Hint Hint

Have you ever been doing a Bible study or devotion when God singles you out and let's you know this message is for you?  Sometimes it's awesome and exciting; his word can speak right to my heart at any moment.  Today it hit me below my heart right in the gut.  Is it bad news?  Hardly.  It's more like a challenge and a reality check.

Let me take you back a bit.  I decided to go to Georgia Tech for undergraduate studies for 2 reasons.  First they had an incredible variety of study abroad programs.  I had my eyes on international living even in high school and would go to any school with the best opportunities.  Second I could go to the institute of technology I grew up wanting to attend and earn my good grades by writing papers instead of crunching numbers.  Their international affairs program gave me the opportunity to research topics I was interested in and write for days about why they were important.  On at least two occasions I had to end presentations before I had completed them because class periods weren't quite long enough (what topics, you ask?  Just war theory and how it applied to the war in Iraq / Mexican drug cartels implementing terrorist techniques and its implications for U.S. national security~ would you believe a young blond from the south could get crazy passionate about such things?).  All this is to say that I have had a thing for travel and writing for quite some time.

As many of you are aware, my travel bug has been satiated a great deal in the last year.  The writing has been a constant up and down.  Composing blog entries for me is fun but it never fully satisfies.  Dorky as I am, I had a second blog for a time dedicated to political research and writings.  It was mostly for me to get thoughts on paper and out of my head, but I found public publishing to be problematic in personal relationships.  You see as much as I love current issues and ethics, I really dislike (verging on the "h" word) talking about it with friends.  Typically it produces negative results~relationships strained over something that is not intrinsic to a friendship.  As enjoyable as those papers were to write, I couldn't share them openly.

I moved on to another outlet~book reviews on facebook.  I consider myself fairly open-minded when reading novels, and I always finish what I start (with the exception of that abomination of a book that besmirched Jane Austen's good name...).  I love that I can summarize and express opinions on a book after I've consumed it.  I even get to vote on how well it is ranked for other facebookworms.  The great news is I haven't lost a friend yet for bemoaning my time with Anna Karenina or thinking On the Road was less than inspiring.  I love to praise the books that have become my good friends (hello, everything ever written by George MacDonald).  I even like rereading books I read in college and sharing what strikes me the second time around.  On the labor side, I do no research so it's kind of a writing quick fix for my addiction.

What has any of this to do with my devotion this morning?  I apologize, but we aren't there yet.  A few weeks ago I sent a cover letter, resume, and some writing samples to a local publisher with whom I recently became familiar.  It is a ministry that creates wonderful Bible studies for women.  This letter led to an email I received from the president of this company.  There were subsequent emails and phone calls which resulted in a meeting today at a coffee shop.  I had dreamed of volunteering and learning all about the publishing and the creative process when facing new projects.  For a ministry, no less!  Now I may have hyped the international affairs appreciation, but in reality I want to work in ministry.  Most of my jobs have been in the context of church or missions, and it's where I feel in my element.  Perhaps it's knowing God has a purpose and a plan that I get to be a part of.  Maybe it's because I'm more likely to focus on my relationship with my God when freely allowed to follow him in my work environment~ that's 8 bonus hours of quality time per day. It'd be a dream come true to find a position doing research or writing in a ministry.

So here's what God told me this morning before I headed off for my dream of all dream meetings~  one who hopes to effect any good by his writings will find that he will instruct very few; the most powerful means of promoting what is good is by example (loosely taken from Lewis Bayly's The Practice of Piety).  God followed it up with a very apropos scripture from Paul:  You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody.  You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human heart.  Even as I write this very garrulous blog entry, I have to ask myself~ am I an open book?  Am I a letter from Christ?  How have I read 2 Corinthians before and never had these words jump out at me?  The day I thought I'd be vying for a position writing for God is the day I learned his Spirit is the writer and I am his published work.

As for my meeting, it went well and I received some brilliant career counseling.  We'll see what happens.  In the meantime, I'm going to delve into the scriptures and spend time with my favorite Writer.

She's Crafty

My sisters are both quite skilled in practical crafts.  My big sister has cross-stitched a number of beautiful samplers; they are very good.  My little sister sews like a genius and makes really sweet items like costumes to purses to stuffed animals.  Once upon a time I was an avid cross-stitcher and amateur knitter.  I even tried my hand at transforming an old pair of jeans into a funky backpack.  It was not a success, and thankfully there is no evidence proving it ever existed.  I considered that perhaps my adult craft was writing, but it's not like I can frame a blog entry and put it on my wall.  Well, my little sister has upped the stakes by throwing knitting into her cute bag of tricks.  On top of that, you could say my big sister professionally writes since she is a minister and master of sermon composition.  I had to do something, but what?

