Snow Patrol, why are you attacking my brain?!?!

Since I'm probably going to have this song stuck in my head for WEEKS at a time...I shall quote the best part of it now. =) hey, its what i do!

Snow Patrol --- Its beginning to get to Me

"...It's so thrilling but also wrong
Don't have to prove that you are so strong
'Cause I can carry you on my back
After our enemies attack

I tried to tell you before I left
But I was screaming under my breath
You are the only thing that makes sense
Just ignore all this present tense..."

life as of current.

work is good.
school is insane!
a good friend is talking to a boy who, as she describes him, makes her 'liver quiver'.
party tonight---woot woot!!!
christmas time is only 3 weeks away!
i'm still wearing flip flops!
i'm thinking that i may write several blogs today instead of just lumping everything into one.
ok, thats all for now.

-rachel.

Chiune Sugihara

Chiune Sugihara. Probably not a house hold name. No need to go to google, I will explain who he was. But before I do, I'm going to take a minute to ramble about a few other things. I've been in a Holocaust course this semester, and unlike the majority of courses I have taken during my college career, this one has really had an impact on me personally. It has made me think and question things. Not just about Americans and Germans and Jews that were alive during the 1940's, but about myself and my peers. Not all college classes can say that. Anyway, back to Chiune Sugihara.

A very long story short[although trying to condense this story I know is going to prove to be a challenge], Chiune was born on January 1st, 1900 in Japan. He grew up and eventually became a ambassador for Japan and was transferred to Lithuania in 1938, right before the outbreak of World War II. During his stay in Lithuania, He recognized Hitler's extreme hatred for the Jews. He along with a few local Jews devised a plan to get passports and get out of Lithuania while they still could, Chiune was capable to giving these Jews passports to travel across the Soviet Union, Japan and eventually coming to two islands that agreed to harbor these Jews as long as was needed. Chiune was at a crossroads. He knew that if he began issuing these passports, he would be fired and he would risk he and his wife living in poverty for the rest of their lives. He did it anyway. With the help of his wife, they wrote out 300 passports per day for 27 days before they were caught and deported. Even while on the train bound for Japan, Chiune leaned out of the window, throwing handfuls of passports out to Jews who were running after the train.

This story really has had an impact on me. He knew he was putting himself and his wife in danger by his actions, but he did what he felt convicted to do. I wish I could say without a doubt that I would do the say thing if I were put into his position. But the truth is that I do not do what is right with the little things. I do not always follow my convictions. I at times choose the easy way rather than the right way.

There is a Holocaust museum in Israel, called Yad Vashem. At Yad Vashem, there are trees planted for the "Righteous among the Nations", these are individuals, Jews and Gentiles, who help Jews try and escape the Holocaust. Each tree is accompained by a plaque that states who the tree is in honor of.

There are 600 trees.

There are 22,000 cases pending for more trees to be planted in others names.

Chiune Sugihara just recently had a tree planted in his honor.

It is estimated that 4500 people survived the Holocaust because of his efforts.

I do not forsee myself doing anything that is anywhere near as courageous as what Chiune did. But I do hope that with the opportunities that I am presented with and the situations I find myself in that I follow what God has convicted me to do. I encourage you to do the same. Just something to think about.

Observations for today...

When watching Bear in the Big Blue House, I never think about the fact that Bear does not wear pants...that is until he goes into the bathroom. Thats when it becomes painfully obviously that there is a naked bear on the screen about to go potty. Awkward.

You know who isn't attractive? Joe Walsh. I'm not denying the man's musical abilities, he's just not someone you want to stare at for long periods of time...or on second thought, any period of time, short or long. Listen to his music for long periods of time? Yes. Stare? No. Got it? Good.

Penguins have no need for bathing suits or tuxedos. They naturally are born with both. Hence the reason that the "Penguin Bathing Suit and Tux Shop" at your local mall is doing so poorly. Pretty awesome combination though, right? Formal Party attire? Check. Pool Party attire? Check. Formal Pool Party attire??? Check Check!!!

Holocaust Conference

The Holocaust Conference was amazing...especially the Liberators and Survivors Panel. I will hopefully be posting some pictures soon as soon as I can find the cord for my camera to download these pictures.

Trying to blog more frequently. We'll see how that goes... =)

-rachel.

Taken in Lynchburg TN on the square Spring 2009. Quite Hilarious.

I know its been a while...

Dear Joy, I know its been a while so I decided to write a blog...that is if I can think anything other than this one sentence to write. Life is pretty much great right now and therefor I should be on cloud 9 and super happy and excited about things, right? Wrong. I've let my relationship with God fall to the wayside. I think because I did that it has affected my happiness/joy in all areas of my life even though things are going well.

I'm beginning to realize more and more that if I'm where I need to be with God that everything else seems to fall into place. And if I don't put God as my priority, things go just the opposite. I'm guilty of fitting God into my schedule instead of my schedule revolving around God and the opportunities He is and has presented me with.

