Goals Update: February

Let me just preface this post with this: in comparison to January, I sucked it up majorly. The first few days of February were great...wonderful...productive.

And then the Olympics took over my life. And then because said Olympics took over my life, I didn't get enough sleep, which is probably the main contributing factor to my illness that developed. Now that said Olympics and illnesses are over, I am playing some catch up. But I'm still determined to work on my goals and not just give up (which is something I tend to do more often than not). So without further ado, take comfort in both my little successes and major failures this month:

Become a faithful member of the 5 am club. Complete and utter failure. I was doing so well until the Olympics! Staying up late to watch not only the sports, but also those dang emotional specials about sled dogs and polar bears and the warmth of the Canadian people (okay really, I believe Canada is one of the most beautiful countries; every time the opening credits begin on NBC and the camera pans over the snowy mountains, I start screaming, "Ahhh! I love it! So freakin' beautiful!" Really, ask the hubs) that always make me cry does not bode well for waking up five hours later. In addition to my obsession with the Olympics, getting sick definitely does not increase the likelihood I'll be up at 5:00 am. Since the Olympics are over (I am sad but oh so glad because I need SLEEP), and I'm on the road to recovery, I anticipate I will be more consistent in this endeavor. Thank goodness the Olympics only come every two years (London in 2012, heck yeah)!

Memorize 52 verses. I memorized several for my SWI class, but I really already knew most of them (Ephesians 2:8-9, John 1:12, Hebrews 9:27, and Romans 5:8; 3:23; 6:23). I was supposed to memorize Psalm 51:1-4 and Hebrews 8:10 for my systematic theology class, but since I didn't make it to an entire class this month (add that failure on top of everything else), that was a total bust. I am still planning on continuing with the class, but the next several Saturdays I've got some things booked and won't be able to fully participate. I have kept up with the reading though, so that's something.

Memorize (the first half) of the book of James. Honestly, I haven't even looked at the next batch of verses to memorize. Not rising early really throws me off of everything! I realize I only have ten months to memorize approximately 50 verses (in addition to the 52 from the previous goal). That's a lot, and I've got to step it up!

Continue in the SWI program. We are almost finished with our first term class; our final is this week.  The week after next, we'll begin our second term classes. I'm also attending what is known as Seminar Saturday this month; we attend five sessions, request the recorded lecture of three more, and then write our learning experience for each session. We also do a book review as well. I am excited about this; one of the sessions I'm attending is titled "How Not to Raise a Heathen", and that just makes me laugh (out loud).

Read through the Bible. Since getting sick, I am definitely playing catch up. I like to read my Bible in the morning, and since my body refused to wake up before 7:00 while it was sickly, I am now getting to enjoy extra long times with the Word in the morning. I'll be caught up by the end of this month for sure though. It's actually nice to read larger chunks at once too!

Continue to think through our family traditions. I didn't do much thinking this month except for: "Holy crap, I love the Olympics! I don't even care about Nordic combined and I am SO into this right now! I want to be a Nordic combined athlete! How awesome would that be! Or a short track star? I could do that too! Man, what if I were Norwegian...I would live on cross country skies!  My grandmother would shoot me if she knew I just sort of wished I was Norwegian.  I'm a SWEDE, dang it!  Go Swedes go!!!  Beat those dirty Norwegians!" and "My throat really freaking hurts. And my head. I need drugs. NOW. I feel terrible...I'm going back to bed." But with Lent in full swing and Easter approaching, I'm still researching the Passover Seder. If anyone has some good resources for that, please pass it along.

Communicate with our family (and friends) more. I've done well emailing everyone and talking to my mom several times, but that's about it. Shame on me. Jenny, go call your grandparents right now. NOW.

Build up our emergency fund. We put a good deal of money into our savings account over the past month, but it was mainly to ensure we had enough to pay for tuition for next term (the fall). Even though it's not technically our emergency fund, I feel better putting a little bit more money into our savings.

Make a huge dent in our car loan. Because we focused on putting enough money back into our savings account to pay for Isaac's fall semester of tuition, we only made one extra payment. But for the next several months, we are turning our attention back to paying down the car loan.

Cut our grocery bill. I am so frustrated with this one. I love meal planning, but I feel like I can't meal plan effectively and also be diligent about coupons (although I did get a completely free box of cereal and barbeque sauce when I went grocery shopping this weekend). My wonderful friend Steph is a stay-at-home mom to her precious three children, and she is a coupon fiend. She has an entire closet full of items she got for free or super cheap. She was going to show me how to coupon, but then she told me a few weeks ago, "After I thought about it, I don't think you can coupon to this extent because you work full time." So, hmm...if you have any ideas, help! I really like meal planning a month at a time because I hate going grocery shopping. Really, I would rather clean toilets than go grocery shopping.

