My aunt organized a meeting between myself and a cousin who I had only met briefly a few years ago. I've admired her a lot based on just that initial meeting and what I had heard of her from family - she is married, in seminary, has one child and one on the way. Not to mention she's cool. She's a playwright, thespian and a generally creative person; a delight to be around from what I had heard.
Rumours were correct. She is very cool!
I'm really glad that she had so much to share. She's in the middle of working with people who have been trafficked for labor and is part of a ministry that is trying to figure out how to do justice right. Rich, passionate, and practical discussion took place. She also said that she liked Not For Sale, which is a non-profit organization that is seeking to end slavery in our lifetime. There is a lot to it, and it's a HUGE problem with so many faces that we don't even see. I appreciated her thoughts on turning over the burdens to G-d, trusting that he will forgive us for our unknowing part in this industry and with his help we can do our best to move forward and keep learning, keep fighting the good fight.
As for the food, it was a tasty breakfast of scrambled eggs and biscuits for me. Plus coffee, which shall not go overlooked. Zack had mentioned the cafe before but had not visited it. When my aunt was looking for a place to meet I couldn't think of one initially, but Zack suggested going there since they would be open early enough. Good call!
It was a fantastic morning, one that I was giving thanks for on the drive afterward. Thanks must be given for all the blessings that (and who) have crossed my path.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Friday, November 05, 2010
Bells shall peal
From Dictionary.com (a frequent resource):
This is my first post as a betrothed woman. I could not be happier! Zack asked me to marry him on the evening of October 23rd, just a little over a year from when we starting dating. Not all of the above definitions fit our present relationship status, but I thought it was pretty neat to consider their dictionary meanings in the context of our engagement. (silly, girly grin inserted here)
While Zack was cleaning this afternoon I got the chance to help him. He was vacuuming in the living room and asked me to pick up the area rug, shake the dust off, and then place it back down after he had run the vacuum cleaner over it. At one point during this process he exclaimed, "Yay, I have a helper!"
Probably about two weeks ago we were talking with two of the priests at church and they were congratulating us on our engagement. One shared that Thomas Aquinas wrote quite a bit on marriage and was asked at want point in the ceremony he believed the two people were "married:" at the exchanging of vows, rings, or the blessing of the priest, etc. He responded that he believed marriage truly started at engagement. Another way I saw this idea presented recently was through an article on RELEVANTmagazine.com:
While there are still plans to be made and other events that will take place before we are married, we are taking this time to live our vows to each other and grow together. Zack's exclamation during our afternoon o' cleaning just hit me as a very poignant statement, one of mutual simplicity and profundity. I get to be his helper, by his side through life and him right beside me. That is exciting!
Bring on the dusting. We're teamed up and ready.
en·gage
–verb (used with object)
[en-geyj] verb,-gaged, -gag·ing1. to occupy the attention or efforts of (a person or persons): He engaged her in
2. to secure for aid, employment, use, etc.; hire: to engage a worker; to engage a room.
conversation.3. to attract and hold fast: The novel engaged her attention and interest.
4. to attract or please: His good nature engages everyone.5. to bind, as by pledge, promise, contract, or oath; make liable: He engaged himself to repay his debt within a month.
6. to betroth (usually used in the passive): They were engaged last week.7. to bring (troops) into conflict; enter into conflict with: Our army engaged the enemy.
8. Mechanics. to cause (gears or the like) to become interlocked; interlock with.9. to attach or secure.
10. (Obsolete) to entangle or involve.
This is my first post as a betrothed woman. I could not be happier! Zack asked me to marry him on the evening of October 23rd, just a little over a year from when we starting dating. Not all of the above definitions fit our present relationship status, but I thought it was pretty neat to consider their dictionary meanings in the context of our engagement. (silly, girly grin inserted here)
~@~
While Zack was cleaning this afternoon I got the chance to help him. He was vacuuming in the living room and asked me to pick up the area rug, shake the dust off, and then place it back down after he had run the vacuum cleaner over it. At one point during this process he exclaimed, "Yay, I have a helper!"
