ADORABLE!

Shame? What is that again?

 

Not pictured: the Iron Man mask I wore, the toy Mjolnir I wielded and the embarrassment of my immediate family members.

Silhouette Avengers

Found these great Avengers artworks today, lovely character silhouette’s of each of the characters. All of them are lovely, but Captain America and Hulk are my favorites.

Awesome, right? Check the rest of them out at liveforfilms!

Sharing My Playlist – Avengers Edition!

I am so excited about Avengers so all my songs this week are related to the movie. Okay, I love this song because it’s so thumpy and repetitive. There’s a barely restrained rage in this song that fits in how Loki is portrayed in the film, all simmering anger and desperate need to prove himself.

Oh, Captain America, nothing better describes the mixture of cheesiness and heart that was your movie than this song. It’s over the top and full of dancing rockettes and yet, when you think of Steve Rogers and his heart for serving his country and do-good nature, the song just fits. Stalwart and steady and true, indeed. Sing it, ladies! HAHAH! This was the song I wanted for Tony and when I went to youtube, there were already several fanvids for this song for Iron Man. I love the internet. Really, listen to the lyrics, this song is perfect for the ego-driven monster that is Tony Stark/Iron Man.

Hawkeye and Black Widow are two of the Avengers who are ordinary humans…or as ordinary as you can be when you’re the worlds greatest marksman or a beautiful international spy. Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff are two of my favorite S.H.I.E.L.D. employees because they fight with everything they have, even though they don’t have superpowers. They fight because they believe in the cause, they fight side by side with the rest of the Avengers to protect the world and it’s incredibly heroic.

Can you guess who this song is for? “I keep having this dream, I’m at a party and there’s people throwing drinks and screaming telling me I don’t belong”. All about not fitting in, being alienated by friends and loved ones, being changed and unloved…oh yeah, this is a song that’s perfect for the Hulk. It also amuses me to image the Hulk (or Bruce Banner) donning a hat and doing a little soft shoe to this ditty.

 

Thor is a great movie, but Thor has never been my favorite superhero. I’ve always thought that he’s boring. (It doesn’t help that I’ve always found Loki so interesting). I have to admit, that I like this song for Thor because I kind of view him as a big lug who could be singing this to Jane…or to Mjolnir, his trusty hammer.

 

Fight as One – The theme song for the animated Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. This song is running through my head this week…Avengers Assemble! I can’t wait for the movie to come out!

Walk like an Avenger

Heh, my humor is so juvenile. I’m loving these variant covers for Avengers comics. They each are in the style of art throughout the ages and, of course, my favorite is the hieroglyphic one. Besides the fun art of each of the Avengers, I love the looming shadow of Loki.

Check out of the rest of the covers here at Comicvine!

Avengers Assemble Here!

Just so you know…this blog is going to be Avengers-heavy for the next week. (My brain is going to be Avengers-heavy for the next week, actually) This isn’t really an apology…because I am proud of my geekiness, it’s more like an alert. The thunderstorm warning system of blogging, only instead of gusty winds and scattered hail, you’ll get movie posters and assorted trivia. Enjoy (or seek shelter)!

What I’m Reading This Week

This week all my books were recommendations (except Enders Game but that was just on my list of rereads). I had taken tips from a few friends and lists and requested a bunch of books from the library, it just turned out that the ones that came in were mostly young adult….and odd.

When Jeff Comes Home – Catherine Atkins

This book is apparently inspired/based on the Stephen Stayner kidnapping, about a boy who was abducted and lived with their kidnapper for a long period before coming home. In the real case, Stayner was held for seven years before he escaped, in the story Jeff was held for 2 years before his kidnapper takes him home. The book deals with his conflicting emotions about being home, trying to fit into his family and friends, and coping with the abuse done to him by his kidnapper. It was hard to understand what you wanted for the characters, obviously you wanted Jeff to be happy and healthy, but the father in the book seemed emotionally abusive to his other children so it was hard to feel happy when Jeff opens up to him. The other authority figures were horrible, the police were incompetent and the FBI agent seemed like a predator. That aspect bothered me a lot, there was no way that Jeff would have been treated that way by law enforcement. The book wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t that great either. The recommendation I got for this was “this book changed my life” and so I probably set my expectations a little high. 

