Confession: My Real Age

Sometimes I forget how old I am. Not in the "oh-Jenny-you're-so-silly-stop-being-a-child-and-start-acting-your-age" but in the "I'm 25. No, wait. That's not right- I'm 26...I think. Wait, how old am I? Um...what year is it? Okay, 2009, so 2009 minus 1982 is 27. So, I'm 27. What?!? That's not right. My birthday is in December, so I can't do the whole subtract my birth year from the current year until it's Christmastime. I can't believe I'm having this conversation with myself again! I am so embarrassed; I have a master's degree and I can't even tell someone how old I am without looking like a stupid whackado! Okay, Jenny, think. How old were you on your last birthday? Hmm....Yes, 26. That's right. Twenty-six. Remember, you were depressed because now you are in your mid-to-late twenties. Yes, yes, go Jenny! You are smart because you can figure out how old you are!"

I seriously have this conversation in my head approximately once a month. Back in the day- when I was still in the youth of my early twenties- I never had a problem remembering my age.

Does anyone else see a problem with this?

The Geography of Bliss

I love, love, love, love this book! Isaac checked it out from our fabulous library a few weeks ago after reading a blog post by Daniel Montgomery, the pastor of Sojourn Church in Louisville. I have to confess that while Isaac was reading it, I got a little miffed at him because he would start laughing out loud and then just have to read to me the superb writing that brought forth his laughter in the first place. You see, I'm not a big fan of people reading to me when I want to read the book myself. But now I must beg forgiveness from my husband because while I was absorbed in this delightful read, I did the exact same thing to him- even though he's already read it!

This is seriously a book I would consider buying- which doesn't say much for me, I know, since I spend a great deal more money on purchasing books than the average individual- because it is just such a great and absolutely fun read. Written by longtime NPR correspondent Eric Weiner, this book details his quest to find happiness in the world and to understand the cause(s) of happiness. To do so, Wiener travels to several different countries, some rated as happy nations and others rated as, well, not so happy. He begins his journey in the Netherlands, where the world's foremost expert on happiness research (yes, apparently it's a legit field- who knew?) resides and works. Using the Happiness Database compiled by such researches, Weiner sets out to discover just what it is that makes us happy. Is there universal standard which all humans equate with happiness? Does more money really equal more happiness? How do other cultures and countries view happiness? And how on earth do we get a piece of the happiness pie?

Weiner travels through the Netherlands, Switzerland, Bhutan, Qatar, Iceland, Moldova, Thailand, Great Britain, India, and of course, America. I wish he had also travelled to at least one South American country and African country, but he did better than most people would have, I'm sure.

There were a couple of passages that stood out to me (and apparently to Daniel Montgomery,as he mentioned both of these in his post as well).

After visiting Moldova, which is the least happy nation in the world according to the Happiness Database (which surprised me because I've met more Moldovians than your average American, and I found them to be pleasantly positive...but then again, I met them in Romania and Tennessee; maybe it's different when you spend time with them in Moldova), Weiner came away with this lesson:

Lesson number one: "Not my problem" is not a philosophy. It's a mental illness. Right up there with pessimism. Other people's problems are our problems. If your neighbor is laid off, you may feel as if you've dodged the bullet, but you haven't. The bullet hit you as well. You just don't feel the pain yet. Or as Ruut Veenhoven told me: "The quality of a society is more important that your place in that society."...Lesson number two: Poverty, relative poverty, is often an excuse for unhappiness. Yes, Moldovians are poor compared to other Europeans, but clearly it is their reaction to their economic problems, and not the problems alone, that explains their unhappiness.

Throughout the book, Weiner explores the relationship between money and happiness. He finds, however, that more money does not equal more happiness; rather, he sums up what some may view as the true key to happiness:

Social scientists estimate that about 70 percent of our happiness stems from our relationships, both quantity and quality, with friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors. During life’s difficult patches, camaraderie blunts our misery; during the good times, it boosts our happiness...So the greatest source of happiness is other people – and what does money do? It isolates us from other people. It enables us to build walls, literal and figurative, around ourselves. We move from a teeming college dorm to an apartment to a house and, if we’re really wealthy, to an estate. We think we’re moving up, but really we’re walling off ourselves.

I could go on and on about this book, but I really want you to read it for yourself. A bit of a caveat, however: reading this book may definitely cause the travel bug to bite you good...

Forasteros Family Fun

I would like to thank JR and Manda for allowing me to produce a title with such beautiful alliteration. Don't you just love how it rolls off your tongue? Forasteros...Family...Fun...

