Here are the invitations I came up with for our upcoming Girls Group Mother/Daughter Tea Party...it's been awhile since I've done invitations- I had fun with them even though it was a simple design...very girly- I like it!
So I am reading this really phenomenal book called "The Meaning of Everything- the Story of the Oxford English Dictionary" by Simon Winchester. As most of you know, I really like words and I thought, well, what better to read than a history of the OED (yes, I realize the nerdiness in this statement...oh well). I am enjoying two things about this book 1) it reads more like fiction than non-fiction and 2) Mr. Winchester employs many new words I have never heard of and/or words that I recognize but could not define. He's also pretty masterful with these footnotes that contain the more humorous aspects of history or nuggets of trivia.
My two favorite trivia nuggets so far:
1. If you were to write "what!?" the combination of the '!' and the '?' is called an interrobang.
2. The word "paperclip" was first used in 1875
I'm also finding it pretty funny (probably as only I would) that I am using a Merriam-Webster dictionary to look up the words I don't know...(and yep, I am TOTALLY writing the definitions in the book as I go :) ). That's probably why I couldn't find the definition of "machicolated".
Some of my new favorite words:
1. bellicose- war-mongering, belligerent
2. erudite- scholarly
3. malapropism- humorous misuse of a word
...looking forward to the second half of this book....
I've had several people ask "so where's your Next blog?" Next as in the conference I went to this past weekend. It's coming folks...I'm still processing the amazing messages I heard. So until then, here are a couple of pics to tide you over. We took 13 people to this conference (more than double from last year!) and it was a great group. Dustin and Megan are our singles group leaders and Dustin was a trooper, having to hang out with 12 women for 4 days...I'm sure it was really rough... ;-)
So after at least 6 months of research and pricing and questioning and praying...I finally got a bike today!!!!
Seriously, I think I have now spent about 6 hours in bike shops asking questions and trying bikes and probably annoying the serious bike guys with my ignorant novice questions.
I was supposed to go check out a bike I had found on craigslist this evening. The components were good (Shimano 105- which is what I was looking for), the price was good, but the frame wasn't exactly what I had in mind.
A co-worker of mine is an avid cyclist and told me to go to the bike shop where he gets his bikes. So I did. I walked in and said "this is what I want and this is how much I want to pay, what do you have?" And lo and behold the owner said, "oh, I have something your size" and he pulls out this:
So, have I mentioned that I love triathlons? This was only my second, but at least I know now that me loving my first experience wasn't a fluke.
I just finished re-reading "The Hiding Place" by Corrie Ten Boom. You should read it. One of my favorite parts is this conversation between little-girl Corrie and her father. She asks him a tough-adult question (they are traveling on a train and he has his work-bag with him). Here's their conversation after Corrie has asked her question and dad hasn't answered yet:
" At last, he lifted his traveling case from the rack over our heads, and set it on the floor. 'Will you carry it off the train, Corrie?' he said. I stood up and tugged at it. It was crammed with the watches and spare parts he had purchased that morning. 'It's too heavy', I said. 'Yes,' he said, 'And it would be a pretty poor father who would ask his little girl to carry such a heavy load. It's the same way, Corrie, with knowledge. Some knowledge is too heavy for children. When you are older and stronger you can bear it. For now you must trust me to carry it for you."
And the parallel that I drew:
God is the same way with His children. He doesn't overburden us with all the details of His plans, He gives us the knowledge we need at the exact moment we need it- not before, and not after. Perfect timing. He knows when we are strong enough, prepared for the next step-whatever that might be. And we, as His children, must trust Him to keep His plans, to carry that knowledge for us, until that perfect moment arrives. Wow.
That's the sound of my ego being deflated. Here's the scenario:
This past Sunday, we had people over (duh, if you read my blog, you already know that). Among them was my pastor and his family. Conversation between me and Grady (my pastor):
Grady: So, you do triathlons?
Me: Yep!
Grady: When's your next one?
Me: Next Sunday
Grady: So show me your muscles, you gotta have muscles right?
Me: Yep! ::makes arm muscle::
Grady: That's it!?
Me: WHAT DO YOU MEAN, THAT'S IT!? :: tone of righteous indignation::
Grady: Well, I was expecting some serious guns if you do triathlons
Whoosh.
