A piano lesson with my good friend Kate

Here are a few highlights from yesterday:

How fun is my life?

George Bites the Dust....

Literally:

But, don't worry.

He wants you to know--

He is O-kay.

Love Imparts Life

Within the past few short months I have been privileged to get to know some mighty cool people in the context of a "Life Group". I would be the first to run from labels that might lend themselves toward cliche, but in this case, the shoe fits: Being a part of a group of people who are seeking to love and honor God with their lives and who understand the necessity to love and nourish each other truly does impart life. (I have to admit, I stole the phrase "Love Imparts Life" from another member of our group, but I can't seem to get around how true it is and hence, here you have it....)

This past weekend a portion of us took some time to get away--to laze around in a cabin in the woods, to get to know each other, to laugh, to play, to party, to eat, to pray, to seek God. This is how we did it:

First things first. Mike noticed the fireplace almost immediately upon our arrival on a rainy Saturday afternoon and headed outside for some firewood. He came back in and promptly dropped a log on my foot. (I was only trying to help him....)

After getting our things settled, we settled in for some games. In the Manner of the Adverb was round one, a delightful variation on charades where a person is taken out of the room. The others decide on an adverb. The person comes back, picks two actors, tells them what the scenario is, and has to guess the adverb based on how they are acting. Here are Roxanne and I, cluelessly getting ready for the prom. (R: "Is this how I should wear this dress?" L: "I don't know!", etc.) This activity was followed by Four on the Couch. Due to a game variation that turned out to be a mistake, I think we

ended up re-writing the name: Four Hours on the Couch.

We were ready to be done and have some dinner. Dinner was good. But it was only the beginning.

What happened next was a Halloween dance party unlike any other.

Frankenberry was there, winning in my mind the best costume. It was pretty hilarious to think that it was really just Barb inside of that large pink head (and had I been a child I think I would have been traumatized...)

The rest of us ladies were a variation of winged creatures, royalty, and popular-culture-icons.

The boys (the majority anyway) relied on facepaint and their dance moves to justify their presence at the party. They were pretty amusing, so we let them stay (despite the fact that they sweated their facepaint all over the place...)

We even wanted to be a little bit like them. (Yes, believe it or not, this is Amy and I, grooving out...)

(We really just relied on our beauty to justify our presence, and in the end, it was Matthew who wanted to be like us....)

We finished off the evening in pajamas and games, until one by one we were down for the count on a variety of beds, floorspace, futons, and couches, happily worn out from our day of luxurious fun.

The next morning arrived quickly (despite the extra hour we got to sleep...) and the boys got to business, making us a delectable breakfast...

We were a little worried when they came down to make the coffee in their sleeping bags and proceeded to rough-house right there in the kitchen....

...but since I got my coffee perfectly prepared by coffee-master Matthew, I will only say "I guess boys will be boys" and not spoil their fun. (It is good for the soul to have silly boys around anyway....)

Mike even took time away from his egg-making duties to make us another fire. I stayed well away from him this time--a log on the foot is far better than a hatchet on the foot, and I wasn't taking any chances.

The rest of our morning was spent in our own little corners (both outside and in) in prayer and study. We reconvened to discuss what we had learned, henceforward learning more about God and about each other. This is a piece of what I came away with: God's love endures forever, and in that love He chose us. He desires to lavish that love on us, and we can rest in the confidence that because of His love we can come to Him with any thing. It is also why we can love Him and each other without fear--His love is first, and our love is a response. He can be trusted in all things, even a thing as vulnerable as love. (A thing that I fail at pretty consistently...)


Such hearty discussion needs to be followed with hearty food and exercise, so we made some lunch and enjoyed each other's company as we ate. Then we packed up our things, some people (sadly) departed, and the remainder of us hit the road for a hike through the woods. It was a beautiful day. It was a lovely walk. It was good to be together, made bittersweet by the realization that it was soon to be over.

In the end, it was a weekend of remembering what living life is about: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang everything.

What in the...?

This morning I was walking to school, reflecting on the goodness of God, somewhat lost in my own little world. Gradually I became aware of an odd sound, like a rush of hot air, just above my left shoulder. "What in the...?" I thought. "Fire-breathing dragon?" I thought. I cautiously turned my head over and up to find, hovering just above and to the left of me, a... (wait for it...)...

