mostly for Courtnay

Guess what I got for Christmas? That is right! Season 3 of Gilmore Girls! I have officially watched 8 episodes in the last 2 days. Pathetic I know... I just needed this lil spurt to get it out of my system... and also I'm sick and didn't have much else to do, except draw and listen to Johnny Cash and Rufus Wainwright which I also did pleanty of. Oh, and also Rori and Jess have finally gotten together so I needent wait in anticipation for that any more (if you ask me the kid shouldn't date either Dean OR Jess cuz she's only 17 and they're both deeply flawed... but hey what kind of a TV show would that be?!). So I just thought the world should know. Gilmore Girls and my laptop computer and back together again. And the peasants rejoiced.
(makes me miss you Court, and Diana and Sophie and Rahel and Lisa too).
P.S. no dispairaging comments of any kind are allowed on this post. Thank you.

December 25

Merry Christmas my beloveds!! Hooray for Christmas!
And Happy Birthday J! You finally get to join the ranks of non-teenagehood!
love love,
Pamela

Brits discuss Americans in 1891

(Dear J, I am sorry for quoting Oscar Wilde. You don't have to read it if you don't want to. I, however, think he's quite clever, atrocious though he was).

From "the Picture of Dorian Gray" on American women-

"'Is she pretty?'
'She behaves as if she was beautiful. Most American women do. It is the secret of their charm.'
'Why can't these American women stay in their own country? They are always telling us that is it he Paradise for women.'
'It is. That is the reason why, like Eve, they are so excessively anxious to get out of it.'" (p. 25)

"'The Americans are an exteremly interesting peopleThey are absolutely reasonable. I think that is their distinguishing characteristic. Yes, Mr. Erskine, an absolutley reasonable people. I assure you there is no non-sense about the Americans.'
'How dreadful!' cried Lord Henry. 'I can stand brute force, but brute reason is quite unbearable. There is something unfair about its use. It is hitting below the intellect.'" (p. 29)

Happy Birthday Mummy!

So... this isn't quite what she looks like now... this is more like 24 years ago... but she's still pretty smokin'... for an old lady anyway ;-). Just kidding, 49's not THAT old... Seriously though, I have always felt that it's really not fair how cool... and how pretty... my mom is. I mean she should really be only half as cool and we could share the rest of that coolness with like 100 other moms and they'd all come out pretty dang good... but as it is... I get it all to myself, well me and my 3 siblings at least! She's the kind of mom that all my friends (who live nearby) know and like. They always used to tell me, "your mom is so cool!" But not in the really sweet little church lady way... more like in the funny comfortable awesome and a little weird way. Like when I'm acting kind of goofy is usually when people tell me I remind them of my mom.

Ah... mummy! I love you more than I can ever stretch my arms wide to show! Happy Birthday!

Home.

Although I do love living with the Moodys in their wonderful portland home there are some things which only home has. Things which I probably never noticed that much before but that now give me a little thrill every time I come home. I would like to share just a few of those things with you.

In no particular order, things I love about being home for Christmas break:

- Not having to lock my car door, or unlock the front door (I don't know if we've ever locked our front door EVER).

- The fact that we celebrate St. Nicholas day (you get you stockings on Dec. 6 so St. Nick is associated with that day instead of Christmas. A stocking must traditionally include: an orange, a gingerbread man, a "toy" this year the Ben Harper and The Blind Boys of Alabama cd, "gold coins" chocolate in reality, "something warm" usually warm socks, and a candy cane.)

- Dancing with my mom in the kitchen to whatever is on the sterio - most recently Ben Harper.

- Making fun of my mom dancing in the kitchen with my little brothers. (who are not so little any more!)

- The fact that we always have at least 2 flavors of ice cream in the freezer (though I do miss the non-fat Nescafe creamer and perpetually filled orange juice pitcher of the Moody's house).

- Our lady neighbors assortment of Christmas cookies that they give us every year.

- Literally not being able to go into town without seeing someone, if not MANY people, I know.

- Seeing Charles all giddy cuz he and his girlfriend are back together. And Sam being happy that I'm home.

-Being able to call my sister with my parent's long distance phone card.

- My mom's AWESOME Christmas decorations and the fact that she saved ornaments for me to put on the tree.

- Drinking wine and watching girl movies with my mummy.

- The BIG suffocating hug I know I'll get from my dad as soon as he gets home from his business trip tonight.

- Jenny and Nicci and Hannah!

- The invitation to the Paul's Place Chistmas party (resturant I worked at my senior year) and just Paul's Place in general. The Beanery too while we're at it. And the fact that you can listen to any cd you want at our Corvallis borders instead of just a few that they pick out.

