Sisters!

My sister Grace came to visit last week! It was lots of fun to spend sister-time with her. We are six years apart, so we are just now getting to the age where we can be friends, and it is great! I love having a sister, and I am so proud of all the cool things she's doing -- like that after she graduates from high school in May she's going to spend a gap year in Bolivia volunteering at an after-school program through Mennonite Central Committee. And she can run 10 miles.

We had a photo shoot. My friend Jess took these pictures of us. Grace and her friends do this all the time. I don't know why I didn't think to do photo shoots for fun in high school! Anyway, she is a way better model than I am. I did not know what to do with my limbs and she was looking all America's Next Top Model.We also went to the Celestial Seasonings factory for a tour. I had never been before. We thought it was pretty great. I just wish Celestial Seasonings made more caffeinated teas. I did find a new decaf tea I liked though - Sweet Coconut Thai Chai tea.

I love my sister!

Ash Wednesday

Four years ago, I gave up meat for Lent. It was the first time I had given anything up for Lent. It was not spiritually edifying for me. Perhaps for some, the surrender of a too-beloved food or activity is a spiritual practice, but for me it was just a dietary change. The sentiment I have heard from some Christians observing Lent of "Jesus died for me; the least I can do is give up ___ for him" became utterly ridiculous to me. And my change from semi-conscientious eater of meat to vegetarian did not achieve the asceticism of early baptismal candidates, who spent the forty days before Easter fasting and praying.

After that meatless Lenten season, I gave up on giving up vices for Lent and decided that if I chose to observe Lent, I would do so by making time for a spiritual practice. Since then, I have chosen to meditate on scripture. I've found it much more meaningful.

I have chosen Psalm 139:1-18 as my meditation text for Lent. I had saved it as an option last night when I was looking for one, and it was one of the texts used in our Ash Wednesday service this evening. It is 40 lines, one for each day of Lent. Reason enough.

Psalm 139:1-18

O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
O Lord, you know it completely.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.

Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.

If I say, 'Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light around me become night',
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.

How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
I try to count them -- they are more than the sand;
I come to the end--I am still with you.

During these forty days, I will have to deal with some big, life-changing decisions -- some made by me, some not. I am waiting to hear back from the one medical school I have a chance to get into. If I get in, Ross and I will start the process of leaving a place we love dearly, and we will need to make difficult financial and personal decisions. If I don't get in, I will need to reevaluate my career and educational prospects, a process I have already started. I will travel to Europe for two weeks, which will be a significant -- and hopefully very good! -- experience. There may be some significant changes at work, the details of which I don't yet know. This is a time when I sometimes hardly feel like I know myself, and I need to believe that I am part of something beyond myself. So, I'm looking forward to engaging this text.

Junior Youth

This afternoon I went to a concert that several of my junior youth girls from church performed in. One of the girls looked very serious through the whole performance. I don't think she took her eyes off the director for a second. I wondered if she was nervous, though she has a lot of choral experience. As the choir sang their last song and walked around the outside aisles, I caught the eye of that girl for the first time and her face just lit up. It made my day.

Since August, I've been one of the junior high youth group sponsors at church. I had really positive experiences with church as a teenager, and I want to help facilitate a similarly good experience for the youth at my church. (Hopefully they are, in fact, having a good time.) I chose junior high rather than senior high because the time commitment was less, the kids seemed interesting, and there's a bigger age difference between me and the oldest ones.

I used to think that people who worked with middle schoolers were crazy. However, I think I am now far enough removed from actually being a middle schooler that that terribly awkward experience is fading. Being a youth sponsor certainly reminds me that I am glad not to be 13 anymore, but they are actually pretty fun to work with. They are funny, energetic, honest, and willing to participate. They like hanging out with each other, which makes my job easy -- I think the most important part of being a youth sponsor is making time for them to just have fun together.

The most rewarding parts for me, though, are the brief moments when I can tell that they are happy that I'm involved in their lives -- whether that's telling me about a school dance, trusting me for advice about a social issue, outright informing me that the consensus is that they like me a lot but not quite as much as a previous sponsor who let them tie her up during a game during the lock-in (because you really can't beat that), or a smile from a kid who sees me at her concert.

Reflections on Extreme Healthy Eating Month

Wow, February flew by! I guess that's what you get with a 28-day month. Extreme Healthy Eating Month went pretty well for me. I did break my vows a few times, but generally I was good about sticking to my list. Sticking to a list of allowed foods was actually much easier for me than just trying to avoid unhealthy foods.

It was easy to do at work, especially - which I didn't expect since we constantly have sweets at work. Right now there are cookies, Starburst candy, and chocolate caramel popcorn available at work, and it's always like that. Home health and durable medical equipment agencies bring sweets to us to try to win our favor (it's a competitive field) but I wish they'd bring healthy foods a little more often.

Where I cheated was mostly at other people's houses; I didn't want to turn down friends' hospitality. I also quickly realized that my favorite salads are those that have blue cheese or feta on them, so I made an exception to my no cheese rule for that.