Among the Hidden – Margaret Peterson Haddix

This is a story about a society in which the world was struck with famine and the government has stepped in with strict rules, including one that families can only have two children. The book follows Luke, a third child or “shadow child” as he hides from the threat of the population police. He finds another shadow child nearby and learns about the world through her, discovering that things aren’t exactly what they seem. This book was a great short story, but a weak novel. Err…scratch that. I just checked Amazon and it turns out that this is the first book in a series. That makes more sense. (I still maintain that this would have been a lovely short story in a sci-fi anthology)

The Magicians – Lev Grossman

I’m reading this along with Sword and Laser and so far it’s pretty good. They say that it’s a grown-up Harry Potter with Narnia bits thrown in. I’ve not gotten far into it, but it’s interesting and I love reading in a group!

The Creek – Jennifer L. Holm

…I haven’t actually read this yet. Or know where it’s currently hiding. I may need to track this down.

Oh, I also finished The Hum and The Shiver (finally!) and boy did that novel pick up at the end. The supernatural elements also increased, but there was never a lot of description. The novel just sort of…stopped. It was a good ending, but I wanted more answers, more assurances of what was going to happen to the characters.

Book Sale!

Hunter thinks the amount of books I got this weekend is nuts. Three bags isn’t so bad! One whole bag was for my mom and a half bag was for the women’s shelter so it’s not like they were ALL for me.

Yeah…okay…it is a lot of books. But I had a lot of fun at the sale! My archenemy was there and took every sci-fi book from that section, but I snagged a couple of classics from a different section and laughed in his general direction. (I’m soooo mature) I also got some amazing books in the history section and they had a great science section this year too. Yay books!

Control Issues: Car Edition

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
   the world, and all who live in it;
for he founded it upon the seas
   and established it upon the waters.

Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?
   Who may stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
   who does not lift up his soul to an idol
   or swear by what is false.
He will receive blessing from the Lord
   and vindication from God his Savior.
Such is the generation of those who seek him,
   who seek your face, O God of Jacob. Selah

Lift up your heads, O you gates;
   be lifted up, you ancient doors,
   that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
   The Lord strong and mighty,
   the Lord mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O you gates;
   lift them up, you ancient doors,
   that the King of glory may come in.
Who is he, this King of glory?
   The Lord Almighty—
   he is the King of glory. Selah
Psalm 24: 1- 10

Today I sat in my newly repaired car and tried to will it to stay working. Did I suddenly think I had inherited the powers of a technopath (if they actually existed…)? No. I just thought that someone needed to be in control of the car and I decided to be that someone. It didn’t work. I heard weird metallic rattles when I pressed on the gas, the car shook when I braked and at a stoplight it almost died on me. Finally I yelled out, “what am I doing wrong here?!”

God was quick to answer that what I was doing wrong was having “I” involved at all. The problem wasn’t really the car, it was the fact that I had decided that I could be in control. I got selfish about the time and money and effort that had been put into getting the car repaired. Then I got scared about the possibilities of future problems and just how I could or couldn’t cope with that. Then I took that selfishness and that fear and used it as justification for taking control. I pushed God right out of the situation and planted myself firmly in charge. And it was going soooo wonderfully.

Even seeing where I had gone wrong, it wasn’t easy to give up control. I wanted God to promise me that if I gave back the car and trusted Him, that He was going to make sure everything stayed working. But that’s not really trust. I needed to be okay with giving back control to God without knowing what was going to happen to the car. I needed to recognize God’s authority and submit to that with a willing and trusting heart. It took some time, a brief detour to a parking lot so I could pray and apologize and then loads of repeated prayers as I struggled to not wrench back control…but I did it. I handed over the car to God and trusted Him to provide for me. Of course, God took care of me in an awesome way and there were no issues at all with the car. Even better, I spent the drive praising God for giving me the chance to trust Him, for taking care of me and for always being in charge.

Oh, how things have changed…

When I was a teenager, I purposely signed up for nursery duty when my pastor announced he was going to be preaching from Revelation. I had less-than-no interest in the subject and happily skipped learning about it. Over the years that hasn’t changed much, I never really cared much about the book or the subject matter. Sure, I read Left Behind and I think I even watched (part) of the film, but even that hype couldn’t interest me for very long.

