The world would be so serious without kids and their awkward social skills

Today at the airport I was waiting for my baggage when I made eye contact with a little boy maybe 5 or 6 years old and I smiled. He walked straight over to me and we had the following conversation:

Boy: What are you?

Me: What?

Boy: What are you?

Me: (thinking I misheard him) Who am I?

Boy: Are you a boy or a girl?

[I laughed while his shocked sister (maybe?) called him back over to her]

Boy: Are you Alex?

Me: No...

Boy: Because you look just like her [at which point his sister grabbed him and pulled him away]

I laughed again and smiled at his sister, at which time his little brother, maybe 3 years old, walks over and says, "Hi! What's your name?"

I told him, but barely before his sister grabbed him and pulled him away too.

We then acted like nothing had ever happened...in typical airport fashion.

I love kids!

Happy Birthday Jack!

Paradise has up and flown away for now

But hope still breathes and truth is always true

And just when we think it's almost over

Love has the final move

~Chris Rice~

Third Time's a Charm!

WINNER!!

Writing challenge #3:

Write a letter to a friend about a book that cannot stop laughing.

This might be a tough one so I'm going to give you guys one WHOLE week to work on it! Voting starts next Saturday at noon! Get your creativity on!

More than flying elephants...

I decided to post a response to the last assignment in a new post all its own rather than a super long comment. Amazingly, this silly assignment got me thinking. I sat down to type a response and wound up thinking about it for like an hour. What would I ACTUALLY wish for if I met a car (or anything) that could grant me wishes? I immediately thought of money - pay for school, my parents' morgage, help my siblings out, donate to charity, the works. Then I thought that I really couldn't live with that. I mean who could be satisfied with a nice house and no debt knowing that they could have gotten rid of cancer or aids or world hunger? So I thought I'd wish for that...but then my mind went to God. He has the power to do all those things, but He doesn't. I know that for a lot of people that's what turns them off from God: they just don't understand how He lets that happen, or think He really doesn't have the power to change it. I understand that. But if there is one thing I believe about God it is this:

The Lord is compassionate and gracious

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

(Ex. 34:6, Neh. 9:17, Ps. 86:15, 103:8, 145:8, Joel 2:13, Jonah 4:2)

I believe with all my heart that God is in control and that despite all the evil and suffering He is good and loves people more then we could ever begin to imagine. God loves the people in this world far more then I ever could ... and He allows suffering. It's not to say that He causes suffering, or that it does not break His heart, but He does not magically wish it away.

How then could I then wish away what God has allowed? I don't know why it happens, but I believe that everything that happens is in His control and ultimately serves a purpose. So, unless God told me that it was His will for me to wish away suffering from the world, I don't think I could do it. I would REALLY hope He would tell me that, but...even I can see how good comes from pain.

What would I the wish for?

Ultimately, I had this picture of me sitting in this car, having all this run through my head, hands on the steering wheel, debating what I would do. And my hour of pondering came to an end as I pictured myself getting out of the car and walking away.

All that to say I wound up writing a poem about it (I'm in an American Lit class, what can I say? it's in my brain) because I felt that I couldn't accurately describe what I felt just through writing. So, if what I just wrote made no sense, maybe this will help. Or maybe it'll just be confusing, I don't know. But I like it so I thought I'd share it :)

A stroll through a deserted wood

led me to a peculiar stump

I sat to ponder

sat and thought of what I would

If there were such a thing as luck

a leprechaun

or magic lamp

A cure for all, the end of pain

eternal hope, some greater gain

something only if I could

Yet what would I obtain?

What would I attain?

Struggle, purpose, triumph lost

Love - sacrifice and choice

Absence only, knowing

wishing nothing.

Take 2

WINNER!!! Well, I think I have to give this one to Mom and Joel because they both voted for each other. So, the two of you will have to collaborate somehow and tell me what numbers to do next. And by collaborate I mean that the first one to comment with some numbers is the one I'll use. Let me know!!

