Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat...

OK, maybe there won't be any goose this Christmas (nor has there ever been at any of my Christmases before), but that song could still be accurate nowadays if we switched out some key words. To make it, "Christmas is coming, and we're all getting fat..." At least that's what it feels like to me most of the time! No, I don't think I'm fat, nor am I going to develop an eating disorder in response to the continual feasting that seems to go on in honour of Christmas, starting in November. But I am a little overwhelmed by all of the parties, and the gifts of food that people keep giving our office! Here's just a small sample of what we've had in the past few weeks:

• 2 Christmas parties, each with more food than anyone knew what to do with
• 1 box of Tim Hortons donuts from the State Troopers who use our pool for scuba training
• 1 box of Rushford Bakery donuts
• 30,000 plates of cookies (OK, maybe only 30...but STILL, that's a LOT of cookies!)
• 1 gift box of Hickory Farms cheese, crackers, beef sticks, etc. from the Senior Citizens Exercise Group
• Individual goodie bags, with chocolate-covered pretzel rods and chocolate-covered Rice Krispies treats made by the women's basketball team, for each person in our department. (And guess who gets all the leftovers...ME! The people who are conscientious of healthy eating and all that good stuff pass their treats on to me, because they say, "Here, you're young and thin and your metabolism hasn't slowed down yet, so you can afford to eat these.")
  
• Not to mention all of the snacks, refreshments, cookies, and parties at church!

I wish we could spread it all out over a longer period of time...to give us treats periodically all year round, instead of WAY TOO MANY ALL AT ONCE at Christmas time. Not that I mind food. Oh, no, I LOVE food! And I love baking Christmas cookies to give to people. But sometimes I want to get rid of some of the trappings, because I feel like I'm going to drown in them. Like I want to say, "STOP, STOP! If we took away some of this STUFF, would it still be Christmas? Is it possible that it would be MORE Christmas, because there would be MORE room for Christ?" I guess the biggest problem lies for me in trying to figure out what to take away and what to leave. Because many of the things - or most of them - aren't bad in and of themselves. Baking and giving away the fruits of that baking; shopping and giving away the fruits of that shopping; throwing parties; putting on Christmas plays and musicals; spending time with friends & family...In fact, many of them are good things! But if any of them are not part of enabling Christ's coming into our lives, and thus into this world, as we are His body here on earth today, dare I say that these very things are then hindering His coming into our lives? I'm not suggesting that we all become ascetics for Christmas - I don't really think that would help, it would just give us a whole other set of problems. I simply want Christ to have all the room He needs, to come and dwell among us, and in us, and there grow and transform us and make all things new, and from there pour forth to the ends of the earth. I don't want to stuff myself with all the trimmings only to reach the main course and discover I am already full, and have no room, no appetite left for the Bread of Life.

Jesus, may we give you all the room that You need, that You deserve, that You require, this Christmas!

Can you believe it?

I am having quite a hard time believing that Christmas is 1 week from TODAY!!!!!!!

Right now, all I want to do is sleep all day, to recover from the all-weekend-long-mad-frenzied-final-push for our church's Christmas musical, which we finally performed yesterday. And now it's Monday, and I still feel like I need a weekend...Good thing I have all next week to recover! :)

Only 7 more days left in Advent...And today's Advent thought for the day comes from Evelyn Underhill:

When you don't see any startling marks of your own religious condition or your usefulness to God, think of the baby in the stable and the little Boy in the streets of Nazareth. The very life was there which was to change the whole history of the human race. There was not much to show for it. But there is entire continuity between the stable and the Easter garden and the thread that unites them is the will of God. The childlike simple prayer of Nazareth was the right preparation for the awful privilege of the Cross. Just so the light of the Spirit is to unfold gently and steadily within us, till at last our final stature, all God designed us for, is attained. It is an organic process, a continuous divine action, not a series of jerks...For what does union with God mean? It is not a nice feeling we get in devout moments. That may or may not be a by-product of union - probably not. It can never be its substance. Union with God means every bit of our human nature transfigured in Christ, woven up into His creative life and activity, absorbed into His redeeming purpose, heart, soul, mind, and strength. Each time it happens it means that one of God's creatures has achieved its destiny.

Amen and Amen.

If you're bored, or looking to procrastinate,

watch this!

Courtesy of Dr. Swanson, the man of 1001 jokes, stories, and funny video clips, who has the spiritual gift of making sure he shares them with EVERYONE. :) This is the first of what I'm sure will be many more Christmas clips from him this year, in the same pattern as last year.

But the good thing is, it's good for a few laughs, albeit with some rolling of the eyes, and GREAT if you're looking for a way to while away a few minutes of this snowy Friday! (Oh, it's not snowing where you are? Bummer for you...It's falling quite nicely here! Well, I say nicely because it LOOKS nice, from inside a warm building where I sit right now! I won't think it's nice when I drive home in it tonight...Praise the Lord it's Friday and I don't have to drive anywhere until Monday!)

I was absolutely convinced that, at the end, the white reindeer's nose would light up and he would turn out to be Rudolph.

True confessions...

I have discovered this week that I really don't mind getting stuck behind the snow plow. Because then, if I'm late, I can just blame it on the snow plow being slow. But in the meantime it also gives me the perfect excuse to drive slowly without the people behind me getting annoyed at me! :) (I must admit, I am a bit of a granny driver when it comes to snowy roads...One experience of having the snow control my car instead of me, resulting in sliding off the road two years ago, was one too many for me!) So there you have my confession. I heart snow plows. :)

Thanksgiving Weekend Firsts...

1 - Watching a calf being born at Schum-acres farm, to a mother who apparently has done this many times before, because she didn't even seem to be working very hard, and then - Voila' - out pops a calf! And once she gave it a good licking to ensure it was alive and breathing and hers, she promptly set out to run a couple laps around the barn. No problem! :)

2 - Possibly the longest hot-tub soak in Becca Clark history, a good 2 hours or more with a few cool-down breaks in between, in the amazing, huge, and wonderfully massaging hot tub that Rachel's brother won on "The Price is Right!" Ahhh...

3 - Spending Thanksgiving dinner with no blood-relatives! A very foreign concept...Although my sense of "family" has always been fairly flexible, with all our holiday "family gatherings" consisting of my immediate family and the other missionary families, there was still the smaller family within that which was my own kin. And in college, Thanksgiving was spent with my sisters and aunts and uncles and cousins. But this year, I joined the extended family of Ben & Carina for their autumnal feast, and it was a very new experience, let me tell you, flying solo for a major holiday! It was my own choice - I could have gone to my Aunt's house with my sister, but I didn't want to spend that much time in the car, and I knew that I would need some time to just be at home. So, overall, it was great fun, and at the end of it all, as I was leaving, one of them thanked me for being part of their family - for we ARE related, through the blood of Christ.

4 - On Friday, Carina, Rachel, and I helped Ben turn the doe he shot into venison steaks, roasts, and stew meat for the freezer. And then we ate some for dinner!!! Probably the freshest meat I've ever eaten. :) And, boy, was it tasty!

5 - It didn't snow!!! Now, I know that's not a first, because I grew up where Thanksgiving was hot and often accompanied by post-dinner swims in the pool or the ocean. But, ever since I've moved to the land where snow is a reality, I believe this is the first Thanksgiving break I remember where there hasn't been a speck of snow in the air - not even a hint of a flurry. Snow, snow, stay away! At least for a little while longer...

6 - There was no green bean casserole at our Thanksgiving feast!!!!! :( I got to have some left-over green bean casserole from my sister's feast at her in-laws', which was good, but it just isn't the same...The french-fried onions had been incorporated into the rest of it, leaving me without that satisfying crunch. That is the only "first" on this list that I do not wish to repeat...So overall, I'd have to say that I'm pretty thankful for this Thanksgiving! How was YOURS?

So I guess I'm not really that much of a world traveler

Look at all that white space...I've still got lots of countries to go! Some of you have red on every continent, but I guess that in order to add any countries in them to my map of visited countries, I'll just have to come visit you there! :)

create your own visited country map

Or not...

So, in spite of the good start, we still remain unable to attain the final prize...The Houghton women fell in the quarterfinals, in a tragic 1-0 match, to keep their trend of being unable to move past the quarterfinals in the National Tournament...Alas, maybe next year!

But, in good news, there is part of the soccer world that still smiles on me! For my heart's team, Sao Paulo Futebol Clube, clinched the Brazilian National Championship yesterday, and that makes me very happy. :)

Man, I would have loved to be there...Or maybe I would have died, so maybe I'm glad I wasn't. :)

Yay!!!!!

The fans are used to it by now. The Houghton College Women's Soccer team always does smashingly well during the regular season, soundly trouncing all their opponents and earning a Top-10 National Ranking. And then we get to the National Tournament and we choke, and since all games there are elimination games, we end up coming home early. This year we were ranked #4 going into Nationals, and all us fans were hoping against hope that our girls would go far, but there was still some residual fear as to whether we should book the hotel rooms for the entire time and buy the return tickets for Tuesday after the finals, or whether we should play it safe and plan on a Sunday return, after the quarterfinals. So we gave our team the benefit of the doubt, and based on our #4 ranking are counting on making it at least to the Final Four.

