Tuesday, September 28, 2010

The Perfect Woman - Part one - A Video

We're a house full of women now. For the first time in the history of the Stevens House, we're all women, it's a new dynamic to be sure.

I've been reading a book, Stronger Than You Think: Becoming Whole Without Having to Be Perfect, A Guide for Women. It's published by IVP, so of course as an InterVarsity Alum, a woman and a recovering perfectionist, I am obviously the target audience. But I have to say that it has been a long time since a book has spoken truth to my soul in such a profound way.
I'm going to share some reflections on this book, and "the perfect woman" in future posts, but first, this video. A friend from High School posted this on her facebook today and it fit with my desire to blog on this topic:

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

House Updates - September before September is over


So, yesterday, I promised that there would be a post up today about actual news from the house. I've got 51 minutes of awake time left for today, so here's a quick top 10 list of updates.

1.) Noel and Theresa got married! Woo Hoo! It was fun, I was so busy being a "Groom's Maid." That I didn't take many pictures, but here's Richard and me (and actually, this picture was taken by Bethany
2.) On account of his getting married, Noel moved out, to an apartment just a few blocks away with his lovely bride Theresa.

3.) Wanda painted the walls of what was Noel's room, and Leah moved in. Leah started work the day after she moved in as Pre-K and Kindergarten teacher at an urban Montessori school. It's fun to hear about her days with the little ones.

4.) Valerie's cousin moved to town, so Valerie moved out to live with her cousin. Again she's very close and we see her often, but we miss her.

5.) Holly's substitute teaching, and really doing a fantastic job of meeting and loving our neighbors. She was on channel 9 news tonight, hugging one of our neighbors. There are many days when the doorbell rings 5 or 6 times if Holly's not home, our neighbor kids are looking for Holly and want her to come play, "that ship game," (battle ship) with them. Please pray for 2 of our neighbors who are still in the Hospital in critical condition after a Carbon Monoxide leak at the apartment across the street.

6.) I survived my crazy summer, (flooded car, never ending cold, mysterious hives, drama at work, Systematic Theology I, bed bugs, meeting Richard's parents and sister - all in a 5 week stretch) mostly because of the support of my roommates, my parents, my sisters and Richard. God showed Himself to be faithful to me in the midst of all of the crazy this summer.

7.) One of our Neighbors, Source Ministries, is trying to raise $42,000 to purchase a building that will be sustainable transitional housing for people coming out of prostitution and sex trafficking in the Twin Cities. With the economy still being so bad, many more teenagers are ending up homeless and in prostitution. In order to raise the money to buy the building (next door to one of their existing buildings, they are asking people to donate $2.00 and to tell 2 friends over the next two weeks. If you can give more, great, if not $2.00 c'mon, $2.00.

8.) B made it back to Taj, you can read about her adventures here

9.) Two things I love in Minneapolis this September -
1- Sunflowers - They are all over place, every time I drive past a sunflower, I smile. I like how the sunflower follows the sun, they keep their faces to the light, there's a not so hidden metaphor in that ;)
2- (related to #1) Farmer's Markets - This summer, I didn't go to the market too much, I was living in SLP for much of the summer, and also we had a very lovely mini-farmer's market at church. But I went to the midtown farmer's market this weekend, and was reminded about how much I love it.

10.) Three more things I love this September
1- Twitter - I've gone over to the darkside, but I love following my favorite Minneapolis restaurants, non-profits, friends, and arts people. I'm a boring tweeter, I'm still learning but I'm sort of liking this world.
2- Libraries (which also might mean that I like not reading text books)- the Minneapolis/Hennepin County Library System is so great. I've been listened to books on CD, read magazines that I can't afford to subscribe to, caught up on the adventures of Mma. Ramotswe and the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, learned about celiac's disease and so much more. Public libraries=AWESOME
3- The Science Museum of Minnesota. We had an awesome date there this weekend.

Monday, September 20, 2010

A Cute Video to Start Your Week

It's Monday (which is my Saturday, at least until next week when Seminary starts again, when it becomes my Friday). But since for most of the world, Monday is your Monday, and at least in Mpls, it's rather cool and cloudy today, I thought that I'd share a piece of whimsical charming fun that I discovered this morning. I'll have news from the house to share tomorrow, but in the meantime, enjoy this movie.