Obviously that all has changed with the current sermon series on Revelation where I’m attending at Judson Memorial. I’ve been praying that I have an open mind and an open heart to hear what God is teaching me through this material and it seems to be working. Yesterday the pastor handed out a ditto with charts about the letters to the seven churches and I was terribly excited about it. I love dittos! Then he said we should hold onto it while he preaches about the letters over the next seven weeks. Years ago, that would have depressed or terrified me. But yesterday the news not only excited me, but I immediately jotted it down so I could make sure to be there for each of those Sundays!

I’d like to say that I’ve matured (which is true) and that I’ve grown to appreciate all of God’s word (which is also true) but the only way to explain this change is God. He has definitely softened my heart to this subject and given me a desire to learn, which is pretty awesome.

Happy Birthday Hunter & Cubby!

One year ago, Hunter and Cubby were born. (Or as close as we can know since I got them when they were a couple months old) They have grown so much over this past year and it’s been awesome to see their personalities develop. Hunter was a teeny little girl who still wasn’t used to eating hard food and whose ears were bigger than the rest of her. Cubby was a sleek little fuzzball who loved climbing onto tall things but then was too scared to get down. These days Hunter has grown into her ears but still has a huge personality. She gets very loud when she doesn’t get her milk at night, she loves chasing laser lights and she gets scared of the fire truck when it blasts past our house. Cubby is a big enough cat that he can jump down from any tall place…but he’s still sort of a chicken. He’ll run and hide at the slightest movement unless he’s got a pop cap to protect. Our house is filled with plastic pop cap lids that Cubby loves to play with. He’ll knock one down the stairs, chase it, pick it up in his mouth to carry back up the stairs and all start all over again. Hunter, of course, doesn’t mess with all that nonsense. She just waits at the bottom to steal the pop cap away. I love her, but she can be a bully. Both cats enjoy playing on the computer with me, Cubby likes to watch Doctor Who while Hunter is more entertained when I’m reading. Their recent fascination is with pipe cleaners…although their birthday hats may have cured them of their love.

Feel free to check out my kitties album for more pics!

What I’m Reading This Week

With new library fines on late books, I’m making more of an effort to actually read the books I check out each week. There are plenty of times I pick up a stack of books and turn them back in without ever cracking them open. I’m also trying to be more selective in what I check out, quality over quantity. Although you get hits and misses in every bunch and my misses this week seem to all be focused on the fact that while I tried to pay closer attention to what I was checking out, I didn’t seem to be focusing that closely.

Lost Christianities: The battles for scripture and the faiths we never knew – Bart D. Ehrman

I got this due to a recent conversation about how the bible was put together and why certain books were chosen. I thought this would be along those lines but it was more about what was left out and how people in the early church had different texts. I know my brain and how easy it is for me to find reason in things so I quit reading in the first chapter. It might be a perfectly fine book, but it wasn’t really on the topic I needed.

Bound By Guilt – C.J. Darlington

I didn’t realize this was a sequel when I picked it up, and I’m glad that skipped my notice because I really enjoyed this novel and I would have passed otherwise. The story follows Roxi, a teen stuck in a bad situation that only gets worse when she’s involved in a robbery/homicide. The other half of the book follows the fiancé and sister of the man killed (who are characters from the previous novel) and their search to find the culprits. I really enjoyed the characterizations, and the story was paced well even with the switching between characters. For a Christian novel the focus on God was surprisingly light, but it was handled well when it was present. The only problem I had was that the ending felt like it was vague on what happened to all the characters, although that might be just set-up for a third novel in the series.

The Hum And The Shiver – Alex Bledsoe

I’ve had this book for a couple of weeks and am still stuck in the first 75 pages. It’s interesting but I’m struggling to get connected to the characters and the plot. It doesn’t help that I picked up the book based on the bit of the back cover that talked about a woman returning home injured from Iraq…and it turns out there is some quasi-supernatural aspects to the book. I don’t mind supernatural elements in my fiction, I just didn’t know that was what was going on in this book. Curse those stupid stickers that cover the back cover!

