punching injustice in the face

During the past weekend, middle schoolers and highschoolers from across West Virginia came together to connect with each other, connect with God, and fight injustice. Why?

The 58conference was a weekend dedicated to learning about God as our defender and provider, and learning how to stand up for others around us who can't stand up for themselves. It was pretty cool to see all these tweens and teens learning about "punching injustice in the face" from Johnny Justice, our resident injustice fighting superhero.

The kids did a 30 hour fast to understand what it is like to go hungry. And trust me, that is a long time with no food, especially for kids in those ages. And they had a really profound time breaking their fast together (more to come on that one).

The participants had an opportunity to connect together and learn about God in large and small group settings. They had the chance to perform a service project in the local area. The had the chance to collect food for a state wide food drive to help those who can't afford food in our state. They had a chance to learn about many different kinds of injustice in our world that they may have never heard about before, from groups like Invisible Children, Dry Tears, and Nuru.

It was amazing getting a chance to interact with the kids, especially since some of them are dancers for KidSTUFF that I know pretty well. There are countless stories of how they were impacted, but I want to share one.

One of the girls was really affected by the fast. But, she was also affected by hearing about the young children in Africa who are so dehydrated that they can't cry when the two guys from Dry Tears spoke. And hearing about the AIDS crisis from a breakout session with the group Acting on Aids. On her way home, she told her mom that the next time she asked to get a toy or something for her, for her mom to remind her of this weekend. She wants to start saving her money in a jar that she would spend on herself and send it to kids around the world in need. Did I mention she is only 11?

How amazing that even kids and teens are seeing injustice in our world and doing something about it. What about the rest of us? There are so many ways to fight injustice locally and internationally. What are you doing in the fight?

Why care?

Her name is Josephine.

She lives in rural Kenya in a tiny hut made of straw, mud and dung. She has 5 children; 3 are sick with malaria. The youngest died last year on Josephine’s back as she frantically travelled 30 kilometers to the nearest clinic for medicine that would have saved his life.

Josephine spends 3 hours each day fetching water, and the water sometimes makes her and her children sick. She doesn’t have access to fertilizer and good seed to grow crops to feed her family, so she must hire herself out to provide them their daily meal of porridge. There’s no school for her children to attend, and she wouldn’t be able to afford the small fees for books and uniforms even if there was. Her husband died last year of AIDS and she is most likely infected, however, she doesn’t want to be tested because there’s no medicine available, and the uninformed superstitions of the community regarding HIV/AIDS would label her and her children as outcasts.

Josephine is trapped in the cycle of extreme poverty. She has no choices. It’s not her fault. Neither she nor her children did anything to deserve this. Yet one in six people in our world today are like Josephine, living without hope.

Insert Nuru.

Fast-forward 5 years.

Josephine lives just a few minutes from a deep well that provides clean drinking water for her entire family. There is a simple medical clinic down the road with basic supplies and competent staff who educate the community about the causes of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and typhoid, and provide antiretroviral medication (ARVs) to keep Josephine well. She and her neighbors have access to high quality seed, fertilizer, and agricultural know-how that enable them to increase their crop yields by 100%. This bounty allows them to not only feed themselves but also earn a small income to pay school fees for their children and invest in next year’s crop.

Josephine’s children attend the primary and secondary school where they receive a sound education from qualified teachers. As the community continues to prosper, a village bank is established to provide micro-loans and training to promising entrepreneurs, helping them develop a business plan and learn fundamental skills. The small fees the community pays for its basic services are re-invested to spur further development and create sustainable growth, allowing the community to lift itself out of extreme poverty.

This is innovation in action.
This is holistic and sustainable development.
This is a dozen NGOs and thousands of grassroots volunteers working alongside the poor to break the cycle of extreme poverty.
This is Nuru.

Will YOU join in the fight against extreme poverty?

http://www.nuruinternational.org

Be hope. Be light. Be NURU.

How BIG is your God?

So do you ever stop to think about how BIG a God we serve?

I know sometimes I forget what it means to have such a big God on my side. I get into the habit of knowing He's there for me, and just taking it for granted and not trusting Him. Even the name of God becomes second hand. Have you thought about even what that name means?

Here are some definitions:
the one Supreme Being, the creator and ruler of the universe.

A being conceived as the perfect, omnipotent, omniscient originator and ruler of the universe, the principal object of faith and worship in monotheistic religions.
The force, effect, or a manifestation or aspect of this being.
A being of supernatural powers or attributes, believed in and worshiped by a people, especially a male deity thought to control some part of nature or reality.
One that is worshiped, idealized, or followed
A being conceived of as possessing supernatural power, and to be propitiated by sacrifice, worship, etc.; a divinity; a deity; an object of worship; an idol.
The Supreme Being; the eternal and infinite Spirit, the Creator, and the Sovereign of the universe; Jehovah

OK, so out of that, I have to think that "God" means a whole stinking lot more than just some guy upstairs. He is ALL POWERFUL. He is PERFECT. He is Originator of the Universe. He is WORSHIPED. He is SUPERNATURAL. He is DIVINITY. He is ETERNAL and INFINITE. He is SOVEREIGN OF THE UNIVERSE. JEHOVAH.

And that is just form our dictionaries. Think abut what the Bible says about Him. As you think about it, does it just blow your mind? I know mine is going nuts thinking about it.

I have been thinking about this the past 24 hours or so. And the conclusion I have come to? God is bigger than anything I can even understand. Even so, with my limited knowledge and understanding, I am starting to understand the feelings behind the Psalm:

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above he heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? (Psalm 8:1-4)

Do you limit God in His greatness? I know I do. How often I think that God isn't big enough to take care of me, or caring enough to worry about the little things. And how wrong I am.

...

So it has been about 3 weeks since I last blogged. Bad Becca.

Much has happened, and maybe at some point I'll explain it, but for now I'm just letting that stuff sit on a back burner to talk about in some far off future blog.

As for now, I am sitting in lab, waiting for my samples to get done spinning in their happily chilled 4 degree centrifuge. Hopefully these little guys will appreciate the craziness I've put into their existence in the last 25+ hours and give me some good results. That'd be nice.

Otherwise, well, I'm attempting to come up with more drink recipes for our favorite local coffee shop, so.zo. On the radar: peppermint mocha, peppermint hot chocolate, chai-nog, egg nog lattes, and thanks to the creative thinking of one of our volunteers, chocolate chai. Any coffee lovers out there have any ideas for any other fantastic beverages?

Almost there

Ok. this is it. I am getting ready to venture over to HSC and see what my suture holds. I can tell you this, I am really nervous. More than yesterday, which went very well by the way. I am getting ready to willing walk into a room where there will be 6 PhDs who know a heck of a lot more than I do about anything, and have them interrogate me for a while, send me out of the room so they can talk about my shortcomings for an excruciatingly long time, bring me back in and tell me what they think of me. Most of which will probably be bad. Why am I doing this? Because I'm insane. And for some reason I haven't quit grad school yet...

P-D Day

So today is the day. Well, tomorrow is the day too, but today is the beginning. Proposal Defense Day.

In about 1 hour I will be giving my dissertation proposal defense seminar. Yeah. Can I just say that I wasn't nervous really about it until about 5 minutes ago? Not really so sure why. Hopefully I'll get over it soon. Maybe it's because I sucked at my last presentation a couple weeks ago, so I know what it feels like to give a horrible presentation on the subject now rather than just an ok or good one.

