right now.

it poured today. and I mean poooooured rain. I will say I am thankful for it, but I am just not a rain person. wet socks. wet jeans. wet backpack. no bueno. The upside is coffee tastes better in the rain. probably because you're more thankful for it in that moment. In other news...I have a pen pal in Australia named Lauren. We met last semester in class had so much in common that we decided that while she is in Australia this semester and Oxford the next, we'd write letters! Yesterday I received my first letter from her and I was the best thing EVER!! hahaa. I LOVE LOVE snail mail. there's something so sentimental about it you know. Well...tomorrow i'm having a bake-off with my residents...then home this weekend for a haircut and some well needed family time! Life is busy. Life is good :) 

p.s this picture, taken by natijane, was from our event last night. We had a talent show on A-court lawn..the theme was "YOU-nique"..be yourself! haha. So we had a little art experiment where we had cups of paint that people could throw at a huge board...and this was the result. so fun. 

learning to live with less.

I have a lot of stuff. There is no doubt in that.

and today as I was getting distracted from homework, I stumbled back to Krochet Kid's Peru blog...lead by the Goodfellow family. Basically this family (four little kids) packed up and moved to peru to help with the Krochet Kids mission to empower poverty stricken places by giving them jobs making hats! 

READ THIS POST from their blog. I just got really convicted to think about how much affluence I live in...and how much stuff I DO NOT NEED! 

I have no clue what this means for my life. 

But I hope to find practical ways to really find simplicity.

To find joy in having less. 

okay now seriously. back to work! 

I need to watch Lord of the Rings

Found this somewhere. Maybe while I was reading the Hobbit. I cant remember...

"all that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, a light from the shadows shall spring; renewed shall be blade that was broken, the crownless again shall be king."

-J.R.R. Tolkien  

Bible class: assignment #1

Class: Life and Teachings of Jesus

Professor: Hauge

first assignment: book analysis Resident Alien

my thoughts: I'm nervous. Hauge is intimidating. foREAL. Dude knows a lot about the Bible, about education, teaching, how college students operate, etc...and I don't even know where to start with this analysis! This book is full of a lot of stuff. Our goal is to nail down the thesis, briefly explain the points of each of the 7 chapters, and conclude with how it ties into our lectures. easy right? wrong. let's just say i'll be spending the majority of today with my nose in this book. 

but for now i'll share this paragraph from the end of chapter 2. 

(also, let me mention that the book is called Resident Aliens because the authors argue that we are here for such a temporary time, and that the church and it's people aught to be ones who know our home is heavenly, therefore making us resident aliens.) 

"We would like a church that again asserts that God, not nations, rules the world, 

that the boundaries of God's kingdom transcend those of Caesar, 

and that the main political task of the church is the 

formation of people who see clearly the cost of discipleship and are willing to pay the price" 

-Hauerwas + Willimon. Resident Aliens


(photo: streets of amsterdam. 2011)