This Wednesday, April 4th

Hello all! The beach trip was fantastic, the run/walk went really well, and the weather was wonderful! Hope that y'all enjoyed our time away as much as I did!

We're back at Keith's this week to continue on in Hebrews - the plan is to get through Hebrews 4, so feel free to read through it and come with questions if you've got any. Tomorrow, 6:30pm, Keith's house (directions in the sidebar at right). See y'all there!

~Andrea

Moving

That's right, I'm movin' on up in the blog-o-sphere, to a new address:

http://rmfo-blogs.com/drea

It's hosted by the online forum/community I've been a part of for a while now - should be a cooler layout and easier to manage - I may update this one for a little bit to ease you through the transition ;) but eventually I'll switch over completely to the new one - so change your links and come visit me over at the new space!

I survived!

I just got back from Charleston SC after spending a long weekend there with friends for the Cooper River Bridge Run, which I ran (mostly anyway) for the first time this year, on my 26th birthday! And while I didn't get up to the point where I could run the whole thing straight through, I did make it in under an hour and a half, so I was pleased with that :) My parents and brother came down, and Mom and Matthew walked/ran the race as well, and we all did really well, time-wise!
Afterwards, we got to spend some time on the beach, and the weather was perfect upper, 70s-low 80s, mostly sunny the whole time - we ate lots of good food, watched a couple movies, sang some karaoke and saw a bit of Charleston and Isle of Palms - I only got a little bit of reading done, but it was really good to catch up with some people on the trip, who haven't been around a whole bunch. Its wierd how different the trip was this year compared with the same trip last year - the makeup of the group is different, a lot more people raced this year, and not as many people were able to stay late... but we had a good time, and I'm now looking forward to doing maybe a 5k sometime soon, and eventually another 10k.

My birthday was nice, though exhausting with the race - after meeting up with my parents, and all of us getting showered, we ate lunch out before they had to leave to get back home - so it was nice to see them, even if it was pretty short... my friends had organized a cake and all sang Happy Birthday - it was really sweet :)

I'll try to post pictures once I get some (I, of course, did not take any) - and there should eventually be pics of us all crossing the finish line (which I may or may not share :) ) - in the meantime, I've recently acquired some good new music by Patty Griffin which I'm about to go listen to some - I've been interested in her music since I heard some of her stuff played at the Derek Webb concert a while ago, and I've been recommended her music by several people - I'll let you know what you think :)

The joy of my heart and the boast of my tongue

So I've been listening to Derek and Sandra a lot this week to get 'in the mood' for the concert tomorrow night (!), and even though these are old words to which Sandra wrote new music, they hit me every time I listen:

Thy mercy, my God, is the theme of my song,
The joy of my heart and the boast of my tongue;
Thy free grace alone, from the first to the last,
Hath won my affections, and bound my soul fast.

Without Thy sweet mercy I could not live here;
Sin would reduce me to utter despair;
But, through Thy free goodness, my spirits revive,
And He that first made me still keeps me alive.

Thy mercy is more than a match for my heart,
Which wonders to feel its own hardness depart;
Dissolved by Thy goodness, I fall to the ground,
And weep to the praise of the mercy I’ve found.

Great Father of mercies, Thy goodness I own,
And the covenant love of Thy crucified Son;
All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine
Seals mercy, and pardon, and righteousness mine.

And I guess the song gets me because it's how I WANT to be, not how I usually AM - how God's mercy should be 'the joy of my heart and the boast of my tongue', but all too often it isn't - unless I'm in Bible study or church, all too often the only things that occupy my mind are MY concerns, MY wants, MY needs, rather than on GOD's mercy and goodness in my life. Just something I'm struggling with currently...

Whew!

