life - the sweetest thing

Yesterday was such an amazing day. My favorite days - I wake up, clean a little, drink a homemade latte, wear sweats, get a massage, make a delicious salad, a friend visits, get dressed up in a fancy dress, celebrate a new marriage, enjoy old and missed friends, drink a cup of coffee, go to the Nectar, meet new friends and dance the night away. Life doesn't get any sweeter than this!

maybe I caught the bouqeut...yikes!

lovely

I may not be getting married, but I have so many close friends who are tying the knot that wedding fashion and planning has become a recent obsession. I absolutely love this gown. It is so simple and elegant. Lovely...

tangerine sunrise

The sunrise this morning was a beautiful shade of tangerine. I googled seattle sunrise and found a couple pictures the are similar to the view on the way into work this morning! enjoy!

The natural man, or unbeliever, knows nothing about carnality. The desires of the flesh warring against the Spirit, and the Spirit warring against the flesh, which began at rebirth, are what produce carnality and the awareness of it. But Paul said, "Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" ( Galatians 5:16 ). In other words, carnality will disappear.



Oswald Chambers

la republica dominica

Crazy! I leave for the Dominican Republic in 10 days. The last 5 months of planning have flown by and now it comes down to the final details and preparations (the part I'm really good at). I wasn't able to sleep last night until I remembered about my anti-malarial prescription I need to have filled today, which left me with 4 hours of sleep due to the fact that I had basketball practice this morning.



I'm getting excited about the sun, feeling it's warmth, watching it rise and set. I'm excited for the papayas and mangoes. I'm excited for the little kids to laugh when they hear my name because it sounds like the word for "cow" in Spanish! I'm excited to see my students in a new culture, be exposed to a different way of life, and be challenged by the way they live back home. I can't wait to see how they play and interact with the dominicans and haitians...how they will be able to establish relationships in a few days time despite language barriers.


Please pray for me and the group of 26 students and 2 other chaperones that are going there with me. We will be gone from April 3rd to 10th and in Barahona from Sunday to Thursday. It's a short trip, but packed full! Pray for the details to come together...smooth travelling...soft hearts, servant attitudes, humility, generosity and safety. I am blessed to have an amazing group of students so willing to love and serve others.


Thank you for your prayers! I'll keep you posted!

deliciousness

Last night I was lucky enough to have dinner at Etta's, a Tom Douglas restaurant, that is participating in the dine around seattle deal for the month of March - 30 restaurants serve a 3 course menu for $30.

Last time I was there I ordered an heirloom tomato salad and the crab, but I have to say the second time around was much more delicious and a much better deal.

For the starter I had the Creamy Cauliflower Potato Soup. The main entree was Etta’s Rub with Love Wild Coho Salmon with Cornbread Pudding and Grilled Shiitake Relish...of course I went for the salmon. Dessert was amazing, banana cream pie. I don't usually go for cream pies, but was told that Etta's has the best around and it was true!

It was such a treat...if only I could afford to eat out like this every week...but then again I would be spoiled and it wouldn't be a luxury anymore.

home

yummy cinnamon roll recipe from Bon Appétit


Home...it's safe, comfortable, relaxing...a place where I have no committments other than to enjoy time with family. Who knows what that will look like. Maybe it's talking, watching a basketball game, drinking lattes, playing the Wii, going for a digestive walk. Whatever it is, it takes me out of my life in Seattle and transports me to a simpler setting where life slows down and rest ensues. This last weekend I went home and my roommates and I spent time at Malia's house and in the morning went to my house for breakfast. It was a short visit, but was so home. My dad made lattes, my mom made homemade cinnamon rolls and eggs (like joe's scramble from portage bay)...so mom. It was good to be taken care of...the love of parents is forever unconditional.

favorite tunes

A friend recently introduced me to Bon Iver, the musical stylings of Justin Vernon. He recorded For Emma, Forever Ago, his solo debut album, while alone in his father's hunting cabin in the Wisconsin woods. He didn't have much to work with, but the sounds are rich and put me in the most dreamy state of mind. My favorites are Re: Stacks, Creature Fear, Flume, Skinny Love, The Wolves (Act 1 & 2) and Blood Bank, more recently released in January. Anyway, he's worth checking out...it's the perfect music when you need a break from the fast pace and want to slow down your mind.

My worth to God in public is what I am in private. Is my master ambition to please Him and be acceptable to Him, or is it something less, no matter how noble?

Chambers 3/17

lucky day

A Rainbow Photo Essay

by Dan Bush

A scientific explanation for rainbows

"Happiness is like a butterfly: The more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder"

~Henry David Thoreau

simple beauty

r.e.e.m's photostream

Chambers 3/16

"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ." 2 Corinthians 5:10

Paul says that we must all, preacher and people alike, "appear before the judgment seat of Christ." If you learn to live in the white light of Christ here and now, judgment finally will cause you to delight in the work of God in you. Keep yourself steadily faced by the judgment seat of Christ; walk now in the light of the holiest you know. A wrong temper of mind about another soul will end in the spirit of the devil, no matter how saintly you are. One carnal judgment, and the end of it is hell in you. Drag it to the light at once and say - "My God, I have been guilty there." If you don't, hardness will come all through. The penalty of sin is confirmation in sin. It is not only God who punishes for sin; sin confirms itself in the sinner and gives back full pay. No struggling nor praying will enable you to stop doing some things, and the penalty of sin is that gradually you get used to it and do not know that it is sin. No power save the incoming of the Holy Ghost can alter the inherent consequences of sin.

"But if we walk in the light as He is in the light." Walking in the light means for many of us walking according to our standard for another person. The deadliest Pharisaism to-day is not hypocrisy, but unconscious unreality.

