Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

(It's a trite title, I know, but I have that song stuck in my head. I have a Rosemary Clooney version that I really like...but that's beside the point...)

Galations 4:4-5
"But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons."

How amazing is it that we are adopted as sons? Verse seven goes on to say that we are no longer slaves, but sons and heirs through God. We are privileged, and cherished, children of the Father.

The pastor at my hometown church preached on this passage this morning, and it just really touched me. This Christmas is a special one for me; it's the only one I'll experience as an engaged person, and is the last one I'll celebrate as a single person. I'm busy this year (wedding stuff), worried this year (what's the future going to look like?), and sad this year (my brother couldn't come home, and my grandfather, the one still living, is seriously ill), but ultimately it all points me to God, and for that I am thankful. I am particularly aware of my own insufficiency, and of my constant need for his guidance, love, and strength. At the same time, I see and appreciate the many things He has blessed me with...a loving family, an unbelievably wonderful fiancé, and most importantly, the greatest blessing of all: fellowship with Himself. I have never been more blessed than I am right now.

My prayer is that this Christmas you will see Him in His beauty, no matter what situation you're in...and that you will love on your families, because you never know how much time you'll have with them on this earth.

My God's love cover you all...

Merry Christmas.

South Carolina Continued

Well, we visited downtown today!

Here's a church where supposedly Robert E. Lee visited a few times while he was in Charleston.

And here's a typical "Charleston house." Notice how the narrow side is facing the street, while what we would consider the "front" is facing south. They all face south. Something about the breeze off the ocean being good for your health or something. And none of them have windows in the back, to preserve the next house's privacy on their porch. Kind of interesting.

"Feed the birds, tuppence a bag..."

Here's a super-cool bridge that takes you over the Cooper River, which separates Charleston from Mount Pleasant. I normally get nervous when I'm on bridges, but this one didn't scare me. It's pretty sturdy, I guess.

Hey look! A pelican!

A nice sunset-on-the-dock view from Mount Pleasant. Just imagine a shrimp boat playing Jimmy Buffet in the background (no kidding, they really were), and the scene is complete.

Well that's all I have for this installment. Charleston's a pretty nice place, I suppose, if you have to leave the Lone Star State. More later!

More Adventures...

Well, here I am again from South Carolina, hanging out with my brother and my sis-in-law:

Yesterday we went all over the place, visiting the military base where my brother works, and the hospital where my sis-in-law works, et cetera. In the evening we went to this super cool Christmas lights festival, a 3-mile drive through a county park where they set up these great lights. The pictures don't begin to do it justice, since I'm terrible at taking night pictures.

Here's a little patriotic one--the stars actually were blinking on and off but the camera got them all with the slow shutter speed.

And this being South Carolina, they're still proud of their Civil War heritage.

This was my favorite one, even though it's not a picture...just a tree.

But yeah, it was extensive and super fun. I was wishing my parents could have seen it, since in my family historically we get very excited about Christmas lights, despite the fact that we never put any up ourselves.

Later, we went to eat pizza at a local joint (think One Guy's; it wasn't quite as good but it was kind of the same atmosphere and so on). We were having fun with the fact that we all have rings on now:

After that we went downtown to a little coffee/ice cream/hooka shop that is run by this Italian man. Dale and Erica wanted me to speak Italian to him, but unfortunately he wasn't there. The hooka smokers were there in droves, though. We had ice cream, sitting outside in December. Fortunately it just doesn't get that cold around here. I took a picture of one of the many gas lamps they've got downtown:

And that's pretty much it from yesterday. Here in a little bit we're going to go downtown again so we can see it in the day time. :)

And by the way, it is really weird around here. I have been looking and looking, and I have yet to see the South Carolina state flag flying anywhere. I saw a few American flags, but very few. I had to wait and wait and wait and finally: "There's one!!" And it was on a post office, so that doesn't even count. :( So apparently these people don't go for patriotism / state-ism quite the way we Texans do, but I guess I kind of knew that already. It's still weird to see, though.

The city is really twisty, with roads that obviously weren't planned snaking around every which way. And there are so many trees, I feel like I can't see anything. There are 2 rivers (not one, but two) so we drive over these big bridges occasionally. Whoa--bridge over a body of water. Foreign idea! Anyway, one bridge is a drawbridge, and I keep hoping that a boat will go under it while I'm here, but my brother says he has yet to see the drawbridge up, and he's been here for months. Apparently all the boats come in and out at roughly the same time, so if you're not there early in the morning or at night when they're coming in, you're out of luck. :(

Oh, and the people talk funny around here. Not super weird, but of course there's definitely a difference. I heard a car commercial yesterday that cracked me up. And, can you believe it, this whole city only has two country radio stations? I don't know how they survive. ;)

Okay, time to go explore again. I'll be back later...

South Carolina...

Well here I am in the lovely city of Charleston, South Carolina. Mostly all I've done is eat seafood, and boy howdy. It is GOOD.

Of course, we are near an ocean now. Mmm mmm mmm... bacon-wrapped shrimp. It's to die for. So are the huge scallops that melt in your mouth. The random plate of coleslaw (apparently coleslaw comes with everything around here): not so exciting. Could I have a salad? No? Okay, never mind...

