The Mischievous Birds

In the past month 2 birds have decided to make a new home on my apartment welcome mat. I didn't mind at first, it's outside, why shouldn't the birds have a new spot to live? But soon, they began playing tricks on my roommate and I. As I walk up the stairs to my apartment door I can't see my welcome mat. Just when I don't expect it, the birds have a habit of flapping their wings loudly and then flying at me while I'm mid stair. They swoop low right above my head before landing on the edge of the a/c unit. While I have come to expect it now, there is still something unsettling at suddenly having 2 birds flapping and flying directly at you narrowly missing your head.

But, the birds have crossed a line. As Amy (my roommate) was walking up the stairs she heard the birds cooing (or whatever you call the sounds the birds make). She stopped hoping they would fly to their perch on the a/c unit and she could walk up in peace. Sure enough, at the sound of her feet they came flapping and flying and landing on the a/c unit. She watched the birds a second when she noticed that one of them had turned around, with it's butt directly over her head. Amy quickly noticed that the bird looked like it was about to relieve itself and hurriedly rushed up the stairs. Her instincts were right and she barely missed the bird poop falling from the a/c unit.

Now that's just plain mean birds! Maybe they are telling us we need bird feeders...

Rocking My World

If any of you all have been around me these past 8 weeks, you have heard me complain about my Hebrew Exegesis of Psalms class. The professor requires more work than i have ever had in a class--6 mini exegetical papers (each using 6ish sources) and 1 15-18 exegetical paper (requiring 20 sources)--all in 10 weeks, plus a midterm and several translations. I have spent more time in the library this quarter than I think I have spent there the rest of my Fuller career combined. And I am hardly seen without a Psalm commentary or the Hebrew Lexicon dictionary in hand. One classmate told me today that he was sure that I'd be carrying my Hebrew BDB with me whenever I moved to next, because of the deep habit I have formed this quarter. All this for a class I'm taking pass/fail...

But, as I have been immersed in the book of Psalms, digging more deeply into Scripture than I have ever dug before...slowly my world is being rocked. I love this book! The sheer, raw emotions expressed by the Psalmists are incredible. Anger. Doubt. Devastating Sadness. Huge questions. Confusion. It is in these deep emotions that the Psalmists meet God.

My new favorite psalm is 106, a historical psalm. It retells the stories of the Torah (first 5 books of the Bible) and confesses the common theme of the sin of forgetfulness by the Israelites. Each time things got hard or confusing the Israelites forgot God--but in the end God saved them despite their sin. As I think about the future and all the many questions that lie in front of me--I confess that I, too, forget God. I forget God's faithfulness and look other places for guidance. I see myself in this psalm. All I can do right now is agree with the confession of this psalm and cling to the praise offered up at the end in verse 48, "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting...Praise the Lord."

A Brief Update

My friends have been constantly reminding me that my blog hasn't been updated in quite some time, so here's an overview.

First, I am now a quarter of a century old. We waited until the weekend after my birthday to have the big party - we went to the beach for a bonfire/cookout. You'll have to wait and see pictures though, because I don't have them on my computer yet. Or if you don't want to wait you can check out Sophie's blog (sophiemarian.blogspot.com) because she already has a few pictures up (it's the post titled "Happy Birthday Pocket").

On my actual birthday though, I went with my girls to Bodega (a wonderful wine bar in Pasadena) for drinks and dinner. Here are a few pictures from that evening you might enjoy.




And I have also been reminded by my friends that I promised to post more pictures from the weekend Robin and her daughter Alyssa were here, so here are a few more pictures for your enjoyment.






The main reason I haven't been diligent about posting on my blog is the sheer amount of school work I have - I have 11 assignments left and then I'm done. I can't wait to graduate.

So, for now I'm going to list the things I've been doing (and I would promise to give more details later, but it make be awhile before that happens)
- I'm learning a lot at my church internship at San Marino Community Church
- we've been having lots of parties!!! My birthday party, an engagement party for Steve and Christina. And upcoming parties includes Christina's bachelorette party, a going away party for Sophie, Megan's 30th birthday party (May has literally been filled with parties!)
- I am officially going to become a California resident once I navigate my way through all the DMV paperwork
- did I mention the school work? I'm taking Exegesis with Psalms with one of the hardest professors ever (and one of the best), two preaching practicums with Dr. Shuster, and a church history IDL (distance learning class).
- I watched Season 3 of Grey's Anatomy in it's entirety when I was so tired from doing school work that I just needed a break

That's the brief update so I could get my friends to stop pestering me about not having an update.