Oswald Chambers - My Utmost for His Highest (March 16th)

I call it becoming desensitized. We live in a world where so much is accepted as "normal" when in fact it is not at all what God intended for life...a holy life. What is it that I have come to accept as "normal" that is keeping me from living a holy life? A good question, but difficult to see the answer without a bit of help.

a walk along the beach

The weather was so weird today. I woke up to snow falling, went for a run with the sun shining and then went for a walk along the beach that started out gray and rainy and ended with sunshine glistening off the water.

I stopped at Diva for a latte and then headed down to golden gardens. There is something ironically calm about the wind blowing and waves crashing. I love how the sea foam glides over the sand and rocks, the smell of the salt, and combing the beach for treasures. Once I finished my latte, my empty cup was soon filled with shells, glass and rocks smoothed by the ocean waves.

When tomorrow comes, bringing lesson planning, teaching, swimming, and coaching, I'll revisit that beach feeling.

Homemade pizza and grapefruit drinks!

On Wednesday my roommates and I celebrated with Jenny and Rumbles for her birthday! We topped TJ's pizza dough with alfredo, pesto, marinara, chicken, pineapple, goat cheese, regular cheese, mushrooms, onions, pecans....pure deliciousness! Homemade pizza is our house's new thing...I think we've made it four times in the past few weeks. It's so easy and so much more fun customizing your own pizza rather than getting the plain old boring cheese or hawaiian. I mixed up a refreshing grapefruit drink...malia asked what had gotten into me and I said I don't know it just sounded right...she thinks its because spring is almost here and I miss summer...she's probably right!

It's funny...it feels like Jenny has been in our lives forever...despite the fact that we haven't even known her for a year. It was so fun to celebrate her and hang out with her and Peter for the evening! What a blessing they are to so many.

Darwinism and Intelligent Design

As a biology teacher, I have the privilege of teaching about life. The first half of the year we focus on the scientific method, cells, levels of organization, genetics, etc. (the fun stuff in my opinion) and then the second half of the year we look at how different organisms are built differently and live in drastically different environments and yet have to find ways to carry out the essential functions of life - respiration, response, circulation, reproduction, movement, feeding, and excretion. The diversity of life is absolutely amazing! We've looked at sponges and corals, worms and mollusks and are soon moving on to arthropods. Where did all of this diversity come from? A question that has been answered many different ways.

As a biology teacher in a private Christian school, I am allowed to express my Creationist worldview. However, what should be taught in the science classroom? Science is the study of observable, measurable events. I cannot observe or measure the creation of life, the beginning of time. I know the Bible to be true, it is a credible historical document. I know it to be true because I know God is real...he is real in my life, in history - revealed through the Bible as his word. I would never doubt that God created life for his purposes, but that doesn't fully answer my question regarding what should be taught in the science classroom.

Is Intelligent Design an acceptable scientific theory? Does it have a place in the science classroom? Is Darwinism everything that modern day scientists claim it to be? Does it have a right to be taught in the science classroom as a modern theory? There is no way to go back in time to see first hand what happened during creation or the beginning of life. Instead, scientists must look at evidence in the present and at best try to "re-create" what conditions may have been like in the beginning of time that allowed life to begin. It is messy. It isn't even close to "ideal" scientific investigation.

In The Origin of Species, Darwin wrote, "I view all beings not as special creations, but as the lineal descendents of some few beings." He believed that living things have been modified over time by natural selection acting on random variations - survival of the fittest. We call it descent with modification. He proposed that, "If competing offspring have traits that are advantageous in a given environment, they will survive and pass on those traits. As differences continue to accumulate over generations, populations of organisms diverge from their ancestors. This straightforward process...has led the earliest organisms on earth to diversify into all of the plants, animals and microorganisms that exist today." (US National Academy of Sciences, Teaching about Evolution and the Nature of Science)

In a book I've just begun, the statement is made, "According to the theory of intelligent design (ID), it is possible to infer from empirical evidence that some features of the natural world are best explained by an intelligent cause rather than by unguided processes." What the empirical evidence is, I have yet to find out. The word "design" is defined as "a pattern produced by a mind that conceives and executes a plan." ID does not rely on the Bible nor does it tell us the identity of the designer...it seems as though (based on what I have read so far, which is not much) it is an acceptable theory for the science classroom. We'll see.

Spinning

I have been afraid of spinning my whole gym career. Whenever I would walk by a class in session all I saw was pain on the faces of the cyclists...sweat and pain. Why would I want to subject myself to such torture? And the class instructor always looked psycho...smiling and laughing and yelling to work harder and pedal faster. On the plus, the music was always seemed fun and motivating. So after watching from a distance on my own stationary bike and a motivating conversation with my hair stylist, I decided I would overcome my fear of spinning and check it out. I figured it would be easier if I had another first timer with me, so I invited my roommate Sarah, and much to my surprise she said yes! Saturday morning came too quickly and I was worried the class would fill up so we got to the gym 20 minutes early...lucky because they actually take reservations for the class 30 minutes beforehand, it is that popular.

The class was everything I thought it would be...grueling, sweat, burn, tears, laughter...and really good music. The instructor found out it was our first time and so she would always yell, "how are my new girls in the back doing?" and everyone cheered for us at the end of the class...my guess is because we didn't walk out? So an hour later I was drenched in sweat, out of water with a sore butt. But I did it and it felt so good I'll probably do it again...in fact this Tuesday there's another class! It was fun exercising with a group of people again...kind of like a team where we were encouraging each other on and pushing each other to finish. Definitely my kind of workout...to bad it took me so long to check it out.