be jubilee!

I moved! Yay! This was Kristi's birthday present to me, and it's hanging in our stairwell at the moment. Tomorrow's plan? A Wii party. We have no furniture in the downstairs - well, there's one bookcase - but that leaves plenty of room to canoe without smacking anyone or anything. Come visit! If you continue reading this post... you'll see that's a definite plus for me.

I also bought new rain shoes in Texas that are super-dute cute (but I can stand it). Last year, it was pink heels (which I still wear) and this year, it was blue plaid rain shoes. Much more grown up than my pink rain boots, and much easier to carry around if I need to bring a second pair of shoes with me, like when I'm pretending to be old.

Peru update - fundraising has gone splendidly. Thank you all for helping me out and praying for me and my team. I'll remind you before I leave (August 28) but all looks well. They increased our expected trip cost by $200, but you guys covered above what I asked and thus my savings will cover the increased cost. Thank you, thank you! On August 15 at 1:00, Veritas (my church) is having a Missions Lunch - I'll be giving a little 5 minute talk about my upcoming trip and a few other missionaries at Veritas will be talking too. This serves as your official invitation. No, I won't make you eat guinea pig.

I made this: Pesto Meatballs and Orzo Recipes - Pasta Main Dish Recipes - Meatball Recipes and it was tasty. I haven't made anything else spectacular in a while. I am craving some intricately-decorated something though. I'll let you know what I come up with.

Lastly, the reason that I just want to wrap myself up in protective gear/ bubble wrap/ why my 9-months-pregnant friend pitied me and suggested that I get a day to just recuperate... I have had a week of minor injuries. All of them fun to talk about, and none of them terribly painful (until today's.)
1. Last Thursday - I got stung by a bee. Or a horsefly. The last time that happened, Molly took me home from Kristi's soccer game - which means I was probably less than seven.
2. A week ago Friday - I walked to DQ for a Nerds blizzard (Calah, I thought of you) without socks. My shoes have over 500 miles on them - they should be broken in, right? No. The walk ended with a blister and me bleeding through my shoe. But the Nerds Blizzard made it home.
3. Later that day - I stepped on a teeny-tiny piece of glass. It came out, but I had to hop on one foot out of the crawl space, up the stairs, through the kitchen, and into the bathroom so that I didn't drip blood on the white carpet.
4. Today: I promised (emphatically) that I would catch my little swimmers' heads as they swam backstroke.
"DO NOT turn around," I said. "I will get your head if your head is going to hit the wall."
Swimmers 1 and 2: turn around about halfway down the pool.
Me: "What are you doing? I said not to turn around!"
Swimmers 1 and 2: giggle giggle. Oh, hey! Look at Swimmer 3!
Swimmer 3, in a dramatic change of events, is SPRINTING across the pool, head-first, aimed right at the wall with no shot of having an arm hit first, about three giant steps from me. I then SPRINT two of the three giant steps - slip on step 3, wonder in the air if I'm going to need mouth-to-mouth, land somehow on the corner of the pool, with my leg on something painful (the corner of the pool, I'm guessing), one hand blocking Swimmer 3's head from hitting (successfully, I might add) and my other arm sprawled on the other wall of the pool. If it hadn't been the corner, I would've been in the pool. 
I'm pretty sure I bruised my shin bone. The actual bone. Swimmers 1 and 2 immediately said "that's why WE turned around!" to which I grimaced a smile out and pretended not to care that my leg was stunned. It hurts to walk on it... but the swelling went down after I iced it. It currently has about a 6-inch red bruise line running the length of my shin, accompanied by small swelling (just iced) and hopefully, a deep blue bruise as of tomorrow. As much as it hurts, it would hurt me much more inside if it were this painful and showed no outward signs of it.
I don't think that will be too much of an issue.

Unsanitized Christianity sermon series: The Design of Men and Women

This is not a requirement, but for those of you who are interested, I would love for you to listen to the sermon from July 25 on "The Design of Men and Women" from http://veritascolumbus.com/sermons. I have been praying about and studying roles of men and women from the Scriptures and other theologians. Many denominations do not allow women to hold pastoral roles in the church - often, women can lead women or sort of "work the sidelines" but not be ordained as a pastor. The CRC (Christian Reformed Church, Calvin College's denomination) does allow women to be ordained.

Upon graduation and finding Veritas Church in Columbus, I was dismayed to find out that they do not. I struggled with this for a while (and am still struggling, of course) but that's what made me begin my little research on this. I looked up the CRCs opinions and debate when they allowed women to be ordained as a pastor in 2000. See here for a quick summary, or the link at the very top of the page is what I read - the two positions, for and against, before they took the vote. I read the CRC's position - and was dismayed again! To summarize their point of view, the Scripture passages about women being submissive to men in church were declared contextual rules for the church (mainly of Corinth and for those times.) Women weren't educated and did not have any legal say during those times, so of course you don't want someone leading a church if the church members might not respect them! However, the CRC claimed that Scripture passages about women being submissive to men in marriage were not just contextual rules but are still valid today, for all cultures. That's because of the picture the relationship then paints: it mirrors that of Christ and the Church. The CRC argued that marriage as a metaphor is very much relevant and necessary.

