BOO!

Here's what we did Sunday night.
The group is as follows (L to R): Jason, Charles, Ronnie (girl), Jonathan, Lauren, Sheena, Liane, Alyson, and Tucker (dog)




We did this Alyson's. That is her stoop above and her pumpkin below.



Jason Burke's creation. It's "AROMA" for our coffee house group on Thursdays.




This is Jonathan's. Pizza and a coke. Making you hungry?



Liane's is the cute little squash. Mine is the one with swoopy bangs.



This is Ronnie's creepy tree. Good times!

Captivating by John and Stasi Eldridge

This book is the follow=up to Wild at Heart, the book about how godly men should actually pursue their rugged adventure because that is what they were built for. I've never actually read it, but I do remember some key points. Men desire three things:

1. To live an adventure
2. To fight for something
3. To discover beauty

Women also wants three things at their core that actually coincide. God knew what He was doing here. Surprise!

1. To join in the adventure
2. To be fought for
3. To have her beauty discovered

These make sense to me, and I wasn't surprised or super-enlightened when I heard them. They made sense, so I just added this to the repertoire of small sermonettes that may come in handy.

However, this week, the new book for women (the title of this post) has been rocking my face off. Stasi describes that men and women are made in God's image (Gen. 1:26-27, nothing new), but she goes on to say that men represent God's strength and His power. Here's the take-home: what makes men attractive? STRENGTH. Hold up, let me finish. I'm NOT talking about meat-head in the gym strength. I'm talking about strength of character, fighting for what's right, defending those that are weaker than you. THAT is super-attractive. You think about the heroes in the movies. What makes them studs? Their character, conviction, and drive to set things right (examples: Gladiator, Braveheart, The Last Samurai).

Women represent God's beauty. What makes women attractive? BEAUTY. And not as defined by Elle or Cosmo magazine. We all know drop-dead gorgeous girls that no ones wants to be around and certainly not date simply because they have bad attitudes. No, a woman's beauty is defined by her heart. When a woman is loving, compassionate, and serves the needs of those around her, that's attractive. Men can say a lot of things about appearance and such, but I would dare to say that the only aspect that truly pulls at a man's heart would be the genuine compassion and encouragement found in the heart of a woman.

It brings up all new objectives in terms of self-improvement. I'm challenged not to find the best new product to prevent fine lines around my eyes. I'm challenged to learn to love better, to think of others first, and to battle the urge to self-protect. Stasi mentions that sharing your beauty as a woman will make a difference in your world, but it's a process to make your heart vulnerable. Isn't that the title of my blog or something?

Turning the Corner

I'm roundin' it, homes. It's invigorating. I'm reading up on a neuro-muscular disease for a presentation tomorrow for my neonatal intensive care rotation (NICU for all my medical friends), and I'm loving it. I don' think it can be credited solely to the fact that I had coffee earlier, either. I seriously am enthralled.

This week has been very interesting. The amount of assignments and the weight of my workload has only increased. Very few items have been completed and removed from the To-do list. But after freaking out and asking for much prayer from friends and family...something's changed.

Being at the hospital ~ 12 hours Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday was not that bad. I even worked on some stuff before I went to bed as well. For my other friends doing a residency and especially those doing their medical residency, I probably sound like a lightweight. But for me, this is huge. I'm very selfish with my time, and I have expectations as to how long I think it should take me to complete assignments. Plus, I've never let one thing (job, school, etc.) completely monopolize my life. Call it a weakness, lack of discipline, whatever you want. But I'm not sorry for it.

However, now there's a new motivation. I truly want to know. I want to grow as a practitioner. Sometimes I truly don't mind putting it extra time, coming up with my own little assignments to consolidate what I'm learning, or provide myself a quick reference in the future. God is truly affirming where I am, what I'm doing, and why He's brought me down this path.

Once again, story of my life: I am blown away by the evidence of His faithfulness. He is truly validating Psalm 37:4 by putting in my heart the desires that it should have in order for me to live my life to the fullest (John 10:10). And I'm delighted in Him.

If you would have asked me on Wednesday of last week, I wouldn't have had any spectacular expectations for this weekend. However, it was a bombin' one (maybe un milagro, one might say). lol. insider. My buddy Justin (from the GBC crew in Memphis and Zach's old roommate), who now lives and works near Boise, drove over with a friend heading to Seattle. It was a good opportunity for him to ride along and head on down to Tacoma and see me.

We were out all day Saturday fighting the fog and trying to see the sights around Tacoma. It ended up being a gorgeous day. Good food, good times, good friends, good weekend. I will purposely fail to mention details about the worst bowling I've done in years.

With bowling and church today, Justin got to meet most of the people in my life here outside of work. After he left, lunch, and a nap, I headed out with some friends to Wild Waves, a huge amusement park here on I-5. One of my friends from church works there and got us passes to ride the rides and go through the haunted house. It was really fun. I felt kinda old. I haven't ridden carnival rides in ages. But along with Ari, a college freshman, I rode almost all the big ones. The haunted house got a couple of screams outta me, and I definitely had a death grip on the person in front of and behind me.

Overall, great weekend. Now back to the grind...ugh.

Of course it happened today...

I let Jada talk me into looking like a scrub to fly back to Seattle this morning. I at least had a small amount of makeup on when I was sitting in the Memphis airport, talking with my mom on my cell, and people-watching. I notice an attractive guy pretty far off, and as he comes closer, familiarity begins to materialize. And then I can't believe it! It was NOAH WYLE with David Schwimmer, strolling through the Memphis airport! David was about two feet from me, wearing two different forms of camouflage and making me feel much better about my clothing choice.

I neglected my initial reflex to run up and ask them for a photo. I decided to be too old for that. But it's still a cool story. Now if it woulda been John Krasinski, I would've had a pic to post.

Okay, okay, I get it...

I've decided to take the plunge. After two different instances of being questioned and explaining my stance on things, I've changed my mind. And I still haven't decided what the right choice is.

Those who know me well know that I have a small band with the words "TRUE LOVE WAITS" that I wear on my left ring finger...a.k.a. the "here's-how-you-know-whether-I'm-taken" finger. Since I've been in Tacoma, I've had one in-depth conversation with an endocrinologist in which the man assured me that I was deterring all respectable, date-able guys wearing it on that hand. The other night my grandmother asked me about it, and it came up again tonight with my friends at dinner.

Initially my thoughts were that it provides a good filter. Any person would have to get to know me at least a little bit before they asked me out. I figured that saves them money and both of us time. Seriously, I'm a handful. It's only to the kid's advantage that he figure that out beforehand. The fact that I'm never seen with a guy and work with the SINGLE'S group at church is clear enough to me.

I had originally thought I could wait a couple more years before I made the switch. I think I saw it as a last-ditch effort. Wow, this sounds sad. But maybe it's more about correct representation and keeping your options open. I still haven't decided.

All of this led to my ultimate decision: tonight I switched the ring to my right hand. My friend Donna made a good point: most guys get confused about which hand it is anyway. But I still feel a twinge of being a sell-out. I even called a couple of trusted guy friends to ask their opinion. They of course didn't answer the phone. So I need some feedback. Help a sister out.