Weeks 36-45

Week 35: Architecture

Week 36: Sleep

Week 37: Autumn

Week 38: Night

Week 39: Inspire

Week 41: Daily

Week 42: Recreate

Week 43: Hillbilly Shoes

week 44: Path

week 45: Reflection

29: Floral

This week's challenge was to take a photo of flowers. For fun, I went to the cutting gardens in Pullman and picked a whole bucket of flowers and rearranged them into two bouquets. To be honest, neither was gorgeous, but I need to start somewhere, right? So I started there. The bouquet I used for my picture was my second one; for some reason it reminded me of sea foam, seaweed and coral reef.

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Week 14: Green

This week I hiked up a hill at Idler's Rest, and the view was far more lovely than this picture captured. But it was the greenest picture I took all week.

;)

Lutheran church of Cordelia

the church. So beautiful and so small.

the doors are always unlocked. 

the well-pump from inside the church

hand-pumped water is the best

I came out of the church to find these guys just standing around the tree like this

people climbing the hill in the sun and the snow

Lauren A and I up on the hill above the church

frost and my mountain

my mountain: Hoodoo Mt.- view from my front yard 

the mailbox, recently re-painted

frost on a cow's back

barbed wire and frost

clinging red

The leaves have begun to fall, scattering themselves across  the street, the sidewalk and my driveway.  But some still hang to the trees, shining in their red and bright yellow and dull orange-brown shades.  Fall is beautiful here in Moscow.

Moscow Mountain

I went hiking with some people from school.  This is the view from the top of Moscow Mountain looking northward.

fl

Some pictures of my florida trip

 leaving Spokane airport.

 the Stout's front yard.

 the Stout's house.

 going over a bridge on the way to the beach.

 the beach! the sand seemed very white to me when I first saw it and the water seemed very salty.

 going to the beach. still very white, because I hadn't been in the sun yet and I've been trying not to get scorched until AFTER the wedding.

 isn't it beautiful?

driving from the airport to the Stouts' house.

same. it seemed very green to me.

Psalm 96

While reading Psalm 96 tonight I noticed that it was full of commands to His created order.  I find it interesting that there are so many imperatives in one Psalm, but they are not laws.  He gave us 10 of those already (or 2, if we simplify a bit).  God is actually showing us and all other created things how to worship Him.

What are we supposed to do?

Sing a new song to the Lord,

Proclaim the good news of His salvation every day,

Tell His glory to the nations,

Tell His wonders to everybody.

Why should we do this? 

Because He is great, and deserves to be praised and feared above every other god, (all of which are idols).  He made the heavens, honor and majesty are before Him, strength and beauty reside in His sanctuary.

What are the families of the earth supposed to do?

Give strength to the Lord.  

Give Him the glory that His awesome name deserves. 

Bring an offering, and enter His courts.

Worship Him in the beauty of holiness.

Tremble before Him.

Tell everyone that He reigns.

Say that the earth is set firmly and cannot be moved.

Tell the people that God will judge in righteousness.

What about the rest of the created world?

The heavens must rejoice.

The earth should be glad.

The sea and everything in it should roar.

The fields and everything in them should joyful.

And then the trees will rejoice.

Why?

Because God is coming to judge the earth.

He will judge the world righteously and the peoples truthfully.

sledding and other random things

I've been sledding twice in the last week.  And it has been so much fun! I guess I had sort of forgotten how much fun it was.  The first time we hiked up to the top of Moscow Mountain and after taking some pictures and generally enjoying the beautiful view, we sledded back down.  I ended up on a sled with three other girls- crazy by itself.  But then it didn't really want to slide, (I'm not sure if it was just being a pain or if it was too old or what) so Stephen Doud kindly put a string through the holes and pulled us as he skied.  It was very kind of him and we were all very thankful, because it was fun and SO fast.  :)

Today we didn't have disputatio, so instead of that a bunch of us (including 'Ria) went sledding.  We went on the hill behind Rosaurs and it was AMAZING! That hill is such a good place to sled! I wouldn't mind going back again, actually.  :)  There were about 15-20 of us and we even had some races, which was fun.  I was third place in the race I joined.  Of course I have some good excuses, though.  The guys who beat  me were on better sleds/ they weighed more so they went faster and other reasons.  But I mostly didn't care.  :D 

Tomorrow I go home for the weekend! YAY! Also, I am bringing Kristina and Claire home, which will be fun, I'm sure.  :) 

And also tomorrow, I get to order my dress for Heather's wedding!!!!!!!!!!! I am excited about that as well.  I haven't really gotten to see what it looks like.  I ordered my shoes this last week and they should come into the local Payless Shoe Source soon.  But other than that, I haven't gotten anything ordered for the wedding yet, so ordering the dress will be nice.

