namaste

so i'm reading this book right now called "irresistible revolution".  i was just reading about shane claiborne, the author, and his 'internship' in calcutta with mother teresa.  i can't get this traditional word and it's meaning out of my mind.

namaste.  the A's are pronounced like the first 'a' in america and the ste is pronounced like 'stay'.  it means "I HONOR THE HOLY ONE WHO LIVES IN YOU".  it is usually said with a bow and out of respect.

here are some other sources of definition i found:

"I honor the Spirit in you which is also in me." -- attributed to but not claimed by author Deepak Chopra

"I honor the place in you in which the entire Universe dwells, I honor the place in you which is of Love, of Integrity, of Wisdom and of Peace. When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, we are One."

"I salute the God within you."

"Your spirit and my spirit are ONE." -- attributed to Lilias Folan's shared teachings from her journeys to India.

"That which is of God in me greets that which is of God in you."

"The Divinity within me perceives and adores the Divinity within you."

"All that is best and highest in me greets/salutes all that is best and highest in you."

"I greet the God within."

"The light in me sees the light in you" -- attributed to Bridget Laureira's experience with Yoga practice in New York City.

there is so much to this word.  where to even begin with it...

what if Jesus really meant it when he said that we have to become lesser so that he can become greater within us.  and what if we actually became like him... dedicate our lives to feed the hungry and heal the sick. take care of the widows and the orphans?

how beautiful would the world be if we truly believed what the apostle paul said, that we no longer live, but only Jesus lives in us (galatians 2:20).

The world would be beautiful.

i believe in miracles.  and i do believe that jesus made many miracles.  but more importantly, behind those miracles is his LOVE.  a leper was an outcast to society... no one would even touch them.  so when jesus healed a leper from his leprosy, he not only healed him, but more importantly he TOUCHED him when no one else would. that is love.  Jesus raised lazarus from the dead, but eventually lazarus died again.  jesus fed 5,000 (not including women and children of the 5,000 men-wow!) but they were all hungry again.

It is the Love of Christ and his actions that we remember.

If we are crucified with Christ and no longer live, but Christ lives in us... think about the lives we would touch for Christ.  To be used by Christ.  For people to be loved to the core of what love really means...

if we really lived like christ wants us to... to be in a community who takes love everywhere and changes the world with it.

namaste.

I Honor the Holy One who lives in you.

The greatest blessing in the world would be for someone to whisper 'namaste' in my ear.

if you give a church friend a cookie...

you have to make them for every gathering. and today we have a young adults bbq... so here they are.   i will admit, they are the best cookies ever!  they are my mother-in-law's recipe.  they are the most moist cookies you'll ever have.... the big secret.... VANILLA PUDDING and white and milk chocolate chips! YUM!

this recipe seriously makes a MILLION cookies, so if you're only cooking for two, i would half the recipe.  but it is a must try recipe. if you make them, let me know what you think!

Cyndi's Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

-2 cups margarine/butter, softened

-4 eggs

-1/2 cup sugar

-1.5 cups brown sugar

-2 teaspoonfuls vanilla

-4.5 cups flour

-2 tsp. baking soda

-2 small packages (or 1 large package) of instant vanilla pudding

-4 cups chocolate chips (1pkg chocolate chips, 1 package of white chocolate chips)

Cream margarine, sugars, eggs and vanilla. Mix in pudding and dry ingredients.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Bake 350 degrees for 7-10 minutes

talking about cookies leads me to milk... which leads me to a funny story from today.  paul and i went to the farmer's market, then hit up the grocery together.  when we got home we stuffed our arms full of groceries hoping to make only 1 trip.  that was a bad idea.  paul went to open the front door and dropped the milk!  so there was a big crack in the jug and this is what we came up with for a container.. who wants to waste milk??

hahahah!  it kind of reminds me of the old days when they had the glass bottles and the milk men.  man, i wish we still had that...  we wouldn't have to worry about all of the BPA toxins.  but now our problem is that the gold handle isn't tight enough on the jar, and i think it is leaking MILK... i have to go break the news to my hubby :)

o the life of a newlywed.  i love it!

sunny day

is the mood i picked on stereomood.com's website.  in celebration of the first gorgeously sunny day in about a week.  it's pretty sweet.  i found it in my 'real simple' magazine.  you just pick the mood you're in and it makes a playlist for you... you should try it out.

just took my first organic chem exam--- i think it went really well!  i feel really good about it.  that could mean 1 of 2 things.

