Cheryl's Blog

My New Blogging Home - Living Homeward

2016-09-10T06:23:00.001-07:00

I created a new Christian Living blog called Living Homeward! I'm keeping this blog up if for no other reason than my daughter can read it someday, but LH will be my new blog home.

You can find and follow the content via Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or you can sign up for email updates from the LH homepage. Thanks!

Books and Movies - Best of 2015

2016-01-03T21:50:00.001-08:00

So the insanity of last year (finishing out pregnancy and work, parenthood, and moving back to California) didn't leave me much time to read or watch as much as I have in years past. However, I still wanted to share my list of favorite escapes in 2015.

Books
Alas, I only read four books and a play in 2015 (other than the Bible and parts of a breastfeeding book and sleep book which have been my newborn survival bibles) so I'll just give you my take on each.

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee - I did not hate it as much as many people did. In fact, I didn't hate it at all. Taking into account all the circumstances surrounding the work, I thought it was a good companion piece to Mockingbird, and I kind of liked that Atticus was made more human and didn't remain the bastion of virtue that he has been venerated as.
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr - Loved it! The storyline was not crazy interesting but it was absolutely beautifully written and I really enjoyed it.
Macbeth - I read this since I never really read it in high school. It was good but I'm really, really bad at understanding Shakespeare.
Lila by Marilynne Robinson - I loved this one too. I read Gilead a few years back and really enjoyed it, although I didn't remember much of it. (I blame N. The sleep deprivation has killed brain cells and memory!) Very well-written and the title character was perfectly realized.
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins - So I "liked" this book in that it sucked me in and I read through the whole thing in one evening, but I mostly didn't like it because it was crazy depressing and the characters were very flat and one-dimensional.

Movies

Again, there are so so so many movies I missed last year but here's the best of what I saw.

The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden - Really interesting and crazy story, especially after having visited the Galapagos last year.
Snowpiercer - I could write a whole blog post on this one because I actually found the story to be a great analogy of a person's journey to faith. Even though the super violent story of a death train traveling the world in the end of days doesn't seem to scream Gospel truth, the more I thought about it the stronger the analogy became. It wasn't an original thought, I got the initial seed of the connection through a Gospel Coalition blog post, but anyway, I enjoyed the movie and the thought exercise that went with it.
The Hundred-Foot Journey
Virunga
The Machinist - We'd never seen it and finally did. It was dark and creepy and sad but a great movie nonetheless.
Parallels - I feel like this story would have been better served as a tv series than a film, and you could definitely see its low-budgetness coming through in a lot of places, but this sci-fi story made for a fun movie.
Selma
Interstellar - I wish I had seen this in the theater.
Tai-Chi Master - Super fun and accessible kung fu movie with Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh.
What We Do in the Shadows - Quirky and even a little lame, but still fun.
Sarah's Key - This movie was so much more traumatic to watch now that I'm a parent. It was kind of a run-of-the-mill World War II film but it was good and it was the first time I saw a movie in a completely different way just because I have a kid now.
Pump - Lots and lots of spin but some very thought-provoking concepts too.
Shaun the Sheep Movie - We love the Shaun the Sheep episodes and the movie did not disappoint. There is no spoken dialogue (other than unintelligible animal and human noises) and yet the story and how it was told was better than most movies out there!
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation - Even though we might be reaching a saturation point with the MI movies, I really enjoyed this one. It kinda kept me guessing as to where it would go and it was just a fun movie with a decently intelligent storyline.

Here's to hoping I can play a little catch-up in 2016!

(N edit: "Good luck with that, Mom!")

Birth Story! AKA The Day I Learned True Pain

2015-06-26T16:12:00.001-07:00

So some brief background information first. Once I got pregnant we decided to use a birthing center for all my prenatal care and labor and delivery. There are a bunch of reasons why I made that decision, but the bottom line was I wanted to maximize my chances of a natural, drug-free birth with no unnecessary medical interventions. And no, I'm not some masochist, I didn't do it to prove anything, and I have zero judgment for how you or anyone else births their babies. (In fact, after this experience I am completely sympathetic to why most people don't birth naturally!) I just personally felt that, God willing, a natural birth would produce the best outcomes for me and my baby.

On to the big day...

Here's a rundown of my early labor. I'll keep it brief so I can get to the good stuff.

1 a.m. - Crampiness and light contractions start.
3 a.m. - Show time! Bloody show, that is. It's as gross as it sounds.
3-7 a.m. - Somewhat stronger but irregular contractions. Somewhere in that timeframe we determine Michael should stay home from work today and I call my midwife who agrees I'm in early labor.
7-10 a.m. - Continued irregular contractions. At this point I'm pretty sure today is going to be the day! I also take a brief nap sometime in here. Had I known the insane physical ordeal I was about to undergo I would've tried to sleep and rest up as long as possible to fuel me for what lay ahead. Unfortunately I didn't and went into active labor on about three hours of sleep. :(
10 a.m. - Brief walk around the neighborhood with Michael and my mom. Contractions increasing in frequency and strength now.
12:30 p.m. - Happy/chatty early labor has ended and contractions are coming regularly. They're strong enough that I just put in my earbuds (thank you, Lord Huron) and pace around the house silently as I try to breathe and relax through them.
1:30 p.m. - Contractions are now four minutes apart lasting for a minute or more, and uncomfortably strong. I call the birthing center and tell them we are coming in!
2:00 p.m. - Arrive at birthing center. Quick pelvic check. I'm only 3 cm boooo! My midwives assure me though that today is indeed the day, it'll just be awhile. They encourage me to go on another walk. We head to a nearby park and walk for about 20 minutes. Contractions are now painful enough that I have to pause at times and concentrate on getting through them. At this point I'm thinking, "Wow, these are pretty painful, can't get much worse than this, right??" Silly Cheryl!!! These are NOTHING compared to what awaits you!

After the walk we head back to the birthing center where I just continue to pace as the contractions get stronger and more painful. Even a delicious mango popsicle couldn't cheer me up! That's how serious this was!!

On to the real fun. I have no concept of the time that passed over the next five-ish hours, but here are some bullet points of what transpired.

-I didn't originally plan to, but I ended up doing most of my labor in the tub. The warm water just felt really good in between contractions so I stayed in there nearly the whole time.

-The pain. Ohhhh, the pain. I have never felt pain like that in my entire life. I didn't feel it in my back at all, it was all in my abdomen. Each contraction felt like someone was taking all my insides and twisting/wringing them out as hard as they could...for what seemed like ages...every few minutes...for hours on end. I tried pretty unsuccessfully to not think, "I can't do this," because I knew it wouldn't help. Here are some other early thoughts that went through my head.

Many Gob Bluth moments..."I've made a huge mistake."
What was I thinking giving birth naturally??
THIS is why people get epidurals!!
I was so naive about the pain and now I'm completely unprepared to deal with this with no epidural contingency plan available to me!

Now, I say "early thoughts" because as the torture wore on, the pain started driving any and every thought from my mind.

My internal monologue went something like this...

God, please help me get through th- AHHHHHH!! PAIN!! PAIN!! PAIN!!

Remember what you learned in your birthing class, remem- ARGHHHHH!!! PAIN!!! PAIN!!!! YFUTGIGJTRSTRFYTFUYF!!!! PAIN!!!!

(From James 1) "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fa-" NOOOOOO, NOT AGAIN!!! PAIN!!! PAIN!!! PAIN!!!!

Sooo tired. Just want to sleep. Please just let this stop for a little while so I can take a- ARGHHHHH! HERE IT COMES AGAIN!!! PAIN!!! PAIN!! AHHHHHH!!!

And yes, I did scream...as hard as I could...over and over. I didn't think I'd be a screamer but the pain was so intense it was almost involuntary. And it wasn't a high pitched shriek (well, most of the time it wasn't), but let's just say my mom said later, "I've never heard Cheryl scream like that," and Michael was semi-traumatized by how much pain I was obviously in. (Editor's note: While he was semi-traumatized, Michael had also wisely foreseen and warned from the beginning how traumatic labor would be. But alas and alack, I didn't believe him. I was that confident/foolish to think I'd "be fine.")

Despite the screaming and the blinding pain, by God's gracious grace, I never completely lost it. I didn't start crying, although I was pretty close at times, and I was able to fight through it enough to still take the suggestions and instructions that were given me and do them. Also, I didn't start screaming out cuss words or anything. I didn't even think them in my mind. See, that's how mind-erasing the pain was!!

-With Michael and my mom, they were great at supporting me as best they could. My mom prayed for me the whole time and was a calming voice amidst the chaos. (My Dad stayed in a waiting area through the whole thing, but came in after she came out say hi and to take some pictures. No, I was not camera ready, and no, I did not wear makeup to the birth.) And Michael was right by my side the whole time, encouraging me, rubbing my back, holding my head up while I slumped over in the tub in between contractions, etc. He even caught my poop in his hands as I pushed! JUST KIDDING! I did an enema before we went in so I didn't have any poopage during labor. Although, if I had I wouldn't have cared. And yes pushing does feel like pushing out a ginormous poop. TMI? Anywayyyyy I'm sooo thankful for both of them!

-Apparently N was getting caught on a small lip of my cervix, plus my water never broke on it's own, and both these things prolonged my labor a bit. My midwife eventually suggested I get out of the tub and onto the bed to try something else. At that point they confirmed my water hadn't broken so they broke it manually.

-After my water broke it was only another 20 minutes or so before she was out. I felt no pain when she was crowning and coming out. By that point I just wanted it to be over so bad, I actually semi enjoyed the pressure that came with it because I knew the end was at hand!

So once I felt her head come out I kept pushing to get the rest of her out as fast as possible. Apparently, after her head was out the rest of her shot out, and at 8:28 p.m. we officially became parents! Michael got to semi catch her and later got to cut the cord also! Originally he didn't know how much of the gore he'd be able to take and whether he'd want to cut the cord, but he said by the end there was no fear or squeamishness. I mean, after watching a baby emerge from my lady parts after hours of watching me writhe in pain, cutting an umbilical cord is no sweat!

