Alaska: Bigger & Colder than Texas

Thanks to Cliff's parents, July 7th-14th we took our first family vacation to beautiful Ketchikan, Alaska.  In short: it was beautiful, relaxing and fun.  But really...you know I'm not going to stop this post with an "in short."

So...off we go:

First of all - traveling with an infant isn't actually that hard.  Well...if you have a mellow baby like we do, then it isn't hard.  Gareth slept most of the flight to Alaska (4 hours to Seattle, then 2 hours to Ketchikan), and when he wasn't sleeping, he was laying in my lap laughing as Cliff and I made faces at him.  Our niece and nephew were also great travelers, so the trip there was pretty low stress. 

And then we got to Alaska....and it was beautiful.  And in the high 60's.  Or as native Alaskan's would call it..."a hot day."  Pssh.   The air was clear, the view was gorgeous and we were exhausted from traveling.  But of course that was the day we saw a pod of orca whales right outside of our hotel.  God is good, all the time!

Instead of doing a day-by-day vacation recap for you (which my sister-in-law did so much better than I ever could), I'll just sum it up like this:

- Cliff fished

- I went to the Spa

- We saw a horrifically terrible melodrama called the Fish Pirate's Daughter

- We got mistaken for locals

- We saw humpback whales, bald eagles, bears and orca

- We saw at least 15 different cruise ships

- We did a zip-line

- I climbed a rock-wall

- We ate so much awesome seafood that I wont crave it again for at least a month

- Gareth wore really cute coats

And now...for some pictures:

Elizabeth...defeating the rock wall!

Cliff, in a mighty struggle with a halibut

Elizabeth getting ready to zip-line!

What Cliff did Today in Alaska

Meditation on Lent

Scripture Basis: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
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Lent is an odd season for the American church.  In a culture that so rarely values self-reflection, service, and asceticism, we yearly engage in a season of penitence, discipline and self-denial for the sake of Jesus Christ.  Or…we talk about doing it and then forget about it because Ash Wednesday came and went before we decided if we should give up cokes or not.  But whether we participate in the ancient rituals of discipline or not, Lent is still odd.  It’s the somber season of purple when purple just 3 months ago was anticipation and joy.  It’s the season where our preachers talk about sin more than they have in the last 9 months in total, the season where Jesus transforms from the transcendent and witty guy we know and love to a weeping, blood-soaked martyr.  Lent is…uncomfortable for us.  Why?

Perhaps its because we like to focus on Easter so much.  And really, who can blame us?  It’s like the beginning of this morning’s passage, all light and reconciliation: from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation…” Yeah, that’s it.  We are new creatures because of Christ.  We are a part of the new kingdom that is coming, not the old one that is passing away.  We are reconciled to God and he gives us ministries of reconciliation.  Yeah, that’s what we like.  We can usually get through Lent because we’re looking forward to the nice parts of scripture where God is happy, where Jesus is alive, and where we don’t have to feel any guilt or culpability at all.

But it’s not Easter yet.  And skipping Lent is a bad idea liturgically and in terms of our faith growth.  The same reason we can’t skip the end part of this morning’s passage.  Which honestly, I think Paul knows full well the emotional impact of slipping it on at the end: Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Ouch.  There’s the sticking point, the reason that Lent makes us squirm and the reason we avoid Maunday Thursday or Good Friday services even though we know we should go.  Because there was a cost for all of our “made-new-ness.”  Because the reconciliation came with a price-tag.  And because our lives and the lives of all of humankind determined how high that price was going to be.  “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf…”

“Made to be sin on our behalf.”  Devastating words.  Words that ring with intent and with honesty about the human condition.  Words that pierce deeply into us and the fog of our own well meaning self-deception.  Words that hold within them the heart of the Lenten season.

I tend to think of Lent as the season of mirrors.  It is during Lent that we hold up a mirror and look closely at ourselves and name out-loud our failures and need for healing.  It is during Lent that the church holds up a mirror to itself and sees it’s own presence among the crowds that hailed and then hurled Jesus towards his crucifixion.  It is during Lent that God holds up a mirror to the world so that its brokenness, selfishness and deceitfulness are revealed.  Mirrors that I would rather remained dusty and dim, mirrors that reveal too much that I would rather remain hidden.