I guess I'll know in a couple hours what the reaction is. Of course I won't have my insane committee meeting until tomorrow at noon. That's when they'll drill me and tell me I suck at life and hopefully that I pass. But today I can see the reaction of the grad students (please don't ask me too many questions guys, and I promise to return the favor to you on your seminar day) and some faculty. Of course the chair of my committee will be MIA... not sure if that's a good or a bad thing.

But until then, I will have to just try to be confident in what I know (or at least think I know).

Oh, and I found out that we will have a tray of cheeses and crackers. On Monday seminar afternoons we get cookies, or brownies, or doughnuts or something. Usually Wednesdays don't get a treat. But today we will have cheese and crackers. It feels kind of formal... not gonna lie. But it gave me a smile when I got the email about it this morning.

Here's to hoping I don't make an idiot of myself today!

My ripped pants

That's me. And my ripped pants. Yeah.

It all started with an innocent leadership retreat for my church. The leaders for DV8 (middle school), Wired (High School), and H2O (college & career) headed to Deep Creek for the weekend to refocus, connect about the upcoming semester, and just hang out together. It was an amazing time together.

On Saturday night, after we had an amazing time together sharing about what God had done in our lives the last year, some of us started dancing around like idiots (because that's what we do when there is an open space and music playing). Well, as a few of us were just dancing around, we were jumping up and down from the floor, acting kind of like monkeys (don't ask. Really).

Well, that was the point I heard a rip. And I immediately just sat down where I was. And scooted on my butt to the side of the room where there was only one other person sitting on a couch (my roommate for the weekend Deanna). I realized pretty quickly that it was not a small rip, or just the pocket. No, it was a bit too drafty for that.

Most people really didn't realize what was happening, to my delight. I did find out later that Cameron was trying to get me to show people cause he didn't think it ripped all the way through. But oh did it.

Eventually my friend Jamie went and got me a pair ow sweats to wear, and I changed and all was well again. And then everyone got to see how badly I ripped my pants. Hilarious.

The only problem being they were one of my favorite pairs of jeans that I have worn a ton since I got them 2 years ago (probably why they were weak enough to rip like that). And now I am down to 1 pair of jeans that fit well, and 1 pair that will fit with a belt. Oh issues.

Oh yeah, and a pair of khakis that I really love. That as I looked at yesterday I realized were getting small holes at the corners of each back pocket. Grr. No dancing in those I guess.

Done!

Busy? Me. No. That could never define my life. Ok, maybe. Always. But whatever.

I finally finished writing my proposal for my dissertation. Turning it in to my committee was one of the most liberating and terrifying experiences. You see, now I don't have to worry about writing it everyday, but I also can't change anything, so if there's a mistake it's there for good. Now I just have to make a seminar to present what I wrote.

It didn't really hit me how quickly this has all happened. I just got the official email announcing my seminar next Wednesday though, so it is completely official. I have to present my research plan for the next year and a half in 5 days. And then have a committee meeting about it the next day. Where they will hopefully not fail me. I don't really like the whole failing thing.

And as disenchanted as I have been for the past year with research, I really don't want to fail. I don't want a reason to quit. I may dread it sometimes, but I do want to finish it out. Whether or not I do this long term after I graduate is another story....

Wanna do me a favor?

I've gotten in a habit of listening to podcasts of sermons recently, mainly being inspired by my friend Josh Vance, who has listened to some so many times that he can directly quote whole sections!

It's been good to have some other podcasts to listen to instead of my normal geeky MIT opencourseware on biotech stuff or Philosophy Talk from Stanford. Although both are great.

Recently I've been listening to some sermons by Francis Chan from Cornerstone Simi church. I will say that I have gotten a ton out of each that I have listened to. This morning as I was listening to one (Living with Urgency Pt. 1) I really loved the illustration used, so I thought I'd share it with you.

When someone asks you to do a favor for them, what is your typical response?

If you're like me and most other people, you immediately say, "What is it?"

Now, admittedly there are a few people I don't even question, I just say, "Sure, what do you need me to do?" But often the "sure" part is left off til I find out what is required of me.

So Francis Chan asks his congregation in the same manner, if I read you something from the Bible, will you unquestioningly do what it says? Most of us will think, well... what are you going to read us?

Isn't that funny?

We say we believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God. We believe we should follow what it says, but we still will have some reservations about agreeing blindly to follow it unless we know what we are agreeing to.

Shouldn't we just say yes, whatever is in the Bible we will follow as the word of God, regardless?

The issue that was then pointed out in this part of the message was "don't slander". And although there was a great emphasis placed there, and it is of great importance to take that to heart and learn to truly love those we would want to speak badly about, there is a deeper message being put forth.

What would it look like if we all said no matter what it is, if God tells me to do something, I will do it without questioning it. I'll follow him regardless of whether it fits with my plans. Regardless of it fits with what I want, or what is sensible.

What if we did that for just one day? What could God accomplish through us in that time being totally committed to Him and His plan instead of being blinded by our own ideas?

17:THREE!

John 17:3. This is eternal life, that you may know You, the only true God, and the one you have sent, Jesus Christ.

17:THREE is our new college/career/18-35ish gathering.

It is there to provide a place for people to connect with God, connect with each other, and get involved in serving in the community, the church, and the world.

The first time was pretty awesome.

I was able to head up to the balcony area at one point and see what was happening from a different perspective, and take some pictures to document the occasion.

I thought I'd share some pics from the night.

We weren't entirely sure what to expect, but we had about 180 people show up! How cool!

So if you're interested in coming, we are having our next event Thursday, September 4, 8pm at the Met in downtown Morgantown. Come have an awesome time with us, and then come hang out afterwards at sozo for some good coffee and fellowship, and Rock Band! Check it out!

My bruised...

Ego? Leg? Well, insert what you will.

This little table sits about 12 inches off the ground (at the most) at sozo. A couple weeks ago, we were open on a Monday night for Fall Fest.

We were kind of tired of being there by midnight when we closed ( I had already been there 8 evenings in a row before that) so we were closing as quickly as we could, with help from many of our friends who had stopped by.

Well, in turning my head to ask someone to turn off some lights, while heading to the restrooms to restock TP, I ran into the table. Hard core. Like almost all the way to the ground.

I still have a bruise. Over two weeks later. Oh and a knot on my leg. Seriously. That is one hard core bruise.

A Collision...

No, not the David Crowder Band CD. Although that is good. My car.




This is what my car looked like yesterday after I mis-judged a turn and side swiped a telephone pole. And no, this was not a pole made from an int so that it would be walking around. In fact, it still looks like this.

Needless to say I was a bit upset. I have been really overwhelmed and stressed with everything I've had going on, and that was the final straw. I just broke down and cried for about 20 minutes when I got home.

After that I got to talk to a few of my friends who shared many words of wisdom. After all, it is just a thing. Yes, a very expensive thing, but a thing. And it still works fine. It's only aesthetic.

And, as someone reminded me, a quotable guy long ago said not to worry about tomorrow, it has enough worries of its own.

I realized at that point though that I should take a step back though. I just spent some time praying and reading the Bible. Amazing stuff.

Here's some cool stuff to encourage you today:

Psalm 27: The lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?... I am certain I will see the Lord's goodness in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord, be courageous and let your heart be strong. Wait for the Lord.

Psalm 46: God is our refuge and our strength and helper who is always found in times of trouble. Therefore we will not be afraid, though the earth trembles and the mountains topple into the depths of the seas, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with its turmoil.

