Saturday in the park

Saturday, Neil and I took the day to "do Chicago". We knew that if we waited too long, our schedule would get full and we'd end up never doing it. For those that don't know: we are living on Wheaton's campus for 3 weeks while Neil takes a course in phonology to aid in our accent-reduction work in India. Here are some of the highlights..

We started the day in Millennium park, with 2 hours to have 'retreat time' off by ourselves, just us and God (and the million other people, mainly Puerto Rican's and Cubs fans, who we shared Chicago with that day).

It ended up being 'Puerto Rico Day', complete with a parade going down Lakeshore Dr. I loved it. I learned there are many creative ways to wear the Puerto Rican flag. 

I also learned that gospel tracks can make their way into just about any event around the world; including Puerto Rico day in Chicago.

At the end of my retreat time, I walked through the gardens in M. Park. I believe with all of my heart that Heaven will be a city with the aroma of a field of wildflowers (not smog). I love the two pictures below, because they fill me with hope. The scent was so beautiful and I half thought that the pictures might capture the smell. You'll just have to trust me; it smelled like Heaven.

After our retreats, we made our way north to Portillo's. If you've never been, all I can say is "GO". I had the Italian beef, Neil had the jumbo hotdog and we finished off the meal the only logical way to finish off a meal at Portillo's, with a Chocolate Cake Shake. Although, Neil and I have renamed it the 'Better than 'Better than sex cake' Shake'. Not a commentary on our marriage, simply how good this shake really is. mmm...

        

After dinner, we headed to Sports Authority and got some new workout clothes (70% off, baby!). When we left, we had 20 minutes before our train left and a generous 35-40 minute walk ahead of us. So, we ran. We started out speed walking, but ended up realizing that if we had any hope of making the train, we were going to have to get our Kenyan on. So, we ran; just like all the cool tourists. We stepped onto the train and no less than 30 seconds later, the bell went off and the doors closed. The perfect ending to a day in Chicago.

Our sweaty-selves on the Metra after our impromptu workout. 

-c

Safari Steve

This morning I was looking through recent pictures we've downloaded and ran across some from when Neil's parents came to visit us a few weekends ago in Sellersburg. We took a day trip to the Louisville zoo (yes, people can visit the zoo without little kids and still be cool. I think..). Anyway, it was a lot of fun and my favorite picture is of a man I like to call 'Safari Steve'. At one point, when we were standing in the bird area, a little girl looked up at him and asked him a question about one of the birds. I was trying to convince him to start a dialogue and see who gathered around to listen.

Maybe we should be going to Kenya...

Yoga

Tonight I had a dream come true: I got to participate in an actual yoga class! I bought a 'how to' guide for practicing yoga about 5 months ago and got a mat for Christmas. I had this strong urge to learn yoga and feel comfortable with it before we got to India. I'm a 'flavor of the month' type person when it comes to exercise. Jan-Feb: running, Feb-Apr: yoga, May: biking...I like to switch it up, it keeps things interesting and my muscles always waiting in anticipation of what's around the corner. But there is something different about yoga, something lasting. I'm not sure if it's the slow, steady movements that force me to realize that I am a captive to my body, or the controlled breathing that reminds me that each breath is a gift from the Breath-giver, or maybe it's just the fact that you can soak in some amazing music and let yourself retreat for an hour while you burn a few cals... Either way, I've been able to enjoy many benefits of practicing yoga on my own, but tonight I was blessed to share it with a group of 25 that covered a wide range of abilities. I absolutely loved the entire experience and the dream was reinforced that someday I might lead others in yoga. 

Tonight, our leader said something profound in her prayer to end the session, she said, "God, in yoga we learn that we cannot force ourselves into a pose, we must release our urge to force and just allow our muscles to stop where they stop and grow from there. Help us to practice this submission in our daily lives."      Amen, sister.

yo quiero Taquito

I remember going to my friend Meghan's house when I was in junior high. We used to call her house "frozen food heaven" because her mom had a huge freezer in the garage that they kept full of all sorts of goodies that I try to make a habit of staying away from now (in order to keep my girlish figure).  My favorite item was the Taquitos. Ever had them? It's like the Mexican version of pulled pork wrapped up in a mini tortilla and fried. yumm.

Anyway, my mother-in-law pulled them out tonight for us to snack on before dinner. I felt like I was 12 again. I was torn between putting them in the microwave, which would deliver the fried goodness to me in less than 5 minutes, and putting them in the oven, which I would have to wait longer for, but they would be perfectly crisp when they got out. I voted against instant gratification and popped them in the oven.

True to form, I could wait 15 minutes to cook them, but I couldn't wait the 5 minutes required to cool them. I burnt my tongue. But every 270 calorie bite was worth it.

Live la vida loca; eat a taquito tonight.

-c

Lasik

I had Lasik done 3 weeks ago and the highlight for me was not seeing 20/15, it was the goggles I had to wear when I slept.

Bringin' sexy back.

-c

this will not inspire you

So, I've been feeling pressure to write something thoughtful/deep/inspiring whenever I post a blog.  Hence, not many blog posts.  I think I'm going to switch my approach and just type like I'd talk.  Not try and organize it so much.  Not do the whole "okay, it's prayer circle time and I need to be thinking about what I want to pray about so I'll rehearse now and then just say the prayer again when it's my turn".  Anyone else do that?  I hope so, or I've just outed myself.  Well, I quit doing that years ago in my praying, but for some reason the temptation still lingers in my blogging.

No more.

Just thought you might want to know I might be blogging more now. And they may be less interesting. :)

-c

The Moral of the Story...

I just got off the phone with a friend who went through some amazing, life-changing spiritual experience with God, and yet was afraid to share too much about it because it was so fresh.  He was scared that he would jump to the lesson too fast.  

I have been reading 1 and 2 Samuel, and it has totally captivated me.  I get so wrapped up in the story lines and how David and Saul and Jonathan and all the other characters interact.  Yet when my wife asked me to explain what it was that was pulling me in so much, I found it hard to put into words.  And when I did, it sounded nothing like what was going on in my heart.

A few months ago I went to see The Dark Knight with some friends, and one of them, as soon as we walked out of the theater, was asking us about the themes of the movie and what it said about God and how we should respond to it.  I appreciated his thoughts, but all of a sudden, the power of the movie was boxed up and packaged and no longer relevant.

There's one lecture from college about physics of all things that comes back in my mind fairly regularly.  It was about Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, which is loosely related to the "observer effect", which states that just by observing something, you change it.

These stories and several like them have been weaving through my mind recently.  I'd hate to ruin it by trying to pull out an application.  All I'll say is that I think there is something to just being a part of the story.