Nashville

Here I am... Nashville. It has a certain moist smell most of the times I have been here. It is a city full of roads that I haven't begun to understand despite my multiple visits here. The houses are beautiful with brick and pillars. The people almost all talk slow and add extra syllables. "Hill" comes out more like "Hee-yull". I can do a pretty good Nashville now. I haven't met any famous musicians...or at least anyone that I knew was famous. But maybe famous people like to meet people that don't know who they are. It means that they get to be normal, if only for a few minutes. Who knows...

So, it's been a while...

I have been terribly lax in posting this Christmas. I suppose that part of the reason is that I haven't been doing much of note. I have had snowball fights, lime juice fights, made funny hand signals with my sister, laughed until my head hurt, played Settlers of Catan lots and lots, read some Agatha Christie mysteries, had coffee/lunch/breakfast with people, laughed, gone walking by myself, played with my dog, cleaned my room (it kept getting messy), visited my grandparents, sang hymns, laughed, and laughed, and laughed. I have had a fabulous time.

Pictures... Pictures... and More...

So, I have all these pictures on my camera that I never put up because I forgot about them. Here are a select few. =)

Happy New Year!

I like Christmas. New Years is okay. It is a nice time for reflecting on what one has done. Although perhaps it ought to be done more... or less. Why do we decide that the change in the little numbers that we write at the top of letters or journals decide when we reflect, but "time and chance happen to us all".

Whatever the case, I looked through my old journals to discover the entries of January 1st. I have journals all the way back to when I was 7 years old. I find that there is a common thread, that weaves through them all, that is uncertainty. There is a great unknown out there, and I don't suppose that that will ever change.

I was talking with a friend as we contemplated our individual uncertainties and despite the fact that we dislike them, we also both knew that a life where we knew everything ahead of time would be rather boring. It is really more fun this way!

Oh the Places We Go!

On my way home I got to spend a day in Munich, Germany where I visited this famous castle. The Neuschwanstein Castle was gorgeous--I saw it covered in snow, unlike this picture. The whole place was "just like a fairy tale"... well, except that it was freezing and wet. But we all managed through rather happily I think.

I'm back!!!

I am back in the States now for a few weeks. I have the foggy mind of someone experiencing jet-lag. But it is actually not too bad. Thanks for all your prayers and support... Merry Christmas!

It is December!!

A Child of the Snows

There is heard a hymn when the panes are dim,
And never before or again,
When the nights are strong with a darkness long,
And the dark is alive with rain.

Never we know but in sleet and in snow,
The place where the great fires are,
That the midst of the earth is a raging mirth
And the heart of the earth a star.

And at night we win to the ancient inn
Where the child in the frost is furled,
We follow the feet where all souls meet
At the inn at the end of the world.

The gods lie dead where the leaves lie red,
For the flame of the sun is flown,
The gods lie cold where the leaves lie gold,
And a Child comes forth alone.

- G.K. Chesterton

An explanation...

Okay, so I got a comment and several other e-mails and chats about the Indian Mystery Dinner picture. I thought people knew about mystery dinners and such, but I guess not. It is a party of sorts where each person is given a part. They are all suspects in a crime...this one happened to be murder. The man on the couch is 3 parts pillow, 4 parts curtains and sheets, and 1 part basketball. This mystery also happened to take place on a British Plantation in India in 1846. Each character was given various things to reveal and conceal throughout dinner and all were trying to figure out who committed the crime. At the end each character guessed. We dressed up and ate Indian food and had a very very good time.

We had an Indian Mystery Dinner!!!

Words are not enough...

Someone Else's Rug

A Puritan Poem and Prayer

Lord of Immortality,
Before whom angels bow and archangels veil their faces,
enable me to serve thee with reverence and godly fear.
Thou who art Spirit and requirest truth in the inward parts,
help me to worship thee in spirit and in truth.
Thou who art righteous,
let me not harbour sin in my heart,
or indulge a worldly temper,
or seek satisfaction in things that perish.
I hasten towards an hour
when earthly pursuits and possessions will appear vain,
when it will be indifferent whether I have been
rich or poor,
successful or disappointed,
admired or despised.

But it will be of eternal moment that I have
mourned for sin,
hungered and thirsted after righteousness,
loved the Lord Jesus in sincerity,
gloried in his cross.
May these objects engross my chief solicitude!
Produce in me those principles and dispositions
that make thy service perfect freedom.
Expel from my mind all sinful fear and shame,
so that with firmness and courage I may
confess the Redeemer before men,
go forth with him bearing his reproach,
be zealous with his knowledge,
be filled with his wisdom,
walk with his circumspection,
ask counsel of him in all things,
repair to the Scriptures for his orders,
stay my mind on his peace,
knowing that nothing can befall me
without his permission, appointment
and administration.

Taken from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions

Betch you ain't never see this at a picnic!

Pomegranate Fun!

Sorry Letter

Imagine the following in alternating purple pink and orange pen.

Dear M. C----

Yesterday when you sent me to the office I didn't went to get the greenslip because I got one yesterday, but later when you told me I went, until now I didn't believe that Kurdish speech that said "lie's string is short". So I want to say that I am so sorry and I hope you forgive me.

Your student
----- ------

A quote that touched a nerve...

What are the lines for, exactly?

There is a particular road, a fairly main one, that has been recently decorated with its very own street lines. These gave me hope that there would soon be more organization on said road and perhaps more predictability in the driving patterns there. However, instead I followed a car for some distance yesterday morning up that hill and instead of passing it, I merely followed and laughed. This particular driver seemed to think that instead of driving between the lines, one was supposed to drive so that the line went directly down the middle of one's car, effectively taking his half "out of the middle" of the road. Other drivers completely disregard the lines as if they don't exist. I guess I always thought that people naturally drive within boundaries, but it must be something I learned through experience, or part of the way my culture thinks. Order is good, we say. God is a God of order. We like order. But these people don't always think that way.

More on my rug..

I think from Mr. Jesch's description, my rug looks like it is machine made... all those knots look really similar to me. Plus there is that nagging thought (although incorrect) that no one on the planet could have the patience to make a rug that is roughly 15 ft by 10 ft.

My Sewing Project

I thought I would show my progress on my most recent hobby. I am still missing a few colors that are being brought over from the states soon. But it is a relaxing thing and everything is put in order. It is a pleasant task since so much of life here is in disorder or "out of order".

من فه رش (My rug)