Chilling Words

http://www.dennyburk.com/is-it-a-child-or-a-fetus/

This website confirmed an intention of mine that I'm already adamant about: if and when I ever become pregnant, I will not let a doctor or nurse call my baby a fetus. Baby, child, infant, whatever...those are fine. But not fetus. I will correct them until I am obnoxious about it. I know it medically IS a fetus, but in our culture, it's a word people use to dehumanize what is definitely human. It's amazing--and chilling--how language reflects and influences culture. We should be careful how we use it, particularly when innocent lives are at stake.

Calvinism vs. Armenism

Nanowrimo update: 13,821 words. I'm not sure I'm going to make 50,000 by the end of the month!

And this article is fantastic. Short sweet, and answers a great question about Calvinism. http://www.whitehorseinn.org/blog/2011/11/16/does-calvinism-make-god-a-moral-monster/

Keyboard Abuse and Jane Austen murder (?!)

Nanowrimo update: 12,127 words.

Bangs head against keyboard.

I have a great setting and an interesting premise, but my characters are just boring. Seriously. If I met these people on the street, I think I'd listen politely to their stories and suppress multiple yawns. And then invent a lame excuse to leave.

I really just need to pound out the 50,000 words and not worry so much about this. I can make my characters interesting later when I'm not under a time-crunch challenge. But it's utter tedium at the moment.

In other news, saw a cool article on Yahoo that there is a new theory surfacing that Jane Austen died not of cancer or Addison's disease, but by arsenic poisoning. It is not likely that she was murdered, the article says, since arsenic was typically used in medicines at the time, but that is not stopping a crime novelist who stumbled upon this interesting development from writing a historical thriller about Jane Austen being murdered. And if and when said book surfaces, you can bet I'll be waiting in line for that one.

See, why can't I come up with a cool idea like that??

Favorite Christmas Songs

NaNoWriMo Update: 10,846 words.

Okay, so I know we haven't even hit Thanksgiving yet, but I just love Christmas music, and I wanted to share my three favorite Christmas songs. I was originally going to have two, one secular and one about Jesus, but then I realized I had two favorite songs about Jesus that I couldn't choose between. So there are three.

O Holy Night

O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
O'er the world a star is sweetly gleaming,
Now come the wisemen from out of the Orient land.
The King of kings lay thus lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friends.
He knows our need, our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another,
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
With all our hearts we praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,
His power and glory ever more proclaim!
His power and glory ever more proclaim!

I think this song is easily overdone, and can get really annoying because a lot of people who couldn't care less about Jesus sing it for its high notes and a chance to show off vocal ability. In fact, I distinctly remember when I was in University Singers, a vocal performance student sang this as a solo for the holiday concert. She did it well as far as musicality, but I was sort of angry about it because during rehearsals, all I heard her do was complain about the rehearsals, brag about how wonderful she was, and swear a lot. It just seemed almost blasphemous for her to sing it. It's a very difficult song to sing, and while we've done it the last couple years at Christmas, I always feel a little bad inflicting it on the congregation for singing because of its long phrases (however beautiful) and its high notes (however moving). But the words are just wonderful. I love this song because of its strong message of why Jesus came into the world in the first place. It's a good one for reminding me of the real reason Christmas is celebrated and for getting my mind focused on the right things.

O Little Town of Bethlehem

O little town of Bethlehem
How still we see thee lie
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight

For Christ is born of Mary
And gathered all above
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love
O morning stars together
Proclaim the holy birth
And praises sing to God the King
And Peace to men on earth

How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may his His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him still,
The dear Christ enters in.

O holy Child of Bethlehem
Descend to us, we pray
Cast out our sin and enter in
Be born to us today
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell
O come to us, abide with us
Our Lord Emmanuel  

I've always thought this song was beautiful, but didn't catch on to the meaning until Casting Crowns came out with their version that highlighted how little people noticed the greatest thing that was happening, God coming down in human flesh. And obviously, that's still something people miss about Christmas, or God in general. I mean, people who wouldn't dream of setting foot inside a church celebrate Christmas because it's an excuse to indulge greed and materialism. But it's really about Emmanuel, God with us. Seriously. How cool is that? Almighty God gets born in a barn so that He could bring us back to Him. All the presents in the world can't compare to that.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Have yourself a merry little Christmas,
Let your heart be light
From now on,
our troubles will be out of sight

Have yourself a merry little Christmas,
Make the Yule-tide gay,
From now on,
our troubles will be miles away.

Here we are as in olden days,
Happy golden days of yore.
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more.

