I’M GETTING MARRIED! *SQUEAAAAAAAL*

Hello everyone!  I haven’t blogged in a very long time and I apologize.  I seriously was going to do one about Christmas cards closer to Christmas, but I hit “save draft” and was having technical difficulties uploading pics.  Excuses, excuses.  In the news: I’M ENGAGED!  If you want to know the story, it’s really long and I’m sorry, but I’m not telling it today.  Dr. Wile E. Coyote planned out this whole big long day, and it was wonderful.  That was New Year’s Eve (at like, 2pm, because that’s when he could get into the building where we had summer project, aka, where we met).  Since then, I’ve been a “giggly mess” according to Doc WEC, and I’ve begun wedding planning and talking to friends, telling them the story, etc, etc.  I was on Skype for 5 hours today!  (One of those calls being to the pre-doc.  I pretty much love talking with him all the time.  And that was only for like, two hours.)

I said yes before he was even done talking. Not that I have a patience problem or anything. 🙂

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about my relationship with D and how fast and how far we’ve come in the last, eh, five months.  I now zoom in on Genesis 24 and talk about D and my relationship at the same time:

Back in July, D told me that he was interested in pursuing me.  In Genesis 24, we see a servant who is sent by Abraham to find a wife for Isaac, and this was quite the task.  The woman was to say something specific, and then the servant was to bring the woman back to the foreign land where Abraham lived with his wife and son.  So the servant goes.  He finds her, this woman for Isaac.  And then he tells her to come with him.  Her family is all like “Ehhh….” but she’s like, “I will go” (v58b).  So she goes with Abraham’s servant and BOOM!  Wife for Isaac.  Backing up to the first sentence of this paragraph: Dr. Wile E. Coyote tells me he’s interested in pursuing me.  There’s a condition, that he’s going to go to a med school that’s way out of state.  First thing I told him?  “I’ll go anywhere.”  In a sum up (because I don’t remember exactly what I said), I told him what Ruth told Naomi in Ruth 1:16: “Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay.”  I told him that I can teach anywhere, and if God has another job for me, I’ll do that wherever God brings me.  And God was working in our relationship like crazy.  My friend Marissa calls us “like, 1200 kinds of adorable.”

Now, we’re planning a wedding for the month before he starts med school.  And it will be hard.  A new place, and the only person I’ll know is Dr. Coyote.  It’ll be a different culture, too, and I’ll be totally starting over.  I mean, now is def the time to make such a drastic move.  A couple months back, I was reading Deuteronomy and God told me to go ahead and go to Kentucky (this was before D had officially accepted the offer).  Deuteronomy 31:6: “Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid or terrified because of (x), for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you or forsake you.”  (X could equal anything you want.  For me, this was a lot of fear of the unknown.)  Isn’t God great?  D and I talk about scripture and pray together, and it is great.  That’s what first made us notice each other.  [Insert silly lovesick puppy smiley face here.]

I sent this picture to my family/friends to tell them this happened (not that they weren’t expecting to hear something sometime soon, I guess)

Anyhoo, the next few months seem to be busy ones, but I’m excited.  They’ll be good.  And I’m getting MARRIED to my best friend!  That’s the most exciting part.  Is there a most exciting part?  Well, that’s probably it.  There’ll be lotsa other good stuff, too.  I have no idea what job I’ll have in KY or where exactly we’ll be living.  But as Abraham tells his worried servant in Genesis 24:7, God is totally at work here.  Wanna bet?  Everything will be fine, because “God will send his angel before you.”  His way will come to pass.  And so far, I like his way much better than mine.

In his grace,

the soon-to-be Mrs. Wile E. Coyote *squeal*

Change and God’s Awesomeness

Change is freaky.  In Deuteronomy, when Joshua is about to succeed Moses, the Israelites think so, too.  I feel like at this stage in my life, I’m like Joshua.  I’ve been learning and keeping my place in the background.  Pastor Jason is even calling me his “apprentice” as I learn about the ministry of bringing church to nursing homes and being a leader in lining people up for this and that, as I plan to take this ministry to Kentucky next year.  A couple weeks ago, I began worrying.  But God’s like, “Um, no.”  And led me to Deuteronomy 31.  Moses is like, “I won’t be going any further with you.  I’m such an old fart.  But God will go ahead of you.  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid or terrified because of those enemies.  God’s got this.  The LORD your God  goes with you; he will never leave you or forsake you.”  And then he summoned Josh, his “apprentice,” and said in front of all Israel: “Be strong and courageous, for you must go with these people into the land the LORD swore to their ancestors.  The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you or forsake you.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”  All of Israel is really supportive, too.  God has given them a new leader, and Joshua 1 is the big self-esteem boost for Josh.  It says “be strong and courageous,” four times in just those 18 verses of chapter one.

