Shalom Agape

What the What?????

2007-11-23T16:40:00.000-08:00

I am starting to talk with a wee Northern Ireland accent. It is truth. And it is really funny. Marla and I last night had a full blown conversation, in our newly acquired accent, and when we realized what had just happened...all we could was laugh. It is great. Legend one might say. Just throw in the vocab. and I fit in quite nicely. That is, till my American mind gets the best of me, and I end up saying something like, "Hey yo. Whats up? ....Alright...Word." Then, it is pretty obvious that I am not from around these parts. Its good craic though. What can you say?
New word: Bof!
Context used: "I am French. Therefore, I do not care about what you are saying, or how it affects....literally...whatever."
Times able to use: endless
I highly approve of this word. It is class. Very class.

-Shalom

Carrots + apple = "crapple"

2007-09-30T09:30:00.000-07:00

Tesco is the grocery store here, or as it is otherwise known, the “shop”. It is about a fifteen minute walk from our house, and so when we go there we have to make a conscious effort to remember that we are carrying everything home….therefore…light on the heavy stuff. Well, Marla and I, being completely bored out of our mind one Monday night decide to venture to the shop. When we got there, we noticed a big advertisement for “buy one bag of apples, get the other free”. Score. Next, we noticed another sign for carrots, same deal. So, now we have two bags of apples, and two bags of carrots….hmmmmm…..what on earth do you make with carrots and apples? We now posess the answer. Crapple. A slightly, sweet, fruity, yet vegetable “crumble”, that we think we would perfectly with vanilla ice cream. Yeah…pretty sure that it would rock your face off. For having no clue what we doing, and pretty much making it up as we went….that supper was dang good. Oh yes….
I don’t know why, but it seems that of late I have managed to get myself into situations of pure hilarity. No lie. The other day we went to a pub called the Rotterdam. Thought we could just chill, have a pint, and catch a gig. Catch a gig we did. Out of nowhere, “ the band” walks onto stag and we all look at each other thinking, “this is a joke right?” A group of twelve year olds walk onto the stag and start to rock. It was stunning. Literally. They soloed…a little too much….walked off the stag, got down their knees!!!....and literally had the best time of their lives. It was for sure memorable, not sure I would qualify it the best time ever, but definitely a good craic. Then, in another venture to go check out a gig, Marla and I had our friend Dave drop us off down the way. A little too far to walk at night with crazies out. So, we get to the place we are heading, he lets us off, pulls away….we venture towards the tent, and quickly realize that there is no way we are getting in. For some reason unknown to man, one had to possess a ticket, though the flyer clearly said that this endeavor was free. So, we are standing there, trying to come up with plan B, when we are completely side-winded by this couple…probably in their early thirties. Next we know we are being ushered down the street, toward a different pub, while our two new “accompaniments” are just chatty Kathy. Marla and I look at each other, and are just hanging on for dear life. We get about half a mile away, are standing in some random line for we don’t even know what…..and Marla and I decide…yes…it is time to call Dave. After about a minute of talking to Dave, I turn to look…there is Marla…alone..what?!? Where did the couple go? We both look at each other and think it would a good time to check our pockets…..good to go….alright then. Dave shows up in no time. We are quickly whisked away, and it becomes quite apparent that we can’t last much longer than ten minutes on the streets of Belfast. We are going to have to work on this……