Well, so far it's working! Because we WON our first round game, against the host school, Park University, last night! YAY!!!! :) Sure, we had to go into overtime to win, but we DID, and we out-shot and out-played the other team, we just kept hitting the crossbar with our shots. Our next game is a Quarterfinal match on Saturday at 6:30 pm, against a yet-to-be-determined opponent, and if you're soccer-crazy like me you can follow a real time play-by-play of the game here. Go Houghton girls!!!



(On a completely unrelated note, last night while I was at the grocery store, they were piping Christmas music out over the speakers. And I thought to myself, "What are you thinking? You can't play Christmas music yet! I'm not ready for Christmas music! It's not even Thanksgiving!" Crazy people...)

Dear Cherith,

Thank you for your comment. It was resoundingly true, and in theory I agree with you. But in practice, I guess I sometimes find it easier to be critical than to extend grace to people who are doing things that drive me nuts. And cultural ignorance is one of my biggest pet peeves, along with gender stereotyping. (Hence why most of the stories I tell about my workplace involve those two things...Besides, they make funnier stories...)

At the end of all things, though, the girls and I did laugh about it together when they were here in the office, and there were no hard feelings. And I encouraged her to apply, saying that all my friends who went to Tanzania had a wonderful time there, and I'm sure she will, too! (Where I wish I could go right now, so I could be in the sun, and with Kat & Paul...sigh...)

P.S. - I owe you a REALLY LOOOOOONG e-mail, that is currently sitting in my drafts box...You and Chuck and Coffs Harbour are in my prayers continually. Love you!!!

Geographic specificity, please!

Last week, a girl came into my office asking for information on the Tanzania Mayterm/Summer program that is being held this year (which we affectionately call "Mini-Tanzania"). So I gave her the brochure, and went back to work at my computer, trying really hard not to laugh at their ooh-ing and aah-ing commentary as she and her friend pored over it. But I lost it when the friend said, "Africa is such an awesome country! I loved it when I went, and it would be so great if you got to go see it!"

I proceeded to ask her if she knew that Africa was a continent, not a country. She blushed and kind of stammered her way out of it, and we laughed. So in an attempt to smooth things over and make small talk, I asked her if she had studied in Tanzania and that was why she was recommending the program to her friend. Then she said, "Well, never actually been to Tanzania. But I have been to Africa, on a missions trip to Botswana. I love Africa."

Hmmm...so YOU went on a missions trip to Botswana, and therefore you love the whole continent of Africa, and therefore based on this your friend is going to love studing in Tanzania...

My heart aches...

Because, having listened in and spied on part of Jars of Clay's sound check, and getting a brief taste of some of that delectable music, alas, I will not be able to partake of the concertous feast they will put on later tonight, to the delight of many ears and the nourishment of many souls.

For I showed up to buy my tickets on the day they sold out. Perhaps next time, my friends! For now, I must be content with the memory of a few guitar strains and vocal harmonizations, and a passing glimpse of the band members through the window in the door next to the chapel stage...Ah, how it hurts to be so close, and yet so far...

I'm a hopeless cause...

I just deleted 515 e-mails from my inbox. It felt so good!

That is, until I realized that, even after all that, there are still 791 items in said inbox...

Combatting the accumulation of random, assorted, unnecessary things is ever an uphill battle!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KATRINA JOY!!!!!!

Happy Birthday to a beautiful and phenomenal friend of mine, who happens to be on the other side of the world as she turns 24 on this November 7th!

Katrina, I shall eat stuffed mushrooms in your honour today. :)

Love you!!!

Oh, the days of muddy fun...

Look like fun? Well, it does to me! :) This is a picture of my brother Ben's soccer team after their game yesterday. In a mud pit. (Can you tell which one is him???)

Unfortunately, they lost, to our long-time rival E.A.C...But doesn't part of you just want to slide through the mud? Or sling it at someone? Or push someone down in it? Yeah, I know, I'm nuts. At times like these I sure miss playing soccer...But I love the fact that, due to the spectacular internet, I can track their scores and pictures during this week's tournament, even though it's in a whole different hemisphere. Love you, bro!

The sky is falling, the sky is falling!

Well, at least that's a little bit how I feel. Like Chicken Little.

It's actually solid, white, cold, flaky precipitation that's falling. From the sky. And I, like Chicken Little, want to run away screaming for everyone to go and hide.

I will grow used to the snow in a few weeks, and, yes, even love it, but it will take an adjustment period...Goodbye, green grass, for now. See you in March!

'Tis the season

To be jolly? Well, yes, jolliness is always welcome. But I was thinking something more along the lines of 'Tis the season for diamond rings, fa la la la la, la la la la...

In the past 2 weeks, 3 couples that I know have gotten engaged! I had no idea October was such a popular proposal time! Congratulations to Laura Mann and Dan Kilpatrick, and also to the lovely Amy Nordaas and Sam Divinagracia! It seems like just yesterday I found out that they were dating (although it's really been much longer than yesterday...), and now they're gonna get married...Crazy!

The third couple, and the most shocking of all, is my high school Brazilian Geography teacher, Prof. Silvano, who has been teaching at PACA for what seems like forever, and for all intents and purposes seemed to be a confirmed bachelor. But apparently that has all changed! The weekly school newsletter cites, "Prof. Silvano Kubo officially (and publicly!!) proposed to his girlfriend, Luciene, in between the boys’ and girls’ basketball games, down on his knees in the middle of the court with a bouquet of red roses." Double crazy!

And tomorrow I'm heading out to Boston for Jenn Krueger's wedding on Saturday. Triple crazy!


Hey, all you single people out there, let's have a party in celebration of singleness. :)

I'm all for adoption, but...

As much as I think that adopting kids is a wonderful, beautiful, and very necessary thing, I'm not really sure it's for everyone. Especially when you're talking about cross-cultural and cross-racial adoption.

For example, I was browsing through the BBC news website, and found a very interesting article, reporting that Madonna and Guy Ritchie have started the adoption process for a 1-year-old boy from Malawi named David. Wha...? It's pretty confusing, because Malawi has bans on adoption by foreigners, and David is actually living with his father, not in an orphanage (although his mother did die from complications from his birth). So if you feel that strongly about adopting a child from a developing country, why this particular one, from this particular country? I'm so confused...

Did I miss something? When did the Material Girl become a humanitarian?

I'm all for adoption, but...

As much as I think that adopting kids is a wonderful, beautiful, and very necessary thing, I'm not really sure it's for everyone. Especially when you're talking about cross-cultural and cross-racial adoption. Because

For example, I was browsing through the BBC news website, and found a very interesting article, reporting that Madonna and Guy Ritchie have started the adoption process for a 1-year-old boy from Malawi named David. Wha...? It's pretty confusing, because Malawi has bans on adoption by foreigners, and David is actually living with his father, not in an orphanage (although his mother did die from complications from his birth). So if you feel that strongly about adopting a child from a developing country, why this particular one, from this particular country? I'm so confused...

Did I miss something? When did the Material Girl become a humanitarian?

Boy, am I glad I don't live in Buffalo today!

They got their first snow of the season last night - and it wasn't just flurries, either! It was a full dumping of lake-effect snow, about 2 feet by this morning. AAAAAH!!!!!!! I'm not ready for this!

Good thing we get to keep our beautiful autumn for a little while longer down here...All of the snow stayed up North, and we woke up to a beautiful, sunny, autumn day. A bit colder than usual, but still beautiful enough for that hike I've been meaning to take but haven't gotten around to yet. (Anyone want to join me???)

What can I give?

Do you ever feel like what you have to offer isn't what anyone else needs? Because sometimes I do. I struggle with feeling like what I have to offer to the world, the people I love, and even to God, is so small in comparison to what I would like to give. Well, back in college, the beautiful Tegan introduced me to Calvin Miller's poetic allegories of Scripture, and I recently acquired my own copy of A Requiem for Love, his retelling of creation. And I wept as these words, from a dialogue between the newly created Adam (here called Regis) and his Maker, spoke so beautifully to that struggle within me, the longing to have a good gift to give back to the One who has given us so much:

The new man listened, overcome by Presence.
To be given all the world at once,
Stopped his tongue
And left his wit too dead for words.
Overwhelmed, he broke the awesome quiet.
"Father, I receive Your gift of being, but
You have made me too rich
To name my wealth
And yet too poor
To give You anything of meaning.
I love with only giftless love."

"Regis, there is no such thing as 'giftless' love.
The very words accuse each other.
My gift to you is love, but
Worship is Your gift to Me.
And, Oh, most glorious it is!
Worship always calls Me 'Father' and
Makes us both rich with a common joy.
Worship Me, for only this great gift
Can set you free from the killing love of self,
And prick your fear with valiant courage
To fly in hope through moments of despair.
Worship will remind you
That no man knows completeness in himself.
Worship will teach you to speak your name,
When you've forgotten who you are.
Worship is duty and privilege,
Debt and grand inheritance at once.
Worship, therefore, at those midnights
When the stars hide.
Worship in the storms till love
Makes thunder whimper and grow quiet
And listen to your whispered hymns.
Worship and be free!"

