Trust and the One Year Bible

This year I decided not to make any resolutions because inevitably I break them, thus they really aren't useful and instead I decided to set a goal in my daily life. I have decided to try to read the Bible in a year. I have had this goal for several years and the farthest I've been able to get is Numbers, so this year I bought a One year Bible to help me. This particular Bible breaks down daily readings into a passage from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs. I'm hoping this will help me be more consistent.

So far, I can say that I have read every entry this year - which for me is a big accomplishment in and of itself. I'm writing this on my blog so that you, my friends, will keep me accountable. I have found myself getting excited each night and rather than just checking the day off my list, I am looking forward to the next part of the story.

It has been really neat reading the Old Testament along with the New Testament at the same time. One parallel that I have really been pondering is the faith and trust of God's people, particularly that of Abraham and the disciples. When God asked Abraham to take Isaac up to the top of the mountain and sacrifice him, Abraham trusted God and was ready to sacrifice his beloved son, the one he had waited for for 100 years until at the last moment God intervened and stopped him. I can't imagine what was going through Abraham's head at that moment. He must have been heartbroken, confused, possibly angry and so unsure about what God was asking him to do and yet he went through with it. He trusted God. And God spared Isaac because of Abraham's faith.

The disciples displayed a similar faith when Jesus came to them and asked to drop their everything and follow him. The scripture doesn't say that they questioned him about logical things like, do I need to pack a bag? Where are we going to stay? Should I bring some money with me? How are we going to eat? It is almost incomprehensible to the planner in me to see how they could drop their nets and follow without getting some answers. And yet, they went out on faith, trusting Jesus and he provided for all of their needs.

In my Bible study on Tuesday night we were reading in Hebrews 3 and I read a really striking statement in my commentary that said "Lack of trust in God can prevent you from receiving his best." This made an impact on me and has caused me to really evaluate my faith and trust in God. I love him, trust him and believe in him - but am I still holding back? being cautious? asking too many questions?

Forever Friends

This past weekend was so wonderful! I got together with all of my best friends from HPU and we had a blast! It has been years since we've all been together and yet it felt like just yesterday that we were little college freshmen. We played our favorite games, had a sing-a-long and baby shower, and spent lots of time catching up and laughing!

Our awesome 3West RA Michelle and her daughter Wren

Meredith and Stephanie playing Cranium

Me and Kate

We had a baby shower for Jess, who is due with Baby Cary in March

Suitemates from freshmen and sophomore year

Becca, me, Sarah and Brandi

The 2-East crew from 2003
Jess, Sarah Swimm, Sarah Gardner, Steph, Becca, me, Mere, Jan and Brandi

It's the little things ...

I got this card in the mail yesterday from a vendor that we used recently. It made me smile. And yes, that is a blue sparkly lizard that came inside.

Special Memories with Special Friends

I've been waiting and planning for this coming weekend since October. It's very special because it is the Third Annual Herd Reunion. The "herd" is comprised of my best friends from college. When we were freshmen, way back in 2002, we used to go everywhere together - traveling in a herd. After class we would meet up and head to the cafer together. We had too many late night talks to count - discussing everything from movies like Blue Crush to deep theological issues. Some of my favorite memories include playing with the big pink ball, burying our time capsule, April Fools Day, crazy suitemates, playing pranks on our RAs and so much more.

This year we actually have a special treat! Both of my RAs are going to get to come. Michelle was our RA on 3West when we were little freshmen that didn't know up from down. Then Sarah Gardner, aka "G", was our RA on 2East the next year. Both of these amazing ladies hold such a special place in my heart. They were our confidants and friends. I can't wait to reminisce and laugh and enjoy the moments that we have together. Our visits are fewer and farther between, but they are still so special. Thank you God, for my friends!

Reunion 2009 in Brownwood

Homecoming 2008

Reunion - December 2006
Graduation- May 2006

Spring Sing - March 2006

I have so many more pictures that were before the digital age. I'll have to scan some to post here! We'll miss several friends that can't make it - Cass, Maria, April, Hannah and Shannon - I love you and hope you can make it next year!

