Top 10:
1. I am thankful that God chose to save me, and that his grace is irresistable to me
2. I am thankful that I've been given a husband who beats my old "wildest dreams" every day...one who shows me so much more about God's love than I could ever have known without him
3. Parents and siblings who are believers
4. Siblings who aren't believers, but who love me well and whom God will hopefully call soon
5. My brothers, Ian and Luke, who are both serving in Afghanistan and Iraq in order to keep all of us at home safe and secure
6. Laughter, lots and lots of laughter
7. A good job and a comfortable life
8. Friendships that stretch across a lot of miles, girls who know my heart and love me anyway
9. Netflix streaming over the x-box which has lead to an Office marathon...all 4 previous seasons in less than 2 weeks...holy moly, that is a funny show
10. big dreams for the future, and a growing contentment with the present
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
sorrow and joy intermingled
I heard a story about a wedding this weekend that was pretty powerful. Apparently this wedding was held out in the country at a very nice resort ranch, and so the wedding party rented the resort for the night before the wedding. After the rehearsal, the family was out walking (maybe back to their cabins?) when the grandmother tripped on a step and fell backwards, hitting her head on a stone that was part of the steps. These stairs were pretty rustic, so the stones were jagged and sharp and the one she hit her head on cut into her scalp. Those nearby rushed over and helped her to sit up and to stop the bleeding. They figured that she'd probably need stitches, and that she might have a concussion, but they decided to wait for a few minutes to let her get her bearings. After a little while, the grandma started to bleed out of her nose and to throw up, so they rushed her to the hospital which was 20 miles away. Sadly, the nose bleed was a sign of a hemorrage in her brain, and the grandmother died that night. Late that night, as the bride and groom were trying to decide whether to go on with the wedding or not, the daughter of the grandmother asked them to wake up remembering the joy of the day, not to be burdened with feeling like they should be mourning. So, with that release by the daughter, the wedding went on. One of the things that the pastor who married them said was that he'd witnessed a man kiss his wife of 40 years for the last time the night previous, and they were about to witness a man kiss his wife for the first time, and how that was such an incredibly moving picture of the joy and sorrow intermingled in this life. While we wait for heaven, we experience such sorrows, and yet God has also provided us with such beautiful joys as well.
The story has had me deep in thought the last few days...realizing that life is not forever - it can be taken in the least expected moment. So what am I doing with the moments that I'm given? Do I recognize the beauty as well as the sorrow? Do I focus on one or the other? And how am I loving those around me? Would they know that I loved them if I were to fall and hit my head and die within a few hours? And that line about a man kissing his wife of 40 years for the last time and another man kissing his wife for the first time...geez, I tear up everytime. Life is fragile - am I loving with everything I have?
The story has had me deep in thought the last few days...realizing that life is not forever - it can be taken in the least expected moment. So what am I doing with the moments that I'm given? Do I recognize the beauty as well as the sorrow? Do I focus on one or the other? And how am I loving those around me? Would they know that I loved them if I were to fall and hit my head and die within a few hours? And that line about a man kissing his wife of 40 years for the last time and another man kissing his wife for the first time...geez, I tear up everytime. Life is fragile - am I loving with everything I have?
Monday, October 20, 2008
Sunday, October 05, 2008
musica que bueno!
Marc and I got to go to two awesome concerts recently and I thought I should share the wealth with all of you -
First, we saw Flogging Molly (http://www.floggingmolly.com/) at the House of Blues and were totally blown away by the greatness of the band. Flogging Molly is an Irish folk/punk/rock band that has been around for a long time. I don't think they get played on most mainstream radio stations, but you may have heard them on your local rock or alt. rock station around St. Patty's day. The themes of their songs include Ireland, drinking, pirates, and love - all with a mixture of guitar, accordian, fiddle, penny whistle, bass, drum, and more. I've liked them for a long time, but seeing them live was an incredible experience. They are all fantastic musicians and their music seems like a wild celebration of the craziness of life. If you ever get a chance to go see them, do it, but be prepared for a pretty rowdy crowd.