The Girls Guide to Homelessness: A Memoir  – Brianna Karp

My best friend works at a women’s homeless shelter so the stories of homeless women have been on my mind lately. Again with the theme of checking things out without paying close attention, I didn’t catch the little pink “a memoir” on the front cover. This book wasn’t so much a guide as it was Karp’s story of her life, the title taken from her website, which, to be fair, does deal with homeless life. For my own tastes, the book dealt more with Karp’s family past and romantic relationship than I was interested in. I was more interested in her life and perspective as a homeless person and those parts of the book kept me the most interested. I appreciated her views on how people try to pigeonhole the homeless with their own ideas of who/how/why someone is in that situation. She dealt with people saying she didn’t ‘count’ as homeless because she had a job or nominal housing. Another part I appreciated was her perspective on so-called luxuries. People get so upset when they see a homeless person with a cell phone, laptop, good clothes or eating anything better than scraps, judging them as spending resources foolishly. Her quote from pg 109, “Whenever I meet a homeless person, I assume that if she were financially or mentally capable of affording and maintaining a home, then she would be in one, regardless of any “luxury” items I see in her possession. It’s that clear cut for me.” I need to remind myself of that more often when I find myself judging others, whether they are homeless or not.

Geek Widsom: The sacred teachings of nerd culture – Stephen H. Segal

Oh, this book. It’s a compilation of quotes from video games, movies, comics, tv and even t-shirts with commentary talking about how they help define or speak to geek culture. It’s no secret that I identify as a geek and this book had many of my favorite quotes. The commentary was insightful and funny (loved the footnotes!) and I found myself reading bits out loud to friends and family. As much as I loved the quotes that I was familiar with, what really pleased me was all the ones that were new to me. After I was finished reading, I flipped back through to write down a list of movies and books that I want to check out now. My only complaint? Too short!

Uh…that last book is The Hot Zone by Richard Preston and that’s actually one of my own books. I have a not-so-secret passion for epidemiology and I happily devour books, movies and tv shows on the subject. Preston is my favorite author in the subject because of this book and his novel, The Cobra Event. He writes in such a clinical way that there really isn’t a huge difference in writing styles between his fiction and nonfiction and he beautifully straddles that line between scientific explanation and watering it down for the masses. I always feel smarter after reading one of his books. These are my comfort books, the ones I read when I just want to get lost for a bit, one or the other is usually next to my bed. (I am aware that this might make me seem weird, I don’t care. The heart wants what the heart wants and mine wants deadly viruses.)

Jenny, Jenny, quite contrary

My garden is growing quite well these days, and I needed to repot some of the tomato plants. Heather showed me her Paper Pot Maker the other day and I loved the idea. The only problem for me was that the pots were small and I was already making pots that size out of toilet paper rolls. My tomato plants had grown enough that I needed larger pots. So I took the principle of the paper pot maker and just supersized it. I cut strips of newspaper and wrapped them around a pop can, pushed in the bottom and packed them full of soil. They turned out great!

Refocusing

In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Yesterday I drew up a chart on notebook paper and carefully plotted out the car schedule for the upcoming week. Last week we found out that we had a broken crankshaft pulley that comes with a large repair bill. Since finances dictate that the repair won’t happen for at least a week, a car sharing system needs to exist. I was dreading the moment all weekend. Oh, I knew that there wouldn’t be a lot of problems with the actual sharing…my family can be both generous and kind when it comes to this sort of thing. My trepidation came from the fact that I had a bad attitude about the whole thing. After dealing with the car issues for days, I was burnt out and wanting nothing more to do with the situation. Despite my best efforts, the car was busted, the money wasn’t there and now I was looking at a week of begging for rides and making the most of every trip out. I didn’t want to make a car sharing schedule…I just wanted the problem to be fixed! I was just grumpy.

Then I went to church. I knew that without a car I might have to miss service (Judson Memorial is too far away to walk) but on Saturday I tried my hardest to figure out a way there. My friend could swing by and bring me home, but she would have already been in church when service started for me, so she couldn’t give me a ride there. I spent a long time staring confusedly at the bus schedule before realizing that my options either involved transferring buses and getting there after service had started or staying on one bus and having to walk several blocks. Neither option sounded great, especially since it was forecasted to be stormy the next morning. Thankfully, my Aunt was able to give me a ride on her way to church and I was thankful to spend that time with her on the way. It made me realize that my attitude with the car had been very grumbly. I had thanked God for the few things that had gone right…but I hadn’t had a spirit of thankfulness over all.