I get goosebumps and chills and tears in my eyes just thinking about it...What a wondrous God we serve, and love, and worship, who has given us the very gifts that we have to offer Him, and yetstill delights both in receiving them and in giving them back to us! That we can worship only because Yahweh has given us the breath and the words with which we praise Him, and made possible the way by which we come, by His own grace, blood, and Holy Spirit, is truly a gift beyond measure...It is so mind-boggling that the Giver of all good things, in order to receive gifts from us, has actually made us givers of good gifts, as well! I love the lines, "there is no such things as giftless love./The very words accuse each other" - that it is in its very nature of the gift to pass through our hands, our mouths, our hearts, and return to Him, and without the giving and then receiving of those gifts, they would somehow cease be worship. I think what is truly miraculous is that the gift can become richer along the way, and "makes us both rich with a common joy!" What a "debt and grand inheritance at once..."

Open mouth, insert foot...

So for all of you who know me, you know that I blush at the drop of a hat. And it's not just a mild sort of blush. It's bright-fire-engine-red blushing, the kind where you can feel the heat radiating off my face from 10 feet away, and there's no way that I can stop it once it starts.

Well, yesterday, that lovely feature of mine kicked in at exactly the wrong time, and I wanted to just curl up and die. we were having a staff Birthday party, for all the people in the Athletic Department who had Birthdays in September. And we were all packed in around the table in the Conference Room, eating and talking, when the conversation took a very interesting turn...Somehow, someone started talking about taking their spouse on a romantic night out, and when we asked what the plan was, they said, "We're going parking!" Which, of course, sent everyone into peals of hysterical laughter, and then they started debating where they should park...At which point, I can't believe that this is happening at a staff party, but I think it's pretty funny, so I keep my mouth shut and keep listening and laughing. But then someone had to ask the question, "Do people even GO parking anymore? It seems like it's something we used to do back in the day, but hasn't the world moved beyond parking by now?" And, as the youngest person in the room, all eyes were on me to say whether parking was a thing of the past or a thing of the present. So I try to answer as coolly as possible, "No, I'm pretty sure people still go parking. Or so I've heard." And that was all it took - my face was steaming before I was even done saying the words. So of course everyone jumped on me after that, and now they were all curious as to what the local hotspots were - they said it was so they could go there with their spouses, but I just think they wanted to bust people and see their expressions when a professor or coach pulled in next to them! :) And nothing I could say would dissuade them from thinking that every word that came out of my mouth after that was based on my own experience. And even though I answered truthfully when I said I had heard that the Lattice Bridge was a popular spot, and Wiscoy, and the Field of Dreams, and the haunted house off of Short Tract, and pretty much any parking lot on campus, but had never gone parking at any of those places myself, only known people who had, there's no way that they would believe me. Because my face was about the same shade as a ripe plum by then. And even though I was telling the truth, my face didn't look like it. (Stupid redheaded complexion!) I was so mortified, I almost didn't want to show up to work this morning...The good thing is, most people around here have a pretty short memory! :)

EDIT: Maybe I should clarify that the Houghton College version of parking, while still quite popular, is a modified version of the traditional parking, that as far as I know involves only making out, and not the whole nine yards.

A picture is worth a thousand words

In the smartest business move they ever made, the owners of the China Sea restaurant in Cuba leased what used to be Deb's place in Houghton, and tomorrow they will have the grand opening! A Chinese restaurant in Houghton - WOOHOO!!! They will make so much money, off the college students, faculty, staff, and Houghton Academy...not to mention the neighbouring towns...

So, in honor of their grand opening, they sent out flyers with their menu to everyone at the college. And, I kid you not, in true Engrish form, this is the map at the bottom of their flyer:

Heffalump!

Poor, poor Land Cruiser...It didn't stand a chance against that elephant...
(And, before you panic, these pictures are not from Paul & Katrina!)

What an experience for this car's owners! (Er, ex-owners?) Don't worry, nobody was hurt! I know, I couldn't believe it either when T.K. showed it to me, and said his daughter-in-law's father (a missionary in Namibia) was the driver of that vehicle and walked away from the accident uninjured. But if you look closely enough, you can see the steering wheel on the right-hand side of the car, British-driving style. Otherwise he would have been toast! But as it was, thankfully he's fine - and apparently so is the elephant, after the car ran into its right foreleg and the beast rolled over onto the car, then rolled back onto its feet and walked away!!!! Go figure...I complain about having to watch for deer while driving at night, but boy am I glad I don't need to watch out for something bigger! And slower.

Ah, the silence of an empty office...

I feel so much more relaxed working in a quiet office, rather than being surrounded by the hustle & bustle of constant commotion that makes me feel like I should be working faster and harder, and makes me feel more stressed out.

But since nobody else is around, I can spend the morning listening to my latest online find: the Audio Bible. It's an excellent resource! Then there's always countless audio sermons online, and especially close to my heart are those from All Souls Church in London - John Stott's church, where I attended for an unforgettable semester of my life. (Currently listening to an excellent message by Hugh Palmer, the All Souls rector, on Philippians 2 - "The Way to Up is Down.") Ah, it feels good to have my soul nourished by the Living Word of God as I work! There's something about listening to Scripture that is very different from reading it, very refreshing in fact - hmmm...almost as though that is how they were meant to be "ingested"...spoken by someone else, so there is a voice giving them life, dimension, depth, vibrance, and so that by involving a speaker and a listener they are inherently shared. Hmmm...that's interesting...I'll need to think about that for a while...

Laughter is good medicine

Today, I got an e-mail from a student named Kashmere, asking about a job, and the first 3 words in her e-mail were:

"Hi, Mrs. Clark..."

After I read that line, I just laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed...

And to make things funnier, yesterday I called the Helpdesk to put in a request for some computer work, and the student who answered and took down my request kept calling me "Dr. Clark."

Hahahaha, if only they knew me!!! Then they definitely wouldn't think me so mature as all that...But in the meantime, I'll take it as a compliment - hey, I'll take that over being confused with a college student any day!

Ode to Real Simple magazine

Installment #1 of my birthday present from Paul & Katrina arrived today...Real Simple magazine delivered right to my office! :)

Oh, the joy and delight I will have
reading it over my lunch break
with a simple cup of coffee
and a simple turkey sandwich.
Learning priceless, life-changing lessons
such as:

Q. Which of These Pants Is a Size 10?, pg. 155
A: They all are. A look at the elastic art of sizing clothes, and why a size 6 isn’t always a size 6.

The Well-Balanced Wardrobe, pg. 270

A Month of Dinners, pg. 290
(their recipes are aMAzing!)

As well as the very useful

When to dump a disappointing doctor, pg. 133

Olive oil? Yes. Butter? Not so much. How to choose healthy fats, pg. 141

Changing the world: a step-by-step guide, pg. 185

(I'm especially looking forward to what they say in that last one...)
And their experiments to find the best
bed sheets, vacuums, and frozen pizza.
Sometimes, a little bit of light reading
is exactly what one needs in the middle of a not-so-simple day! :)

Bye, bye

Katrina and Paul are now here:
And Becca is now feeling like this:

This is why I am a feminist

Today, someone in my office was talking about how women are complicated and hard to understand, while men are simple and easy to understand. And, feminist that I am, my blood began boiling the more I listened, until I finally couldn't stand it anymore, so I spoke up and said, "I happen to disagree with you. I'm not denying that women are complicated. I just don't think men are any less complicated. Or that ANY human being is simple. Honestly, is ANYONE easy to understand?"

Their response: "I always say, women are complex, spelled c-o-m-p-l-e-x. Men are simple, spelled s-e-x."

My jaw literally dropped, and I wanted to scream. Or worse. Now I was downright mad. If I had said any of the things that were jostling around on the tip of my tongue, vying for the privilege of being spewed out first, I'm pretty sure I would have been fired on the spot. But instead I just stood there in disbelief, my mouth gaping open like a goldfish, with my face gradually burning hotter and hotter, until I managed get out an incredulous, "WHAT???????????"

Before, they had been dismissing all women as tangled messes of moods and hormones to which there is no rhyme of reason. But this was infinitely worse. Now they were bashing men, too! (And the one speaking was a man, so he was bashing himSELF! Guys, are YOU insulted when someone says something like that?) I refuse to believe that little of men. I'm not denying that thinking about sex is a struggle - for men AND women - I'm just saying that nobody can be boiled down to their sexuality. It's just wrong. I know too many guys who are great and interesting and multifaceted and are interested in and motivated by LOTS of things besides sex.

I'm a feminist because of people like that. Because I hate the battle of the sexes. Because it makes me angry when entire groups of people are dismissed and put into general categories that are just plain wrong. (Not that I'm opinionated about this matter, or anything...hehehe...)

Out with the old, in with the new

Everything is changing! Everyone is moving! Or, should I say, everyone has moved?

Amy has successfully packed and moved to China, moved in with another red-headed housemate, and started teaching English to Middle-Schoolers. (Good luck with them, Amy!!!!!)

Paul & Katrina are successfully packed for Tanzania, with all their furniture, kitchen stuff, and almost all of their books having been brought to the Shaffners' barn in Rockton, PA. Now they are making their "goodbye" tour before heading out to Tanzania in less than a week! Crazy, crazy...

Noel has packed and moved successfully back to his home in the lovely nation of Canada, getting ready for a tour of the world.

