one tree

“love is a temporary madness; it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides.
and when it subsides you have to make a decision.
you have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together
that it is inconceivable that you should ever part.
because this is what love is. love is not breathlessness,
it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of eternal passion.
that is just being in love, which any fool can do.
love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away,
and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.
those that truly love have roots that grow towards each other underground,
and when all the pretty blossoms have fallen from their branches,
they find that they are one tree and not two.”

~louis de bernieres

change.org

FRIDAY DEADLINE: Tell the Maryland legislature to pass crucial legislation to help Maryland trafficking victims. Dear Heather, Two weeks ago, Maryland police entered a Baltimore hotel room to find a 19-year-old woman held against her will and violently forced into prostitution by East Coast pimp Edward Perkins. Who knows how much money Perkins made forcing this teenager to have sex with paying customers, but thanks to a glaring loophole in Maryland law, the victim won't see a dime of it. Some states have "asset forfeiture" laws for human trafficking -- laws that ensure that trafficked women and children see some of the money their captors made by trafficking them. But not Maryland. In this case, an asset forfeiture law would mean that the money Perkins earned from selling his victim on Backpage.com – even if he used it to buy cars, jewelry, or other assets – can be used to help his victims seek counseling, pay legal fees, and find housing. In addition to being left without financial help, the young woman won't have any prostitution convictions removed from her record, despite being a victim of sex trafficking. That's because Maryland doesn't expunge convictions for trafficked people. So in Maryland, traffickers like Perkins keep their ill-gotten money to hire lawyers, and their victims are often left penniless and struggling with undeserved criminal records. Two proposed bills in the Maryland legislature would address these serious issues, and the first committee vote is scheduled for this week -- if it fails, the bills likely won't pass until 2012 at the earliest. HB 418 would allow Maryland to seize the profits from human traffickers and use that money to aid law enforcement and victim service providers, thus removing the financial burden of fighting human trafficking from Maryland taxpayers. SB 327 would allow the courts to order traffickers to pay their victims restitution and reverse commercial sex convictions for all human trafficking victims. Tell the Maryland legislature to pass HB 418 and SB 327 before Friday's vote comes and goes. Victims of trafficking are depending on us: http://www.change.org/petitions/marylanders-please-help-bring-human-trafficking-to-an-end-in-maryland?alert_id=aTMKFNKkTW_PqLQldsJGq&me=aa Thanks for taking action, - Patrick and the Change.org team I get these emails every once and a while to sign petitions and this one made me so angry! I can't believe this isn't a law already, but it's too late to sign the petition now. I just thought I'd make whoever reads this aware!

living real.

"Christianity is serious business. Evil is real. We can't live in this world without at least brushing against it, and sometimes we find ourselves being sucked into its slimy pit. Add to this the promise of our Lord that we will suffer. (Not one of those promises we're fond of claiming, is it?) So, how do we cope? And how do we show a hardened, hurting world that there's a loving God who abides in the midst of all this chaos, lifting our heads above the flood, binding our wounds, giving us daily bread?

We do it by living real. By looking the whole big mess straight in the eye, seeing it for what it is, and then sketching a Jesus who can bust a board with His head. We give the world a picture of our God they'll want to save in their treasure file."

-from the march 25th post on this blog

hope, not escape, is energizing

"it is in the emptiness, exposed and without resources,
that promises are received with power,
that risks are run and hope is energizing."

"our humanness cannot be found in escape,
detachment, absence of commitment,
and undefined freedom.

-page 9 and 5 of land as promise and as problem
by brueggemann

a breath you can't feel

music is a little piece of heaven.
it's light and calmness and joy.
it's a breath when you're drowning.
it's beauty among so many ugly things.
it's beautiful even though you can't see it.
it's a breath even though you can't feel it.
it's beauty and breath and life.
heaven.

with actions and in truth

¹⁶ This is how we know what love is:

Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.

And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

¹⁷ If anyone has material possessions

and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them,

how can the love of God be in that person?

¹⁸ Dear children, let us not love with words or speech

but with actions and in truth.

1 john 3:16-18 niv

yellow

there need be no poor

⁴ however, there need be no poor people among you,

for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance,

he will richly bless you, ⁵ if only you fully obey the LORD your God

and are careful to follow all these commands i am giving you today.

⁷ if anyone is poor among your fellow israelites

in any of the towns of the land the LORD your God is giving you,

do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them.

⁸ rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need.

¹¹ there will always be poor people in the land.

therefore I command you to be openhanded toward

your fellow israelites who are poor and needy in your land.