So how did I feel afterwards?

Physically, I was COMPLETELY spent. I basically clenched up my entire body with each contraction, which you're NOT supposed to do (again, unprepared) and my arms got an especially good workout from clutching both the bar on the side of the tub and poor Michael's hand with a death grip. Still, it was amazing how much better I felt once she was out and the contractions were over. I was alert, awake, and actually chatty during the perineum repair sesh.

As for the emotional side of things, everyone had told me that once she was out I would get a rush of joy and know that it was all worth it. Well, that certainly wasn't my experience. When she came out all I could think was, "I am SO glad that's over! That was awful!!!" So yeah, bonding took time, and actually that bonding process has been gradual over even weeks of having her. I just didn't get that instant glow or joy, but then again, I'm not a super sentimental person either.

Over the next few hours I delivered the placenta, started breastfeeding, rested, and got sewn up where I tore a little. I didn't tear that bad but let's just say it still isn't fun having your torn and messed up flesh down there poked and prodded. After they numbed the area to do the stitches I was fine though. I was also able to shower which felt really good.

On N's end she was born very healthy which we were of course extremely thankful to God for. She didn't come out with any bruising or major puffiness, and she was nice and pink with a good cry. She stayed on my chest for a good while to wait for the cord to stop pulsing and empty out. Then once she was officially detached from my she was weighed and measured and got all the normal newborn evaluations and treatments done. She had her hair washed then she got to hang out with Michael and my parents while I was getting sewn up.

We headed home around 12:30 a.m. in pouring rain. I was physically tired but mentally wired from the whole experience, clean, hungry, and wearing an adult diaper. Nora was cozy and sleeping, also wearing a diaper, and it was completely surreal that we were coming home with a baby!

So anyway that's my story. Will I do it again? Time will tell. Afterwards, Michael soberly said, "The decision to have any more biological children is yours. I would never make you to go through that again if you didn't want to." Isn't he a great husband?? I have to admit, at this point I would be fine with just adopting any additional kids we'd want to have, not necessarily because of how hard labor was, but just because I feel like I've experienced it all now and don't necessarily need to go through it all again. Plus we've always wanted to adopt anyway. We'll see.

Despite how difficult and excruciating labor was, I truly don't regret my decision to birth naturally. If I did it again I would still choose the natural route, but I would definitely want to take a full childbirth class that dealt specifically with pain management. We did a one-day class but in hindsight I think a full multi-week class would've prepared me better for labor.

In the end we're just grateful for wonderfully skilled midwives who guided us, and for God's goodness and faithfulness in getting all of us safely through!

2014 Year In Review

2015-01-02T17:55:00.000-08:00

And now I present - the 2014 Michael and Cheryl Year in Review! 10 friendship points if you can make it all the way to the end!

We start the year in January, in which I decided to try and re-enter the full-time working world outside the home, and started looking for a job. The idea was that we were ready (sort of) to start a family, so I could work for however long in the interim to help us save money for whatever lay ahead. I’ll have to do a separate series of blog posts about our pregnancy journey so far, but for now I’ll just say I still couldn’t have foreseen with any certainty that we would be starting a family this year. We had been putting it off for so many years and I could’ve easily been ok with putting it off further still, so things were up in the air.

As we thought about these things, we began considering foregoing trying to conceive altogether and just adopting. I’m somewhat of an oddball of a female and have never felt a strong desire to be pregnant or to have a baby. Not that I was against it – well, that’s a lie. There have been times in my life where I’ve adamantly thought I DO NOT WANT to have kids. Anyway…I just haven’t ever felt like it was one of those things I just HAD to do. Michael also didn’t feel any burning desire for us to have a biological child. So, we started looking into the adoption thing and it just happened that our church partners with a non-profit pregnancy and adoption organization called Anchor Point. AP was conducting an intro to adoption class and we decided to do the class. It was a fantastic experience. Even though I’m adopted and know so many people who have adopted, we learned so much about the actual process of adopting, especially locally. By the end of the class we felt equipped to start that journey, whenever that may be, and had a much better picture of all the process will entail. But something else interesting had happened. We both were left with a growing desire to adopt, but suddenly out of nowhere came this other desire in both of us to have go ahead and try to have a biological child. I can honestly say it was the first time that I thought…yes, I’m sort of ready to try this and see what happens.

So, we decided that I would go back to work and we would start trying to conceive at some point in 2014. It was for reals this time. No more saying, “Next year…next year…”

Back to the 2014 timeline. By March, God provided a full-time job for me as a “Logistics Specialist” for a company right next to Johnson Space Center. My company contracts with NASA and other public and private sector agencies to do meeting and travel logistics, interpretation, and documents translation. The transition to going back to work full-time outside my house was much more difficult than I anticipated (Where did all my free time go?? :) but in time things leveled out and we now have a good routine going. Michael has continued working at the engineering/construction firm he’s been at since last May. They’ve had some big layoffs and there is always that possibility that he could be let go, but so far they’ve kept him on. He plans to stay and ride it out for now. If he gets laid off then we’ll see what else God has for us!

In May, we got to take the trip of a lifetime to the Galapagos Islands (off the coast of Ecuador) with my parents. Michael and I had never been anywhere in Latin America other than Mexico, and it was an amazing trip filled with beautiful wildlife, scenery, and quality time with my parents. My pictures and some narration about the trip are up on Facebook. I am so thankful for the amazing vacations we’ve had, and for parents willing to bless us with basically free vacations! :)

In July, about a month and a half before the lease for our rent house was to end, we decided to bite the bullet and buy a house! We considered a few different options – traditional mortgage on an existing home, buy a piece of land and put a manufactured home on it, buy a trailer and live in it until we could buy some land and put a home on it, etc., but we settled on a traditional home purchase and mortgage in the end. The whole process of finding the house and getting the loan from start to finish was both easier and harder than I imagined. It was crazy and time consuming, but I’m glad we decided to do it, even if it meant relinquishing some of my dreams to move away from Texas at some point in the near future. ;) So anyway we started looking for houses and jumping through all the hoops, and finally found our Roseberry house. It’s a normal 3-bedroom, 2 bath house, built in the late ‘70s, and about a 20-30 minute drive from our jobs and church.

In September, in the midst of the house hunting, loan approval process, etc., we found out I was…dun dun dun…pregnant! It was exciting and surreal and terrifying all at once. I basically liken it to walking off a cliff. It’s like…wow, I guess there’s no turning back now. Life’s about to get nuts! Again, I’ll have to blog a separate series about how pregnancy has been, but the short version is I’m feeling great and things have been very easy for me so far. We just continue to walk each day trusting in God’s sovereignty for the outcome of this pregnancy.

September, October, and November were mainly busy with house stuff. We totally understand now why everyone says a house is a work in progress and you NEVER run out of projects for it (some fun, some not so fun). As of today we’ve gotten all the major stuff done that needed immediate attention – a new roof, a new breaker box, boxes unpacked and garage organized, that sort of thing.

In this timeframe we also finally said goodbye to faithful Max, the blue ’98 Saturn I bought in high school (first and only car I had ever bought). Michael was continuing to drive it to and from work, but alas, it was dying. We had to get another vehicle anyway because neither Michael’s truck nor my Saturn could comfortably accommodate a car seat, which we we’ll eventually need. So we ended up donating Max (it literally wasn’t even worth the time and effort of selling it) and we bought a pre-owned 2012 Mazda 3. Michael got his truck back and I got the new car woohoo!

Also in November, Michael invited one of his coworkers to rent a room from us, so that began as well. Turns out it will be a very short term thing as our housemate already moved out this week to start a new job near Dallas. It was good having him though, and it forced us to get our guest bathroom in order as well as buy a bed for our guest bedroom. My parents are already anticipating many visits to see their eighth grandchild and needed something other than an air mattress to sleep on. :)

And now we are finally to December, in which we found out we are having a GIRL! We both kind of wanted a boy, but now that we know we are super excited about having a little daughter. We’ve already settled on her name, so it’s been fun calling Nora June Moore by name.

Also in December, we started a new small group Bible study with our church. We are leaders in training under a couple from our last small group. The four of us have become fast friends and we are so very grateful for our friendship with them. We look forward to growing and learning with our new small group over the next couple of years.

On a related note, Michael and I have continued to plug in at our church. Michael volunteers on Sundays to run the laser light show (just kidding, but he does run lights) for the service, and I am serving with the high school/student ministry. We are also doing a 9-month leadership development program through the church and learning lots of interesting things about leadership and ministry.

So that was our year. It’s hard to believe we marked 6 years of marriage in October. We are so thankful to God for His continued goodness and faithfulness to us as we do life together. 2015 will be a big year as we (Lord willing) make the transition to being parents. (Cheryl? Responsible for a little baby? SCARY!) We look forward to whatever else God has in store for us and pray that 2015 will bring growth in our marriage and dependence on Christ and the gospel for every trial and joy God brings our way!

Favorite Movies and Books in 2014

2014-12-29T18:44:00.002-08:00

Well, it’s already the end of the year and it’s time for my list of favorite things watched and read in 2014. I’ll try and get a 2014 year in review post together at some point also. It’s been quite a year for us!

Movies

I haven’t yet seen the new Hunger Games, Interstellar, Big Hero 6, the new Hobbit movie, Foxcatcher, The Imitation Game, or Big Eyes. Maybe some of those will make my 2015 list.

Here are some movies I really enjoyed watching this past year, all for various reasons.

A Most Wanted Man – Great slow burn espionage film based on one of John Le Carre’s novels.

Captain Phillips

Dirty Wars (documentary)

Edge of Tomorrow

Ernest and Celestine

The Gatekeepers (documentary) – Very interesting documentary about the Israel/Palestine conflict as told through the eyes of multiple former Shin Bet heads from the past few decades. Highly recommend regardless of your level of knowledge about the conflict.

