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okay… so im not one to go to a hair salon or have a perfect hair cut so i just do it myself. i chop at it when im bored and thin it out and fix things… but i think it has come to a point where i just am practically making this stuff on top of my head what i was most adament against making it, almost an idol really. funny how that happens.
so tomorrow im off to get it properly fixed (yes! by a stylist!) and chopped so that i will not fuss over it for a while. i dont think i have spent money on a hair cut in almost three years.
i do wonder what other things we fight so hard against conforming to that begin to define us (trying so hard NOT to wear what everyone else does… trying so hard to be different)… rather than letting what we are striving for define us.
Thinking of this…these verses popped into my head from 1 Peter…
3Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. 4Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. 5For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful.
This is such a beautiful example (i think it can also really speak to men too) about where we have to be putting our hope. We just have to. Jesus is really calling us to this idea of surrender of ourselves (constant and daily destruction and reconstruction of what we are living for) to a life that He is calling us to.
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in other randomness… while watching American Gangster over break there was a pretty raunchy sex scene. My friend Andrew (who I lovingly call “Dad” and who now has even more recognition to the name because of this) put his hands over my eyes during it and made me plug my ears… it mostly made me giggle… but honestly, I really respected him for doing that. It was really selfless and he had total respect for upholding my purity, especially when oftentimes we don’t even seem to think about what we let into our eyes and ears. Sometimes for women I think we feel like a guy who wants to only protect and respect us (heh no rhyme intended) we twist his intentions around to make him seem like someone who wants us to remain ignorant. So so untrue, ladies.
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my vote for pres? a family man 
honestly… just skimming to my first entry i remembered that article on child abuse and family structure that i had read and was “reenlightened”, to an extent, of the importance of family structure (a community, a support system, a place to learn…). I think we can say that we all long for this “family” wherever we are… a place that we can come crawling back to, sit comfortably in, hold hands with, and also be told to set the table and do chores (yea, i think discipline is a longing we have). Your family knows you best, and still loves you. That redemptive quality is what I wish we would see more… it kills me to see parents brutally strip their children of faith in themselves simply by calling them “stupid” for not knowing how to tie their shoes. I just want to see love in families… and maybe thats where our country’s leaders should be hoping for change… dunno
I want to pray for families more. No man is an island…
Deuteronomy 4:10 Remember the day you stood before the LORD ... when he said to me, "Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children."
How much has your family influenced you… or for that matter maybe how have you not let them influence you (for better or for worse)?
Lordy! I am such an HDFS major… apology, kinda!
Another note… Monica’s birthday was on Saturday beautiful time spent with beautiful encouraging chicas!
here is the wonderful one herself
Kase and the menu…
Me and Linds being sillies
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I realized the other night how much violence makes me feel physically sick… violence stemming from miscommunication, pride, rash decisions, greed… things that might have been worked out without a gun in hand to shoot if only people took their time…
Felt these things while watching the movie “American Gangster” the other night. It’s based on the life of Frank Lucas who imported heroine straight from Vietnam into Harlem… just an interestingly gritty portrayal of a man profiting for his family and friends from a highly demanded need (selling better drugs for less money). The movie was so realistic, especially how the physical (drugs) become the force to fight against. Because so many people with normal human desires and frustrations became entangled in the mess, it was hard to pinpoint who was at fault. Really a thought provoking film… especially for me as someone who wants to understand what, for example, the inward emotions are that provoke drug use and how that cycle continues into addiction, and into the culture of drugs, etc., etc.
First post on this blog.
I used to be an avid xanga-er. Is there a point in time where one upgrades from xanga-ing to blogging? In any case, I like change. Fresh white page and a new name.
Jesus gives me new life, and although I have been a believer for years, I feel that somehow this year is different, that I truly can see why he says that his burden is light. So why not start out on a new place to write new ideas? It is an exciting thing, friends.
To tell you about myself, I am a new creation. The old is gone and the new is come. Jesus calls us to this, and it seems like events from this year and tough situations from years past have now come together to teach me true things about God’s nature. His faithfulness and His desire for a relationship with us. I am happily a junior in Human Development and Family Studies major and Economics minor (a new interest) at Penn State University, and have a passion para la lengua de español, pero no quieres tener clases sobrela. Settling into this idea of enjoying my learning experience and taking advantage of my time here is a new thing to me.
At this point I’m not worried about things post-college. A lot of people have asked me what I want to do after school. I feel so much that my focus should be on the now… that worrying about things post-grad seem unwise. I most definitely will find my way… although, for ideas sake I would like to travel, to speak Spanish, to photograph, to influence children to make a better world, to change lives, to pursue justice for people’s lives, to interact with women from different cultures, to keep on learning… etc. The list is always changing.
I don’t think we realize our potential to influence others for good or for poor, and I want to make people aware of this idea through awareness of ourselves.
I was reading an article today in my local paper (http://www.centredaily.com/news/nation/story/264170.html) about the increase of child abuse coinciding with the increase in cohabitation. The article addressed a few different children who had been killed by their mother’s violent boyfriends, and also policy makers on Bush’s Healthy Marriage Initiative, and other human service workers. I just wonder how these evident problems are going to play out in this upcoming election. Is anyone focusing on relational issues? Families? Something needs to change. Not that I think that having these cohabiting couples get married is going to solve these problems, but how emphasis on healthy relationships is an issue that maybe is too often overlooked?
