Livin' our life like it's golden...

So, I haven't been able to blog in a long time b/c I don't have internet access at home and I can't access my blog page at work to update during lunch breaks. Alas... they blocked sites.

Anyway, Analise and I are celebrating our GOLDEN YEAR this year! Analise is turning 21 years old tomorrow! 21 on the 21st! One week later, I will be turning 28 years old on the 28th! We had a great joint party this past weekend and we danced our hearts out! I'd post more pictures, but I'm updating on a friend's computer.

Ok, so this isn't that interesting, but I felt like I needed to update a little! I will try and be more interesting the next time I get the opportunity to blog! Hopefully that will be sooner rather than later... :) Headed to Chicago tomorrow!!

Mermaid Butt Crack

What do you see when you look at this picture? Oh, a mermaid butt crack? This is also what our team saw when Sara drew this picture in a friendly game of win-lose-or draw. It was HILARIOUS... and yes, the phrase was "Baby Got Back."

Team Baby Fish Mouth and Team Deep Fried Coca-Cola finally came together one night in a game of win-lose-or draw. Although there were moments of tension, hilarity, and ultimately, victory, this was the highlight of the evening and I just had to share!

The woman figure on the left of the board is supposed to be a woman with a baby in high heels... uhhmmm... does anyone see that?! :) We just kept yelling "Mermaid Butt crack!" over and over again, and obviously, that wasn't it, but we were in such an uproar that we couldn't get over it. We didn't get the phrase in time, but hey, my abs got a good work out while trying to guess!

Anyway, here are the two teams... our team mate Adam was unable to be there due to illness, so Anna's visiting friend filled in. Here we are:

so...

So since I have moved away from the luxury of seminary living (no, I'm not kidding), I only have internet now at work. Yep, on my breaks and stuff is when I write my blogs and I have no access on weekends or when I get home. This is only unfortunate because now work internet dealio has cut off the access to blog. I can go to my blog and see it, but I can no longer post new blogs.

Just thought I'd give ya'll a heads up as to why I'm not posting regularly! My dear friend Adam is letting me do this which is why I can.

So, hope to be able to post fun stuff soon!

thumbs up

Um, I'm giving myself a thumbs up right now b/c it might somehow mean that I'm a winner... I need this affirmation from my own thumb (and my good friend Alex's thumb) to remind myself that I am not a loser.

Need some context?

Got rejected at yet ANOTHER job possibility today. Dude.

It's hard to keep a good attitude going when you've been rejected over and over for approximately one year. No, I'm not kidding. Maybe I'm just not looking in right places, in the right situations, in the right contexts, but seriously folks. Oh, and I know it's true, but I really do hate it when people tell you that this is going to be worth it and that I'll look back at this time with perhaps "relief" because when I find the right call, it will totally be amazing. I semi-believe that, but why can't I just say, "THIS SUCKS" because it really does suck right now.

So, yeah, giving myself a thumbs up to remind myself that hey, another rejection still might mean that I'm okay.

Back from the Philippines...

Well, I am back!
As I will continue to process and reflect and write about my time there, I thought I'd begin with a prayer I wrote toward the end of my time there. I think in many ways this prayer continues to be the prayer in my heart, even as I am busy back at work again in the U.S. Will write again soon!
***
Holy Creator,

As I feel the breeze flow on my face and through my hair, I feel your Spirit fall and flowing through me. As the sound of waves crash and hiss on the beach, I hear you speaking...

as I see the height of the mountains and the vastness of the ocean, I feel your arms extending out and embracing me in... I cannot say it enough, God. Thank you.

And what a week it has been, God, to culminate to this place. In situations I have encountered this week where I thought it may be impossible to see you, I found you there. I found you in the trash and landfills where a massive community lived and scavenged for food and shelter out of our waste...
I found you in the deep brown eyes of a beautiful girl smiling at me...

I found you in the soil and crops and in the sun beaten hands of a farmer...I found you in the grief and love of a father for his lost and murdered son in a protest for justice... I found you in the juicy taste of a yellow mango... and I found you at work within your people here in the Philippines... through my sisters and brothers in Christ who have chosen sides, and chosen to work for justice and for those who are oppressed.

Thank you for their courage, their wisdom, their strength, and their prophetic witness, God.

I have been inspired and changed. I have been renewed in Spirit and understand the work of justice as more important now than ever. Help me not forget, God. Help me to keep alert and remind me of your people in the Philippines when I begin to fall asleep.

God, sometimes "Thank you" seems so trite compared to what it is I feel in my full heart, but I say it and will say it again and again... Thank you.

Thank you that you are God, and I am not.

I love you.

I pray this in the name of the one who embodied your peace.

Amen.

On my way to the Philippines...

As I prepare to leave the country to see and be a listening partner with our sister church in the Philippines who is experiencing extra-judicial killings of their church leaders, I am very aware today of the shootings that have occurred at Northern Illinois University. It's moments like these where I am literally stumped...wondering what in the world is happening, and desiring to be a partner for change. I am particularly thankful that a friend, Gina, a student there, is okay. As we continue to pray for the situation there, she asked if I might be in prayer for her as she has also been asked to be available as a counselor for other students. If you all could remember her too, that would be great.

I'm writing because I leave this weekend for the Philippines and will be there for about 10 days. Yep, the time has already come! I can't believe it. I will be flying to Chicago tomorrow and leaving for the Philippines on Sunday. I'd ask that you please hold all of the members of our delegation in prayer: Ann, Jared, Larry, Matt, Richard, Roger, Shelley, Stuart and myself. I would also ask special prayers for my friend Joel who was also supposed to be part of this delegation. His grandmother died yesterday and he and his family are making funeral arrangements now. Although I'm not sure about his official status regarding the trip, I'm pretty sure he will be with his family.

Anyway, I wanted to write and ask for prayers and let you all know that I'm on my way! I promise to fill you in on details and reflections upon my return!

***

I was also asked to write a prayer for the peacemaking website in light of yesterday's events. Wanted to share it. Peace be with you all!

A Prayer for Northern Illinois University

God of mystery and God of love,

In light of what we have heard, seen, and experienced in the shootings at Northern Illinois University yesterday, we can’t help but feel shocked, confused, deeply sad, and perhaps hopeless. This event is only a painful reminder of the losses at other campus shootings across the nation in our too recent past, and we wonder what in the world is going on. What is happening when we are dying in classrooms?

And yet God, with these questions and with a powerful sense that ultimately everything is out of our control, we come to you, daring to ask the difficult questions and allowing your Spirit to embrace us. We pray for a love that can drive out the darkness around us, so that in this time of another tragedy, we can hold one another up yet again. Instill in us a continued hope so that we may have continued strength and courage as your Church to be partners and witnesses of something different . . . of something life-giving.

We lift up the students, the families, the friends, and all those affected this day. We pray that you would blanket them with your peace and continue to be with them as the anger, sadness and healing process begins. We don’t understand, God. But we love you and trust your presence and mercy in this time.

We pray all this in the name of the one whose peace passes all understanding,
Amen.

Irene Pak
Office of Racial Justice and Advocacy, Intern
General Assembly Council

Sharing some love

Happy Valentine's Day good people!
I thought on this day that I'd share one of my favorite Shakespeare love poems... if you ever want to win me over, read this poem to me. Not in a creepy way. :)

Sonnet 116

"Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments.
Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved."

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)