Unexpected Twist

2007-09-08T06:34:00.001-07:00

Derek was telling a story yesterday, and the tune was a familiar one. Anxiety in the church. People telling lies. Secret meetings. Under-handed play. Back biting, and the like. Then, he said something and my head shot straight up. He said, “…..my struggle was not against flesh and blood….the moment it was about the person, not the struggle, I took a step back……people were only upset because people were upset, no one actually knew why……..once they were all gone, we actually could start to do, what we had always wanted to do to begin with….” I thought about this for a long time. It was nothing knew but when you hear it sometimes in a different place, when someone else says it….it can start to sink in better. Then Derek began to talk about forgiveness. It was the first time in my life I have ever heard anyone talk about it in this way. He used an onion to describe it. Saying that forgiveness is like an onion that has many layers, and when something new comes up, you have to take it, deal with it, and peel back that layer. We sometimes think of forgiveness as something that has to be dealt with, and then done. Instant satisfaction, instant healing. But that is not how that works. He said a lot more things about forgiveness. Some I wish I could describe better, and some that were meant for my heart only. But I have been thinking about it….dealing with it. I am glad I decided to come here, to this church that rises so high in stature, but has problems just like the rest. I look around me now, and though I have only been here a week, I have already been surrounded in the love. It is evident that whatever problems were before, have been dealt with. There is new life. Spring has come. To look around here, this place where me, my heart, and all my dealings/trappings are welcome gives me an inexplicably wonderful sense of comfort. And hope. Hope. Hope that new life can begin again.

Things from mi mente

2007-07-05T20:04:00.000-07:00

I always feel like I have a great things to say...and then when I actually go to write them down...it seems that words fail me. I am never quite sure what it was that was so "burning" that it had to be verbalized...

Today, I was at my place of empolyment, and I was cleaning all the drawers in my patient rooms when I thought of something. Oh my word...in about six weeks I will be leaving. To go far away. It was sort of sad because we have become more than co-workers...we are friends. It sort pained me to think that I would leave them....and that I would be replaced. No one likes to think that they are replaceble.

Yesterday I went to the Higginsville fireworks show with two good friends. There was a live band that covered only Beattles songs. Everyone was sitting out on the grass with their lawn chairs, and I was content....sitting in between my friends, with the damp grass beneath my toes and a cool breeze flowing. It was nice. It is werid when you realize contentment. It just sort seems to appear out of the blue....like it is something that you have been striving for, but only attain when you let it go.

I miss my family. It always seems werid when I am the only one left here. It makes me feel like I have to be strong....

I hope that when I am old...I still like to watch fireworks....

Wonderment

2007-06-09T13:23:00.000-07:00

Okay, so have you ever been so involved in the everyday that you forgot to live?

Stopped feeling...stopped caring about things that you normaly care about.

Well...that happened to me. I got so wrapped up in my boring everyday life that I forgot to sing...to listen...to find the hidden beauty in things.

And then I went on a little trip with my sister to Arkansas...and I totally woke up. I lived again. I felt like myself...I was around people who reminded me to feel. To embrace everything possible in life. It was amazing. It was wonderment. It was beginning again.

Sometimes we just need to get away and realize that we are missing out on something before we can enjoy it again.

Oh...and something else really cool. I saw a perfect falling star while I was just gazing at the night sky the other day. I immediately thought to wish for something. And then I realized...I had nothing I needed to wish for. Ahhh Wonderment.

~Shalom

"True Beauty"

2007-05-09T19:18:00.000-07:00

You know what I think is beautiful? How God reveals Himself in so many subtle ways and in the most mundane things so that even the most simple of people could experience that feeling of longing, that sense of something way bigger and out of our control. Like there is something more to life than our own petty, selfish little worlds. No matter how hard the world tries to get rid of His Presence they won't be able to...because to do that they would have destroy their very bodies. Funny that we are actually made in our Maker's image, there is no way that we could escape Him. He is in the trees, the water, the earth, the very air we breath. And yet people still wish to deny him. Why? When you think about it, it's against our very nature to deny God.

Today I was reading a poem that a student in Michigan wrote. This young man talked about nature, and reaching up towards the heavens, and how everything returns to it's natural state someday... and I could just feel this hidden desire, like this kid knew there was something better. Like he could just almost taste it but didn't quite get it all. He wasn't a Christian. And yet he Knew. Isn't that awesome...God doesn't need our help, He wants it, but He definetly doesn't need it to make Himself known.

Sometimes His Presence just hits me, usually when I am totally still, and then I just sit there and enjoy being in the company of my Lord.

Peaceful, and that feeling is with me, I wish I could explain it, but it is totally out of this world, supernatural.