And as for me? Well, all my earthly possessions have been successfully packed up into boxes and crates and carted off to Cuba, NY, until further notice. Sometimes I think, "I'm completely ready to just be on my own right now - I can't wait to have my own space!" And then other times it comes crashing in on me, "Who am I kidding? There's no way I'm ready to live by myself again! I've gotten too used to sharing. I don't WANT to have everything to myself!"

So if anybody is looking for a housemate, I'm taking applications! :) Requirements: must love the Triune God, reading books, drinking hot tea, swapping backrubs, and not mind listening to me practice the guitar.

For now, that slot is being filled by Laura & Walter - although I'm not sure how they feel about the whole swapping backrubs thing... :)

Feliz Dia dos Pais!!!!

Today is Father's Day in Brazil. And, even though I'd much rather be there to wish him a FELIZ DIA DOS PAIS in person, here's to you, Dad!
For this day, I knew that I had to post a picture of you teaching, because that is the best way I can find to encompass all the ways in which you have shaped my life. You have taught me so much, in so many more ways than I could ever count. Thank you. I love you, Dad!

Did you know that mice like chocolate?

Well, at least ONE does, that I know of...the one that took up residence on the bottom shelf of my pantry while I was gone in Lexington! I started seeing the signs that I had company in the kitchen last week - you know, the little black mouse turds scattered innocuously in the corners, or behind the flour cannister. But I never saw a pattern, found a source, or noticed anything that had been nibbled on by a rodent. That is, until last night, when I was craving chocolate and I dug through my junk food shelf to find my bag of chocolate...only to find that the Ziploc bag had 2 large, ragged holes in it, and was filled with shreds of paper and foil, but there was hardly any chocolate left! Grrr...now I HAD to do something about that mouse, because it ATE MY CHOCOLATE!!!!!!!! (It must have been a girl mouse, to only have eaten the chocolate, out of all the other things it had access to...and, I must say, one with good taste, because she had gotten through almost all of the dark chocolate, but hardly touched the candy bars.)

Needless to say, I couldn't go to bed last night with the choco-holic mouse still on the loose in my apartment...my mind just wouldn't stop thinking about it! I had removed all the food from that bottom shelf, and I could hear its frantic search for chocolate across the now-empty expanse, even searching in the bag of empty plastic shopping bags, which I kept down there for the noise factor. I thought that if I didn't at least TRY to trap that mouse, I would have nightmares about finding that mouse crawling on me while I slept, or nibbling at my toes, or having taken up residence inside my mattress. But by that point, any stores around here were closed, dashing any hopes of running out and buying a mouse trap! So I improvised, and used my handy-dandy, get-into-anywhere-in-the-gym key to let myself into my office and steal the mousetrap I knew we still had from last summer.

After I baited the trap with peanut butter and a few chocolate chips, I crawled into bed, but I knew my adrenaline was pumping way too much for me to sleep. So I tried to read for about an hour, half-listening the entire time, until I heard some rustling, followed by a loud snap, and then some more rustling that I thought was the mouse running back into its hiding place after a close scare. But I was afraid of what I would find if I went out and looked, so I just stayed in bed and read for a while longer, then ended up dozing off with the light on, then slipping off into a deep sleep. Of course, this morning, the first thing I did when I got out of bed was to check that trap, and sure enough, there it was, caught in the act, never to steal chocolate again...I must say, I did feel a little bit bad for its death, as I took it out of the trap and wrapped it up in a plastic bag and put it in my garbage can. But, hey, at least now my chocolate's safe! :)

(P.S. - Don't worry, I won't post any dead mouse pictures...But I WILL put up some pictures and an update on the Lexington missions trip with my youth group very soon! I just have to wait until Pastor Don burns me a CD.)

The story of a cell phone

Did you know that moisture is the worst enemy of cell phones? Well, I learned this week that it doesn't even take direct exposure to water, like a dunking or a spraying or an "I dropped it in the toilet." (Hilariously, that is the most common cause of cell phone replacement!) No, my friends, it takes less than direct wetness to make the little moisture-detecting sticker on the inside of the phone turn red. All it takes is humidity - in my case, sitting overnight in the pocket of a pair of pants that I had put on over my wet swimsuit. Not the brightest idea, I'll admit, but it wasn't that I thought it was a good idea, I just wasn't thinking!

So after panicking because it WAS my fault that it now wouldn't turn on, I spent several hours researching online what to DO about it, and I found some pretty interesting stuff to say the least. I definitely ignored the advice to bake it in my oven at 125 degrees to dry it out, but I DID take it apart as much as I could and put it out in my car with the windows rolled up for the afternoon, then overnight in a plastic bag surrounded by packs of silica gel (you know, that stuff that comes in vitamin bottles and new shoes that says "Do not eat!" - it's a moisture-absorber). And I prayed hard as I put it back together again, then plugged it in to the charger.

Guess what! IT TURNED ON!!! :) And now it works perfectly. HALLELUJAH!

Now, if only my car would cooperate just like that...

Oh, what a night...

So, in the past few weeks, I have both loved and hated not having a job. Sometimes I get tired of having all my time be free time, not having any structure. But in the end, I have been able to...

1. Take my brother Ben out driving, out for a college visit at Houghton, and climbing around the waterfalls in Wiscoy Creek.
2. Visiting the Davises in Hollidaysburg, PA, where I got to speak Portuguese, catch up with them, and get networked with some of their church friends who are physical therapists.
3. Have enough energy and time to be a housekeeper and cook in my own house.
4. Starting to learn how to play the guitar, thanks to the Shaffners' wonderful long-term loan of one of their guitars. (And I'm glad that nobody else is around to hear me yet, 'cause I'm really self-conscious, and I want to make sure I'm confident enough to not make a fool of myself in front of anyone!)
5. Picking strawberries and making a strawberry-rhubarb pie, (which was devoured at the pizza party we had at Paul & Katrina's, at which we made 7 homemade pizzas plus breadsticks and salad...for 12 people...).
6. Having enough time to guiltlessly read and thoroughly enjoy Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra, by C.S. Lewis, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou, Prophetic Untimeliness, by Os Guinness, and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, by Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
7. Successfully changing a flat tire on my car with Amy, at midnight, wearing skirts, on our way home from Buffalo on Monday night, all by ourselves. (Yeah! Go us!!!)
8. Having the freedom to say yes when my youth pastor asked if I wanted to fill in as a chaperone on the Cuba Youth missions trip to Lexington, Kentucky, in two weeks, because one of their original ones had to cancel.
9. Watching Brazil be eliminated, and then Portugal be eliminated, and then finally Italy win, the World Cup!!!!!
10. Being able to spend time with Amy, Sam, Paul & Katrina before they all leave the country again for their new and exciting lives in China, Thailand, and Tanzania!

But I don't want to have to say goodbye...not yet...

It's a wonder I still have fingernails left!

Wow. Except for the Germany vs. Sweden game, that was a blow-out in favour of the hosts, all the other games so far in the Round of 16 have been INTENSE! The classic Latin American duel between Argentina and Mexico went into overtime before Argentina pulled off the win, England vs. Ecuador was only 1-0 in favour of the Brits after a lot of sweat, and in a very physical game that ended with only 18 players on the field, Portugal beat the Netherlands in 100 minutes of regular time play.

(Yes, a normal game is 90 minutes long. That means that there were a total of 10 minutes added onto the game, because of the number of injuries, fights, and cards issued - a total of 16 yellow cards, with 2 players from each team ending up with reds.) CRAZY!!!!! I was shocked by how high their tempers were running! And yet, maybe I shouldn't be surprised, because, after all, it's a knock-out game, and winning literally means the world to every single team at this point. (Or at least until their next chance, 4 years from now.) But, unlike most of the commentators and analysts who have been tearing apart the ref's job, I think that the vast majority of those cards were deserved. Some of those players were out to kill, or at least it seemed so, and, especially on the Dutch team, they just lost all sense of sportsmanship. It was clear that they weren't going to give Portugal any room to play unless the ref absolutely made them, not even respecting the traditional unwritten rules of Fair Play football chivalry. For example, when a player on Portugal's team was laying on the ground injured, and the ref stopped play for him to receive medical attention, the custom would be for the ref to give the ball back to the Dutch team, who out of courtesy would play it back to the Portuguese defense so they could start the play over to make up for the injury. But the Netherlands were behind, and they wanted to tie it up, and courtesy apparently would get in the way of a potential victory, so instead of returning the ball to Portugal, the Dutch captain just kept the ball and launched it straight into an attack on goal. GRRRRR!!!! That made me madder than almost anything else that whole game. After that, I don't think I could have been content with Holland moving on. Even though either one will probably lose to England in the quarter-finals, anyways... :)

But, for me, the biggest nail-biter is yet to come, when Brazil plays Ghana on Tuesday. That will be a sad day for me, because regardless of who wins and loses, I will be sad no matter what. Those are the two teams that I most want to see succeed, and so to see them pitted against each other this early on is just too bad...Granted, I want Brazil to win the World Cup, and in order to do that they would have to beat Ghana. But of all the teams that are left, Ghana is the only other team who I could whole-heartedly cheer for if Brazil were eliminated. (Sorry for all of you who are cheering for Africa...you know I'd join you if it weren't for Brazil!)