¹² if any of your people—hebrew men or women—

sell themselves to you and serve you six years,

in the seventh year you must let them go free.

¹³ and when you release them, do not send them away empty-handed.

¹⁴ supply them liberally from your flock,

your threshing floor and your winepress.

give to them as the LORD your God has blessed you.

verses from deuteronomy 15:4-15
NIV, emphasis added

a living blend

the strong man holds in a living blend strongly marked opposites.
the idealists are usually not realistic,
and the realists are not usually idealistic.
the militant are not generally known to be passive,
nor the passive to be militant.
seldom are the humble self-assertive, or the self-assertive humble.
but life at its best is a creative synthesis of opposites in
fruitful harmony. the philosopher hegel said that truth is
found neither in the thesis nor the antithesis,
but in the emergent synthesis which reconciles the two.

-martin luther king jr.
and quoted by john sage, founder of pura vida coffee
in a lecture i heard at eastern last friday

so cute!

we see soul

soul is often linked to the beauty, mystery, and forces of nature.
in essence, soul is part of the world of creation.
it can be part of the bonds of solidarity and capacity in community...
it is about deep meaning and quality relationships.
soul thrives on paradox. It is about mystery-
the presence of something profound that cannot be grasped
by science or the boundaries of human language;
it is something that's non-linear.
the great wisdom traditions argue that soul is not
about values and ethics but about a deeper reality that penetrates
the illusion of the external world.
we see soul when non-domination cultures
and people speak their value judgments (emotions)
of compassion, forgiveness,
understanding, and hope amidst despair.

-hustedde and king, 2002 page 340
quoted in community development by lediwth, ph. 33

close up

who said vegetarianism wasn't cruel?

funny video

after you watch that, you should click on
the 'vegetable panic' video that's suggested.
it's pretty funny too. :)

an appalling contradiction

conservative evangelicals...have tended to downplay numerous
systemic problems associated with contemporary liberal capitalism.
these include persistent and sometimes devastating income
and wealth inequality both within and between nations, gross
concentrations of economic and political power both stemming from
and contributing to the exploitation of the poor but the rich...

the fact that most north american believers continue to be
"rich christians in an age [a world] of hunger" (sider, just generosity)
remains an appalling contradiction that followers of Christ Jesus
ought to address with utmost seriousness, however complex the problems.

pg 424-425 in kingdom ethics
by stassen and gushee

silly glasses

last week me, my sisters, and my niece all had eye doctor

appointments and went to pick out new glasses.
i couldn't find any i liked more than the ones i have now,
but i had fun trying them on and so did Haley. :)

these are the ones she actually ended up getting.
so cute and pink :)

buttons!

DIY apron

so, here it is!
the present i made for carley on her birthday!
it's a homemade apron!
she loves to cook, so it's perfect.
honestly, my mom made a lot of it cause i would do parts
and make little mistakes and she'd take them out and do it herself.
i told her it didn't have to be perfect, but she wanted it to be. haha
but it really wasn't that hard.
i looked up some basic directions with a google search,
but pretty much just sketched out what was in my mind
and had my mom help me make it a reality!
it has a cute little pocket and a bow and everything! :)

okay

okay
^click^

Sara Haze - Lovely Full Song with Lyrics

uhh, i love this song.
her voice is beautiful.

carrot cupcakes!

one of my best friends, carley just turned 20 a few days ago!
i couldn't celebrate with her on her actual birthday because we were
both at home on break and not at school.
but i made her carrot cupcakes to take back to school
cause she really likes them and i have a really good recipe that
i found on allrecipes.com last year that i made for Easter.
here are some pictures i took while i made them.
sorry the quality is bad, their cell phone pictures.
cake ingredients mixed together
pineapple, walnuts, raisins, coconut, and carrots all mixed together.
this picture makes it look gross, but it's actually really colorful. :)

haha, this picture is sideways, but this is them before
i baked them. and i forgot to get a picture of the finished product,
but i frosted them with cream cheese frosting with lemon zest
mixed in. and i made some mini ones, too. :) so cute!
i also made her a super cute gift, but i haven't it given it to her yet,
so i'll post that later!

picking your friends

you have to go to this link
and send someone a message :)
it's hilarious.

taste the rainbow

yum :)

some laughs

if you...

3.2 billion people live on less than $2 a day.
that's about half of the worlds population.