I was also talking to my mother about Kentucky, and she told me that if I wasn’t supposed to be going, God would be closing doors.  And some of the doors that have opened are just crazy.  Like Dr. Wile E. Coyote’s mom’s co-worker’s family is all in the Pikeville, KY area, and most of them are teachers.  Okay—that doesn’t just happen.  And student teaching is going well.  I will finish strong!  Woo!  How can I not, with God on my side?  Also about that, the more I depend on him, the better my days go.  Who would’a thunk?

Smiling a big ‘ole smile ‘cuz God is good and he is so great,

Anna

Three Year Blog-iversary! (and random stuff)

Oh, hey, everyone.  It’s been awhile.  It’s my three-year blog-iversary.  Just mentioning the fact.  My stuff has been all over since I started, and it’s pretty much still that way.  I have grown and maybe even matured a bunch since I started.  But I’m still me, so I still think about things like I always do.  Today, no poetry (but I have a bunch of others you could check out while you’re here if you haven’t).  I’ve been learning how to shamelessly plug and advertise so that someday, people like you might pick up this book and recognize the author “Anna E. Olson” and at least read the back of the cover.  Not that I’ve even sent in my book proposal yet, but the book is pretty much done.  But I haven’t had time for it lately anyway.  You may be wondering how life is going, as I am student teaching general music to a bunch of heart-melting kiddos and still involved in a lot of things and dating this awesome guy who had a great med school interview today and will be hearing from two different schools this week.  If you pray, stop right now and just say a little prayer for the med schools, that he’ll be accepted and they’ll think it went as well as he did (and, of course, that God will be there, leading throughout).  Okay, thanks.  Wherever he goes to school next year, I’ll teach.  There is so much else that will have to happen, but knowing a PLACE is the first step.  Also, pray for this teaching thing.  I’ve been getting pretty wiped lately, and I can’t use my fingers as well as I used to.  I don’t think I’ll ever play like I did last semester, but I’m okay with that.  God’s got better plans than me just being a musician (trust me, I have, like, options A, B, C, and D in my head.  I’m hoping that God will combine a bunch of those).  Updates:

Student teaching.  Exhausting, and I’m realizing more and more how quickly one has to move, and therefore how much STUFF a teacher has to have planned.  There’s a ton.  I get to teach RHYTHM next week, which is one of my favorite things and makes my top-14 list.  Probably.  Unfortunately, there’s not really other people or students that are as fascinated with rhythm as I am.  And the first graders haven’t even SEEN rhythm before, so I’ll introduce that to them, as well (kind of freaking out, kind of excited).  It’s fun, being with those kids!  I’ve got two more weeks before I move to the middle school band.  And I’ll be qualified for everything in South Dakota, so I could potentially do everything or anything in a town located in, for example, Indianapolis or Kentucky.  Just saying.  And that’s exciting.

Dr. WEC walking with me! 🙂

Dr. Wile E. Coyote.  Because you are all wondering (probably, like three of you: my aunt, my grandma, and somebody who is about to go and creep on my Facebook page because they missed something…”who?”  Yeah, go and check out our pictures, we’re adorable).  So, the distance thing is challenging, especially when he works second shift and I don’t get home from school until after he’s gone for the night.  But we’re making it work.  Have any of you done distance relationships?  How have you made it work?  We will get to see each other a weekend in October, and I know people who have to be apart and/or Skype alone for a lot longer than we’ve had to do.  (Katrina and Seth, I give you guys internet high-fives right now.)

Other stuff.  So, I’m section leader of the percussion at the College/Community Band.  There are five of us, which is way more fun than ten, because we all get to always play!  And I’m in percussion ensemble for the semester (because I love it), and a lifegroup with the church I go to here in Sioux Falls, I’m discipling two girls (a sophomore and a junior at Augie), and I just signed up to be on the visitation outreach team through church, as well.  I’m looking forward to it.  And, of course, I’m lesson planning and trying to get to bed early because I get up early, and talk with the pre-doc.  Smiley face.