Through the years
We all will be together,
If the Fates allow
Hang a shining star upon the highest bough.
And have yourself A merry little Christmas now.  

There are a couple reasons I like this song. One, it reminds me of World War II, and I love World War II era stuff. It seems to be a time when people actually cared about getting rid of evil. Second, it debuted in Meet Me in St. Louis, and that's just a fun musical. Third, I have memories of my dad and I singing it in the car together while driving up from Phoenix after holiday shopping. But mostly, I think it's a good song to remind us that not everyone is happy on Christmas, and that the season can really mean pain for a lot of people, and we should be God's instruments in bringing them comfort. And that the world isn't perfect, and Christmas won't make it so. We'll have to wait for Jesus' return for that. 

A couple songs that almost made the list, "Silent Night" (my dad used to sing it as a lullaby to me, year-round), "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" (It's very British and I always imagine Dickens-like characters singing it in top hats and coats, and has a good message), and O Come O Come Emmanuel (it sort of sounds Jewish and feels like something you can sing all the time to pray for Jesus' return).

What are your favorite Christmas songs?

 

Fun in the Fall

So, although our lives mostly consist of work and crashing at home, Cooper and I have still managed to get out and have some fun these last couple weeks.

Cooper surprised me a couple months ago with a gift that caters to my nerdy passion (I firmly believe everyone has one, whether they admit it or not): Harry Potter! He got us school robes and wands and then to complete the costume, I ordered Gryffindor scarves. Except when we got them, we got a Gryffindor scarf and a Slytherin scarf, which I was just very offended by so I had to send  it back. How dare they think I'd want to associate myself with Slytherin?! :-P

So that was our Halloween costume, which we completed with British-style school uniforms and we wore them to a low-key party at the Lighthouse. See the pictures after the post (and thanks David for taking the pictures!)

(And if you are offended by Harry Potter, please see my post here before you comment on that! I've thought it through carefully!)

And it's nearly official...we are moving! In town, so no big exoduses away from here. We're moving two a 2 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath town home close to where we are now, though not nearly as convenient for the bus system, so I am going to have to get more creative with my commute to work. I'm excited for the extra space and a more house-like quality. Cooper's job is ending on the 19th, and he's searching for a new one. PLEASE PRAY. We're moving in December, so Christmas this year is going to be interesting. I will have to enjoy family and friends' decorations and not put up my own, I'm afraid. Oh well.

I love Christmas, and I'm starting to hear those silver bells. I keep wanting to play Christmas music but I'm holding back a bit because I don't want to be sick of it by the end of December. And we've already had our first snow; nothing catastrophic, but enough to stick and be cold and look wintery. I'm not really a fan of snow at all, but this one wasn't too bad, and it happened on the weekend so I didn't have to trudge to the bus stop in it. If only I would be so lucky all winter!

As far as for NaNoWriMo (or as Cooper calls it, Tiny Rhinoceros) ...I'm up to 8182 words. The goal is 50,000 by the end of the month, so I've got a loooooong way to go. I sort of cheated and am doing a novel I already started rather than from scratch, but I'm sort of okay with that. Now maybe I should go pound out a page or two rather than procrastinate here.

Cooper and I, with John in the middle.

Goofing off with Rob, aka Captain Jack Sparrow

Expelliarmus!!

Best. Apples. Ever.

So, I was hanging with my mom yesterday, and she introduced me to the most amazing piece of fruit I have ever tasted in my life.

Honeycrisp apples.

Seriously. If you haven't tried one, go do so. Right now. Mind you, you may want to split one with a friend, because these babies are as big as grapefruits, (and as I did some research, are a man-made cross-pollination), but, boy, are they delicious. Perfect texture, perfect sweetness. So good that I didn't want to ruin them with peanut butter or caramel.

I'm so happy that something so healthy can be so yummy!

NaNoWriMo...I'm Doing It!

Don't mistake the exclamation point in the title for enthusiasm. It's more of a, "What the heck am I getting myself into?!"

NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, is a way for aspiring authors to attempt to write the novel they always say they will but never get around to doing. (Sound familiar?) It provides accountability, kicks in the pants, and encouragement to just go for it and finish that novel...IN ONE MONTH.

I've signed up, made a profile, and am staring at the website with apprehension. Novel planning. Daily word counts. Sweating over a keyboard. Eek!

Weirdly (or not so weirdly), I've often done my best writing under pressure. So maybe this will be appropriate pressure to get myself out of my writing rut caused by grad school and start doing something I once loved and that I believe that God gifted me with to use for Him.

 Pray for me! Here is the website, if you are interested in what NaNoWriMo is all about. http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/dashboard