Being thankful for everything seems illogical. Why would you be thankful when things don’t work out right? Why would you be grateful for a rough situation? There have been times in my life where I have taken these words to a very literal conclusion and have thanked God for broken shoelaces and spilled milk. That may be the intent of the verse here, but to be frank, that didn’t really help me. I felt as if I was lying to both myself and God. I didn’t really feel grateful for my broken shoelace but I said the words in hope that obedience would count for something. Now I think I view this verse as a reminder to me about the fact that I should always be praising God, no matter what is currently going on in my life. God is always worthy of praise and for me to think that my current situation makes that less true is the height of arrogance. It may be hard for me to see the good in my circumstances, but it isn’t hard for me to remember that God is in charge. I know that He loves me and He will take care of me. Those are things that I can always be thankful for in any circumstance.

Sharing my playlist

Here’s what is on my golist for this week - My Stupid Mouth – John Mayer My stupid mouth Has got me in trouble I said too much again Such a great song for people who feel like their mouths work against them sometimes. Never Let Me Go – Rachel Portman I love the retro sound and big trumpets that takes this from melancholy to nostalgic. If You Ever Came Back – The Script This is a song that is easy to sing along with and paints a lovely picture. I love the idea that there is always a place at home for you, ready if you want to come back. Kids of 88 – Just a Little Bit This is my new song to blast when I’m doing dishes, cleaning or just when I feel the need to bounce around the room. It’s fast and loud and fun!

Attack of the 50ft Side Dish

Tonight was new recipe night and I had planned to make meatless burritos with Spanish rice and beans. The only part of the recipe that I was unclear on was the rice, since all the recipe called for was ‘4 cups cooked rice’. Where was I supposed to get cooked rice? I mean, I could just pick some up at China Moon (which I’ve done before) but that seemed like cheating. I really wanted to make everything for dinner so I picked up a couple of bags of rice at the grocery store. The bags were small and didn’t look like 4 cups, so I got two of them.

First of all, I’ve been spoiled by rice cookers. You dump the rice in with the water, push the button and like magic…rice! There’s even a little light or a bell that goes ding! How awesome is that? Trying to cook rice without the rice cooker involves measuring things, big pots and instructions. I don’t mind instructions when I’m cooking, but I’d rather they be of the “cook till color looks good” or “season to taste” variety. The rice instructions were rigid and boring and so I did what I do when faced with boring tasks…I got completely distracted. I dumped both bags of rice into the pot, filled it with water and ran back to my game of Angry Birds as quick as I could.

Eventually I wandered back into the kitchen and saw the rice was boiling, which I thought it was supposed to do, so I turned the heat down, stuck a lid on and found a book to read. The instructions said it was supposed to simmer for 45-50 minutes. THAT’S ALMOST AN HOUR! I could have spent that time preparing the rest of my meal, but I was frustrated at myself for not having gone to buy take-out rice so I spent the time reading and playing with the cats. Finally my phone alarm went off and I went in the kitchen to find…well…

Just pretend that instead of a loaf of bread, it was a pot of rice and instead of pushing Lucy across the kitchen, instead it was pressing her against the roof. (Also, I didn’t have an Ethel. Why don’t I have an Ethel?) There on my stovetop was a pan overflowing with rice. It had filled my huge pot and popped the lid up in the air. I stared in shock, wondering what I needed to do here…and wondering if it was possible for the rice to have gained sentience in the past hour. Did I remove it from the heat? Did I take off the lid? Did I ask it to take me to its leader? I opted for attacking it with several bowls and spoons, hoping to beat it into submission.

There was moans and screeches and rice splattered all over the kitchen by the time I was finished. But I did finish, and here I sit with a perfectly tasty rice and bean burrito…and massive amounts of rice stored in my fridge.

HAHAHAHAHA

This never fails to make me laugh!

Mobile post

Getting serpentine belt replaced. Told guys I was nervous about driving over bays and they cheered me through it. Felt like I was in parade!

Attn: To everyone I’ve told this joke

It’s much funnier with a little cartoon alligator, right?

Seedlings 2: Electric Boogaloo

Things are popping up in my bedroom window which actually sounds really creepy all written out and I’m incredibly grateful that I’m on the second story right now. Anyways, there are tiny plants! Hooray!   