- There is only ONE main street in my town.

- My house is OUTSIDE of town and is surrouned by trees!

Ok ok, I'll stop.

I'M DONE.

That's all. I just thought you might like to know.

Voicemail message I recieved tonight from an unkown number:

"I thought... that you were interested in me and you never called me back, (crying) and I love you (crying) call me back if you want." Haha... I don't know if that was a prank call or a drunk call but either way it made me laugh really hard. Aahhh, funny people. A little laughter was just what I needed to release the overpowering pressure of tomorrow's looming exam for which I have been studying ALL DAY LONG!

The Bride of Christ

Disclaimer: To avoid the impression by any person that this is a pointed attack to them I would first like to say that this post is not composed as a result of or in response to any person in particular. Rather I would like to respond to a trend I have noticed across the board particularly in what I affectionately refer to as "sub-culture Christian circles" and from people who I know and love individually as well.

That said my statement is this: It is not ok to say that one loves Christ but not his church, or to say one does not like Christians though one is one himself.
The bible is rather explicit on this and it is something I have had to work through myself so I just wanted to address it briefly. I see in the New Testament three main reasons why this is true:
The first and formost reason I believe the bible says this is a wrong attitude is that the church, like it or not, actually IS the body of Christ on earth. Not just metaphorically but physically. Now, unlike Christ, the church is not perfect becuase it is comprised of imperect individuals - but these are individuals who God has called and chosen and who he is in the process of redeeming and making new. So to devalue the church as a whole or Christians as a whole (because that's what the church is) is to devalue the work of God. And to say it more strongly, to hate the body of Christ is in fact to hate Christ himself. By the church I do not mean some veague concept but rather the physical existance of the body of Christ on earth which we english speaking people commonly refer to as "Christians".
Second, unity and love for other believers is possibly the most commonly preached concept in the whole of the New Testament. Repetition in the bible generally corolates with importance so it is therefore obvious that this is a concept we are supposed to pay very careful attention to.The reason for this drive to unity is manifold but I believe the heart of it lies in John 13:35 where Jesus said "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." The greatest witness to the world we can give concerning the gospel of Christ is not primarily by our love for the world but even more emphasised is the importance of our love for ONE ANOTHER. Do you doubt this assertion? Check your concordance for all of the verses in the New Testament containing the word love - the majority of them, and there are MANY, refer to love for other believers.
Thirdly I appeal to the anology of the church as "the bride of Christ." This is simple: how many married men do you know who will allow you to devalue their brides? As my pastor/friend Peter says "You say anything bad about my wife Jen and I will probably punch you in the face. God feels the same way about His bride."

So what am I saying? Do we idly stand by and watch the church spiral into destruction, unable to speak out against the wrongs we see being committed because of this concept? No. But the surest way to destroy the church is to devide it, devalue it, and to generally diss on it. Just as Christ drew each of us to repentance through his love for us, so a church that is active in that love - love not only for unbelievers but even more among its own members - would quite likely be the true solution to those problems which we are seeing in the first place.

Feel free to comment and even to disagree - but please consider all of this before you do so, and please don't use this as an opportunity to point out the "grievous wrongs" you see being committed in the church. If anything use it as an opportunity to praise God for the wonderful miracle that you and I, being so wretched and sinful as we are, should be given the great honor of being admitted as members of the beautiful and profound mysetery that is the Body of Christ.

Today I had lunch with Ben Thomas. I'm not kidding. I really did.

Another simple pleasure.

Standing about 20 people back from the front of the line I regret my decision to buy a book at Borders so close to Christmas. "Dang holiday shopping" I think to myself. But just before my thoughts swirl into dismal pondering of the materialization of Christmas I spot him. Checker number 2. Dark hair, about 20-22, great smile. Quickly I do the math - I have a one in 6 chance, not good, but I'm not going to let that get me down, there is always hope. Slowly the line progresses. Now I am the 2nd to next in line, nervously I calculate the time remainders of each of the six chashiers with their customers. It's not looking good, he's finishing up with his costumer, handing her her reciet, the 40 year old lady in front of me is going to beat me to him. But wait, his costumer is asking a question... he's checking... now I worry it will take too long, the lady in front of me is called to register 4. Checker 3 is quickly finishing her tansaction. Hurry! I think. And then he's done, looks up "Next costomer please." He smiles at me as I hand him my book, he really does have a lovely smile. We banter mildly over the transaction. "That'll be $12 even", I reach for my check card then remember and say "No wait, I have money." "Yes, money will be good... you'll need that." I smile and hand it to him. He smiles and hands me my change. "Have a nice day" he says. "You too" I say, with all the sincerity and friendliness I can muster. And then it's out the door and to my car. Triumph. 1 in 6 chances and I won the draw.