First, we saw Flogging Molly (http://www.floggingmolly.com/) at the House of Blues and were totally blown away by the greatness of the band. Flogging Molly is an Irish folk/punk/rock band that has been around for a long time. I don't think they get played on most mainstream radio stations, but you may have heard them on your local rock or alt. rock station around St. Patty's day. The themes of their songs include Ireland, drinking, pirates, and love - all with a mixture of guitar, accordian, fiddle, penny whistle, bass, drum, and more. I've liked them for a long time, but seeing them live was an incredible experience. They are all fantastic musicians and their music seems like a wild celebration of the craziness of life. If you ever get a chance to go see them, do it, but be prepared for a pretty rowdy crowd.
The second show was The Swell Season (http://www.theswellseason.com/), with Iron and Wine(http://www.ironandwine.com/) opening. Iron and Wine was an unexpected surprise as they hadn't listed an opening band, but I was pretty excited to see them as I've enjoyed their music for the last few years. Turns out Iron and Wine is one guy - Samuel Beam , and he brought along a pianist/slide guitar guy to play with him. They were great, although I wished I had seats to listen to them as the music was pretty mellow and it had been a long day, too long to stand at a concert of mellow music. I really enjoyed Sam Beam's voice and his guitar playing - his music is perfect for a rainy day's dreaming. The Swell Season is a band from Ireland with the two musicians from the movie "Once" (Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova) as leaders. They are both incredible musicians and they play so well together - beautifully perfect harmonies and haunting lyrics and interesting musical lines. It turns out that they are also pretty funny and have a great stage presence - they not only played their own music but covered some hilarious songs like "cry me a river" (yes, the justin timberlake cry me a river). They were so responsive to the crowd that you felt like it was a really intimate show, despite probably several hundred if not a thousand people crowding into the venue. Their violinist also played a piece that he'd written, and it was fantastic. We got his cd - the Hare's Corner - and I have had it playing nonstop for the last couple weeks. It was an awesome show and I would definitely see them again and, just like flogging molly (but maybe even more so because the Swell Season's music probably appeals to a wider range), if they are ever in your city, go see them! The tickets are well worth the price.
Here's a video of Colm Mac Con Iomaire (violinist for the Swell Season):
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Sudan
The worship leader of our church just returned from a visit to Sudan with several others from the church - a vision finding trip to see how The Village can be involved. He's posted pictures and stories on his blog and they are pretty incredible. If you want to see the beautiful faces of Sudanese people and read some stories about orphans and water wells and such, check it out: http://thebleeckerblog.blogspot.com/
Friday, September 19, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Large Hadron Collider
Pretty awesome - a particle collider was started up today in Geneva that will hopefully be able to test whether the Big Bang Theory actually happened like science currently thinks it will. They'll be doing lots of other experiments as well, including looking for the "God Particle" (see the second link). http://public.web.cern.ch/public/en/LHC/LHC-en.html
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/03/god-particle/achenbach-text (the pic is from this natl. geographic article)
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/03/god-particle/achenbach-text (the pic is from this natl. geographic article)
Saturday, September 06, 2008
yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
Hello friends, sorry it's been awhile. School has sapped all energy...
School is going well so far, for those of you that want to know. This year has definitely been an improvement on the last two teaching wise - it's nice to not be the new kid anymore! Also nice to know what I'm teaching and be more comfortable around the kids. My fourth period was a little squirrely during the first week of school so I made a seating chart for them and explained that when they decided to act like juniors they could once again sit where they wanted - whew, they were seriously ticked at me, but so far it's worked like a charm! Yay for growing a little bit of a spine (on my part) : ).