Thank you Grady, for keeping me humble.
How's that for a blog title? I'm talking the type of water bottle that you put on your bike. I can now consider myself in the class of people who can remove the water bottle from its holder while riding the bike, drink from it (and actually get fluid in your mouth, no chin dribbling allowed), and put it back, all without falling over, dropping the bottle, riding into a parked car, etc.
Baby steps I'm tellin' ya....
This probably could be called Hospitality #4, since Claire had #3 while Pam was in Costa Rica and I was in Russia, but, I made a command decision (it is my blog after all ;-) ) and I am calling it #3. Honey Baked ham, green beans, macaroni salad, fabulous desserts (thanks to Claire and Mike and Molly!) and lots of laughs...good day.
It's been awhile since I have picked up one of my favorite books, The Valley of Vision, compiled by Arthur Bennett. It's a collection of Puritan prayers...I love it because 1) wow could they pray! :) 2) it voices stuff that I have trouble putting into words. I hadn't used it in a couple of months until a recent blog by Tim Challies reminded me to pull it from the shelves again. Here's one I read the other day that I hadn't before. It shouldn't amaze me, but it does, that people hundreds of years ago faced the same flesh/spirit struggles...the world vs God...we know who should win...but if you're like me, who can drag my feet, make every excuse imaginable, or stick my fingers in my ears to try to ignore the fact that it must also be acted out...its a blessing to have reminders. Thank God for His willingness to gently teach (yeah with me, I think its more like clobber over the head or drag me kicking and screaming, but hey, we'll call that semantics ;-) ) the truths we so desperately need to know. The language in this is old (we are talking Puritans here :) ))...but its sooo beautiful.
Fullness
Heavenly Father,
Thou has revealed to me myself as a mass of sin, and thyself as the fullness of goodness,
with strength enough to succor me,
wisdom enough to guide me,
mercy enough to quicken me,
love enough to satisfy me.
Though has shown me that because thou are mine I can live by thy life
be strong in thy strength,
be guided by thy wisdom;
so I can pitch my thoughts and heart in thee.
This is the exchange of the wonderful love-
for me to have thee for myself,
and for thee to have me, and to give me thyself.
There is in thee all fullness of the good I need,
and the fullness of all grace to draw me to thyself,
who else could never have come.
But having come, I must cleave to thee,
be knit to thee,
always seek thee.
There is none all good as thou are:
With thee I can live without other things,
for thou art God all-sufficient,
and the glory, peace, rest, joy of the world is a creaturely, perishing thing in comparison with thee
Help me to know that he who hopes for nothing but thee, and for all things only for thee, hopes truly,
and that I must place all my happiness in holiness, if I hope to be filled with all grace
Convince me that I can have no peace at death, nor hope that I should go to Christ,
unless I intend to do his will
and have his fullness while I live.
So, I have a sprint triathlon coming up in two weeks and with my trip to Russia and then vacation, my training hasn't been all that great...getting some runs in is easy (yes, I did run on vacation)...but I haven't been on a bike since my last triathlon back in August...and you all remember how those practices went :)
So I re-borrowed my friend Jeff's bike (there's this whole saga to me actually buying a bike which I won't bore you with) and I took it out early this morning to see if I could still get on and off the bike without accidentally amputating my leg or arm or ear (with me, you never know what could happen). Success! I didn't fall off the bike! Or over or under the bike (I did however, somehow manage to gouge my inner ankle wheeling the bike OUT of the garage...go figure).
So after church today I took it on a 6 mile ride. Not bad...I forgot how much wind resistance changes things, but I definitely feel more comfortable on it now than I did in August. After my ride, I added a short run. Doing two events from a tri back-to-back is called a brick workout. My run ended up being only 0.5 miles, because well, let's just say I had some wicked jelly legs...I know I will be able to complete the tri, but it won't be a great performance due to the lack of training...just more impetus to do another in June ;-)...however, I am SOOOO thankful that my leg has healed. God definitely taught me patience throughout that experience...and to lean on Him harder to sustain me throughout the day and not just rely on the endorphin/stress release high that exercise provides. I'm so glad God wants His children to know him better and better and that He patiently and diligently teaches us these lessons that sound so easy but are oh so difficult to act out.
