Mind Control

So I was writing my friend Brent, in response to his blog titled, "Are you offline" at: http://www.pleadthecause.org/v2/index.php?c=home&type=menu&section=21~blog. As I continued the thought it seemed like it might an interesting topic to post on here and see if you people have any thoughts on the subject.

"... read your blog on technology and the web vs time in his presence. I think you're right on. I set up imeem (internet playlists) to play music every morning when I do my devotions, and it's tempting to log on to facebook, or to check emails before seeking the Lord. But I've disciplined myself to push my desires aside so I'm able to focus. But then find that after I've spent my time with the Lord, I can almost get the idea that, now I can spend the rest of my day however I want (web, tv, movies) because I've already spent time w/ Jesus. I constantly need to remind myself that I walk with him, throughout my whole day and that there's so much more to be had in relationship with him. Not to short change myself by cutting off the communication after that short time in the morning.

BUT... I also had some thoughts on the subject in a different light, sorry if this isn't interesting to you and I'm going on, but I thought it was.

I recently read an article on "walk throughs" of video games. There was a video game producer who was encouraging players to not use walk throughs (an online guide giving step by step instructions for how to beat the game, contributed to by many different users with helpful tips and tricks) to cheat their way through the game. He made the game difficult on purpose but not impossible so people would have to work through the puzzle. BUT w/ online walk through postings, his game was cracked with in a couple days of it being released because thousands of users from all over the world contributed. Instead of one mind taking months to figure out this puzzle, thousands of minds working together solved it in days.

Also, yesterday a film casting director that I follow on twitter, who has over a thousand followers, sent out a message saying, "I can't remember, who do I know in New Jersey? Help me tweeples." Within minutes she had her answer.

With this connectedness of minds, I can totally see how learning and knowledge will accelerate. And this is just the beginning. As time goes on it will only get faster, multiplying itself. Impossible puzzles in science and technology may be solved faster and faster. Kind of a crazy thought as to where this could all lead."

It's been a whole month...

It's been a while.
Things have been busy, yet uneventful. Does that make sense? Still good (I can't tell you how much I love consistency and routine), just....uneventful. I'm teaching ballet now. That's new and fun and exciting. It has woken up a plethora of passions that were once asleep, and I'm having a blast rediscovering them all. As riveting as a life update would be, (and by riveting I mean boring) that is not the purpose of this post.

I was spending some precious time with Jesus this morning, and I felt like I was supposed to share my journal entry.

Matthew 8:25-26
Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!" But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.

I have to admit that I can't count how many times I have felt engulfed by the waves these past few weeks. It's hard to understand the why behind so many of the things I walk through, and it's even harder to to continue to trust despite the lack of that seemingly necessary knowledge. But this morning, I refuse to be one of little faith. I read how You healed lepers and servants on their deathbed. How You cast out a legion of demons to help one little man....so why is it so hard for me to believe You can do that sort of thing in my own life?

If the same power that raised You from the dead really does live inside of me, then why do I choose to live like it doesn't? I can believe for the miraculous in my life. But even better, I can see the miraculous happen in my life.

Jesus, I choose to believe You are who You say You are. Today, I take my eyes of these waves called circumstance and know that with one word from Your mouth it's over and You win. I believe.

So there it is. Raw, straight from the pages of my journal and my life.

Back to the routine!

Spontaneity

I love this word.
I love it even more when we do it.
You know, be spontaneous.

For two weeks Eric and I decided to not watch TV.
It's been really cool, but that's another blog...

Anyway, I don't go in to work until 1 on Wednesdays.
I was not looking forward to being home with nothing to do until 1.
Eric, knowing this and being the sweetheart that he is,
decided he would take the morning off to keep me company.
We decided to drive to Sisters, Bruno and all.
We had coffee in front of the fire at Sisters' Coffee House,
read our Bibles,
and took Bruno for a little walk.
It was a lovely morning.

Here's Bruno in the car. Very curious about the camera....

Here's me!

For whatever reason, Bruno wanted to be in the drivers seat.
The beautiful view.

Here we are reading our Bibles. Well Eric was at least!

Going for our walk.

The drive home. And yes, Eric is wearing a pair of my sunglasses. He forgot his, and it was very sunny.

Valentine's Day

• Breakfast at our favorite place
• Eric bought me these boots I've been wanting for a while (the greatest gift ever - shoes!)
  
• A quiet afternoon, just the two of us
  
• Eric surprised me with this:

A wonderful dinner cooked then eaten by candlelight.

He is good. He is very good.

We heart Sushi

I got these sushi rollers
(I'm positive that's not the technical term)
as a Christmas gift for Eric.
The other night he put them to good use.
Who knew my husband could make sushi?

He's so handsome and so talented!

Eric's Birthday Surprise

As most of you know, my amazing husband had a birthday.
I decided, since he always surprises me,
to plan a little surprise of my own.

One of Eric's favorite bands/musician is Jon Foreman.
Post Switchfoot Jon Foreman to be precise.
Well it just so happened that he was going to be in Portland
just a few days after Eric's birthday!
The scheming began...

I arranged with Eric's boss to give him half the day off.
We left work Wednesday afternoon, and he was clueless the whole time.
After a few hours we pull up to this lovely place:

Hotel Modera
I got us a screamin deal!

After we got situated, I took Eric to this sushi place he really likes called
Dragonfish Asian Cafe'.
We had super yummy sushi - Eric's favorite.

Then right after dinner I surprised him with tickets to see none other than Jon Foreman himself.

He's doing this new project called Fiction Family. A couple of members of Nicklecreek are apart of it as well. It was such an amazing show. This is the last part of one of my favorite songs he does.

This was when the entire crowd broke into "Hey Jude"
so that the band would come back out for the encore.
One of my all time favorite concert moments ever.

Here we are right after the show. Woo!

Our hotel had these cool fire pits in the courtyard.

Here we are enjoying them.

The next day we had breakfast at Cafe Bijou, coffee at Stumptown, we spent our Christmas gift cards at Urban Outfitters, read books at Powell's, and then headed home.
Truly, we enjoyed the Portland experience to the fullest.

Happy Birthday to Eric. The big 26.

Bruno hates Baths

Here is the first official bath.
Clearly this happened weeks ago, otherwise we would have a very stinky puppy!
He hated every second of it.