Teenage Dream - Katy Perry (Boyce Avenue piano acoustic cover)

probably my favorite cover by him.
it's just, uhhh, so good.
and he changed the lyrics and feel of the song,
so it's a super cute love song now.

some fun food links....

i've been web surfing a bit too much this week.
i thought i'd share some interesting food links i've found.

a month of pancakes

some of these sound absolutely amazing!
orange pancakes, peanut butter pancakes, or rocky road?!
and some of them are strange... like cheddar pancakes?
or sundried tomato and parmesan pancakes?
or chili and corn pancakes?
to each his own i guess...

uncommon foods to cook on a grill

summer is just around the corner and with it
is the time for grilling! i don't really have much experience
grilling, unless it's on a george foreman, but some
of these ideas might make me start!
i mean pound cake? or doughnuts...on the grill?!

and i've been on a homemade kick recently.
(if you couldn't tell by the english muffins and bagels in the last post)
it's just cool to be able to say "oh, i actually made
that. i didn't buy it." and it usually tastes so much more
fresh, too.

homemade ritz crackers

homemade oreos

oh. my. gosh. can someone please make these for me
ASAP?!

homemade wraps

homemade reeses cups

these sound pretty easy!

homemade frostings

oh my. i want to try the chocolate cream cheese
and the cookie dough frostings right now!

a week of meatless meals

i've semi-recently decided to become a vegetarian.

i'll probably explain why in a later post.
but for now, i want to share with you some meatless meals
that i've been making for my family this week.
at school, i don't have access to a kitchen, so i'm extremely
deprived and when i come home i have lists
of things i want to make. i've literally been living in my kitchen
this whole week!
so here it goes...
(sorry i didn't take more pictures)

monday:
roasted potatoes
roasted vegetable sandwiches with
pesto and roasted red pepper hummus
and chocolate covered rice krispie balls for dessert
ugh, it was heaven on a plate.
i've been obsessed with fresh, grilled/roasted veggies lately.
and seriously this was soooo easy.

tuesday:
cheesy rice and bean burritos
peanut butter oatmeal cookies
again, yum. i could eat burritos all day.

wednesday:
egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches
on homemade bagels and homemade english muffins
i made the english muffins heart shaped :)
this was probably the most time consuming and difficult
recipe of the week, but it wasn't even that hard!raw bagels


raw english muffins

finished english muffins

thursday:
penne pasta with a creamy lemon sauce
and marinated, grilled chicken.
(i didn't have the chicken, but my fam isn't vegetarian,
so i thought i'd make some for them)

friday:
i'm not sure yet, but i'm thinking maybe a pesto macaroni
and cheese that i saw rachael ray make today on her
talk show or maybe homemade pizza.
and i'm planning on making carrot cake cupcakes
so i can bring some back to school because it's
my best friends birthday soon and they're her favorite! :)
i have a great recipe for carrot cake that i found on allrecipes.com.

i also really want to try this apple cinnamon roll cupcake
recipe i found on a food blog. ugh, they look AHmazing.
but i don't want to overwhelm my family with too many desserts,
so maybe i'll wait until easter break for those.
and i want to make lemon cupcakes over easter.
easter is my favorite holiday, so i think it's okay to go overboard. :)

anyways, this post is getting wayyy too long.
i just wanted to prove that being vegetarian can be easy
and completely delicious. :)

it is in your power

He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow,
and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing.
And you are to love those who are foreigners,
for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.

dueteronomy 10:18-19 NIV

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
when it is in your power to do it.

proverbs 3:27 ESV

why you're (probably) taller than your grandparents

men born in 1956-1962 were 3 times as likely as men
born in 1906-1915 to reach an adult height of 6 ft. or taller.

women born in 1956-1962 were 5 times as likely to be
taller than 5" 5' as were women born near the turn of the century.

in 1956-1965 only 3 basketball players in the NBA were
7 feet tall. in the 2001-2002 season, 48 players were at least
7 feet tall.

the offensive line of the USA today 2001 all usa team averaged
302 lbs. in 1993, the line of the chicago bears averaged
less than 200 lbs.

we're all getting taller and heavier. what will we look
like in 50 years?!

What The Hell Cover-Michael Henry & Justin Robinett

i admit that when i'm procrastinating, i turn to youtube.
but this week i'm on break, so it's okay to sit around
and watch video after video.
especially when it's of talented boys who can sing.
this cover is way better than the original, sorry avril.

mr. casey

casey missed me.
we've been hanging out a lot this past weekend
since i've been home for "spring" break.
i gave him a hair cut (after these pictures were taken)
cause he was getting wayyy too fluffy.
and i used therese's stethoscope to check his heart. :)
today i'm taking him for a walk.
which is a treat for him cause it's been sooo cold out here.

hair cut :)

i got my hair cut and styled today.
i hadn't gotten it cut since august!!