Bright Lights, Big City: Part Two

Now, to continue my escapades around New York with my mom - on Saturday we headed to the New York Public Library where mom was able to acquire a very special card. Can you guess what kind of card it was? You're right! It was a library card! She was thrilled beyond belief that she was eligible for such a rare jewel and proceeded to try and use it the rest of the day to purchase things, much to her delight and my chagrin. Also, while we were at the library, we saw the original manuscript from Voltaire's book Candide, which was celebrating it's 250th year in publication. Mom was thrilled to see this because Voltaire is one of her favorite authors.

Then we headed to Greenwich Village, just to roam around and see what we could see. We walked by the NYU campus, stopped in Washington Square park and then saw the Washington Mews which are these quaint little homes that were once stables in the 1930s and were converted (for strange some reason) into residential living. The street is gated and still has cobblestone roads, a sweet little glimpse into the past. Apt. 14A was to home to artist Edward Hopper and several other notable people that have slipped my mind.

Washington Square Park Arch

The Washington Mews

After our little exploration, we headed back to the Upper East side (have I mentioned that this is my favorite part of NY?) to see the Metropolitan Museum of Art (aka the Met). Here was saw four more Vermeer paintings - which made a grand total of 7 on our trip which is really rare considering there are only around 34 known Vermeer paintings in the world! We also saw more paintings from Monet, Van Gogh, Renoir, Manet and went to my favorite room - the Temple of Dendur which is from c. 15 BC and has been reassembled to appear just as it did on the banks of the Nile. This room is incredible and I could sit and stare for hours.

A painting by Vermeer

The Temple of Dendur

But alas, we couldn't stay for hours because we had to head back to Times Square to see another Broadway show, this time a play. We saw "A View from the Bridge" by Arthur Miller. It was starring Scarlett Johansson (who is making her Broadway debut) and Liev Screiber (one of my new favorite bad guys - from Defiance and Wolverine). The play hasn't opened yet, so it was kind of like a rehearsal for them, and it was so good! Since it was written by Miller it was naturally tragic (Death of Salesman anyone?) but it was so dynamic and interesting that I found myself very wrapped up in the plot and forgetting to try to figure out what was going to happen. Liev was AWESOME and Scarlett was really good too. Being the big celebrity fans that we are, mom and I stood outside after the play to get photos and autographs. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get as close to them as I did to Paul Rudd (back on our first trip in 2001), but I did get Scarlett's autograph and Liev's picture. Here's an interesting fact that I learned about Scarlett (I learned this by going to imdb.com after we met, haha). She is one week younger than me! I'm so thankful that my worth is not measured by my fame, fortune and celebrity status, because I've got nothing on her. Another free fact is that she is surprisingly pretty short - 5'4. I know that's not really THAT short, but she was a lot smaller than I imagined that she would be.

My official autographed Playbill
(her autograph is over the word bridge)

If you look closely, you can tell this is Scarlett, I promise!

Liev Screiber

This was pretty much the end of our fantastic trip to NYC. We were up the next morning at 4 a.m. to make our flights from LaGuardia to Chicago to St. Louis to Dallas. Then I drove the three hours home and crashed. In case you can't tell, I had an awesome time. I am so thankful for my mom and our shared love of travel. We had a great time talking, laughing and enjoying the sights. I couldn't have asked for a better travel partner! Maybe we'll make this an annual trip!

Bright Lights, Big City: Part One

My mom and I just got back from celebrating my Christmas present- a trip to New York City (the concrete jungle where dreams are made of, according to Jay Z) and we had an amazing time! We flew in on Thursday and left at the crack of dawn on Sunday morning, so we really only had two days to take in all of the sights, and believe me when I say we crammed the weekend full! My dad found us a great deal on a hotel just four blocks away from Times Square and only a block from Grand Central Station, and so we were really in the center of everything! The weather was pretty cold (I don't think it got above 28 degrees while we were there) but it was actually colder in Canyon, so we were feeling pretty good! :)

When we arrived, we checked into our hotel and then headed straight for Times Square. On our way there we stumbled upon our first adventure. We saw these big lights and camera crews and realized we were on the set of some kind of filming. We asked one of the crew members and he said that they were shooting a scene from the new CBS show "The Good Wife" with Juliana Marguiles. We didn't actually get to see any of the famous actors from the show, but we did see some guys dressed like Chicago Police Officers storm into a building!

