tattoos!

I have wanted a tattoo since I was in high school. I always wanted one on my left wrist, where it could be easily seen but also easily covered up. I used to want to get the word "doulas" in greek, which means "bondservant."

When Bech and I were engaged, we started talking again about tattoos. We had picked out Isaiah 62 for our wedding. You can read the whole chapter here. It's a beautiful passage about the redemption of Israel and how she is as a bride.

Here's my favorite part of the passage:

³ You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD's hand,
a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

⁴ No longer will they call you Deserted,
or name your land Desolate.
But you will be called Hephzibah,
and your land Beulah;
for the LORD will take delight in you,
and your land will be married.

⁵ As a young man marries a maiden,
so will your sons marry you;
as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride,
so will your God rejoice over you.

The two words that Israel will now be called are Hephzibah and Beulah. Hepzibah means "my delight is in her," and Beulah means "married" or "bride."

We talked for a while about each of us getting one of those words on our wrists. We were planning on possibly getting the tattoos on our honeymoon. Of course, I chickened out! But we didn't totally forget about getting them...

Double decker weekend, we were with two girl friends of mine. We all started talking about tattoos and how we wanted some, and decided that that night was the night! (I promise...we were sober...I know going to get a tattoo at 11 on a Saturday night makes us sound drunk...but we weren't!) Bech decided to wait a few more days so he could carefully design his, but I knew that it was then or never!

So here they are:

Here is mine, Beulah.

And Bech's, Hephzibah.

And ours both together. Our fonts are different. Also, his is bigger and lower down on his arm.

I really do love having a tattoo. I was worried that I would wake up the next morning, take one look at it, and immediately regret it. But I didn't!

I know I am by no means a tattoo expert, but I do have some advice. You should only get a tattoo if you have thought about it for some time (it doesn't have to be seven years, but at least longer than a week or two) and know exactly what you want. Don't get a tattoo just because you like the idea. Think really carefully about what you are getting and where you are getting it. Think about how you will explain it to people around you. It does change peoples perceptions of you, and that is something you have to deal with!

RUF music

I talked a post or two ago about the new music at summer conference. I also have talked in the past about how important I think hymns are in the church today. I thought I would share a couple of my favorite RUF cds, in case anyone is interested in starting to listen to hymns set to guitar music.

This first one came out in 2005. "The Gadsby Project" was released by Red Mountain Church in Birmingham (they also released a cd called "Depth of Mercy" which is great). The whole cd is made up of hymns from the Gadsby hymnbook. I loved this cd when it came out, and am getting into it again. Some of my favorite songs are "King of Saints," "Pensive, Doubting, Fearful Heart," "Friend of Sinners," and "Come Boldly."

Here are some of the lyrics from "Come Boldy":

Come boldy to the throne of grace,

For Jesus fills the throne;

And those he kills he makes alive;

He hears the sigh or groan.

Poor bankrupt souls, who feel and know

The hell of sin within,

Come boldly to the throne of grace;

The Lord will take you in.

This next cd, "Love Unknown," is one of the oldest RUF cds released. Auburn RUF released this cd. Not only does it have a lot of the first RUF songs, it also has a few that aren't often sung.

My favorite song on this cd is by far "We Rest on Thee." Other great ones include "Be Thou My Vision," "Ten Thousand Times Ten Thousand," "Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted," and "Just As I Am."

If you are interested in RUF music, these are the cds to start with. You can by the Auburn cd here. The Red Mountain cd is here.

I didn't talk about Indelible Grace, but they release amazing cds as well. Go here to check them out. Finally, the ruf website has lots of resources on their websites, including the online hymnbook. It has almost every RUF style song on it, with guitar chords, piano music, lyrics, and a demo.

summer conference

I just got back from a week at the beach for RUF summer conference. We took 6 students and had a wonderful time!

Here we are on Wednesday night. We went out to Cantina Laredo by San Destin, then hung out in San Destin for a little while.

KatieMac and me!

The rest of the pictures are from the dance party...there is really no explanation.

The week really was amazing. We got to hear Jeffrey Lancaster speak at night. As soon as they put the talks online, I will put a link up. I got to hear some great morning seminars as well. I went to a 4 day seminar by the RUF guy at Emory, Hunter Bailey, on why people don't believe. I went to a two day about discipleship by Paul Boyd (I think he might be from MTSU), and a 2 day one called "Designed for Dignity" by Kevin Teasley (Wake Forest RUF).

The talks were amazing, but one of the best parts was the music. We sang about 3 to 4 songs every morning and 5 to 6 songs every evening. When you have that many people singing, its going to be incredible. We sang a lot of new songs. My new favorites are "Father Long Before Creation," "King of Saints," "All Must be Well," and "Come Boldly." I was happy to known that "King of Saints" was on a cd I already owned (I must have just been skipping over it), "The Gadsby Project." But I picked up Indelible Grace 4 and 5 so I could have the rest on cd.

It was a really good time with the students...I got to spend good quality time with the girls. And I get to do this again this July, for RYM. I am chaperoning Faith Pres' youth group. Richie Sessions is the main speaker and I cannot wait!

ansley's birthday dinner...

I never upload pictures, so I thought I would add some. This is from Ansley's 17th birthday dinner.

I have been very bad about posting lately! I do have some fun (albeit unbelievable) pictures to post, but that will have to be in the next few days. I guess I'll just give a random list of things going on:

1) I am going to ruf summer conference next week...I am so excited! A whole week at the beach? Um, yes please! It will be wonderful!

2) I am currently obsessed with this show:

I hold Courtney at fault completely! But really, how can you not love Booth and Bones? Just for the record, Courtney, if you will let me pretend to be Veronica Mars, you can be Bones. Okay?

3) My Plato class is done! Yay! Now, as far as schoolwork is concerned, this summer I am going to finish reviewing Latin (Thank goodness for Wheelocks) and maybe learn French.

For my PhD., I have to know both French and German. I can learn one while getting my masters, and one while getting my PhD. But I also can go ahead and learn French, test out of it, and start working on German next fall. So I would like to do that...not sure if I'll be able to?

By the way, any French speakers out there got any textbook suggestions? I have it narrowed down to Vis a Vis and Contacts.

4) We are moving to Vermont in less than 3 months...that is insane!!! I am getting really nervous, but I think it will be great.

Okay, that's about all I have to add today. But really, good pictures soon!