Happy Everything

Have I ever told you that Wednesdays are my longest day? Oh, wait. I tell you that every single week. It’s still true. So, let’s rejoice that the long day is over, as old Norah Jones would croon.

So, my friends and I are rewatching Lost. It is just the best. Also, I had forgotten that Clair from Modern Family is Jack’s ex-wife. And that Jack is so perfect that he operated on Boone while giving him a blood transfusion. From his own body. Oh, Jack. Even though you’re perfect, I still like Sawyer better.

I got a card from my Grandpa Dale yesterday. It was a cute vintage one and it said “A cute card for a cute girl. Happy Everything. Love, Grandpa.” He is the very bestest.

As was expected, I forgot to do the photo challenge yesterday. But apparently I was supposed to take a picture of “where I ate breakfast.” So, here’s the logo of Lucile’s, which is a Creole restaurant where I had poached eggs and eggplant and grits yesterday. I ate Louisiana cuisine with a Canadian. It was super great.

Yesterday in Aramaic we translated part of the passage where King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream and Daniel tells him that he’s going to live like a wild animal for seven years. That would just be some bad news to receive, don’t you think? But it happened so that Nebuchadnezzar would know that God had dominion over everything — even though old Nezzi was a powerful king, Yahweh God was the one in control. At the end of those seven years, Daniel 4 says that Nebuchadnezzar raised his eyes to heaven and blessed the Most High. He recognized God’s dominion, and he was restored.

He is in control, you guys. And he loves us. And has plans for us. He is good and he heals and he restores.

Have the best Thursday, OK?

Aramaic and Zombies…

…a match made in heaven.

How was your Wednesday? Mine was incredibly long as usual. But now it is over.

You guys, it’s supposed to be 78 degrees here on Saturday! What?! You know that’s right.

Happy birthday, Alecia-poo! Don’t worry, I’m on my way down to the Springs to celebrate your very special day!

I read the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the fiery furnace in Aramaic yesterday. That’s something I never thought I’d say. Also, did you know that the fiery furnace story was written in Aramaic and not Hebrew? Me neither. Why don’t they teach you these things in Sunday School? (They probably do in Rio’s Sunday School curriculum. It was written by people who think they are Jewish.)

This was Heather’s drawing of a zombie yesterday. Even when I know what the word is, I wait until she’s done because it’s fascinating to watch her be the best artist ever.

The other night I dreamed that I was moving into a house with the very same layout as the first one I ever lived in on Dupont in Minneapolis. It was a huge Victorian, and I was going to get to decorate it. I was so very happy in this dream. These are apparently the secret wishes of my subconscious — arranging furniture and picking out paint colors.

Why is this blog post still going on? Anyone?

Yesterday my friend Rebekah and I were going over edits on some curriculum lessons I wrote awhile back. We looked at the story of Moses and the burning bush — God had long ago made a promise to Abraham, but now over 400 years have passed, and Abraham’s descendents are slaves in a faraway land. They cry out and God hears them — he remembers his promise. So he calls to Moses out of a bush, and the plan of the Exodus is put into motion. It’s so cool. And it reminded me that God’s timing is not our own. It was a long time (for us) in between God’s promise to Abraham and the Exodus. But God knew. He remembered. He was faithful. He always is.

OK. Until we meet again!

Back At It

Y’all I am back at it. Charles in Charge is home in Minnesota and I have returned to translating Aramaic and whining about translating Aramaic. All is as it should be. Except that it would be nice if my dad were here every day to hang out and chat and buy me things.

Bad news update: My burn is healing and the scab is coming off, but the letters aren’t going away. What am I supposed to do?! No one will want to marry a girl with a curling iron brand on her leg, right? This is dire.

Weird news update: My apartment complex keeps shutting off our water for the entire day. Seriously, they had it off from 8-5 yesterday and they’re doing it again today. So hopefully no one has to shower or wash their face or make a meal or use the toilet or drink a cool, refreshing glass of water because it is apparently not allowed where I live. Also, this has made me realize, yet again, that I would not have done well on the prairie. They had to lug buckets of water from a well just to brush their teeth or make coffee. I complained today as I turned on the tap (before eight of course) to fill the teapot in case we needed some extra water during the day. It’s a tough life.

Good news update: Axis had its very first banquet last weekend and it was so great. More than 250 people came, and I felt so honored to be there hearing about all the great work they’ve done in the last few years. A bunch of my good friends came to the banquet to support Axis. My Springs crew and my Denver friends both came out, and I was so grateful. After the banquet, a few of us went to the Broadmoor since we were all dressed up anyway.