KHud's angel sampler is impressive.  They are cute.

Miss Foo administers moon justice with friends in her Sailor Moon costume.

Remember this small attempt at knitting I accomplished last summer?  You are looking at my finished product... *sigh*

Well, it turns out that color coding my calendar with Crayolas isn't exactly special.  Furniture organization was much easier with my college furniture~so becoming more feng shui seemed a little senseless with all the heavy stuff in our home.  I have yet to find a way to make doing the dishes or laundry creative though I've considered stacking/folding in an unusual way (think Lincoln Logs).  Turns out rhythmic running will never qualify for Olympic status; as a matter of fact~most runners run rhythmically.  I won't even try to become a chef extraordinaire~have you met my husband?  Just give me a box of mac'n'cheese and Rotel, and you have fancy noodles.

Back to square one... Happily, opportunity came knocking.  Over the holidays we used a borrowed stocking for Kyle that needed to be returned to its homeland (North Carolina).  My mom and big sister invited me to come along to the local cross-stitch shop.  They picked out some new projects, and I felt inspired to pick out a little something something for the hubs.  Now I couldn't execute this stocking single-handedly.  Big sis, KHud, whip stitched my edges and helped me get started.  She even penciled Kyle's name onto the pattern for me.  Miss Foo, the younger sis, will likely construct the actual stocking part of the stocking.  It's basically like I'm doing nothing.

Au revoir tete de bonhomme de neige.

Now if you are into cross stitch, I'll share the magical details.  It's on a linen fabric that looks a bit rustic (as you can probably tell from the image).  I'm using a DMC floss, but I'm using 4 of the 6 threads at a time so it stands out (rather than 2).  There~now that I've revealed the secrets of my trade, I will bore you no more.

A blurry finished product from the cover of the pattern.  There is no Robert in our Ham fam.

My progress~it's a headless Santa.  Less than cheery....

The goal is to have my part done well before the holiday so that it can be a stress-free project.  Also, it's a bit addicting; perhaps I'll tackle a sampler or something else before 2011 comes to a close.  Once again, I can feel like I fit in with my oh-so Sense and Sensibility siblings.  Happy day!

Book Report 2010

How I love books!  Let me count the ways!  Seriously, I love to look back at the last year at all the books I read.  If you're my friend on facebook, you can certainly read my reviews on each and every novel I took in this year (plus some).  For now I'm just going to count them down in order of my least favorite to favorite for funsies.  As if this entry weren't dorky enough, I've broken down my books into categories.

Children's Books

5.  The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket~Though the Lemony Snicket books are growing on me, this book was terribly depressing.  The reader hates to see the protagonists succumb to bad fortune over and over again.

4.  The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket~The second installment in this series was more upbeat, but it still managed to end in heartbreak.  I think these are excellent books for children dealing with loss or grieving a loved one.

3.  The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi~This book is a great adventure tale about a young girl on the high seas.  It was a bit suspenseful so probably better for bigger kids.

2.  Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll~Great imagination and full of non-sense.  It's just fun to read.

1.  The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis~I reread this in French for fun.  It's just the best story for children ever.

Plays and Short Stories

6.  Dom Juan by Moliere~This play was a drama about Dom Juan receiving judgment for his wrong doings.  I always look to Moliere for humor and complex romantic mix-ups. 

5.  After the Fall by Arthur Miller~Semi-autobiographical and probably better to see performed on stage, this play only left me wondering what happened to Marilyn Monroe to make her so troubled.

4.  Minority Report by Philip K Dick~Very different from the film featuring Tom Cruise, that's for sure.  I liked reading a bit of sci-fi for a change.

3.  Billy Budd by Herman Melville~Poor Billy Budd who is loved by all encounters misfortune while sailing on a ship.  Melville challenged me; he's got a difficult writing style.

2.  Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut~I love this short story.  Though it is an exaggeration of what a totalitarian government would do, it illustrates the intention to make equality of outcomes for every individual.

1.  L'Avare (or The Miser) by Moliere~Like I said before, my favorite Moliere is when he confuses romantic interests, and it creates humorous scenarios.  This play did that while making a caricature of a man who loves his money above all.  Kyle took me to see a stage performance of this play for our anniversary~very fun!

