here I go ... !!

Well, in one minute I will officially began writing. I am participating in NaNoWriMo this month! The goal? To write a novel (50,000 words) in one month. So, I turn up my super awesome epic music, open my Open Office Writer ..... HERE I GO!!!!

Btw, my novel is called ''Don't Drink and Derive: a comical math mystery'' In the novel, two vastly different college girls set out on an adventure to Salt Lake City. One gal is a math geek, and is totally obsessed with the belief that you can take the derivative of anything. Which is, of course, much to the chagrin of her companion, who will have nothing to do with math but is seriously obsessed with the arts and music. While in Salt Lake, they get involved in a scandalous mystery and end up putting all their talents together to solve it. (oh, and if any of the readers of my blog happen to be NaNo writers as well, my user name over there is auburngal. Feel free to add me as a writing buddy!)

Shucks it's three minutes past! I have to get going! As a college friend of mine always says on his blog, ''Now excuse me, I have some writing to do .... ''

can you believe this?!

My family went to the store (Whole Foods!) the other day - to do some grocery shopping before the weekend. I was browsing through the produce isle, when something caught my eye:

White Asparagus! I took a double take. Yes, it was true, there on the display shelf thingy was white asparagus right next to the normal green asparagus. I looked below it, and saw a sign: ''White Asparagus! Grown underground in Peru with no sunlight. Rich in Vitamin A and C'' What?! Grown underground with no sunlight?! Seriously?! I was rather shocked and went to grab Dad to show him - making sure I wasn't seeing things. Indeed, I was not. Why? Who would have the 'brilliant' idea to grow asparagus underground with no sun? I still don't understand it. It seems very wrong to me - almost a sin. God made asparagus to grow outside WITH sun so the chlorophyll with the sun (or whatever - I'm not a science person) would make it GREEN. Who decided we needed to have white asparagus? Was someone really bored? Creative? Plain goofy? Ach, it just seems sooo wrong to me - and against the natural way that God designed it. Oh the people that like to mess with stuff - going and changing everything. *shakes head solemnly* But, I guess, these are changing times ... whoopee. (heavy sarcasm :P )

On the same underground note ... a good friend of mine sent this to me in an email. It's the story of a few Jewish families surviving underground for almost a year during the Holocaust. It's an amazing story of survival and relying on God for protection. Here's the link - enjoy. http://www.aish.com/jw/s/63053312.html

Make me Thy Fuel, Flame of God

I have been thinking of writing a poem lately, so I might have one up soon for y'all to read. In the meantime though, here is a wonderful poem by one of my shining heroes, Amy Carmichael. If you don't know her story, please look her up ... she is one of the most amazing women that I have ever read about. Enjoy!

From prayer that asks that I may be

Sheltered from winds that beat on Thee,

From fearing when I should aspire,

From faltering when I should climb higher

From silken self, O Captain, free

Thy soldier who would follow Thee.

From subtle love of softening things,

From easy choices, weakenings,

(Not thus are spirits fortified,

Not this way went the Crucified)

From all that dims Thy Calvary

O Lamb of God, deliver me.

Give me the love that leads the way,

The faith that nothing can dismay

The hope no disappointments tire,

The passion that will burn like fire;

Let me not sink to be a clod;

Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.

- Amy Wilson Carmichael -

You've got me feelin' so fly!

Exciting, exciting, I took my Calculus 1 midterm this morning!!! That means I am officially halfway done with Calculus 1. Whoot! That's cause for some celebration right there. Actually, I suppose I should wait to celebrate until I get my score back ... which I'm hoping will be next Friday. I can forsee a serious lesson in patience coming up .... :P

On the side, thanks for voting on my little poll - the 8 of you that did! (9 actually voted, but I was one of the 9 haha) Turns out, almost half of the people like winter the best! Shock of all shock to me! Well, I guess if you live in - like - FLORIDA or TEXAS then winter might not be so bad. ;) But for me, a Dakota gal, the winters are horrible. You don't think I'm serious? Try scraping a 1/2 inch thick layer of ice of your windshield, when it's -20 degrees with a -30 degree wind chill. I'm not joking! It gets cold there! Thank goodness for tea, thick socks, parkas and the wood-burning stove.

