Thanksgiving Quote

"...and then dealing with the screaming kids..."
"What are you talking about?"
"Walmart."
"Walmart is the best form of contraception."

Family Thanksgiving Catchphrase

"It's hot molten lava! Austin Powers says it really funny!"
(game beeps)
Other side: "MAGMA!"
"No, it was the first word. I didn't get to give the clue for the second."
"So what's the word?
"Magma Carta."


"It's a storm we don't get in Montana and it sounds like a religion."



"When you really want something! 4 Words!"
"Hot for it?"
"That's three."


"You use it! Its a tool!"
"Carson Daly?"

Quote for Montana

"I am in love with Montana...for other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection; but with Montana it is love and it's difficult to analyze love when you are in it."
- John Steinbeck

Identity

This past week I had to write a paper on the book "The Price of Privilege" and diagram my family tree (called a genogram) and write 10 pages about interpersonal relationships within the family.



And as my mom and I talked this afternoon (face to face for the first time in months) these two very different assignments began to make a lot of sense, and I realized that God was teaching me a big lesson.



One of the things that Price of Privilege highlighted was the emotional problems affluent kids have. One contributing factor is that kids are taught to base their identity on unstable 'things' in the world - performance, status, grades. Sometimes I struggled with these things that define, but I realized as I read the book that I hadn't as much as others had struggled. Why? Onto my second assignment.....



My genogram highlighted that my family deals with conflict generally better-than-average. At this moment I'm waiting for Ben, Bekah and Jeremy to get home from school/work. Can't. Wait. to see them. Why?



This afternoon's conversation with my mom really revealed why our family relationships are so encouraging. I was wrestling with some things that have happened during the last week that tried my humility and patience. I was so frustrated for so much of our conversation. But she repeatedly, uniquely, consistantly told me the truth: Be humble. Be a biblical peacemaker. Remember where your strength comes from - NOT. YOU. Remember whose you are. Remember that 'whose you are' isn't performance-based.



And so my two very different papers came to life in a 20 minute conversation with my mom. And on this Thanksgiving eve, I'm really thankful for my family - my mom, dad, Ben, Bekah and Jeremy. They point me to the gospel and help ground my identity in the one person who really defines me - Christ.

Monday Richard Pratt Quote

Last one of it's kind - Next time we meet, it will be Final time!

You don’t really need the Holy Spirit if you’re trying to avoid suffering.

~Richard Pratt

Expectations

My (she just edited "fabulous") roommate said she was sick of looking at my blog and not seeing a new post, so here I am. Posting.

I've been thinking about expectations and failed expectations lately. Last night there was a missed expectation which resulted in the necessary peacemaking this morning. Last week there was hope and refraining from having too high of expectations.

Over the last few years, I've talked with a good friend about expectations. Do you abandon all expectations? Do you have expectations, just to be disappointed?

The longer I'm in seminary, the more I realize life is all about "the tension in between." I'm living in the tension of holding onto good expectations and not holding others to high expectations.

Ultimately expectations are not rooted in us. Even when I'm just looking at today and thinking, "I missed that expectation of _______. I've failed again." The truth is Christ will fill all of our expectations and fulfill the expectations of others that we could have filled, were we perfect.

(And my other roommate just said, "It all goes back to Pratt's class and covenant." THAT is a post for another day.)

Bayer House, otherwise known as a Sitcom

{Previously, in our conversation J tells me that she didn't know about Mark Driscoll until a few weeks ago. }

J:...Then I find out it's concerning Patrick Henry College. {blank look from Hannah}. TELL me you know about Patrick Henry!"

H: I know who Patrick Henry is....But I don't know about the College. {Look from J of dumbfoundment}. Hey, the nation is big! I knew about Mark Driscoll a few years ago!

It's Monday, which means "Richard Pratt Quote Time!"

If you believed your prayers would stop the locusts, you’d be praying.

~Richard Pratt

Irony

Lyrics heard when put on hold by Discovercard:

Dire Striats

"Now look at them yo-yos thats the way you do it
You play the guitar on the mtv
That aint workin thats the way you do it
Money for nothin and chicks for free"

Quote Worthy

I think people are only interested in (a relationship) three times: When you get together, when you break up, and when you have a baby."

