hi. i am eclectic.

[Ephesians 2:4-10] But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

MY WORD OF THE DAY:

eclectic [i-klek-tik]–adjective
1) selecting or choosing from various sources. 2) made up of what is selected from different sources.

(one of) the happiest place(s) on earth.

Sorry they are all so small. But so many pictures, so many stories, so little space, so little time.

^^ These are my flip flops after the first day of Disney (Cali Adventure). I went with my converse the next day.

^^ Space Mountain

^^ GOOFY

^^ Bill Hill was new! Aaaah, it's just not the same...

^^ the Mad Hatter's Tea Cups

Last but not least, ^^ the Matter Horn

And can I just take this opportunity to say, I love you just the way you are, Katie.

WORD OF THE DAY:
dour \DOO-uhr; DOW-uhr\, adjective: 1) Harsh; stern. 2) Unyielding; inflexible; obstinate. 3) Marked by ill humor; gloomy; sullen.

st patrick's.

Wish you were here...

alice in wonderland.

So, we're leaving tomorrow. I am quite excited. Road trips in general are always fun, as long as you are doing it with someone you don't mind being around for more than 24 hours. And not just "being around", you have to know how to handle yourself when they get annoying (haha) and be able to share everything from drinks to clothes to food to chairs to toothbrushes (well maybe not toothbrushes, but you get the picture).

Combined with thoughts on a website I found, these are just a few rules I've come up with on road trips (the following was created with help from http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/how_to/how_to_road_trip.php):
1) Your hair looks fine - you are there to enjoy the ride and feel free, not to check the mirror every five minutes and slow down your trip
2) Driver controls the music (!!!) - "Passenger gets two vetoes per three hours or 150 miles, whichever comes first. No exceptions."
3) No hogging the twizzlers - share everything. "If your passenger is asleep you may eat their candy, but you must be prepared to make a pit stop to replace it within 30 minutes of their waking up. Road-trip snacks should not be underestimated."
4) Have a sleeping strategy - everyone decides where to sleep before you end up at a ghetto Motel 6 with bullet holes in the door and "coffee stains" on the sheets.
5) The road wants what it wants - "Some are inspired to be chatty, others find long car trips more meditative. Driver can call ‘Quiet,’ and it can last 30 minutes out of every 90 they are behind the wheel. Similarly there may be stretches of the trip where at least one person who is not driving needs to keep the driver company. You may resent this duty, but losing a little beauty sleep beats losing your head if the driver drifts off to sleep."
6) You'll (most likely) never see those people again - Let it all go, be a mess, trip in to/over the garbage cans, ask for directions, or drive arond with your windows open as you play some intensely pitiful chick rock or sappy pop music
7) Be prepared to get dirty and for things to go wrong - Road trips aren't for fancy, perfectionist, organized people. Expect the unexpected, predict the unpredicted, plan for the unplanned, and know that you will probably get lost at least once. Road trips are for trying new things, exploring places, and finding foods that taste and smell much too familiar to the Wednesday surprise you had in your Junior High Cafeteria.
8) Everytime you stop, at least try to go to the bathroom - This was the number one rule on our family road trips when I was younger. This rule probably helped us get from White Rock to Anaheim in 19 hours.
9) Choose your road trip pals wisely - don't go with anyone who you think will not be able to abide by these rules.
10) Don't do anything stupid - Don't go down steep, muddy ravines at a late hour of night, don't ride the ski chair with the safety bar still up, don't try diving off a rock head first into unclear water to see how deep it is, and if you think you can't do something successfully with the chances of breaking a bone to not breaking a bone as high as the building you want to jump off of, just don't do it.
Finally, don't forget who you want to give the glory to at all times, and don't think that just because you are on a road trip doesn't mean you have to quit doing your daily devotions to keep on schedule. Keep a positive attitude and try to use your imagination. If the frying pan handle breaks, remember duct tape is your friend. If your shoe gets a hole in it, again, duct tape it. If you go out and as you trip over the curb and rip your jeans where you would most not want them to rip, just pretend it is the new style (and try to avoid people in general).


To all, a great week, and a great week to all.
[Romans 5:6-11] For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

WORD OF THE DAY:
taciturn \TAS-uh-turn\, adjective: Habitually silent; not inclined to talk.

1963.

Close your eyes as you go back in time, discovering new ideas and old ideas, yet even better than they were before. I give you, 1963 in the future.
On second thought, don't close your eyes. Just look at our photo shoot.

da na sa.

Da na saa, da na saa
Da on ya ma na saa
If he say, oh yay
Na na do, do so
Da na saa, da na saa
Da on ya ma na saa

I know it really, really looks like jibberish or Finnish or something like that, but it's not. It's Twi, and the kids in Ghana sang it a lot, and we learned it, and we learned the meaning, but I just didn't really learn the spelling. I miss it. It was on Oprah a week or two ago, for a moment, when they were doing a special on Ghana. I hope to go back to Ghana, someday, and find out how to really spell this song out. Whatever God wills... I am always amazed thinking about how God has everything planned out, even when we don't understand what or why at that exact moment. We probably won't ever be able to comprehend or get a glimpse of the answers to our questions in our life. He knows what we are thinking, what we are doing, why we are doing it. He is incredible. He never changes. And He is so good to us.



WORD OF THE DAY:
galumph \guh-LUHM(P)F\, intransitive verb: To move in a clumsy manner or with a heavy tread.