Culture Shock

Yes, I know. I’m not from a different culture, but I can still experience culture shock. I feel like the past two weeks have been chock full of it for me.

In Romans 12:2, Paul states that we are “not [to be] conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…” What does that look like?

This verse has been repeatedly brought to my mind over the past two weeks as I’ve had my eyes opened to the hideousness of the culture we live in.

My Spanish instructor said she would give us extra credit (applied to our final exam no less) if we went to a play that she was performing in. It was a comedy called Fuddy Meers, and she played a stroke victim whose speech came out backwards (“haa toke king tall baa” = Had a stroke; talk backwards). She did mention—because she knew some of us might be sensitive—that there was a little bit of swearing in the play, but that she was the primary swearer. Since I could barely understand the sample lines she gave us, I figured that I wouldn’t even hear the swearing, so why not take advantage of a fun way to earn extra credit. Mom and I went on a Saturday afternoon (I even traded work shifts so I could get off early to attend). Well, let me just say, that the play was NOT a comedy, and if that was only a little swearing, I don’t want to know what normal is. Just about every-other word spoken was vile, and the verbal implications were full of wickedness. In short, the play was utterly foul. What was almost just as shocking was the number of people who laughed at this wickedness! How could the crowd find humor in something so obviously evil?

(By-the-way, Mom and I left during intermission and went to the Bible Bookstore—which was having a sale.)

I was shocked! I’ve heard profanity before, but never anything as concentrated or foul as I heard that day. Ever since that play, I have been extremely sensitive to any swearing I hear: be it a casual passer-by at school, or in a song at the grocery store. I physically cringe when I hear it now.

A second “culture shock” episode happened at work. I was tutoring two girls who were prepping for their English final, when one of the girls stopped, looked at me, and said something about my appearance that I assume she thought was a compliment. I’m not well versed in popular slang, so being unsure as to exactly what she said (it sounded like a compliment), I responded: “Thanks—I think. But that’s off topic, so lets get back to how to write a thesis….” It wasn’t until I got home—and googled the word she’d used—that I fully realized what she’d said. That was her definition of a compliment? I was extremely disturbed and offended!

But should I really expect anything other than twisted thinking and speech from this world? They are blinded by the god of this age, and the depravity of their own hearts.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
- Jer 17:9

It’s only by God’s grace that I am not saying and thinking the same things they are. I am so thankful that God, in His mercy, reached down and plucked me out of my sin, replaced my heart of stone with a heart of flesh, and continues to grow and shape me into the likeness of His character.

To end on a lighthearted note, I want to share a genuine cultural “boo-boo” that took place at work about three weeks ago. I’m not joking!

I was wrapping up a tutoring session with an ESL student, when he turned to me and said he’d seen me before. “Really?” I responded. (I didn’t recognize him). He went on to say that I had come to his class and given a speech for the Writing Center. I mentioned that it must have been several semesters ago because I hadn’t done that recently. He replied:

“Yeah. You were kind of fat then, but you’ve got skinnied now. What did you do: start working out?”

You just gotta love those ESL students!

Next time: God’s grace in the gospel.

East to West

Last Sunday the ABCD-Harmony quartet debuted their second ever learned song: "East to West."

Allow me to explain. The ABCD-Harmony group is composed of "B"- (bass) our church's praise band leader, "D"- (tenor) one of the female praise band vocalists, "C"-(soprano) my younger sister, and "A"-(alto) you guessed it, me.

Several months ago I found a vocalist training cd that would teach the soprano, alto, tenor, and bass parts to 25 hymns and worship songs. Our group was formed, and we quickly learned "Beautiful Lamb of God," and then "East to West," and "Christian Jubilee." (I wish I had a decent copy of Beautiful Lamb of God to upload--it is such a lovely song!) I never knew that singing 4-part harmony could be so fun! Our repertoire is slowly expanding, and I personally hope that once it consists of more than three or four songs, we will record them all onto a CD.