You know..the world has no idea what it is doing to itself, denying itself of this pleasure, of this belonging.
~Shalome

Change

2007-04-29T18:55:00.000-07:00

Well this past weekend was Prom. It was fun and all but it really got me to thinking, especially the senior video. It was focused on saying goodbye to the seniors and even though I am only a sophomore almost all of my friends are older than me, so it made me sad to think that next year so many people would be gone. In fact one of my best friends Katrina is a senior. I realized that just in the next three weeks a whole lot of stuff is going to change. There will be a lot of people that even though I am close to I might never see again. Like the international students that have become my friends..will I really never speak to them in person again after the year is over? It is kind of a crazy thought and it just serves to remind me that change is always around us...good and bad...happy and sad. It has also made me ask myself if I am happy with the decisions I have made this year. For the most part I would say yes, but there are some things that I wish I would have done differently. I don't regret those decisions because those are the ones that I learned from the most, but it still stinks to think that I could be so much happier if I had done something differently. I guess we are supposed to think about these things when it comes to this time of year but it gives me a heavy feeling inside. All I can do is think about all the good times that are still ahead and even though I will miss these people so much and have done so much with them, I can't forget about the future that I still have without them. I am grateful for all the things I have learned this year and there are some times that I know I will never forget.
-Shalom

Bits about Al Gore, Little Miss Sunshine and Missouri

2007-04-21T08:43:00.000-07:00

I don't understand Missouri. Last weekend, I was in a "blizzard". This weekend... not so much. It is a beautiful Saturday, sun-filled, with a slight breeze. What the crazy? I am pretty sure that only in the armpit of the world...Missouri...such randomness can occur. Or maybe it is because of our wreckless consumption of fuel that we have indeed messed up the patterns of weather as Al Gore states in his movie, An Inconvient Truth. I think that Al Gore himself is an inconvient truth. Speaking of movies, Little Miss Sunshine is new favorite. Late jumping on this bandwagon, I have now seen the light and am a proud fan. I am puzzled though. Everyone I heard who talked about this movie would say that it is about a very dysfunctional family....hmmmm...but now that I have seen it...I would indeed agree...but aren't the majority of families who live in America just like that family? Messed up in someway or another? It wouldn't have been such a big hit if it didn't resignate within the hearts of the public. I am sad. I am sad that I see dying and hurting people everyday walk into my clinic, and I don't do much to help. I am sad that the workd I live in is so full of hurt that it seems to be better to not even speak.....
Agape

Nombres

2007-04-14T13:18:00.000-07:00

Okay so we have decided that for you few readers out there it may be confusing as to who is actually writing considering the fact that Mish and I share this Blog. So from now on whenever you see a post written by Shalom, it means that Meg wrote it, and whenever you see a post written by Agape, it means that Mish wrote it. Well, that's all for today folks.

"Rain"

2007-04-10T19:57:00.000-07:00

Rain, Rain, Rain....It seems to fit today so perfectly. It falls from the sky the same way that the tears fall from everyone's faces. The feeling it brings today matches the feeling of regret that I hold in my heart. My Grandparents moved today...all the way to Austen, Texas. They are getting old and need more care so they are moving to live near my Aunt who lives there. I realized that all the time they had been living here I never really took advantage of the chance to get to know them better. I mean, to really know them. I love them and they definitely aren't strangers to me or me to them it just feels as if they have so many experiences, stories, wisdom, and insight that they have never shared with me because I never took the chance to ask them. Well, I guess I might just be thinking these things because they are leaving but it still gives me a weird feeling. I realized for the first time how old and feeble they actually are and that I might never even see them again. I have never lost a grandparent and it is a scary idea to think that they could be gone...possibly soon. How come it takes us so long to realize something that when we finally do, it is too late? Maybe I will feel differently tomorrow and will just say that it is another change coming and going in my life but for now...I'd like to just ponder the bigness of it all. So, this one's for you Grandma and Grandpa...I love you with all my heart.

Here is Moog's now....

