Vacation slide show

Enjoy our vacation pictures.

p.s. I got an honest to goodness A on my apologetics midterm!! Woo Hoo!!! (That means I probably won't have to take the final!)

I'm a thief...but this is hilarious!

I found this on a link on a friend's blog. It's pretty funny, and sad that I've actually heard some of these (and used a couple...eep!!). My personal favorite, 27.

Christianese Translated
The following is a list of phrases in the impenetrable language of "Christianese." For those unfamiliar with this strange dialect, below you'll find a helpful Christianese-English Dictionary so that you can find out what your Christian friend is really saying to you. Whoever created it - well done.
1. I'll pray about it = NO!
2. We need to pray for so and so = Guess what I just heard?!
3. I'm waiting for God to open some doors = I'm living in my parent's basement.
4. God gave me a word for you = I have advice to help you with your disaster of a life.
5. I'm going to have my quiet time = Leave me the heck alone!
6. God is good = My life sucks.
7. Bless his/her heart = What an idiot.
8. I have the gift of discernment = I can judge people without even talking to them.
9. I was having fellowship with them = We had beer and pizza and watched the game instead of going to church.
10. I'm saved by grace, not works = I can do whatever the heck I want.
11. She caused me to stumble = What a skank.
12. I kissed dating goodbye = I couldn't get a blind date, literally.
13. Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouth = I can't believe you said the real curse word!
14. I don't mean to judge but... = I'm going to judge.
15. I'm dating Jesus right now = Are you kidding? I'm way out of your league.
16. God wants me to take some time off from this relationship = I met someone else and I'm too coward to break up with you.
17. I'll pray about marrying you = NO!
18. God told me that we are supposed to get married = Maybe you'll say yes if God is behind this.
19. I'm fasting = Your spiritual life is miniscule compared to mine. Try to keep up.
20. God has called me to minister to her = She's really hot.
21. I think you should pray about it = You'll see that I'm right.
22. We've decided to court, not date = My parents have a death grip on my life.
23. Courting = Homeschool dating.
24. Lord willing = My plans are His plans.
25. Take this with a grain of salt = I'm about to really offend you.
26. I'm feeling convicted about this = One day my actions might change too!
27. Have I offended you? = Why are you treating my like garbage?
28. Who wants to pray? = I don't want to pray right now.
29. Jesus turned water into wine = Jesus turned water into grape juice. (Southern Baptist Dialect)
30. Jesus turned water into wine = I can drink whatever I want. (Presbyterian Dialect)

Yosemite Vacation

Hooray, we had an awesome time up in Yosemite. It was just what our family needed to reconnect and actually have face to face conversations (as opposed to, "Hi honey, here's the kid, see you later..."). We hiked all over the place, enjoyed cooking over the open fire, and froze our butts off from about 6:30pm-7:30am when the sun moved away from our little campsite (let's just say there was snow on half of our site!). It was really nice. I will post a couple of pictures, but since I can't figure out how to do a picture slide show I will wait to put the majority of them up.

Here I am at about mile 9 of our 14 mile hike. I am exhausted...

Our camp site with half dome in the background (and if you look closely, there is snow!)

Nathaniel just had fun playing in the dirt!

The Business of Being Born

I just watched this documentary (I know, instead of sleeping, cleaning or packing...I'm a slacker!) and it was amazing! It really opened my eyes to the whole hospital birth thing (I'm not anti ob/gyn practitioner or hospital, it just opened my eyes). I may do my next pregnancy/delivery differently...who knows.

p.s. This is not me announcing a pregnancy, or a delivery. I just wanted people to see an interesting movie, especially those moms out there (or moms to be). I am not pregnant.

p.p.s. click on the title to see the website.

Hooray for vacation!

Tomorrow we are heading up to Northern (ish) California for a much needed mini vacation. We've been working super hard since Christmas and are definitely ready for a break. Of course, we get to be at church tomorrow morning at 6am (I say 'get to' because it really is a privilege to work with such talented people in our orchestra/choir) and then play for three services. After that Nathaniel has an Easter Egg hunt across the street (I'm thinking we may forgo that since he may be cranky) and then it's home to finish loading up, change clothes, grab some lunch and head up to Fresno! Mon-Thur we are camping at Yosemite National Park. We are so excited! Sam is looking forward to hiking and cooking and I'm looking forward to grading papers in the wilderness (yes, I still have to work), studying the Bible for my teaching next Sunday and just sitting and being without hearing other people.
Even as I sit and type this I hear one loud neighbor talking (although, I have to admit, the way our apartments are set up, it's kind of a sound tunnel where every sound gets funneled into our living room--or so it seems), I hear my next door neighbor moving things around and I can hear another neighbor's phone. I can't wait to finally be able to hear myself think!
Of course, I still have to get things packed up. Sam decided to pack everything he owns, so I just left him a message on his phone telling him to cut it back because he takes up one whole HUGE duffel bag all by himself and our car simply isn't big enough.
Hooray for family time up in the wilderness and hooray for soon to be quiet!! I probably won't want to come back.

Oh, and on another note. Happy Easter to everyone. Let's celebrate our risen Lord!! Woo Hoo!! I know I'm thankful for His sacrifice on the cross, it's definitely changed me.

Missing a good friend.

The past few weeks I've found myself thinking about a really good friend I had made during my first two years of Seminary. My friend J.R. He passed away suddenly in June of 2006 from a heart attack and we've missed him greatly.

I think I have just been thinking of him a lot because of the Easter season upon us. As we have been walking through the Holy Week I remember a lot about the last semester of school I had with J.R. We were both in Dr. Wilkins' Gospels class and were reading through Mark's account of the passion week. I remember J.R. being stressed out with school and all of the different services going on at his church. But in the midst of stress, he always had profound things to say about the Gospel and about Jesus.