And, Hiram, to answer your question (see comment on previous post), yes, we made it to our 32 minutes, but just barely...Japan scored after 33 minutes. Hooray! A new record by a whole minute! :) I was a bit scared at first during that game, because Japan scored first and we weren't looking too good, but then the boys shaped up and played some darn good football in the second half. Not to mention that they put in my favourite goalkeeper, Rogerio Ceni!!!!!!! For some reason which I don't understand, he is only the back-up goalie for Brazil this World Cup, even though I think he's way better than the starter, Dida. (Come on, how can you NOT love a goalie who not only blocks goals, but also makes them for his team? And he's really good at it, too, being the free-kick-scoring-est goalie in the world, and also scoring on PK's.) But, of course, I'm not biased at all. :)

May the best team win! And I promise to post on something not related to the World Cup soon. :)

The zebras are running loose!

That's right - a zebra is what we Brazilians call an upset. Something that nobody expected, a result that according to all reason wasn't supposed to happen but did anyways. And in a cup that until now had been fairly lacking in zebras, we now have a BIG one...

GHANA BEAT THE CZECH REPUBLIC!!!! Yes, that's right, the World Cup rookies came up big against the team that was ranked 2nd in the world coming into this Cup, in a b-e-a-utiful 2-0 win. Once again, the goalie played a HUGE part in the result, as Ghana's Richard Kingston moved into the lead with the most total saves so far this Cup. Chris Casali, who has "GHANA" painted in big letters on the rear windshield of his car, can now throw the party he's been waiting for, and Hiram is probably dancing a gleeful jig in Afghanistan at this good news! I hope that Ghana is the Zebra in this World Cup, just like Senegal was in the last one...or maybe even better. How awesome would it be if they, a rookie team from a small country in Africa, made it all the way to the finals?!?!?!?! :)

To make things even more interesting, in that same group, the U.S. pulled a very zebra-like tie with 3-time champs Italy, leaving their Group E still completely wide open, with none of the 4 teams yet guaranteed a spot in the next round, but also none of them eliminated yet.

And the other huge zebra is that France, the champions in 1998, have only managed 2 ties in a group where all the other teams have very little World Cup experience, and they face the possibility of being knocked out unless they shape up and put together a win against Togo on Friday!

Some things, however, have turned out as expected. The 4 teams favoured to win are already through to the round of 16. Argentina's offense is in the lead, with 7 goals scored and a guaranteed spot in the next round. The host Germany has also secured their spot, as well as being the team with the most shots on goal so far. England is also moving on, with 2 VERY hard-earned victories in close games against Paraguay and Trinidad-Tobago. And Brazil is also undefeated, moving on to the round of 16 regardless of the result of Thursday's match against Japan, and only 32 minutes away from breaking their own record of defensive consistency. If they reach 32 minutes of play without Japan scoring on them, they will have 459 sequential shut-out minutes played in World Cup matches. The most ever! After a disappointing first-round elimination last time around, Portugal has made it to the next round this time with some breathing room. And Ecuador, the only team to defeat Brazil in the World Cup qualifying games, is also undefeated and moving on, regardless of the outcome of tomorrow's duel with Germany.

But, in spite of all the results in favour of the traditional teams, the playing field is still wide open. You never know what might happen. And I have a feeling there are still plenty of zebras in store! :)

It isn't over 'til it's over...

For all of you who haven’t been following the World Cup, I have a few words for you: WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? You’ve missed a great time. But don’t worry, it’s not too late to join the fun! We just finished the first of three rounds of group-stage play, which decides who goes through to the elimination rounds that start on the 24th. And, while we still have a long way to go until the finals on June 9th, there has already been enough excitement to keep even the most detached of non-soccer-fans on their toes!

You see, the beautiful thing about soccer is that every team has a shot. There is no team that is guaranteed to win any match, and no team that can be dismissed altogether. Sure, there are favourites, teams with World Cup tradition, with big-name stars, with high expectations. But the best play doesn’t always come from the people of whom we expect greatness, but rather from the most unexpected places. And so far, the only big team that hasn’t disappointed has been Germany, although for a team touted for their defense, they didn’t get the win easily, with Costa Rica putting in goals. England won, but barely. Brazil won, but barely. Portugal won, but barely. Argentina sweat to beat first-timers Cote d’Ivoire. France barely managed a sleepy, scoreless tie with Switzerland. Trinidad and Tobago, in its first-ever World Cup appearance, proudly holding the record of being the smallest country ever to play in the World Cup, brilliantly held the Swedes to a scoreless tie, even being down one player for most of the second half. You may ask, “90 minutes of play and nobody scored? Wouldn’t that be boring?” And my resounding reply is, “NO WAY!” It was one of the most intense, nail-biting, phenomenally-played games so far. Probably tied in my book with yesterday’s Tunisia vs. Saudi Arabia game for best-games-to-watch-so-far. (Yes, even more favourite than the opening victory of my heart-team, Brazil, 1-0 over Croatia.) Tunisia and Saudi Arabia ended in a 2-2 tie, but it went right down to the wire, with Tunisia scoring the tying goal in stoppage time. (For those of you who don’t know, those are the minutes the ref adds onto the game after the official 90 minutes are up.) Just goes to show that it isn’t over ‘till it’s over! J

And, although of course I am biased, some of the best stories so far belong to the world’s goalkeepers. Take, for example, the Mexican goalie, Oswaldo Sanchez, whose team didn’t think he was going to make it to the opening game against Iran because he had gone back to Mexico just a week earlier when his father unexpectedly passed away. But, even though nobody would have questioned him at all for missing the first game, or even the entire World Cup, for not having the emotional energy to play, he flew in and suited up for his team. When the teams shook hands before the kick-off, the Iranian team gave Sanchez flowers. And he played an excellent game to help his team to a 3-1 victory over Iran. It was impossible not to cry when the game ended and the entire team piled on top of a crying Sanchez, hugged him, kissed his head, and celebrated by crying with him.

And then there’s Shaka Hislop, the backup goalie for the Trinidad & Tobago team, who was called off the bench just minutes before the opener when the starting goalie got hurt in warm-ups. And he played the game of his life! He made one unbelievable save after another, and was a veritable brick wall for his team. All without having the mental preparation of being able to anticipate the game and plan for it. Or Tunisia’s goalkeeper, who at the age of 40 is the oldest player in the World Cup and was one of the reasons they stayed tied with Saudi Arabia.

I LOVE THIS GAME!!! Who is YOUR favourite team so far?

Finally!

I must have really bad timing, because every time I've tried to post something on my blog in the past week, the Blogspot site tells me something like, "Sorry, we're overloaded right now, try back later!" Or, "Blogger is undergoing maintenance." And then, when I checked back later, it gave me some similar message. But apparently other Bloggers have been able to update just fine! I must have really bad timing...Grrrrr...

I also hate technology because, for some reason, my phone is doing the same thing that Michelle's was doing a little while ago, and showing absolutely nothing on the screen. So while all the mechanisms still function normally for taking calls and making them, the problem is that I can't see what I'm DOING! Which means I can't see who's calling me, what time it is (this is very important since I don't have a watch...), or find anyone's number inside my phone! (Which of course aren't written down anywhere as a backup.) Grrrr again...

But in other, happier news, Amy & I have moved into a new apartment, just for the summer, and while I HATE moving (with the fire of a thousand burning suns), it WAS wonderful to discover that our new place comes with cable TV and high-speed internet included! SWEETNESS!!!!!

And, after tomorrow, my job is only half-time for a while, giving me the afternoons off! Perfect for spending the entire day...

WATCHING THE WORLD CUP!!!!!!!!!

That's right, people, the World Cup starts today! (Bet you can't guess who I'm cheering for...) :)

At long last...

It's hard to believe that my dearest friend Katrina is finally, after lots of waiting and time apart, married to Paul! But it really happened, even though I wasn't there to see it, and now they are one...Isn't she beautiful? And just look at the grins on their faces...Ah, to be young and in love! :)

(Edit: Oh, and many thanks to Chuck for the beautiful picture...)

Hooray for reunions!

It is so surreal to be reunited with the friends who are closest to my heart, after a year of being apart and trying to keep up with each other via e-mails, letters, blogs, and the occasional phone call...It seems so right, so normal, and at the same time so much has happened in the past year in our own separate lives that we all feel like very different people. And I guess we are! VERY different. Some married, some getting married, some gone to the other side of the world and back again, most with our futures still wide open, all trusting in God's hand to guide us and shape us even though we may have no clue where He's taking us or what He's making us into... But you know what? That's the beauty of friendship, of the Body of Christ - that it changes with us as we change, so that it is just as comfortable now as it was at the beginning and will be in the future, and it will feel just as right to be reunited them - with YOU - when we're all wearing our grey hair with pride as it does now, when we have most of our lives still ahead of us. :)

Somehow, I find myself with not nearly enough pictures in digital format...I'll have to fix that this weekend. :) I LOVE MY FRIENDS!

Apology...