Develop a consistent and workable cleaning schedule. Ha....ha. But hey, the house has stayed pretty clean! It's just not due to any schedule.

Read 30 books. Holding steady. I finished five this month, including finally conquering The Portrait of a Lady- reviews coming soon!

Scrapbook. Good golly Ms. Molly. I've got nothing for you. I didn't even make it to my friend's scrapbooking party at the beginning of the month. I have a bad feeling about this goal...I'm going to have to use my vacation days just to get caught up!

Continue blogging. I definitely did not blog as much this month, but I do have a few book reviews I'm working on right now. I'm sure if the Olympics weren't distracting me, I would have totally dominated the blogosphere. Riiiiiiiight...

On the lighter side, I earned another $15 to Amazon from Swagbucks. Come on and join me; you know you want to!

I hoped you fared better in the month of February than I did!  Even if you didn't, keep working toward those goals- they will be worth it in the end!

And oh yes, Happy Birthday to my beloved brother today!

Saint Patrick

With everyone's favorite green and shamrock holiday rapidly approaching, I couldn't help but choose anything but a short biography of the saint himself to review next for Thomas Nelson. Saint Patrick is one in a series of several biographies published by Thomas Nelson in the Christian Encounters series. Other biographies included in the collection include Isaac Newton, Jane Austen (Gasp! I picked the Saint over Austen? What is the world coming to?), John Bunyan, and Winston Churchill. Late summer should see more individuals added to the collection: St. Francis, Anne Bradstreet, and J.R.R. Tolkien, among others.

When I saw that Saint Patrick was the focus of one biography, I was immediately intrigued. Sure, I've read many of the same legends (Patrick casting out the snakes of Ireland...apparently, not true) as the next person, but they were generally written in a children's format. I was hoping this book would be filled to the brim of details of Patrick's life and his mission to reach the people of Ireland.

Unfortunately, the book was more of a general overview of his life, but not because the author failed to do his research. On the contrary, Jonathan Rogers did an exemplary job of researching not only Patrick's life, but also the many historical aspects needed to truly understand the world in which Patrick lived. However, there just isn't much truly legitimate factual information recorded about Patrick; most of our conceptions of the famed saint are derived from folklore and legend. I admire Rogers for explaining the dearth of accurate and historical accounts of Patrick and then using what little we do know for sure to paint the best possible picture of Patrick's life.

There are two things I truly liked about this book; one of the best things about this book is that it includes Patrick's own writings: The Confession and The Letter. Truly, these two pieces of history give us the best glimpse of who Patrick was. The other is how Rogers explains how utterly foreign the concept of mission could be to the Christians in Patrick's era. Many in Britain wondered why Patrick would choose to go to Ireland- a place characterized by savage pagans and warring tribes. Indeed, even though Patrick was a bishop when he left for Ireland, his official duty was not to evangelize among the unbelievers, but to minister to the few Christians who were there. Patrick refused to concern himself with only believers while ignoring those in desparate need of a Savior and set about the work of his Lord Jesus; because of this, Ireland was the first nation which converted to Christianity before bowing to the Roman Empire.

I appreciate Thomas Nelson for beginning this project; we can learn so much from different heroes of the faith; Patrick can well be considered one of those heroes.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The Microbes Invading My Body

Over the past two days, my life has consisted of tissues (multiple boxes already), DayQuil, NiQuil, Zicam, chicken noodle soup, and apple juice.

I am totally down for the count, friends.  I'm hoping it's just this invading my body, but it is rapdily turning into this.  At least it's not this. 

How did I find out about such a website?  I kid you not, my officemates have this one sitting out in our office.  We play with it on occasion.  Go check out the site and have fun...or be thoroughly grossed out.

As for me, I'm going back to bed.

A New Favorite Commercial

I just got back from a fun-filled girls' night, complete with homemade pizza, pregnancy and birth chat, and Bollywood workouts.  Oh yes.  And I was also introduced to this commercial, quite possibly one of the funniest I have ever seen.



Now back to the Olympics!

