size matters.

So my dad and I are planning a trip to Phoenix/Sedona/Grand Canyon in early January because I really want to see the area and it seems like a really good time while I'm out of school to take a trip with my dad. Anyway so I've been doing some google-ing trying to see what kind of travel info is out there about Arizona and today I came across an interesting quote in an article I was reading about experiencing the Grand Canyon, and how it is incomparable and whatnot,

"Dimension means nothing to the senses and all we are left with is a troubling sense of immensity."

I read that and paused for moment and was struck by its application to God as well. So many times I know I start to ponder on the overall magnitude of God and because I can't wrap my mind around it, I will sometimes put up these pseudo boundaries and casings so that somehow the idea of God is shrunk to a nice Happy Meal version that I can digest. Shrunk so that I can be comfortable putting God in my pocket. Shrunk so that I can try to compromise His power and justify being fearful instead. Shrunk so that somehow the idea of God becomes less than terrifying. Shrunk so that I can pretend to understand things I was never meant to. Troubling because we like when we have things all figured out, definitely not when we realize we are not in control.

Foolish and fearful.

So far, my favorite book by C.S. Lewis is The Weight of Glory and I love how he describes our lack of capacity for the vastness of God's:

Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mudpies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

Just a few thoughts I had from reading that quote.

Oh, and if you've been to the Grand Canyon/Arizona, let me know if you have any ideas, suggestions, recommendations, etc.!

serious disappointment.

Everyone has made such a big deal about honeycrisp apples, so today while I was at HEB I decided I would give them a try and I bought 3.

Let me preface this with the fact that I have not eaten a whole apple, [and by this I mean like taken a bite out of an apple, I've only had apple pieces or slices] since before I had braces, circa 2000.

Apples, while pretty, don't appeal to me that much. I think certain foods got the "never eat again" stamp while I had braces, not because they don't taste good, just because the desire permanently went away I suppose while the braces were on, corn on the cob is another good example of this.

This past summer when I switched to HEB and discovered all the pre-cut things they had I also bought a bag of pre-sliced green apples. When I tried these, after I ate one or two slices I started to feel kind of sick and my lips and gums felt weird - can't explain it - and then a few minutes after I stopped eating it I felt fine. I thought this was probably because they put something on the apples to keep them from turning brown and my body didn't like that, so end of the pre-cut apples. Fast forward 5 months to now and the same thing just happened.

Weird.

However, even after the first bite before I felt weird I wasn't that impressed with the apple. It tasted just like a really crisp - which I appreciate - apple. So now I have this barely eaten, $2 apple here and 2 more downstairs. Stake your claim now if you want in on the discarded apple gold.

Pumpkin Ginger Nut Muffins

Real quick before I go pretend to be an adult for the day, I made this recipe last nite and these muffins are amazing so here it is:

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup pumpkin purée
1/3 cup melted butter
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup chopped toasted walnuts or pecans
2 Tbsp well chopped candied ginger

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium sized bowl, sift together the flour, salt, sugar, and baking soda.

2. Mix the pumpkin, melted butter, eggs, 1/4 cup of water, and spices together, then combine with the dry ingredients, until just incorporated. Do not over-mix. Fold in the candied ginger and chopped nuts.

3. Spoon mixture into a prepared muffin tin. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Check for doneness with a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin. If it comes out clean, it's done. Cool on a rack.
Makes 12 muffins.

I left out the nuts and the candied ginger, but make sure you use all the spices listed, enjoy!

Oh, and for a little something extra, if you happen to have some cream cheese icing, a little on top is wonderful, like those pumpkin cream cheese muffins at Starbuck's.

Recipe from SimplyRecipes

some perspectives on adoption.

I was reading a blog by the pastor at FBC Grand Cayman, Thabiti Anyabwile, [also linked on the right], and soon found my way to another blog, [don't you love how that happens?] a Christian adoption agency in South Carolina where he was being interviewed about transracial adoption. I know it is a common occurence to see biracial families at my church and hear wonderful and heartbreaking stories about the process, but truthfully it is a very hard thing for a lot of people to not only approve of but accept as morally okay, which is ridiculous, but it's the way things are. This is a journey I want to embark upon one day God willing and so I thought it was worth posting about here. I haven't read everything, it's quite a bit but here are the links if you feel like digging though some Biblical truths about adoption and racism in general.