The Great Gatsby

Muppets Treasure Island and Muppets Christmas Carol – These, along with Muppets from Space are my favorite Muppet movies of all time.

Nebraska

Philomena

Prisoners – Definitely a favorite. The story was so well told and had so many twists. Chilling and completely engrossing, I was thinking about it for days.

The Rape of Europa (documentary) – The true history behind The Monuments Men

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty – Beautifully shot

Tiny: A Story About Living Small (documentary)

Books

This year, I read 31 books. Here are some of my favorites from that bunch. For a complete list of all the books I’ve read this year, friend me on Goodreads!

Fiction (17 books read in 2014)

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

The Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling – I’ve decided to try and read through the whole series every two years. This was my second time through and I loved it just as much if not more this time around.

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

Non-Fiction (6 books read in 2014)

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell

Hanns and Rudolf: The True Story of the German Jew Who Tracked Down and Caught the Kommandant of Auschwitz by Thomas Harding

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (obviously I was on a Malcolm Gladwell run this year)

Wilson by A. Scott Berg

Christian living (8 books read in 2014)

Erasing Hell by Francis Chan

Generous Justice by Timothy Keller

When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett

Let me know what I should read and watch next year in 2015!

Four Documentaries and a View to Our Broken World

2014-01-28T09:41:00.000-08:00

Michael and I only have an antenna for broadcast TV so most of what we watch are movies on Netflix. One great thing about Netflix is its vast collection of documentaries. In the past couple weeks we've watched four that I'd like to recommend.

*A caveat - I know documentaries are biased. They're made because they want to present a certain point of view and will generally show things that only strengthen their thesis. Regardless, I still think they're very important in shedding light on certain things and at the least they raise very important questions that need to be asked.

Farmageddon - Sheds some light on some of the nonsensical government crackdowns on local farms, raw milk distributors, and private crop sharing partnerships.
We Steal Secrets - A documentary about Wikileaks, Julian Assange, and Bradley Manning, among other things. I didn't know that much about all this and it was an informative documentary that presented a lot of different angles to the story. It also raised a lot of interesting questions about the flow and control of information in this information age.
The Square - Fascinating documentary detailing the progression of protests in Egypt as its citizens fight for a just and democratic political system free from corruption and Islamist extremism. Again, I didn't know very much about what was going on during the Arab Spring in Egypt and I feel like I somewhat better understand the series of events that took place.
Dirty Wars - Profile of some of the human costs of war, civilian casualties, the ruthless and self-defeating nature of the military machine, and the massive growth of covert military operations around the world since 9/11.

After watching all these documentaries we were left with a sense of sadness. There are so many broken things in this world, broken people, broken government systems, corruption, injustice, greed...the list goes on. I think we need to be regularly reminded of these realities as we live in our comfortable and materialistic bubbles in the U.S. One thing that was so affecting to us about The Square was having our eyes opened to the harsh and depressing reality of life in these times for the people depicted. We had to constantly remind ourselves that this was reality, not just a story. This was real death, real oppression. I can't even fathom living in that reality because I have never faced suffering remotely like that. And of course there are countless other horrors being lived out across our world - human trafficking, addiction, poverty, etc.

In the midst of all this I must remind myself of two things. First, that true justice will eventually win out, and God is not blind to all the pain and suffering of this world. He will rectify all things in His time. Second, that because of His great love in giving me grace, hope, and new life through Christ, I (and all Christian believers) am to be the fragrance of hope and a pursuer of justice in this dark world. I should not turn a blind eye to any of the suffering in this world and we (especially and definitely Christians) should be spending our lives in some way or another to care for the orphan, the poor, the oppressed. Not because doing good works saves us or gives us points with God, but because He lavished His love on us while we were still rebellious sinners. How can we not then want to be about the things He is about? Compassion, mercy, grace, truth.

And not least, we pray.

Come soon, Lord Jesus.

2013 Year In Review

2013-12-30T15:44:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday in lieu of a sermon our campus pastor lead a time of prayer reflecting on the year past and the year to come. Up until then it hadn't sunk in for me that 2013 is over. It was a good time to think and pray and remember God's goodness and faithfulness throughout the year. In keeping with that theme, I present the Michael and Cheryl 2013 year in review/what have we been up to report!

In December of 2012 I quit my grant writing job with Children's Hunger Fund. I made the decision to switch to transcription for my part time job, allowing me to continue working from home and choosing my own hours. Also, frankly, I was ready to move on and do something different. Grant writing is a great field and I may return to it at some point, but it was time for a change. It was a wonderful five years of working for CHF and I have so many good memories and friends from my time there. So, the beginning of 2013 started fresh with a new job.
I ran my second 10k in March, finishing with a chip time of 56:21. It's no Olympic record, but it was an improvement from my first 10k time. I have also managed to exercise pretty regularly this year, (a first!) not going more than a week without running or doing something. It's definitely been necessary just to get my blood pumping since I sit around at home most of the day. Michael and I also tried the P90X2 program and got through two of the three modules - about two months straight of P90X2, four times a week. The beginning was hard, painful, frustrating, etc. but over time it was neat to see that yes, I was getting stronger and can do some of these exercises better and better. Even though we didn't finish the last month-long module it was a good experience. We are so thankful to God for good health!
Michael and I took two little vacations this year, one to Pedernales Falls State park to go camping for a few days while he was on spring break, and one to Hot Springs, Arkansas, for our fifth wedding anniversary.
I took a trip out to California in June to see my family and to see a dear friend from college get married. My closest group of friends from college were all able to make it to the wedding, which was at our alma mater of UC Irvine. It was great to see all of them in a familiar place, six years later. I absolutely cherish each trip "home" to California and getting to see family and friends.
In May, Michael got a job with a company in Pasadena, Texas, and started working part time while he finished his Associate's degree in instrumentation. We were so blessed that he found a job quickly and that they were so gracious to let him work part time and finish school. There have been a few small hiccups over the past six months but Michael is enjoying his job and will probably be there for awhile.
Speaking of which, this year I had to come to firm grips with the fact that we will most likely be in Texas for the foreseeable future. Through these past three years that we've been in Texas there's always been a chance we'd move away once certain things fell into place and if Michael found a job elsewhere. I didn't realize that I subconsciously wanted this to be the case until I was faced with the reality that we'll probably be staying and I found myself disappointed instead of glad. I can't predict the future and who knows where God will direct us, however, now that Michael has finished school, settled on a career path, and found a good job, it seems that for now, we will be sticking around. This has been hard for me to accept at times for a number of reasons, which I won't get into here, but basically it's been a good trial encouraging me to continue looking to God and trusting Him. I've needed to be reminded of all the times my ideas about "what my life should look like" have been disappointed, yet God's redirection and my prideful plans being humbled has always been good and right, and He has remained faithful through it all.
August was a month of transitions. Firstly, we moved! Again! For the third time in five years! :( For the past two years we were living on Michael's grandmother's property, helping to keep in eye on her. August marked a transition for Grandma also as she moved to an assisted living complex near Michael's mom. Her move meant our moving back up to Pasadena where we've rented our first house. We've enjoyed coming back to an area we already know well and Michael is less than four miles away from his work!
Secondly, in August we also made a decision to start attending a different church. We had been thinking and praying about it for some time and there were a number of reasons for the change, but the important things are we left on good terms with the leadership and everyone else and remain thankful for God's working in our lives through that church over the past few years. God was so good and lead us to our new church home rather quickly, and we really love it. It's called Clear Creek Community Church and we attend one of their satellite campuses. It reminds me somewhat of Cornerstone, and we've already been so blessed and encouraged by our time there. We've joined a small group (the first we've been a part of in years) and have really enjoyed the fellowship and study. The church has gone through a lot of changes in its theology and church philosophy of ministry over the 20 years it's been in existence, and it's been great to come in at a time when they've solidified a lot of things for the better, by God's grace, and are doing much for the Kingdom. We look forward to how God will use and encourage us through our time there.
As I've already mentioned, 2013 marked our fifth wedding anniversary (in October). It's hard to believe we've reached that "5" milestone already. Marriage has been so hard yet so good, but I would say the past two to three years have been especially good. The first couple years were pretty challenging for me, but after I spent that time wrestling it out with God (and sometimes Michael :) God has brought such a sweetness and depth to our marriage as it has progressed. Of course we still have tiffs and continue to grow in putting to death our selfishness and learning to love each other better, but all in all I am just so thankful and happy in our marriage and look forward to whatever God has for us next!
Also in October, I began volunteering at a food pantry a couple days a week here in Pasadena. They've got a good little operation going and serve 500+ families a month. One of our neighbors has been volunteering there for years and invited me to come along. It's been a good way to get out of the house a few times a week and do some community service. The funny thing is I was and have been looking (not very aggressively, mind you) for a part time job outside the home just to get out for a change and make some new friends. I wasn't wanting to do anything in the non-profit sector because I thought, been there, done that. Lo and behold, God brings this opportunity along and also brings all my job applications thus far to nil. So it's like hm, okay, I guess for now you don't want me to find another job and you want me to do this instead. Proverbs 16:9 again coming into play. Anyway it really has been enjoyable and I'm thankful God provided the opportunity.

Well, that pretty much brings us to the end of the year. Through the whole year I've been reading and movie watching a lot, (those are basically my free time hobbies, I guess) so check out my favorite books and movies post if you haven't yet. We had a good Thanksgiving and Christmas with Michael's family and I get to go back to California next week to see my family, yippee! I don't make New Year's resolutions so I don't have much to say about 2014 other than I can't wait for our trip to the Galapagos Islands with my parents in May along with whatever else God has for us over the next 12 months!

Favorite Movies and Books in 2013

2013-12-26T12:50:00.000-08:00

Well, even though my attempts at writing/blogging more regularly have failed mis...er...a...bly I'd like to make this "best of" post a yearly tradition. By doing this I will ensure that at least one post gets published on this blog each year. Victory!