Oh, and the group singing the song you're hearing right now: ABCD-Harmony! Here are the lyrics.

East to West
Psalm 103:12

As far as the East is from the West,
as far as the worst is from the best,
as far as the future's from the past,
as far as the first is from the last,

He is holy,
I'm unworthy.
He is faithful in all of His ways.
He is worthy,
I'm unholy.
He has taken my sins away!
And oh how far He's taken my sins away from me.

As far as the heaven's from the earth,
as far as the dying's from the birth,
as far as the darkness from the light,
as far as the blindness from the sight.

He is holy,
I'm unworthy.
He is faithful in all of His ways.
He is worthy,
I'm unholy.
He has taken my sins away!
And oh how far He's taken my sins away from me.

Our next song probably won't be happening for another month or so...but stay tuned! It is my favorite so far.

Three signs that fall is here...

Orb spiders


Leaves changing colors




Beautiful sunsets

Phonetic Punctuation

Musical Version (with Dean Martin)


Reading a Story

Small Kindnesses

There used to be things that were commonplace: little acts like a man giving up his seat for a woman, or opening the door for her, or even just honest-to-goodness graciousness and friendliness. Unfortunately, you don't see much commonplace courtesy in our culture these days.

Today I saw something that reminded me just how far away from this we have strayed.

In my Linguistics class...Part way through the lecture, a young lady walked in, glanced around the room for an empty seat, and slipped into the last desk, inconveniently placed just inside the classroom door and underneath/against the blackboard. Ten minutes later, another woman entered the door. There was a momentary pause, and then, to the utter amazement of everyone in the room, one of the young men rose from his desk and offered it to the woman who had just entered. She was rather embarrassed (or so I assume by the fact that she turned red, and mumbled "are you sure?"), but accepted the seat. He proceeded to sit on the floor by the classroom door--though he shortly saw a chair in the hallway, which he rolled in and sat on. Five minutes later, another woman--late for class--walked through the door. At this point I expected another guy to get up and offer her his seat because a precedent appeared to have been set. However, nobody moved, and the young man who had offered his seat to the first woman, again rose and offered this new woman his "hallway" chair. He sat on the floor for the rest of the class period.

Is it just me, or is this rather surprising? This young man's selflessness stood out against the selfishness of today's culture.

It's little things like this that bless my heart. He had no idea that his "small" act of generosity toward another would reach beyond the immediate moment, and encourage me. Who knows how small a thing as a cheerful word, or a friendly smile, can encourage and bless those around us.

Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.
--Col 4:6

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
--Eph 4:29

Back in the Saddle...well almost!

We arrived home last Friday night from our trip to OR to deliver all of LK's stuff to her new home. Wow, what a trip it was. We arrived in OR Wednesday late afternoon, and Thursday we unloaded the Penske truck and helped LK put her kitchen together. It was a huge job, but boy did it look nice when it was completed! Much of the rest of the time in OR was spent doing this and that, and enjoying the fellowship and conversations of those around us.

Friday: I think Friday was my favorite day. AJ (my brother-in-law's oldest sister) had the day off work because the humidity was too high for the wheat to be harvested (she works in the summer for a local farmer, driving a combine). C and I got to spend the entire day with her, and do stuff. We didn't do much if you look at it in the light of "doing," but we enjoyed ourselves immensely! One of our activities was to step over to the garden and pick some raspberries and blueberries for dessert that night. I think we ate half the berries we picked! Blueberries were the best because there are no prickles to catch your fingers on. Later in the afternoon, she drove us over to the wheat field she would have been combining--if it hadn't been raining. I now understand the phrase "for amber waves of grain." That wheat field was beautiful, even in the rain. We each plucked a wheat head and began to eat the wheat berries contained within it. A whole new experience for CA city dwellers! The rest of the evening consisted of skipping stones in the river, dining with friends, and eating large amounts of berries, brownies, and ice-cream while attempting to solve wire logic puzzles.