John 14:1: Trust in God, trust also in me.

And really, if you need more encouragement, read Job. I mean, come on. It can't really get a whole lot worse that what he went through!

So in all, life may be crazy but I can rely on God, He is my strength.

How have you learned to rely on God in times of need?

Tagging Friends....

OK, so I guess I am somewhat required to do this post since I was tagged by my friend Billy in his post earlier.

You see, there is some sort of blog chain letter going around. Here's the deal:

1. Post the rules on your blog
2. Write 6 random things about yourself
3. Tag 6 people at the end of your post
4. If you're tagged, DO IT and pass on the tag

So here goes:

1. I speak Portuguese and can understand a good bit of Latin, Italian, and Spanish. Something about taking too much foreign language in high school.

2. I peed outside for the first time this summer while on a 24 mile in 24 hour death hike. Ew.

3. I started dancing en pointe in ballet 6 months after taking my first dance lesson.

4. I was a cheerleader when I was barely 5, but soon learned the error in my ways and gave it up. Still, I was the smallest but loudest on the squad.

5. I am obsessed to some degree with reality TV. The high class kind, like Survivor, ANTM, TLC shows. None of that trashy crap like the Bachelor or Bid Brother or the Mole or anything. ;)

6. I can say the alphabet backwards in English and Portuguese. Very useful life skill.

Alright, now for my tags:

Jennifer Garton - My sister who writes blogs from the perspective of a stay at home mom on all sorts of subjects.

Rebecca Moran - A friend that I work with at our little coffee shop on High street, sozo.

Cameron King - Or Camford as I like to call him... one of the leaders of H2O @ CRC!

Cassie Annan - One of my close friends and soul group peeps who I love!

Nikki Buchanan - One of my fav's from Nashville. Definitely was adopted into their family for a while when I was still living there!

Beth Chase - Yay Beth! I heart this woman! She definitely inspired me to get involved at my church and is an awesome example to me!

So take a minute and check these out... and HAPPY READING!

beauty in simplicity

I took this picture on August 11. I don't really remember exactly what I was doing that day, but I do remember the picture.

I looked out my sliding doors in my bedroom, and I just thought that what I saw was beautiful. This doesn't completely capture it, but it's the best I could do. It may not be much of a view (unless you really like looking at trailers and other apartments) but it's my view. And I've grown to love it. Me and my little ghetto country view. Pretty normal for me to see.

The beautiful and amazing thing about this particular day is that it had been rainy and overcast all day. Then, suddenly, there was a burst of sunshine, that made all the colors look even more vibrant than they really are. If you look in the picture, you can still see the overcast sky in the top.

Isn't it amazing that we serve a God who created such a gorgeous earth, and thought of things like sunshine and rain, clouds and grass, and even people (who in their non-infinite wisdom created trailers)? I just love these little moments that serve as reminders of how amazing He is. What reminders have you had recently? Can't think of one? Well, take a look around you today and see what God can show you through the normalcy all around you. You may just be surprised what you see.

oh the ballet

So in the past few months I have been really missing dancing. That may seem weird, seeing as I lead the kidSTUFF dancers. But what I really miss is the discipline, the workout, the mental challenge, the....ballet. Yeah, I never thought that would be me.

Nope, I was a strictly tap girl when I started. Then I only added ballet and jazz because I thought it'd be cool and my sister was registered in some classes she wouldn't be finishing out. So the teacher let me join them in her place. (wow was she brave) I was even doing a basic pointe barre after only 6 months of ballet training. Insane!

I always thought I was better at tap and jazz. And I may have been right. I was never at a very high level in any of them. But I loved it. to the point that at one time of my life I was dancing about 15 hours a week.

When i moved to Morgantown, I lost that. I didn't have anywhere to go and take a class. Not to mention, ballet is expensive. No more free classes because of being a teacher and gym coach. Nope, I'd have to pay for them on my own.

Well, I may not be on pointe any more, and may be ridiculously out of shape, but I am joining a ballet class this semester. It is a little weird to me because it is "Adult beginning/intermediate". the adult part is the weird thing. Sometimes I forget I fit in that category.

But can I just say, I am really excited about this. I have to miss the first 2 weeks of the semester because of some prior commitments, but after that I will be doing my 1.25 hours of ballet on Saturday mornings. Hooray! Now I just need to make sure that I can find my shoes....

seriously?

wow. It has been about 3 weeks since my last blog. That is far too long.

Things got really busy really quickly here in good ole M-town.

you know, it is kind of funny that I thought my summer would be so laid back. Everything seemed to end that I was doing in the Spring. But then summer turned out to be busy.

I really didn't prepare myself that fall was coming though, and that would mean the beginning of many things again. And, pretty much that my life would get CRAZY all the sudden.

But things are good, and God is always faithful through everything. I will say that I have really learned more and more how important it is to rely on His strength rather than my own the past few weeks.

I'll be posting a bunch (hopefully) in the next couple days to re-synchronize my world with blog world. So much cool stuff has happened....

Driver's License Woes...

Did you know that in WV if you have an expired out of state driver's license you have to retake all the driver's exams and have a certified driving record from your previous registered state, and have about 5 forms of ID? Yeah, even though you may have been legally on the road for 10 years, they will still make you take the written and driving exam again. And if you want to do them in the same day, you have to be accompanied by a licensed driver over the age of 21. In a vehicle with valid registration and insurance.

I just learned all this because my license expired on my birthday, and I realized it about 2 weeks later. Oops. I figured, well, its about time to get a WV license anyway, so what better time than now? And then I found out all the requirements.

This may not be a big deal to most, but if you knew my driving past you may realize my dilemma. The first time I had to do the driving test I failed. Twice. Studying may have helped that, but since I never really studied for anything I didn't find the need to start then. Who knows if I could pass it now.

And then the issue of the driving test itself. You see, in Wilson County, TN, you don't have to do things like parallel park or a three point turn. So I never learned. Yeah, no parallel parking for me unless I can just pull in. Maybe I should learn that...

So I had my freak out time, and spent about an hour on the phone with my dad trying to figure out what to do. See, just getting the certified driving record via mail would take about a month. I was seriously considering going home this weekend just to take care of it. Yeah, 1000+ miles just for a new license. Blah.

Then a ray of hope: online renewal. Apparently in TN if you have a license that has expired in the last 5 years (yes, years) you can just fill out a form online, pay your $20 and get a new one in the mail. Of course it goes to your TN residence. Thank goodness for parents who are willing to overnight a package to me! And, you get a nifty page to print off that says you have an extension on your license so it isn't technically expired.

So I am once again a legal driver.

Then at some point in the next 5 years before it expires again, I will take all my many forms of ID to the WV DMV and get a WV driver's license. And maybe even learn to parallel park. The possibilities are endless.

The Secret Life of the American Teenager

ABC family recently launched a new show called The Secret Life of the American Teenager, a show about a 15 year old girl who gets pregnant at band camp. She is the awkward teen who would be the one everyone would least expect to be in this situation.

Now, admittedly, I watched an episode one night because there wasn't much else on , and because it also stars Molly Ringwald. Yeah, I'm a dork.

So I won't go into a huge review of the show. It is moderately entertaining. I'm not sure how accurate it is for the current daily real life struggles of the American teen, since I was the one who was baffled at what was shown in Mean Girls that apparently was pretty accurate...