Faith thoughts.  I’ve been feeling like God gives me themes each week.  Whatever the sermon is on seems to be what I read in the word, too.  Maybe.  This week it’s been about serving others.  Or if I read about something in the morning, a lot of things will relate back to that.  AND Dr. WEC and I talk about what God’s been teaching us all the time, so that’s really encouraging, too.  I watched the Avengers last night with one of my roommates and made a list of some spiritual analogies so that I could include them maybe in my book proposal.  It just astounds me sometimes.  I LOVE the storyline of the movie, because all of the other avengers movies are tied in.  I also LOVE the storyline of God’s story.  The authors of both really think things through and tie things in together and make some things come back and have perfect timing, and just…EVERYTHING!  It makes me excited.  Because I’m an author, too, although not a good one, yet.  I respect things well-written.  Which is why I’m drawn to BBC television and cast aside the American stuff.  Off-topic, just thoughts.

Anyhoo, I hope you all are doing well.  I like reading blogs of friends because I like to keep up on you, too!  And a lot of my stuff lately has been updatey.  More stuff to come.  It won’t be so long in between this time, I hope.  Have a blessed day!

Anna

Remembering Jesus (The Lord’s Supper)

“I remember when Jesus called us to follow him.”

“Yeah!  It was crazy!  He said he’d send us out to fish for people.  I had no idea what he was talking about, but I wanted to follow him!”

“I remember when Jesus started healing the sick and casting out demons.”

“Dude, like the time when that guy with leprosy went right up to him and literally begged Jesus to heal him?  I was so shocked when he did!”

“Jesus was always been full of surprises.  But it was good.  I remember when the Pharisees would keep trying to trick Jesus.  But Jesus was sassy—he never fell for anything!”

“Made them think twice, he did.  He was good at that.”

“I remember Jesus’s stories.  I liked when he’d explain them to us later, too.”

“Remember that time when Jesus transfigured?  It was you, Peter, and James and me.”

“Yeah, and then Peter just babbled something stupid.”

“Hey, it was an awkward moment.  I panicked.”

“Haha, hey Peter, remember that time when Jesus came walking on water, and when you tried, you doubted and almost drowned?”

“Hey now.  I didn’t see you taking a step of faith like that then.”

“I remember when a crowd gathered to hear Jesus teach and then he told us to get them something to eat.”

“Yeah!  And then he took that one kid’s lunch and fed 5K with it!”

“I remember when Jesus told us about his death—I just didn’t want to hear it, at first.”

“I remember the last time we had a Passover meal.  Jesus was standing right over there—yeah, like that.  Then he said that the bread was his body given for us.”

“I can’t believe he’s gone.”

“And the wine was his blood, poured out for us.”

“I remember how Jesus would do so much for us—teaching us, that we may teach others.  And now, I guess we can start being more like Jesus.”

“Yeah, taking initiative.  I remember when he told us that, too!”

“Oh man, do you remember when Mary came and told us she saw Jesus?  That he was alive?”

“That is the stupidest question I think I’ve ever heard.  Do I remember it?  Ha, that’s why I’m here.”

“To Jesus!”

“To Jesus!”

 

Do you ever consider the first supper after the last supper?  The disciples, just going around and talking and remembering.  Once, at a worship night I was at, we thought about this.  Then, we went around saying what WE remembered about Jesus before we partook in the sacrament of communion.

“I remember when Jesus reminded me of my identity in him, so I didn’t have to keep trying so hard.”

“I remember when Jesus told me everything was going to be alright.  Even though things didn’t look good, Jesus had it under control.”

“I remember when Jesus didn’t let me die while I was driving in traffic in Milwaukee.”

“I remember when Jesus told me to go on the summer missions trip in the first place.  And when I was there, I remember how he used it to transform my life.”

“I remember when I first had a ‘date night with Jesus.’  I think it was the best quiet time I’d ever spent with him up to that point.”

“I remember how Jesus taught and still teaches me something new all the time!  It’s crazy!”

 

 

The Lord’s Supper is about remembering Jesus.  What do you remember about Jesus?

 

 

Saturday Smiley: Commas and Breath Marks

A comma is, like a breath mark amd sometimes people dom’t, breathe im the right places. Amd sometimes evem, a mote is missed or am accidemtal amd it just makes thimgs really, dissomamt.  Them there cemes the problem whem mobody breathes amd they just kimd of rum out of air at the emd….

