Well, my 23rd birthday has come and passed.  It was ok.  Not the best one I’ve ever had, but it was ok.  A brief update on life: I did not get into grad school.  I am looking for a different, non-emotional job to temporarily kind of figure out my life.  And I am still very, very poor.  Also, I hate taxes.  I cannot figure them out and end up hiding.  Sigh.  Need to get on that.

As for media…since I last wrote, I have read the following…

The Ten-Year Nap, by Meg Wolitzer:  This novel is excellent social commentary on current challenges faced by middle-class women in America.  It also had a pretty decent plot, and so was an enjoyable (altho honestly slightly depressing) read.  The book s follows 4 mothers who left work to raise their children, and, for some reason or other, had not returned to work.  Pretty interesting fiction.

Rest: Living in Sabbath Simplicity, by Keri Wyatt Kent:  I enjoyed this book very much, and will hopefully at some point delve back into it for further study.  I definitely want to begin practicing Sabbath in some form or another (even if it’s starting small…progress is progress).  I also think she correctly describes a lot of the hang-ups of our culture, including our guilt & obsession with work at the sacrifice of our personal relationships & family lives, not to mention our spirituality.

And on that note, I truly enjoyed this article from the Times today:  Take More Time Off

And with that, I am going to go get ready to face the day and try to start some new good habits to improve my 23rd year.  Have a wonderful week!

Well, there is much to update on.  After working 10 out of 11 days two weeks ago, I went on a mini-vacation to Georgia with Michael to visit his family.  I forgot my camera, so I don’t have any scintillating images of Rome, GA.  But nevertheless, it was a pretty fun trip!  We visited Berry Campus quite a bit, as his mom works there; the campus is the largest campus in the world and has 7x as many deer as students.  It’s absolutely beautiful!  We went on a six-mile bike ride through the campus, and it was very pretty & relaxing (also necessary considering how much food we were eating; his parents were very generous, and his dad was a very good cook).

It was definitely hard to come back to Winston and to the once-again dreary weather it has to offer right now…and to come back to work.  Sigh.  I’m still waiting to hear from grad school, but in the meantime I’ve been working at TCH for 8 months, which is CRAZY.  However, it was nice to come back to my apt, which I love.  Despite how incredibly messy it currently is.  Oops.

As for media, I watched Girl, Interrupted while at Michael’s; I thought it was a really really really well-done movie.  Also sooooo accurate.  Yesterday we watched Madagascar in preparation for the arrival of the next Netflix movie…Madagascar 2! I’m excited!!!!  Over the trip, I read The Ten-Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer, which was a very enjoyable read (just a novel, but very well done social commentary).  Currently I’m reading Rest: Living in Sabbath Simplicity by Keri Wyatt Kent, which I am *loving*.  Here’s a quote I just had to share because it so fits me…and the women in my family actually lol:
“Sleep is a gift, a little healing miracle every night.  Like the gift of Sabbath, most Americans reject that gift or find that they are working so hard that they are too keyed up to sleep well.  The 2007 National Sleep Foundation’s Sleep in America report focused on women specifically because they are more likely than men to have sleep problems.  The poll found that more than half of American women (60 percent) say they get a good night’s sleep only a few nights per week or less, and 67 percent say they frequently experience a sleep problem.  Additionally, 43 percent say that daytime lseepiness interferes with their daily activities.  A similar report in the early 1990s estimated that seventy million Americans suffer from some sort of sleep disorder.”
That being said, I slept till 12:30pm today.  Wtf.

I have been neglecting one form of media intake on my blog that I would like to share:  TV.  Currently I’m making my way through Lost…just finished the 1st season!!!!  Desperately wanting to start the next.  Also Michael and I are working our way through Friends.  Which is always a classic.

Happy St. Patrick’s day to all and have a wonderful week!

So, this is quite the change from the last post, but I just had to share.  I (attempt) to read the daily devotional, My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers.  While it is always infallibly brilliant, I had to share what I read tonight; the past week has been pretty much on point with what I’ve been thinking/feeling, but tonight just pin-pointed everything.  So, without further ado, from Mr. Chambers:

“‘…in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses.‘ – 2 Corinthians 6:4

It takes Almighty grace to take the next step when there is no vision and no spectator – the next step in devotion, the next step in your study, in your reading, in your kitchen; the next step in your duty, when there is no vision from God, no enthusiasm and no spectator.  It takes far more of the grace of God, far more conscious drawing upon God to take that step, than it does to preach the Gospel.

Every Christin has to partake of what was the essence of the Incarnation, he must bring the thing down into flesh and blood actualities and work it out through the finger tips.  We flag when there is no vision, no uplift, but just the common round, the trivial task.  The thing that tells in the long run for God and for men is the steady persevering work in the unseen, and the only way to keep the life uncrushed is to live looking to God.  Ask God to keep the eyes of your spirit open to the Risen Christ, and it will be impossible for drudgery to damp you. Continually get away from pettiness and paltriness of mind and thought out into the thirteenth chapter of St. John’s Gospel”. – Oswald Chambers

A cross-reference of part of the 13th Chapter of John for those interested (v. 1-17):

“It was just before the Passover Feast.  Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.  Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus.  Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.  After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.  He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’  Jesus replied, ‘You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’  ‘No,’ said Peter, ‘you shall never wash my feet.’  Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.’  ‘Then, Lord,’ Simon Peter replied, ‘not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!’  Jesus answered, ‘A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean.  And you are clean, though not every one of you.’  For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place.  ‘Do you understand what I have done for you?’ he asked them.  ‘You call me “Teacher” and “Lord” and rightly so, for that is what I am.  Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.  I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.  I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.  Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.‘”

The rest of the chapter goes on to talk about Judas’ betrayal of Jesus and how that was a key part of the plan; I think that bears significance in addition to the devotional written by Oswald, but I’m tired of typing and I think this part is more important.  Anyway, that just cheered me up a little.  So, if you’re caught up in the drudgery of life or feel overwhelmed by all of the vanity or endless cycles in the world (which probably isn’t hard given the economic and political states in our world right now) hopefully this will give you a little inspiration to keep working and doing what you are called to do.  And if you are a former Parable, hopefully it will at least spark some good quality memories about having your feet washed

This is me as a super hero!  (Go here)