~@~
Probably about two weeks ago we were talking with two of the priests at church and they were congratulating us on our engagement. One shared that Thomas Aquinas wrote quite a bit on marriage and was asked at want point in the ceremony he believed the two people were "married:" at the exchanging of vows, rings, or the blessing of the priest, etc. He responded that he believed marriage truly started at engagement. Another way I saw this idea presented recently was through an article on RELEVANTmagazine.com:
"It was in this that I found my purpose for our engagement. The year and a half Libby and I are spending in the awkward chasm known as engagement will be spent living out our vows. I said it to her this way:
'I do these things because I want my actions in our engaged life to be my vows to you. Before our wedding day, before I utter any words, I want these actions to speak so much more loudly as my vows.' " -- Tom Hagedon
While there are still plans to be made and other events that will take place before we are married, we are taking this time to live our vows to each other and grow together. Zack's exclamation during our afternoon o' cleaning just hit me as a very poignant statement, one of mutual simplicity and profundity. I get to be his helper, by his side through life and him right beside me. That is exciting!
Bring on the dusting. We're teamed up and ready.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Prayer for Peace
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
--St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226)
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
--St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226)
Friday, August 20, 2010
Twenty and six
It is late.It is past midnight, but I currently don't mind. Irish coffee before bedtime is probably, as my best friend suggested, a dumb idea. It is however quite comforting and pleasant.
Today marked the return to school for the fall semester. It has begun! I had but one class this afternoon - developmental biology. It looks to be an interesting class thanks to the course material as well as the slightly nutty professor. Tomorrow I will have a first aid class at 8 a.m. followed by the final class required for my sign language studies minor: Manually Coded English. The teacher is tough but terrific! Rounding out my full load is my second pass at Neurobiology, online.
*gulp*
~~~@~~~
The picture above is from my birthday dinner this past Monday. Zack took me to a wonderful multi-ethnic restaurant nearby. This is their signature Wonton Sundae.
Monday was the best birthday ever, thanks to Zack. My day began with best friend and I enjoying a brisk morning walk before dawn. This was followed by dropping my sister and our other roommate at work. I then darted home to clean, redo the blue streaks in my hair, and shower in preparation for the lunch date that my love asked to take me on for my birthday. About 30 minutes of hair preparation and make-up application after Zack arrived, we left for the downtown Episcopal church. Upon request, we stopped there for some quite, reflective time. The old, holy smell; the stillness; and gentle rumblings of downtown life just outside the walls of the church offered fertile ground for pausing to press into God's presence and letting him press into me. Kneeling, I inhaled my prayers and exhaled my thanks, trying to focus more on my gratitude than my requests -- rarely an easy task.
Some time passed and we journeyed on peacefully to the restaurant. Lunch was beautiful; edible poetry. Lilly's is corporately and individually one of our favorite places to eat despite the drive. With his company, we could be dining on stale cardboard boxes from the grimy dumpster in back of the meat shoppe and it would be a joyful experience. Having such lovely food made it all the better.
We returned home and spent a little time just hanging out before I had to go to work that evening. Sis and I were talked out of just calling in, as it was our birthday. We went to work but only worked about three of the four hours in our shift. Leaving early allowed us to return to a lasagna dinner and birthday streamers strewn about the new apartment in our honor. We were able to have a little more time together, Zack and I staying up to talk for a brief time before he had to depart.
After his departure I just felt happy. It was not because of his departure as though I wanted him to leave, but because he chose to spend the day with me and did his best to see that I had a relaxing, uplifting, fun, loving, yummy birthday. He was with me on my birthday and it was good.
Best. birthday. ever.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The summer semesters have finally seen their end with my physics final yesterday. It was not pretty. The best test grade I made in the class was an 85 with the rest plummeting closer to 60 and below. Oi!
I cried after the final yesterday. Tears streamed down my mildly dehydrated face, leaning against the reclined driver's seat of my car in the 90+ degree Arkansas-in-August heat. Though I knew my schedule was a busy one, I again failed to balance everything and pull a good grade out of a class. The last time I took summer classes was about 5 years ago. At that time I decided not to do it again, despite making A's in both classes. Earlier this year I was convinced it would help me get ahead and improve my GPA while knocking out some coursework and moving me closer to graduating.