What I was not to thrilled with was the way that they portray the "Christian" family. There is one of the popular girls who is a Christian that has decided to not have sex before marriage. Good choice honey. But her Christian boyfriend doesn't really want to wait, sending him to a fairly promiscuous girl, and all kinds of trouble ensues. Now, I'm not upset that they show the real struggle even for the Christian kids. Its not like being a Christian takes away temptation or difficulties of self control.

What kind of made me sad though was the way the family was portrayed. They pretty much seem shallow and superficial, and incredibly hypocritical. I am most sad because this truly is the way many people view Christians. And the way many Christians live give them reason to.

I have begun reading the book unChristian. It makes the point that the way Christians are viewed by others typically can best be described as being "unChristian". We are manipulative, hypocritical, and fake. It is sad.

How do we change this? By changing the way we ourselves act. By being genuine. By being humble. By not making such a separation and thinking of ourselves as better than others.

"... don't think of yourselves more highly than you ought. Instead, think sensibly... Love must be without hypocrisy...Outdo one another in showing honor."

parts of Romans 12: 3 and 9

I love that whole chapter. What would it look life if instead of judging other people we would show them honor and love? What can you do to shift your thinking, and start living out love?

Maybe if we could do this there would be a different presence on the prime time TV set.

"Where's the jelly?"

So I was listening to my iPOD last night, and I heard a song that I hadn't really listened to for a long time. It is a song my friend Rob Hawkins wrote one day just having fun (if I remember the story right... I got a copy of it from his awesome wife Lindsay).

It is just some fun music that has a quote from our pastor at the time.

"It's like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich I give you without the jelly. And you say, "Where's the jelly?" Cause it's not right without the jelly."

The song is pretty humorous... but it got me thinking.

I have no idea what the context of this quote was originally, seeing as it would have been from about 6 years ago or so.

But it really describes the way it is when we try to view things without God. No matter what it is. Creation, science, church, food, music, pottery, coffee, and fill in the blank with whatever else you so desire.

Maybe it stemmed from watching Rob Bell's video Everything is Spiritual. Or maybe reading some of his books. But I do know it is a thought that was circulating in my head for a little while before that. And it has just become more real recently.

Do you think that we can have a full grasp of reality, or even alternate realities, without including God in the mix? I don't.

When we look at something without God with it and in it, its just not right until we put him back in.

Just like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without the jelly.

Bravo TV's lack of Math Skills

One more thing before I go back to my fantastic world of scientific writing...

I was a little bit surprised at the lack of math skill on Bravo the other night.

I love Project Runway (yes, reality TV junkie that I am). Every week they do some sort of poll that people vote online or via text or something during the show and the results are shown toward the end. Now, I usually don't pay a whole lot of attention to these, in fact when I fast forward on my DVR I usually miss them all together.

But somehow last weeks caught my eye. While fast forwarding. I'm not sure how. Maybe it is my OCD for having numbers correct or something.

So can you tell whats wrong with the screen?

Aside from the poor picture quality via my camera of course.

And, no, it isn't that the circle is incomplete. Or that they made up the word tanorexia. (Although I think it is a completely valid affliction that I have seen some people I am sure suffer from.)

Yeah, the "winner" had 37% of the votes. Now, last time I checked, 47% was greater that 37%...

So I guess Suede got gypped from being craziest. Not sure if he would mind, but if you are gonna win something, you should at least be given proper credit.

Props to Suede for being insane, even though Bravo can't do the math to figure it out.

Writing a dissertation proposal

Writing. It's what I do. At least these days that's what it seems like. Now, had I really wanted to be a writer I may have chosen another career field, like, say, ENGLISH. But, nope. I choose science. And I still get to write. Oh well.

A good portion of my days are being spent in a scenario similar to what is pictured above. The location may vary, but the computer and vast amount of articles that surround me usually do not. I think at last count I had somewhere around 150 articles of incredible relevance to what I do - including an 80 page review that my boss likes to call "the Bible of Endothelial dysfunction - that my committee thinks I should know inside out. (Not to mention all the fringe stuff that could be speculated to be related. but really guys, am I gonna spend a lot of time researching p53 when I have a TON of other stuff to wrap my head around? Probs not.)

And somehow I have to run my experiments, write a manuscript to publish (which thankfully is in the finishing stages), know all these papers inside out, research animals and methods of how to take care of them and sacrifice them, and still find time to write.

Oh, and did I mention I like to have a life? Yeah. It's one of my flaws as a scientist.

But, what are you gonna do? I guess for now I will go back to writing and reading and researching, in hopes that I can take a break later and maybe do something fun. Cause Lord knows if I don't then I may just go nuts.

No wireless for the weary?

Dear local forest ranger at Cooper's Rock,

It has been brought to my attention recently that you have no wireless Internet available at your location. This is incredibly disturbing, as many graduate students have been tethered to their computers writing and performing research all day and night. These students need to be able to see the outdoors at some point as well, and your lack of Internet availability severely limits this possibility. Please consider making necessary changes so that our eager young minds can visit your beautiful vistas while still maintaining the amount of computer contact needed with their PI. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,
Rebecca Ward
Graduate Student CCB, WVU
Currently writing WAY too much.

Special thanks to Bethany Cooperrider for her input and inspiration in writing this post.

Bithday Goodness

Ok, so I have to tell you guys about my favorite birthday gift.

It came while standing waiting for my amazing iced mocha at the grind Saturday morning talking with my friend Brittani.

She told me she had been thinking about what to get me for my birthday, and then it just came to her...

You see, we had a discussion about a month or so ago and I told her that since I really didn't need anything, I had thought about asking people to just give any money they would spend on a gift to Nuru International. I really didn't follow through on that though. My bad.

BUT, she remembered it. So, she told me that instead of giving me a gift she would make a donation to Nuru! I was beside myself excited! It was one of those fleeting thoughts and conversations that I never really acted on, and was more idealistic than anything. But to see it become a reality was just amazing!

Maybe in your giving of gifts (birthday, Christmas, the just because gifts) you could think about donating to Nuru instead of giving someone more stuff that they really don't NEED. Or, find out another charity or organization that the person you are giving for loves and is passionate about and give to that.

Let's get our focus off ourselves and on to others!

25th birthday in Wilmington!

Some of my friends are spending their summer in Wilimington, NC, for Leadership Training with GCM. Pretty cool stuff. I knew I would really miss them being here in Morgantown, so I had planned to go visit them at some point during the summer. It just happened to work out that I could go down on the weekend of my birthday. It's also my friend Jenna's birthday who is there for the summer!

It was great to be able to spend an entire day just hanging out with friends with no pressure, and no schedule.

We began by sleeping in (which was good since one of my friends kept me up til 4:30 am!). Then we headed to The Grind, a coffee shop right by the beach. I love that place. 6 of us went and just hung out. Many of us just sat reading our Bibles and hanging with God. Some did some stuff on the computer, and one of my friends studied for an upcoming exam. It was just so chilled and laid back. I think that was one of the best parts of the day!

For the afternoon and evening, we went to downtown Wilmington, and did a little perusing of boutiques. The guys left, and the ladies went and enjoyed some AWESOME half price sushi at a really neat sushi restaurant and then got some fudge at the local candy shop. We even went to another coffee shop and hung out for another couple hours (can you tell it was my kind of day?).

Lastly we made our way to the Little Dipper to enjoy a fantastic fondue dinner. Some of our other friends met up with us and we had a great time just hanging out, and enjoying an eventful meal together.