Picking berries in the garden




Saturday: This was the wedding reception for those in OR who hadn't come to the wedding. The day was beautiful and fun was had by all.

Sunday: A peaceful day of rest and preaching. Oh yes, L and LK had 17 people back to their house for a BBQ after evening service. It was a blessed time of fellowship.

Monday: In the mid-afternoon, I went on a hike with Mom, B (LK's mother-in-law) and DY (L's youngest bro) to some local waterfalls. Afterwards C and I got to ride in the combine with AJ and Mar (another one of L's younger bros). We even got to drive the combine for a row or two! Hey, maybe next summer I'll go visit L and LK and get a summer job driving a combine up there!

The Falls



The wheat field



Combining



Monday evening, one of the families from the church invited us over to their place for a weenie roast, and boy-oh-boy was it goooood!!!!!

Tuesday: Went for a walk with Mom, LK, and C. Then, joined the M family for a float trip down the river. That was so much fun that a little while later B, LK, C, and I paddled upriver for 20 minutes just so we could go down a set of rapids and float another 15 minutes back to the house. (Whew! If I did that every day, I would have killer triceps!) None of us got out of the rafts when we reached home however. Instead, we secured them so they wouldn't float away, and then lay in them--in the sun--and talked, and laughed, and sang for awhile. I was so relaxed it was difficult to head back home for dinner.

Wednesday: This was the day of farewells. We left in the morning to start the trek home--stopping at Crater Lake on the way. I have never seen anything quite like Crater Lake; the vibrant, vivid colors, the majesty of the terrain--incredible!!! (Click on the picture to expand it and get a better view.)



The whole trip was wonderful. What I enjoyed the most was seeing L and LK in "their" home--to see their love for and joy in eachother; that and spending time and beginning to build a relationship with AJ.

When I left, I felt like I left two sisters behind instead of one. But I know there will be MANY more occasions to go up and visit.

So now begins the "normal" routine of life--especially as school starts up again next week. Somehow, I hate to say goodbye to such a memorable summer.

Parks, Patios, and Pictures

I feel like I've finally gotten over the post-wedding bla's.

The Monday after the wedding, C and I went to Disneyland with some friends of ours. Tomo, Yoshi and Mado came over from Japan to attend LK's wedding. Fifteen years ago Tomo came to the U.S. as an international student, and we were his host family. We had a fun filled three years getting to know him, and later his wife: Yoshi. Now they are parents of a beautiful 2-year-old little girl (Mado). As it turns out, we had free Disney tickets and asked to treat them to a day at the Magic Kingdom.

I've never been to Disneyland with a young child before, and I now realize why Mom and Dad didn't go when we were little. You just have to take things slowly. I think we went on a total of five rides, and stood in line to see Mickey Mouse for over an hour. BUT we had a marvelous time, and Mado walked everywhere--what a trooper!

After the parade we were so tired and sweaty that we bought some cold sodas and found a shady spot to sit. Later we discovered that we were sitting in one of the designated smoking sections--oh well!

Watching the ducks--while the rest of us chilled




In the car on the way home, Mado taught C and I a song in Japanese. We could only follow the motions, and do our best to imitate the sounds she made, but she seemed to understand that we were trying. That was one of the most laid back, and fun times I've spent at Disneyland.

After Monday, life began to slow down and fall into its usual rut: work, chores...etc. One of my chores the other day was to wash the patio furniture--a sign that summer has officially arrived!!! I enjoyed the time to myself, taking in the sun, and soaping and sudsing all the grit and grime off the chairs and table cloth. Aaaaahhhhhhh!

And...I'm sure you all are eager to see the newest wedding pictures.

I have to say that this one looks like something I'd see in a magazine, or as a scene in an old black-and-white movie: classic


The bouquets were GORGEOUS! I felt honored to carry one down the aisle.


What a smart lookin' pair!