Speaking of the no cheese rule though, I discovered that I feel a lot better with less dairy in my diet. I ate Greek yogurt almost every day, but we were drinking lactose-free milk (which I don't really like so I didn't have much of it) and other than that, the tiny amounts of cheese on salad were all I had. I don't think I'm lactose intolerant, because I can certainly handle dairy just fine, but I feel kind of sluggish and bloated after eating a lot of cheese. Too bad I also love cheese. I missed cheese way more than sweets.

Since yesterday was March 1, though, I went a little overboard on the sweets. I ate a cookie and some of that chocolate caramel popcorn at work, as well as several Girl Scout cookies at home. By dinnertime I was feeling kind of nauseous, but then Ross wanted to go for Free Pancake Day at IHOP, so we did. Honestly, I kind of just want to eat salad all day now.

February: Extreme Healthy Eating Month!

On the ski lift on Saturday, after eating a cheese and grapes for a snack followed by grilled cheese for lunch, I decided that I needed to do something about my diet. Namely, eat less cheese. So I ruminated about doing a cheese fast for February, but since I need to lose some weight, I wanted to go a little more extreme than that. I settled on the following diet plan. I am calling it Extreme Healthy Eating Month. So for the month of February, I will eat only the following categories of foods:

1. Fruits
   
2. Vegetables
3. Whole grains
4. Lean meats & fish
5. Seeds & nuts
6. Yogurt

I am not being as stringent about drinks. I am definitely allowed water, skim milk, coffee, and tea. 100% juice is fine too, though I don't really drink much of it. No soda (diet or regular) or sweet iced tea. However, I spent most of December and January abstaining from alcohol and I missed beer a lot, so the occasional beer is okay even though it is full of carbohydrates.

My goal is to exercise 40 minutes 4 times a week. I'm sure I won't meet that, but I will try.

Ross is joining me in this endeavor, although he admittedly is not being as determined about it. He doesn't need or want to lose any weight, but I buy and cook most of the food and he is happy to go along with healthy eating.

Our suppers for this week are as follows:
Monday: Leftover panang curry for me; not sure what Ross ate
Tuesday: Baked salmon and asparagus
Wednesday: Moroccan chicken stew
Thursday: Brown rice & pinto beans with salsa and salad
Friday: Buffalo chicken strips & Caesar salad
Saturday: Cranberry, Butternut Squash, and Roast Shallot Couscous
Sunday: Leftovers

Ross's hoarding tendencies pay off

Ross sometimes saves things that I think are ridiculous. Case in point: three napkins from the Melting Pot. Because they have a really nice texture.

We last went to the Melting Pot in September.
















But it turns out that Melting Pot napkins make really good dust cloths. Way better than paper towels.




















I guess I'll hang on to those other two napkins.

2010

2010 was the first year of my life since I was... 2? 3? that did not involve any school. I got to do all sorts of fun things. So let's have a recap!

In January, February, and March, I embraced living in Colorado and went skiing 8 times. I successfully attempted my first black runs and back bowls and made significant improvement to my mogul-skiing skills (that is to say I went from terrified avoidance to slowly and un-gracefully making it down mogul runs with limited falls... I'm still not very good.)

In April, we celebrated Ross's 25th birthday and I took the MCAT. In May, we moved into the church caretaker position and apartment, celebrated my 23rd birthday, and visited Bethel for friends' graduations.

In June, I was a bridesmaid for the first time in my friend Laura's wedding. It was also my introduction to Catholic weddings. I also started a quilting class at church that lasted all summer.

I spent a lot of time in July focusing on fitness, eating very healthfully and running a lot in preparation for Ross's extended family's beloved beach vacation during the first week of August. Ross and I also began serving as junior youth leaders at church.

In September, I was happy to have several college friends visit for a weekend. We hiked, slid down a "glacier" and an alpine slide, visited the Buffalo Bill Museum, and ate good food (a must for this group!). A group of Denver friends started a homemade food co-op which is working out nicely. I started Tae Kwon Do classes.

October brought another visit to Bethel for Fall Fest and the birth of a new niece -- Ariana Marie, daughter of Ross's sister Andrea and her husband Tyson. We enjoyed spending time with Ross's extended family for Thanksgiving in November and visiting colleges with my sister, who came along.

December involved the usual Christmas festivities, which I posted about before, and two days of skiing.

Evidently I can't embrace a good year of no school without trying to get back into school, because I spent all of 2010 and a substantial amount of money applying to medical school. From January through April, I diligently studied for the MCAT, and from June through December, I submitted applications and waited for responses. I applied to 6 medical schools and ended the year with my first interview invitation - at KU in January.

2010 was a year of expanding horizons. Many of these don't fit into the calendar above - deepening new friendships in Denver, refining my beer palate, pushing my comfort zone at work as I continually learn to talk to so many people, learning to play and enjoying many evenings playing Settlers of Catan.

2010 was a wonderful year.