Spring is Here!

2 weeks ago, I went with a friend to the Eli Lilly House greenhouses at the IMA to enjoy the first sunny 70 degree day of spring (we have had several since then!).  We brought our cameras b/c we both desperately needed the practice, and here are some of the results:

Favorite Day

I got one of those Q&A email quizzes last week from a friend - you know, the ones that want to know your favorite CD, what's under your bed, vanilla or chocolate, what color underwear you're wearing (gosh, was that embarrassing :)...  One of the questions was what's your favorite day of the week, and tho' I would have expected it to be Saturday or Friday, for obvious reasons, to my surprise, I found in thinking about it that I actually look forward to Sunday the most.  Nathan's worship that always surprises me and lifts me up, the community of our church - the confession & response together as a body, Jason's teaching that never takes for granted that we're all in the same place of understanding, the acknowledgement of each one's place in the body, from the children to the artists :).

This morning it was the personal nature of communion, which we take every Sunday - the challenge of it not becoming a commonplace ritual placed on me as an act of consciousness & grace, rather than a convenience of scarcity & timing.  Several communion servers stand at the front and we approach them row by row to receive the bread and wine/grape juice.  This morning I received the bread from our pastor, Jason, who miraculously always seems to know everyone's name, including mine.  This morning he looked at me, as I'm sure he did with each participant, and said, "Jennifer, you are justified by the finished work of Christ."  

I don't know why it was so profoundly moving & suddenly real to me this morning, since it is a phrase I have grown up with in church.  I think maybe because it was spoken to me personally, physically, specifically, an aspect that seems lacking in my faith & that I continue to wrestle with; maybe because I have been on several levels testing my freedom in Christ, and have recently found myself looking over the edge of temptation's precipice - to be affirmed that my acceptance and standing is not based on my choice in those times draws me further from the edge, not closer to it, and brings profound comfort, maybe what I've been looking for in the first place.  I think my response was also grounded in Nathan's song he offered as we came forward:

The gospel is all I have.

The gospel is all I have.

No well-kept presentable life to display.

The gospel is all I have.

The gospel is all I have.

The gospel is all I have.

No courage.  No virtuous bold use of faith.

The gospel is all I have.

Well, the Lord God Almighty leapt down from the sky,

and he made himself nothing and served till he died,

so that I, just a beggar, at the Judgement might cry,

"The gospel is all I have!"

The gospel is all I have.

The gospel is all I have.

No merit to offer.  No excuses to make.

The gospel is all I have.

The gospel is all I have.

The gospel is all I have.

No clever persuasive words I could say.

No debt I could work off.  No bribe I could pay.

No goodness.  No promise of love that won't fade.

The gospel is all I have.

The gospel is all I have.

In the midst of several weeks of desperately wanting something beyond what I have right now, today I understand, at least for this moment, that Jesus is the satisfaction of all that I am longing for - my justifier, my defender, the knower of my heart, the lover of my soul.

Family

I was just catching up on reading family/friends' blogs and got "homesick" reading my stepmom's blog (www.jacksonwanderings.blogspot.com).  I didn't realize how much I missed them, and how much I can't wait to see them in May! (& Jeff & Ade :)  God is good isn't he?  I'm so thankful tonight for the love & fun of friends & family, and the added sweetness of sharing truth & reality in Him.  Thursday I get to spend some time with Lori, my "adopted mom", as she flies out of Indy to Cali to see Jeff & Ade & the kids.  I'd normally work during the time she will be here, but by the blessing of God, I have 3 1/2 hrs for an early lunch to catch up and be blessed by her sweet fellowship!  I miss my friends & family so far away, but that makes the time together that much sweeter...5 weeks to California & Dad & Becky & Marshall!!!

My only birthday on Easter, ever...

Carl & Lori sent me a very sweet card for my birthday, along with an explanation of why we will never in our lifetimes see another Easter this early, and therefore, I will never have another birthday on Easter!

