Happy Birthday, Mumzy!

We had a wonderful holiday week and weekend. Allison came home on Wednesday and we attended a beautiful church service that night, and then we had 15 people at our Thanksgiving feast. We did a lot Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) including Allison and me going to a special class at my gym (which left us sore), baking lots of food, eating and sharing thanks, and playing football (my team one) and then Settlers (I won) in the evening. It really was a great day ;-).

The pumpkin pie made from pumpkins we bought at a nearby farm! It was exceptionally good, if I do say so myself:-)

We also celebrated my wonderful mother's birthday on Saturday. It is always extra-special to celebrate my mom's birthdays as several bouts with cancer have threatened her life. We are so thankful for her.

We had homemade lattes and cranberry bread in the morning and then Qdoba in the evening before Mom, Dad, Allison and I saw The Help in a local old-school theater. I was really glad to share the movie with them since they hadn't seen it before and I expected them to like it as much as I did. Overall, it was a great day.

Aren't they cute??

(Any bragging above is intended for the eyes of Pops and Allison only)

Black Friday FAIL

Allison and Adjua, maybe a little too excited?

Last night I stayed up until MIDNIGHT, so tired from my busy Thanksgiving. My sister Allison and I took Adjua, our Ghanaian sister, and several of her friends for their first Black Friday experience. We decided to go to Target when it opened at 12.

We prepped the girls with strategies for how to handle a stampede and instructed them about how to look for good sales. Since we were in it for the experience we didn't have a very good plan of what to buy.

We walked around the store in the midst of a crazy crowd. We selected a few small gifts and were in contact with the others via phone. At around 1, we began looking for the line so we could check out.

It took us about 10 minutes to find the end of the line, 2/3 of the way to the back of the store, weaving through each aisle and with a forecast of an hour to wait to check out.

We all decided it was time to go to bed. So we put everything back and went home.

= Black Friday FAIL

For the Beauty...

I wrote most of a post earlier about Thanksgiving but after singing this beautiful hymn in church this evening I decided to share the lyrics instead (or for now). I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

For the beauty of the earth
For the glory of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies.

Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the beauty of each hour,
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale, and tree and flower,
Sun and moon, and stars of light.

Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.
For the joy of ear and eye,
For the heart and mind’s delight,
For the mystic harmony
Linking sense to sound and sight.

Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child,
Friends on earth and friends above,
For all gentle thoughts and mild.

Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.
For Thy Church, that evermore
Lifteth holy hands above,
Offering up on every shore
Her pure sacrifice of love.

Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the martyrs’ crown of light,
For Thy prophets’ eagle eye,
For Thy bold confessors’ might,
For the lips of infancy.

Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.

For Thy virgins’ robes of snow,
For Thy maiden mother mild,
For Thyself, with hearts aglow,
Jesu, Victim undefiled.

Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.

For each perfect gift of Thine,
To our race so freely given,
Graces human and divine,
Flowers of earth and buds of Heaven.

Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.

Words: Fol­li­ot S. Pier­point, in Lyra Eu­cha­rist­ica, by Or­by Ship­ley, se­cond edi­tion, 1864. http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/f/b/fbeautye.htm

Be Present

I had an absolutely fantastic trip to the East Coast last month to visit my friends in Maryland and then to Atlanta for the Catalyst Conference. I am struck again and again by how blessed I am to have a whole network of amazing friends. Especially as a young single, there is great potential to be alone and lonely. I am so thankful for years in Maryland where God blessed me with the best group I can imagine.

The conference theme was "Be Present," which was perfect. I didn't blog about it, but I figured I should mention it. I think the conference organizers hit a cultural reality on the head -- with the wonders of technology we have the ability to be everywhere at once. The dark side of that amazing ability is that we can fall into the trap of never really being anywhere at once. What a way to waste our lives!

The cool thing is that it wasn't just a criticism, but the speakers brilliantly presented ways to be present in many angles: spiritually, in leadership, in service, as we plan our time, and on and on. If you're interested, ask -- I'd love to share more.

