mini burger

the other day monique (okay really monica) brought these cute little things to work.
they're mini mint burgers (well thats the name i have given them)





isn't it so cute?

let's see if i can remember what she made them with:
chocolate mint
marshmallow cream
coconut - dyed green
vanilla wafers

no turning back

I’m not running away from this
I’m not falling asleep
I’m not taking a bribe from anyone for anything
I’m not running away from this
I’m not falling asleep
I’m not turning back on the one thing that I know

*from cool hand luke

being led

take my life, lead me Lord
take my life, teach me Lord
hear am I, send me Lord

"show me your ways o Lord; teach me your paths. lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; on you I wait all the day." psalm 25:4-5

"the voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty." psalm 29:4

"look straight ahead and fix your eyes on what lies before you. mark out a straight path for your feet; then stick to the path and stay safe. don't get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil." proverbs 4:25-27

jessica, stop lying to yourself.

know your faith

I am a follower of Christ. He is my Savior. He is the only Savior. He is the Son of God - the One & Only God.

Don't say you are a Christian if you're not.

(i had this huge post regarding this topic -- sparked from a debate in class tonight. took a phone call. lost the post. so this is my super short version.)

art history

first of all, i saw way too many naked bodies in art history class today. it got really old.

second of all, do you know who Edouard Manet is? well he painted several of the nude paintings that i studied today. a couple of them are pretty cool. we watched this whole video in class about the horrible response he got from the French public b/c of his style of painting. not b/c the lady was nude, but because of how she was staring at the viewer and b/c her body was not the ideal body of the time. (do i sound educated? i didn't think so.) whether or not the dude was a great artist or not...i would never in my life pay $17 million USD for his self-portrait painting! check out the painting:



Portrait de Manet par lui-même, en buste, c. 1878

i realize that tens of thousands of pieces of art are sold for millions of dollars, but it truly is beyond my comprehension. maybe i should be in art appreciation, rather than art history. i just don't get it...??!!

i often wonder what i would do if i had a true abundance of money...

not buy outrageously expensive art
go to the moon
travel the earth
give
pay my parents back for my education
take lessons to do all sorts of activities (skydiving, scuba diving, surfing, hang gliding, sewing, cooking, flying, piano, etc)
all kinds of "political" things
etc etc

random, yet important info

so maybe this info is only important to myself. nonetheless.

yesterday in worship, this lady i have been wanting to be introduced to, sat beside me.

today my mom found out that she has to have cataract surgery.

i am waiting on a book to get delivered from France.

i found out one of my high school friend's mother passed away last month. just found out. i feel like a slacker for not going to the visitation or doing anything. i guess i need to have some contact or more reliable contact with folks from d'ville.

i love ice cream!

i am super excited about graduating in december! THEREFORE, do not ask me what exactly i will be doing. do not give me advice, unless you have a vision from God for me.

i switched to a darker coffee and it is oh so much better.

i take baths all the time now (in addition to regular showers) & fill the tub all the way up b/c i don't pay for my water! so much fun & so relaxing. i shouldn't pamper myself so much, others don't have so much water or any water or money or much of anything.

i also have another source of free water in my apartment. this nice leak that comes through my window when it rains. and is it just me, or has it rained all summer?

i found the solution to ridiculous work: LAUGH!!! laughing makes all the difference in the world.

i can't wait for kay to get back from the philippines.

faculty at school drive me bonkers b/c they assume that students are available at anytime of the day to meet with them. hello, i have a job too.

i have an addiction. it's looking for plane tickets to anywhere. i don't have any money to buy any of the tickets. it's just like i think one day there will be this super duper cheap ticket to anywhere and then i would be able to buy it. maybe i'll get lucky one day.

one day soon i do have to actually pay for a ticket. that speeding ticket i got awhile back.

life is good. adventurous. hilarious. just laugh!

