Friday, September 9, 2011

Acción de Gracias

Today at Bible study as for the past week we have been meditating on Philippians 4:4-9 (4:8 is the whatsoever things... verse). We were instructed to pick two character qualities, look up the greek, study them, and be prepared to share. I chose prayer and thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is where the conviction came. If you note the title again is in Spanish and for a purpose. The reason is that the Spanish word for thanksgiving, the way it sounds at least, is practicing actions of gratefulness. This post however is not about Spanish etymology so that is as far as that goes. The Greek word for thanksgiving is where we get the English word, Eucharist. Literally eucharist means giving thanks to God for grace. After my brief talk, the professor asked us how much of our prayers were spent in giving thanks to God. Ouch! Considering all that God has done for us you would think we would be more grateful. So that is the question of the day. How much of your prayer life is devoted to thanking God?

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Este es mi problema

I went to a Spanish speaking church tonight for service and it was fantastic, absolutely love worshipping there because in worshipping in a different language two things often take place. First, I break down the structure of the sentences and make sure I understand completely what I am singing (same happens in sign), and second worship moves far beyond just a sing along because I am actively deciphering the song and my own response to God. We broke into small groups and of course I went with the women because I want to be stretched. So as the lady is teaching I am understanding the majority of what she says, but I have an issue. The issue is that I will not remember things if I do not take notes and when I take notes I cannot focus on what she is saying, translate, and write all at the same time so I often miss things. I decided the happy medium was to go and take notes because understanding all of it does no good if I flush it.

Tonight we talked about attitudes. Somehow we accidently said that an attitude with God is contaminated, but we all discussed our responsibility. If we live in the moment our attitudes will look like a seismogram after a large earthquake. There was a fair amount more and I do remember, it is in my half spanish, half english notes. Not spanglish, but legitimately half and half. So in the mean time as I work on my ability to understand Spanish I will have holes here and there from the bits and pieces I missed.

Monday, September 5, 2011

The Magic of the Oven


Now many of you are aware that I swore I could not cook, but apparently I was mistaken. This afternoon I had a rather late lunch and enjoyed one of the sides which was potatoes that were frankly too amazing that I did not stop long enough to take a picture, but tonight for supper before I devoured my tomato I paused to take a picture because it looked pretty. Originally I had planned to follow the recipe, but due to lack of specific ingredients and not feeling like washing the measuring cups/spoons I eyeballed it. Nothing blew up and it is edible so I consider that a definite victory. So here is what I did. I had half a tomato as seen. I grated some cheese on top (mild cheddar, though the recipe called for parmesan and perhaps when I grocery shop again I'll get some), oregano, olive oil, salt and pepper. Just eyeballed it then put it in the oven preheated to 450º and took it out when it looked right to me. Ok so maybe there might have been a better way to go about it, but I will worry about that on more complicated recipes. Sometime this next week I plan on making banana bread or something. Perhaps I will consider entertaining guests, though frankly the majority of the people I would actually allow to come over live 30 miles away. Oh well perhaps if I am decent I will lure them here.... MUHAHAHAHA. jk.

On a completely different note, officially next Sunday I should be a member of the First Baptist Church. After much prayer I will be baptized again. Oh formalities, how I loathe thee. Hmmmm... don't recall anything else happening.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Adventures in baking


So nothing spiritual or deep, just a blurb. After much fiddling and playing around I finally figured out how to work my oven. I am telling you the blonde hair is a curse, it is not a state of mind, rather a lack thereof. I am the type who will eat the same thing for breakfast every day so long as it is quick and something I can enjoy on the way to class that way I can sleep in as long as possible. So I decided I would experiment with fruit turnovers. I have neither the time nor the patience to go and learn how to make dough so I got some pre-made stuff and apples and decided to give it a try. After about 30 minutes total of prep and baking I have my breakfast for this next week.