Fun Fall Activities

This week, my mom and I went to Greenbluff, an area with lots of farms nearby, twice. The first time, we got pumpkins and squashes of many beautiful varieties. The second time, we went to pick fall raspberries. Here are some pictures from our fall adventures!

Mom got to do her favorite thing: pick berries. Look how happy she is!

We picked many berries to use in our cereal for months to come .

We saw a pumpkin shot out of this crazy cannon!

Ohh, I hope it wasn't really mom in there after all!

We went through mom's first hay maze (yes, fun for adults too, and no, I didn't let her cheat).

Too much fun!

At this farm the goats have a cool habitat.

One of mom's other favorite things in life: alpacas. They are pretty cute!

And on our way home, these turkeys were in the road. I think we saw at least 12. Thanksgiving, anyone?

We welcome visitors! Anyone tempted?? :-).

Unconscious Segregation

I am on the MARTA in Atlanta. I have a suitcase and a backpack, and when I got on, the train was mostly full and there were people standing. I walked past them and sat in an empty seat on the isle, next to a well dressed white guy about my age. He looked safe, and in my mind I was leaving the two empty seats in front of us open for someone else instead of taking both with myself and my stuff. As the train departed, no one sat there.

At the next stop, the guy next to me got up and left the train. A good-looking black guy looked at me and I wondered what he was thinking. Suddenly I noticed that there were no other white people in my line of sight. I turned around and there were no other white people on the train at all, except one man sitting on the other side of the isle from me.

I sat next to the only two white people on the train. I hadn't even realized it.

Then I started wondering: did I make that decision subconsciously, or was it a legitimate coincidence? I certainly didn't mean to sit next to the only white people. If I had realized it, I would have chosen NOT to sit next to the only white people. I couldn't even believe it.

Some of my very favorite, closest friends are African or of African descent, and I know what my decision looked like, what it said to the others on the train. I confirmed a stereotype in a small, subtle way... that white people are afraid of or do not like black people.

Whether or not this stereotype is often true is not the point. There is plenty of evidence to suggest it. Hanging out with close African American friends when I lived in Atlanta years ago I learned this first-hand. I want to be someone who is intentional about changing the stereotype, and here I am confirming it in my own little way. I am neither the first nor the only one to notice my choice of seat.

Although I didn't make my seating choice intentionally, I'm sorry I made the choice I did at all. If given the same opportunity again, I plan to choose a different seat. And I pray that the next white person who gets on a train with the same passengers will make a different choice as well.

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people. -Martin Luther King, Jr.

Praise God that since Martin Luther King, Jr. said those words transition has continued to occur. But it is not done yet. Lord let me be a continuing part of the solution, not a perpetrator of the problem -- even through ignorance or being oblivious.

Getting back to the gym

I decided this week that it was time to look into gyms in this area. I have been running some, but I don't seem able to make myself run more than two or three times per week, and I don't generally look forward to those times. For me, gyms are a different story -- I actually enjoy going.

So, Monday I decided to start a week-long trial membership at the local Gold's Gym. I'd checked their web site and their prices were great, and they even have my favorite exercise classes.

True to form, I wanted to get the most out of the week-long opportunity. Monday evening had a Body Pump class, so I went to it. If you've never done Body Pump, it's great -- 45-60 minutes of weight lifting, light weights and many reps. I was pretty proud of myself for being able to keep up since I haven't really lifted since living in England last fall.

As the class was finishing up, I heard that there was a cycling class happening next. I love cycling (although I haven't done that since England either), and since I was in the gym anyway thought I should get some cardio in.

Again, I was pretty proud of myself for being able to keep up and really enjoyed it. I bounced home all excited and proud of my fitness.

That is, I was proud until I could barely get out of bed the next morning.

EVERYTHING hurt. A lot! As I was wining, my dad told me I probably should stretch. Good idea. But when I tried to touch my toes (which I can usually do) my hands only made it to two feet above the ground. Oh no!

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. - Proverbs 16:18

I wish I could learn that lesson once and for all!!!