The Celebration of Lent

The season of Lent, unfortunately, is not one which many Protestants recognize as important, but celebrating Lent through sacrifice can be one of the abundant times of growth in your spiritual life. My great friend Jess just wrote a great piece concerning Lent; please read her words and consider this season. In her post, Jess included one of my favorite excerpts from the book Treasuring God in Our Traditions by Noel Piper.  I don't know how many times I've referenced this book on this blog, but I know it's a lot; seriously, if you don't own already, this is definitely not only a 'must-read' but a 'must-own'.  You will go back to it time and time again! Piper explains the reason and meaning of Lent:

“It is a time for turning away from anything that has kept us from God and for turning or returning to him. It is a time to pray that God will renew our love for him and our dependence on him.”

Each year, I try to choose something from which to fast and sometimes determine something specific which needs to be added into my life. This year, I am willingly giving up facebook and (not so) willingly giving up chocolate. I don't think either one of these things is inherently evil, but I do know that I end up piddling away a great amount of time on facebook and that my recent consumption of (large amounts of) chocolate has been rather unhealthy. Instead of the time I would literally waste on facebook, I'm going to focus on community and developing deeper relationships with the people around me- most importantly our community group through church.

Though the season of Lent is only forty days (which may seem like an eternity when fasting from all chocolate in every form), I know that what I learn and experience in the next several weeks will have a great impact on my life. Have you considered fasting from something during the season of Lent?

And the Winner Is...

The winner of the SpendYourself t-shirt is...

Michele from Musings From a Confused Mind.  Congratulations!  I will be contacting you soon for your order information, Michele.

Michele chose the Espere shirt, which is SpendYourself's newest shirt and benefits earthquake relief in Haiti.  Read more about the shirt and project here.

Even if you weren't the winner, I hope you will still continue to support SpendYourself.  Be sure to keep up with their website, as they are always working on new clothing!

Dwelling in His Presence

This is my first review for NavPress, a company that publishes some phenomenal material every year. When I saw NavPress had a Cynthia Heald book available for review, I jumped at the opportunity to get my hands on it. I haven't read a great deal of Heald's work, but everything I've read so far has been outstanding. This work is just a simple devotional, but it was very well done.

Dwelling in His Presence is designed as a thirty-day devotional; each day includes Scripture on which to meditate, a life-story or illustration, several thought-provoking questions, and finally some insight from heroes of the faith as well as a closing prayer. The phrases included from heroes of the faith (such as C.S. Lewis, Andrew Murray, Charles Spurgeon and the like) were so very encouraging and humbling. I hope that by going through this devotional the reader will be exposed to such people and their writings and further explore the amazing influence they have had on believers throughout the world.

The devotions are not by any means long or lengthy and so it is possible to add this book into your usual time with the Lord. And while it claims itself as "A Devotional for Today's Woman", I don't remember anything that would preclude men from enjoying the devotionals as while. Undoubtedly, there is a slightly feminine slant, simply because of the flowers on the cover and the fact that a woman was the author, but the truths are still real and relevant. I highly recommend this short devotional for anyone.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from NavPress Publishers as part of their Blogger Review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

What is the What

Holy Moses.  This book was incredibly difficult to read.  It was amazing, but incredibly difficult.  I like reading books dealing with refugee issues (as if you couldn't tell by the steady slew of reviews of such books); while the stories told by such books are heart-wrenching, there is usually a silver lining toward the end (i.e. the refugee is resettled or the situation improves in their home country so they are able to be repatriated).  Those books usually end there; they don't go in details about their resettlement experience.  What is the What however, does an excellent job of not only discussing Achak's experience in Sudan but also his experience as a refugee in the United States.  And wow, does it give me motivation and encouragement to do my job and do it well.

What is the What is technically classified as a novel, although everything in the book is historically accurate.  Ahack (the narrator) explains that since many specific events in Sudan happened when he was such a young boy, he and the author (the friggin' amazing Dave Eggers) determined to simply call the book a novel.  Achak opens his story not with his boyhood in Sudan, but as an adult living in Atlanta as a refugee- as one of the famous "Lost Boys", in fact.  The tone of the book is determined from the beginning; he is not triumphant and successful after coming to America.  He is struggling with school, work, and acceptance by the American people.  Achak's story flows smoothly between his experiences in the United States and his trek across Sudan into Ethiopia and back again as a young boy.  Both stories are amazing examples of the resiliency of the human spirit and the courage to not only survive, but to do something far more difficult: to hope.