A lot has reminded me of him. Luncheons at school have made me think of the different luncheons we sat together goofing around; prayer times make me think of the times we spend in prayer together with our friends, and cramming for my midterms remind me of the various study sessions we had (whether in person or through many phone calls clarifying certain terms and translations). I miss him a ton. I can't help but think that I would have someone to commiserate with in my Apologetics class this semester if he hadn't passed away.

There's something about an old friend...

I had the wonderful opportunity to visit with my best friend and her husband last night and today. They were in So. Cal. for a wedding and I am lucky enough to live here to see them. I'm hoping to catch up with the rest of the family later this week (too bad I have midterms this week to study for...ugh!!).
It's funny. Bethany and I have been best friends for over ten years. Ever since we were in the 10th grade and had 3 out of 4 of our classes together. We hit it off and have been super close ever since. The minute we are together it's like I'm me again. I can't really explain it, but we talked about that tonight at dinner. Bethany knows me inside and out. She has been with me through thick and thin and even helped me deliver Nathaniel. She knows when I'm having an 'off' day that I'm still me and she is not going to judge me. She knows that I am not my job or my school or just a parent. I'm Carrie, and she loves me for me. It's just really nice to be me without fear.
I guess it just seems that ever since I've been here in Cali it's been hard to be me. People often jump to conclusions about who I am or what my values are. It's hard because sometimes I feel like some people just don't want to take the opportunity to get to know me for who I really am.
Let's just say, today was a good day. I felt like I was whole again...

Bethany, Craig and Nathaniel building towers with the blocks.

Bethany and Craig (I think Craig is happy to be in L.A.)

Nathaniel made a new friend to wrestle with.

Best friends

I love this woman!!!

Grummons Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

Cypress church night at the Oscars...and other funnies.

Click on the title to see the video my girls made for our annual night at the oscars. From there, if you type in c c oscars 2008 you should be able to see all of the videos our talented students made. My personal favorites are 'A Day in the Life of a Ninja' and 'Homeschool vs. Public School'. We have some pretty talented kids!

On another note. I had a prof make a funny today and I don't even think he realized it (either that, or my maturity level falls in line with those to whom I minister...).

Mick Boersma: Is there anyone here who is good at time management?

Me: (raises hand quickly).

Mick: (with a surprised look on his face because he wasn't expecting anyone to admit it) What makes you think you're good at time management?

Me: Because, with all of the different things I have going on I have yet to drop the ball.

Mick: You do do a lot. You're a mom, a wife, a student, you work at church...I would say that you have more balls than anyone in this class.

Me: (closes eyes in silent laughter wondering if anyone else in the class gets why I'm giggling).

For anyone who wonders why that's funny, I'm the only female in this class full of men.

Maybe I'm just immature. tee hee. poop.

He's a keeper...

My husband is amazing. I don't give him enough credit much of the time so I have decided to devote a blog entry just to him and his amazing-ness.

First of all, I have been really overwhelmed lately with life and everything involved. It's just one of those seasons of life where everything comes to a head and I feel like throwing in the towel and giving up (not on life, but school and everything else). Sam is in the same boat I am, only he works harder at a job that he has to work at just so we can pay our bills. Amazing. It takes a special breed who will willingly work at a place that says, "some pink or no pink in that?" on a regular basis. He does this without complaining so I can do my internship.

The other day I mentioned in passing that I was tired and overwhelmed with school and housework and felt bad because Nathaniel was acting out while I was trying to do my homework. I can't blame him for wanting my attention, it's hard. Sam patiently listened to my mini-vent and then stayed up with me talking until around midnight. When I got home from class on Tuesday (the next day) I came home to a clean house. The dishes were done, the refridgerator cleaned, the garbage out, the catboxes cleaned and the vaccuming done! He also had taken Nathaniel to the park to play...all during the morning! He also went grocery shopping that afternoon after Nathaniel got up from his nap while I was at church working. Super husband! He also bought me my favorite snack, which he normally NEVER buys for me because he doesn't like it (flaming hot cheetos with lime). What an amazing man!!

He works extra during the weeks surrounding National Guard weekends, even though he has less time for homework, just so we can continue to make ends meet in between paychecks. On top of all of that, he is super intelligent. He is reading two papers at two separate conferences two days in a row next month! He has fellow students approach him after class to help explain difficult concepts. He's amazingly smart.

So, I am just so blessed to have an amazing husband who is loving and completely supportive. He has given me the space to pursue my goals and life calling and does so without complaining or bitterness.

He's awesome!

The Dawkins Confusion

Click on the title to read an interesting response to Dawkins' book "The God Delusion". It is a very well written response by Alvin Plantinga (professor of philosophy of religion at Notre Dame). This article helped me put into the words the absolute disgust I had at the book.

Let me know what you all think!

On another note. Today Nathaniel and I were looking at one of his coloring books. It is a big Bible coloring book (kind of graphic in places...sheep on the altar, etc.) and it covers many of the major stories in the Bible. I noticed in the story of the Flood that in the picture with the animals and people drowning (I told you it was graphic!) there was a wooly mammoth in the background. I immediately scoured the rest of the picture to see if there were any dinosaurs pictured, fearing that I was in the possession of some ultra conservative, young-earth, dinosaurs and men existed at the same time, kind of coloring book.

My mind is at ease, only a wooly mammoth who is in obvious anguish along with a man desperately clinging to a rock. I certainly don't want my kid learning bad theology! Violence, yes, but bad theology, I shudder at the thought!