HOT AIR BALLOON.

I took a picture with my phone, because it is not everyday that there is a hot air balloon hovering just above and to the left of you. Unfortunately, I do not really know how to use my phone, and so I accidentally erased it. It was a great picture though, all blue sky and hot air balloon. By the time I realized the fate of the picture it was a bit too late--I'd lost my angle--but I snapped this one through the trees:

It was a fun way to start a Monday.

(Stay tuned here, when I get a few more seconds I'll write a bit about my fun weekend get-away....First I have to get caught up on life....)

Let the Festivities Begin

Yes, it is that time of year. Bring on the fun.For the first time in I don't even know how long, I stuck my hand inside of a slimy pumpkin and pulled out of all of its guts. It was not pretty, but I was not alone.
I was at the home of Darrin, Linda, and Layla Thornton, the gracious hosts of a department pumpkin carving fest.
This is how it went down:

First, I took an ordinary pumpkin.

Then, I let Mr. Docker draw on it.

(Ok, I drew on it too, but even the drawing I did had been mapped out by him on the back of a piece of garbage. The man is an artistic genius.)

Then I took a knife and started hacking. It was great fun.

Soon enough I ended up with this guy:

We decided his nose has character.

We introduced him to the rest of the gang.

Then, we sat around eating and talking until it was dark enough outside for our Pumpkin Parade. The neighborhood is still talking about it.

(There's my guy, leading the way. So proud of him...)

At the end of a good time, I took him home and placed him outside of my door. I will sleep well tonight, knowing he is out there, protecting me.

(I think I will call him George.)

Why wouldn't I?

A road trip on a Monday in the middle of a full semester is typically not a good idea. When your beloved boy and his beloved girl are somewhere in the state, however, you make it happen.

Hence I found myself taking a lovely drive this week to meet them for lunch. We ate, we talked, we reveled in each other's presence, we were blinded by the sun. Then we wiped a tear and parted ways.

At times the fullness of life is overwhelming.

(My cup runneth over...)

Lauren Lisa and Geoff Get Together and Hash Out Life: The Fall Installment

Lisa, Geoff, and Frankie arrived on Friday night for our annual fall get-together (a spin-off of our annual January get-together known as "The First Weekend in January Lauren, Lisa, and Geoff Get Together and Hash Out Life").

The key components to these weekends are: 1) Food, 2) Drink and 3) Talk. Everything else is supplementary.

We began our togethering with a brilliant bottle of wine, and within five minutes of their arrival had jumped into conversation the depths of which can not be re-constructed here. Eventually we made our way to bed.

The next morning we woke ourselves up with coffee and my special multi-grain pancakes with mixed berry compote. We indulged in the laziness of a morning together, but eventually got ourselves cleaned up and ready for public consumption. We ventured downtown for lunch and a walk, including our annual picture on the steps of old main.

When we had had enough sunshine, we dropped Geoff off to watch football while Lisa and I did a bit of Halloween shopping. We returned weary and worn and ready for our margarita master to go to work. Go to work he did, and happy he made us.

We then leisurely began our evening of food preparation (though in a heightened state of banging-around thanks to the power of the tequila we had ingested--we don't call him the margarita master for nothin'...)

I took on the orange and balsamic glazed chicken while Geoff commandeered the mushroom risotto.

By the end of our efforts, even Frankie wanted in on the action.

We merrily ate with expressions of awe and rapture, while consuming another bottle of deliciousness. We are spoiled.

The culminating event of the evening, however, was the dessert to end all desserts. We first encountered this cake at a restaurant in Queens during our January gathering earlier this year, and scoured the internet to find the recipe. Involving puree of dates (which sounds questionable but makes for an intriguing texture and taste) and a sauce that is beyond this world, this cake has been dubbed "Little Baby Jesus Cake" by the restaurant we found it in due to an expression one might make when taking one's first bite. I cannot bring myself to be so glib, so I simply refer to it as THE CAKE. THE CAKE was good.

We finished off our weekend with church on Sunday morning, lunch, and fitting in all of the topics of conversation we hadn't had time for. We luxuriated in the luxuriousness of being together. Then, when we couldn't put it off any longer, we sadly packed the car and said our good-byes.

Happily, there is not much distance between late October and the first weekend in January!