So, what else is new in my crazy life? Not much else -- oh! I have been wanting to read the Chronicles of Narnia for the THE longest time, but Mom hasn't let me - until now! Of course though, like any good Mom, there is one condition. That being, I must read all the books on a list of her choosing before I can read Narnia. I'm looking forward to the challenge, but I fear it will be a 1,000 book list with titles such as War and Peace. Not exactly my cup of tea, but we shall see. I just hope the prize at the end will be worth it.

On a final note, with respect to the title ---- wait, with respect to the title ... does that mean I take the derivative of the title somehow? can you find the derivative of a word? hmmm, I'll have to think about that one ---- anyways, the title is a song by TobyMac called ''Feelin' So Fly''. If you check out the lyrics they are pretty amazing, and the song is high-energy too! I love the message ... God's love is SO amazing - and I feel SO blessed that He loves me and I can't help but glorify Him! God and His love - I just have to praise Him - He's got me feelin' so fly! So enjoy the song and God bless y'all!

''Feelin' So Fly'' by TobyMac

a lesson in grafting

We went to look for some property south of Wenatchee Washington ... more on that another day. On the property adjacent of the one we were looking at, they were doing something that is rather common in these parts: grafting. When the original fruit tree gets too old to bear fruit, you could just pull the whole thing out and plant a whole new plant. What is done instead, is the old tree is cut down and new shoots are stuck into the old stump; after awhile the new shoots grow into the old stump, and you can't even tell that they were apart at one time!

This is how it is when we get saved! Isn't that cool? God used a TON of analogies in Scripture - and grafting-in is one of them. When we are un-saved, living in sin, it's terrible! Then God shows us what His Son did, for us, and we repent and turn to Him. Our old-self is then cut down, and God puts His shoots in us - to grow and produce fruit! (as in, the Fruit of the Spirit) What should happen is, God should totally consume our lives, that others can't even tell that we were once a part of this awful sinning world. Unfortunately, there is no way to become perfect here on this earth, yet we still press toward the goal of following His commands; producing His fruit that others might see that we are His children.

There is also another analogy for grafting in - when we get saved, we become a member of God's family. We are no longer gentiles, outsiders, goyim. We are His children!!! Forever! To go and live with Him in Heaven as part of His family. Don't we serve the most amazing and wonderful God?! Sometimes I wonder why on earth He cares that much about me ... it's the greatest gift that I could ever get.

(P.S. in the photo, they paint the stump white ... don't ask me why, but that's what that is in case you were wondering.)

pictures, a poll, and pi

Ach, alliteration ... anyways!

Here are some photos I have taken on our trip so far. There aren't a whole lot there, but enjoy them! :)

http://picasaweb.google.com/mourning2dancing/NatureAndOtherThings?feat=directlink

Oh, and, I discovered that I can put polls up on my blog! Amazing, right! (and I'm only a Computer Science major :P ) Anyways, if you have an extra couple seconds, vote on the poll if you feel like it. :)

Question of the day! - "What is Pi?"
A mathematician: "Pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter."
A computer programmer: "Pi is 3.141592653589 in double precision."
A physicist: "Pi is 3.14159 plus or minus 0.000005."
An engineer: "Pi is about 22/7."
A nutritionist: "Pie is a healthy and delicious dessert!"

cue the party music!

Happy Birthday to you ...
Happy Birthday to you ...
Happy Birthday dear Ezzy ...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!

WHOOT! My little brother Ezra (affectionately called Ezzy) turns 12 this fine day! Here's to hoping and praying he has a spendiferous year, and that God keeps him safe in all that he does. :D (below is a picture of my wonderful little brother and I - next to the blueberry fields of Sequim Washington)

Funny story - so I run over and wish him a happy birthday this morning. I kind of snuck up on him so it would be a surprise you know. I pat him on the back, give him a hug and wish him the best. It kind of scared him - so he says ''ooooh that was unexpected!'' Now, you must know that his favorite line of all time is ''expect the unexpected'', he says it all the time. So, of course, my natural response is ''expect the unexpected Ezzy!''. Then he goes ''Well, if I'm supposed to expect the unexpected, and that was unexpected, then it really was expected. But what if you are expecting the unexpected, but then something that's expected happens, is that unexpected then? So what's unexpected is expected, and what's expected is unexpected ... wait, does that mean then, that whatever is expected is expected and whatever is unexpected is unexpected?'' .............................................................................. Needless to say, I was rather lost. Hehe - anyways - enjoy the photo. ;)