NaNoWriMo

My dear beloved friend Hilary has convinced me to do National Novel Writing Month with her.  The goal is to write 50,000 words during the month of November.  (Or 1,667 words every day).  I'm super stoked to try it - I had never heard of the event before, I guess because I bailed too early on my idea of becoming an English major.

The story I'm going to be writing is a fictional version of a trip I took to Australia.  (I went there with my band when I was in high school.)  I am going to be using alot of stories from that trip, then expounding on them liberally.  The adventure will lead us deep into the outback, and I'm going to try and weave in alot of Aborigine mythology and something of a spiritual journey.  I'm very excited to start, and I hope I can meet the goal!

I'm an Aunt!

Today I attained a new title: Aunt Megan.  Chris' sister Melanie had her baby, and she looks very healthy! Weighing in at 6 lbs 8 ozs and 18" long, meet Kylie Marie Brake.

We're going to go see them and the rest of the fam this weekend.  So glad it's her and not me! Haha.

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Some more photos from our visit:

I was doing my very best to hide from the many cameras ...

She folds up like a koala.

Happy with her Uncle Chris.

Crossing Cultures

I just had an interesting conversation with a friend over gchat that I thought was worth sharing.  We often chit chat online, but this was the first lengthy conversation I've had with her in a long time.  (I edited some of the spelling errors here and there to make it easier to read for all of you.)

Background on Eman: when I was in Jordan, one day our team went to visit the Jordan University campus.  Eman spotted us lost white girls and immediately wanted to be our best friends.  She spoke very good English and gave us a tour of the campus, all the while grilling us about our lives, what we wanted to do, what we studied, and all sorts of things.  She and her friends were excited to meet Americans and talk to us, and we were delighted that to have pleasant friendly company to show us around.

I think it is Eman's goal to someday convert me to Islam, but in the meantime she is generally just a very chatty girl.  (She is one of those dear souls who forwards all sorts of kitten themed emails.)

Anyway, what follows is a little bit of our conversation, which fell on the topic of family, which I enjoyed.  It's always a breath of fresh air (I think) to talk to someone from quite literally, another world and a totally different way of thinking.  Enjoy.

Eman:  So u know about islam and muslims rather than what is in the media because you have studied religions?

me:  Yes, I did study the basics of Islam and some of its sects.  The media can be right sometimes - I think they try to be fair for the most part because many Muslims live in America - but people don't always want to listen to the true stories.  I think many people seem to want to hate Islam, so they only listen to the bad stories.  But for the most part I think Americans are kind of fascinated by the Muslim world.  Many people want to have an enemy - someone they can blame

Eman:  Yes that is right it is the same problem  all over the world.

me:  Every culture has so much beauty - so many things to teach eachother, but it seems so few people want to listen.

Currently Kushiel's Dart By Jacqueline Carey see related

"Gotta Serve Somebody"

So this site has mostly just been used as of late for updates and stories, but I felt inspired today to actually write some thoughts down.  The inspiration actually comes from Father Kemp's sermon this past Sunday, and let me first just say that it has been a very long time since a sermon has "stuck with me" for an entire week, but this one did.

The part of the sermon that pulled a brain ninja on me was based on Romans 6:23.  "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."  The passage may remind some of you who have read "Pilgrim's Progress" of the theme: The wages of sin is death.

I am going to directly quote the sermon which Father Kemp paraphrased, since it is said so well.  (If you have the time please do read it - I promise it's worth it.)

"Something begs for clarification immediately. I think most people hear the phrase "wages of sin" and think the meaning is something like, "the wages you get when you sin." So "wages of sin" they take to mean "wages of doing sin." In this picture, "sin" is the actions done to get the wage. I don't think that's the picture Paul has in his mind. It doesn't fit the context of verse 22 or the contrast with God in verse 23.

If you take "wages of sin" that way, you should probably take "free gift of God" that way. But you can see right away that that doesn't work. "Free gift of God" means "free gift that God gives." So the parallel would be "wages that sin pays." In this picture, sin is not what you do to earn wages. It is the master who pays you when you serve him as a slave. And I think that is the picture Paul has in his mind.