It is during Lent that we are no longer able to avoid the truth of our lives, of our churches and of our world, a truth that tells us that we are desperately in need of reconciliation with God and that that reconciliation is approaching on a horizon decorated with crosses.  It is during Lent that we are humbled by the power that was necessary to offer us grace, a power so great that the earth trembled and the dead rose from their graves.  It is during Lent that we remember that the Christ Child has become the Christ who became sin so we would no longer have to bear it.

Heavy stuff.  Uncomfortable stuff.  Truthful stuff.  And perhaps that is why the apostle Paul couches it within a brighter message.  Because Lent is followed by Easter.  Because reconciliation is achieved.  Because we are new creations.  Because Christ rose from the dead.  But not yet. 

Though Lent may be uncomfortable to us because of its starkness, because of its unwavering darkness, because of its sharp-edged mirrors, it is my prayer that you remain within it.  That you savor all of its pain and incisive truthfulness, that you submit to the Spirit which calls you to repentance.  Because re-creation is worth it.  Because reconciliation is worth it.  Because Easter is calling you.

Books

Today I was reflecting on all the books that I read during high school (as required), and so I decided to make a list:

- Hamlet by Shakespeare

- The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald

- Once & Future King by T.H. White

- Julius Caesar by Shakespeare

- The Odyssey by Homer

- Greek Mythology

- Romeo & Juliet by Shakespeare

- Anthem by Ayn Rand 

- Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

- 1984 by George Orwell 

- Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton 

- The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne 

- The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan 

- One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich 

- A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams 

- The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde 

- The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka 

- Siddhartha by Herman Hesse 

- Kokoro by Natsume Soseki 

- Macbeth by Shakespeare 

- The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner 

- The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence 

- The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes 

I just KNOW that I'm missing some books...and plays...and short stories.

What say you former classmates?  What books am I totally forgetting?

Reflecting

The images coming out of Haiti are horrific.  Stunned people wandering down streets filled with rubble and bodies, dust hanging in the air from buildings that collapsed into each other, onto each other, on top of their inhabitants.  The ruined husks of hospitals.  The markets destroyed.  The government vanished under the weight of collapsed timber.  I am shaken by the pictures of already destitute children, staring at the remnants of their orphanages, wondering where they will sleep, what they will eat, and where they will go.  Haiti is a table of dust and ashes, of empty plates and cracked glasses, of overturned chairs and shattered hopes.  And Christ is among them, suffering with them, loving them, calling us to help them, unrelenting in his compassion.

How will you answer God's call to care for his beloved children?

How will I?

The Christmas Story via Forky

I read a very compelling Christmas post today and wanted to share with you my favorite bit.  


Preface: What the Christmas story would look like if it happened in modern day New York City.


"Bethlehem is packed with tourists. Mary and Joseph, dirty and smelly with no hotel reservations, are just another couple of faces on the sidewalk. They don't have iPods and drink coffee from the street vendor instead of Starbucks Christmas blend. There's no room at the hostel. Mary has a baby on a subway platform without drugs. They put their baby in a cardboard box after dumping out the rat droppings. And out in New Jersey, angels appear to a drag queen and a couple of Muslim taxi drivers who barely speak English. Good tidings of great joy."


To read his whole post, go here

What we did in October

So, imagine my (Elizabeth) surprise when I learned that my dearest husband Cliff had never been to the TEXAS STATE FAIR.  He's a natural born citizen of Texas and I'm not, and I'VE been many times.  Scandal.  So this year, we decided to take a trek up to the DFW and go visit Big Tex at Fair Park with my parents.

Big Tex says hello.  He's not shy!