Welcome to beginning band..? [Did you catch the “missed accidental?” =)]  Mistakes in music don’t sound this obvious to everyone, but someone who is reading or listening to a passage played just as the above paragraph can catch it quickly, especially if someone is playing the passage correctly simultaneously.

Breath marks give shape to a phrase.  Unfortunately, some players, mostly beginners, don’t realize how obvious breath is.  Here is a great blog about commas that I read a few weeks ago. Limbirdmike said in this post: “The simplest way to think of a comma in general writing is to think of it as a pause – a place where your writing takes a natural breath for air between the bigger breaths that come at the end of each sentence.”  That’s how I usually think of it when putting commas in my writing.  Same is true while breathing in music.  In my conducting class, we were talking last week about placing breath marks where it’s smart and telling the different players of the melody to mark it in their music.  Breath marks in themselves are quite useful.  They let you breathe before you run out of air, typically.  If you run out of air before a breath mark, you’ve got to either build some endurance or take a bigger breath next time.  Or both.  Commas are a little more obvious in their misuse.  And sometimes when there aren’t even any commas in a sentence you speak until you run out of breath then quick, breathe.  Not cool.  You see the connection here.  Even if the instrument is one that you don’t breathe into to produce sound, breathing with the phrase is always a good idea and it makes musical sense.  In an ensemble, it keeps everyone together.  A little pause can feel like a comma in the sentence that the music is speaking.

It is pretty awesome that such a little thing can have such an effect on music.  It makes me smile when I can hear it; little details that I notice that I hadn’t three years ago always make me smile.  =)  So, as I’m learning to play new instruments in my pedagogy classes, I don’t always pay attention to breath marks until I get the notes down.  However, as I am realizing fingerings, I am also realizing that I need to breath.  As a percussion player, I confess that I have a ton of trouble with breath marks and breathing in general.  However, it has been something that I have been noticing this week.  And the more I think about it and hear it in use, breath marks just make me smile.  So do awesome analogies, comma, like this.  =)

Smiling! Anna =)^2

Saturday Smiley: Cars

One car, two car, red car, blue car.  Slow car, no car, fast car, NASCAR.  Cars on the highway, cars in the driveway, cars going no way, cars out all day.  Road trip, day trip, far trip, no trip. Rest stop, shop stop, red stop, pit stop.  One car, two car, red car, blue car.

Some collect, some race.  It is a tool of transportation that gets people from place to place.  Fancy or simple, new or old; a car is a car, no matter the mold.  Some take it for granted, some see it as pride.  There are cars everywhere, in our land that is so wide.  Nothing is close together, in the Midwest of my home.  There are acres and acres of farmland, so it is easy to roam.  I get lost a lot, I admit I do.  But I call and get directions from (usually) my mom, it’s true.  Anywhere I am, she can look it up.  She’ll lead back to the road I missed, which is really handy.

There are many types of automobiles, and each have different appeals.  Trucks are cool and can be bigger than you think; they are handy on a farm but are never paired with pink.  Minivans are great, especially if a family is involved; ours now even has swivel seats—look how much they’ve evolved!  Cars seem to be most common, but there is so much diversity.  Name a make, style, and color, and still you’ll get differences…like, at least thirty.  There are the small sporty ones, and the heavier-looking other ones.  There are classic cars and cars for the starts, they are really small mini-cars and really fast racing cars.  There are different brands and different makes.  There are beat-up cars with rust, and beat-up cars without breaks.  A car is taken care of, because it makes things difficult if not.  A car likes a full stomach and working parts, or else it’ll give you its snot.

One car, two car, red car, blue car.  Slow car, no car, fast car, NASCAR.  Cars on the highway, cars in the driveway, cars going no way, cars out all day.  Road trip, day trip, far trip, no trip. Rest stop, shop stop, red stop, pit stop.  One car, two car, red car, blue car.

 

Smiling always, Anna =)^2

Saturday Smiley: MUSIC

If you’ve read enough of my previous posts, it is evident that 1) I love Jesus; B) I am musically-obsessed; Choo-choo Train) I like to write randomly about random things (hence the subtitle of my blog, “Anna’s Random Writings.”  Cuz that’s what it is).  But LATELY, my music obsession has flared up again.  And, it makes me smile.  (Hence, the Saturday Smiley!)