I encourage you to read this book.  You will not only glean more understanding about the situation in Sudan (including Darfur), but you will also get a glimpse of the refugee perspective of America.  And while Achak is grateful for his chance to live in America, his experience here is not always the fairy tale ending to a painful and difficult childhood.  After one incident, he writes, "We refugees can be celebrated one day, helped and lifted up, and then utterly ignored by all when we prove to be a nuisance.  When we find trouble here, it is invariably our own fault."  Friends, let us not ignore those around us- and not just only the refugee- who are hurting and in end of help.  Let us refrain from judging those who are different or new to our country and culture.  Let us not heap burning coals upon their scarred heads and battered hearts.  Instead, let us offer healing hands and hope.  Practically speaking, this offering of hope will look different from community to community and person to person.  On the whole however, simply look for ways you can help the marginalized and the down-trodden.  Sometimes all it takes is the time to simply listen to their story, to understand their situation, and to be their friend.  The smallest of things can bring the greatest of hopes.

Don't forget to enter the SpendYourself giveaway!  Blog about SpendYourself to get two entries and to inspire hope!

Snow Day

Today, we celebrated our first official snow day in Kentuckiana.  Now the schools have already been closed several times this year for snow and ice, but my agency, as well as the seminary, remained open in the past.  But today, there was enough accumulation for just about everywhere to call it quits (including the agency, which apparently pretty much never happens).  The snow isn't coming down any more, but most people are more concerned about the re-freeze that will happen this evening.  Of course, the weather is nothing like what the DC and Baltimore areas have seen recently, but Louisville doesn't get too much snow each year, so we'll take what we can get.

In light of our surprise snow day, we decided to venture out for a bit.  I love freshly fallen snow; it is simply one of the most beautiful scenes in the world...

My Super Bowl Pick

Today, I will be cheering on the New Orleans Saints.  I really, really want them to win the Super Bowl.  Now I realize most of Louisville will probably be rooting for the Colts since we are a good deal closer to Indianapolis than we are to New Orleans; however, I'm sticking to my decision to go with the Saints.  Here are my reasons:

1) They are from the South.  I'm from the South.  I like it that way.

2) I like to root for the underdog (unless, of course, said underdog is playing Florida, and then I just talk smack about how the underdog shouldn't be playing in the big leagues).

3) I like the city of New Orleans.  Now, I've never actually been to Indianapolis, but I'm pretty sure New Orleans will trump Indianapolis in terms of the awesome-ness factor any day.

4) I mean, come on, they've never been to the Super Bowl before.  How awesome would that be if they won their first trip there?

5) Peyton Manning is the quarterback for the Colts. Manning was the quarterback for Tennessee while he was in college. Gag.me.with.a.spoon.

The Fun Theory

I have to climb three flights of stairs everyday to get to my office.  I simply refuse to use the elevator (which is about as bad as the infamous elevator in Bucharest, in my opinion).  In addition to the three flights to get to my desk in the morning, I often find myself traversing the steps to the third floor to speak with other co workers and get some chocolate from our wonderful accountant. I think at our next staff meeting, I'll bring up this idea to improve our stairs and therefore, everyone's climbing experience:

February's Focus: Haiti

In light of the recent events in Haiti, our family has chosen to donate money to Compassion International's Disaster Relief fund for Haiti as our Focus of the Month for February. We support and trust Compassion in the work they are doing not only in Haiti, but all over the world; we know that Compassion will use the funds wisely in order to best serve the people of Haiti.  There are many other reputable agencies and associations whom are providing assistance to the Haitian people; I encourage everyone to support them in any way you can.  Compassion has a blog where you can keep up with developments in Haiti; click here to read it.

As with most natural disasters and horrific events, we were bombarded by the media with images and stories from the rubble of Haiti. But already, there is less and less attention being given to the Haitian situation, and soon enough, the people of Haiti will no longer be in our thoughts. It is important to remember that even after the spotlight is shifted somewhere else, the people of Haiti are still in need. I pray that we would remember these precious souls over the coming weeks and months.

In addition, it looks as though some Haitians will be granted a specific status which enables them to come to the United States for a temporary time (and will hopefully be given the opportunity to appeal for a more permanent status if they so desire). I encourage you to see how you might be able to serve these people who will become new residents of your community. Practically speaking (and depending on the agency providing services), you can donate items needed to set up a welcoming and comfortable home (furniture, sheets, towels, toiletries, kitchen items, etc), provide financial assistance, and help teach these individuals English. Contacting your local refugee resettlement agency is the best place to start, as these Haitians will be receiving services through programs similar to those through which refugees are resettled.

Also, a brief update about Brian and Audra (our January focus): they have had promising news lately, and it appears as though a sibling group of four will be placed with them! Please continue praying for them and their children.  Be sure to follow the updates on their blog here.