I'm alluding to the Forasteros wedding, of course! This festive event, complete with a live band, cotton candy, snow cones, and an excellent candy table, took place last Saturday. My favorite parts? The cake topper, the first dance, the cotton candy, and nothing other than getting to see so many long-lost friends (and finding out Becca and Eric are pregnant! What- how do I not know these things?!?!)...

Enjoy a glimpse of this unique wedding of some great people:



Somehow, my husband and I did not get a picture of ourselves at this wedding...how is that possible?

Congrats, you two! Don't forget we'll need to meet up in Cinci at some point!

The Book Thief

Finally, another book review! I'm sorry it's taken me a few weeks to give you my thoughts on more of the written word, but with preparing to move, then actually moving our stuff, and adjusting to our new 'home' (we're house-sitting) for the next few weeks, and trying to wrap up all the loose ends in Columbia while we simultaneously begin completing all the required-but-oh-so-annoying-to-do moving necessities (apply for every job possible in Louisville, transfer the title and tags, get new licenses, register to vote, change mailing address on everything ever, etc), I just haven't found too much time to read. But believe me, I would much rather be reading...

The Book Thief is a young adult novel written by Markus Zusak about a young foster child growing up in a small suburb of Munich in Nazi Germany. The story is related through the eyes of Death, which does not really produce as much of a morbid tone for the novel as you might expect. In fact, Death as a narrator provides a rather reflective and introspective view of not only the characters, but of the entire human race in general.

There are many books, both fiction and non-fiction, about the Holocaust and Nazi Germany, but rarely do authors take it upon themselves to write about German characters living within Nazi Germany; it forces the reader to realize that not all Germans, in fact, were in agreement with the Nazi regime and that, in fact, there were also German people who helped to hide Jewish people (and other groups the Nazis determined as inferior or problematic) from the SS, Gestapo, and even their neighbors. Even more difficult for us to imagine are the often-innocent German children living under the Nazi regime. Are we to blame such children for the actions of a nation? This book forces the reader to think about such things.

The book thief is Liesel, the young orphaned girl living with foster parents in Molching, a small town outside of Munich. As she learns to cope with her new environment, she escapes the difficulty by learning to read; her foster father is diligent to teach her, and her thirst for the written word is seemingly never quenched. Liesel quickly becomes friends with her next door neighbor, Rudy. Rudy helps Liesel adjust to life in her new home, but Liesel's life becomes even more confusing and dangerous when her foster parents agree to hide a German Jew- from Nazi officials and friends alike- in their basement. Despite all of their overt differences, Max and Liesel realize their similarities and form a deep friendship, helping each other to survive their confusion and pain.

This book truly is hauntingly beautiful. For a young adult book, the content is excellent; one could simply read the story as a good story, but if the reader digs deeper into the material, a great amount of truth about the human race can be learned. This book is bound to generate lots of excellent and thought-provoking discussion, especially after the reader contemplates the last line penned by Death:

I am haunted by humans.

Why Didn't We Do This?

So I know I've posted quite a few videos lately (I promise to give you some more substantive posts soon), but I just couldn't resist not showing you this one (thanks to Jen for bringing it to my attention). I'm currently begging my friend Laina to do this at her upcoming awesomely posh NYC wedding...

Feeling Down and Out?

If you're feeling a little blue today, watch this clip. Of course, you are more than welcome to watch it even if you're not feeling down and out (as I just did). I know it's not new, but it makes me laugh every time.

SpendYourself Followup and New Shirts

The following post was written by the SpendYourself team as a followup to their blog campaign for International Justice Day last Friday:

“Justice denied anywhere diminishes justice everywhere.” – MLK JR.

It doesn't take long to become aware of vast array of injustice in our society today. With access to information that came with the 21st century (search 'injustice' in Google and you get 18,500,000 results), it becomes easy to grow numb to the pain that exists in our world.

When confronted with these experiences, we are faced with the decision to respond or carry on as if nothing has changed. Responding in love requires sacrifice, faith, and usually a step outside of our kingdom of comfort & safety. However, I would make the argument that not responding is the most dangerous thing we can do. Lack of response produces complacency, apathy, and laziness. Give me a choice of the two, and the latter is what scares me most.

"It's time for 'us' to say that 'they' matter and together, 'we' can be a part of bringing hope to those who need it."

This is the quote from Spendyourself's newest partner, Life In Abundance International.

What is most striking about this organization is the true partnerships that they have formed in Kenya. Rather than developing a sense of dependence or approaching a situation with an attitude of superiority, they truly work alongside those that they wish to empower.

In January of 2008, post-election violence erupted throughout Kenya's urban centers. Particularly affected was a city known as Kisumu. In addition to this, HIV/AIDS has devastated both families and entire cities in parallel. For almost twenty years, Life in Abundance International has been responding to this crisis in Kisumu with a wholistic and sustainable approach.