MOVIES
I'll start with movies this time. Again, this list is not the best of movies released in 2013 per se but just best of movies I watched in 2013. I'm not adding any/much commentary this time because I'd end up writing pretty much the same thing on all of them. What constitutes a "good" movie to me is a great or interesting or creative or unexpected story, strong performances, and in some cases, a unique visual element or elements. Also, any mention of the word "we" refers to myself and Michael, that guy I'm married to.

Paranorman
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Arbitrage
Lars and the Real Girl
Chronicle
Oblivion - I didn't love the ending and there were some significant plot holes but visually and musically I was thinking about it for days.
World War Z
Fargo - We had never seen it before and really liked it. We were saying "Oh yeah?" in a Midwestern accent to each other for the next week or so.
Happy People: A Year in the Taiga - Really interesting documentary about a small village of people living off the land in Siberia.
Mud
12 Years A Slave
Europa Report - We DID NOT like Gravity. While intense, there was zero story in that movie. If you want to see a GOOD space/suspense movie you have to see this.
Wild China - Miniseries similar to Planet Earth but completely centered on China. Really great animal footage and stories on the indigenous peoples living in small villages and communities in rural China.
Great Expectations (2011 BBC Miniseries)

BOOKS

I read 37 books in 2013. Again, if you're not on Goodreads and you like to read, you should be! I like seeing what my friends are reading. I try to alternate between fiction, non-fiction, and Christian living so I don't end up reading all the same thing. Here's the rundown and the list of my favs.

Christian living - 10 books read

Forgotten God by Francis Chan
Crazy Love by Francis Chan
Fight: A Christian Case for Non-Violence by Preston Sprinkle
Knowing God by J. I. Packer
Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes by Randolph E. Richards

Fiction - 17 books read

The Wrinkle in Time quintet by Madeleine L'Engle - reread
Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote - reread
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - reread
The Shining by Stephen King
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Non-Fiction - 10 books read

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
Bossypants by Tina Fey
Twelve Years A Slave by Solomon Northup
1776 by David McCullough
The Art of Intelligence by Henry Crumpton
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris by David McCullough
John Adams by David McCullough

Any suggestions for me to read or watch in 2014?

It was a dark and stormy night...

2013-04-03T18:25:00.001-07:00

Literally, it was. The Houston area gets some pretty good thunderstorms throughout the year, so when it started thundering and raining last night we didn't think much of it. Suddenly we start hearing very loud CLUNK sounds above and seemingly all around us. Michael jumped up and said, "Get in the closet! No wait, let's go to the bathroom!" He basically thought it might've been a tornado ripping stuff off the house or hurling things into it. That same thought also crossed my mind when the crashing sounds first began. So I leapt out of bed, fell to my knees and shrieked, "TAKE ME TO OZ!"

Not really. But I should've.

Before we got anywhere though Michael realized that it was just hail. Wait, not "just" hail, but massive golf ball and bigger sized hail replete with howling winds, driving rain, and thunder and lightning. I've seen a number of hail storms in my life but never hail of that proportion. It crashed down, sounding as if someone was taking a sledgehammer to our roof and throwing fastballs against our windows. After just five minutes or so though the hail stopped and things quieted down a bit. We went back to bed and Michael suddenly says, "Our cars..." Oh yeah. Well, there was nothing we could do at 11:30 p.m. about it, so we just went to sleep.

This is what we awoke to - several large cracks in the truck's windshield, a number of cracks in the siding on our house, about a kajillion dings and dents all over both the truck and my car, and oh, what's that? Yes, a massive hole in my car! Poor Max. His butt is broken.

It's all a bit of a bummer, but it was also a bit of excitement in our boring lives. We had no idea such a severe storm was going to roll through. Plus, guess what we received in our bank account today? Our tax refund! It'll more than cover everything, including enough for a down payment on a new car sometime over this next year. (Oh Max, you are dying and I am powerless to stop it!) See? God provides. I was also reminded of how thankful I am to have shelter and a roof over my head. There are so many in the world who cannot say the same and who would've suffered much more serious damage in such a storm.

I guess I should start checking the weather forecasts more often...

Things to Come

2013-03-19T06:46:00.001-07:00

So I obviously failed to get a post up last week, but I'll claim the excuse that Michael was on spring break so we were off our normal schedule. Onward and forward.

So Michael's been in school since last August to get an Associate's in Instrumentation. Since he already has a Bachelor's degree he will hopefully be able to finish the program by summer's end. Instrumentation is a great field to be in, good pay and no shortage of job opportunities. As a result, we really have no idea where we'll be in six months or so. While it's most likely that we will stay in the Houston area or somewhere else in Texas for at least his first job, we're open to moving anywhere in the U.S. or overseas. For some people, that prospect would be unsettling and scary. Me? I absolutely can't wait to see what God has for us over the next few years.

I've said this in the past, but I enjoy change. I get bored pretty fast and look forward to the next big thing. My opinion would probably change if we had kids, but I think I wouldn't mind moving somewhere new every few years. Regardless of where we end up, we are resolved to move from our current address sometime in the summer. So even if we move just 30 minutes away from where we are now, it will probably sate my craving for change for awhile.

The hard thing in all this is I know I should be content wherever I am, and it's a constant struggle for me to take advantage of the opportunities God gives in the moment instead of looking to the future and idolizing change and excitement. I know there will probably come a day when we are more stationary and I will have to be content with that.

I don't know where I'm going with all this except to say I'm excited to see what God has for us but am trying not to get too far ahead of myself. I don't want to be the fool who forgets that life is a short mist and everything can change in an instant. Pray for me and pray for direction for us.

Life is a grand adventure.

Garlic, I Think I Love You

2013-03-06T08:50:00.000-08:00

What better way to start blogging again by talking about the health benefits (to me, anyway) of raw garlic!

But first, some background information. Throughout elementary school, I got sick ALL the time. Never deathly sick, but I would have to stay home for a day or two once every couple of months. And yes, sometimes I wasn't really that sick but it created a good excuse to ditch school. From about middle school up until the last few years I hardly ever got sick. I honestly can't even remember being sick more than two or three times in all of college.

Fast forward to the last few years. My perfect health streak has faded. I've been so used to not being sick...ever, that it's kind of a shock when I do get sick. I blame the fact that I'm working from home and thus have not been exposed to various organisms that would test and strengthen my immunity. That plus the fact that Michael is in school right right now, bringing thousands of wonderful germs home each day. Anyway, this winter has been a doozy. I got some stomach flu bug when I was out in California visiting family, and since coming back to Texas have gotten a mild to medium cold THREE times in the past two months or so.

And this is where the garlic comes in. This is not going to be a super technical post about the actual scientific and nutritional properties of garlic because A.) I don't know about any of that and B.) I'm not going to take the time to research it just for this post. All I want to say is this: If you are sick or feel like you are getting sick, eat some raw garlic and you will be better the next day. Continue eating some each day until you're completely better.

Michael's sister had mentioned awhile ago that garlic is supposed to help when you're sick, but we always kept forgetting about that when we'd get sick. This last time we got sick we took her advice. I was basically already sick. My throat hurt whenever I swallowed, I head some serious pressure in my head, and my body was just tired and lethargic. That day I ate about two cloves of raw garlic and by the next day I felt fine. From prior experience, I know that normally if I feeling the way I was, I would NOT have been better by the next day. Michael can also attest to the same experience.

So that's it, folks. Just try some raw garlic next time you're sick and I hope it works for you!

p.s. Yes, you will smell very garlicy for a few days, but there are worse smells in the world.
p.p.s. I just chopped up the raw garlic and sprinkled it on toast or my food just before I ate it. I did try just eating it straight but it's so acidic I had to drink three or four glasses of water so my stomach wouldn't go crazy. And yes, I believe it must be RAW garlic for the health benefits to kick in.

Let's Try This Again

2013-03-06T08:21:00.000-08:00

Well, friends, it's that time again. Time for another attempt at blogging regularly. I'm gonna shoot for one post a week. We'll see how it goes.

Best of 2012 - Books and Movies

2012-12-18T11:22:00.001-08:00

Thanks to technology, I can now easily keep track of what I read and watch. Does the fact that I take the time to record such things scream, "I have no life!" and "I am a nerd!" Absolutely and without question. That established, let's move on to my list of the best things I read and watched in 2012. By the way, this is not a list of the best things that were released in 2012, but a list of the best books and movies that I experienced in 2012.

Books - ***For a complete list of what I've read, friend me on Goodreads!
In just the last couple of years, I've gotten back to reading a lot. I read voraciously (see, reading does increase your vocabulary!) as a kid and in my middle school years. But starting in high school there was this 10 year gap where I didn't read much. Yes, that means that 95% of the time I did not do the assigned reading in high school and college.

But I digress...

In 2012 I read 24 books. For the most part, I enjoyed all of them. Since books are such a time investment, I tend to only read books I really want to read and ones that I think are worthy of my time. But of those 24, three edge out the others as favorites:

Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling

This technically counts as seven books, but I loved them all. The world Rowling created was just enchanting and it was a joy to return to it with each book. The series's themes were also very compelling and made for great storytelling - good and evil, courage, friendship, family, and sacrifice. I just generally like the fantasy element as well. Rowling expertly crafted these stories with just the perfect amounts of reality and fantasy, just enough reality for the reader to understand and connect, and just enough fantasy to make it fun and imaginative. I look forward to re-reading the series someday.