1.) i aced it

2.) i failed miserably to the point that i have no idea what i'm doing.

haha

just found this awesome story-not sure if it's a true on or not.  amanda, this is for you.... if we're ever professors, we have to pull this one. how clever?!

This past fall semester, at Duke University, there were two sophomores who were taking Organic Chemistry and who did pretty well on all of the quizzes, midterms, labs, etc. Going into the final exam, they had solid “A’s.” These two friends were so confident going into the final that the weekend before finals week (even though the Chem. final was on Monday), they decided to go up to University of Virginia to a party with some friends. So they did this and had a great time. However, they ended up staying longer than they planned, and they didn’t make it back to Duke until early Monday morning. Rather than taking the final then, they found Professor Aldric after the final and explained to him why they missed it. They told him that they went up to Virginia for the weekend, and had planned to come back in time to study, but that they had a flat tire on the way back and didn’t have a spare and couldn’t get help for a long time. So they were late getting back to campus. Aldric thought this over and agreed that they could make up the final on the following day. The two guys were elated and relieved. So, they studied that night and went in the next day at the time that Aldric had told them. He placed them in separate rooms, handed each of them a test booklet and told them to begin. They looked at the first problem, which was something simple about free radical formation and was worth 5 points. “Cool” they thought, “this is going to be easy.” They did that problem and then turned the page. They were unprepared, however, for what they saw on the next page. It said: (95 points) “Which tire?”

kenmore

is the name of my sewing machine.  it was my grandma's, then my mom's. now it's mine.  i like that.

so tonight, i manned up a bit and decided to try it for a spin.  the last time i used it, my mamaw (what i call my grandma) helped me make a vest... in 5th GRADE! so as you can imagine, i don't remember ANYTHING.

i really wished my mamaw lived 5 minutes from me so she can teach me everything she knows.

but tonight, i learned to thread my bobbin!! woo! and i worked on my straight lines and learned about tension.

i'm excited. but i have sooo far to go.  i don't know how to use all of the different settings of the sewing shapes... i only know how to use the straight line... not the zig zags, etc.  hopefully one day i will conquer this.

but thank you mamaw and mom for the sewing machine.  mom, i hope you don't mind that i stole it from your house :)

and here is my cute little puppy posing for the camera.  he needs a hair cut!

please don't judge me

but i connect with jesus in weird ways.  i don't know why i am sharing this. but i heard this song again today

billy currington- people are crazy.

i love this song  and i really feel a call to missions when i hear it. i just think jesus would be right there talking to the dude in this song and it would rock his world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKpQRjj_WbU

haha! can you imagine this as a 'special' for the congregation, like during tithe collection or something.  ya. i don't know why i am so weird.


this is even weirder... you know mariah carey's song 'touch my body'.  yep. i really connect with jesus in that song too.  the first time i heard it, i was going through a rough time and it made me happy.  all i could pray was 'jesus, please heal me... heal my heart and my mind... just touch me'.

but this song really has nothing to do with jesus. or me. or my relationship with him.  but it makes me happy when i hear it and i think of jesus.  so it kind of does.  please don't tell anyone how weird i am.

p.s.  check out this crazy urination tool that i just found online... haha! it was on bethany dillon's blog.  http://www.go-girl.com/   maybe we should start carrying them at cvs pharmacy, where i work. ha!

April showers bring May FLOWERS.

flowers make me happy.  today paul and i went and bought some flowers to put on our front porch!  since we have only a small apartment that is a part of a huge old house that looks haunted, we thought we would brighten it up a bit!

i love this space.  

and we're still working on it.

i'm still looking for some stellar chair cushions for our patio set.  let me know if you find any!  at joann's this last week, their outdoor fabric was on sale.. and it is super cute.  but my sewing skills aren't nearly good enough to make patio chair cushions yet :)

This red flower is my favorite flower and i can't wait for more to grow!  isn't it pretty?  this old camera of mine definitely doesn't do it justice!

okay, so now that you know where i am, you have to come visit.  we can sit and chat for hours... i'll make coffee or tea or whatever you prefer.  it's really not that far from good old ohio :)