My faith in higher education and myself is not gone or smashed beyond all repair. I'm just trying to prevent myself from raking... myself over the coals. While I don't want to dismiss the defeat, I don't want to linger on it and subsequently sour my all-too-soon return to school for the fall semester (after a very brief week and a half break).
In attempts to learn and press on I readjusted my fall schedule this morning. There will be classes, work study, and study-study to accommodate. There will also hopefully soon be clinical observation hours to accommodate as well in preparation for applying to physical therapy programs. It's a lot of work, but it's mostly little steps that need to be taken care of in order to make the way. This is doable!
As always, prayers much appreciated; chai tea too.
I cried after the final yesterday. Tears streamed down my mildly dehydrated face, leaning against the reclined driver's seat of my car in the 90+ degree Arkansas-in-August heat. Though I knew my schedule was a busy one, I again failed to balance everything and pull a good grade out of a class. The last time I took summer classes was about 5 years ago. At that time I decided not to do it again, despite making A's in both classes. Earlier this year I was convinced it would help me get ahead and improve my GPA while knocking out some coursework and moving me closer to graduating.
My faith in higher education and myself is not gone or smashed beyond all repair. I'm just trying to prevent myself from raking... myself over the coals. While I don't want to dismiss the defeat, I don't want to linger on it and subsequently sour my all-too-soon return to school for the fall semester (after a very brief week and a half break).
In attempts to learn and press on I readjusted my fall schedule this morning. There will be classes, work study, and study-study to accommodate. There will also hopefully soon be clinical observation hours to accommodate as well in preparation for applying to physical therapy programs. It's a lot of work, but it's mostly little steps that need to be taken care of in order to make the way. This is doable!
As always, prayers much appreciated; chai tea too.
Monday, May 17, 2010
7 - !
Exuberance, exultation, and ebullience! This day marks the seventh month of Zack's and my dating relationship: ups, downs and everything in between; the cumulative effect has been one of happiness and joy. So grateful I am for such a sweet, strong, open, honest, wonderful man and that he has yet to be scared off by me.
In other news, I'm getting to enjoy my summer break from classes. Phew. The last few weeks have been occupied by moving, chauffeuring, studying, packing, testing, unpacking, meeting, cleaning, cooking and myriad other chores. Most of the major tasks requiring time and energy have been accomplished (bro and sis are moved; sis started new job and is enjoying it!), lessening the length of my agenda for the next week. Classes for myself shall resume next Monday with a twice a week painting class for five weeks followed by the second semester of elementary physics filling the following five weeks.
Painting sounds like fun.
Physics sounds like a run to the drug store for acetaminophen.
Thankfully, my bro will be available to help with physics, if he is willing.
Prayers that I'm not swallowed by black holes would be appreciated, as always.
In other news, I'm getting to enjoy my summer break from classes. Phew. The last few weeks have been occupied by moving, chauffeuring, studying, packing, testing, unpacking, meeting, cleaning, cooking and myriad other chores. Most of the major tasks requiring time and energy have been accomplished (bro and sis are moved; sis started new job and is enjoying it!), lessening the length of my agenda for the next week. Classes for myself shall resume next Monday with a twice a week painting class for five weeks followed by the second semester of elementary physics filling the following five weeks.
Painting sounds like fun.
Physics sounds like a run to the drug store for acetaminophen.
Thankfully, my bro will be available to help with physics, if he is willing.
Prayers that I'm not swallowed by black holes would be appreciated, as always.
Thursday, May 06, 2010
Calgon won't cut it today.
Nostalgia has struck, with a quick, slight movement. I was updating my profile picture (which was about two hair colours and three haircuts out-of-date) for this blog when I spotted this picture amid the many snapshots saved on my laptop.My immediate thought was, "I want to go back to that day."
Perhaps it was more of a desire to feel that joy and abandon to the evening. The agenda was enjoying Zack's company and it was fulfilled.
Finals week is upon me, which isn't a spit-eliciting phrase this semester. I only had two physical final exams, both this morning. Left to complete are an online written exam for my fingerspelling class and an interview with my sign language instructor, as part of the final evaluations. It hasn't been bad, but there is the constant desire to be able to call everything done and walk away, leaving myself to while my days as I please. At 25 there are hopefully many days left in which to do some whiling.
At present I'm just unsettled. This too shall pass.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
