twenty seven plus one week
so life has been a little busy and i never got to post about my birthday. so here goes (for those who care :).
the celebration began on friday with lauren o coming in from Dallas, which made it extra fun. she, a few other friends and i went to a fancy schmancy italian restaurant in downtown Austin called Taverna. it was great food, but is pasta really worth $16? either way, it was worth getting to spend an evening with friends and experience something new. after dinner a few of the girls and i headed to
Dominican Joe for dessert and chatting. we then proceeded to the Broken Spoke for some country dancing, where there were, for once, plenty of familiar men who knew what they were doing.
when i showed up to work on tuesday, several people asked me why i didn't just take the day off. it's was the last day before the holiday AND my birthday. why didn't I think of that? but it turned out alright despite being at work. there was cake and ice cream, my co-worker friends took me to lunch at Trudy's (where i was offered a free Mexican martini that i had to turn down), and we were told we could go home early.
i had planned to go caving that evening with a few friends and official UT Grotto leaders. unfortunately, my caving friends and i are still no good at actually finding the caves in a timely manner, so we spent the evening above ground. some frisbee at zilker park led to deep theological discussion which were continued over coffee, once again at DoJo. theological discussions rabbit trailed into that which is only shared among friends of the truest kind. there were stories and laughs and probing and honesty - and maybe even some awkwardness ;)
twenty seven isn't a milestone birthday, and the day was quiet uneventful, really. yet it encompassed many things i am thankful to have at 27 years of life - a great job, enjoyable co-workers, and true friends.
and it was good
so i recently started studying the bible with a few close friends. we read and study on our own throughout the week and then get together every wednesday morning for breakfast with the bible.
we're starting in genesis and are working our way through. yeah, we're ambitious.
in genesis chapter 1, God creates the earth and everything in it.
"And God saw that it was good."
this phrase is repeated SEVEN times in the first chapter of genesis. SEVEN times. that's one for each day. and the final time looks more like this, "And God saw
everything that he had made and it was
very good" (emphasis mine).
in a group study on philippians and colossians i've been reminded that the things i focus my mind on affects, in a big way, my attitude and, as a result, the way i live my life. in this broken world, it's easy to focus on the negative things, the things that are no longer good, and become cynical and self absorbed. yet instead, "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, thing about these things." ~Philippians 4:8
there are always not-good things in our lives that we can focus on. but why?
chacos for cristina
for quite a while now i've been wanting to get a pair of
chacos for my friend Cristina. and since you're probably wondering how this is ministry, let me explain.
first,
chacos, while quite expensive, are VERY durable and will last a lifetime. if bought at REI, they are guaranteed for life. and they are perfect for wearing in 3rd world countries, where Cristina lives.
Cristina is a half Haitian, half Dominican women i knew in the Dominican Republic. She is a teacher's aid for Camille (the other young lady who taught with me, who is still in the DR for year 2), so I had the privilege of spending a lot of time with her. Cristina is an amazing Christian women, wife, and mother of 3. she really knows how to bring the heat (of the Word, of course) and does so on many spontaneous occasions when people just need to hear the TRUTH.
last year, camille and i wore our
chacos every day. literally. cristina often admired them, so i know she would love a pair of her own.
so if you would like to help me get a pair of
chacos for cristina, here's how you can help. 1) if you or anyone you know has a pair of size 8ish (i'm not positive of her size, but we're investigating)
chacos that are no longer in use and would like to donate them, let me know. otherwise, we'll go to 2) you can pitch in any amount of money you'd like to go towards this gift for cristina. if 10 people donate $10 we'll have enough, so really, it's not that big of a challenge :) and i'll do my best to find some kind of sale or something so we can use our money well.
and speaking of the DR - i made my first dominican meal tonight for some friends who are joining me on this trip to Reynosa, Mexico over Thanksgiving break. i have to say, it turned out very dominican. it was nice to have moro con rez y tostones after a 3 month break!