All in all it was awesome. Getting a chance to hang with some awesome friends, and just have a day with no schedule to hang out. Oh, and getting to hang at 2 coffee shops wasn't so bad either!

Too much stuff?

Recently I have been trying to scale down all my "stuff". I am surprised at people's reactions to this, and the thoughts of, "Why would you do that?" or "That's great, but I can't get rid of my stuff." or "Yeah, just be more out there and 'green' Becca."

This whole thing really started for me around February, when we did a series of events in Morgantown called Another World is Possible. The first night there was a speaker who talked about our responsibility to be a good steward of what we have been given. His name was Dr. Sleeth, and you may have heard of his book Serve God, Save the Planet. Through reading his book, attending his lecture, and getting a chance to chat with him afterwards a a little cafe known as so.zo, I really began to think about ways that I could change.

You see, I like most Americans have WAY too much stuff. Maybe you can relate. I am a grad student, who for 3 years lived alone in a 3 bedroom apartment full of stuff. Amazing, huh?And you know, if there can be shows like Clean House on Style network (which I still find an odd place for that to be aired) then obviously there is an issue within our culture!

As I have been thinking more about this, I did a little research. Do you know if you Google "too much stuff" you come up with about 22,700,000 results? (Yes, Google is my go to shallow research tool.) That kind of interested me. There is a lot of information on these pages, mainly about how Americans have too much stuff, and steps you can take to lessen your clutter.

Any one of these ideas may help you get rid of clutter. But really are you going to stick with it? I don't think so, unless you have a change of mindset when it comes to why you have so much stuff anyway, or why you feel its important to simplify.

Now, I would suggest you read the book mentioned above, because I won't do a thorough job of explaining things here. But, suffice it to say that by taking care of the world around us we are honoring and serving God. I'm guessing that isn't enough to make you want to stop surfing the web and go clean out a closet though.

Here is my revelation: having so much stuff breeds laziness. Yup, you read that right. You see, when you have too many clothes, you can think, "well, I have something clean to wear, so I can wait a little while longer to do laundry." Then you end up with 8 loads to do at one time instead of 1-2 a week. Or how about dishes and silverware? Ever not done dishes because there was still some clean, and then it took you 2 hours to wash everything? Yeah, I've been there. Or how about the fact that when you have tons of clutter no matter how hard you try your house will never look clean? So what's the point in trying?

We are supposed to be good stewards if what we have been given. Is spending money on useless things being a good steward of our finances? Is having a house or apartment bigger than we need just so we can house more stuff a good use of resources and energy? Ever think about what could be done with all the money you spend on useless things? (see The hidden costs of too much stuff on MSN.com).

When I found out I had to move out of my old apartment because of a rent increase, I saw it as an opportunity to downsize. I was able (well, I kind of had to) get rid of about half of what I owned to fit it all in my new apartment. The funny thing is, I find myself still getting rid of stuff little by little when I realize I don't use it.

And I have less desire to go buy stuff because I want it or its cool, simply because I really don't need it and have no room for it anyway. I was shopping with some friends in downtown Wilmington on my birthday, and one of my friends asked if I was gonna get anything (most of the others were). I told him no, that I didn't really need any stuff. He seemed a little taken back by this answer. Not because he disagreed with it, but I think it shocked him to hear a girl in a cool boutique say that she wasn't going to buy anything! "But its your birthday!" He said. Well, birthday or not, I still don't need the stuff. Too often we make excuses for why we need the coolest, latest thing, when really what we have at home already is more than enough.

What can you get rid of that you don't use? Can you begin to think before you buy something, "Do I really need this?" and actually lessen your purchases?

Here are a couple more ideas to help you reduce your clutter or your intake:

Plan with your family and friends to only give consumable gifts for holidays (food, other necessities, etc.) or maybe even give a donation to your favorite charity.

Organize a clothing swap among your friends, you'll get some new clothes, and get rid of things in the process!

Borrow, borrow, borrow! Know someone who has something you'd like? See if you can borrow it. And in the same way, share what you have with others!

Try to get rid of 1/3 of the things you have a bunch of and never use all at once (winter accessories, Tupperware, desk supplies, etc.)

Take some time to think about what you can do to reduce your stuff. You may be surprised how easy it becomes after just a little practice!

The Shack

Since I have been on a reading kick the past few weeks, I feel its necessary to give an idea of what I am reading, and whether or not it is worth you taking time out of your busy life to read as well.

A little over a week ago, I finished reading The Shack. Now, I started this one because I wanted something different to read, and it was on all kinds of bestseller lists.

I had some doubts initially that this book would live up to all the hype surrounding it. I was incredibly entertained from the beginning , but just a couple chapters in I was wondering if it could keep its momentum, especially as the main portion of the story, the interaction with God at the shack, would unfold.

Well, I will say it did keep its momentum. It was thoroughly engaging, and really made me think about the way I view God, from issues of time to the trinity to relationships to love. Now, this is not a book of theology, and doesn't claim to be. Still, there were truths from scripture woven throughout without a direct reference.

This shouldn't be read as an actual account of who God is, more of a creative way to view God and His goodness, with literary freedom taken. I would encourage you to read this book and have your mindset challenged. Then, go back to the Bible and investigate for yourself how what you have read reflects who God is.

It definitely challenged how I perceive God, and how I act towards God regardless of what I say I believe. If you have some time, this is a read that is well worth your time.

The Big Visit

Well, as usual, life has been insanely busy and I have gotten behind on my blogging...

But I'll at least try to catch up some today! :)

So here is the update on the much anticipated Garton visit:

It was AWESOME to have my sister Jenn and her entire family come in (yup, including hubby Heath, 6 yr old Isaiah, 4 yr old Joel, and 2 yr old Silas!). As I said in my last blog, I was a bit nervous about my first time hosting people for a weekend in my new smaller apartment. But all worked out well. The sleeping arrangements were a bit more cramped than any other visit might have been, but there was no complaining, and I think all in all they all had a great time. I know I did.

And apparently my oldest nephew decided he wanted to move to West Virginia, and become a rock climber. Yeah, I know, I'm not sure what gave him that idea. Apparently Cooper's Rock had a huge impact on him. So much so that we had to go back another day. And he has even decided he wants to save his money to get a much needed chalk bag (we heard a lot about him needing one on the trip!)

It was nice to get to see them all again, I can hardly believe it had been 7 months! It was great to see them explore Coopers Rock, have water gun fights, decorate birthday cookies, watch movies, and even learn to play DDR. Yes, I attempt to influence them in weird ways anytime I see them. I know it will probably be Thanksgiving before I get to see them again, so for now I will just enjoy reflecting on the awesome time we had together here.

Downsizing from so much stuff

So I moved from a large 3 bedroom apartment to a moderately sized one bedroom apartment in the middle of May. So, I have been in my new home for about 2 months, and I must say I love it.

The picture is of about half of the stuff I gave away, either to people I knew who could use it, or to Goodwill (man was that a couple of insanely large trips!)

It is so much easier to have less stuff! Seems odd, but its true. It is just easier to stay organized and keep things clean (which I will admit I still have trouble with some, but it is much better than it has been in the past!). And, I actually feel less stress having less stuff just laying around.





What do I need all the stuff for anyway, right?





Well, as of the last couple days I have had my first worries of my new apartment. You see, I love to host people, have people over to hang out, spend the night, whatever. I have a fairly open door policy. But tomorrow night my sister and her whole family are coming to stay with me.





