering nonsensically about it here and write about it for my prof.

Gilmore

Karyn is back from Honduras, which is nice, not only for us, but also for her cat Gilmore who missed her for the past 6 months. You'd think he'd be so excited to have her back that he'd miraculously become well-behaved...but think again.
For the past 2 days he's peed on Nicole's bed. again.
But the story I'm about to tell isn't about his bad behaviour...it's simply a story that made me laugh out loud.

I just got home a little while ago...and the cat was being weird. He was only walking with his front legs, and dragging his butt on the ground, so I picked him up and saw this chunk of pooh stuck there which he was obviously having trouble losing. Unfortunately, he tried to drag his butt on my bed and my carpet, which I would not allow, but I didn't want him to suffer any more (or for the pooh to end up in some random place in the house) so I grabbed a kleenex to help the guy out, and he took off. Seriously, he is amazing at hide and seek; it took me like 10 minutes to find him, and my house isn't that big, especially with most of the doors closed.
Anyways, eventually I found him and tried to grab him to help him get it off, but he ran away, so I caught him again and I grabed it with the kleenex. I think i took a bit of fur with me (it was seriously stuck!). He had swallowed a sequin or something, cuz that was definitely a sequiny shiny blob of poop, haha.
Anyway, after I removed the defication, he started licking his crotch clean, and he totally farted right into his mouth! it was so funny!!

The End

quote

I've been reading a book called "The Practice of Spiritual Direction" by Wms Barry & Connolly.
There are a number of good quotes to be found in it, but I thought I'd just share this one.

The Old and New Testaments demonstrate the aptness of the comparison [of prayer being no more difficult than the formation of any deep, enduring, trustworthy relationship, and no easier]. They are a record of God's expression of his attitudes toward us. We see how he lives out his love, his concern, his willingness to be involved with us. These attempts to communicate with us are not the efforts of an academician to make himself clear. Yahweh speaks with tenderness, dismay, anger, concern. Jesus addresses people invitingly, angrily, sadly, ardently, compassionately. God's desire to enter a mutual relationship with us leads to direct confrontations with people that call for a response from them. He calls people by name. He helps them in times of trouble, rescues them from oppression, forgives them their obtuseness and recalcitrance, shows them a mother's love. Jesus weeps for people, struggles to help them understand him, patiently tells them about the Father, warns them, urges them, takes them to task.

breakfast at tiffany's

Sometimes I am caught off-guard by myself. All day I was trying to figure out why I was in a bad mood, as well as trying to fight it, until Merissa commented on how stressed I am. *lightbulb*

We went to our first "Breaking Free" Bible study today...part of me felt frustrated with the way the Bible was interpreted to make it fit the purposes of the study...but part of me liked it because it challenged my thinking, even though it was not necessarily interpreted "correctly".

Last week we were talking about the dangers of Seminary and how there's a risk of losing respect for the Word...I'm scared that that will happen to me. I don't think it will...but part of me is a little more reserved, or simply digs in a different way than before. Which I think is a good thing, because I understand more the circumstances around which it was written and the original audience, etc. So while I may have a more accurate interpretation, that should not eliminate what the Spirit shows me personally through the Scripture. Which means I also cannot discount what others learn through the Scripture. Obviously it is good to test it for truth and not accept everything people find in Scripture because there are a lot of wacky interpretations, but I need to remain open and humble and not closed off to the Word.

This evening we went to The House and Nicole got to play a song...zo mooi! She is so talented. I also took a bunch of good pictures. I'll post some on my photo blog sometime soon probably. (Ben, I missed you and your camera very much tonight. You would have enjoyed it...)

You know what everyone? God is good. And can be trusted.

random slice of a conversation tonight:
"I don't like my profile"
"I don't like it either"