UPDATE #2: The voting is extended until tomorrow at noon so that more people can vote because right now it's a tie :)

UPDATE: I've decided to make this more interesting and sweeten the winning pot a bit. Therefore, the winning person will get to pick the next assignment by giving me 3 numbers between 1 and 25 (ex. 18, 3, 25). Those three numbers will be the three pages I use to make the next assignment. That will allow you to repeat certain parts of assignments and such by picking the same number as someone else. (Ex. Let's say you love flying elephants but couldn't think of a creative response to that particular post. The page numbers for that one were 8 - write a thank you note from, 1 - an elephant, 15 - that can fly. So if you won you could pick, for example: 16, 1, 15...which would change the beginning but keep the flying elephant part). Got it? Good. No? well then you just pick 3 numbers if you win and I'll handle the rest :)

Well, no one voted for the last post...so I guess no one wins :) But maybe your creativity was simply not strong enough for flying elephants. Here's #2...voting starts at noon on Tuesday!

Describe what you would do if you met a car that can grant wishes.

Bring it on.

UPDATE: Voting ends Friday (tomorrow) at 4pm. So far, the only vote is invalid because someone voted for their own. However, both responses made me laugh, so I like them both :)

So, I was recently challenged about my lack of blogging, so I decided to update. The problem with blogs is that when you're busy you just don't have time to write, so unless something really exciting happens you're not likely to do it. I was trying to think of something fun and clever to write about but just couldn't think of anything. However, I did remember how much fun the riddles were (for me, at least) because so many people got to participate. So that got me to thinking about creating another "interactive" blog post. Now this might totally bomb, but I have this little kids' creative writing book in which you can choose 3 phrases at random, put them together, and it makes a silly, easy writing assignment. I thought that would be the perfect way to get people involved and hear some amazingly funny stories (especially since Joel's stories have become famous through the whole riddle thing). I will post stories also when I can, but I will probably be mostly moderating.
Here's the rules:
1.) I will give you a certain amount of time for each assignment, after that we vote on who has the best one.
2.) Submit as many entries for the same post as you want.
3.) Vote for your favorite, but not your own, by simply saying so in a comment.
4.) Winners recieve awesomely sweet prizes (thier triumphant picture on the blog)

READY?!?!?! ok, here's the first one:

Write a thank-you note from an elephant that can fly.

You have until noon on thursday (4/8) then voting begins :)

Conviction Anyone?

Yesterday my church handed out books for the small groups that go along with the sermon series we're in now. I'm not in a small group but I grabbed one and started using it for my devotions. I say "started" because I got a whole 2 sentences into the book before I had to stop. It was one of those moments where the profound truth and conviction of a question just caught me totally off guard. Then after I had recovered from my shock (and fallen on my face before God) I went on to read the rest of the page and was even more deeply affected. Since then what I read has been tumbling over and over in my mind and changing the way I look at practically everything.
It's not that these statements are new, like I never knew this before, but they struck me in a way that I'm not even sure I can explain. So instead of trying to explain it, I'll just share them with you.

The page started off like this:

" 'I count everything as loss.' Money as loss, food as loss, looks as loss, friends as loss, family as loss, job and success as loss, graduation as loss.

"Everything is a loss in comparison with the treasure that Christ has become for me."

Then, the question:


"How do you make Christ look great in your life, so that you don't waste your life?"



"Money is given to you so that you might use money in a way that shows money is not your treasure. Christ is.

"Food is given to you so that you might eat in a way that makes it clear that food is not your treasure. Christ is.

"Friends and family are given to you so that you might live with them in a way that makes it plain to the world that they are not your treasure. Christ is.

"Computers, toys, houses, land and cars are given to you so that you might use them in a way that makes it plain to the world that these are not your treasure. Christ is.

"The way we display the supreme worth of Jesus is by treasuring him above all things and then making choices which make the joy we have in his supreme worth manifest.

"And if he is not that treasure for you, pray - all night if you have to - that your heart would be so changed that you would now treasure Jesus above everything in you life."