Today is the first day of me really making an effort, and I admit that it did not go great. I woke up at 6, showered/prayed and talked to God for 15/20 minutes and then read my Bible for maybe 15 after that. It wasn't in my mind a huge success. Maybe I'm thinking too hard about it. I almost want someone to tell me how long I should be reading my Bible for everyday. 15 minutes? 20? More? Maybe it doesn't matter how long you read....maybe its what you are getting out of it. Maybe. Just a thought. Not that I'm saying its ok to read one verse and be done....well, wait, maybe it is. I'm so confused right now and I apologize to my one reader for this blog being probably very hard to read and follow.

So thats where I'm at with God right now. I'm distant, not where I should be, and I'm working on it. I'll keep you updated on how its going.

Other than that, kinda as I said before, things are ok. I love my husband, and He's being very encouraging about me and God and me and the gym, which I have fallen away from some to be honest.

Friends are being amazing as always, especially my one reader who said something about the lack of blogging in my life--- thank you and love you! Small group is....ok. My relationship with God has obviously affected my ability to lead my group as well as I could, but once again I would like to say I'm working on it. I admitted to my group last night that I'm a mess and that I am in need of some encouragement, accountability, and prayer.

By the way, one reader, please feel free to ask me how my quiet time is going. Or if I'm doing it at all. It would be very much appreciated.

Alright dear, I'm going to call it quits for this blog. I may write another one later today. I'm feeling very encouraged. And inspired. And insane. :b

-rachel.

Exercise, Calories, and All that Jazz!

Here I am rapidly approaching my one month-iversary with the MAC. And as far as the scale goes, I've lost 7.8...but to be honest...I think the scale is lying! I'm not sure what I expected to happen. I probably thought I would have instant results...or at least some sort of results, yet here I sit a month later and feel like I've accomplished nothing. Joy and Sean, who are both amazing and encouraging in everyway!, say that they can tell that I'm losing and that I'm getting more curvy [sean mostly noticed the curvy thing, although Joy did agree after I told her what he had said...might have been slightly awkward for her to walk up and feel my waist and say 'getting a little curvy aren't you'...lol!] Anyway, I'm thankful that someone notices a difference, I just wish I could too!

I was google-ing earlier trying to figure out why if I've given up soda and almost all sweets AND exercising, why I'm not losing weight. Everyone has a billion different opinions on the subject. The general consenses is that I should cut back on calories. The amount of calories I take in every day according to these 'experts' vary anywhere from 1250 to 4148. 4148?!?!?!? Are you serious?!?!?! By the way, 4148 would be like eating 3 Big Macs with Cheese and 3 large fries AND I WOULD STILL have enough calories left to get a large Sonic Butterfinger blast...with 30 calories to spare!!! My fitness guru [joy] and I were discussing this last night, I think somewhere between 1200 and 1500 is my goal per day...although right now I'm above that...not for today already, just in general...by the end of the day I will probably reach or pass that.

Losing weight isn't as much fun as everybody pretends it is. And although I know it would be counter productive, something about the pounds not just falling off the way I had hoped makes me want to eat a sonic butterfinger blast, don't worry, I'll still have 3478 calories left for today! =)

-r jo

Opinions?

Dear loyal reader,

Someone told me today that if I wanted to lose weight, I would need to take in less and less calories everyday, and lower the amount at the end of every week. Pretty much saying that if I started this week, I would need to take in 2450-ish a day and a year from now I should be taking in 1250-ish a day. This seems like an impossible goal. What do you think

-rjo

Let me attempt this in a non-sarcastic way.

I feel like God has been talking to me a lot recently. Maybe we are making up for the 3 or 4 months of me feeling like all of my prayers hit the ceiling and I wasn't hearing anything at all. Now I feel like we are in overdrive, making up for lost time while I was in one of my many rebellious seasons with God.

The thing that has been sticking out to me recently the most is that I feel like I'm a little bit...ok, a lot too critical of my brothers and sisters in Christ. Instead of spending my time praying for and encouraging others, I seem to spend it judging them and being angry at them. Sometimes I do feel like its a righteous angry, but not always. I especially have a tendancy to get this way when I'm confronted about something I'm not doing right, whether that be in my spiritual walk or in my small group leadership or lack there of. It is true that sometime it is neccessary to point things out to your peers or others you are in leadership with, but it needs to be done on a one on one basis, not in front of a group or behind the someones back. I am guilty of going about this wrong way, those scenarios listed above being personal experiences, something I've done to someone or that someone has done to me.

Also, God has also really been talking about gossip in the church. Its not like He is telling me this to 'Go spread the message to everyone else about it, your doing fine'...He's yelling at me. To be honest, its something He put on my heart over a month ago, but I have done a fine job of ignoring Him until now. I know this is going to sound awful, but I'll be honest, I would rather point out and make fun of the flaws of others than to work on myself. Its easy and less complicated than looking at yourself and trying to listen to God on what He is trying to do in you.

I don't know that this will apply to my one reader or not, but I did need to vent. =) yay for venting!

GO ME!!! I ROCK!!!

Holy cow! I did it! yay! ...lets see if i can do it again...

Apples and Peanut Butter: My day so far.