Well, I survived my lecture this morning for the first year grad students - they were attentive and asked questions, and my boss told me I did a good job, so I'm pretty happy with the results - especially given that I'd like to teach as a career, it was nice to at least not get a resounding NO as an answer after my first official teaching gig! :) And I've got a new haircut, pink roses on my benchtop, Frank Sinatra playing on my computer, and this weekend is going to be great, so I'm a happy, happy girl!
Concert this Friday night in Greensboro at Christ Community Church (http://www.cccarp.org) with Derek Webb, Sandra McCracken (!) and Judd and Maggie (who I don't know, but are apparently opening for DW and SM) - Matthew will be coming up to spend the weekend with me, so he's going to try to make the concert too - then we'll have a fun weekend of movies and eating and maybe we'll spend some time outside at some point :) too bad we missed the film festival that was running last weekend - we'll have to make our own I guess...
My dad comes back from WI tomorrow (I think), so it will be nice to have him back - its wierd to call home and not be able to talk to him :( But I'd better get used to it, since he's recently decided to go back to Kenya again this summer for 3 weeks - which is very exciting! He's already got all the shots, and the guy who runs the orphanage over there will be going with him, so it will be good for him to see people over there again and see how things have changed - I'd love to go with him, but this summer is going to have to be dedicated to getting some good data under way or my committee is not going to be pleased come fall...
Off to finish work so I can make it to Bible study on time!

Life update

So here's what's been going on recently:
- I'm getting ready to give an hour lecture for our first year grad students on Wednesday, talking about antibiotics and bacterial resistance - I'm excited about it, but its been quite a bit more work than I originally anticipated.

- My dad is up in WI til later next week, helping to take care of my grandma - hopefully getting her to eat more than she's been eating - and his cooking should help that :)

- I had a blast Friday night with some girlfriends watching Pride and Prejudice (the new Keira Knightley version) - lots of fun, and I like the movie pretty well for a fairly short adaptation of one of my favorite books of all time!

- I attended a baby shower tonight for a classmate's wife who's having a baby in a few months - and while it was fun to see all the baby stuff, there's only a certain amount of 'super happy for you' that I can pull off in a span of 2.5 hours - plus I had to eat baby food (yes, that's right, baby food!) as part of a scary baby shower game - please, people who love me, if I ever conceive a child and you throw me a shower, please, please, please, for the love of all that is holy, do not make the shower guests eat baby food - ok? thanks!

Leaving you with 'She must and shall go free', which we sang this week at Bible study and has been stuck in my head for a while since:

Mercy speaks by Jesus’ blood
Hear and sing, ye sons of God
Justice satisfied indeed
Christ has full atonement made

Jesus’ blood speaks loud and sweet
Here all Deity can meet
And, without a jarring voice,
Welcome Zion to rejoice

All her debts were cast on me,
And she must and shall go free

Peace of conscience, peace with God
We obtain through Jesus’ blood
Jesus’ blood speaks solid rest
We believe, and we are blest

Should the law against her roar
Jesus’ blood still speaks with power
“All her debts were cast on me,
And she must and shall go free”

Come ye sinners

So I've been listening to a mix of praise music from a friend recently - and this song is on there and getting a lot of play:

Come, ye sinners, poor and needy,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of pity, love, and pow'r.
He is able, He is able,
He is willing, doubt no more.

Come, ye needy, come and welcome,
God's free bounty glorify;
Ture belief and true repentence,
Ev'ry grace that brings you nigh,
Without money, without money,
Come to Jesus Christ, and buy.

Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness he requireth
Is to feel your need of him;
This he gives you, this he gives you,
'Tis the Spirit's rising beam.

Come, ye weary, heavy laden,
Bruised and mangled by the fall,
If you tarry till you're better,
You will never come at all;
Not the righteous, not the righteous,
Sinners Jesus came to call.

Lo! th' incarnate God ascending,
Pleads the merit of His blood;
Venture on Him, venture wholly,
Let no other trust intrude;
None but Jesus, none but Jesus
Can do helpless sinners good.


I love the last three verses - it really strikes me every time I listen, about how God meets us where we are, and doesn't require us to 'get better' on our own - that He loved us enough to send His Son to redeem our fallen lives - and that our attempts at 'redeeming' ourselves are nothing compared to the redemption offered to us through Christ's death on the cross.

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Thanks for the prayers - my grandmother is now back in her apartment in the retirement community, and my dad is actually there from today for about 9 or 10 days to stay with her and make sure she's eating - isn't he great? :)