Non-Fiction Books

4.  Winning the Future by Newt Gingrich~A book on political position and strategy.  It was a gift from a friend who thought I'd like it.  I learned a few interesting things.

3.  Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck~This book is like an extended blog post from a roadtrip across America.  It wasn't as compelling as Steinbeck's fiction or even other blogs I've read, but a fun read.

2.  La France contemporaine~This is a text book (in French) about modern French culture put into context with brief accounts of history.  Even after living in France for a year, this book helped me learn a lot more about my European home.

1.  When Character Was King by Peggy Noonan~This is an excellent biography of Ronald Reagan.  It's not exhaustive but includes great stories about his childhood, family, career, and presidency.  I could have used a little bit more on Reagan versus the USSR, but I'm sure that can be found in other books.

Fiction Books

12. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold~Disturbing book; I question why it's so popular.  I also found it to be on high school reading lists from my hometown.  It was also listed as a favorite to many teachers.  I think Sebold could be a great writer, but the content in this book gross.  Don't read it ever.

11. On the Road by Jack Kerouac~Beatnik lifestyle and roadtrips across America.  To me it's a tale of wasted youth, irresponsibility, and debauchery.  I didn't even learn much about the post-WWII era in America or the beat movement.  I guess I'm starting to sound like a ninny, and as we approach #1 I'm sure you'll determine I'm old fashioned.

10. The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger~This was a beach read while on vacation.  It was a fairly stressful read and ultimately kind of pointless.  The movie is a bit better because they take some liberties with the plot.

9.  Beach Music by Pat Conroy~I know a bunch of folks who love Conroy and wanted to see what the hype was all about.  I think he's a good writer and knows how to tell multiple stories within one novel, but he includes a lot of violence and horror in this story.  That may not sound odd to you, but the plot focuses on a single dad raising his little girl in Rome, Italy.  They decide to return to his home in South Carolina for his family to meet his daughter for the first time.  In an effort to make the characters real, he just made me believe that he's a disturbed man.

8.  Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy~The title of this book is a bit deceptive.  Anna shares the role of principle character with Kostya Levin.  Anna carries on an adulterous romance and slowly ruins her life while Levin pursues a wholesome, healthy, and somewhat boring (I must admit) life with a farm, wife, and children.  It's a neat dichotomy, but for me the book was long and downright depressing.  I guess that's Russian lit for you.

7.  Island by Aldous Huxley~Island feels more like a dream than a real book.  A society of uncorrupted natives adhere to Buddhist principles to achieve enlightenment and happiness.  Meanwhile, the nation's young prince has become seduced by the modern world and want to introduce an advanced first-world lifestyle to his people.  It's a well written book, but I disagreed with the author's ideas on how to achieve utopia (actually~utopia can't be achieved....)

6.  Tara Road by Maeve Binchy~I've wanted to read a Maeve Binchy book since my big sister read Circle of Friends.  This one depicted everyday life for a woman born and raised in Dublin.  I wouldn't say it was excellent or bad; it simply tells about how she fell in love, got married, had a family, lost her marriage, and copes with life as a newly single woman.  I'm going to spoil it for you~she takes a trip to America and then opens her own business.  The end.

5.  Silas Marner by George Elliot~What an odd little story this is.  It feels more like folklore than anything.  An old man saves and hoards gold in his home, but by a serious of odd events, he is robbed.  In place of his highly beloved fortune, he finds a baby girl with golden hair in his home.  It's a really sweet story, and I look forward to reading more George Elliot.

4.  Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad~Somehow I skipped the mandatory reading of this one in high school.  I had learned a good bit about imperialism and colonization in Africa from history classes as well as a number of francophone novels.  This was supposed to depict the horror and heartless brutality of Europeans who left the civilized world and transformed themselves into violent occupiers.  Though these things appeared in the story, I was more surprised by how internal the telling of the story was.  It was more like stream of consciousness writing where the narrator included his thoughts continually with the progression of events.  It's a good and challenging read.

3.  My Antonia by Willa Cather~I love this book.  I don't want to give any of it away to you.  I had never heard of it before I found it on a bookshelf.  It's a great example of American literature.  You should read it!

2.  Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen~My girliness is coming out.  Jane Austen is one of my favorite writers. I prefer Sense and Sensibility over all her books, but Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy gave Marianne Dashwood and Colonel Brandon a run for their money.  It's the best love-hate relationship in literature, and if you're a lady who's never read an Austen book before~start with Pride and Prejudice.