The Reason for God by Tim Keller

I have been reading and listening to a lot of Keller lately. I've admired him in the past, but the more I read and hear, the more I like him. If you don't know anything about him, he is the teaching pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. In a city where you'd think there would be little place for a church who holds firmly to the authority of Scripture, the deity of Christ, the supreme importance of the Gospel, and other orthodox Christian beliefs, Keller and Redeemer continue to reach large numbers of people. Keller's appeal is in his intellectual and un-gimmicky way of speaking and preaching, as well as in his ability to intelligently articulate spiritual truths to secular audiences. The Reason for God was published in 2007 and rose to #7 on the New York Times Best Seller List for non-fiction in March of 2008. The book is split into two parts. The first part addresses common objections to Christianity - why would a good God allow evil? Christianity is culturally irrelevant and dated. It's narrow-minded to say that your religion is the only way. Etc. Keller graciously examines each objection and provides an intelligent and careful rebuttal, using a wide variety of sources both Christian and secular. In the second part of the book, Keller explains why he believes Christianity provides the best explanation for the big questions in life, and explains what Christianity is (and what it isn't.)

I loved this book because it is a reasoned, well-researched, and well articulated book about Christianity and the big questions in life. If you're not a Christian, this book is an intelligent treatise on Christianity, and you may find that it answers some of the questions and objections you may have. If you're already a Christian, the book is a great distillation of the Gospel and provides calmly reasoned answers to common objections to Christianity that may help you as you talk to people.

Anyway, I really got a lot out of the book and would encourage everyone to read it, regardless of what you believe. You will not find an angry, ranting, religious lunatic in these pages, merely a thought-provoking discussion of some of the big questions and a careful explanation of what Christianity is all about.

The Life of Pi by Yann Martel

I read this book after seeing the trailer for the movie. I don't really have anything profound to say about this one except I enjoyed it very much. The story was interesting, the characters well-drawn, and there were a lot of very thought-provoking elements to the narrative.

Movies
I've come to grips with the fact that I am a movie person. I just love movies. I thoroughly enjoy the stories, the visuals, and exploring the worldviews they present.

Here are 10 favorites from this past year, in no particular order:

Bernie - If you want to know what life is like in Texas, watch this movie. It truly is the most accurate representation of how people think, talk, and live here - not so much in the urban centers, but certainly everywhere else.
Looper - This movie BLEW MY MIND. We saw the television commercials for it and it looked so lame. But then I started hearing that it was getting crazy good reviews so we went and saw it. It was incredible, definitely one of the most unique films of 2012.
The Guard - A quirky, dark comedy that we really enjoyed. Brendan Gleeson was perfect and the dialogue was quick, sharp, and hilarious.
Boy - We watched this one while in New Zealand because it's a Kiwi film. It was like a Napoleon Dynamite slash Wes Anderson slash coming of age film, but New Zealand style. Really good.
Life, Above All - Foreign film about a young girl in South Africa. Well-acted with a strong story.
The Hunter - A tight, well-acted film with an interesting story and a dark, broody tone.
A Separation - Iranian film spanning a few days in the life of a couple Iranian families. The story is realistic and compelling, and the performances are fantastic.
The Dark Knight - No explanation needed here. I just really enjoyed it and thought it was a great finish to the Dark Knight trilogy.
Little Dorrit - This one's a BBC miniseries based on the book by Charles Dickens and it's SO good. We've been watching a lot of BBC stuff, but this one is probably our favorite.
Take Shelter - An indie movie about a guy who is convinced an apocalyptic storm is coming, and who may or may not be mentally unstable. Well-acted little story.

Any suggestions for things I should read or watch in 2013?

Four Movies for Your Consideration

2011-12-12T13:57:00.000-08:00

I love movies. Not ALL movies, but as a general rule, I love movies. Here are four I recently watched that I felt like blogging about. Two I've seen before, and two were new views.

“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”

I own this film and have seen it quite a few times, but haven't watched it recently until last week. Not much to say that hasn't already been said, but I'd forgotten how beautiful this movie is, mostly in the visual sense. Like “Hero,” the use of color and different landscapes is absolutely gorgeous, and the score is fantastic. I think this was also the first martial arts film I'd ever seen, so it's somewhat nostalgic.

“The Constant Gardener”

If you haven't seen this movie, you should. I've read about a third of the book by John Le Carré that the movie is based on, and I have to say this is one of those rare instances where in many ways, the film adaptation outshines the book (well, the little I've read of the book). In the special features, even Le Carré said something to the effect of, there are not many scenes in the movie that you can find exactly in the book, yet this is still one of the best adaptations to film he's seen. Anyway the film is great. Great story, great acting, and it's another beautifully shot film. (You may be able to tell the visual aspect is kinda a big deal to me.) Most of the Kenya footage is shot documentary style too, which makes the look and feel of “TCG” very unique to bigger studio movies. I felt like they also did a good job of touching on some of the humanitarian issues in Africa without being preachy or throwing the story off track.

“The Help”

Michael and I finally saw this one at the Dollar Theater. I finished the book just before the movie came out, so I've been wanting to see it. I thought the film was a decent adaptation and generally captured the spirit of the book. It was also very well cast and well acted. However unlike "The Constant Gardener," the film didn't really break any new or creative ground in relation to the book, so my verdict is that the book is superior to the movie.

“Exporting Raymond”

I'd seen a trailer for this little documentary awhile back and it's been on my list of movies to see. We finally got around to renting it and I was not disappointed. It's basically the story of Phil Rosenthal's (creator, writer, and executive producer for Everybody Loves Raymond) experiences in helping launch the Russian spinoff Everybody Loves ~~Raymond~~ Kostya. He documents his journey as he travels to Russia and wrestles with the culture clash and resulting conflicts with the Russian crew and network that's trying to get the show off the ground. I don't want to give too much away because you really should see it, but i'll just say the people he meets, the experiences he has, and his commentary (verbal and facial expressions) are all hilarious. I also enjoyed that the story is tightly woven. The documentary is only an hour and 25 minutes long, and it's perfect. It also doesn't try to be smarter than it is. I feel like a similar documentary would do some lame little Russian history or politics montage as background information slash filler, but this film is basically, hey I'm in Russia! Here's what I'm doing, meet some of the interesting people I met, and here are some observations and insights I gained from the experience. Anyway, definitely one of the most enjoyable movies I've seen this year.

So there you have it, four movie recommendations. Well, three and a half. You really should just read The Help.

Things I'm Learning About My Teenage Self

2011-11-14T13:39:00.001-08:00

Hindsight is 20/20, they say. I've always known that to be true, but it is never more true than when I look back and read past journal entries of mine. I am not a "journaler" now at all, but I used to be. Starting in my sophomore year of high school and ending somewhere in the college years, I journaled pretty much daily. Nowadays, I'll journal maybe once or twice every few months. Going back and reading those old entries from my hardcore journaling days is...interesting. Back then I journaled the actual events of my day, my thoughts about those events, occasionally journaled prayers and spiritual insights, and whatever else popped into my head at the time I was writing. All that makes for a pretty vivid picture of my life at that time. I've been going through my entries chronologically over the past couple months and am up to the end of my junior year of high school. I have smiled, winced, been encouraged, been discouraged, remembered some things I'd forgotten, and forgotten things I should have remembered. Here are a few brief observations regarding my teenage self...

First and foremost...boys - obviously this is some of the discouraging and wince-inducing stuff I was talking about. I was SO boy crazy and yet so completely clueless about then at the same time. I'm embarrassed to say boys take up a significant portion of most entries. I was "in love" with so many guys who didn't know I even existed, and I interpreted every interaction I had with them to mean they felt the same way. There were also guys who I was convinced liked me, but looking back I really don't think so. Then there were guys that obviously liked me (based on my looking back more objectively at the interactions I detailed), but in my entries I totally did not see it or believe they were interested in me. All that to say I am grateful that my completely whack ideas and feelings about boys at the time only manifested themselves in stupid teenage girl journal entries, and not something more serious, like unhealthy relationships and the like. I'm also grateful to be married and done with the whole guy thing!

Second - My memory is not as good as I thought it was. There are significant things, events, and people that in my entries that I had totally forgotten about. Even worse, there are significant thing, events, and people that I still don't remember at all even after reading detailed descriptions of them. On the flip side, things I do remember come back to life in vibrant color as I read, and that's pretty neat.

Third - I really have no idea when the exact moment was that I became a Christian, but it's encouraging to read some of my prayers and spiritual insights from back then. I was no Christian superstar or anything, but at the least I can definitely say (based on the entries) that I was trying to maintain a biblical worldview on things (even with the boy stuff), there was a clear desire to trust God in hard situations (even if I didn't always succeed), I cared about people around me and their spiritual state, and I was learning and growing in little ways here and there. It's amazing to see how God has both grown cemented things that began in high school and also reminded me of some things I was doing then but not doing now (and should be).

Fourth - I am so blessed. I had such a good and rich and peaceful adolescence. Of course things weren't perfect then or now, and it's not because I was so great or anything, but in God's goodness and sovereignty, He has blessed me with such a great family and upbringing. Reading about past things I did, people I knew, friends I had, family experiences, etc., reminds me of how blessed I was/am. I am so thankful to Him for all the blessings and little trials of those years, and even more thankful for His guidance and love in that time.

P.S. Fifth - I'm so, so, so glad I don't have to study for any more AP tests or worry about homework and tests and papers!

Harry Potter! (Yelled with a British accent)

2011-11-04T10:08:00.000-07:00

Okay so I know I'm about, oh, ten years late on this debate, but oh well. Michael and I recently saw the final Harry Potter movie at the dollar theater. It was the culmination of several weeks of watching all the HP movies in chronological order. Having not read the books, the movies were entertaining and it was fun to see the kids growing up in each movie. Anyway, watching the movies brought to mind the past outcry from many Christians about the series. "Burn it!" and "You and your children shouldn't be within 500 miles of it!" seemed to be the sentiment of many. I didn't really agree with those ideas at the time the debate was raging fiercest, but having watched all the movies now and gained a better sense of the themes and story arc, I can safely say that I still disagree.

The series was rejected by many Christians because of the witchcraft and wizardry contained in the story, and of course there's the appalling fact that those kids drink butterBEER! Gasp! Now granted, I absolutely agree that there are numerous and very clear commands against witchcraft, consulting mediums, etc. in the Bible, but my goal isn't to exegete those passages to figure out if the HP series truly qualifies as witchcraft or practicing it, etc. (By the way...I don't think it does) I personally believe that this, like many things, is a matter of Christian conscience. As such, here are my two main thoughts about the whole thing.