no escape

all last week i had looked foward to escaping on sunday afternoon. little did i know about the storm that was brewing. dennis really was nothing in my parts of bham, but nonetheless it wasn't the ideal day to do my escaping. i will have to reschedule. when o when... my babysitting is back to every weekend... .... .... the only escaping for a while will be in my sleep. that'll do for now.....

traveler passing through

Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. remind me that my days are numbered, and that my life is fleeing away. my life is no longer than the width of my hand. an entire lifetime is just a moment to you; human existence is but a breath. we are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing. we heap up wealth for someone else to spend. and so Lord, where do i put my hope? my only hope is in you. rescue me from my rebellion for even fools mock me when i rebel...for i am your guest-a traveler passing through, as my ancestors were before me. ~selection from Psalm 19 (4-8;12b)

we are all travelers passing through...different lifes, locations, and experiences. what do those who we pass by remember us for?

life really is simple.

battered & whirling

"we always have visions, before they are made real. when we realize that although the vision is real, it is not real in us, then is the time that satan comes in with his temptations, and we are apt to say it is no use to go on. instead of the vision becoming real, there has come the valley of humiliation. God gives us the vision, then He takes us down to the valley to batter us into the shape of the vision, and it is in the valley that so many of us faint and give way. every vision will be made real if we will have patience. think of the enormous leisure of God! He is never in a hurry. we are always in such a frantic hurry. in the light of the glory of the vision we go forth to do things, but the vision is not real in us yet; and God has to take us into the valley, and put us through fires and floods to batter us into shape, until we get to the place where He can trust us with the veritable reality. ever since we had the vision God has been at work, getting us into the shape of the ideal, and over and over again we escape from His hand and try to batter ourselves into our own shape. the vision is not a castle in the air, but a vision of what God wants you to be. let Him put you on His wheel and whirl you as He likes, and as sure as God is God and you are you, you will turn out exactly in accordance with the vision. don't lose heart in the process. if you have ever had the vision of God, you may try as you like to be satisfied on a lower level, but God will never let you." from o. chambers

record breaking summer

i celebrated the 4th of july on american soil
...with my family
...bar-b-qued several times
...swam in a pool
...and saw a couple firework shows!

yeah, i had a long weekend with my family. it was great. lots of rest and relaxation, except for mom's analness over the house looking perfect. you know no one will buy a house if there is a drop of water on the counter or if the pillow isn't positioned at a specific angle.

dad shot off his fireworks from our pier on sunday night. at the same time we were able to view numerous other fireworks from the openness of the lake. it was a beauty. then we went to the little community firework show on monday night at the local gas station. it was really good.

to back track, on saturday morning i went with my parents, aunt, and cousin to this huge yard sale-like thing. it was quite hilarious. they sold anything and everything. you can't even imagine some stuff.

two items that stuck out to me:
#1 "flying rods" - fly swatters attached to the ends of fishing rods
#2 "fried oreos" - yes, they actually fried oreos. after much debating with my mom (who thought they had to have spelled okra wrong) my aunt went back to buy us the mysterious fried oreos. sure enough...they fried oreos. it goes to show they do fry everything in the South. by the way, the fried oreos were pretty good.

overall the 4th was great. definitely different from the last three 4ths that i have had.

2004 4th: attended a Senegalese boat race, ate "sloppy joe soup", and found out kari and trey were getting married. no fireworks, no bar-b-que, no american family. kinda forgot it was the 4th.

2003 4th: first 4th ouside of america, visited with "the guys," travelled two hours to a place outside of dakar, swam in the ocean, praise on the beach, crab catching, slept in this huge bed that held about 10 girls, the place had AC and i seriously thought i was going to freeze to death, too cold to sleep. we actually did shoot fireworks though!

2002 4th: a day off from normal ICO (myrtle beach) activities, not the expected and so-called "week off" though, hung out on the beach all day with the team, someone's parents grilled for us all, watched fireworks on the beach

life is ever-changing. the things once thought to be so important, aren't. variety is good, its actually exciting and challenging, ... and i'm ready for it to come back my way. what's next?