2007-04-06T08:02:00.001-07:00

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"Christianity/Coolest family ever"

2007-04-06T07:26:00.000-07:00

Well, it's Easter Break for me now and I have a week off of school....I also have this Norwegian girl named Camilla staying with me. She is the sweetest thing but she is not a Christian. Sometimes I have difficulties figuring out how I should act or what I should say that would be the best witness to her. It's not like she has never heard the Word before...I just want to present it in a different way, a way that is loving, nonjudgemental, but true. So it turns out I haven't changed the way I act, in fact what kind of Christian would I be to act differently or more Saintly...would that not be rather hypocritical. Well, anyways my point is that sometimes we do not even need to say anything, sometimes the best witnesses we can be are when we just stay the same and live for the Lord as much as possible. Works can speak much louder than words...in fact, sometimes they scream.
I have also decided that I have the most B.T. family ever...

2007-04-04T17:33:00.000-07:00

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White???

2007-04-02T20:37:00.000-07:00

My sociology class is so random. I have no idea really why I am taking it...I think I started to panic after Christmas for some reason and felt like it would be a good idea to take one random class. So I did. Well, tonight our teacher looked at us and threw this question in our faces..."What does it mean to you to be white"? Well, kids...after thinking for awhile...
If to be white endows you with some sort of privilege; like citizenship to the States/Britian/Europe...then to be white means you have advantages in almost all aspects of life. You have acess to healthcare, social programs, employment, etc. And then you have a some sort of social responsibility to share this gift. Or maybe to be white means that you have pale skin, and someone else....dark. Or maybe to be means that you speak English, live in the suburbs, drive a SUV, have a kids, a 9 to 5 job, and play with Fido in the yard. Or maybe to be white means that you can get one heck of sunburn....

I am curious about this question. What does it mean to be "white"?

2007-04-01T11:24:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been having a little trouble gathering my thoughts lately. I have a question for you all though...Okay so I have this religion class in my school called Systematic Doctrine, and the teacher of this class is absofreakinlutely ridiculous, because he has no conviction of what he teaches, everything he tells us comes from his knowledge of doctrine and religion and has nothing to do with the heart or even the Bible sometimes. So the way he acts demonstrates a very confusing view of Christianity to nonbelievers, it literally kills me that the stuff he teaches could actually be leading students away from Christ as oppose to bringing them closer to him. So here is my question....Do I as a non-Lutheran in a Lutheran school have the right to confront this supposed man of God and present some of the things I find very offensive as to what he is teaching or do I keep my mouth closed and not voice my convictions? I find that too much religion just twists the picture of a simple but profound relationship with our Creator. Why does there even have to be Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, Catholics, etc. Why can't we all just live as close to the Bible as possible and worship our Lord as a united body.....I guess it all goes back to the beginning when relationships were first screwed up when Adam and Eve committed that first sin. Sometimes it's just all so confusing. Well, if anyone's out there please respond. Oh and just to give credit where credit is due....the pizza with bullets is all Jacob's...thanks Poog.

Ready to Go

2007-03-25T15:44:00.000-07:00

Well Mish...this is my first of many posts to come and I dedicate it solely to you. I have nothing deep or profound to say...just wanting to remind everyone that no matter who you are you are going to have problems...but it's okay because usually if we look hard enough we can find someone who is always there to comfort us because they have been through the very same thing. So no matter what happens to you during your day, remember that there is a friend out there somewhere who is just waiting for you to come find them so you can cry on their shoulder. I have also decided that we do not tell our friends how much they mean to us, so.....Misha, Katrina, Grace, Amanda, and Meg...you all mean the WORLD to me.

Memos to the World

2007-03-24T12:33:00.000-07:00

Today is a day to be amazed. Moog and Mish are now "bloggers". Oh yes. It is exciting. To start off I would like you all to know that this picture really has nothing to do with anything about us. But we do love driftwood (Mish) and hot tea (Moog). Also, we have a list of things that are seriously important to us. We begin:

1. Grapefruits are a lie...we know you have been deceived...but they are really "orange fruits". I mean think about it....they are not overly large grapes...they are huge oranges...hence....orangefruits.
CONUNDRUM- a riddle whose answer contains a pun.
Fountain pens are BT....for future reference...BT means bueno tambien.
PS is no longer an abbreviation for "post script". It now stands for "poop squat" not "piece of sh--."

We'll let you ponder this for now.