It is really cold here- around 15 early this afternoon.  I love it.  Sometimes I dislike the snow and cold, but mostly I love it.  :) And today is a love day.  :)

I have to go to work soon.  And this is the first time a while that I haven't been dreading it.  I love my job- when I'm there working.  And I love being able to make a bit of money.  But I hate the fact that my Friday nights are always full of work.  Oh well.  At least I don't have something better to do with them right now.  And I usually just hate the thought of going.

I should go find something to eat for dinner.  I am actually quite hungry.  :)

Raking Gravel

At Disputatio today Mr. N.D. Wilson spoke.  He encouraged us to keep working at school- even when it was hard.  Or- especially when it's hard? Anyways, he likened it to his childhood and how he and his father would rake gravel when they had nothing to do on the house they were building.  It was SO good and so encouraging! I hadn't realized until today that I had kind of forgotten some of the reasons I am here at NSA.  I am here to make a difference in the world.
That's right.  I am here to be a world-changer.  I'm not a girl going to college to 'find a guy' or a girl who is at college just until that guy comes along, wanting and waiting to be 'just a mom.'
 It could be that I will be a mom.  It could be that ten years from now I'll be toting kids in both arms and struggling to keep the sand off the floor and the laundry folded.  But I won't be 'just a mom'.  I'll be a sword sharpener.  An arrow-crafter.
It could be that I'll be a great- well, something great.  Maybe I'll write novels and articles about random little things like leaves and piles of dirt or drifted black snow.  Maybe I'll magically overcome my nervousness of speaking in front of people and give long beautiful speeches about smart things.
I don't know what I'll do with my life.  Except that I will be living it out, endeavoring to glorify the Glorified in everything that I do.
And that is why I'm at NSA.  To rake gravel, to grow strong in what I'm doing here, in order to be the kind of person who will continue to rake gravel.

The miracle of life

This is an amazing and informing video about babies, and, since it's sanctity-of-life week I thought I'd post it here.
Enjoy.
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=488452018044

Old love

Last night I went to sing at the Good Samaritan nursing home.  It's been a good while since I've been there, what with Christmas break and being super duper busy the week before school ended- about six weeks, I guess.  We sang a number of hymns and psalms, lasting about an hour, and then just visited with the people.
I met two really sweet women- Audrey and Velma- (I'm writing their names down in hopes that I'll remember them next week) who, quite concernedly told me about their friend almost falling out of her wheel chair when she tried to get up.  And then they told me about the churches they went to before coming to Good Sam.  Velma said she'd been going to the same church for a long time, then proceeded to tell me that she and her husband were married there 66 years ago! I was impressed.  They were such lovely ladies.
I also met an old woman who reminded me SO much of my grandma that I just wanted to sit on the chair next to her and visit.  And she couldn't remember what a lot of words meant, which made our conversation an adventure.  She held my hand throughout the whole conversation and even kissed it before I left, telling me that she was 'going you out' into the world 'like that, to do'.  It felt as I imagine the apostles felt when Jesus sent them out into the world.  It was good.  And so sweet.
And even though I hadn't realized it before, I had missed those sweet, attentive faces.  Those feeble hands around my own hand, those smiling faces as they heard us singing about Jesus, and a crown of thorns and the way some of them sing along, eyes bright, to the songs they've known for so long.  And I love those people.

The Brothers Karamazov

I've been reading the Bros K this break.  It took me a good long while to get into it, but now that I am, I just want to read, and do pretty much nothing else.  It's strange, though.  It really quite catchy, actually, and I always want to read it, but it is not one of those books that calls me back when I'm doing something else.  It's just interesting while I'm reading it. Which is probably why I'm still less that 400 pages into it.  I had hoped to finish it before I went back to school, but it looks like I'm going to be reading it on Sundays and study-breaks for a while still.
One thing that I especially like about this book is the way Elder Zosima loves the world and people.  In one place he tells his friends and fellow monks:
Love to throw yourself down on the earth and kiss it.  Kiss the earth and love it, tirelessly, insatiably, love all men, love all things, seek this rapture and ecstasy.  Water the earth with the tears of your joy, and love those tears.  Do not be ashamed of this ecstasy, treasure it, for it is a gift from God, a great gift, and it is not given to many, but to those who are chosen.
Isn't that a great passage? I absolutely love it.  And there are so many good spots in the book that I'm pretty sure I'm going to be posting random notes from it for a while.  But for now- I need to go feed my dog and enjoy the warmth that has changed our winter into spring's likeness.  The sun's shining and the world outside my room is absolutely lovable.  But I won't be throwing myself down to kiss the mud and the ice that is still covering the ground.