pictures (and not JUST of food!)

I realize that Bech and I are very bad at taking pictures of actual people. So we took a picture of ourselves before a party the other day...here we are!

And here are pictures of our sushi from last Sundays lunch. We've made it two other times (well I think Bech has made it a few more than that by himself) this year. I finally feel like we are getting semi good at it. I mean, not really good, but maybe we are near having guests over to eat our sushi.

My inside out rolls!

Our lunch. Bech made the rolls on the left...amazing! He cooked shrimp Japanese style, put it on top of a bed of rice with a very thin slice of lemon in between.

And of course, I needed some ponsu and wasabi to dip it in!

Of course, not every roll turned out okay...here is our island of misfit sushi!

a few random things...

1. I have absolutely loved watching "Glee" this year. If you haven't gotten into this show, you should. It is AMAZING!

I love musicals, and this show is sort of like watching a musical. Last night was the finale, and they sang this song:

You really need to see them singing it on the show...AMAZING!

2. We are moving in less than 2 months...ahhh! So much to do! And part of that is working on selling my car.

I know we seem crazy to do this, because we just went through selling our car in Malawi last summer.

But we are going to become a one car family in Vermont. So back to selling a car. It should be a lot easier this time because

there won't be the whole currency thing.

3. It is summer in Mississippi and I love it. Even though it is sizzling every day, there are few things better than summer

in the South. The crepe myrtles, magnolias, and hydrangeas are in bloom. Every time I'm in Brookhaven

I go get a snowcone (seriously, Brookhaven snowcones are sooo good!). Plus there have already been some good

layout days.

4. I have a new vegetable I love...celery. I used to hate it, but now I love it! Sort of like I feel about tomatoes.

Okay, this is the most boring post ever and my mother will probably tell me to find something more interesting to write about.

So maybe I'll put some pictures up of food tomorrow to really frustrate her :)

our trip to vermont!

We had a wonderful time in Vermont! It is beautiful there right now. Except for one rainy day, it was in the mid-80's.

We were both a little hesitant the first day there. We felt so foreign, even if we didn't necessarily look like it! But the second day there was great. We were able to meet with two different families. The first was our future pastor and his wife. He is the pastor of the only PCA church in Vermont. We loved them and they made us so excited to move here! Then we were able to go to my professor's house. He and his wife live on and run a farm (well, I guess she mostly runs it because he is teaching). The farm is about an hour from Burlington. The drive down was gorgeous...I can't wait to explore rural Vermont! The family was so kind and welcoming.

We found where we are living...the graduate student housing. When we first looked at it a few months ago, we thought it was too far from the school. But there is a bus that goes from the school to the apartments (since we are going to sell my car I need to be able to get to school some other way). Plus the apartments are a lot closer than we thought.

We mostly just spent a lot of time exploring the town of Burlington. We ate tons of good food as well. I could do a whole post on the food there, so maybe I will. But I am ready to go to bed now, so I will just share a few pictures:

Lake Champlain

A marina at the lake

Church Street--a pedestrians only part of town with great shops and restaurants

The quad at UVM

some of the buildings at UVM

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.