hey all.


I had a most marvelous evening....no, weekend!! Friday was a blast - first I had an A.R.T. honorary movie night with Oakley sandwiches (the BEST subs on the planet), then the Tulloch Ard Pipes and Drums concert which was phenomenal (esp. with Christopher Teague on pipes and Tom Richter on drums...they are phenomenal), then the Mu Alpha Swing Party. I do have to say that was the best swing dance party I've ever been to - boys weren't so shy as usual which resulted in much more dancing, AND I was priveledged to dance with my big brother -- the best swing dancer/lead that i have thus yet met in my existence on planet earth!! whoo hoo for dancing-- i REALLY can't say enough about it. It makes me happy to my very bones. I hope to find a good swing club in Chicago this summer, but I don't know who I'll be able to take with me-- i don't know any guys (let alone swing-dancing ones) in Chicago, YET. ;) ...hehe...or ever. :(


Then last night, Saturday night, we had the all-school talent show. I sang "Come What May" with Jason Lantz, and my afore-mentioned big-brother decided to put us at the close of the concert. Everyone said that we did a great job...and I must say we did a decent job, but I felt like other acts, like a guy who played the piano upside-down, were definately more "talented" for the "talent" show. Not to say that we were bad, but it just didn't see to take so much work. I guess that's what is so interesting about talent, though. Now, don't take this as my being big-headed or anything silly like that, it's just so interesting how people take what they are good at for granted, but see everything else as hard. It's like Neuro-biology or Organic Chemists-- they understand everything that's going on with their subject, so they can see it as "easy", but that doesn't mean that they can sing, or dance, or do anything else, other than their talent. Now, they could be very blessed and be talented in many other areas, but not necessarily. So, I guess that's what our talent show is like. I see singing as "easy" but other people hate doing it. Maybe even the guy who played the piano upside-down finds singing as hard.

It's pretty amazing and wonderful that God blessed us with all different skills. If He didn't, the world would be very disfunctional!!

Tonight I baked cookies with some uber wonderful friends of mine. We baked my "famous" (haha, i'm not sure if they are, but if they were, that would be cool) Chocolate-Covered Cherry Cookies. We didn't have all the ingredients, and Aaron was at Broadlawn with Cap'n Arn ;) , but when Luke found out we were baking "THOSE COOKIES" as he called them, he was really awesome and found a car and went to the store to buy ingredients that we needed. So, he returned, Aaron showed up, and about 6 of us all made the cookies together. We had one monster cookie that had about 6 cherries in it....haha, it was rediculous. The whole experience, however, was a lot of fun.

Speaking of baking, I hope to make an Oreo Cheesecake at the MA house soon....so I guess since I'll be making it, i can invite whom I want to eat it:)... Leave me a comment if you want to be one of the people invited ;).


Today, I went to church with some MA guy friends of mine at Free Methodist. It wasn't a bad service, but it was different from their usual service....and two hours long. I think I"ll trying again when it's a "normal service". Something touched my heart at the service, however, and made me want to cry. During a time where people were allowed to announce praises and prayers, a man in a wheelchair took the microphone. He then asked for prayers for his wife-- a perfectly healthy looking woman beside him. But here, God reminded me again of what a difference from what is visual to man and what is not. See, this woman had cancer. Unlike her husband, who was obviously disabled, she had a battle inside her body. But this is not what touched me the most. As he asked for prayers for her, he continually choked up in every sentence that he spoke. His sincerity and love for her shone through those sob-like sounds he made as he spoke... and in a way, he made me jealous. Not in a malicious way, but in a yearning type of way to have what he has been blessed to have.


How, Why, you may ask? How could I be jealous of a man in a wheelchair and his wife stricken with cancer? I was in awe of them. I saw his self-less love for the woman who had sat beside him so many years of his life. I wanted to have, not their ailments, but the confidence that I may love and be loved so much by a man as his wife that, no matter what physical problems he or I may have, that we would be there for eachother. He pure love for her was so beautiful. And it was REAL. TRUE LOVE is something that so many people yearn for, and yet do now know how to find. Our minds have been so corrupted by these ideas of "love" through media that are merely lust, and often can be so confused by the misrepresentation. So many people "fall in love" in the movies. They fail to mention what happens to the characters, however, when they are 70 years old, and dying of cancer and confined to wheelchairs... is the 'love' they portray in movies really going to last? I hope that God will grant me, as well as you (my faithful readers;)) the wisdom to know what true love is -- and when to pursue it -- as well as realizing when attraction is mistaken for being the "right thing" and we foolishly attempt to act upon it. May we always keep in mind the life down the road, so that, when we are old, we have a spouse that loves us so much that we can be an example to other generations as to what real love is.
just something to think about. <><