Holy week

I love Palm Sunday and the story of Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  This morning Pastor Wilson preached on Palm Sunday, but it was more about how God is two-handed.  In other words- when God does things with His right hand, they are the things we expect Him to do.  The obvious blessings in our lives.  But when He does things with His left hand, they are the things that seem wrong to us.  Like Christ entering Jerusalem on the back of a donkey's colt and with palm branches strewn across the ground in front of Him, only to be killed days later.  Or when God directs the world in such a way that a tsunami brushes across the land and death is going hand-in-hand with it.  God's left-handed actions are the ones that seem all backwards to us, but are within His plan and still come out good in the end.  So, today we celebrate one of the most well-known left-handed days.
This coming week is Holy Week (well, technically it started today) and I've tried to decide what to do on my blog special for these next seven days.  And my plan? Well, my plan is to post the lyrics to an Easter-related song every day or an Easter poem.  That shouldn't be too hard to do.  I hope.  I am really good at forgetting about this blog, though, so hopefully the whole thing doesn't flop like a seven-year-old's belly the first time he tries to dive into the water.
Blessings on your week.

History trip

On Tuesday I went on a history field trip.  Historypalooza 2011's Magical Mystery History trip, to be exact.  Mr. Schlect led us through Nez Perce country and showed us petroglyphs, objects from Nez Perce legends, battle sites, museum artifacts and other Nez Perce-related objects.  It was a *very* long day (we left town at 5:00 AM and got back at 9:40 PM) but it was so worth it.  I loved it almost every step of the way.

I have a lot of pictures that I could put up, but I am tired and have just uploaded them to facebook, so anyone who wants to see them will have to wait until I have more time or go look them up on fb.  But I will put up one shot- the group all lined up along the edge of Whitebird Canyon, looking down into the beautiful depths while listening to Mr. Schlect tell stories.  Which description pretty much describes the whole day.
And now- toodle-oo and pip-pip.

my weekend

Here are some photos from my weekend at home and my aunt's wedding. 

Devon and Evelyn.

I think she was having a bit of an attitude problem right about the time I was snapping pictures.

While Devon was just being cute.  :)

Vicki, my oldest sister and the matron of honor at my aunt's wedding.  Isn't she just beautiful here?

Marvin and Heather.

The happy couple.

Mom and Grandma with their beautiful grandbabies, Marcus and Evelyn. 

And another shot of Marcus.  Still so tiny, and yet such a good-looking baby.

A whole lot of us.  I won't name us all now, but my whole immediate family was there, except one older brother, and there were other aunts, uncles and grandparents there, too.

And that the is last picture I'll put up for today.  I hope you (whoever you are) enjoyed this pictorial view of my weekend.

break is officially over

Yep.  And I'm trying to motivate myself.  It's not working super well.  I'm kind of looking forward to this term, but at the same time I am kind of sad.  After this term, I will be half-done at NSA.  That is a little sad and exciting at the same time.
My break was a blazing success, though I probably could have slept a little more throughout.  I managed to sleep in a little every day, but with the time-change it didn't always feel like it.  I did sleep in until around 10:00 one day, but that caused my little sisters such alarm that I decided to just get up when they did the rest of the days.  This morning was the worst, though, because I was up at 6:00 (well, technically up at 6:30, but awake at 6:00) and that seemed rather early to me, since I'd gone to bed at 11:30.
I got a lot of fun stuff done throughout the week.  I almost finished the Brothers K (I know, I know... I've been reading that thing for so long no one is going to believe me when I finally say that I'm done).  I went to Spokane and got to hang out with a friend and take a bunch of pictures in crazy places.  I also got to walk down the street to the auto-parts store and buy a set of jumper-cables so that we could get the van jumped.  And then today (Sunday) I went with the family to lunch with a family from the Spokane Christ Church.  It was great.
Now it's time for school to start up again and I think I am mostly ready for it.  But for now, it's time for me to memorize Greek letters for class tomorrow.

my break: wednesday

Marcus.  This shot is a little better than the next, but I didn't get any really good pictures of him.

My new cousin, Marcus Stuart.

So far, I've reached all but the bottom one, which I still hope I can get to before this weekend.

Me and Devon, my adorable nephew.

Devon

Giving aunt Becki the goofy grin.

Spring break

Yep.  I made it through the whole week of finals.  I'm happy about that.
My last final was this morning, starting at 10:00 and going through somewhere around noon.  It was a latin final and I am just happy to be done.  I have finished 7/16ths of my time at NSA!!!! Wow.  That is pretty amazing to me.
After my final was done and I had turned in some last-minute assignments, I went to Bucers.  Heather bought me an Italian Mocha just because she's super duper sweet, and because I had just finished me last final.  I love that girl so much.  Then I sat at a table with Kristina and Tara and read Bros K while they worked on their latin translation projects.  Man am I glad I'm not doing that! That would be insane, I'm pretty sure.
Tonight Luke and Laura are coming to Moscow and I'm excited about spending the weekend with them.  I think we're going to go shop a little tomorrow (at Moscow's little mall and Goodwill, haha.  Oh- and maybe we'll check out what the Storm Cellar has.  Sometimes they have nice stuff.)  I think I'm going to also take my shoes back to Payless and try and get the right size ordered.  I need to hurry with that, because I would hate not having shoes on time.  Not that I'm running low on time, but...
Bobbi and I have been playing Scrabble on Facebook and I've won both times.  Haha.  It makes me laugh because she is so much better at words than I am, but I still win.
I think I'm now going to read Bros K some more.  It is so interesting right now and I really want to see who REALLY killed Alyosha's father.
Over and out.

this week so far

Sunday: slept in until 7, went to church, ate lunch with the family, took a nap, picked up my shoes for the wedding I'm in this coming summer, walked in the park with Kristina through snow and mud, ate dinner, and studied for finals, filled out my take-home final.
Monday:  up at 6:30, listened to Rosalie's awesome Thesis presentation (about stories and some famous story-writers), broke bread with the amazing people at my school, had an oral final, studied a bunch.
Tuesday: up at 6:00, studied as I ate breakfast, had an oral final (which ended up being really good), went for coffee at Bucers with Deanna, half-studied for a couple of hours, ate quiche for lunch, had another oral final, took a nap, and now I'm going to make spaghetti for dinner.
We'll have to see what the rest of this week holds, but I have high hopes that no matter how stressful it is, no matter how tired I am, God is right there with me, carrying me in the rough spots and holding my hand in the easier spots of this great life-path I'm on.