I'm sorry! I know that I've been pretty absent recently...that most of my posts recently have been fairly sporadic, short, inane, and not very informative as to how I'm doing...That I haven't been responding to questions in your comments...And I want you to know that it's not because nothing's going on, or because I don't care enough to share more than just superficial anecdotes about my life, or because I'm ignoring you! There has been so much going on that I would love to share, discuss, ask, vent, and celebrate with you! Like reunions with friends and family, great books I've read and movies I've watched, progress that has been made with some of the kids in my youth group, and the curious mixture of excitement and fear at the prospect of making decisions about my future...But it has been impossible to sit down at a computer and type these things out for, oh, the last month or so! They have just been piling up in my mind and heart, and sometimes on the pages of my journal or in heart-to-heart conversations with friends, but never on the screen of my computer...Alas, the problem with having internet access only at work! That means that the only way for me to do anything online for my own benefit is either during work time, or if I stay late...And in my 8-hour work days, I have recently had at least 9 hours' worth of work to do. (For example, yesterday, my full work day was answering phones, managing the fleet, getting financial records ironed out for the end of the fiscal year, organizing end-of-the-schoolyear academic stuff for all the profs in my department, and working on contracts for all our home games next year. But in the middle of it all, the sound guy didn't show up for the opening ceremony of a big conference we had up here in the gym, so I ended up setting up the whole sound system! Woohoo! All those months of setting up the Godspeed sound system really paid off! In fact, to make things easier, it actually WAS the Godspeed sound system that I set up...) So, the writing while at work option is definitely out the window, and, inevitably, if I stay late, someone sees that I'm in my office and drops in to ask a question, or to give me more work to do...SO, here I am, apologizing profusely for being gone, and yet still not saying anything useful...go figure...

But the exciting part is that I get to see almost all of you in the next week! Hooray for weddings! :) I can't wait to see you all...

Ode to a brother

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirthday, dear BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN,
Happy Birthday to youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!

On this day, 17 years ago, I remember when...(OK, fine, I'll spare you from the embarrassing, sentimental stories.)

Aah, how is it that he's 17 today? Time flies way too fast...
Love you, birthday boy!

WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Houghton College is going to have its first woman President!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, baby, that's right, Karl Eastlack just announced it in Chapel today, that Dr. Shirley Mullen has reconsidered and accepted the position!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (There simply aren't enough exclamation marks for this one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) You should have heard the thunderous applause and the cheering...I don't think any other candidate could have even come close to the amount of support she had.

It's so unbelievably exciting!!!!!!!!!!!! What a relief! What a victory! In fact, I danced a little jig and gave many high-fives and am still wearing a big grin on my face because of it all, and I think that will still be true for several days. Yes, the feminist in me is overjoyed because she's a woman, and we need more women in leadership at this school and in the Church. Because in a community where, although many verbally preach egalitarianism (with some criticism), the actual practice is for some reason frowned upon (or at least kept under wraps so as not to make people think we are too liberal), we will now have a woman in the seat of highest honour and responsibility. With overwhelming support. Yes, the feminist in me is overjoyed and thrilled and delighted! But I'm also excited because, regardless of gender, I think she was the most qualified, the most capable candidate, and the one with the best and clearest vision, accompanied by the most open-mindedness and listening ears.

WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!! :)

Why do car accidents always seem to happen in parking lots?

The two times that my car has been damaged since she has been in my possession have both been in parking lots. The first one was in the church parking lot, a late night after choir practice, dark & snowy...a small dent, no big deal. Friday, though, it was in broad daylight and a slightly bigger deal! As I was idling, waiting for a pump to open up at the gas station, a girl who had just gotten off her shift tending the cash register was completely oblivious to the world around her as she backed out of her parking spot directly into my rear driver's side door...Hard. Apparently, she was in the middle of a fight with her boyfriend as she was pulling out, which explains the distraction, but still doesn't fix my door...Argh, I hate having to deal with this stuff!

My poor Talullah...all beat-up... :(

Microsoft Paint

For those of you who thought Microsoft Paint was one of those computer accessories that just took up space and had no useful purpose, I have news for you: I used Paint yesterday and today to do stuff for work! I edited some graphics that our ridiculous version of Photoshop was doing a really bad job editing, so I just pasted them into Paint, zoomed in really close, and made the corrections I needed to make! Now, if only I could come up with a use for Microsoft Notebook...

Do you know what LavaLife is?

Well, neither did I, until yesterday. Sheri (my boss) and I were working on reconciling all the statements for the department's credit cards for the past month, and there was a charge on it that we had no record of ever making. It was from a place called LavaLife, and so I googled it, and it confirmed our suspicions that it's definitely not a purchase anyone here in the gym would have made. (At least I hope not...because it turns out it's an online DATING SERVICE!!!!) We laughed and laughed and laughed, until several people (including Bill Swanson and Matt Webb) jokingly 'fessed up, which made us laugh more because everyone in the Athletic Department is married except myself and 2 other women! (And, no, we're not that desperate. If I ever use a "meet other singles" service of any kind, you have every right to drag me out into the street and shoot me!) So someone's personal life is more exciting now, thanks to Houghton College. Of all things to steal someone's credit card number for...

Today is a good day

Why?

1. Jesus Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!!!!!!!!!
2. The sun is shining, it is warm, and the daffodils are blooming in my front yard
3. Rachel called this morning! From Japan!!!! What a wonderful way to start the day. :)
4. I am drinking coffee right now...ah, how I have missed it...
5. Our Easter cantata went off without a hitch yesterday, and there were 8 people who responded to the altar call after Pastor Jon's message, one of whom has already expressed interest in baptism! (She has apparently been seeking out who Christ is for several months now, and has finally decided it's time to jump in and start following in His footsteps.)
6. I spent all day yesterday with a group of wonderful people from my church, including a missionary family on furlough from RVA, and many very cute children with whom I jumped for hours on the trampoline (my legs still feel like Jell-O...) and went on an Easter egg hunt and roasted Peeps over a bonfire.
7. Pastor Jon gets points for culinary creativity this weekend - he decided to try something new with the ham for Easter dinner this year, and so he deep-fried it. The whole pork shoulder, so there was sort of a crust that formed on the outside, and the ham on the inside came out really tender, and actually really good! (But far too much work, he said...) Somehow, I just find a deep-fried ham really amusing, in a bizarre sort of way.
7. Did I mention that the sun is shining?


P.S. - Did you know that, in 1953, it took 27 hours to create one Marshmallow Peep, but today, it takes six minutes? Well, now you know. :)

On this Thursday of bread and wine, of towel and water...

Prepare the way of the Lord, the prophets cried. But even they can’t have been fully prepared for a Saviour who washed the feet of those who would follow in his footsteps, or a God whose star-flinging hands were splintered on a wooden cross.

Bread of heaven – it sticks in the throat. An immeasurable, unquantifiable Creator willingly brought down to Earth like manna and reduced to the status of a metaphor; something to be shared, broken, eaten.

And, in the same way, his very essence distilled into a full-bodied cup of wine, albeit wine for a wedding, the best vintage, saved to the last and drunk at the death.

Take, eat. This is my body.

Take, drink. This is my blood.

Feed on me. And I will turn your world upside down and inside out. Not in the way a genie out of a bottle might do it. Not in the way the rulers of this world do it. Not in the way you may expect.

As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, ‘human strength can’t begin to compete with God’s “weakness”.’ Simple. Foolish. Ungodly?

What a way to go.

~Brian Draper, London Institute for Contemporary Christianity

Just thinking of the bread and wine of which we will partake tonight makes everything catch in my throat. Just thinking of my Lord wrapping a towel around His waist to wash the feet of those who would fall asleep as He prayed, who would deny they knew Him, who would betray His trust, I weep, because I know that that is me. That I would be like Peter and say, "Lord, it is I who should be washing Your feet - please, let me take the towel. I am filthy, inside and out. You are the Messiah, the Son of God! It is I who should be on the floor at Your feet." And yet He gently insisted, "This is the full extent of my love. This is how my Kingdom works - you must let me do this for you, let me become your servant, your sustenance, your life." How humble Your love, O God!

A weekend to rest

After a wonderful, phenomenal visit with Uncle Mike and Jeremy on Friday (during which there was muchexchanging of news, reminiscing, laughter, and of course the good 0l' Brazilian hug-and-kiss-on-the-cheek combo), I was ambushed by Katrina and Paul, who were headed off to Paul's house in PA for break. Their mission: to convince me to go with them for the weekend. My "I really shouldn't go" excuse (besides having to pay for gas...): the girls in my youth group would absolutely KILL me if I didn't come to see them perform in Beauty and the Beast on Friday night, after Kat & Paul were leaving. I couldn't miss the play, but I didn't want to have to drive down by myself late at night, paying for all of the gas. But with the promise of a hot tub, home-cooked food, and acres of trees to climb, with a comfortable bed to sleep in at the end of the day, it didn't take them very long to change my mind! I know, I'm a pushover when it comes to hot tubs and food and someone to split gas with...Throw in a little music and some books, and I'm REALLY a pushover! :)

So I went to Beauty and the Beast (which was really well done - the costumes, the sets, the music - probably the best high school drama production I've seen in a long time), and then proceeded to make the drive to Rockton, with Paul Christensen to split the cost of gas and keep me awake. Pulling in at midnight, exhausted and sore, the perfect end to the night was a soak in the Shaffners' hot tub! Wonderful...followed by Saturday, a day of firsts for me: my first time shooting a gun (Paul's own .357 Magnum revolver...it was awesome!!!! Even though I have terrible aim...), my first time buying an article of clothing from Goodwill without trying it on, first time going off-roading through mud and over rocks & logs (in the Shaffners' sweet Jeep, with Paul driving and Kat & I hanging out the back), and my first time seeing a Civil War mortar cannon being fired! Among many, many other incredible things...like apple pancakes for breakfast, and an amazing roast for dinner...like a trip to the library, where they were having a book sale where Kat & I bought 12 books for 90 cents...like the freedom to climb a tree or curl up with a book or take a nap in the middle of the afternoon or do whatever I felt like doing...like talking about The Screwtape Letters in Mr. Shaffner's Sunday school class...In short, it was wonderful. Pictures to come soon! :)

I think my favourite part about this weekend, though, was being blown away by how, with my own parents so far away that I can't run to them when I need a safe place, God has graciously provided me with surrogate families when I need them. Like Uncle Mike, who listened to my rambling because he cares, who offered hugs and prayers and encouragement. Like the Shaffners, who not only opened up their home for a weekend of rest, but also offered me their spare bedroom upstairs if I ever need a place to live or even just to crash for a little while. I left their house at 5:30 Monday morning with tears of gratitude in my eyes, for their generosity, their kindness, their open hearts, wise words, and the love of Christ that they poured out on me this weekend. I didn't realize until after I left how much I had needed that! Thank You, God, for Your body. And thank you, Paul & Kat, for sharing your family with me.