That hit me to the core. To love Christ so deeply that everything I do draws attention to him...that's the life that I want. I'm appalled at how short of this my life falls, yet I thank God that I am totally incapable of doing anything right and only have to trust Him to work in me.

So, that's been my prayer and thought for the past two days, just pondering what my life would actually look like if I lived that out.

**All the quoted material in this post is from the small group booklet my church handed out. I'm not sure how to cite an unpublished booklet so I'll just paraphrase the introduction: this booklet, titled [IN]VEST, was written by a team of talented people from Park Community Church, in Chicago, IL**

The Saga Continues...

I know, I know, "part 4?!!? are you serious??"

But THIS post is one of hope!!

Today I finally saw the vending machine guy!!! He was refilling the machine as I walked back to my room and so I casually (meaning that I stumbled over myself and he probably didn't understand half of what I said) mentioned to him that the Famous Amos dispenser was broken. He was super nice and said "Ok! Thanks for telling me!"
I've yet to test it out - I haven't had any change - but my hopes are restored and my faith renewed! The next time I write about Famous Amos's chocolate chip cookies it will most likely be a story of triumph and satisfaction!
Hooray!!
Anyway, I thought you might like to know.


Oh, and by the way, the philosophy idea sparked some heated debate, which was fun, but it also involved a lot of mental work so unless it is something you really wanted to hear I was going to abandon the idea. I will most definitely bring it back though if any of you really enjoyed it and wanted to debate philosophy.

I love it when God shows off!

I love those moments when God reminds me that he knows better than I do.
The other day I was lamenting/pondering that Christian music is so often cheesy/corny/poorly made/lacking musical talent/etc. I mean, if we have communion with the Creator of beauty and music, shouldn't the music in the Christian community be infinitely more beautiful than secular music? I concede that it is much easier to find beautiful, meaningful lyrics in Christian music, but the intrumentals...not so much. I mean, I love a number of Christian bands, but excellent Christian music is hard to come by, at least when it comes to more modern styles.


All that to say, this week was one of those times when God seemed to remind me that I have no idea about anything at all. This week I had the privilege of listening to Benjamin and Stephen Lynerd, Jazz musicians who use thier amazingness for the glory of God. Their songs (at least the few that I've heard) are fun to listen to, and amazingly several of them are Christian worship songs, not to mention the incredible talent of these brothers on the vibes and piano. A friend of mine said that the vibes seemed pretty lame when we saw them set up before the performance and I agreed. But after hearing and watching the Lynerds, I have a new respect for the vibes and a new hope in Christian music. It was absolutely amazing! The vibes just might be my new favorite instrument. I never thought the beauty of piano music could be improved but God proved me wrong yet again.

God: 2 billion 78 Me: 0

Finally Exempt

I'm definitely a person that builds things up in my mind, imagining that they are going to be a lot worse or better than they really are. Fortunately, it's usually the former and not the latter so I'm not disappointed too often. Unfortunately I do wimp out of things fairly easily because I'm sure they're going to be really difficult.
Example: At school we have to wear IDs. After 2 semesters on campus you get a sticker on your ID that lets the desk workers know that you are curfew exempt so that you don't have to sign in. I could have gotten a sticker last semester...but I heard that you had to provide proof that you'd been on campus 2 semesters and I didn't know what that proof would be. In my mind the conversations went something like this:

"Hi, I need a curfew exemption sticker."
"Do you have proof that you've been here for two or more semesters?"
"No..."
"Didn't you read the e-mail and the signs, Dummy?"
"Yeah but..."
"Well then why are you here without the papers?!"
"Uh..."
"Thanks for wasting my time. Come back when your brain's developed a little more."
"Ok. Thanks. Sorry. Bye."

People in my imagination are really mean.

Anyway, this uncertainty was enough to make me put it off...not a problem because I rarely need to stay out after curfew and when I did I just signed in (after all, what could they do to me? I can't run out of late minutes! I don't have any!) But then someone mentioned a limit to the number of times you can sign in and I started to panic a little every time I had to sign in.
Would this be it? Would I get sent to the dean? What would happen? Would the desk worker call me a Dummy too and revel in the thought of my stupid procrastination from getting a simple sticker?!? Now I had uncertainty on both ends!! What would I do?!?!