1.  Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte~This is one of my new favorite books.  Imagine a Harry Potter beginning where there is an orphaned girl being brought up by cruel relatives.  She is sent away to an orphanage where life is very difficult; there's always hunger and discipline and illness.  She grows up to become a tutor to a French girl in the home of Mr. Rochester, a manly older gentleman with a sordid past.  I will share no more with you about this book in the hopes that you will read it.  I feel like one of those children on Reading Rainbow who introduce a book to you, share a few illustrations, and then leave you hanging so that you'll be encouraged to beg your parents to take you to the library to read the last 8 pages.  Jane Eyre is excellent; of course, you don't have to take my word for it! *cue 80s theme music to change scenes*

One bonus category for you~ I did a couple of Bible studies this year.  Kyle and I did A Year with C.S. Lewis which had daily excerpts of his writing to think on.  I also did Invincible Love, Invisible War from the Amazing collection.  It is a great study for a small group with workbooks and DVDs.  It covers the many ways God wants to have a relationship with us while showing what we can learn by his character throughout the Bible.  It is a great survey of the Bible for someone who is new to reading it and desires to see the big picture.  It's also a great review and reminder of God's desires and promises for those who are more familiar with scripture.  I loved it.

There you have it.  No pictures, just a ridiculous amount of writing about what I read.  This seems like it could be a total snoozefest so I'll try to kick up the interest-factor as we carry on.  I do want to ask~ did you have a favorite book you read last year (or ever for that matter)?  What category of books do you prefer most?  I think it's obvious for me that I love fiction most.  Later bookworms!

We Got Jolly

Christmas has come and gone, but I'm just now sitting down to load the pictures onto the computer and reflect on Kyle and my second Christmas together.  Perhaps our only real Christmas tradition is making and decorating sugar cookies.  I received some very festive cookie cutters for my birthday so we were fully equipped to bake away.

Keeping with tradition, Kyle gives this activity two thumbs up.

Trees, stockings, candy canes....

...and a turkey!  I got this for Halloween and forgot to make the most of it at Thanksgiving.  It's never too late to enjoy a turkey.

Trying to maximize cookie cutter to dough ratio

Behold our decoration center!  This frosting tasted like marshmallows~yum!

A few members of our completed cookie community

Now we owed our families a good bit of face time since we were abroad last year.  In the midst of celebrating at both my family & Kyle's family homes, we were able to get a little time to ourselves for a Christmas Eve feast followed by movie time with It's a Wonderful Life.

Kyle takes the temperature of our roasting friend.

Our little duck may not look like much food to you, but let me assure you this is too much for two.

That happy man is ready to dig in.  We also prepared some roasted garlic mashed potatoes and a broccoli salad.

We had tons of gifts under our tree again this year.  I always marvel at how much we're able to get each other and those we love on our budget.  Kyle is very savvy about savings, and we made sure not to go over the top with our shopping.  In spite of it all, it's like we miraculously receive more than we give.  It's nuts.

This tree is so much happier with a full skirt of wrapped presents!

My family gave this to me for my birthday.  Our nativity definitely completed our holiday decorations.

Christmas was terrific, too, but I fear my retelling of trading presents will be as tedious as a home video of childhood Christmas mornings.  We had a really stellar week hanging out with family and enjoyed being back in the mix for my family's annual New Years outing.  We get all dressed up and eat at Schillings, a little place on the Marietta Square.  Then we come home and pajamafy (that is~get into our pjs) and watch the Twilight Zone marathon until it's time to watch Dick Clark countdown to the new year.  On a side note, doesn't it just kill you to see him in such bad shape?  When will they decide he'd probably feel a lot more comfortable at home in bed?  Poor fellow... 

There's the fam looking fancy!

Well, all good things must come to an end.  We returned to our apartment yesterday from our travels to visit family to find that our tree had given up on us ever coming home.  It took the dive...

Poor tree~ we didn't mean to leave you alone in your most important season.

The saddest face Kyle could muster over the death of our Christmas tree.

With a great sigh of relief, we found that none of our precious ornaments were harmed in the crash.  It makes me think that the tree didn't take a violent tumble, but rather, gently laid itself down for a long winter's nap.  Now that Christmas is behind us (and our tree is safely nestled into its box), bring on 2011!  It's going to be a big year!