Best news update: March Madness starts today!!!! I do not give a thought to college basketball until this very moment. And from this very moment until the end of March, I will care about college basketball more than anything else in the world. Did you fill out a bracket? Who are you cheering for? Minnesota is not an option because they are awful at playing basketball. But Colorado has two teams going to the big dance (that’s what we basketball lovers call the tournament, you guys).

Bible news update: So, in case you were wondering, I am taking Aramaic because small parts of the Bible were written in Aramaic. Mostly chunks from Ezra and Daniel — those books took place around the Babylonian exile, and Aramaic was the language of the Babylonians. So, we have portions of our Old Testament that are in Aramaic instead of Hebrew. Aramaic is pretty similar to Hebrew — the same alphabet and pronunciations. It’s the vowels and suffixes and prefixes and some of the vocabulary that are different. We’ve been translating Daniel 2, which is the passage where Nebuchadnezzar has a dream that no one is able to interpret. This upsets him a tiny bit so he decides to have all the wise men of Babylon killed. But Daniel saves everyone because he is able to interpret the dream.

Yesterday, I translated the section about the dream — it’s that big statue with a head of gold, a chest of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron and feet of iron and clay. Daniel interprets the meaning of this statue — it is a line of kingdoms that will reign and rule. But a stone would come and smash the statue — a great stone that would turn into a mountain and fill the whole earth. That stone, Daniel said, would be a kingdom that would endure forever — long past Babylon, Greece, Persia, or Rome. When Nebuchadnezzar heard that interpretation he fell on his face before Daniel and he said, “Surely your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries.”

As I translated that passage yesterday, I was so grateful that our God reveals mysteries, that he knows the future, that he has a plan for how things will turn out. He is God of gods, and his kingdom will endure forever. Pretty sweet.

K, you guys, please quit distracting me. I have so much whining to catch up on and a lot of basketball to watch! Talk to you tomorrow!

The Smoke Monster

Oh goodness. It’s Wednesday. Yep.

There are a lot of things going on in my little head lately. I feel like God is testing me and I’m failing. (Haha! An SNL quote just popped into my head when I wrote that. Probably another reason why I’m failing God’s test. Too much SNL.)

I’m realizing, again, that it is so easy to say I believe things, but so much harder to live them out. I say I trust God and that He’s dependable and good, but I spend gazillions of hours complaining and fretting. Then I realize I’m doing this and resolve to do better. But then something else happens and I just can’t help the worrying or being discontent. Vicious cycle, people.

I am in a Beth Moore Bible study right now, and we’re studying Daniel. One of our lessons is about Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah (more commonly known as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) being thrown into the furnace. They don’t burn up, but what’s even more amazing is that they come out completely unharmed—they don’t even smell like smoke!

How many of us walk through life’s “fires” and exit without the hint of a smoky smell on us? Not me. Lately I smell like I live in a campfire. Like I roll around in ashes. Like I’m a chain smoker…

OK, maybe the metaphor has gone too far. You get the picture. I’m whiny. I’ll work on it. I don’t like failing tests, you know.

Anyhoo, moving on to bigger and better things. Our peppers are finally victorious! We’ve had bazillions of tomato sprouts for awhile, but our peppers were in a sad state. But yesterday I found two baby pepper sprouts! I am so proud of them. Jaci is very excited to make homemade salsa this summer.

I am a very healthy eater this week in preparation for my race this weekend. Lots of water and Gatorade, lots of fruit , eggs, and pasta. I am trying to trick myself into thinking all of this will help me this weekend somewhere around mile 10. Let’s just keep pretending.

Race day is looking like it’s going to be rainy. So not fun. I did my 12 mile run on Sunday in the wind and rain, and it was fairly miserable. Some lady thought that my car had broken down and that I was running for help. I thanked her and then informed her that I was simply running because I’m stupid. If you think of it, you could pray that the race goes well for me and my three friends who will be somewhere near death at about 9 a.m. on Sunday!

Over in the Facebook world, I seem to have convinced everyone that one of my friends is moving to Spain. I didn’t even mean to, but it has turned out pretty awesome. I commented on her status and bam — hullabaloo ensued. Aww, remember Baloo the Bear from The Jungle Book? Me too.

Tonight is Lost night! I have Bible study, but I’ll catch it tomorrow online. It’s the 100th episode, so it should be pretty good. I thought the last episode was awesome with Hurley and Miles and all of their shenanigans. They crack me up. I also am really like who Sawyer has become. OK, I’ll quit now for those of you who don’t know or care about anything that has to do with Lost. We feel sorry for you, but recognize that it’s your own choice to miss out on all the sweet goodness that happens on the island.

I should probably be going now. I hope you have a lovely day, friends. Come over and visit and perhaps we’ll serve you some fresh salsa!