Well, I finally pulled up my bootstraps and decided I would risk the humiliation and try to go get a sticker. After a couple weeks and a boost in my confidence from a friend telling me that she just "walked in" without any proof and got a sticker, I finally went to the STUDENT DEVELOPMENT OFFICE (dah-nah-DAH-NAH!!!!)

But right outside the office door there was a sign addressed to students desiring a curfew exemption sticker. A sign that said

"Second Semester students:

Please provide a transcript as proof that you have attended MBI for two semesters."*

*Direct quote only from my brain...the actual sign sounded much more professional

Oh No! The friend I had talked to was a junior! Of course she didn't have to provide any proof!

I paused uncertainly outside the open office door.

Should I risk it?
Would I be a complete idiot to walk right past the sign and ask for a sticker without proof that I has been here for more than two semesters?
Would the man laugh at me?
Call me names?

WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!?!?!

Fortunately, God sometimes allows me to use the curse of laziness to my own advantage.
"Well, I'm already here..."

I thought about having to go all the way back to my room for proof.

Nope. Too far. Too much trouble.

I walked through the door.

"Excuse me?"
"Yes?"
"I need a curfew exemption sticker."
"Can I see your ID?"
[I hold my ID out to him]
"You'll have to take it off."
"Oh. right. sorry"
[He flips through a binder as I hand my ID to him]
"Rebecca?"
"Yeah."
"This is your third smester?"
"Yep."
[Awkward pause as he starts rubbing some sort of liquid on my ID and I think, "Wait, I'm a sophomore and this is spring semester." I count to make sure.]
"Oh, actually this is my fourth semester."
"Fourth semester?"
"Yeah."
"ok"
[He searches a little for his stickers and sticks one on. ]
"Here you go."
"Thanks."

SO anti-climactic.

Philosophy on the Brain

Lately I've been studying a lot for my philosophy quiz and it has just totally absorbed my mind. So, I thought I would torture my few blog readers even more by telling you all about the complexities of Philosophy. Well, at least what I've learned so far. If you don't know philosophy, you can look it up to try to discover what I'm talking about or you can just sit back and enjoy the ride through this complicated thing called argument.

Apparently, it would seem that there are no valid arguments that are not fallacies. Now, considering this is an argument in and of itself, I am aware that someone at some point will probably be able to point out the fallacy in my logic, thus proving the validity of my point.

Anyway, there are all these different types of fallacies that make an argument unreliable. After studying these for a while I came to the conclusion that all arguments are fallacies and that one can only believe in absolute truth, it cannot be proven (which sounds heretical I know, but at least from what I've learned so far, it's true). Basically Philosophy teaches you that you can know nothing for certain except what you believe...and even belief isn't certain knowledge. Thus the complexity of it all.

I digress. Fallacies. Last year in speech class I learned how to make an argument by appealing to authority or the emotions, or a number of different options. This year in Philosophy I am learning that those were all fallacies. This is really complicated to explain so for the sake of our education I will most likely spend the next few days selecting one fallacy and explaining it. I'm sure you have much better things to do than argue about Philosophy, so I understand if you all stop reading my blog, but I'm finding it fascinating and would like to share the complexity of it all with you as I journey through it.

Feel free to point out the errors in my logic...that's the fun of it!

Stay tuned for more Philosophy fun!

Can You Handle the Heat? Riddle #5

UPDATE: For those of you still trying to solve this one...it might be helpful to go back and read the comments. I've been trying to give you extra clues in my responses to narrow down the possibilities :)

Congratulations! You solved the hardest riddle so far! Now that you've had some experience, let's see how you do on the second "mystery" riddle. This one is from my hilarious friend Matt and it's one of my new favorites.

For those of you who may need a refresher: a "mystery" riddle is one that requires the person answering to ask questions in order to determine the correct answer out of a plethora of possibilities. However, everything in the question itself gives you a clue. Good luck!

A man is dead in a phone booth.