When worlds collide

Wow. Jeremy Davis just walked by the door to my office on his wandering tour of the gym, and I jumped up, threw open my office door, and gave him one of the biggest hugs ever! You see, I've never seen him in this country before. And now he's in HOUGHTON!!!! I've known him ever since he was born, in Brazil, into one of the most amazing families in my mission, just 10 months after my brother Ben was born. And now he's visiting colleges!!!! Unbelievable. He's one of my little brother Ben's best friends (one of the "Three Stooges," as I affectionately call Ben, Jer, and Caleb, who have been practically inseparable since birth), and a REALLY quality 15-year-old guy. Jer, you're awesome!

And since he can't drive yet, that also means that his dad, Uncle Mike, is here on campus, with not that much to do while Jeremy's doing his stuff. So I get to see, and talk to, and laugh with, one of my favourite "uncles!" He can play virtually every musical instrument known to humanity, and if he's never seen it or played it before, just give him a couple minutes with it and he'll be a pro. And he's a great preacher - although, come to think of it, I've never heard him preach in English before... :) I can't wait to hear how he's doing, how the whole Davis family is doing, to catch up on news and life from back home. And to get an Uncle Mike hug. Oh, how I miss his belly laugh!

I'm so excited, I can't stop grinning! Wow. God is so amazing.

Remember that dream?

The one in which I dreamed that it snowed?

Well, it came true. I woke up this morning to snow. And it's falling from the sky again. What happened to spring?

Life doesn't have to be exciting to be good

A few weeks ago in youth group, we talked about whether or not we can know what we really need, or whether our wants and our needs are so entangled that we don't know which is which, and we have no way of knowing what is ultimately best for ourselves, but only God does. As part of the exercise, we took a sort of genie-in-the-lamp quiz. Pastor Don made a list of about 20 things, and then we had each person take 5 minutes to read over and think about the list, then circle the 3 things they would ask God to do for them that they thought would make them truly happy. The options ranged from "having a car" to "if people liked/respected me" and "if my parents/family would just stop fighting all the time." And you know what the most popular option was? "Moving away from Cuba!" [edit: for those of you who, like Tegan, are confused, this is Cuba, NY we're talking about... ;)] It is truly amazing how many of them thought they would find happiness if they could just get out of their rinky-dink old town to a more exciting place! Like New York, or Hawaii, or Hollywood. Or, in some cases, Olean...("Anything is better than Cuba," says Amanda.) "But what makes you think that you'll be happy in New York, Stacy?" "Well, there's so much more to do there, more people...I dunno, it's just more exciting." "OK, I'll give you that...but do you need excitement in order to be happy? What happens when New York gets boring? When you've seen all the sights, shopped in all the stores, gotten tired of the pollution and the traffic jams?" They didn't really know what to do with that. And frankly, sometimes I don't either. But if what I want is always something more than I have now, something different, then I'll be waiting around forever for happiness to fall into my lap, for the perfect conditions, for the next exciting thing because what I have now just isn't as good as I think it could be.

I'm not trying to say that excitement is a bad thing. Sometimes we do need to get away. Sometimes a change of scenery, a change of pace, gives us a kick in the pants, and sometimes that's what we need. But if we continually "need" those kicks in the butt, shouldn't that indicate to us that something is wrong? Do we really need exciting vacations in an exotic tropical paradise to "rekindle" marriages? How about bringing love into everyday life instead of escaping to find it, as though everyday life is somehow bent on destroying romance? And why do we do the same thing with our faith, as though the only time when our relationship with God can really thrive is when we are on a spiritual retreat, or in our spiritual alone time delving into Scripture? I love my daily quiet times, set apart for prayer and reading and worship, but I have found recently that perhaps I idolize them too much. Because if I somehow see those as my only moments of prayer and worship throughout the day, and spend my whole day counting down to those hours, then I have missed all the other hours in which I could have been praying and worshiping as I worked, as I ate lunch, as I answered the phone...Why does the word "routine" always seem to have negative connotations, meaning dreary monotony and drudgery? As though somehow it's a bad thing to allow oneself to "slip into" a routine? Granted, if the pattern becomes thoughtless, stuck in a rut, following a routine simply because that's what you do and have always done, then that quickly becomes complacency, and I flee from that as fast as I can! But if I constantly need to change things in order to avoid the rut, if I need boosts of excitement to keep me interested in anything, if I look forward for my fulfillment, will I ever learn how to be content right here where I am? To pray in the circumstances I've been given? To love the people who are around me instead of looking for more exciting or more respectful or more intellectual people to befriend?

There is something strangely fulfilling about routine. Something extremely good about small, mundane tasks, like vacuuming up dead ladybugs from our living room carpet, or kneading bread dough, or stuffing hundreds of envelopes with support request letters. There is something deeply stabilizing about becoming familiar with Scriptures, with the prayers of the church, to the point where they become ingrained in my very being. I love rolling out of bed and watching the sun rise, starting the day by breathing a prayer of thanksgiving, "Thank You, Lord for this day that you have made! It is good, because You have declared that it is good, and I will rejoice and be glad in it." And I don't have to move somewhere exciting or have a different job to rejoice - there are no conditions. Oh, that someday prayer, communion with God, will be a habit for me! One that will not be easily broken! That prayer would be as natural to me sitting here at my desk at work as it would be in my "prayer closet" or in a church service or laughing over how stupid I look trying to keep up with Cari in DDR. I so desperately want Amanda and Stacy and Cari and Lindsay and Jenn and LeighAnn and Jessica and Crystal to seek the fulfillment they crave in the place where they will find it - in Christ - and not in the constant quest for the next best thing. He IS the best thing - the greatest taste, the richest of fare, the Living Water, the Bread of Life! I want God to bring significance to their everyday lives, not just the times when they feel spiritually excited about Him.

I had a terrible, horrible dream last night

You see, it was one of those dreams in which you dream about waking up and getting ready for the day and doing everything you would usually do after really waking up. Except this time, when I opemed the curtains in my kitchen to let the sunshine in while I ate breakfast, I looked out onto a yard covered in SNOW! A whole foot of it, freshly fallen that night, with freezing winds and everything. Needless to say, I panicked, because in real life, for the past few days we have finally been having the most GORGEOUS spring weather here in Houghton - sunshine, warmth, blue skies, the whole deal. But with it still being March, there is still that teeny-tiny voice that says, "Don't count your chickens before they're hatched - winter may come back again..." My dream came from that voice. And when I opened the curtains to see another beautiful sunshiny day, with no snow, I defiantly mentally squashed the source of that evil little voice, and proceeded to wear sandals to work as a step of faith in the permanence of spring! Please stay, beautiful spring weather!

Things that make me smile...

• The sun shining outside!
• The uber-cold, tasty water I'm drinking right now (How is water tasty? Well, it's quite simple, really. It doesn't taste like minerals, or iron, or sulfur, or pipes, or refrigerator - just like water!)
• Music
• Backrubs
  
• Books (especially those which are read for fun!)
  
• Earl Grey tea with milk and raw sugar
  
• Being tickled by the whiskers of a hamster named Shelby
• Sharing my house with Amy and Katrina (and Paul, too)
• Gilmore Girls marathons
• Extra-super-duper-dark chocolate
• God's unfailing love
  
• This... :)Together again, at last! Never to say goodbye again!
• You, and the fact that you are here, reading this blog :)
  

Juror #16

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Becca, who was learning how to make it in the adult world. With her own car, her own job, her own house to pay rent on, her own bills, there was only one thing missing in order for her to be considered a full grown-up: jury duty. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, I have now joined the ranks of those responsible (*cough*) adult citizens of this country who have been called upon for this duty and privilege. Today I sat in the Allegany County Courthouse all morning with 49 other lucky people, watching a video on the importance of the jury in the American judicial system, being introduced to the case and all of the procedures of the court, and keeping our fingers crossed that our number wouldn't be drawn!