Now, I am really excited that they are coming. I will get to see my nephews for the first time in 7 months (and based on the pictures I've seen they have grown up a lot in that time!) and it will be the first time my brother in law gets to come visit Morgantown.





Still, I am worried because this means that I will have 5 extra people in my little one bedroom apartment. Thank goodness the weather is looking like it will be good so the boys won't be couped up inside all day! But there are little things I never had to worry about in my old apartment. Where to fit everyone to sleep? Where to do dinners (since I no longer have an actual kitchen table, just a bar table with 2 stools that it is likely the boys will fight over)? What about nap times? Where do they play?





Well, I'm sure all these will be worked out with relative ease, and it will be much wirth any craziness to have them come visit.

Proud to be an American?

I began to wonder about how patriotic I am (or maybe not) these days when I was watching the fireworks on the fourth of July. Now, the picture here is much grander than what we experienced in Mogantown, from our place standing on the Westover bridge in the rain. Still, I do love fireworks. Never knowing what will be next, the color, the sound, it is just exciting. But I digress.

While I was watching, I began to think about what that day meant to a lot of people, even those standing around me. Some of you know, and many would not be surprised to find out, that I am not really the most patriotic of people. Never really have been. And kinda would get mad when my grandma would inevitably have red, white, and blue paper products for our July birthday celebration every year (of which I was one of the birthdays). Not to mention always having fried chicken. Double yuck.

I would always tell people that I was NOT patriotic, not because I disagreed with the sentiment, but because I did not want to be lumped in with the large amount of people who were blindly and often ridiculously, patriotic without thinking about what they believed.

I think I can trace a lot of my anti-patriotism to my senior year of high school/freshman year of college, when I took Honors History/English with Dr. Ruff and Ms. Blomgren. Oh I hated it to some degree back then, but it ended up being a class that changed the way I viewed life more than any other. You see, it taught me the value of critical thinking, and knowing why you believe what you believe. Well, I was very disenchanted with the US as a whole at that point, a majority of which was probably unfounded and just as backwards as people who are blindly patriotic. Maybe I was just as blind as they were though.

But I have continued on that path to this day. Now I am not anti-American, or against any of the people, so don't get me wrong. In fact, I think that as Americans we have been given a great gift. The problem is how we use it. We are typically arrogant, loud, obnoxious, and covetous. We never get enough, and we don't know how to say no to our own desires.

Over the past week I read another book (I know, shocking that I have made the time). This one is called Jesus for President, and I would highly recommend it to anyone. you see, all too often we get caught up in being American, and in politics, being liberal or conservative, republican or democrat. It kind of reads like a deep picture book for adults, and is full of fun graphics that make the point of whatever the topic is.

"The danger is that we can begin to read the Bible through the eyes of America rather than read America through the eyes of the Bible. We just want Jesus to be a good American. "

I think that sums up the way a lot of us view things. WE separate church and state to such a degree that we no longer even think about what the bible says about politics, or how we should interact with others. We just want Jesus to fit in our nice little box, to come out and magically forgive our sins. We don't really want to consider how he lived his life, in a bizarre and creative fashion of loving people no matter what. No, that would be very difficult to actually do, so we take the easy way out and just think about politics in its own box, school in its own box, work, church, friendships, you name it. We keep it all separate.

What would it look like if we instead allowed Jesus to color all we do?

Would we be fighting a war on the other side of the world? Would we be allowing people in our own country to live in poverty? Would we allow extreme poverty to exist worldwide? Would we continue to allow the heinous things the government does be seen as ok?

Take a moment and think on that. Now, I'm not asking you to become less patriotic. But think perhaps of pledging allegiance to the Lord instead of to the flag.

I'll end with a little bit from the book. (Again, if you have any time and can read- which since you are reading this I'm assuming is a yes- please pick up a copy of this book. It will definitely challenge you, and even if you don't agree wholeheartedly with it, it can make you think about things from a little different perspective.) One of the authors (Shane) wrote this while he spent some time in Iraq (during which he was working with others to bring aid to those in need, even though they were from a country we were fighting against). Apparently he had been asked about being a traitor since he was "supporting" the people in Iraq.

"Traitor?

If this bloody, counterfeit liberation is American...

I'm proud to be un-American.

If depleted uranium is American...

I'm proud to be un-American.

If US sanctions are American...

I'm proud to be un-American.

If the imposed "peace" of Pax Americana is American...

I'm proud to be un-American.

But if grace, humility, and nonviolence are American...

I'm proud to be American.

If sharing to create a safe, sustainable world is American...

I'm proud to be American.

If loving our enemies is American...

I'm proud to be American."

Death Hike: Day 1

And so begins the narrative of the death hike.

Sarah and I started off our day by having lunch with our friend Megan. (Our last meal in her words, before heading off to die.) After lunch we stopped by the store to pick up some last minute things (like 8 gallons of water) and off we went to the middle of nowhere in WV. That's us on our adventures before everyone else joined us!

After a couple hours we were in Seneca Rocks, WV. I have never ventured to this area, and I must say it is beautiful. I look forward to going back and getting to explore some of the other areas nearby! Back to the story though...

Sarah and I somehow volunteered ourselves to make a water drop along our 24 mile trail route at an area where the trail intersects a public road. Now the only issue being that we didn't know where we were going, and there weren't really clear directions on how to get there. (I do believe part of the directions were something like, "after you are on 220 for a bit there is a road, that isn't marked really, that goes through two mountains, that goes by a magic bus, and up to where the trail is". Right.

So after getting lost once (only about 8 miles out of our way) we found our way to the trail.We then found a place to hide the water, which isn't as easy as it sounds when the landscape is kinda open... and then headed back to meet the others and leave our cars at both ends of the trail and begin our hike.

We met up with our other 4 friends (Brittani, Josh, Curtis, and Ricky), and made our way to the south end of the trail where we would begin our journey. As we arrived, another car pulled up beside us, and to our surprise it was our friend Billy and his dad, who were there to hang and help us set our camp that evening. At this point I think it was about 9:30 or so, and we began our uphill climb in the dark. After just a few minutes we found a nice area to set camp, but about half the group decided that it would be best to continue further uphill to get it out of the way.

Well, we were already exhausted from a day of travel, and let me tell you, a consistent uphill hike in the dark after driving all day is not too good. Also... its best to have dinner on a night like that. Sarah and I got so busy that we forgot entirely to eat, which did not help us at all. After about 2 miles uphill we finally found a suitable place to set camp. It was sometime around 12:15 by then.

It was a LONG day and a rough way to start the hike....

The End of Poverty

So I had a big accomplishment this week... I finished reading The End of Poverty.

Now, to a bunch of my friends that are currently reading it, or have recently read it, it may seem like an accomplishment just to get through it. (There was a lot of talk about how it was a difficult book to get through before I started on it, which made me kind nervous.) BUT, the accomplishment for me was that I actually found time to read a whole book, start to finish, in a relatively short period of time!

Now, I will say that there were portions of the book that dragged, and when there was a lot of economic jargon I was less than entertained, but overall it was an incredibly interesting read. A huge chunk of the book is dedicated to telling the specific stories of countries who have had some level of economic crisis, and how they have come out of that, some with great success, and others with more difficulty.

If I had the book here with me, I would probably put some great quotes from it here, but one of my friends is already borrowing my copy. Needless to say, it was eye opening for me. I may have realized that poverty existed in the world, but I did not really know to what extent, and what can be practically done about it. I am by no means an expert in economics, but I will say that this book has piqued my interest, and makes me long for a greater understanding so that I can better make a difference.

