(hint)now i think i'll go outside and water those poor cedars and then sit among the weeds in my lawnchair and pick up where i left off in anne's house of dreams.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
pining
i just came off a stretch of nights and slept half the day away. it's 27 outside and sunny. i want to be outside! i love hot weather. this is the main reason that i wish our yard was done by now. i could be working in my garden or something. well, okay, 27 is a little hot for that, but i could be sitting in the shade of the cedar hedge that are still in pots along the side of the house. or i could be reading one of the books that R gave me for my birthday....
(hint)
...on the deck that is yet to be built. originally we planned for the deck and the yard and driveway to be done by july, but it didn't work out that way. why is it so hard to have patience for the STUFF that we want so badly? looking back, it's easy to see how those things that i pined for did, in fact, eventually happen. and God blessed us so richly through them. we did finally graduate from university. we did eventually own a house. our house was eventually painted. etc. now if only i could have a garden and and and....
now i think i'll go outside and water those poor cedars and then sit among the weeds in my lawnchair and pick up where i left off in anne's house of dreams.
(hint)now i think i'll go outside and water those poor cedars and then sit among the weeds in my lawnchair and pick up where i left off in anne's house of dreams.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
happy happy
my hunny knows me very well. first of all, he threw me a fantastic birthday party yesterday with some of my favorite people. i haven't laughed that hard in a long time. he made sure to buy my favorite chippies (jalapino and cheddar).
and he gave me 8 books for my birthday. can you guess which books they are? (hint: not the books mentioned in my previous post. not even close)
and he gave me 8 books for my birthday. can you guess which books they are? (hint: not the books mentioned in my previous post. not even close)
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
book review
i recently finished reading the circle trilogy by ted dekker: black, red, and white. FAN. TASTIC. you need to read them. yes, need.
the extremely-well-written harry potter series had set the bar pretty high for me. i had tried to read some historical christian fiction since then, but the words fell flat. it was so boring. i didn't even like the main characters. i started randomly skipping over large chunks of text to find some action, something of interest. then i gave up. if i start a book, i give it a chance. but if it doesn't come through for me, it's game over. if i don't feel frustrated that i'll never know the ending, then that book wasn't worth my time.
but then i read the circle trilogy. these books are a whole new story, with twists that you really don't see coming. this is the description on the back of "black":
Enter an adrenaline-laced epic where dreams and reality collide. Fleeing his assailants through deserted alleyways, Thomas Hunter narrowly escapes to the roof of a building. Then a silent bullet from the night clips his head...and his world goes black. From the blackness comes an amazing reality of another world-a world where evil is contained. A world where Thomas Hunter is in love with a beautiful woman. Then he remembers the dream of the chase as he reaches to touch the blood on his head. Where does the dream end and reality begin? Every time he falls asleep in one world, he awakes in the other-both facing catastrophic disaster. Thomas is being pushed beyond his limits...even beyond the limits of space and time. Black is an incredible story of evil and rescue, betrayal and love, pursuit and death, and a terrorist's threat unlike anything the human race has ever known. Some say the world hangs in the balance of every choice we make. Now the fate of two worlds hangs in the balance of one man's choice.
if you like adventure, if you like action, if you like fiction novels at all, you should read this. the action just doesn't ever stop.
if you like romance, you should read this. if you don't like romance, you definitely still should - first of all, keep in mind that male authors write romance in a totally different way. and the romance in these novels is so much deeper than the cotton-candy romance of karen kingsbury. it's hardly about the romance between a man and a woman, but between God and his creation, Christ and his Bride. His passion for us is exhilarating, it's contagious. He's giddy, he's so in love with his people. it's exciting how much God loves me. how much he loves you.
our main guy also finds himself in another world where things, which in our world are considered spiritual or figurative, are quite physical - sinfulness, forgiveness, love. the people in "red" and "white" live with a physical, painful, disgusting disease and accept it as normal. this series has really affected the way i see life around me. when i met our atheist neighbour the other day, i was somewhat taken aback. not by anything physical that she said or did or even looked like, but as this portrayal of sin was so fresh in my mind, i saw her as a woman with a bitterness towards God that oozed its stench, manifesting its undeniable self as rotting flesh, such a disgusting disease that has robbed her of Life and Love. it was palpable in the air, this spiritual disease.
i see christianity in a refreshing light. what a creative portrayal of God - father, son and holy spirit. i understand it a bit more in the way that the jews of the new testament must have. for the jews at the time, life was the way it was, making sacrifices to God and hating gentiles, then someone comes along preaching peace... and treason and blasphemy. how does this fit in with what i believe about God?
oh i shouldn't tell you anymore than that! check out an online preview here. or just go to the library and try the first book!