Jay-Z

I swore I'd never be that kind of mom

I got a taste of "real" motherhood this morning. For the last year, I've gone grocery shopping on Monday mornings with a dear friend and her twins. And for a year, nooooo problem. One of the twins would always come with me.

Well, the "twos" hit, and both girls want to ONLY be with Mom. Nothing "Cool Aunt Hannah" could do would change the situation - And at this moment, I have to laugh, because at age two, apparently being pushed around in another grocery cart with a person you've known for a year is tantamount to treason against your mom.

So, I decided to kick it up a notch. Old. School. Bribery. In the name of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups.

You've never seen a child so happy. And yes, I always thought I'd never bribe my own kids in a grocery store (and this isn't QUITE on that level...uh, because they aren't mine) but sometimes you just have to go with what works.

Thank you, Reeses.

Sex Class at Covenant; Article on Sex with Robots

"There has been this trend in marriage where each partner gets to make their own choice of who they want to be with." ~ artificial intelligence researcher David Levy

When I first started reading this article on MSN about the sex with robots in the future, there was a point in which I thought, "Am I being ....Is it April Fools?" Nope. There is a deep part of me that is disturbed at this article. Probably because I recognize how self centered our culture is, so now Americans have categorized attraction and love to the point where we're looking for "exactly what we want" in a robot, booted up with everything we've ever desired in a husband/wife.

"Humans are very unusual creatures," Arkin said. "If you ask me if every human will want to marry a robot, my answer is probably not. But will there be a subset of people?

The ethical questions section of the article is especially challenging. Once again the image of God, the fundamental value of humans, is being challenged, and yet also unbelievers are trying to reduce abuse and crime.

But I think I'd rather recommend Professor Jay Sklar's message during Friday's chapel - titled "What is Sex?" He preached on it as a precursor to Scotty Smith's weekend class "Gospel Centered Sexuality." Dr. Sklar's talk is not up on the student website yet, but I'll try to upload it in a day or two. His message on sex being marital had a perspective I had never considered before, and I'm pretty sure many others had never imagined, either.

Never knew it would be that annoying

I've started the process of getting rid of my MySpace page. While doing so, I changed my password, which of course I promptly forgot. When I tried to log in repeatedly, MySpace prompted me to clear out my cookies, because maybe THAT was my problem. (Nope, just that sometimes I'm not the brightest bulb and my memory has started to go).

For the last two weeks, I've been hitting the "save this login/password/whatever" button.

And today I tried clicking on my Amazon Cart, repeatedly thinking, "NO! I KNOW I put that book in my 'to purchase' cart. I know I did.....
Oh. I'm not logged in."

sigh. They say insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results.

Pulling the Trigger

Dear Jennie (and all of the other Internet Explorer users),

Surprise! Here is the new template. I'm off to go to a Ministry Lunch and so I don't have a lot of time to comment, except that whenever I change my template (the old one was in existence for almost 2 years) there are little snags that YOU won't notice, but they'll drive me nuts.

This one should be ok for IE because I just manipulated an existing Blogger template. (The old one didn't, because it was a true template hack job.)

So, this is my capitulation to IE. And you should download Firefox. It's better. Much better!

Friend

It’s easy to say that you have a lot of friends. But what you mean is “I have a lot of people in my life that I am pleasant to, and they are pleasant to me.”

That’s not friendship. It’s nice, but it’s not quite friendship.

There is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. Prov 18:24

Want to know what that looks like in 2007? It looks like a phone call to a friend, in a city you haven’t lived in for 5 years. A phone call to your pregnant friend at 10:30 at night. “Tones, it’s me. My sister is stranded at the airport.”

Immediate response: “Do you want me to pick her up?”

I think I saw this friend in September 2006. Maybe for a day. I haven’t seen her in a year, and I haven’t talked to her for a few months.