My 34th was very special, not only because of Easter, but also because I went to Michigan to see Dawn at Camp Michindoh!  It was very fun getting her out of the camp and to Battle Creek for some shopping for her new apartment in the health center (she is now officially the camp's health officer - if you need your blood pressure checked, she's your girl :).  Also for dinner Saturday night at Rosalie's, a local public house that reminded me strongly of Yesterday's in Granger in decor, if not in food. 

Mostly very good bar food, but we had sandwiches & wings & enjoyed ourselves thoroughly :).  Then to church on Sunday, one that Dawn had never been to that turned out to be charismatic! :)  But still a very special time to celebrate Resurrection Sunday.  Then back to camp to fix dinner (pork chops, fresh asparagus, gemstone potatoes, deviled eggs, birthday cake & strawberries), and to wander around camp...Michindoh is beautiful, with stone & timber buildings, rocky streams & hillsides, and the lake - especially with 8" of snow on the ground & blue skies & sunshine.  Plus they have the largest water slide I have ever seen outside of an amusement park! (for use in summer of course :)

Then goodbye and back home to do homework and start another week of work & school - tomorrow, a "field trip" to my metalsmithing prof's studio to check out the fun tools :).  It's a beautiful week here, tho' chilly, with blue skies & sunshine, a welcome change from the dull winter grays - spring is on the way!

Hope you have a blessed week, and continue to live in the awareness of Resurrection Day.

First project...

This is a photo of my first official project for metalsmithing...a copper necklace for my chain project - individual leaf forms riveted together, with varied size rivets and soldered wire on the surface for texture.  I think I got a B on it - kind of bit off more than I could chew in the time I had, so there are some things I wish I had spent more time on.  But overall, I like it! :)

Soon to come...the LiteBrite ring! (for my toy-inspired project...)

Happy St. Patrick's Day! (Belated...)

I tried to post this last week and had trouble w/ my internet...

Right now I'm wishing I were with my friends at Fiddler's Hearth in South Bend, crammed wall to wall, listening to one of the best Irish bands I've heard, Millish!  And eating fish & chips from yesterday's SB Tribune, having a Woodchuck or Irish coffee... :)

But as a close second, I'm thankful to be home, listening to the rain and thunderstorm outside, one of my favorite things, and contemplating my next project for metalsmithing class, a wearable toy or toy-inspired adornment.

So far my favorites are a Lite-Brite ring (from one of my sister's favorite toys), a pick-up stix bracelet (kind of dangerous, but oh so useful in a dark alley), or the one I think I'm going to go with...you remember those little square plastic looms that you used stretchy cloth bands to make potholders with??  I think I want to do a smaller, curved version of that in silver, as a hinged  bracelet, that uses rubber bands, with the hook as the closure - that way you can actually play with it :)  I'll keep you posted, and hopefully soon, post photos of my first completed, original project, due Wednesday - yipes! :)

It's been fun to go back & remember some of my favorite toys in researching this project - Etch-A-Sketch, Operation, Mr. Potato Head (I'd LOVE to do this one, but I don't think I have enough time...), Tinker Toys, Scrabble, Hungry Hungry Hippo, Dominoes, Slinky, a ducky pull toy, Cranium, Sorry, Chutes & Ladders, Springbok puzzles, that bouncy ball thing we used for transportation, also my Big Wheel! :)

What was your favorite childhood toy?

My Amazing Sister

Sorry to leave everyone hanging earlier this week :)  Dawn just finished her EMT training and while on ride-a-long in the ambulance (I think I have this right) they ended up in the emergency room and the nurse/doctor on duty had Dawn perform chest compressions on a man who had had a heart attack.  I think she said they worked on him for 15 minutes, but got him back and he is recovering!  I hope she doesn't have to use this training  at camp, but I feel safer knowing she can (except I'm not sure how I feel about my sister being able to break my ribs if necessary :)