The contrast in verse 23 is between two masters, sin and God. That is what Paul has been developing with the slavery image all through this chapter. Verse 22 says, "But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life." You can see the contrast between sin as one slave master and God as another slave master. They are two competing slave masters. "Freed from sin and enslaved to God." So the point Paul wants to make is a very striking, even shocking one in verse 23 – it's one of the reasons he apologized for using the slavery imagery.

How so? Well consider how these two masters pay their slaves. "The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." The slave master, sin, pays wages, and the slave master, God, gives gifts. One master pays. The other master gives."

To my delight, Father Kemp mentioned the Bob Dylan song "Gotta Serve Somebody," which is an excellent song that I first heard on my Soprano's soundtrack long ago.  The main line is "It may be the devil, or it may be the Lord, but still you're gonna serve somebody."

As described above, I had always held the first view of the "wages," that they were something I earned through my sinful behavior.  The idea, however, of Sin as being my master when I act that way was new and liberating.  For some reason it seems so obvious now, but during my days this week when I have felt angry or impatient and started thinking nasty thoughts about others, the image would come to mind of my beaten, broken body mopping up the dirty floors of Sin - my master who I was choosing to serve by thinking that way.  I had a vivid picture of this master: a twisted, self-worshipping creature of cruelty and malice, who took great pleasure in watching me toil at its feet, naked and prideless.

Something about that image really hits me.  In society it's amazing how common place selfishishness and greed have become.  Everyone is so concerned with their own affairs, their own pursuit of happiness, their own strategies to get ahead in life.  Yet in serving ourselves, we are actually serving Sin - and these labors have a reward of death - but this wage isn't even something that will come later.  This is something that is paid out daily!  Every day that we choose to serve the master Sin, he repays us.  Every time we lash out in anger, every time we avert our eyes from injustice, every time we fail to pray and intercede for others, we are repaid with a hollow, lifeless wage.

On the contrary, every time we serve God - every time pray for others, every time we give out of charity and joy, every time we are obedient, we are rewarded with life.  This life is a gift, for we cannot actually earn it - we are not worthy.

Love it.

2 Years!

Wow, I really can't believe that Chris and I have been married for 2 years! Where does the time go?

To celebrate, we went to Las Vegas, the city where Chris first popped the question.  We stayed at the lovely MGM Grand, which treated us very well.

Yay, lions!

We drove there in a rental PT Cruiser, officially one of my least favorite cars EVER.  (Terrible turn radius, horrid acceleration - don't ever buy one!)  Chris purchased himself a fancy new suit, which he looks super good in. (Don't you agree?)

One of the highlights of the trip was totally unplanned and accidental! Chris and I drove out past the strip and beyond the city into the natural beauty of the Nevada desert to see Red Rock Canyon.  On our way, we missed the turn and ended up finding this guy - one of the last true cowboys in the U.S. and his son.  They run a little trail riding adventure spot.

We threw our previous hiking plans out the window and went riding with them into Coyote Canyon.  It was wonderful - and the weather was great to us.  (It thunderstormed! So much fun!)

The area was amazing - I always kind of forget just how stunning the desert is, but it's fun to be reminded.  I really want to go back and hike all over the place here sometime.

(Too bad I don't have Skunk's camera skills ... )

We also got to see the Blue Man Group (highly recommend them to anyone and everyone) who were hilarious.  The show really is an experience - I love how they involved the audience in almost everything.  Chris has been practicing his "blue man stare" on me ever since ... I'm not very good at it.

We also made a pilgrimage to see two of our favorite people: Penn&Teller!! We had a blast at their show, and afterwards they hung around to sign stuff and pose for pictures! (I even heard Teller speak - shocking!)  Another shock was to realize how HUGE Penn is - look at how far he towers above Chris! (I'm cheating because I'm in heals .. mwahaha.)

All in all tons of fun, and now I have an itch to learn poker.