Hows that for a teaser? If you want to see more you will have to go over to Kristin Rogers' blog and see her latest installment of L and L wedding shots. Kristin was our photographer, and she did her job so well that during the ceremony, I forgot she was even there! (Kristin, if there were any way I could look into the future and see my wedding date, I'd book you now!)

Wedding Thoughts

Here are some of the thoughts that have been running through my mind as we prepare for L’s wedding tomorrow.

Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. The heart of her husband safely trusts her; so he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life.
- Proverbs 31: 10-12


But when thou findest sensibility of heart joined with softness of manners; an accomplished mind and religion, united with sweetness of temper, modest deportment, and a love of domestic life—Such is the woman who will divide the sorrows, and double the joys of thy life. Take her to thyself; she is worthy to be thy nearest friend, thy companion, the wife of thy bosom.
- Noah Webster—describing the qualities which a young man should identify in his future life partner.


You are that woman. You have cultivated your heart for the Lord, and God has fashioned you into a woman of character, a woman who will bring great blessing to her husband.

I wish I could express my thoughts more eloquently. Words aren’t sufficient to express what I feel right now. But I just want you to know how much I love you.

Anne

Shutter Happy

Not too long ago, Mom and I went to the Arboretum for a picnic. I took the camera and tripod in hopes of snapping a few shots. After lunch, I wandered around for nearly an hour happily clicking this and that. My one disappointment was that the waterfall was turned off (water is precious right now) and that was what I had particularly wanted to photograph. You see, as part of my fascination with the camera, I have been experimenting with shutter speed and aperture value--having no real idea what they do, what effects they create...etc. However, I did discover (by messing around) that slowing down the shutter speed lets more light into the picture: good for night shots, but bad for the day. Messing with aperture value appears to have the same effect, but...I don't know. (I really don't know what I'm doing; I just press buttons and see what happens.)

Since night shots show up well with a slower shutter speed (mine was set to 15 seconds) I am interested in taking more, and a greater variety, of them. What I really want to do is stand on a freeway overpass and get one of those cool National Geographic blur shots of traffic head/tail lights. Not quite sure Mom and Dad would approve...(grin)

Now for the specimens!

The picture that started it all:

What it really looked like!

...And with the 15 sec shutter


At the Arboretum:
Flowers

...and their visitors:

The Jacarandas were dressed to the nines


Trees by the lake


Miscellaneous:




The moon and stars:
...through a tree

...with Venus on the bottom left--just above the tree

Ursa Major (The Big Dipper)

La Luna

Presentación de Español

Whew! Finals are on the horizon. One of the things I dislike about the end of the semester is the number of projects and papers I'm required to complete. However, though some have been gotten through with clenched teeth, others have been a pleasure.

One such pleasurable project was for my Spanish 102 class. We were divided into groups and required to perform/film a commercial. Our group of 5 decided to spoof some ads for the LAC Fair. With a little twisting and tweaking here and there, we concocted a "preview" for an all new (we made it up) Reality TV Show: "BLEACHED" You guessed it, the theme is blondes--of the dumb variety.

Now I do want to add a disclaimer: While we were filming one of the scenes, I was just trying to read the script and push through my lines, so I didn't pay much attention to what I was supposed to actually be saying. Well, I discovered later that one of the lines that I repeat [a lot] means "oh my G _ _" which I was not very happy about, but it was too late to go back and re-film that scene. So, there is one vignette in which I am swearing in Spanish. Please understand that it was done unknowingly on my part, and I would have re-filmed it if I could.

(You may want to pause the music at the bottom of the page before you play the video.)

So, without further ado. . .BLEACHED




Addendum:
I meant to link to English clips that we based our film on. Check out the original Library, Blondestar, Shopping, and Farm clips. In addition, we did do a Cotton Candy scene that didn't make the final cut, but did make it to the bloopers.

Word Whimsy

As a linguistics major, I love word games. I've run into a couple recently that I thought I'd share here.