Haha, sorry if you don't understand that story. When one spends an entire weekend doing pretty much nothing but studying one must glean all the enjoyment one can from every daily transaction.

gas prices

Sometimes things have to get really expensive so you'll appreciate it more when it gets cheaper again. Today I bought gas for $1.97/gallon. It made me very happy. I also went to a mexican tienda con my clase de espanol. It was muy divertido.

Don't you hate it when...

... people say stuff like "more on that later" and then never follow up? Well it's not that I haven't wanted to I honestly just haven't had a moment's time. I don't really have a moment's time right now (moment's time is a weird phrase... what does it really mean?) but I just really don't want to do any more work at the moment. Also I don't want to forget about what an awesome time I had this weekend and I shurely will in the midst of all this hububb if I don't write about it a little.
So remember that guy I met in my psycology class who went to Capernwray? Yeah- the married one with 3 kids. Well we've gotten to be pretty good friends over the past quarter and as he is a youth pastor he ended up asking if I'd be a leader at his youth group. So we both agreed that a good way for me to check it out would be to come with them on a retreat last weekend to the coast. So I did. It was SO AWESOME. I'm sorry for the use of hyperbole, but it really was. In the true sense of the word. It is so amazing to me that God sat Jay and I next to each other and that we got to be friends and how well I fit with this group of kids and the whole mentality of this church. Another guy named Gerald came and spoke for the weekend - he is also in his late 20's early 30's and is also married with 3 kids. Both Jay and Gerald brought along their wives and kids so it was this super rad environment with adult wisdom, high school frivolity, and little children craziness (me not really fitting exactly in with any category, just enjoying the show). I really learned a lot through the teaching and we had a lot of fun too. We went and did one of those real live scavenger hunts in town were each team had to buy or take pictures of various things. Super wicked. There are pictures of me feeding a seagul out of my hand from that. (but they're on the church camera and not mine so I can't post 'em on here). The weather wasn't great and we mostly stayed inside but it was such a good group even that was fun.
I had some sweet revelations from my own time in the word while on that trip. And I was also very blessed to be used to bring a darling high school girl closer to knowing the Lord. Praise God!
I also attended their youth group last night. It is a small but dynamic little group of kids and I am so excited about what God is doing there. I am also so excited that he brought me into it. Now I'm praying through it before I decide to commit for sure because it's a big commitment and would making pretty difficult for me to get a job next quarter as I had been planning to do... But I am just excited to be in this place right now. To see God's plans being worked out in me and through me. He is so good. I am so blessed.
On a side note my friend Jay literally has the cutest kid I have EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE. Like I'm not even kidding, never seen a cuter kid. Bright red curly hair, big round cheeks, big huge freckles, talks with a little boy accent like you wouldn't believe, and one of the funniest personalities ever. Ah Nathan! I will seriously babysit those kids for free. Oh and Jay's wife looks pretty much exactly like Jennifer Gardner. Gorgeous. And so sweet. I don't know how she does it with those 3 kids though man, they're crazy.
ok, I realize that I'm rambling. there was simply no other to do this post. Love you all.

I forgot JUST how much I love...

...high school youth ministry, beach houses, really cute kids, scavenger hunts, the smell of a Christmas tree in the house.
More to come on the first 4 at a later less sleep deprived date.

Siiiggghhhh

One thing about being a little obessive compulsive (not as in the disorder, only as in the personality) is that I can't handle stuff like not being able to find stuff - not as bad as my dad can't handle it... he has the disorder... it just bugs me a lot. So anyway, thank the LORD I have found that website! And not through my own meathods either - nope, I was looking through some papers to find something else entirely and bada bing - there was a printed copy of that web-page with a nice little address to it down at the bottom. Bada boom, checked it out and there it was! I don't know if the Lord strategically caused that to happed (it WAS like right while I was having quiet time...) or if it was basically coincidental but either way I am very thankful and very relieved!

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!

Have you ever spent over an hour trying to re-locate a web-page you KNOW exists?! I KNOW Wheaton has a page listing all of their undergrad requirements and the possible courses one could take to fulfill them which is NOT a pdf online course catalog. I know this becauase I visited it many times when I register for classes at Mt. Hood. Today however, it is gone, non-existent, or at least just beyond my reach. I even e-mailed a freakin' admissions lady for help and all she sent me is a link to the stupid pdf course catalog - who uses those anyway? They're so annoying! Any Wheaties out there know the page I dream of? Help?!