Pure Church - blog of Pastor Thabiti Anyabwile, really challenging to read on a regular basis, not just this once

Carolina Hope Christian Adoption Agency & their blog

Specific interviews on transracial adoption:

by Thabiti Anyabwile
by J. B. Watkins

An extensive article by Anyabwile on racism, ethnicity, our identities in Christ, and how this relates to the church, it's long but it's probably all worth reading, I'm taking it a little bit a day.

cold flannel pumpkin pants?

So it got cool here yesterday afternoon, in the mid-60's, and I was constantly in the mindset yesterday that it was "cold" outside, you know the feeling that you get, so last nite I took the opportunity to bring out my favorite pair of flannel pajama pants and I went to bed so happy because I was getting to wear them. I also made it a "to do THIS WEEK" priority to get my coat in to the alterations place so I would be sure to have it in case the weather gets legitimately cool soon. One can only hope. Oh the simple pleasures of life.

There are a few recipe blogs I read, and one recently posted 2 recipes, one for pumpkin biscotti which I'm eager to try out and also pumpkin ginger nut muffins. Maybe this weekend I'll do a little baking and let you know how they turn out. There's also another one for pumpkin praline tartelettes [served with butter pecan ice cream, no less] which sounds like a lot of time on the elliptical but it's a pretty complicated recipe, so maybe I'll try it when I go home for thanksgiving or when time becomes a less than a luxury again. Until then...

do you have anything for lifechange-itis?

After church this morning Barbara (who I teach sunday school with) invited to me to lunch wither her and Lynn (her husband) and Bill and Kathy (I have hope group at their house and Kathy is Barbara's sister). I gladly obliged as I love spending time with them and have grown very close to both families over the past year, kind of like a second family here in College Station. Lunch was great and afterwards I had my normal Sunday afternoon routine of homework, a few errands, and the rec tonite.

Coming home from the rec just now, my mind started to run away from me thinking about how I have such a short time left here and how valuable the community has become to me and all of sudden before I knew it I was sobbing uncontrolably driving down University. Not because I am worried about where I will be and all the details that entails, I just really hate life transitions where people I have come to love [immensely] are not at an arms length anymore. I like familiarity and I could go on and on about how I know I need to get out of my comfort zone anyway and trust God, etc. etc., but that's not what I'm getting at. Let's be honest, I'm emotional and I'm a crier.

Somehow I think no one was really surprised by that.

I'm sure no one likes that specific part of change, and I am not worried about not finding new friendships and community wherever I end up, but regardless, I am wondering if God would really frown too much if I started planning now to skip that church service in May where Butch makes his speech about seniors and leaving and everyone cries. Because I cried at that one last year and I didn't even go anywhere.

see below.

so I started a post about headphones a couple of weeks ago and just now got around to finishing it, but it published it as part of the entry for the day I started it. So, see below for the post about headphones.

universal health care is stupid.

When I was leading a discussion in class yesterday a student made the above remark. I sighed and climbed upon my soapbox to inform them that when we are having a discussion they are not allowed to make statements or arguments such as "X is dumb.", "Y is retarded.", or "Z is gay." because those statements do not lead us to any higher understanding. I instructed them that if they are going to give an opinion it needs to be backed up by something other than an insufficient adjective. The student then rephrased his sentence and said, "Universal health care is stupid because it increases your taxes." Hallelujah! By him finshing his argument I was able to then elaborate on that and present a complete picture of universal health care/higher taxes and therefore the students could then make an informed judgement on the issue. Getting them to think is so great. I am still working on the kids in the group that wrote this bullet point on their poster, "Saddam leads a country of oppression and is currently working with terrorist groups to destroy the west", ignoring the overall subjectivity of that statement, I asked the group if they saw any major flaw in what they wrote. "No." So, you don't think it is a little outdated? "Oh, well, that is just what was in the article we read so we wrote it on here." I then tried to communicate the importance of thinking beyond the words they read on the pages. It's only the beginning of October, maybe there is still hope.

Oh, and teaching is exhausting. Fun, and worth it, but seriously exhausting.