I was number 16, and there were a few times my breath caught in my throat as the county clerk pulled out a number from the bin and started reading, "Sixt.." (oh, crap, could I really handle sitting on a jury for as long as it takes?) "Sixty-five." Phew! Then again, "Sixt..."(Do I really think that I'm qualified to determine what justice is?) "Sixty-eight." Thank You, Lord! So number 16 was never called, and I will not have to report for jury duty again for another 6 years at least. Part of me was almost disappointed, because it would have been really interesting to experience an actual, real criminal trial (it was for grand larceny and possession of stolen property), as opposed to only the dramatized TV-versions. But part of me was also glad that I can go back to my normal life. Welcome to real life, Becca!

How can you not like maple syrup?

Yesterday, a bunch of us from the Athletic Department went out to the Maple Tree Inn for lunch. Mmm...all-you-can-eat buchwheat pancakes, with their own homemade maple syrup, and locally raised & cured sausage...But in the midst of this scrumptious feasting, Sandy decided to order a hamburger for her lunch. WHAT? Go to the Maple Tree Inn and eat a HAMBURGER? When I asked her why, if it was just because she wasn't in the mood for pancakes, she replied, "No, I just don't like maple syrup." WHAT? I don't get it.

Hoarse, but worth it...

This was probably the most jam-packed weekend of the semester so far! But also one of the best. On Friday, I left early from work to go with 15 of our youth to the our annual Youth Advance, at a ranch outside of Erie, PA. There were only 3 girls, but that made our interactions that much more fun, intense, and bonding, and created space for vulnerability that wouldn't have been there in a larger group. We went on a horseback trail ride, made it through their team-building low ropes course, shot archery, and learned how to throw tomahawks (!!!!!) - when I finally managed to embed one of them in the log target, I just about burst my buttons. I felt like Sully, on Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman! Well, except I don't think I have his deadly accuracy... :) But besides having fun, we also did a lot of talking, sharing, and learning, under our theme of "What on earth am I here for?" You should have seen how some of them responded! How is it that You are loved with an everlasting Love, and you were made to love and be loved can be so new and incredible and simple and revolutionary, and yet also so hard to live out? You'd think that, for some of them, it was the first time they had really heard that they were worth something - worth so much, in fact, that the perfect Son of God would die the most humiliating death in the world for them. And it was amazing to see how they started acting differently towards each other when they started realizing that, the same things that made them valuable, also made everyone else in the room valuable! The insults and teasing decreased, there was more generosity, more grace, more kindness...I hope it doesn't just stay at the ranch, but that we'll continue to see it manifest at youth group tonight!

So, thoroughly exhausted after that (although very content), I went to a 2-hour rehearsal for our Easter musical, then straight from there to the Casting Crowns/Nichole Nordeman/Josh Bates concert at St. Bonaventure's with Laura & Walter. WOW!!!! But it was all worth it. The concert was phenomenal, and all my exhaustion evaporated in the excitement of being in a packed-out gym on a (mostly) secular campus singing praises to the Almighty God, Maker and Sustainer of all things! It was so great that one of the first people on stage was one of the friars from their friary, welcoming everyone there in his brown robe, standing right next to the drumset and electric guitar. :)

Katrina and I always tease each other that all the music the other one likes sounds the same...for me, even though I like all sorts of music, there is one genre that I really love, which basically consists of a guy and his guitar. Hence, if you go through my music collection, you will find a very large selection of such music...(Jack Johnson, John Mayer, Chris Rice, Shane & Shane, Bebo Norman, to name a few)...which is why it made me so happy when for the opening act, Josh Bates walked onto the stage with an acoustic guitar and stood at the center stage mic, by himself, with his guitar. There he was, all curly-haired and 23 years old and singing songs that he had composed himself about life and God, and then when he pulled out his mandolin and started playing these ridiculous licks, I think I would've started drooling right then and there if the 6-year-old kid sitting behind me hadn't accidentally kicked me in the back...So I now join the ranks of those-who-have-small-crushes-on-people, along with Rachel Schumacher and Dave Steele...except I'm slightly more pathetic, 'cause I never actually MET Josh Bates. But he DOES know I exist!

You see, at intermission of the Casting Crowns part of the concert, Mark Hall (the lead singer) asked all the people who work in youth ministry to come to a room backstage to get some materials that they put out, and also to invite us to participate in the concert as prayer team/altar counselors. So I got a bag with response cards and pencils and stood in my aisle and gave the cards to people to fill out as they responded to the speaker, and prayed with them. But before this time came, the concert was still going on, but my friend Hilary and I couldn't get back to our seats, so we just hung out in the empty balcony right next to where we had met with Mark Hall, and watched the rest of the concert from there. We were right next to the stage, and so we got a great view of all the stuff going on behind the scenes, from all the people at the sound and video boards to the artists getting ready to go back onstage. (At one point, I was standing right next to the railing and Nichole Nordeman was 15 feet below me on the floor directly under us!) Well, at one point during the second half of the concert Josh Bates strapped on his mandolin and joined the band onstage for a few songs, and at this point in time Hil and I are singing along, with nobody else within about 50 feet of us, and when Josh turned towards us we waved, and he smiled. And for the whole rest of the time he was up there, he kept turning towards us and playing and singing at us. And only us. So, for at least 10 minutes, he knew I existed. And I'm pathetic, I know. Laugh at me! I laugh at myself! But, come on, you've got to admit that it's fun to entertain, even for a day, the thought of dating someone who is on a music tour across the country, to be able to pop in a CD and say, "Oh, by the way, this amazing music we're listening to? Yeah, I'm dating him..." *insert silly, impish grin here*

OK, OK, so all Jr. High-ness aside, even without Josh Bates, the weekend and the concert were phenomenal, smashing, and unforgettable! No words or pictures do it justice.

Time for a change of scenery...

I know! *gasp* It isn't GREEN? Ah, you thought that everything I owned was green, didn't you? Well, you are almost right. Except I decided to change things up...at least for a little while...maybe I'll start missing green so much I'll bring it back. Or maybe I'll fall in love with another colour and expand my colour palette, much to the delight of many of you. :)

An update on my weekend is coming soon...

St. Patrick's Day trivia...

Did you know that, this year, the Catholic Church officially made an exception to its Lenten Friday meat ban for St. Patrick's Day? Yep, that's right. Apparently, corned beef and other meaty delicacies are too important on this day to give up. That would be like asking them to give up beer for today! Absolutely inconceivable! So I guess Friday fish fry might be moved to Saturday this week... :)

I have never known the meaning of hunger. Or thirst. I wish there were some way to transport the abundant water from the spring in my backyard to these 3.7 million people who have none. If only it were that simple...

Send some rain, would You send some rain?
'Cause the earth is dry and needs to drink again
And the sun is high and we are sinking in the shade
Would You send a cloud, thunder long and loud?
Let the sky grow black and send some mercy down
Surely You can see that we are thirsty and afraid
But maybe not, not today
Maybe You'll provide in other ways
And if that's the case...

We'll give thanks to You with gratitude
For lessons learned in how to thirst for You
How to bless the very sun that warms our face
If You never send us rain

Daily bread, give us daily bread
Bless our bodies, keep our children fed
Fill our cups, then fill them up again tonight
Wrap us up
And warm us through
Tucked away beneath our sturdy roofs
Let us slumber safe from danger's view this time
Or maybe not, not today
Maybe You'll provide in other ways
And if that's the case...

We'll give thanks to You with gratitude
A lesson learned to hunger after You
That a starry sky offers a better view if no roof is overhead
And if we never taste that bread

Oh the differences that often are between
Everything we want and what we need

So grant us peace, Jesus, grant us peace
Move our hearts to hear a single beat
Between alibis and enemies tonight
Or maybe not, not today
Peace may be another world away
And if that's the case...

We'll give thanks to You with gratitude
For lessons learned in how to trust in You
That we are blessed beyond what we could ever dream
In abundance or in need
And if You never grant us peace

But Jesus, would You please...
(~Nichole Nordeman)

On my way to work today, I passed a Hummer on Route 19. I think that's the first time I've ever seen one of those completely unnecessary and superfluous vehicles in Allegany County. And it made me so mad! How is it that just the sight of one measly 4-wheeled vehicle can affect me so much? I almost wanted to "accidentally" hit it. (Except I don't think my Talullah would've done much damage...) Maybe I need some practice in patience.

raindrops keep falling on my head...

earlier today water was pouring down from the sky, and now it's drizzling outside, and if there were any doubts in your mind before about how i feel about rain, let it be known that i have definitively decided - i love rain! why do i love rain? well, let me tell you!

• the amazingly soothing sound it makes on the roof
• the way it beads up on the windows, and runs down the panes of glass in tiny rivulets
• the smell of rain...sigh...
• the smell after the rain
• the puddles, oh, the puddles!
• the soft, springy feeling of the ground when you go for a walk after it's rained
• standing outside in the rain, with my face turned up to the sky, eyes closed, letting it wash over me from head to toe
• the fact that it washes my car for me :)
• the way it makes everything greener
• lightning! so beautiful...
• the way thunder rattles the window panes
• the silence after a storm is done, and then the birds start chirping again
  
• i even love the worms that come crawling out onto the sidewalk when it rains...
  
• and when rain is coming down from the sky, it means it's warm! no freezing on its way through the atmosphere! :)