So far it’s just the tomato plants that have sprouted and some have even grown enough that I’ve moved them into their own tiny pots, but I think everything else is coming along nicely. This is so exciting!

Candy canes, beach balls and Mars

Last night I saw John Carter in the coziest theater at Celebration Cinema. Cozy was fine since there were only about 10 of us seeing the film. The original plan to see Wrath of the Titans was hijacked, but it turned out that John Carter was a good choice. I had a lot of fun mocking and laughing and the whole Edgar Rice Burroughs as a character in the movie amused me. Overall, the film seemed very well made, and while I wouldn’t see it again or anything, it did keep me interested. Well…mostly, I did succumb and eat a candy cane at one point for the sugar rush. (Yes, I know it’s April but Hershey’s Chocolate Mint Candy Canes are a year round treat!) And the funniest bit of the night was when my friend tried to inflate the beach ball she uses for lumbar support subtly and kind of completely failed. But other than that, it was a pretty good time.  The one bit that I thought was different was the odd xylophone type sound effects that happened at times. It was a jarring note because I came into this expecting an action film and those sound effects (and other things) made the film a bit more Disney-fied. My taste in movies definitely runs towards the comic book action with big explosions and fire and robots. Some aspects of this film almost made me look at it like it was animated…which I suppose it could have been. They probably wouldn’t have lost anything acting-wise because, let’s face it, the Tharks were the best actors and they were CGI creations. In conclusion, I’m happy that movies are being made from books, I really want a superfast Martian dog and despite having seen it several times….the Avengers preview continues to make smile.

Edit: Check out this video at io9 to see a preview that will make you actually want to see this film.

Seedlings!

So this year my veggie garden is being started as seedlings. Uh…actually, that happens every year, only usually the seedlings are grown in a greenhouse or farm or the magic land that makes tomato plants before I buy them at Home Depot. This year I started with seeds and am attempting to make my own little nursery. When we got the seeds, we also picked up one of those seed starter kits, that has the planter and     little peat discs and everything and while that’s great…I had way more seeds than what could fit in 32 slots. So I looked online and found a great idea for seedlings…toilet paper roll pots! They are free (with purchase of toilet paper), you don’t need them and they are super cute! Look how adorable they are!

You just cut the roll in half, cut little slots in the end of each half and fold them in. Best yet, when it’s time to plant the seedlings, you can just pop the whole thing in and the cardboard roll with just biodegrade. How awesome is that? Now I have plenty of spaces to grow lots of veggies and flowers…oh, and I’m going to try to grow catnip as well. Because why should the people get all the garden goodies?

Never Fails

Once when I was in junior high, I stood inside a classroom and did a (hilarious) impersonation of my history teacher. It was more sarcastic than mean, but still pretty disrespectful. It wasn’t until my friends stopped laughing that I realized that I had forgotten to close the door and that my teacher had walked up behind me. I could have laughed it off, but my natural response to social embarrassment is to apparently injure myself. I apologized and flailed about and hit myself in the nose with my history textbook. Thankfully my teacher figured that surprise nosebleeds are punishment enough and my impersonation was ignored.

You’d think my tendency to cause myself injury would have been something I grew out of eventually, but that hasn’t proven true. Like, at all. Another day, another chance for me to embarrass myself as I stopped at my friends house to take out their trash while they were on vacation. They have odd observant neighbors (doesn’t everybody?) and I was trying very hard not to look like a random person coming to steal a garbage can. In my effort to be all nonchalant, I caught my shoelace under the wheel of the can and almost fell over. I pinwheeled my arms, saved myself from a faceplant and tried to see if anyone saw anything. Of course, there across the street stood the neighbors, watching me flail about with a trash can. I could practically hear them calling the cops; “excuse me, 911, there is hoodlum trying to awkwardly steal a trash can.” Thinking that I could play this off all cool, I pushed the trash can to the end of the driveway, smiled and waved to the neighbors and smartly turned to go back to my car….only to impale myself on some sort of metal coming out of the can.

Yeah, I’m sure the neighbors were impressed with how I screeched, flailed around and tried to unhook my shirt from the trash can without hurting myself or ripping my clothes. My total inability to function surely made me look less suspicious, right?