First, the overall themes and elements of the HP series seem to be quite universal to any and every epic story - good vs. evil, courage, redemption, grand quests, friendship, learning from your mistakes, pressing on in the midst of adversity, etc. The HP series even includes the more overtly Christian theme of self-sacrifice for the good/salvation of others. So to me, HP really doesn't differ much from most grand tales with which most Christians have no problems. Specifically, the HP series did not seem much different (in theme and scope) to those other two works HIGHLY venerated by most Christians - The Chronic - WHAT! cles of Narnia (sorry, couldn't resist) series by C.S. Lewis and The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien. Witches and wizards and magic and supernatural arts are central to those series. Why then is the HP series verboten and Lord of the Rings celebrated?

I think the answer to that question is related to my second thought, which is that this whole debate raises the larger issue of Christians and media. I could rant for hours about the often arbitrary "sacred"/"secular" lines Christians draw when it comes to movies, tv, and music, but I won't. I'll just say that I think it's taking the easy and let's be honest, lazy route to take one look at something and throw it on a "Christian - good" shelf or a "Secular - bad" shelf. Obviously there are certain things that are firmly in one camp or another, but I generally think that more of us Christians could be more discerning and think more critically as we evaluate things around us to determine the bad and good in something. To ponder the elements that can be redeemed and used for loving others around us, and/or how those elements can help us further awe in and glorify our creative, beautiful, and just God.

Summer Update Part II

2011-10-14T12:11:00.000-07:00

In our last electronic one way conversation, I still had my trips to Seattle, LA/San Diego, and Austin ahead, and Michael had just started a new job. Picking up where we left off...

Seattle

Girls weekend! It was so refreshing spending time with good friends - catching up, eating delectable food here and here, exploring Ballard. I've been friends with those girls since my freshman year of college, and even though all of us have gone down very different roads, we remain close.

Los Angeles/San Diego

As settled in Texas as I am, I still breathe a sigh of contentedness and just feel "home" when I go back to Southern California. I treasure my time with family when I'm home. This time around I also got to enjoy my first bridesmaid experience for my dear friend Erin's wedding. It was such a fun few days, and her wedding was fun and beautiful.

Austin

Just a couple days after I returned from California, I was off again for a week to the Lake Travis/Austin area with Michael's mom, aunt, and three sisters. We stayed in a gorgeous house with an unobstructed lake view and negative edge pool. Ahhh I miss that pool. It was quite an exhausting week to be honest though. I get along great with Michael's family, but still as the only "in-law" present, I'm still getting to know everyone better and it's just tiring staying on your toes the whole week, trying to be intentional with every conversation, etc. I think I was also just missing Michael. So it was tiring, but I do feel like I got to know them better and it was still an enjoyable trip.

Michael's job endeavors

So Michael's job I told you about? He quit that one after about a month. It just wasn't working out. Michael has also wanted to start his own business for some time, and we figured if we're going to do something like that, now is the time. We have the time, money, and kidlessness to pull it off (with God's help). So, through a series of circumstances, Michael has now bought a big truck and 3-4 car hauling trailer, and he'll be hauling cars around the Houston area for dealers and auctions and such. It's been a lot of work for him - getting a business license, insurance stuff, registering with the city/county/state, etc., and spending all our money haha :) but it's exciting! I'm glad that he'll be able to choose his hours and do something he enjoys!

Busy Bees

2011-07-30T19:05:00.000-07:00

This summer has been a whirlwind! We're normally pretty boring and hardly ever busy, but it seems like so much has happened in the past few months. Here's the rundown in a few chronological bullet points:

Hawaii/LA trip & Michael news - At the end of May we headed off for a vacation to Hawaii then LA with my family. While on this trip, Michael found out he did not get into the physical therapy assistant program he was going for. I guess a Bachelor's degree, observation hours at a good hospital, and straight A's in all the pre-reqs just isn't enough. It was disappointing news after he had worked so hard the past two semesters, but we trusted that God had it all figured out - in His sovereignty, nothing is wasted.
Bryan housebuilding trip & Cheryl news - A week after getting back from LA, we were off to Bryan/College Station for two weeks to help frame a house for a church who has a ministry to women in need. Michael and some guys from our church worked tirelessly for two weeks to get this house framed to perfection. It was a really fun and productive trip. We made some new friends and strengthened existing relationships. While on this trip I found out that my hours with CHF would most likely be cut back from full time to part time starting in August. We said, "Okay, Lord" and started praying for a job for Michael. It's actually all worked out though. Even though my hours are being reduced, I'm going to independent contractor status, giving me more freedom in when and how I work - a definite plus!
Schlitterbahn! - A week after the Bryan trip we took a short overnight trip to Schlitterbahn, a giant waterpark near San Antonio, with a family from church. We hadn't spent a lot of time with them and enjoyed getting to know them. The husband is an astronaut and Navy pilot, so it was neat hearing about some of his experiences. Oh and we had SO much fun at the waterpark. Who doesn't love waterslides? Only crazy people.
Family time - Michael's parents came in from Saudi Arabia around this time so we spent a couple weekends hanging out with family.
Moving! - Throughout all this, we've been putting together plans to move onto Michael's grandma's property. She lives about 45 minutes south of us on about two acres with a house and a couple large storage spaces separate from the house. Through a long process, it was decided that we would clear everything out of one of the garages (which is about the same square footage as our current apartment) and build out living quarters so Michael and I could move in and be just 50 feet away from his Grandma if she needed anything. The whole deal will be a blessing for her and us! Michael got to draw up the plans and everything, and it's been fun to design the space. It's exciting because it'll be the first "house" Michael and I live in. We've been in apartments since we've been married, so I'm looking forward to having our own place, even though it's not "ours" and we'll have to move out in a few years when they sell the property. Anyway, the construction will be done in the next couple weeks and we'll be moved in by September 5.
New job - God is gracious and has (relatively) quickly provided a job for Michael. It's a job with an oilfield services company and we'll see where it goes. For now though, we're just thankful that Michael has a job! We just returned from a three day trip to Victoria, Texas, (there's nothing to do there) where Michael got some preliminary safety training for work. Safety first!

To be continued...So that's been our summer so far, and we've got more adventures ahead! Over the next month or so, I'm helping out with a VBS kids club at my apartment complex, we're packing and moving, and I've got trips to Seattle, LA and San Diego, and Austin planned. With everything going on, I'm actually thankful for the reduction in my work hours. I'm looking forward to all my trips and also just having more time in general.

In all this we've been thankful to God for his faithfulness in providing so many things over the past few months and look forward to whatever lies ahead!

Hawaii/LA Vacation 2011

2011-06-07T20:32:00.000-07:00

*For the two of you who read my blog, I know this is a monster entry. I wrote it more for my own personal record keeping than for you to waste time reading it. Therefore I'm not offended that you won't read the whole thing.

(Pictures are on fb. I'm too lazy to cull through my pictures and find a few to post here.)

Day 1 (Wednesday 5/25)

Looong day. On three hours of sleep we were up for 24 hours before our heads hit the pillow again. We stayed up until 12 watching Julie & Julia (mmm French food) and woke up at 3:30 to head to IAH. The next 12+ hours were spent on flights from IAH to Salt Lake, Salt Lake to LAX, and LAX to Kona. We met up with my family at the gate in LAX and all sat together for the flight to Kona. Little Seth hit was on my bro-in-law's lap behind us hitting Michael on the head for most of the flight, but once we were in Hawaii, he wanted little to do with either of us. Pshhhh those temperamental babies. :) We arrived in Kona, got the rental cars and headed to Hayashi's You Make the Roll (thanks for the suggestion, jwong!) with the intention of eating dinner there. Unfortunately it started raining and there's only outdoor seating, so we decided to go back another day. Even more unfortunately, the day we wanted to go back there, we found out they'd be closed for the rest of our trip for Memorial Day weekend, so we never made it. :*( Oh well, next time, right? We had dinner at Costco instead (can't beat that food for those prices) and did the bulk of our grocery shopping for the week. Exhausted, we all finally headed to the house that would be our home for the next 7 days. It is a GREAT property: lots of bedrooms to accomodate the 11 of us, backyard pool, and a beautiful lanai stretching around most of the house. We tried to stay up talking for a bit, but ended up going to bed pretty soon.

Day 2 (Thursday)

So Hawaii is 3 hours behind LA and 5 hours behind Houston. Thus the kids were up before 6am and in the pool by 7:30 haha. Woke up and headed to the closest snorkeling spot after breakfast, Kahalu'u Beach Park. It's probably less than a mile from our house. When we got there the tide was fairly high and the kids were able to play in a little tide pool area. The snorkeling was great fish-wise. Not a ton of pretty coral, but lots of colorful fish. It's a pretty rocky beach (like most of the beaches on the big island) but there is a small sandy corridor that most people used to get in and out. We also saw a few turtles there were coming right on shore which is always cool. After snorkeling we headed home, the kids hopped in the pool and some of us headed to Safeway to get some more groceries. I noticed lots of great Asian groceries, forgot where I was for a second, and exclaimed, "Wow! Great Asian food section." Then I remembered I'm in Hawaii, and not in Texas, where the Asian food section in the grocery store takes up like one shelf. We just ate dinner and chilled the rest of the evening, and watched part of Tron: Legacy. Michael and I had seen it already but my nephew hadn't. Love the effects and soundtrack on that movie, not a fan of the casting (with the exception of Jeff Bridges and Michael Sheen).

