Spring Break!

Finally! Spring Break!

I know it is only Tuesday, but I have probably had all of my fun... On Saturday, I drove up to Birmingham with my Lily. I went to see A Chorus line that evening, but spent most of my day shopping. I enjoyed my entire weekend, except for the swimsuit shopping.

A Chorus Line was INCREDIBLE!! I really loved all the dancing and the story lines! Of course, there were some parts that could have been done without, but thats true of most shows. 

On Sunday, I came back to Thomasville and immediately left with the youth girls for the beach in Gulf Shores. We had a great time except for the fact that there were not enough beds for all of the girls and the  ceiling started leaking. We hung out on the beach for a few hours (long enough for ALL of us to get some part of our bodies sunburned.) On the way home, we stopped in Daphne and watched Soul Surfer.

Soul Surfer was such an amazing movie! It is about Bethany Hamilton, a surfer who was attacked by a shark and lost her left arm, but continued to surf and become a professional! Bethany Hamilton is such a courageous woman. I remember reading about her in 2003 when she was attacked by the shark. However, I did not realize how much her faith had played into her recovery. The movie displayed this very well. I loved it and cried through most of it.

The part that got to me the most was when she visited Phuket, Thailand. Although I have never been to Phuket, as soon as I heard the first person say Sawatdee Kaa, it hit me how much I missed Thailand. I love it there and I miss the people.

Well the rest of Spring Break, I will be recovering from sunburn, reading, watching movies, and sleeping.
Today I cleaned out my closets and got rid of clothes that I will never wear again. What a day!

Longing for Home

So... lately I have been bitten by the house bug, and I don't mean some insect that lives in my house. No I have recently really been desiring a house. It all started when I saw that this super cute little house across from my church was for rent. I went and looked at it and all of a sudden it was like WHOOOSH!!!! I want a house. But that particular house was too much to rent and all the deposits were a little high so I gave up on it. But then I was telling a friend about it and she started pointing out all the houses for sale, and that some people might be willing to rent until I have a better idea of where I will be permanently. So I went and looked at one house and it was not impressive. But there are a few that I am really interested. But I started thinking about it, and about why I want a house so badly. I mean, I have a great apartment (aside from the nasty carpet that Lily is making more nasty). I have quiet neighbors, cheap rent, a huge backyard that someone else mows... why would I want a house. I have come up with a few reasons.

1. Everyone wants something of their own. I don't own this apartment so I cannot do what I would like to it. I cannot paint the walls or change anything without permission.

2. There is a sense of settledness and permanency in a house. An apartment gives the sense of changableness: that you could leave any second. And while that might be attractive for a while, part of you wants to settle down and put down roots.

3. This might be the most important and the most overlooked reason of all. We are longing for heaven. C.S. Lewis (one of my favs) said, "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probably explanation is that I was made for another world." I feel like my desire for a home is merely an earthly reflection of my desire for my true home: Heaven. In John 14:3, Jesus said, "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also." Our longing for home really just boils down to our longing to be with Christ in a perfect place. Nothing on earth is every going to fill this longing for heaven. If I get a house, then eventually I will want a larger house... and on and on and on.

There are a multitude of songs that talk about the mansions, Christ is building for us in glory. I don't really think I want a mansion. I just want a little cottage that is all my own. I want lots of flowers that I don't have to plant or water with magnolia and dogwood trees. I also want hydrangea bushes outside. My perfect house would also have a reading room with built in bookshelves and a comfortable window seat so that I can sit and read in the sun. I also want rocking chairs and a swing on my front porch!

The Crucible, Baseball and Misc...

So it has been a while since I last posted. I have several good reasons for this.

1. Two weeks ago, we gave the Alabama High School Graduation Exam which I had to proctor every day.

2. This week was the week before the THS theatre department performed The Crucible. 

3. There were also baseball games and I run the scoreboard for the games.

So this week THS performed The Crucible. It is a very good play written by Arthur Miller. It is a very complex play that is difficult to perform. The kids did a very good job especially the leads!
But it was a lot of work. Lisa Newton (the Drama teacher) and I spend every night at the Civic Center practicing and then working on the set after the kids leave. Thursday night, we swung the lights and Lisa, Karen Dean and I were at the Civic Center until the wee hours of the morning. But it was all worth it for the kids.

Here are a few pics.