If you have the chance, and are maybe ready to read something that is a bit outside of what you would normally read, I would really suggest giving this book a try. Even if it means you just skim through it and read the highlights, I'm sure it can profoundly change the way you view things.

The Aftermath

We made it out alive! There may have been a few points where we thought it would be otherwise, but all in all, we conquered the trail.

The picture above is actually from the day after, when we went to meet our friend Billy and his dad, and went to Bickle Knob. It was a nice relaxed day after the insanity of the previous 24 hours. If you look carefully, you will see that we spell out T-I-R-E-D... which we definitely were!

We ended up hiking the whole North Fork Mountain Trail in 24 hours... when originally we had planned to do it in about 36. Why? Because we are insane.

But it was incredibly awesome to see the views we got to see, and to know that we pushed ourselves past any thinkable limit and hiked 22 miles straight in one day (the 2 beginning miles were hiked the previous night before camping). All in all, it was worth it I think. Would I do that whole thing again? Maybe not. Unless I turn into a superhero. Then we'll see.

More details to come...

The Death Hike

So a group of 7 of my friends and I are going on a little hike this weekend. And by little I mean 24 miles.

I have never done anything remotely similar to this in my life, but I'm pretty excited about it. We will be carrying in all our own water (dude, that's a lot of added weight) and supplies to camp Friday and Saturday night on the trail. When I say I've never done anything like this, I mean, I've never hiked that long, had to hike carrying supplies, or even camped outside for real. (Unless you count the youth advance when I was 15 at a campground or having a tent set up at Relay, which I don't.)

So all in all, I may die. It will be a fun death though I am sure. I'm quite positive I will come back from the weekend with all sorts of insane stories to tell or embarrassing moments when I realize how much of a city girl I really am. (I mean, I do claim being from suburbia... that has to say something.)

Still... it will be an adventure. And if I die, well, it has been nice knowing you all, and blogging about my randomness. :D

How much can $1 buy?

Alright, on top of being busy constantly, I always have about a billion things going on in my mind... and yes, many of them are usually bouncing around at one time. From what does arsenic do to these cells to poverty around the world to recycling to cleaning my apartment to hanging with friends to the good book I am reading to watching a movie to what I have to do for work to coffee to so.zo to the kids I work with to family.... well, the list usually doesn't end... and it is all happening rapid fire at any point in my brain.

So as I was driving down to KY at 60mph (yeah, like a grandma, but I got 30 mpg in a CR-V!) I was thinking about tons of things. I was kind of hungry cause I hadn't really eaten that day. I was planning on holding out for Sonic (one of my loves) I just got too hungry to wait. So I decided to stop at a McDonald's to get something. Now usually I would never do this, because McDonald's in and of itself kind of grosses me out. But I had a coupon for a free chicken sandwich, and I figured, hey, its free, and I'm hungry. (Side note - the buttered bun, bad idea McDonald's.) I went through the drive through and got my free sandwich and a sweet tea (ok, it's horrible for you, but I am southern, right?).

So my whole meal ended up costing me $1.06. Pretty cheap. That made me happy. Especially since everything has gotten to be more expensive recently.

BUT, I got to thinking. Do you know that about 1 billion people live on less than $1.08 per day? Yeah, they probably live entirely on what I just paid to get a sweet tea. you can argue what you will about things being cheaper in other countries and whatnot, but come on. Reality is that we take for granted what we can do, and what we can buy. There are many times I don't even bat an eye when paying $4.00 for a latte. How spoiled am I?

And in reality, what could my money that I spend on extras do for someone who lives in extreme poverty? Maybe just my little bit couldn't do a whole lot in the grand scheme of ending poverty, but what about everyone's little bit?

Can the rich afford to help the poor? Most definitely. Will we? I sure hope so, but it will take changing the way we look at what we have and can do. I mean, could we all give up a coffee or a fast food meal a week? Sure. Is it easy, pretty much. But will we change?

busy, busy, busy

So much for having a boring summer.

I thought at the beginning of the summer that life was gonna be so much simpler because a lot of what I did during the fall and spring was ending until next fall. No more seminars and journal clubs, a break from KidSTUFF, no summer hours for so.zo, no exsatio, friends going out of town for the WHOLE summer... you know, a huge change.

But boy was I wrong! I have had so much to do lately that it is hard to keep up... and it seems I have just hit the beginning of my busy summer! I'm writing a manuscript (for real this time), trying to finish up some experiments for that and doing other experiments, and writing my dissertation proposal for lab. That is a lot in and of itself... and takes up a lot of my time. On top of that, my weekends are pretty much booked solid through the end of July. Where has the time gone?

I mean, don't get me wrong. I enjoy being busy. When I'm not I go kind of nuts. It is just that I had expected one thing out of the summer and I am getting quite another!

I guess sometimes our expectations are just dead wrong, huh?

The Alderson Family Reunion

It is that time of year again... the weekend after Father's Day. It may not sound like a big deal, but in our family it is.

This weekend I traveled to Kentucky for our annual family reunion with my dad's mom's family, to begin my string of insane summer weekends. My family here is a pretty interesting group of people. I used to go to these reunions a lot when I was a little kid, and then stopped when I was about 11 or so. When I moved to Morgantown, my dad made me promise to go to the reunion every year, first so he could "make sure to see me at least once a year" and second because it is about as close to being the exact halfway point between Morgantown and Nashville as you can get.

Well, I'm usually not to thrilled about coming. Nothing against anyone here, its just that I really don't know anyone. The past two years my cousin Carla has come up too, and last year my sister also joined us with her kids. they always make it really fun, and it is nice to see them too. but this year for various reasons neither could come.

I was kind of nervous about going by myself. You see, the generations span many years in this family, so in "my generation" I was 10 years older than the next oldest! And then from the next generation up I was about 10 years younger. Kind of in the middle.

BUT. Oddly enough, I did really enjoy myself yesterday. I got a chance to talk with family that I never would have taken the time to if Carla or Jenn had been here. I wish I had my camera... because I took a sweet picture of me and my cousin (ok, I have no idea how far away, but cousin works) Roxanne using my mad self photography skills. It was pretty fun all in all.

After the cookout, we usually split up for the afternoon and then meet again for dinner as a whole group. Well, this year we were split into two groups. The "young" ones (those with kids in my generation) went to get wings an the rest wen to get Mexican. I was invited to go with the wings group, which also had the parents who were closest to my age. I really did think about going with them, but decided that I should probably go to Mexican and hang with my parents some more since that is what I kind of originally came to do.

I'm kind of sad that I didn't get more time to hang out with some of the cool people here. Well, I guess there is always next year!

Please Don't Send Me to Africa!

I wrote a few weeks back about our creative expression that we do in our canvas groups. Well, in our last one we were encouraged to think about a problem that has been on our mind, and come up with a creative way to share it with others or solve it, or something along those lines.

Recently I have been thinking a lot about extreme poverty, and the little that we as rich Americans do about it in the rest of the world. And how blind we are to it. I thought of doing something deep and profound, but the words of one of my favorite childhood songs rang in my ears.