the extremely-well-written harry potter series had set the bar pretty high for me. i had tried to read some historical christian fiction since then, but the words fell flat. it was so boring. i didn't even like the main characters. i started randomly skipping over large chunks of text to find some action, something of interest. then i gave up. if i start a book, i give it a chance. but if it doesn't come through for me, it's game over. if i don't feel frustrated that i'll never know the ending, then that book wasn't worth my time.
but then i read the circle trilogy. these books are a whole new story, with twists that you really don't see coming. this is the description on the back of "black":
Enter an adrenaline-laced epic where dreams and reality collide. Fleeing his assailants through deserted alleyways, Thomas Hunter narrowly escapes to the roof of a building. Then a silent bullet from the night clips his head...and his world goes black. From the blackness comes an amazing reality of another world-a world where evil is contained. A world where Thomas Hunter is in love with a beautiful woman. Then he remembers the dream of the chase as he reaches to touch the blood on his head. Where does the dream end and reality begin? Every time he falls asleep in one world, he awakes in the other-both facing catastrophic disaster. Thomas is being pushed beyond his limits...even beyond the limits of space and time. Black is an incredible story of evil and rescue, betrayal and love, pursuit and death, and a terrorist's threat unlike anything the human race has ever known. Some say the world hangs in the balance of every choice we make. Now the fate of two worlds hangs in the balance of one man's choice.
if you like adventure, if you like action, if you like fiction novels at all, you should read this. the action just doesn't ever stop.
if you like romance, you should read this. if you don't like romance, you definitely still should - first of all, keep in mind that male authors write romance in a totally different way. and the romance in these novels is so much deeper than the cotton-candy romance of karen kingsbury. it's hardly about the romance between a man and a woman, but between God and his creation, Christ and his Bride. His passion for us is exhilarating, it's contagious. He's giddy, he's so in love with his people. it's exciting how much God loves me. how much he loves you.
our main guy also finds himself in another world where things, which in our world are considered spiritual or figurative, are quite physical - sinfulness, forgiveness, love. the people in "red" and "white" live with a physical, painful, disgusting disease and accept it as normal. this series has really affected the way i see life around me. when i met our atheist neighbour the other day, i was somewhat taken aback. not by anything physical that she said or did or even looked like, but as this portrayal of sin was so fresh in my mind, i saw her as a woman with a bitterness towards God that oozed its stench, manifesting its undeniable self as rotting flesh, such a disgusting disease that has robbed her of Life and Love. it was palpable in the air, this spiritual disease.
i see christianity in a refreshing light. what a creative portrayal of God - father, son and holy spirit. i understand it a bit more in the way that the jews of the new testament must have. for the jews at the time, life was the way it was, making sacrifices to God and hating gentiles, then someone comes along preaching peace... and treason and blasphemy. how does this fit in with what i believe about God?
oh i shouldn't tell you anymore than that! check out an online preview here. or just go to the library and try the first book!
Friday, June 05, 2009
growing up.
i had a grapefruit for breakfast today. this is new for me. i don't like them. well, i do but i don't. i love grapefruit-flavoured things, but the fruit itself is just too sour, no matter how much sugar you pour on.i've decided to broaden my horizons and so i am teaching myself to enjoy eating a grapefruit.
i did this with tea, which i hated as a child. and peppers, which i now love love love. and yogurt, which is now a staple in my fridge. and cottage cheese. and other things. it's mind over matter.
then there's coffee. that's a whole different story. it smells de-lish, but if only it tasted the way it smells....
Friday, May 29, 2009
created for community
created for community. i think that was the name of our theology textbook at bethany. hmmm. interesting how that relates.
i was nervous earlier this evening for the party that i was throwing tonight. but it went quite well. my next door neighbour and i planned a little get-together at my house for all the neighbour ladies on our street. most of us on our street only built our houses in the last year or three. and it was high time we got to know our neighbours. we handed out about 18 invites a few days ago. tonight, there was a grand total of 6 of us. not surprising, but maybe a little disappointing. oh well. we needed to start somewhere. i love how multicultural my little mennonite hometown is becoming. out of the 6 of us, there were 2 filipinos, one australian, someone originally from bolivia, a girl i went to high school with and myself. we had food and coffee and just sat around and talked. it was a nice start to building this thing that is known as "community".