Somehow on Friday morning, I convinced my mom to get up at 6:00 a.m. to run down to Good Morning America (did I mention that it was 20 degrees and snowing too?) so we could be on the set. There weren't many people crazy enough to do this, so we were able to get inside and see the taping of the whole show. We saw Emeril, George Stephanopoulos, Robin Roberts and Juju Chan. It was a lot of fun!

Then we went to Grand Central Station where we grabbed some lunch and headed to the Upper East Side to go to see the Frick Collection. This is an art museum which belonged to a really rich guy from the early 1900s named Henry Clay Frick. He built this incredible house on 5th Avenue across from Central Park and filled it with amazing works of art. We saw painting by Vermeer, Renoir, Degas, Manet, Monet and Gilbert Stuart, to name a few. Needless to say, it was pretty awesome.

The rest of the afternoon we spent walking around Central Park and 5th Avenue, which was neat to see in the snow. Some stores still had their Christmas lights up and it was really beautiful.

Ice skaters in Central Park

More Central Park

Christmas Lights on 5th Avenue

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Rockefeller Center

As I write this blog, I am listening to the soundtrack from the Broadway musical, Lion King, which we were able to see that night and it was truly FANTASTIC! I've heard people say it is like nothing you have ever seen and I have to agree! I had chills from beginning to the end!

This pretty well sums up Friday. I will try to blog again tomorrow about all of our adventures on Saturday. It involves more celebrities, so you won't want to miss out!

Immersed in the River Jordan

What do you think of when you picture a baptism? I have always pictured my Dad and a baptistery (basically an over sized bathtub). The reason being, almost every baptism I have witnessed in my life has looked like that.

On Sunday, I went to a new service at FBC Canyon called "Celebration." During my Dad's message, he was talking about baptism (aka immersion), specifically as described in the first chapter of Mark. Dad began explaining about the symbolism of baptism. He described the process as going under water and being surrounded and immersed in the water and then coming up with a new mindset - a complete change of mind, heart and soul.

John the Baptist (our great predecessor and namesake for the Baptists) was baptizing believers in the Jordan River and in Mark 1:8, he says, "I baptize you with water, but he (Jesus) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." Dad asked us to picture our baptism with the Holy Spirit the same way we pictured our literal baptism in water. The Holy spirit completely surrounding and engulfing us. This image became so much more to me when I thought about it in relation to the River Jordan - a vast body of water spanning as far as the eye can see. When Jesus baptizes us, we are completely surrounded by the Holy Spirit - everywhere you look and feel, the Holy Spirit is there. Isn't that such a beautiful picture?

Bachelor Predictions

Let me start off by saying, please don't judge me! I watched the premiere of my guilty pleasure The Bachelor last night and I wanted to make my predictions right now, so that when I am right at the finale, I can have proof. First, I must say that Jake was my favorite guy from the very beginning of the Bachelorette last summer and I'm so glad he's on the show now. He seems so genuine and honest. He truly is a good ole southern boy! I really hope that he stays true to himself and his morals throughout the process. I also want to state for the record that I think all of the pilot references are way over the top! I think every girl on the show last night mentioned at least once that they want to by Jake's co-pilot - give me a break!

It feels like the caliber of girls was just not as high as it has been in the past. Maybe after 14 seasons they are just running out of sane, quality girls that are willing to be put through this crazy process.

My predictions are that Jake will either choose Ali or Tenley. They seem like the only "real" people on the show. We'll see how it all ends up. At least I know one thing is for sure - there will be plenty of drama. :)

Party all the time

Over the past week we have been quite the party animals. In addition to celebrating Christmas and New Years, we also celebrated Lorin's 23rd birthday, Jamie's 19th birthday and Madie's 16th birthday. Jamie and Madie's birthday's actually aren't for a few more weeks, but we wanted to celebrate while we were all together, so we did. Lots of cake was eaten, presents were opened and fun was had.

Lorin's Bday Lunch at Johnny Carinos

Cristal and Lor on her birthdayMadie and Jamie's birthday party