In other news, Marc and I have finally found a home group through our church and it is so great. A lot of the couples are in a similar stage of life as we are, but some have more life experience and wisdom as well. The leaders are in the process of trying to adopt a little girl from Guatemala and that has been pretty incredible to witness. Marc and I have also had some Mormon missionaries visit us once a week for the last month (we keep inviting them back) and there have been some pretty great discussions. The guys are really nice and I have genuinely enjoyed trying to form a relationship with them. The best part of it all though is that talking with them has made me really dig into my Bible to figure out whether what I believe to be true is actually biblically based (like whether baptism is necessary for salvation, etc.). They're making me think hard and define my beliefs much better than I previously had. We're praying that God would allow us to plant some questions in their hearts, or at least offer them some friendship while they're here. This is a website that Marc has found that has really great info regarding a whole lot of different religions and questions: http://www.carm.org/
And finally, I feel like all I hear lately is wives complaining about their husbands and it's causing me to really watch my tongue. I've noticed that when women are together in a group, their husbands' failings come up in conversation and are discussed freely. They haven't been mean-spirited conversations, but I am very aware during them that I really, really disagree with airing a husband's failings to all around. I talked to my mom about it, and she tells me that this is the way it works everywhere - women complain about their husbands in casual conversation, meanwhile men rarely, if ever, complain about their wives to other men. So what is wrong with us women, why do we tear our husbands down in others' eyes while our husbands are able to maintain our good reputations in front of their friends? Aren't we called in love to focus on what is best in our husbands, especially in front of others? Not that we are dishonest, but that we keep failings to ourselves. And if we are struggling with something that our husbands are or aren't doing, maybe it's ok to go in confidence to a wise woman to ask for advice, but never ever to make jokes about it in front of every other wife in the room. That is definitely NOT protecting or loving our husbands. Oh God, teach me to love like You do!
School is going well so far, for those of you that want to know. This year has definitely been an improvement on the last two teaching wise - it's nice to not be the new kid anymore! Also nice to know what I'm teaching and be more comfortable around the kids. My fourth period was a little squirrely during the first week of school so I made a seating chart for them and explained that when they decided to act like juniors they could once again sit where they wanted - whew, they were seriously ticked at me, but so far it's worked like a charm! Yay for growing a little bit of a spine (on my part) : ).
In other news, Marc and I have finally found a home group through our church and it is so great. A lot of the couples are in a similar stage of life as we are, but some have more life experience and wisdom as well. The leaders are in the process of trying to adopt a little girl from Guatemala and that has been pretty incredible to witness. Marc and I have also had some Mormon missionaries visit us once a week for the last month (we keep inviting them back) and there have been some pretty great discussions. The guys are really nice and I have genuinely enjoyed trying to form a relationship with them. The best part of it all though is that talking with them has made me really dig into my Bible to figure out whether what I believe to be true is actually biblically based (like whether baptism is necessary for salvation, etc.). They're making me think hard and define my beliefs much better than I previously had. We're praying that God would allow us to plant some questions in their hearts, or at least offer them some friendship while they're here. This is a website that Marc has found that has really great info regarding a whole lot of different religions and questions: http://www.carm.org/
And finally, I feel like all I hear lately is wives complaining about their husbands and it's causing me to really watch my tongue. I've noticed that when women are together in a group, their husbands' failings come up in conversation and are discussed freely. They haven't been mean-spirited conversations, but I am very aware during them that I really, really disagree with airing a husband's failings to all around. I talked to my mom about it, and she tells me that this is the way it works everywhere - women complain about their husbands in casual conversation, meanwhile men rarely, if ever, complain about their wives to other men. So what is wrong with us women, why do we tear our husbands down in others' eyes while our husbands are able to maintain our good reputations in front of their friends? Aren't we called in love to focus on what is best in our husbands, especially in front of others? Not that we are dishonest, but that we keep failings to ourselves. And if we are struggling with something that our husbands are or aren't doing, maybe it's ok to go in confidence to a wise woman to ask for advice, but never ever to make jokes about it in front of every other wife in the room. That is definitely NOT protecting or loving our husbands. Oh God, teach me to love like You do!
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