Celebrity Look-Alikes

A very sweet lady at church the other week told me that I look like Kate Middleton, how nice :)
Then last week I was asked if I thought Anne Hathaway was pretty because I look like her.
When I was younger and Katie Holmes was on Dawson's Creek, I was told I look like her too!

So for funsies, here are some undeniably pretty brunettes!

Sunday Thoughts

I was really grumpy by the end of church today. The short-form, condensed, non-ranting reason is that... I'm already saved. And I feel like the last six weeks have all been the same sermon from a different text: "Get saved! It will be so great and such a relief and you'll finally feel complete. I know it's hard and scary, but you really need to do it. Today. So yeah, get saved."

I am all for preaching salvation! But if all we ever do at church is "get saved" then we never really get past figuring who is in and who is out of the kingdom, who is to blame when our prayers don't get answered even if we say Father God and Hallelujah and Blood of Jesus seven times each in all our prayers. Because maybe it's somebody who has been a member for 40 years and everyone thinks they're a Christian, but they just aren't quite. Witch hunt.

I am more interested to hear why Jesus seems so antagonistic toward his family sometimes, or to explore how we as a church measure up to the standards in the Bible - what are the rules we keep and don't keep? What are the reasons for those decisions? Let's take the Holy Spirit up on his offer of power and understanding - to move forward.

I was cranky because today was a day when church felt full of cliches, and those cliches aren't worthy of my life.

Jesus is though! And disliking (aspects of) church is always a great chance to chat with God about where I'm at and what I think and hopefully learn new things or remember old truths, and even the sucky parts aren't a waste.

A Quick Book Recommendation

This recommendation is quick because I am going to start my outline for the LAST PAPER OF MY DEGREE. I really am.

But first, please read this book if you get a chance - I am about half way through, and I am not reading it for my course or anything - it was recommended to me by someone on the subway who saw me reading What's So Great About Christianity. I am enjoying this book VERY much, the tone is great, easy to read but not simplistic or preachy, just a straightforward explanation of what Christians believe and why they are not completely bonkers to hold the beliefs they do. I can't promise there is no altar call at the end because I haven't got to the end, but I encourage everybody to make the time for this book! I got my copy from the library, but it would be worth buying one day, and I will probably re-read it before I return it. If you ever do read it, please let me know so we can talk about it :)

Silly me, you will need to know the title and author of course! The Reason for God by Timothy Keller. Now, put it on hold at the library so it will be all ready and waiting for you the next time you go!

Long Weekend Road Trip

Matt and I had a fun trip up to Stirling overnight to visit Liscombe and just spend a day/night out of the city :) No pictures, so I'll keep the post short, but it was great to catch up with a couple friends and play games without worrying about work the next day or needing to rush home (we had a dogsitter). We played xbox connect (I scraped a couple knuckles on the ceiling trying to "throw a javelin" with my left hand instead of right) and learned Settlers of Katan (a strategic board game) and re-learned Rummoli. Fun times!

It was great to just pick up and drive a couple hours - we looove our car still! Oh, and we attempted a geocache, but failed - I'm not sure whether it's winter accessible or not. Matt didn't know where we were going because I wanted to surprise him, so I used the geocache to lure him out to Stirling... I think he caught on pretty quick, but it was lots of fun.

A Mid-Winter Night's Thaw

It almost feels like Spring in Toronto! It's a little more slushy than muddy, but the air is cool and refreshing, not icy and moisture-stripping. I have been enjoying it thoroughly.

Nothing much else to report - I gave my second-to-last class presentation of my BA last night, so that was a fun mini milestone.

Dear Spring,
If you want to just stick around even though it's early... that's alright with me.
Love,
Alyssa

Valentine's

True love is magically delicious! This year was mine and Matt's first married valentine's day together (last year he was in Nicaragua - oh plus!! The year before I was in Brazil. We're so international!). You may imagine that we dreamed up exceedingly romantic plans, but you would be wrong. We're going out for dinner on Thursday (when we won't need to rush, and won't need to worry about getting a reservation). Last night we put away laundry, grocery shopped, and read to relax. Of course, you should never shop for groceries hungry, and neither of us felt like cooking, so we had Lucky Charms for dinner before heading out :)

Neither of us grew up with Lucky Charms for breakfast... so we felt like trail blazers, not only for having BOUGHT sugary cereal, but eating it for Dinner! Matt had seconds.... unbelievable, I know. We agreed that if our children have emotional baggage associated with breakfast cereal, we will consider our parenting a success, and I am sure that Lucky Charms will have a role to play. Marshmallow management, for example, lays the foundation for a myriad of life skills... If you eat all the lucky charms first, you will be stuck with a boring bowl of cereal; but if you save ALL the marshmallows to the end you not only suffer needlessly through the first part of your breakfast, but then you have marshmallow overkill and it feels kind of crazy to chew. Surely it is better to enjoy the marshmallows as they are naturally distributed throughout the cereal, making sure there are some left for those critical final bites, but not being a hoarder.

Life lessons, people, life lessons!
Happy Valentine's Day, and, you're welcome.

Acrostic Poems

Remember these from fifth grade? Oh acrostic poetry! I felt like writing something but had nowhere to start, so I turned words sideways... they are probably more reflections than poems... enjoy :)

Hiding imperfections and

Yearnings,

Pretending they happen

Only to others, wasting

Christ's death and

Resurrection by

Insisting on

Saving

Yourself

Generosity

Restrained only by our

Acceptance, with the

Capacity to heal

Everything we surrender

Still Working Away at this Paper...

My house is so clean when I have big homework assignments!!

And my toenails are painted!

This is a picture I took part way through scrubbing my bathroom floor a couple weeks ago.... Ah the dirt you didn't know was there until it was gone!!

From Psalm 37

I read this longish psalm today and thought I'd share up the verses I like best!! Then back to my New Atheism paper... let it be known that my other means of procrastination have included doing almost my entire biology presentation (it's due the night after my paper), finding a new radio station to listen to, watching this unbelievable video, cleaning out my closet, eating crackers and cream cheese, mounting a picture on the wall, changing my bedding, flipping my calendars, making this list... everything but a load of laundry!! Maybe for my next break... maybe.

Anyways - Psalm 37

¹Do not be preoccupied with evildoers.
Do not envy those who do wicked things.
²They will quickly dry up like grass
and wither away like green plants.
³Trust the Lord, and do good things.
Live in the land, and practice being faithful.
⁴Be happy with the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
⁵Entrust your ways to the Lord.
Trust him, and he will act on your behalf.
⁶He will make your righteousness shine like a light,
your just cause like the noonday sun.
⁷Surrender yourself to the Lord, and wait patiently for him.
Do not be preoccupied with an evildoer who succeeds in his way
when he carries out his schemes.
⁸Let go of anger, and leave rage behind.
Do not fret.
It only leads to evil.

²³A person’s steps are directed by the Lord,
and the Lord delights in his way.
²⁴When he falls, he will not be thrown down headfirst
because the Lord holds on to his hand.

³⁰The mouth of the righteous person reflects on wisdom.
His tongue speaks what is fair.
³¹The teachings of his God are in his heart.
His feet do not slip.
³²The wicked person watches the righteous person
and seeks to kill him.
³³But the Lord will not abandon him to the wicked person’s power
or condemn him when he is brought to trial.

³⁹The victory for righteous people comes from the Lord.
He is their fortress in times of trouble.
⁴⁰The Lord helps them and rescues them.
He rescues them from wicked people.
He saves them because they have taken refuge in him.