Oh, and I am not a fan of sweet tea. Blech. If I wanted something that sweet, I'd order a Coke and pour about 5 packages of Sweet-N-Low in it.

This is all I have so far. Today was mostly a bunch of flying and an interminable layover in Dallas. So more adventures later! Good night!

Announcement!

Yes, it finally happened. Eric and I are now engaged. I am sooooooo excited!

And by the way, the ring you see in the picture was designed by Eric himself, and he got it custom made just for me. It is, of course, perfect.

It's rather late (er, 2 am), so I'm trying to go to bed (not that I'm going to get any sleep whatsoever, but it's a noble effort, I suppose). If you want my fiance's version of the story (I'm having lots of fun typing that word...hehe...), you can check out his blog here.

I'M GETTING MARRIED! YAY!

P.S. Eric's mom wrote us a poem. You can read it on his brother's blog here.

Would You Wear a Guillotine?

My job provides me with some of the most random conversations ever. Our mental patients are priceless because they'll blurt out some of the oddest things--sometimes funny, sometimes sad, sometimes just confusing.

Today I had one of those confusing moments. As I helped one young woman at the cash register, she pointed to the silver cross charms we sell and said, "What's this? A symbol of the crucifixion?"

"Yes," I said. "It's just a charm, not a necklace or anything. Just kind of a reminder."

She wrinkled her nose. "I don't know about you, but if I got executed I don't think I'd want people reminding themselves with little charms. Y'know what I mean? Like, if I got my head chopped off, it'd be kinda gross if people ran around wearing little guillotines."

At this point I was so caught off guard and baffled that I just gave my usual response to Random Confusing Mental Patient Statements: the straight face, the nod, and the noncommittal "Hmm."

Now I'm wishing that I had been quicker on my feet, because if she really thinks of the cross as just a macabre reminder of some guy's execution two thousand years ago, then she's pretty much missing out on the meaning of life! Hello! Why could I not open my mouth and say something?

But even now, I'm not sure exactly what I should have said. How do you explain the Gospel to a mental patient? It's hard enough for us to really get it even when we're not mentally handicapped...not because it's all that complicated, I guess, but just because we don't want to understand it. We don't want to think that we're not in control of our own lives.

So I don't know, maybe the mental patient thing wouldn't be as big of a factor as I think. Maybe I just need to learn how to speak up when something needs to be said.

Last Day!

Today is the last day of classes. For me, it's the last day of class in my last fall semester. Whoo-hoo!

Don't get me wrong, I love college, but it's very exciting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Of course, "last day of class" means the beginning of finals, but that's okay with me. I don't really worry that much about finals, and mine are pretty evenly spread out this year, so no big deal. I actually enjoy finals week a lot, since everyone's still around, but a lot of us (engineers being a major exception) have more time to goof off than we did during the semester. After finals, though, everyone goes home, and I'm stuck here just working. It's relaxing, I'm sure, but tragically boring.

I do have one really fun thing to do during the break, though. I'm flying to South Carolina next week to go see my brother and my sister-in-law. This is the first time I'll see my brother since he got married in May. Whew. It's been forever! I think I'm finally starting to get used to life without him, but it's still hard sometimes. This trip will therefore be a very welcome treat. Plus, I love travelling to new places. South Carolina may not sound very exotic, but my bro says things are definitely a bit weird over there. Before he went into the service and was stationed in the South (Alabama and now SC), I always imagined that Southerners were pretty similar to us Texans in most ways, with maybe a few slight variations in accent and dialect from region to region. We're all kinda similar, us non-Yankees, right? WRONG. From what my bro says, I ought to bring my passport to get down there! Even the food is totally different. He says he's going to make me try boiled peanuts (apparently a local favorite, but it sounds disgusting, doesn't it?), although we can stay away from the so-called "barbecue." Haha. There will be pics and posts for y'all when I get back, of course.

Well, I could keep rambling for a while, but whatever. A lot is going on outwardly in my life right now, but nothing particularly worth writing about. I've also been living in my head a lot, but none of that is particularly good posting material either. So I'm quitting while I'm ahead. Don't want to be late for my last Greek class, anyway...

:)

Advent

The Christmas season, for me, is/has been/will be absolutely amazing this year.

In the Bible study I've been teaching this fall, we've been going through the Old Testament, looking at how God was showing grace to His people through the old covenant. During our last session, we focused on the minor prophets and their Messianic prophecies. After being immersed in Old Testament writings, and looking, as it were, through the eyes of an ancient Jew, these advent prophecies stir my heart in a way I've never experienced before. Celebrating Christmas, and the birth of the promised Messiah, means more to me now than it ever has. My prayer for you this Christmas is that the Lord would stir your affections as well, as you contemplate just how amazing it is that our Savior, the Son of Man, humbled himself to put on flesh and live on the earth as one of us. How awesome is that???

Zecheriah 2:10-13
10 "Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion! For behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst," says the LORD. 11 "Many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and they shall become My people. And I will dwell in your midst. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you. 12 And the LORD will take possession of Judah as His inheritance in the Holy Land, and will again choose Jerusalem. 13 Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD, for He is aroused from His holy habitation!" NKJV