maybe next time more will come and share their ethnic food with us, like the east indian woman who sounded pretty enthusiastic about coming (i'm quite surprised she didn't show up). maybe even the atheist across the street who was very adamant that she was not going to come over if this was a "church group or religious meeting" because she was an atheist! or the wife of the guy who stumbled to the door with just his pants on (undone) after we woke him up in the middle of the afternoon (his wife was still sleeping). oh community. what a strange thing you are. i've never found myself in this situation before and it excites and terrifies me. yes, i've lived in close community at bible school where we all lived and ate and partied and studied together - but we all had the common bond of our faith and somewhat similar expectations of friendships. and as a kid i knew the neighbour kids well, thanks to the effort and friendships of our parents. but here i am in this new place. our common bond is that we all own houses within the vicinity of one another. and that we're humans. and as humans, we were created by our maker with an innate desire for relationships. and these relationships may be used to draw others into the one relationship that we were all created for. a relationship with our maker.
here i am.
i was nervous earlier this evening for the party that i was throwing tonight. but it went quite well. my next door neighbour and i planned a little get-together at my house for all the neighbour ladies on our street. most of us on our street only built our houses in the last year or three. and it was high time we got to know our neighbours. we handed out about 18 invites a few days ago. tonight, there was a grand total of 6 of us. not surprising, but maybe a little disappointing. oh well. we needed to start somewhere. i love how multicultural my little mennonite hometown is becoming. out of the 6 of us, there were 2 filipinos, one australian, someone originally from bolivia, a girl i went to high school with and myself. we had food and coffee and just sat around and talked. it was a nice start to building this thing that is known as "community".
maybe next time more will come and share their ethnic food with us, like the east indian woman who sounded pretty enthusiastic about coming (i'm quite surprised she didn't show up). maybe even the atheist across the street who was very adamant that she was not going to come over if this was a "church group or religious meeting" because she was an atheist! or the wife of the guy who stumbled to the door with just his pants on (undone) after we woke him up in the middle of the afternoon (his wife was still sleeping). oh community. what a strange thing you are. i've never found myself in this situation before and it excites and terrifies me. yes, i've lived in close community at bible school where we all lived and ate and partied and studied together - but we all had the common bond of our faith and somewhat similar expectations of friendships. and as a kid i knew the neighbour kids well, thanks to the effort and friendships of our parents. but here i am in this new place. our common bond is that we all own houses within the vicinity of one another. and that we're humans. and as humans, we were created by our maker with an innate desire for relationships. and these relationships may be used to draw others into the one relationship that we were all created for. a relationship with our maker.
here i am.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
learning
they say you learn something new everyday. here are just a few of the things that i've learned recently.
-i like sushi. who knew? (have i blogged about this already?) especially the dynamite sushi at the local japanese restaurant in town which has deep fried shrimp, crab, mayo, avocado and cucumber in it. oh, and roe on top! these teeny fish eggs are so fun to explode between your teeth. yummers.
-canada's worst handyman is actually a pretty funny show considering it's reality tv. it's amazing how MORONIC people can be. i'm not whatsoever a handyman, but i cannot believe some of the mistakes these people make. where's the common sense? (is this show scripted??)
- most people have trouble thinking of good ideas for the dinner menu. many want to make a weekly/monthly menu plan, but very few (does anyone?) actually make one and then stick to it (read: you're not alone). i recently heard of someone who spends one very long day and
makes A MONTH'S WORTH of meals and then freezes them. very admirable. so i tried that last week - but it took me 2 days and i only made 4 dozen meatballs and 3 lasagnas (and then promptly gave half of it away to friends who have more important things to spend their energy on - like a new baby). so to counteract this phenomenon of dinner-menu-mental-block i started a group on facebook and i think that you should join. just login to facebook and search for "supper starters" and click on "join group". i know there are a few groups like this already, but not only is this one in english (bonus!), now you can find out what your friends are actually eating.
-i like sushi. who knew? (have i blogged about this already?) especially the dynamite sushi at the local japanese restaurant in town which has deep fried shrimp, crab, mayo, avocado and cucumber in it. oh, and roe on top! these teeny fish eggs are so fun to explode between your teeth. yummers.
-canada's worst handyman is actually a pretty funny show considering it's reality tv. it's amazing how MORONIC people can be. i'm not whatsoever a handyman, but i cannot believe some of the mistakes these people make. where's the common sense? (is this show scripted??)
- most people have trouble thinking of good ideas for the dinner menu. many want to make a weekly/monthly menu plan, but very few (does anyone?) actually make one and then stick to it (read: you're not alone). i recently heard of someone who spends one very long day and
makes A MONTH'S WORTH of meals and then freezes them. very admirable. so i tried that last week - but it took me 2 days and i only made 4 dozen meatballs and 3 lasagnas (and then promptly gave half of it away to friends who have more important things to spend their energy on - like a new baby). so to counteract this phenomenon of dinner-menu-mental-block i started a group on facebook and i think that you should join. just login to facebook and search for "supper starters" and click on "join group". i know there are a few groups like this already, but not only is this one in english (bonus!), now you can find out what your friends are actually eating.
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