Day 3 (Friday)

Today was our adventure to Captain Cook's monument in the Kealakekua Bay. We left the three littlest ones with my mom and headed to pick up our kayaks at Aloha Kayak. We got a little lost on the way (GPS is NOT reliable 100% of the time) but eventually made it. The guy strapped three kayaks to the top of our rental van then gave us a great info session about where to go, what to expect, what to do, etc. We headed off down the mountain to the bay, unloaded our kayaks, and got going on the mile-long stretch from the launch to the monument. On the way we got to see some spinner dolphins. At first we could kinda see the tops of a few of them swimming along, then one of them decided to get crazy showy for all of us. He/she jumped in the air spinning and flipping just 10 feet or so from our kayak, and this happened several times. It was crazy - like being a Sea World watching dolphins perform, except this was in the wild. It was an amazing experience, and we were thankful we even got to see dolphins at all, because they're not always around. I wish I had my camera with me, but we had left most of our stuff in the van since we were kayaking. We never flipped over or anything, but it wasn't worth the risk. Anyway the dolphins were amazing, but my nephew was in our kayak and he gets really motion sick, so we had to book it to shore. Once there we just towed our kayaks around with us while we went snorkeling, since you now need a permit to dock on the shore where the monument is. The snorkeling was pretty amazing, coral-wise. The water was super clear with great visibility, and the coral was incredible. We didn't see too many fish, but the coral and underwater terrain were interesting enough. There was a reef close to shore, then a steep drop-off into the blue depths. It was a really great snorkeling spot and we had a great time. We were there for a few hours then kayaked back to the other side of the bay. On the way home we stopped at Kalama's, a little place off Napo'opo'o Road on the recommendation of the Aloha Kayak guy. We all got shaved ice and it was DELICIOUS! We got home and I spent some time with one of my nieces in the pool, then we just ate dinner and relaxed the rest of the evening.

Day 4 (Saturday)

I don't really remember what we did in the morning today, we probably spent it in the pool. In the afternoon we headed to Wawaloli Beach. The rocks there for a huge tide pool/lagoon that's great for kids since the water is only about knee deep and protected from the surf. The kids played in the water and we explored on and around the lava rock. It's crazy how much lava rock is on the big island. It makes for some pretty rough beaches, but it's really beautiful at the same time.

Day 5 (Sunday)

Today we headed to the City of Refu ge/Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park‎. We walked around the grounds first, then headed to the neighboring beach. There's a beach on either side of the historical park. One of them is supposedly good for snorkeling, but it looked super busy with hardly any parking, so we went to the other one. It was nice, lots of picnic tables and some tide pools that the kids could play in. It was a relaxing afternoon, and overcast skies provided a much needed break from the sun. In the evening we went into town and had dinner at U-Top-It since Hayashi's was closed. :( The food was pretty good, although I wished I had ordered something different. Michael had a loco moco with white rice, eggs over medium, and a curry gravy and it was really good. Afterwards we walked down the main thoroughfare on Alii Drive and found Scandinavian Shaved Ice on recommendation from the checker at Safeway. The moment I took my first bite though I knew it wasn't as good as Kalama's, not even close. The syrup was heavier and the ice was not really shaved. I think Kalama's hand shaves their ice or something because it's really light and feathery, whereas Scandinavian uses one of those machines that basically makes a snow cone. Plus Kalama's has the option of drizzling sweet cream or coconut cream on their shaved ice which makes it that much better.

Day 6 (Monday)

More pool time in the morning. In the afternoon we headed to Kekaha Kai State Park because we had heard from multiple sources that it has uncrowded, beautiful, sandy beaches. After getting off the highway there's a 20 minute rough drive over lava rocks to the parking lot. We didn't have 4WD vehicles and were fine, but it would've helped and gone faster if we did. Once at the parking lot there's a five minute walk to the first beach, Mahaiula. This beach is great - sandy, lots of shade, uncrowded. The kids played here in the surf the whole time. There's another beach though which is a 20 minute walk from Mahaiula called Makalawena Beach. The 20 minute walk is pretty rough on your feet as it's over lava rocks the whole way, but it's so worth it. Makalawena is even more deserted that Mahaiula and the sand is finer and softer. Absolutely gorgeous!

Day 7 (Tuesday)

Michael and I struck out on our own today. We headed south along the coast toward the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. We were hoping to see some active lava flow, but no luck throughout the day. The park was pretty neat though. Lots of beautiful scenery and various ecosystems. In one park we saw lava cliffs on the coast, rainforest, lava wasteland, and forest. We went on a few mini hikes and just tried to see as much of the park as we could in a few hours. Afterward we decided to just go on to Hilo (on the opposite side of the island from where we were staying in Kona) because it wasn't far from the park. We stopped at Cafe 100 for dinner. The book we had with us said it was a good local spot and for the most part, it didn't disappoint. Michael had another loco moco that he thought wasn't as good as U-Top-It, but I had the "Hapa Plate" consisting of fried salmon, teriyaki beef, brown rice, and macaroni salad. It was really good, plus we were starving since we hadn't eaten all day. We ran out of the house in the morning to get going and didn't grab any lunch stuff. We had planned to grab lunch before going to the park, but there was only one food option inside the park, and it was closed for renovation. So we were sooo hungry by the time we got to Cafe 100. After eating dinner we decided to drive the northern route around the island to get back home. Just after we pulled onto the highway, Michael found a scenic route which led us to this secluded beach area. The eastern side of the island is really lush, and the beach area was surrounded by rainforest and high cliffs. It was getting dark but we still walked around for a bit and enjoyed the scenery. On the drive back I read some of The Hunger Games to Michael to pass the time. That series is sooo addicting. I bought all three books in the trilogy for my Kindle just for this trip, and I was done with all three books in a matter of days. We also pulled off the road at one point just to look at the stars. We could see so many of them shining brightly in the sky. It reminded me of the crazy amounts of stars you can see in Fiji.

Day 8 (Wednesday)

Woke up, headed to Kahalu'u for one last bit of snorkeling. Again, shallow water at low tide with little coral but LOTS of beautiful fish. After lunch we visited this little painted church. After seeing paintings and frescoes in places like Israel and Turkey that are much older, I wasn't too impressed (I know, that sounds snobby and pretentious), but it was a nice little stop with some beautiful flora on the church grounds. We then headed to the Kona Pacific Farmers Co-Op, where we bought some Kona coffee gifts and walked around their grounds. It was a cute little place with some animals, fruit and coffee plants, and information about the co-op. Then we went back to Kalama's for shaved ice. Seriously the best. Then it was home to pack, eat dinner, and head to the airport for our red eye back to LAX.

Day 9 (Thursday)

We got into LAX a little after 5am and were in Simi by 7. We had breakfast at Yanni's Best Charbroiled Hamburgers and it was delicious. I had the french toast which was really good, but they have this great breakfast special for $2.99 that includes two eggs, bacon or sausage, homemade fresh potato hashbrowns, and toast. At home we just dropped our luggage and went to sleep. Michael and I fell asleep watching Spider Man 3. Ummm yep, still as bad as I remember it. After everyone woke up we just ate lunch and lazed around, then headed to Santa Clarita for my niece's play. She had a pretty big speaking role and the whole thing was really cute. They play was about the history of the Santa Clarita Valley complete with musical numbers and costume changes, all performed by 3rd graders. Like I said, cute haha.

Day 10 (Friday)

We woke up groggy and tired but headed to Newbury Park to meet my older brother, his wife, and their son at my brother's studio. We got to hear some bits of FoF's new record and it's going to be a GREAT album (as usual!). Then we headed to lunch at Olas Mex Grill for some surfer Mexican chow. I had the chile verde wet burrito and it was pretty good. Huge portions to suit my huge appetite. On the way back to the studio we stopped at Element Coffee. SUCH a great coffee spot! Michael and I rarely drink coffee, but even we could appreciate the mocha we had. Quality coffee, plus they make their own chocolate for their drinks and stuff. We agreed that if there was a place like Element near us in Houston we'd become coffee drinkers. Then we headed back home so Eric could go back to work and Taiko could nap. My mom suggested we go on a hike so we trekked up the Chumash Trail for a few hours with my parents. Michael and I definitely miss all the hiking opportunities that Simi, Santa Clarita, and SoCal in general have to offer. They're not joking when they say Texas is flat, and there's pretty much no where to hike in Houston or the surrounding areas. I guess the fact that we can kayak in Houston makes up for the lack of hiking...a little. The thing I do NOT miss about hiking in the SoCal summer is the rattlesnakes. I was paranoid about it pretty much the whole hike because I've encountered several rattlers on hikes before, aaand unfortunately my paranoia was justified because we saw one right off the trail sunning on a rock. It left us alone, and yeah it was our fault for hiking in the summer when they come out the most, but blech I despise those things. After the hike we rushed home to start getting dinner together. We had dinner together as a family (minus Jon :( ) and enjoyed some delicious ribs, yakitori, rice, and veggies. We also made an early birthday celebration out of it for me, and I got a candle stuck in a Magnum bar for the occasion.

Day 11 (Saturday)

Man it was hard to get out of bed today! We did though and headed to Santa Clarita to meet up with our friends, the Grandis. It was a fun morning eating Mexican food, walking around Hart Park, and catching up. After they headed home we dropped by my sister's house for a couple hours. My bro-in-law's brother and his wife were visiting too so we all hung out. Then Michael and I headed off to that sacred and untouchable burger place called In-N-Out. We picked up food and headed to the Lows' house to have a mini reunion with some of the guys Michael lived with in Sunland. It was a really fun evening. There's something so refreshing about spending time with good friends who have history with you and already know you. I feel like 90% of the conversations we have in Houston are get-to-know-you smalltalk fare. There's nothing wrong with that, but man was it nice to just hang out and be us.

Day 12 (Sunday)

Eric, Tam, and Taiko came over so we all ate breakfast with my parents, then had a little prayer time before we headed to the airport. Leaving LA is always bittersweet. It's nice to be heading back "home" but sad too. Our flights were fine and we got home around 11:30pm.

And life rolls on...

