COOL UPDATE
(I stole this idea from Jennifer, who stole it from someone else...)

10 YEARS AGO:
1. 7th grade, my second year at CHCA
2. My Granny had been diagnosed with lung cancer just a few months before, and would pass away within almost 2 months.
3. I was still a band geek, playing the trumpet.
4. I'm not sure what month it was, but sometime that school year I got a REALLY bad perm!!
5. I had huge crushes on Joe Hall, Joel Smith, and Andrew Macht

5 YEARS AGO:
1. Loving my senior year of high school at CHCA, and cheering for Varsity Football
2. Received a love letter from a guy in the Army at basic training with my older brother
3. Another dateless Homecoming
4. Karah and I got out of class early a LOT b/c we were "selling yearbook ads"

1YEAR AGO:
1. Spending the semester on Martha's Vineyard, MA :)
2. Spending all my time writing, recording, and performing music
3. Took a weekend trip to Boston-- Sam Phillips concert, Gordon College, the Red Sox won, vintage stores, biting cold wind...
4. This is when my addiction to my beloved laptop began.
5. Getting our last fix of Backdoor Donuts before they closed for the winter.

1 MONTH AGO:
1. Into the swing of my easiest and last semester at Milligan- woo hoo!
2. Worrying about getting a job...I never got one.
3. Open Mic Night! (the first one of the year)
4. Sara Beth came down to visit! Later in the day after she'd gone home, I broke down b/c I miss her and it just isn't the same...

1 WEEK AGO:
1. I was home in Cincy for Fall Break!
2. chillin' at home with my little bro
3. nothing much happened...

YESTERDAY:
1. Went to class and heard a boring speaker in chapel
2. It was Yom Kippur... but I didn't celebrate it...
3. I made some amazing pork chops with fried apples (yeah, that's right, I'm becoming quite the chef ;) )
4. I actually read for Church History, which I haven't done in, like, 3 weeks at least

TODAY:
1. Received my much-needed loan refund check, so now I can buy groceries for the rest of the semester (remember how I never got a job?)
2. Discovered I only have 9 weeks to graduation!
3. Vespers rehearsal went forever long (or at least it seemed that way)
4. Went to the mall and bought an amazing pair of slacks at Express for only $20 AND I ate Japanese (mmm!)
5. Stayed home the rest of the night, read, and wrote out this thing.

This song has changed my life...at least in recent weeks:

Mercy by Reva Williams

The rain stitches grief to the dogwoods
As I stitch myself to the world
And if somebody's laughing, I want to hear
'Cause I'm a very sad girl
I have put in for promotion
You have signed up for a war
I ask for your prayers and
You ask for my songs
You always talk about Jesus
I always talk about me
Still, there is nothing between us
That's the way it should be

Let this gather us, watching through the windows
Faces pressed tight against the drapes that our mothers made
Let this gather us, watching through the windows
Let this bring us mercy

I have a sibling for each hand
They each have hearts for me
My arms are outstretched,
They are not near me
If there is an ocean between us
Or a continent or more
And our letters get lost and
The phone is disconnected

Let this gather us...

There are many storms but no fear
There are many saints
They live right here
They stand tall in the silences
Their eyes like wells
Their voices like bells

Let this gather us...

I know your arm like a mantle
You know my mouth like your bed
I am protected
You are asleep
And we are both well-fed

New York Trip Top Ten:

1. seeing "Starry Night" in person
2. The Glass Menagerie. Front Row. Christian Slater pointing at me and saying the line, "eyes like wood-smoke in autumn" (okay, so it wasn't about me)
3. New York cheesecake
4. lunch with Sara at Rupert's Hello Deli
5. the Jewish men rallying in Times Square at 12:30am (apparently the Messiah has come in the form of an old Jewish rabbi wearing a black hat)
6. "ticket for bus?"
7. riding the Staten Island Ferry at sunset
8. Starbucks on every corner
9. Tiffany's! (unfortunately there was no breakfast involved, sigh...)
10. Sara and I looking like true New Yorkers ;)

So that was last week. I'm not sure how it compares with last semester...

Happy Easter!! :)

It's a wonderful holiday, isn't it? Although, it's been a long time since the real meaning of Easter has given my soul any sense of wonder...I mean, when I was a child, I listened intently to the story of Jesus and the cross and the rolled away stone on Easter morning, and I truly sensed that it was a miracle. But my world today, my life, is so focused on other things and is so used to hearing the story that I've forgotten to listen.

Last week I had communion for the first time in a long time...We've been talking a lot about the Eucharist in my church history class this semester, and last Sunday I realized something. I walked up to receive the bread and the cup and found Christ- his body and blood which was given for me. And I thought of all the people throughout history who, for some reason held by the Church, have been denied one or both of the elements...But the bread and wine are not ours to give, for Christ himself says, "Take and eat, this is my body...this is my blood..." It is Christ who invites us to partake.

And I felt blessed... There I sat, just accepting his GRACE because HE has asked me to come...

What's strange about Easter-aside from the overwhelming amount of pink bunnies, obssession with eggs, and plastic "grass" that ends up ALL over your house- is that Jesus still bears the scars. His life is fully restored, yet he holds out his wounded flesh, and again he invites us to "take" hold, to touch the body of Christ.

So maybe the real meaning of Easter HAS touched me this year. :)

I've been back at school for a week and a half, now. It was so hard to leave the CMC. The friday that we left was a difficult day, and I ended up crying for days...It was such a unique, amazing, challenging, spiritual, bonding experience! I miss everything: the island, the food, the pond, hearing drums at 2am, my friends, my professors, having 5 roommates, laughing at the guys, struggling together, listening to each others' new music and watching it evolve...

Christmas break was fine. Both of my brothers came home, and it was really great to see them- I love them more than anything in the world!

School is hard, and I don't mean academically. It's strangely normal yet different to be back at Milligan. The place has become like home to me over the past 3 1/2 years. I know my way around Johnson City, I know the things to do around here, I know how college life, Walmart runs, and "Milligan things" go. But it's so different too! There are so many new faces- mostly freshmen- that I don't think I'll be able to get used to. I feel "out of the loop," I guess. I go away for 4 months and what happened to the world I knew? My friends are still my friends, and I love them dearly, but something has changed in the atmosphere.