Lent

I've had a few people ask me what I'm giving up for Lent.

As I understand it, lent is a time of preparation. A time for prayer, penitence, almsgiving, and self-denial. It can also be a time when those who have separated from the church can rejoin the community. I was sad to have to miss Ash Wednesday services this year because I had to teach that night... I love seeing the alter stripped and bare and then full of life and decorated again on Easter Sunday. This is symbolic of the season of lent, stripping the non-essential and unimportant. By doing this, we are able to focus on the bare - what is important.

Stripping the alter is just the beginning. Lent is a personal journey - and in that journey, we should look both inward and outward. We take reflection on our lives, what is important to us, and how we bring Him glory. The outside is like the alter. We strip the non-essential, unimportant. For many, myself included, that includes a lot of what we think makes us who we are. Reality proves that very untrue. Lent is a time to confess that our clothes, cars, decorative finery, jewelery, etc... is not who we are. Those things do not define us. We are but dust, standing before the Lord.

This year, I am on a journey towards simplicity and contentment, and that means learning to live without things that I've ranked as 'important.' I'm not sure what that means right now, but this year, I'm not simply 'giving up' something, I'm taking this time to evaluate what is truly important. I'm using this time as a true journey. One that I hope I can look back on and smile, knowing that it somehow changed me - changed my perspective.

My new favorite reference book

I got this AWESOME book from Thomas Nelson a couple weeks ago and cannot put it down! I realize this is self-proclaimed nerdom since it's a reference book, but it is sooo good! It should be noted that I'm a complete Bible reading novice though - so everything in this book is helpful to me. There is an overview in the beginning of the book and then it is divided into 'chapters' by the Books. This arrived in the mail as I was finishing Job as part of my one-year chronological Bible reading plan, so I immediately read the chapter about Job. I couldn't have imagined a more helpful book. Since I am reading chronologically, I have a lot of questions about the timeline of things. My Bible is an NIV study Bible and I LOVE that it has some commentary at the bottom of the pages, but that still leaves a lot to figure out for Bible-dummy me and I love, love, love how this book takes over and pulls things together.

I'd previously been reading What the Bible is All About by Henrietta Mears and I thought THAT was my ticket but this book is even better! It's also more up-to-date in terms of things recent scholars have said, etc... so it's nice to read with some modern snippets.

Not all chapters have maps included, but there are all sorts of charts and timelines - including lineages! I have learned even more with this book and I think anyone who has a true interest in studying the Bible would enjoy it.

In which a snowman tries to eat her...

We are finally back home after a loooooong drive...

We only got an inch or so of snow in VA this weekend, but back home got about 6" - we started to see snow about 40 miles outside of the city.

My girl loves snow so you can imagine how psyched she was to find several inches still on the ground. Unfortunately for her, I didn't think to put her booties on since we were out for such a short time, but when we got inside I noticed some blood on her paw and then realized that all four of her paws were inflamed and bleeding. I feel horrible... poor Bells.

The neighbors made a really cute little snowman, but Nola wouldn't get within about 3 feet of it. She was convinced it would eat her whole.

Hope everyone had a fabulous Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We stopped by the Bass Pro Shop today because Chandler needed something 'manly' to do...
Nola met what she thought might be her one and only.

... but it didn't quite work out. Poor Belle. Don't worry, her heart wasn't broken, but Chan's might have been. I think the only reason he wanted to go was to see the fish...

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Tulip's Surprise!

We were driving through the neighborhood and I referenced a house near ours that had the same siding color and said, "hey, that's what our siding will look like, is that okay?" He said, "you mean like that?!," and pointed to our house! SO cool! We had no idea... The guys were working today and they said they would be working tomorrow too. On Valentine's day?! They should finish the outside tomorrow and after that, the exterior won't change again until it's time to landscape - which could possibly only be six to seven weeks out! Very exciting!

Tulip

Pink

In case you missed the Grammy's this year, I feel obligated to share with you, the most amazing performance - ever! (The embedding feature was disabled but it's a super high quality version so I don't mind too much.) Pink's five minute, twelve second performance was awesome! It gave me chills. I don't know if it was the raw words she spoke that made me sad for her loneliness or the extreme display of vulnerability - but she rocked it out! If you're my Facebook friend you would have seen my status update as she was performing that said, "oh my! pink is naked!" ...and honestly, it wasn't until somewhere in the second minute that it occurred to me just how amazing the performance was. I loved how, in her extreme vulnerability, she made such an impression on everyone watching. It was equally amazing to see the entire audience study her every move during her time on stage. She clearly knocked it out of the park.

What did you think? Moved? Offended? I loved it - obviously - but I could see it going the other way as well for some.