Let's begin with something to warm up your brain. . .
Example: DEAL --big deal

1. gesg

2.NiRENDEVOUSght

3. KNEE
LIGHT

4. HIJKLMNO

5. IECEXCEPT

6. It's a ALL world

Now try something a bit more challenging. . .

Example: 101 D --101 Dalmations

7. 26 L I T A

8. T 10 C

9. A T W I 80 D

10. 20,000 L U T S

11. 4 A 20 B B I A P

Even harder. . .

12. 206 B I T H B

13. S L T 8 M A 14 S T R T E

I really want to know if anybody gets this one:

14. 17 I T C R O 4913

The ultimate challenge is the following paragraph. This was given to me by a friend from work. It took me two hours to figure out, but I was determined to do it!

This is an unusual paragraph. I'm curious how quickly you can find out what is so unusual about it. It looks so plain you would think nothing was wrong with it! In fact, nothing is wrong with it! It is unusual though. Study it, and think about it, but you may not find anything odd. But if you work at it a bit, you might find out! Try to do so without any coaching!

I'll let y'all try for a bit before I give the answers. Ask for hints if you need them.

Good Luck!

Springtime!

One thing I enjoy is random photography. By random, I mean unplanned photoshoots of any object that happens to catch my fancy. Today I couldn't resist capturing the daffodils (my favorite flower) as they bounced in the breeze.

I really like taking close-ups of objects. Look at that detail!

I also took some black-and-white photographs, and I think I like them better than the color ones. Black-and-white is my favorite setting on the camera--it makes everything look good!

In the future, I will post more of my favorite, random pictures.

Love

What a perfect topic for February right? I mean, it is the month of chocolates and flowers…Valentines day is fast approaching…

Galatians 5:22 states: “The fruit of the Spirit is love.”

God has been using this, the second chapter of A Woman’s Walk with God, to peel back the layers of my heart, and reveal to me my lack of love.

The chapter is titled: "Looking to God for Love"—and really, that is the only way we can do it—grow in love I mean.

The chapter begins by showing how important love is to God. We—as believers—are called to:

- “walk in love (Eph. 5:2)”
- “love one another (John 15:12)”
- [for women] “love our husbands and our children (Titus 2:4)”
- “love our neighbor[s] (Matt. 22:39)”
- “love our enemies (Luke 6:27)”

Let us also not forget that God Himself is love (1 John 4:8).

After recognizing how important love is to God, we can look at five basic principles from scripture that illustrate and help us understand Christian love. And after that, some highlights from the rest of the chapter. (All quotes, unless otherwise noted, are by Elizabeth George.)

1. Love is an act of the will.

- “It’s hard to love under difficult circumstances, yet that’s exactly where most of life is lived, isn’t it?”

- “[Love] is…a feeling of the mind as much as of the heart; it concerns the will as much as the emotions. It describes the deliberate effort—which we can make only with the help of God…” (William Barclay).

- “Christian love, you see, is an act of the will which ‘needs to be directly cultivated.”

2. Love is action—not just words.

- “Love has work to do, and love does that work—love takes action—even when doing so requires strenuous effort. Our actions—backing up our words—are the proof [emphasis mine] of our love.”

- “Where has God placed you to show forth love by your actions?”

- “To whom can you demonstrate love ‘in the day-by-day, mundane circumstances of life’?”

3. Love reaches out to the unlovely.

It is so easy to love those who are gracious, kind, sweet…etc. I know I personally have a hard time loving those who are unappreciative, rude, and downright stinky! But I was struck by a reference Mrs. George made to Matthew 5:43-46. If even non-believers can love the lovely/lovable, what makes me any different from them? Following this command to love the unlovely requires the application of principles one and two. First I must will to love this person. But to will is not enough; I must take it one step further and manifest my will in action. It really puts thing into perspective to remember that “God’s love is never deserved—it simply is. And that’s the kind of love you and I are to extend to one another.”