As I am a junior in college, I have taken most of the music side of my music education major classes.  I LOVE learning what I’ve been learning!  Just this last week, there was a night when I couldn’t fall asleep so….I had seen the Nokia ringtone transcribed, poking fun at the NY Philharmonic violinist who imitated the disruption.  So, I copied it down on music staff paper and rewrote it in retrograde form, inversion, and retrograde inversion. =)

Music is SUCH a broad topic that it can’t be adequately described in just one post, and I’m sorry if this gets long (disclaimer).

So, this week, I have been thinking about the feeling and emotion that music creates.  No other art does this, no other school subject or anything, really.  Something that makes you feel the way the composer did when he wrote it?  Last year, I did an independent study in which I researched music therapy.  Did you know that David of the Bible was the first recorded music therapist?  Although he had another name.  Yeah, he used to play his harp for King Saul (who probly had some sort of disorder…have you READ 1 Samuel?).  Cool stuff!  My own personal releases are writing when words come or playing when notes come.  Mom and Dad got me a drum set for my thirteenth birthday.  They may have questioned it a time or two when I was really mad or something.  If you would like to hear the drum set being played in my house, you might sit outside on a lawn chair or something if it’s a nice day out.  The volume is only slightly dampened.  The piano in our house also was the instrument of some good stuff, and still is when I come home!  =)

I love how there is literally, a song for everything.  I love how in instrumental music, you can feel.  My sister recently made a video for a class—with aid of the background music, you could totally feel the…adrenaline of the scene.  I think pretty much anything can be epic with background music, you know, the instrumental kind.  My personal favorite part is when the low brass or string basses sneak in and play something that is just waiting for something to happen.  Tomorrow, the Augustana Orchestra (of which I’m a percussionist for) is playing a concert—Shostakovitch’s Ninth is one of my favorites on the program!

Anyway, this wasn’t as long as I worried it might.  I stopped myself.  I told my physical therapist last week that deep down, everyone wants to be a music major.  He agreed!  He’s like, “I used to sing.  I wonder what it woulda been like to be a singer instead of a physical therapist.”  Ha!  There is so much more to music than one can hear or see at a glance.  It is a language, and there is a science to it.  Music has its own math, and I never even realized how complex it is until I got to Augie!  It’s crazy, and I love it!

In conclusion, MUSIC is my Saturday Smiley!

Smiling musically, Anna =)^2

Changin’ it up! (But SMILING)

So, I sign off most of my posts with “Smiles Squared” with a little smiley face to the power of two.  That’s what this =)^2 is if you didn’t figure it out.  So, I have re-named my blog to “Smiles Squared.”  I just wanted to let you all know that before you start getting weirded out that some other person’s blog is getting emailed to you or something.  Still Anna!  I’ve been doing “Saturday Smileys” for a bit now, and I plan to keep it up.  Also, I created the “Smiles Squared” logo that I have recreated on the computer and now have as my blog icon thing, originally in high school.  Smiles and smiley faces?  I like them a lot.  I like smiling.  Smiling’s my favorite!  So, in honor of the new title and blog icon thing, here are some smiley quotes:

A smile confuses an approaching frown.  ~Author Unknown

A smile is a curve that sets everything straight.  ~Phyllis Diller

The world always looks brighter from behind a smile.  ~Author Unknown

A smile is the light in the window of your face that tells people you’re at home.  ~Author Unknown

A laugh is a smile that bursts.  ~Mary H. Waldrip

Smile – sunshine is good for your teeth.  ~Author Unknown

A smile you send will always return. ~Indian Proverb

Beauty is power; a smile is its sword.  ~Charles Read

Smiles are great investments: the more you collect, the better you feel. ~Author Unknown

Before you put on a frown, make absolutely sure there are no smiles available.  ~Jim Beggs

If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it.  ~Andy Rooney

Life is like a mirror, we get the best results when we smile at it.  ~Author Unknown

I have made it a goal of mine to make people smile by my writing or by doing things or saying things to people.  I don’t always do a very good job, but if I make only one person smile all day, then I feel good.  =)

Smiling ALWAYS, Anna =)^2

Smiley Saturday: Analogies

Have you ever thought about analogies?  They make a hard-to-picture scene imaginable, like seeing a movie you have only listened to in the car because you’re driving and can’t watch it.  Even with play-by-play of someone who’s watching it doesn’t do justice when you see in the rear-view mirror jaws dropped as they’re watching.  Analogies make even the weirdest subject, the one that is hard to understand, comprehendible.  Like in theory, when we always referred to a V-I chord progression as the bride and groom.  It is a perfect authentic cadence!  Sometimes, in the middle of the song, the bride would flirt around in a V-vi or V-IV6 deceptive cadence, but always would return to her groom in a V-I cadence.  See?  You don’t even know what I’m talking about, but you get the basics!