Les Miserables =)

So in my last post, I referenced Les Miserables. I have had a 12 year relationship with the famous novel by Victor Hugo. It is considered one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century and the third longest-running show in Broadway history. When I was 10 or 11, Dad went to New York with the youth at our church. They went and saw Les Mis. When he came home, he bought the CD and made me listen to it. I absolutely fell in love with it. At that point, Dad promised me that if I read the novel he would take me to see the Broadway musical.

The next year, when I was 12, our family went to Denver for Spring Break. In the airport, Dad and I were looking at the bookstore and we found a copy of the novel. Dad bought it for me. I don’t think he really expected me to read the whole thing. But I did.

It took me about two weeks, but I read all of the over 1,400 page book (remember I was 12). Anyway I told Dad I had read it, but he didn’t believe me and proceeded to quiz me extensively on the plot line. I guess I passed! In the past years, I have reread it about 5 or 6 times.

Three years later, the musical came to Birmingham and Dad took me to see it! I loved it! My favorite song is One Day More and my favorite character is Eponine. I know that everyone loves Jean val Jean, and Fantine, but something in me loves Eponine. I guess I always love the underdog. I mean the poor girl is in love with Marius, but he loves the beautiful Cosette. She sings a song about unrequited love (On My Own)  and dies in the end after getting shot and sings a beautiful duet with Marius (A Little Fall of Rain).

So in the years since that time, I have listened to the music off and on. I also began writing my thesis on the theme of paternal relationships in Les Miserables. Although I did not finish said thesis, I enjoyed delving into the relationships between fathers and daughters.

 This past weekend dad gave me a copy of the 25^th Anniversary concert. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to see the songs performed again.

Here’s my favorite!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxFMIQumXS0

Nick Jonas as Marius was a little weird, but he did a good job. Lea Salonga as Fantine was fabulous and of course Alfie Boe as Jean Val Jean was fabulous!

And now we have tickets to see it again in Birmingham in October!

I think that the play is so powerful because the major theme is redemptions. Jean val Jean is a convict, who changes his life through his determination and the mercy of a priest. Everyone has areas in their life that need redemption.

Home Improvement

This weekend was a slight whirlwind. Friday I went home to see my parents for the first time since Christmas. Judson(my brother) and I went to see The Eagle, a fabulous movie with Channing Tatum.

Although I totally proved Anna (Judson's girlfriend) correct by listing Channing Tatum as one of the main reasons I wanted to see this (He is an Alabama boy and totally good looking), the main reason I wanted to see it was because of the story line.

In 140 AD, twenty years after the unexplained disappearance of the entire Ninth Legion in the mountains of Scotland, young centurion Marcus Aquila (Tatum) arrives from Rome to solve the mystery and restore the reputation of his father, the commander of the Ninth. Accompanied only by his British slave Esca (Bell), Marcus sets out across Hadrian's Wall into the uncharted highlands of Caledonia - to confront its savage tribes, make peace with his father's memory, and retrieve the lost legion's golden emblem, the Eagle of the Ninth.

I love this era of history! Not to mention that I teach British Literature and we have just completed the unit on it! Although early Brit Lit is not my favorite thing to teach... it is still a fascinating period of time.

Also this weekend, I got my dad to fix my desk... This past week I seriously considered moving into a cute little rental house very close to where I live. I really liked it - especially the wood floors!  But it was a little more than I needed to pay. But because I decided not to move, I thought that it was time to finish decorating! My poor bedroom has been a mismatched mess since I moved in! But I got my new comforter for Christmas, so now is a good time to decorate!! So Dad fixed my desk and I sanded and painted it and a new side table yesterday! While I sanded and painted, I watched the 25th Anniversary concert of Les Miserables... but that is another blog.

Anyways so now I have painted my desk, all except for the drawers. I also bought a pretty blue and white vase, a new shower curtain, and some new towels. I also am planning on painting some canvases to go over my bed. Pictures will be coming soon!

Here I Go Again

Well... Here I go again. I have tried the blogging thing before and it never really stuck. But as it is the latest trend, I will try to be slightly consistent. Really as I think about it more, the more it reminds me of my own self centeredness... Why should I care if anyone reads what I write. But I think it will be interesting to try... a social experiment if you will. So perhaps you will think me witty. Perhaps you will think I am crazy... Or perhaps you will think I need to get a life. Whatever.