Racquetball

2011-03-17T16:35:00.000-07:00

Now that the 10k is behind me, i'm looking forward to more sane levels of working out. i know, i know, a 10k isn't a lot compared to a half or full marathon, but it was a big deal for me. Enter racquetball. i think it may be my new favorite cardio workout, even though (in the words of Brian Regan) :

"Racquetball is the only sport where simultaneously you can be looking at the ball...aaand it'll hit you in the back of the head at 90 miles per hour."

Michael's been playing for a couple months now, but yesterday was my first time playing...ever. It consisted of me failing 95% of the time, even after Michael started playing with his non-dominant hand, and me whacking the ball square into his back at one point. (Bonus points!) It was still really fun. Toward the end, my hand-eye coordination brain connections started coming out of deep hibernation, and i was getting a better handle on reading the ball. i worked up a pretty good sweat too, and it's always great when you can merge "fun" and "working out."

Anyway, besides chronicling my un-prowess at racquetball, i have to say i am thankful to God for good health. i've thought about this more in the past few weeks as i was preparing for the 10k, but most of the time i take for granted the healthy body, mind, and activeness God has granted me. i know He can take it away in a heartbeat - through illness, a car accident, whatever, and even then i should still be joyful and grateful since His grace and goodness to me transcend any physical circumstances. But for now i should be more thankful that my current trials are not health related, and should also pray more diligently for those who are facing such issues.

Time again to look back...and forward

2011-01-05T14:13:00.000-08:00

*Cue uninspired cliche...now* It's hard to believe another year has already flown by.

Really though, it's gone fast. The new year is always a good opportunity to reflect on the things God has done over the past year, and look forward to what He will do in the coming one. 2010 was certainly a big year. It held our move across two and a half states to Houston, a dream-come-true trip to Alaska, the passing of Michael's grandfather, a second anniversary for Michael and I, joining a new church, new jobs for both myself and Michael, and countless other new and exciting and trying experiences. In all the hubbub, I am increasingly grateful for God's unchanging faithfulness in the midst of all circumstances, good and bad. But really, trusting God in crazy circumstances should be nothing new by now, as God has given me at least one major lifechanging experience each year for the past eight years, since 2003. A brief look back at those game-changers, if only to fondly remember and savor all the ways God has grown me into who I am today...

2003 - graduated from high school, spent a life-changing summer in Poland, Hume Lake, and Fiji and started college at UC Irvine

2004 - experienced a major family heartache that changed my family and I forever but brought us closer with a deeper understanding of God's grace and sovereignty

2005 - studied abroad for a semester in Turkey and visited Israel for the first time with a unique view to the conflicts there that will forever color my perception of the issues

2006 - spent a summer of growth, rest, and crazy fun in Estes Park, CO with the Navigators Summer Training Program

2007 - graduated from UCI, traveled to Israel a second time, had my ideas of what I wanted to do with my life turned upside down, and started work at Children's Hunger Fund

2008 - starting dating, got engaged to, and married Michael

2009 - walked through the intense trials and joys of our first year of marriage and made the decision to move to Texas

And now we're up to the present. There's so much more God has done, so many more life-changing experiences I haven't mentioned, but looking back on all the twists God has put in my life only makes me more excited for what lies ahead. I have long ago given up on guessing what will happen next. Nothing has turned out how I thought it would, but ultimately I couldn't be more grateful for that!

Was 2010 all roses and fun? Was I exempt from trials and sorrows for the year? Of course not. There were some very hard things to deal with and am even still working through some of them. But God is always faithful. Do I always believe that perfectly, and trust Him always without wavering? No. Do I still need much more refining and humbling? (Insert the most vehement word for yes you can think of here.) Do I look forward to 2011 and the ways He will use my circumstances to accomplish that and glorify Himself? Absolutely!

2011, here it comes!

Slacktivism*

2010-12-06T09:33:00.000-08:00

*i did not coin this term.

The "campaign" to change your Facebook profile picture to "raise awareness about child abuse" is incredibly flawed/pointless for the following reasons...

1. It's not actually connected to a real cause http://blogs.babble.com/famecrawler/2010/12/05/cartoon-characters-on-facebook-is-the-facebook-cartoon-campaign-a-hoax/ (via Wendy Chandler)

2. Raise your hand if you didn't already know child abuse existed - the one guy raising his hand was born and raised in a cave on a desert island isolated from civilization...and he doesn't have a Facebook account anyway.

3. If you want to change your profile picture, fine...just don't congratulate yourself on making the world a better place until you've actually done something tangible for abused kids. Those children don't care that you changed your profile picture until that act is accompanied with real action.

4. Social media is a fantastic tool for effecting some real change for a cause. This "campaign" does not qualify in the least for that category.

This isn't the first and won't be the last instance of slacktivism gone pointless. i'd just encourage everyone (myself included) to be discerning and intentional when it comes to real issues that need real action, before we jump on any bandwagons.

Kindle: Furthering My Literacy

2010-11-29T11:04:00.000-08:00

With the help of my new Kindle (compliments of my dad) and some relaxing free time during Thanksgiving break, I recently read:

The Twelfth Imam by Joel Rosenberg - The writing is weak in a few places, but his ability to weave an engrossing story is alive and well. He's definitely got another great series started.
Sense and Sensibility - I like the Emma Thompson movie better.
A Christmas Carol - For some reason and for all the film and theater versions I've seen, this story is always framed in my mind through the lens of the Muppet adaptation. As I read I kept converting all the characters to their Muppet versions.
Heart of Darkness - Man, that Conrad guy can write! Like Lord of the Flies, I'll keep revisiting this book because of the depth of story and the worlds created in my mind through the writing.
Dracula - I just started this one and so far it's pretty entertaining.

I've decided to make my way through classic literature included on all those "Books Everyone Should Read" lists. I had the opportunities to read such classics in high school and college, but let's be honest, I never actually read those books in their entirety. I also figure this can only help my vocabulary and writing, plus most of the older classics are FREE Kindle books. A sidenote, if you get a Kindle you might want to hold off on buying the ESV Study Bible Kindle version. It's only $10 and definitely better than nothing, but in its current state it's pretty tedious to use. You're probably better off waiting until they come out with a more user-friendly version.

I would definitely recommend the Kindle to anyone who enjoys reading even a little. It's such an efficient way to read and store books (3,500 of them!), it's very easy to figure out, the battery lasts forever (I've read all the above and the battery hasn't even gone down to 50% yet), and at this point they're not that expensive. Granted mine was a gift, but this new version with wireless is only $139. I love that it's much less cumbersome than a book to hold and turn pages. And those skeptics who think reading from a screen will hurt their heads and/or eyes probably just haven't seen a Kindle and held it in their hands. It truly is like reading pages in a book - no glare, no backlight. There are also a bunch of features I haven't even used yet, including highlighting and note taking capabilities within the text. All in all it's definitely worth the investment!

"Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body." -Joseph Addison

Alaska Day 2 - Drive to Denali National Park

2010-06-14T11:34:00.000-07:00

Okay Blogger is giving me drama, so i've only uploaded 4 pictures for this post. i've posted more pictures on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2524804&id=6007285&l=ece321ab45

In the morning we headed to church with the Sims. After an encouraging morning of worship and a message from Acts, Michael and I headed off toward Denali. On the way we stopped to get groceries at this store called Fred Meyer. It's such a great store! It's like a super Wal-Mart in that it has EVERYTHING (groceries, clothes, electronics, etc.), but the quality of all the stuff is a lot better, plus they have a really nice health/organic food section. Not like we eat that stuff all the time, but it was nice to have the option since Houston gets a D+ for grocery options that carry anything beyond the basics. Anyway we hit the road and made the 4 hour trek from Anchorage to our motel 13 miles south of the Denali National Park entrance. The drive was beautiful. The weather was amazing and we saw a pretty clear view of Mount McKinley along the way. Sadly we both were stupid and didn't stop to get better pictures. In the back of my mind I knew it was a really rare thing to see Mount McKinley (usually it's covered by clouds), but for some reason I thought, “We'll see it later.” Too bad we didn't see it the rest of the time. Anyway like I said the drive was amazing. Here are some pictures from along the way.

Mount Denali/Mount McKinley This was taken from the car and you can only barely see it. It looks like a cloud but you can see the peak.

i love this photo, it turned out really good. We pulled off the road for a bit to walk around. These tracks were near where we pulled off the main road.

Taken from the car.

We arrived at McKinley Creekside Cabins (13 miles south of the Denali National Park entrance) in the late afternoon. The accomodations were very spartan, but the place was clean. There was also a nice creek running next to our cabins. We took a walk along the creek and took some pictures.

At McKinley Creekside Cabins

The rest of the evening we just chilled and finished watching Syriana. Still a bit confused by some things, but I have a higher opinion of it then I did before.

Alaska Day 1 - Arriving in Anchorage

2010-06-13T08:46:00.000-07:00

Well since i'm sitting here in the airport i thought i'd start my blog entries for the trip. i accidentally deleted the only picture i have from Day 1, so this will be all text. i'll have pictures up for the other entries though.

We were up early and left from Houston Interncontinental on Saturday morning. We had a layover in Seattle and started watching "Syriana". I'd seen it before but didn't really remember it. It was still a bit confusing the second time around. Moving on, we got into Anchorage in the afternoon. The rental car agency we used turned out to be a little ghetto, but we ended up getting a discount and free upgrade to a truck because they didn't have any economy cars. It worked out because the truck got really good gas mileage all things considered. After a quick stop at Wally World, we headed to meet the Sims. They are friends of friends who graciously offered to let us stay with them at their home in Anchorage. We had a lovely evening getting to know them. After dinner, part of the family took us on a driving tour around Anchorage. It's a really beautiful city, one of those rare ones with both ocean and mountains. We learned a lot about Alaska, Anchorage, and how they're different than “the lower 48.” We also searched for some “moosen” but only saw one real fast in the brush. We also experienced our first night of extra daylight. There's about 21 hours of daylight in Alaska right now, and it was so strange to be going to sleep around 11 with the sun out like it's early evening. All in all, a great first day!