The only thing in there with him is his fishing gear.

How did he die?

WINNER!!!

Riddle #4

From my good friend Kelley, who practically had to tell me before I figured it out.

A dead man is lying in a cornfield

with a straw in his hand.

How did he die?

WINNER!!!

Correct answer: The man jumped from a plane without a parachute because there weren't enough for everyone. Why him? He drew the short straw :)

A Break from Riddles: Famous Amos Saga III

Yes, unfortunately it's true.

This story has a part 3.

So, as usual, in the midst of studying a glorious, terrible craving for Famous Amos's amazing chocolate chip cookies came over me. Instantly, I was worried. Considering my past experience this is my natural reaction now. I fortunately had a dollar at the ready and quickly grabbed it and headed downstairs for the machine. It also just happened that I needed to print a paper so I stopped on the first floor, printed my paper, and tried to use the stairs to the basement (because only losers take the elevator from 1 to the basement.) That's where the problems started.

As I've done many, many times before, I stuck my key in the lock and started to turn it. Unfortunately, the door had other ideas. I tried my key a few more times but eventually gave up. My friend had had the same problem earlier that day so I figured they had changed the lock and went to the desk worker to see what the deal was.

She was puzzled as well and told me that she had used her key on that door multiple times that day and it worked fine. I thanked her and went back to the door to try again, although it took a little longer to get there because I was only about 2 feet tall.

This time I was determined! I tried everything I could possibly imagine to get my key to go into that lock. No matter what I did it always went in half way and stopped. "Am I crazy? am I using the wrong key? maybe I'm turning it the wrong way. maybe I'm not pushing on it enough? Maybe my key is bent or something. Maybe they changed it and gave me the old key by mistake." I decided that something HAD to be wrong with my key and went back to the desk worker and asked if I could try her key.

This time I was certain it would work and I could blame it on my broken key.

But once again, I met with disappointment.

"drat! It IS me! I AM a spaz!"

Sheepishly I went back to the desk worker and gave her her key, "I guess it's just me" and ashamedly got in the elevator to go down. 1 floor. *sigh*



BUT IT DIDN'T END THERE!


Oh no! The evil vending machine has returned!! It ate my dollar! Again!! my...uh...third one.
This time I almost expected it. almost. "Surely they've fixed it by now!" They didn't.
"Well, they're never going to fix it if no one says anything, right?"

I ashamedly headed back to the girl at the desk. To my shame she was on the phone saying, "yeah, she's here! She just walked in." she hung up, then, "that was the maintenence guy, he said he'd be here soon."

"oh, ok."

[awkward pause]

"uh, do I have to be here when he comes? (because I was planning on hiding my face from all humanity from now on)"

"Well, I guess not. He just wanted to know if you were still here."

"oh."

[awkward pause]

"Well, I guess I'm just the problem child today... the vending machine just ate my dollar. Is there something I can do about that?" (I did NOT mention my previous experience... "This has never happened before! it was so unexpected! how dare a vending machine take my dollar. Just this one. Not any others. Nope. I didn't know this might happen. I am a victim! Fool me once it did!)

"You can talk to food services in the basement. They handle refunds and that sort of stuff."

"oh, ok! Thanks!"

[push the button for the elevator...wait awkwardly while she sits behind me at the desk]

I have no intention of going to food services. Why? "uh, hi. The vending machine is broken. I know this because i've lost $3 to it. What's that? uh yes, I did put the dollars in at three seperate times. Yes, it was for the same item all three times. Yes, I am a student here. No, I'm sure it wasn't an accident. Well, I'm sure the president will appreciate your input on the increasing the difficulty of the applications. Thanks for your time."

Stay tuned for Part 4!

(just kidding. If there actually is a part 4 you will probably never see me again because I will hide myself from humanity in hopes of creating a more intelligent world.)

(You're welcome.)

Riddle #3

I heard this riddle from Mr. Whitaker on Adventures in Odyssey and it's my favorite one to say, becasue it rhymes :)

As I was going to St. Ives

I met a man with 7 wives

the 7 wives had 7 sacks

the 7 sacks had 7 cats

the 7 cats had 7 kits*

Kits, cats, sacks and wives,

How many were going to St. Ives?

