Strawberries and Switchfoot

David was great to me on my birthday. He prepared a book for me that had advice for my 24th year, and each bit of advice was a clue to something fun we were going to do!

All of the clues were great fun, but the first was one of my favorites. It led us to: Froberg Farm is in Alvin, TX, and is an absolute delight! It took us awhile to get there, and as David was driving me farther and farther away, I had no clue where we were going. This was quite the surprise.
At Froberg's, depending on the season, you can pick fresh fruit! Strawberries are in season now, and we got so many WONDERFUL strawberries. This was such a fun experience and I will never forget it! We might just go back when blackberries are in season!!!



Another favorite part of my day was hearing David sing to me. I love to hear David sing 24 by Switchfoot, and I remember the first time I heard him sing it like it was yesterday. What was a simple drive down 99 turned into a memory I will never forget.
I love the words - I love to declare that He is raising the dead in me, that I am the second man. And not only do I love to sing along, but I love to hear David sing this too, to hear this man that I love so dearly proclaim that he is being changed into the second man, that YHWH is raising the dead in him too.

"And You're raising these twenty four voices
With twenty four hearts
With all of my symphonies
In twenty four parts
But I want to be one today
Centered and true

I'm singing Spirit take me up in arms with You
You're raising the dead in me
Oh, oh I am the second man
Oh, oh I am the second man now
Oh, oh I am the second man now
And You're raising the dead in me"

Busy Busy

The MABL is keeping me so very busy these days, but I'm really enjoying it. I don't think I have ever had to work as hard or ever spent so many hours in the library, but I'm grateful for the opportunity to learn. And I'm grateful for the excitement about it, because I know that "He is the one working the will and the action in me" (from phil. 2, a recent assignment in Greek class)

Paper season is coming up. For Hebrew, the text I have chosen to work on is Psalm 68. It is one of the oldest Psalms and displaying many characteristics of Archaic Hebrew. Since this is a poetry class, we are to focus on the poetic devices found in the Hebrew, what they are telling the reader, and how we should read the passage in light of them. It's not as easy as it may sound either. I was never good at poetry in the first place, much less poetry in another language, where I don't know the idioms, culture, and rituals. Its going to be lots of reading to try to discover these glimpses into Hebrew poetry. Not sure what it will look like when it comes out, but we'll see.

For Greek, I haven't nailed down a topic, but I'm thinking of looking at Phil 1:19. I have translated it " For I know that this will result in salvation for me, through your prayers and (through the) support of the Spirit of Christ Jesus." The word 'support' is troublesome and tricky. It is in the genitive case but it can be subjective or objective. So it could be talking about 'support of the Spirit' as in 'the Spirit's support' or it could be talking about 'support of the Spirit' as in 'the Spirit is being supported.' At first glance one might say that the Spirit doesn't need supporting. And while this is true, we can think about what our prayers and efforts do to support and foster an environment for the Spirit to grow, in a sense supporting the Spirit. It's interesting to think about, and we had a great discussion about in class. Maybe not enough for a paper topic, but we'll see.

Currently Reading:

A Manual of Hebrew Poetics
The History of the Hebrew Language
Linguistics for Students of New Testament Greek
Linguistic Analysis of Biblical Hebrew
and.... Shopaholic Ties the Knot

Thank you Heather! (And Amy!)

Hellomynameisheather.com is an amazing site! Amy sent me the link last night while I was working on the binding for my quilt.

This site is full of amazing helps and fun ideas.

I could not have done the binding on my quilt without this amazing tutorial...
There are many more goodies too, so go check it out!

Psalm 19

"The instruction of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever.
The ordinances of the Lord are sure, and altogether righteous.

They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sights, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer." (7-12)



errors, hidden faults, willful sins, transgressions
turned to...
restoration, wisdom, joy, righteousness, endurance, purity, innocence

May we find joy and restoration in his instruction, statues, ordinances, precepts and commands. May we find wisdom and righteousness in the fear of him.

One Step Further

I am one step further to being done with my quilt!

The top layer is done. The border and back need to get finished, and then I can begin the actual "quilting" process (putting the three layers together) YAY!

Here is the top!

A Mirror of Mind

I'm already in love with my Linguistics class.

Just a few chapters in and I'm amazed at what I am reading. It's an incredible feeling when you read over a sentence or two that expresses a thought that you've never encountered before, and not only to read over that sentence, but to understand it, to have a sense of 'yes!that is so right!'

In just the introduction to our book we've learned how language is universal. This might be too obvious and not that exciting you say, but when you think about it, it's incredible. There is very little that we can say is universal to all peoples and all cultures. One, first and foremost, is the gospel, glory and love of God. But secondly I think, is language. We might not understand someone else's language. We might struggle to listen and guess when a sentence ends and a new one begins. Yet the beauty of this is that though we might not all know each other's specific's in vocabulary, grammar and syntax, at the root of it is a language: a means for communication. This means for communication is (though not always necessary - read Ps 19) crucial for the first universal we talked about. All over the world there are people 'talking' about 'the love of God.' These two universals come together in an incredible way, and I'm so excited about it.

There was an excerpt in our chapter from Noam Chomsky. He calls language "a mirror of mind." It is in a person's language and communication that we can know who he is. His speaking, his thoughts, his understandings are a mirror into who he is. Chomsky says a man can "...effortlessly make use of an intricate structure of specific rules and guiding principles to convey his thoughts and feelings to others, arousing in them novel ideas and subtle perceptions and judgments."
As a person speaks, the onlooker (or hearer, I suppose) can come to better understand who this person is. And coming to better understand this person and loving them, is a huge part of this love, glory and gospel of God. And so Noam Chomsky says, "Thus, language is a mirror of mind in a deep and significant sense." Hugely deep, and hugely significant.

Throughout all my time in China, there are two memories that are forefront in my mind. One is singing 'Just As I Am' at church one morning in Urumqi. I stood surrounded by my fellow travelers singing the hymn in English. Surrounding us, though, was a beautiful choir of fellow believers singing in Chinese. Though the specifics of our languages were different, the heart of our song and language and communication was the same. It is one of the most beautiful moments I have ever been a part of, and I'm grateful. Psalm 86 says, "All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name." Let it be so.

Excitement

Awhile back, I decided I wanted to make a quilt. I'm not sure where there desire came from exactly, but I got really interested and spent lots of time researching tools, methods, patterns and such. I realized I was totally unprepared for quilting and so for Christmas I asked for (and received) lots of goodies and tools that can help me. And now, I'm so excited!!!

After figuring out all the math (what size the quilt will be, what size patches it will have, how many patches it will have, how many fabrics, it will have...) we set out to Hobby Lobby. I've decided on 8 fabrics, and I love how they go together!! Here is a picture of just a few!!

The next step was cutting the fabrics the right size. I'm going to make a 70x90 quilt. I will have a five inch border on each side, which means without the border, the quilt will be 60x80. So I will have eight rows of six blocks each, at 10 inches each.













The next step was to lay all the squares out and make a pattern that I like. It took awhile to make everything just right, but I like what I ended with. I pinned each row together so I can keep this order. Now that that is all done, and I know which square goes where, I can start the sewing. And I think this will take a long time, but I'm ready to get to work on it and am so excited about it!