“Do you want me to pick her up” are words of a friend. I don’t even know if my friend and sister had met, really interacted, before last night. After I had made the initial connection, she called me back and we talked while she drove down to the airport.

There is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. I’ve always been taught that this Proverb is about Jesus. And it is.

And my friend was reflecting him and his compassion last night. And I am so grateful to my Lord for providing a wonderful sister on one hand and a wonderful friend on the other – a friend who is willing to help me and my family when we needed it.

Thank you, Tones.

Phone Call Overheard at the Bayer House

"Have a good Sunday....Me? No, I have the Peacemaking Class....Yes, The Peace Pipe class. We are Presbyterian after all."

New Blog

One of my favorite persons on the earth has started a blog. Here's to free Advertising...

You'll see the link on my blogroll (unless you use Internet Explorer, to which, I'm not sure what to say - except maybe I'll be able to work on my template around Fall Break?....errrr). Her blog is The Softer Side of Cynical. Man I love that girl!

On the topic of Image of God

“But you know what happens when someone runs a four way stop. You go, "Oh, there goes the Glorious Image of God!”

Richard Pratt

You Belong Here Now

I returned last night to Saint Louis from helping out at the Peacemaker Conference. "How was it?" is a typical question from friends here.

It was good. Typical response. But then the truth comes out:

"Have you ever gone back to somewhere...where you did your undergrad, or maybe home, or something, and everyone is really happy to see you, and they miss you, and you don't doubt that, but..."

But things have changed? People have gone on with life, and you aren't walking with them there anymore?

Maybe the reason I experienced it this now and not earlier is because my immediate family is very steady in our relating to each other. So it took me experiencing my Peacemaker Family to know that things go on.

And that's the way it ought to be. Standing still is never an option in Christ's Kingdom. We are to move forward.

And so, I was instant messaging an acquaintance/new friend this afternoon. He and his girlfriend are always consistent to invite me with them to do things. And when he asked the "how was it" question, and received my answer, he responded:

Yep, I know. That was the story of my summer. You belong here now.

How hard it is to only belong to one place and yet miss a part of your heart.

September

Some of my Minnesota friends think I must be dead.

If you look at my blog on a regular basis, I'm sure you probably think I've keeled over as well.

Ah ha, my September update!

I'm so tired right now. I just got back from my class on Marriage and Family Counseling. This might be one of the most depressing classes, because it's focusing on the Therapy aspect. And if you need Marriage counseling...? ...Then your marriage probably isn't a happy one. Yikes.

That said, she brought the grace and the gospel tonight. Not the way that Anthony Bradley brought it in chapel today, but we can't expect everyone to be Anthony Bradley, can we now? (Go to Covenant's Website and listen to his chapel sermon. Ok, so that was from a while ago, but you can't get his latest. None the less: So encouraging.)

So back to being tired. Lots of reading, and, yes, I'm horrifically behind - three weeks in. I'm trying to keep up in Richard Pratt's (really phenomenal) 'Old Testament Prophetical Books' class, and I was 118 pages behind in reading the moment I stepped into class last week. So some of the reading that isn't required in other classes is DEFINTELY getting put on the "After Seminary reading" list. Yes, I'm being a bit idealistic. I know it and so do you. I refuse to NOT be idealistic.

Genrally I feel like I'm falling behind on keeping up with my friends, but someday (cough, heaven) I think I'll get to that point.

I'm flying out tomorrow for the Peacemaker Conference (yea!) and I'll be the driver for those people flying in and out of Charlotte. I'm so looking forward to seeing the Divine Miss M and others that I miss from Montana.

For those of you interested in our German Meal hosted by my roommate Courtney and our friend Daniel in honor of their fun and loveable elder George, here are photos from last weekend. Also, pictures from our great time at the performance of The Fabulous Motown Revue.




Photos courtesy of Courtney

Menu:
Pork Chops and Sauerkraut
Traditional German Potato Salad
Spaetzle
German Beer; Wine
Apple Crisp
Pumpkin Bread with homemade cream cheese frosting
Death. By. Chocolate. Cake (!) w/ chocolate frosting.
Coffee

(We take dinners seriously down here! ) :)