*"kits" means kittens...not first aid or sewing kits

WINNER!!!

Riddle #2

My personal favorite:

You're in a room with no doors or windows

and only a table and a mirror...

how do you escape?

WINNER!!

time: 1 hour

Why yes, I AM the Riddler (just reformed)

So, my roommate and I had a long discussion involving basically all the riddles we could think of and it was immensely entertaining so I thought I'd share the joy with you :) I will give you one riddle at a time and when you answer it I'll give the next one and so forth...
The first one is from Amber. It took me about 15 minutes and a lot of clues before I figured it out but it only took the one guy at lunch about 30 seconds. We'll see how you compare! And no fair looking at the comments before you've guessed! The first person to guess it gets their picture on the blog with a big WINNER title. And really, is there any honor greater than that?
Here it is:

What goes up a chimney down

but can't go down a chimney up?

P.S. NO guessing if you've already heard it!

WINNER!!!

The Famous Amos Saga: Part II

As some of you may know, I once had a traumatic experience in which I spent 20 minutes desperately trying to acquire a bag of Famous Amos cookies and tragically wound up with M&Ms.

Today I had a similar experience, except this time around it was more amusing than depressing.

As before, I decided to take a study break and get some Famous Amos's from the vending machine. I had to knock on four different doors before I finally found someone with change for a five dollar bill, but it didn't take too long, so I was very happily looking forward to my snack. I rode the elevator to the basement, walked to the vending machine and looked with delight at my soon-to-be snack. I chose the crispest dollar bill, stuck it in and punched in the numbers for my treat. The machine gave me my 10 cents change.

That's it.

I stared in shock at the insolent machine, "Seriously?" I protested (out loud).

I stared a little more. What could I do? I was NOT giving this thing another dollar! Should I put an "out of order" sign on it? No," I thought sadly, "I'll just have to sacrifice my dollar and try another machine.

"I hate vending machines!" I said with enthusiastic disgust.

I turned to walk away and noticed a guy down the hallway looking at me. Apparently he doesn't talk to inanimate objects. I turned and walked two steps then thought, "Maybe I just missed it some how," and whipped around, stepped back to the machine and pushed open the little door at the bottom. No Famous Amos's.

Discouraged, I straightened and headed back to the elevator.

The guy was still looking at me.

I laughed aloud as I walked back when I thought about what that guy must be thinking.

If only he knew I was so tempted to kick it.

Fortunately, after briefly interrupting some couple's intimate conversation at vending machine #2, which didn't have any Famous Amos's, and a brief trip to vending machine #3 I did finally get my delicious snack.

I paid $1.80 for 10 mini cookies.

It was worth it.

Creative Obsession

I realized recently that I haven't blogged in a really long time...and that depresses me. So, I will take the few minutes I have now to tell you about my new obsession:

Knitting.

Yep, I'm a knit-aholic. Actually, knitting is a very good stress-reliever. It also is a good way to stay focused when listening to sermons or lectures. It's difficult to fall asleep when you're knitting.

I learned at my grandparents house a few weeks ago and have been knitting like crazy ever since. So far, I began knitting a scarf, realized that scarf was totally messed up, took it out, and started over; began another scarf, finished knitting it, realized it was only about three feet long (after spending a good 45 minutes trying to "bind off" and messing it up in every possible way), took it out, and started over; completed the second scarf in a slightly longer fashion; began a new scarf that I might not actually have to undo since it appears to be the correct width and length so far; pulled out the first scarf yet again and started over because it was too wide and tight; and finally, I broke a knitting needle into three pieces.

There is a good chance that if you're reading this you will get some sort of knitted creation for Christmas (feel free to submit requests). Either that or a few of you will recieve scarves that I have knitted forty times. Either way, it's the thought that counts, right?

Or maybe I'll give people scarves...and then give them presents to apologize.

Chicago is Moody...and I love it :)