To support these efforts, Spendyourself's latest project, the 'Kisumu project', will be supporting the work done with AIDS orphans in the Nyalenda slum.

Read more about LIA's pioneer approach and see the shirts here:

"Justice denied anywhere...

...diminishes justice everywhere." -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

This Friday is International Justice Day, which commemorates the date when members of the international community ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court; the treaty was adopted at a United Nations diplomatic conference in Rome in 1998 and become effective July 1, 2002 when enough countries signed the statement. The United States (and a few other countries), however, refuses to sign the agreement. The ratification established the International Criminal Court (ICC), seated at The Hague in the Netherlands, and allows this international body to prosecute crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide, bringing perpetrators to justice and restitution to victims. However, the ICC can only prosecute acts committed after the ICC's official inception in 2002. To date, the ICC has opened investigations of four situations, including the situation in Darfur.

In light of this day, our friends at SpendYourself have asked for our help in raising awareness. You may recall we selected SpendYourself as our family's Focus of the Month for June; feel free to read my post introducing this wonderful company our friends founded. Very soon, SpendYourself will be releasing their new series of shirts designed to raise awareness of injustices around the globe. On Monday, they will send out a follow-up post to the one I've just written, detailing more ways in which we can participate in the fight for justice, as well as debut the new shirts. If you would also like to participate in SpendYourself's blog campaign, simply write a post based on MLK's assessment of denied justice (see title) and email your link to leeATspendyourself.net. He'll then send you the follow-up post for you to share with others. Be sure to check out the SpendYourself website next week to order one of the new shirts!

There are so many ways through which we can help others, and raising awareness of these situations is just one small part of the solution; tell me, what is preventing us from being a part of the solution?

Sarah's Key, Beloved, The Alchemist, and a Little Colbert

What's this? Not one, not two, but three reviews today (and a bonus video from our friend, Stephen Colbert)! I apologize for the book overload, but I think you'll enjoy a least one or two of these reviews. And yes, I'm aware that Henry James' The Portrait of a Lady has been sitting atop my 'Currently Reading' list for some time...but I own that book, and all these library books are just begging to be finished so I can avoid late charges...

I saw this book while meandering Target one day, and since it looked interesting, I asked my hubby to pick it up from the library (seriously, I ask him to do that a lot- thanks, honey!). Sarah's Key is a fictional story based on historical events, intertwining the stories of a young Jewish girl living in Paris during World War II and a modern-day American journalist residing in Paris with her family. Sarah and her family were arrested with thousands of other Jewish individuals and families during an infamous round up by the French government ceding to German demands. The families were held at the Velodrome d'Hiver, a famous indoor cycle track, outside of Paris for several days; parents were separated from their children before all were sent to concentration camps within France; eventually all the fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters were transported to Auschwitz and executed. Though this story is fictional, I learned a great deal of history through reading this book. The 'Vel d'Hiv', which happened on July 16 and 17, 1942, was the greatest mass arrest of Jewish individuals in France. Over ten thousand Jewish men, women, and children were rounded up that evening- not all of the Jews were born in France, but many of them were- French citizens by birth, sent across border lines to die in a concentration camp; this event is not something the French like to remember, as this mass arrest was not conducted by SS officers or the Gestapo, but by French officers under direct orders by the Vichy government. I was very interested in learning more about the Vel d'Hiv, since I had never learned about it in school or even in any of my other readings I have completed. While I was in Paris, I had no idea that such a thing had happened sixty years before, and that though there was no famous museum or monument to remind us of what is possible for humans to do to one another, there is a small plaque and museum near the Vel d'Hiv. One day when I got back to Paris, I will make sure to visit that location. Though it is often difficult to do so, it is good to be reminded of atrocities we have allowed to be committed; we must never forget so that we do not allow such things to happen again. "Always remember. Never forget."

Beloved by Toni Morrison is on my list of 100 novels, so I checked it out from our local library a few weeks ago. I understand the historical value and cultural significance of this novel, but honestly, it was a bit out there. I felt like I should have been sitting in Mrs. Massicotte's AP English class my junior year of high school, discussing all the symbolism and what Morrison meant by the number of individuals in Sethe's family or why Baby Suggs asked about orange or what was real versus surreal. I am an avid reader, but there are some novels which are best read in a classroom setting, where it's possible to delve into the complexities of the book's symbolism. Isaac asked me at one point, "Was the ending a surprise?" to which I responded, "I mean, the whole flippin' book, I had no idea what was going on. So yeah, I guess you could say it was a surprise." If you really want to read this book, I suggest reading it in a classroom setting or with a reading discussion group.