Crafty Jen

I love forsythia bushes but don’t actually have any around here, so I was excited when I saw that they were selling wreaths of faux branches at Joann’s. Of course, being at Joann’s meant they were super expensive so I decided to look for the materials at the dollar store. (Actually, I thought I would look for them at other stores and completely struck out but it makes me sound more knowledgeable if I leave out the weeks worth of fruitless flower shopping…) I got 3 bunches of forsythia-ish flowers, a wreath and a bunch of grass for $5 and made this awesome wreath! I love how it looks against the red door. I’ve never made a wreath before and now that I know how, I’m excited about changing it out for the different seasons. Glittery white twigs for winter, red and orange leaves in the fall, daises in the summer or something fun like this cocktail umbrella wreath!

Lent 2012

Today is Easter! He is risen! This has been a very interesting Easter season for me and I’m not sure why. I’m attending a new church, I’m doing a very in-depth bible study and generally, life is different this year. It’s all giving me a different perspective on Jesus’ sacrifice and what that means for me. Obviously the cross is about salvation, the way God provided for us to overcome sin and death and spend eternity with Him. As a human, we start our eternity with God at the cross, accepting Jesus as our savior…but what next? What does the cross tell those of us who are already saved? How does Easter affect us now?

Pastor Zach has started a Revelation sermon series recently and has been talking about how it’s a book of comfort. Personally, I’ve always viewed the book of Revelation as the crazy bits that I skip over to get to the concordance. I’ve listened to a few sermons on it, but never with an open mind. But I’ve been making an effort (and toning down my sarcasm is hard!) and I’ve been surprised about what God has been showing me through the sermons and my personal study. I think the most important thing is that God is relating a lot of what I’m learning on Sunday mornings to my current bible study on sanctification. Things like turning to the old testament for knowledge, learning about all aspects of God-not just the parts that make me feel comfortable, and understanding that the truths in the bible are applicable to my life are all things that are mirroring each other in the sermon and the study.

One of the things that’s struck me is that Easter is about victory. Jesus died and rose again. He provided a living sacrifice so that our sins are paid for and we can spend eternity in heaven. Those who crucified Him wanted to put an end to His ministry and the complete opposite happened. Easter is all about victories, and that’s definitely something that I can take away from the story today. Victory in Jesus is one of my favorite hymns, but I think that I forget that victory didn’t stop at the cross. There was victory as the disciples began the early church, there was victory as the gospel was spread and taught, victory as more people learned and accepted Jesus as their savior. I think it’s important for me to realize and recognize all the victories that keep happening in the world, in my life and in my relationship with God.

At the finish line

Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Revelation 3:2

This verse was part of my homework this week, as the pastor at Judson Baptist  asked us to read the letters to the 7 churches at the beginning of Revelation. As much as it amused me to have church homework, I was bummed to read this verse and have it resonate. I love when God speaks to me, but it always stinks when what He’s saying is that I’ve done something wrong. (I want to be more grown up and accept correction with a grateful spirit but I’m not quite there yet!) While I’ve kept my Lenten fast this whole time, I’ve fallen down on my bible reading during this time. I was doing really well there and then one day I struggled with stuff in my life and didn’t do the verse. Then another day passed and another and suddenly I was so far behind I didn’t want to catch up. I got lazy and stubborn and now here I am at the end of Lent and ashamed of how I quit before I got to the end. I mean, sure, I kept from eating chips the whole time…but fasting during Lent isn’t about the food. That’s called a diet. The whole point is to draw closer to God and I flubbed that part up completely at the end.

The sad thing is, I could see the effect not studying the bible was having on my life. When I got up in the morning (or the night before) and prayed over the bible and found a verse and wrote about it, I could see the difference in my life the next day. My attitude was better, my thoughts were focused on God and while things still went pear-shaped at times, I was able to deal with life in a way that honored God. I felt equipped to handle things and at peace. When I started falling off course, it was easy to tell when I got panicked or depressed or struggled with my anger. I lost my joy and looking back now, even the times I was happy I wonder how much that paled in comparison to what I would have felt if I was closer to God.

So at the end of this Lent, I’m faced with the exciting prospect of finally having chips tomorrow (yay BBQ!) and the humbling knowledge that God taught me about Himself and the importance of His word through my own disobedience. I’m going to try very hard to remember that lesson and go forward from here with a greater appreciation for God’s word and how it’s a very living and active presence in my life.