I know that there are games and concerts and all sorts of attractions to see at the Texas State Fair, but we really wanted to go because of the FOOD.  The FRIED FOOD.  (This is the part where my sister-in-law Tiffany shudders.  She has a masters in nutrition.)  We were psyched.  We figured that since we'd be walking all day and sharing food between the four of us, that it couldn't be that bad.  As my mother said "We're practically virtuous." Truth.

So weren't we thrilled when we discovered that the Texas State Fair had CHALLENGED US TO A DUEL! They must not have ever met my husband, because he is ALWAYS up for a duel.  The terms were this:

Eat this list of food (pictured below)

1. Fernie's Deep Fried Peaches & Cream

2. Deep Fried Butter

3. Country Fried Pork Chips

4. Fried Peanut Butter Macaroon

5. Green Goblin (?)

6. Sweet Jalapeño Corn Dog Shrimp

7. Texas Fried Pecan Pie

8. Twisted Yam on a Stick

We also added: 9. Chicken Fried Bacon

The challenging part?  Don't Barf.  What do you win?  EVERLASTING GLORY.  I assume anyway.

Of COURSE we were up for the challenge!

I don't exactly remember what order we did this in, but you get the picture.  Below you'll see the DEEP FRIED BUTTER.  You may be thinking "gag, Elizabeth.  I saw that Simpsons episode where homer started his own religion so he could stay home on Sundays and eat a stick of butter wrapped in a waffle, and it wasn't pretty."  True, but this was not so...animated.  Taste-wise it was like the Best, Buttery Biscuit you have EVER had in your WHOLE life.  It was delicious, bar-none, our favorite dish of the whole day.

Fried Butter = Delicious.  Don't even argue with me because I'm sure God eats these in heaven.  

Below is the Deep fried Pecan Pie.  It tasted exactly as it should and sharing one between the four of us was a wise choice because it was very sweet.  My note in the program was "yum!"

Why yes, I will have some pie!

I know this didn't come next, but I have to write about it.  This was the "Green Goblin" and it was a pepper, stuffed with shredded chicken and guacamole, battered, deep-fried and then covered in Nacho Cheese.  I was 11 weeks pregnant at this point, so this one wasn't easy for me.  The description turned ME green. But, it wasn't half-bad.  Cliff and my mother really enjoyed but I think my dad and I were just kinda weirded out that somebody fried guacamole.  Way to ruin a healthy fat!

There's probably a horror movie named after me!

Our next challenge-food reminded me of Thanksgiving.  It was a yam, cut into twistys (technical, I know) then deep friend and covered with cinnamon-sugar.  I'm not a Yam person, but this was actually pretty delicious.  It ended up tasting like Yam-chips.

I was healthy...and then I came to the fair.

Next up is the Sweet Jalapeño Corn Dog Shrimp.  This was an odd one.  The Shrimp were covered in some sort of Jalapeño jelly and then battered in corn-dog breading and fried.  It tasted...okay?

If there was a kick-ball team of fried foods, this one would be picked second-to-last.  Poor shrimps.

Below you will see the Big Tex Choice for Best Tasting Award Winner, Deep Fried Peaches and Cream.  This was really good.  The peaches were perfectly ripe, the batter wasn't too thick and the cream added a perfect little side of creamy.  I still liked the deep fried butter better, but this was still great.

I'm fruit! I swear I was nutritious once!

Below are my least favorite of the evening (though to be fair, Cliff liked them both).  I can't really tell which is which, but one is the Deep Fried Pork Chips and the other is the Chicken Fried Bacon.  I could only do a bite of each of these and then I turned green and got queasy.  Cliff loved the Chicken Fried Bacon.  We all thought the Deep Fried Pork Chips were overrated.

Fried Pig, Version 1

Fried Pig, Version 2.  

You are probably thinking, WAIT!  WHAT ABOUT THE FRIED PEANUT BUTTER CUP MACAROONS?!  Sad to say, we didn't get to this one.  We tried!  But when we got in line for this delicious item, they were OUT.  OUT!!!  I still think we deserve a win on this challenge because it wasn't OUR fault that we couldn't eat the macaroons.  It was the Fair's fault.  

What say you?  Were we victorious?  Or were we defeated soundly?