- “Thank God that when the Spirit is at work in our lives, He enables us to do what Jesus commands us to do [in Luke 6:35].”

- “To recognize that there is someone I do not love is to say to God, ‘I do not love You enough to love that person.” Jerry Bridges. –ouch!

4. We need God to help us love.

- “Christ calls us to love our enemies by allowing God to love them through us when we can’t do it on our own.”

- “[Love] means that no matter what a man may do to us by way of insult or injury or humiliation we will never seek anything else but his highest good…never…seek anything but the best even for those who seek the worst for us.” William Barclay

- “Those who are hardest to love are the ones who need it most.”

5. Love expects nothing in return.

- “The love the Bible tells us to extend…is not self-seeking…It’s only intent is to love as Jesus loved while praying for others to respond to God’s message of love through us.”

- * - * -* - * - * - * -
Defining Love

- “As the five principles of biblical love clearly reveal, love is the sacrifice of self.”

- “He will help us and show us where we tend to be selfish and where He’d like us to love more sacrificially.”

Living Out Love

- “It helps me as a Christian…who loves God and yearns for a closer walk with Him to see my call to live out love as an assignment from God to love anyone and everyone He chooses to place in my path.”

- “We may not necessarily feel like loving [others], but when you and I allow God to fill us up with His life-giving love, we can then carry His love to others and pour it out into their lives. The love is not ours—it’s God’s. But when we present our empty selves to the Source of love, and are filled by Him, then we are able to share His love with thirsty people.”

- “At times, the love God fills me with in the morning seems bountiful and unlimited, and I can share His love until the sun goes down. But then come those days—those hard days!—when I seem to be beating a path back to God minute after minute. Maybe the task is harder, maybe the heart of the person I’m trying to love is harder, maybe my own heart is harder, or maybe I’m not spending enough time with Him to receive what I need to share—I don’t know. I do know, though, that only as I keep turning to God can I keep loving the people He places in my path.”

I would like to close with an assignment:

Pick the person God has placed in your life who is most difficult to love and put these principles of love into action.

When I first read this assignment, I thought “Oh no, please not that. I don’t want to love that person.” But as I have been slowly—and painfully—fighting against Self, and seeking to do what Christ has called me to, I have started to see very small changes in my own heart attitudes.

I am still far from loving as I ought. But I know this is what God has called me to—commanded actually—and I know He’ll give me grace as I seek to honor Him in obedience.

“By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us.” 1 John 3:16a

“And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour.” Eph 5:2

“And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” Phil. 1:9

An Engagement

January 1, 2008, on a hill in western Oregon, a wonderful man asked a precious woman to marry him.

It has been such a blessing to see God working through all of this. He guided you individually these 25 years, drawing you each closer to Him. He fashioned the paths you would walk, the trials you would face, and the joys you would experience. He also led you to your initial meeting in July, the subsequent relationship, and now your engagement.

Dearest sister, this time is bittersweet for me. I am experiencing the sorrow of knowing that soon I will no longer hear your voice in the house, share the backseat with you in the car, or have you around to run errands with. But mingled with the sorrow is an irrepressible joy. You have patiently waited and prayed for the right man, and sought to be the right woman; and now you are seeing those years of sowing bloom into a bountiful harvest. I am so unspeakably happy for you as you look ahead to life with “L.” Your blossoming love for each other has truly been beautiful to see.

But, the most beautiful thing of all, is seeing how God is the binding fiber in your relationship. You both put Him first in your lives, and use your love for Him as the source of your love for each other.

I love you. And I pray God blesses you and “L” as you both continue to look to Him, and take this first step on the journey towards glorifying Him as one.


"I've felt for the first time in my life the joyful consciousness that I am truly loved by a truly good man, one that with all my heart I can love and honor~one who loves me for myself alone, and with an unselfish, patient, gentle affection such as I never thought to waken in an human heart."
~Anna Bronson Alcott (On her wedding day May 23, 1860)