When I was a little kid I used to listen to a tape by a guy named Scott Wesley Brown. He recorded a lot of great late 80s and early 90s cheesy Christian music. But, there was always one song in particular that stuck with me over the years, and that no matter when I thought about it, I knew every word still. A couple years ago I was telling my dad that, and how I wish I still had it on tape, but that it had long been lost. He knew what I was talking about since it was in our limited amount of tapes we would play on all family vacations, with things like Rich Mullins, Wayne Watson, Amy Grant (before she went to the dark side), and Degarmo and Key (which, if anyone has a CD of their stuff I'd LOVE to hear it). He bought me a CD set that had the song on it! It was once again in my music collection, and is even on my ipod! Anyway. Back to my point.

I decided to use this song to maybe make people think about our complacency as Americans. How often do we say we are wholly committed to God, but really we mean, "I am wholly committed to God as long as he doesn't ask me to do anything I don't want to do, give up anything I love, or be in a situation that makes me uncomfortable."

Watch the video above, and through the sarcasm, think about how it might reflect what is in your own heart. I know regrettably if often times reflects mine.

Bloody shoes and near death experiences

I had every intention of blogging last week, but did I? Nope. You see, I somehow managed to get some sort of winter weather type virus in the middle of June. So instead of blogging, or doing much of anything else, I laid on my couch and slept, at least when I could.

So now I am feeling better, and I thought I'd jump right back in with a little story from yesterday. I went out after church with a few friends to have lunch and then to go walk along one of the rail trails. We walked the Cheat Lake Trail which I had never gone to, and it was pretty nice. (The other Rail Trails don't have HUGE houses to gawk at along the road!)

I have some new Teva hiking sandals I got on clearance this weekend, so I thought I'd wear them (they are oh so cool). Apparently they don't like my feet though. On the way back (after already walking about 2 hours) one of my friends asked me if my feet hurt. My response? "No, why?" Well, apparently I had a blister on the back of my foot that was bleeding. Yup, and i didn't even notice it. Perceptive, aren't I? Well, I have broken in my new shoes with a healthy dousing of blood along the back of the left shoe. I'm kind of proud. Makes me feel like I did some really intense hiking or something even though I didn't. :)

BUT, the best part of the day was also when we were walking back. Two of my friends were pretty far ahead, and three of us were kind of together. The other 2 had run ahead to take a picture of an "awkward butterfly" so I was about 15 feet or so behind. A biker yelled from behind, "On your right!" Now, if you are ever on the trials, you know this is common to have someone yelling at you to get out of the way so they can pass. It is just normal. What isn't normal is that she said right not left. Usually bikers will pass on your left, so you just move over to the right side. Makes sense.

So I thought it was weird, but kind of started moving to my left so she could pass on my "right" and realized she was already very close to me and on the left side of the trail! She came within inches of colliding with me (thankfully we both had very fast reflexes). But seemed pretty mad at me for being in her way. I'm still not sure how she didn't know her right from her left. She had passed us going the other way with no issue. I found out later that she apparently had yelled the same dyslexic type directions to my friends ahead of us. Hmmm. Maybe she was home schooled. ;) I'll never know.

Morals of the story: 1. When breaking in new shoes it is always a bonus to shed blood. 2. When biking/blading on a trail, make sure to yell "On your left!" when passing on the left side. You are, after all, on their left!

Getting to know me

That's me and my favorite sister. Okay, my only sister, but she's my favorite one nonetheless.

My sister sent me one of those random surveys the other day. She does this about every few months or so, and always lists me as the person least likely to respond. (Luckily she realizes I'm busy and doesn't mean it as an insult.) Anyway, I thought I'd take some time to fill one out and put up some random info about me.

This is a compilation of 3 I have gotten.... so enjoy!

1. What is your occupation? Student.... officially I think I am listed as "research fellow" yeah, that sounds cool.

2. What color are your socks right now? white with yellow

3. What are you listening to right now? nothing

4. What was the last thing that you ate? a fudge striped cookie

5. Can you drive a stick shift? definitely not

6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? cerulean

7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Megan

8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Indeed I do :)

9. How old are you today? 24

10. Favorite drink? Depends on my mood... probably Guarana, OJ, or coffee of some sort

11. What is your favorite sport to watch? Dance/gymnastics, and Baseball!

12. Have you ever dyed your hair? oh yeah

13. Pets? nope

14. Favorite food? anything with curry

15. Last movie you watched? All the way through I guess Meet the Robinsons, otherwise I watched part of Mean Girls the other night

16. Favorite Day of the year? That's a tough one. I'd have to say April 25th because it's not too hot and not too cold. All you need is a light jacket.

17. What do you do to vent anger? Maybe hold it in, maybe call a friend and talk it out, and even getting better at being confrontational when necessary. :)

18. What was your favorite toy as a child? Felxiblocks

19. What is your favorite season? Winter

20. Hugs or kisses? as in candy? Kisses...

21. Cherry or Blueberry? Both

22. Do you want your friends to email you back? well, seeing as this isn't an email, that would e pointless

23. Who is most likely to respond? Well, Jenn would probably write a comment if that counts

24. Who is least likely to respond? everyone else

25. When was the last time you cried? When Trey was finishing his sermon on Sunday about having an impact on kids

26. What is on the floor of your closet? All kinds of stuff. Maybe I should finish unpacking and putting things away soon.

31. Who inspires you? My friends

32. What are you afraid of? Not having an impact on the world, and being a bad example to those who look up to me

33. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? Cheese

34. Favorite car? Cracker-vehicle

35. Favorite cat breed? dead.

36. Number of keys on your key ring? 6

37. How many years at your current job?3

38. Favorite day of the week? Sabbath

39. How many states have you lived in? 2

40. Do you think you're funny? sometimes. sarcastic? always.

SIX LAST'S:

1. last beverage - OJ

2. last phone call – Megan!

3. last instant message – Interestingly Megan too...

4. last cd played – Avenue Q soundtrack

5. last time you cried - When Trey was finishing his sermon on Sunday about having an impact on kids.

6. last text message sent to you says – Okay. wish you were going. but have a good evening. :)

Random Music Playlist:

Put your Music Player on Shuffle, and write the first line of the first 20 songs, no matter what it says. See who can correctly guess the song and artist. (Googling the lyrics is cheating! This one is all straight from random knowledge!) This is where you guys come in.... leave a comment and see if you can get them right! Have fun, and see if any of you have as random a taste in music as I do!

1. Somewhere Over the rainbow, way up high

2. Her face is a map of the world, is a map of the world

3. What do I, and what do I, what I do to need to see myself in a better mood?

4. Its a cold and wet December day when we touched the ground of JFK

5. You can't stop an avalanche as it races down the hill

6. Takes a second to say goodbye, say goodbye, oh oh oh

7. Life lines, and suicide crimes he found me in a state

8. One man lived to bring a vision, one man died to save a nation

9. You're a painting with symbols deep, a symphony

10. I've had it up to here, so let me make it very clear, because in fact I'll never clue you in again

11. I'm unafraid of anything in this world, there's nothing you can't throw at me that I haven't already heard

12. I'm feel crazy, hope is hazy right now

13. I couldn't wait to get up today and see all my friends who are waiting there for me

14. 1 here comes the 2 to the 3 to the 4

15. wake up and smell coffee, rise and shine the early bird gets the worm

16. She's so sophisticated, I'm such a zero

17. Madam blueberry was a sad little berry, she lived all alone in a house on a tree

18. I'm around the corner from anything that's real

19. I come from the land where the mullet attacks, business up front, party in the back

20. Is there is a time for keeping for keeping your distance? A time to turn your eyes away?