I really, really enjoyed The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Full of allegorical significance and well-written, you can read this book very quickly just because it's so enjoyable. I started and finished it during the drive back from Colorado, and let me tell you- this novel made the trek across Kansas bearable. It is the story of Santiago, a young shepherd who wants nothing more than to travel and see the world. Soon, Santiago begins having a dream about a child pointing him to a great treasure near the Great Pyramids of Egypt. Unsure of what the dream means, Santiago searches for help in interpreting the dream. Eventually, an old man approaches him, advising Santiago to sell his herd and set out on the quest to fulfill his Personal Legend. Santiago soon begins a journey that will change his life; he sails to Africa, looses all of his money, learns about crystal and the Arabic language, voyages across the Sahara, and meets a young woman named Fatima, as well as a world-famous alchemist. Through all of these events, Santiago struggles with the decision to give up his Personal Legend and settle for a mundane life of mediocrity or to carry on through life's trials and surprises in order to fulfill his Personal Legend so that he will be able to look back on life without regret. The story makes you excited about life, about traveling and seeing the world, about learning new things and experience different cultures, and about the chance to make the most of what we've been given so that, like Santiago, we will be able to look back on our life without regret, realizing we lived this blessed life to the fullest. This book has been translated from the original Portuguese into numerous languages, and I believe the beauty of the story and the language remains intact. Please, enjoy this read and let me know what you think.

In completely non-literary related news, one of my friends posted this video to her Facebook page:



For heaven's sake. Because I know when I'm hungry, I am more focused and perform better...riiiiiiiiight.

Not Just One...

...but two! This week, I got to meet two new precious souls. Please pray for the boys, their mother, their father, and their sister. The twins were born several weeks premature and will be in the NICU for some time.

Please meet D.

Anniversary Time

Today is our second wedding anniversary! Yes, we were one of those couples who got married on 07.07.07- but not because we thought that date was good luck or anything- it was the only date available at our reception site. Not that it mattered when we got married because we just wanted to be married. These are some of my favorite shots of us from the big day:

After the ceremony and walking down the aisle to Natalie King Cole's "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)". It was WAY fun!

Bubbles, bubbles everywhere!

Yes, I got him good. My momma (the woman who told me when I was a teenager, "If you don't smash cake at your wedding, I'm disowning you as my daughter.") was so proud!

Our groom's cake was in the shape of Africa. Someday we're going to live there among those beautiful people...

Thank you again to all of you who helped us celebrate our wedding some 731 days ago.

Happy Anniversary, Isaac- I love you!

July's Focus: Howard and Jannie of NAIM

Sorry for the delay in posting our focus for July- I was a bit distracted while on vacation (a picture-filled post coming soon) last week. This month, we've chosen our friends Howard and Jannie, whom we affectionately call the "Canadian Johnsons". We met Howard and Jannie while on our honeymoon in Canada; we were staying in a cabin in British Columbia, and they were spending the night at the lodge owned by the same couple. Each night, the owners of Griffin Lake Lodge (which we highly, highly recommend- amazing scenery, awesome food, and wonderful people) have a campfire near the lake. Guests are free to come and go, and our first night there, we decided to join the other individuals sitting around the fire.

We somehow began a conversation with Howard (originally from the States) and Jannie (originally from the Netherlands). Howard and Jannie work with NAIM (North America Indigenous Ministries), serving in Salmon Arm, British Columbia. It is amazing how the Lord reminds and affirms you of His plan for your life (even on your honeymoon); since we want to move overseas to serve the nations, it was encouraging to meet a couple who have been involved in the same mission for years. We admire the work to which they have so dedicated themselves, and the conversation by the campfire is one Isaac and I will never forget.

Howard and Jannie also write a blog that they update occasionally; feel free to check it out and drop them a note. In conversing with them and reading their email updates and blog posts, we know that working with the First Nations can be rather difficult; change is slow to come, as the people do not open up easily; with so many missionaries coming and going, forming deep relationships on either side is often difficult. Howard and Jannie's family, however, is beginning to form long-lasting relationships with the people they serve. They have been in Salmon Arm long enough to adjust their Canadian immigration status and purchase a house; all of these events have made the people of Salmon Arm realize Howard and Jannie are staying for more than just a season and have since truly begun to open up to their family. Please pray the Light of Christ would shine on the people near Salmon Arm, BC; pray for Howard and Jannie's family to have strength and endurance; pray for life-altering relationships to form and grow. Also, Howard and Janie are continually raising support to continue in their work, so I'm sure any donations would be appreciated.