I’ve been using a lot of analogies, frankly, because I like them.  I usually go a lot deeper than a one-sentence analogy, but any sort of analogy is pretty cool.  When I googled “anaologies” I found several blogs containing the same list of the “Annual English Teachers’ awards for best student metaphors/analogies found in actual student papers.”  I found one blog that listed 25 funny analogies, cited as “the winning entries in a 1999 Washington Post humor contest, and there are more than 25.”  (That’s where the following list is from.)  I laughed really hard, as one who keeps laughing hours later about the same thing; over and over again she laughs in the silence or sobriety of a moment.  Prepare yourselves:

1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a ThighMaster.

2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.

3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.

4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. Coli, and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.

5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.

6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.

7. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.

8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife’s infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.

9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn’t.

10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.

11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you’re on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.

12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.

13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.

14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.

15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan’s teeth.

16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.

17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River.

18. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long it had rusted shut.

19. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.

20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.

21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.

22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.

23. The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.

24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.

25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.

So, I thought I’d share some of my own analogies.  I was actually looking for the perfect analogy when I was writing a paper in high school, so I made a list:

• I’m as happy as. . .
  • A tornado in a trailer park
  • A mouse in a cheese shop
  • A dog in a squeaky-toy store
  • A bank robber in a jewelry store
  • A rabbit in a garden
  • A crow in a corn field
  • A geek at a Star Trek Convention
  • It needed this like. . .(it didn’t)
    • A pencil needs ink
    • A rabbit needs rabies
    • Soybeans need aphids

So, compared to the previous list, these aren’t that great.  I’ve actually referred back to this list a time or two, although my writing has become “more sophisticated,” like a basketball player who’s gotten taller.  Sometimes when I’m writing, I go for clever stuff that makes you think but laugh when you’re thinking along the same lines as I was when I wrote it.  Then it’s like Jesus’ parables: only for those who are actually listening/reading.  Sometimes, though, I realize it’s better to make sure your readers understand what you’re saying, like a teacher who puts notes on the board in legible writing, with enough time to write them all down before she moves on.

Do you have any clever analogies?  Let’s hear ‘em!

Smiling, like one who squishes up their face when looking into the sun, Anna =)^2

Smiley Saturday: Time

This week, my smiley is: TIME.  There are different dimensions to this smiley.

It is J-Term, so I don’t feel like I have a ton of things to do all the time, even the time I don’t have to do it.  Time = less stress.  My Practicum starts tomorrow, as well as a few other Cru commitments I haven’t worried about since December, but I think I got this.  And I am enjoying this time while I can!

I enjoy all this time I’ve been able to spend with Jesus.  On Project, my friend Jill told me: “Being single is a gift of time to spend with Jesus.”  And I have discovered this to be true!  Time IS a gift, and spending it with Jesus is one of my favorite activities.  Coffea, Caribou, and Panera have all been home to places I’ve spent with Jesus since coming back to school.  If I have a couple free hours (even one), I’ll go to a coffee shop, get some coffee, and just spend an hour with Jesus.  It is fabulous.

With other time I have been finding, I have been writing again (like, novel-writing).  I haven’t done that in a long time, and I’m really happy that I have some time to think about and actually start developing these characters who have been lurking in the back of my mind, waiting to get out on paper and have their stories told at last.  It is just the prodding the stories out of them that takes some thought.

Also with this time, I have been hanging out with my friends more.  During the semester, some of my friends and Christina, who likes to come over randomly sometimes, determined that I’m never in my room.  I like hanging out and having fun with friends, and I am thankful for the time I have been given to do so!

Even during the semester, time makes me smile.  If I have an unexpected hour I find, it is awesome to do any of these things, or just play my keyboard for a long time.  Which is why, this week’s smiley is TIME!