I didn't like that. I was just seeing it as women are totally equal, because they're not less than men. I do believe that women and men have different tendencies or natural roles - like, women tend to be more nurturing than men, and men can (usually) beat women in athletics naturally. But those things are hard to compare; they don't mean that one sex is better than the other.

So I started reading more and praying a lot more about it after I found out I didn't like the CRC's position. A real possibility is that what is wrong is my view. So I have prayed - God, open my eyes to Your Word so that I can see what You have declared, and not just read what I want to read. If we all did that, then you could justify slavery, divine appointments for everything, and sending bears to devour children if they call you "Baldie."

Listen to the sermon and tell me what you think! A lot of it made sense to me - a lot of it rubbed me the wrong way - a lot of it was challenging not just to enact but to comprehend.

Nick's main points:

• we are all under the submission and authority of God (I Cor 11:3)
• Uncovered heads (v. 4-6) were a way to rebel to the cultural norms - this may be something like refusing to wear a wedding ring or not changing your last name in today's world, IF your reason for not doing those is to flaunt your independence. Those things are certainly not required but are the norm in the US today.
• We don't need marriage to make us a complete picture of God, but we need both sexes to in the world and Church to be the complete picture of Christ (I Cor 11:11)
• Submission does not mean "lesser than." Our mindset interprets submission as a bad thing, but Christ submits to God the Father and we should be striving to be like Christ.
• The relationship between husband and wife reflects the relationship between Christ and the Church. Just as Christ gave His life for the church, and the church submits to Christ, looking up to Him for our breath and life, so the husband should be giving up his life (metaphorically) for his wife, and the wife loving and holding fast in the faith that he will act toward her with more respect than toward himself.

The Spy Bar

I went to a spy bar (called The Safe House) in Milwaukee this weekend - it was quite amazing. The escape route/ secret exit was closed, and I've heard that's one of the best things about it, but I would say it was still worth it. There are no advertisements or signs for the bar, and to enter, you either have to know the password or do some silly task (usually involving a hula hoop or the can-can) for the bookshelf to open up and let you in. Once inside, there are televisions monitoring the entrance room so that you can see what people have to do. There are a lot of spy-things (decor, jails, ejection seats, one-way windows) inside. It was great.

As was Milwaukee- I was there visiting Cara and Nate. First thing on the docket? Eclipse. (For me and Cara, anyway. Not Nate.) It was great - the wolves actually looked scary, not like the little arctic pups they appeared to be in the second movie... only complaint was that one character (who has been in all three films) suddenly generated a Southern accent after reminiscing about his past. Oops. Maybe the directors should have thought of that before filming the first two movies? Or at least before starting to film this one?

From all of this, I managed to take one picture - of funfetti brownies: a birthday cake for Cara and I! (Our birthdays are a week apart.) And then I didn't want Nate to feel left out, and immediately forgot how old he really is (24) so I added an "& 5". Luckily, going one year older means that I just pretended it was a birthday cake for his birthday... coming up in March?

Oh well. I'll let you know if I attempt to create any other fancy treats, but I might be all sweeted out from those brownies right now. And the free cookie on the plane. Here are my next recipes I want to try:

Summer squash pizza

Portobello, Broccoli, and red pepper melts

Spinach Mascarpone Pasta

And... just so you know that I am still the Julie you all know and love (yes, I am wearing mismatched pajamas right now... but I was actually talking about sweets): Chocolate chip cookie dough balls

I'll let you know what is going on - I think I'm going to have a lot of life updates in the next few weeks. And my Peru fundraising is going really well! Thanks everybody!!! Please remember to pray for me and my team, especially once we're down there. Our plane tickets were supposedly purchased on Friday.

Congratulations, America! Another year of independence: achieved!

Because I don't have any pictures from the weekend (a direct result of leaving the camera in the car) I will attempt to recap the weekend in a humorous and witty way. I found this weekend a set of hilarious mishaps, so I will share here. And if you want to know more details, feel free to ask me. I just am not planning to subject all three of you who read this blog to all the details.




The weekend begins with grandparents and
smores (as if you didn't know that was coming),
wearing red-white-and-blue tie-dye to celebrate our land.
She stares into the smoke of the campfire, watching the embers,
watching the sparks, the flames be fanned,
watching Grandpa's marshmallow go from uncooked to charred
in ten seconds flat.

A long car drive later...


A sunny day with friends at a beach named the Bowl?
What in the name of Lake Michigan could be greater?
Well,
it turns out that the Bowl is named because it is a giant sand dune crater,
and with no clouds in the sky and no foot-shaped ice packs -
She quickly became a hater.
A slight pause for dramatic effect as I check the soles of my feet for blisters. There are none- but I am legitimately surprised. 
It was too sunny to have too much fun,
but they played in the surf and the waves and the towels until later,
they winced their way back up and down the formidable crater,
leaving a cell phone behind with a friend - she wouldn't have climbed back over
if you'd have paid her.

Part of the problems with cell phone usage nowadays is that I rarely look up directions to anywhere. Cell phones have google maps for directions, and other people's phone numbers for directions. Unfortunately, we were in the middle of a small lake town without any knowledge of anything except the direction west. The lake narrowed down our possible directions to head from four to three. Time until the wedding? One hour.


The kind words of a biker led the girls close to their desired spot - but first!
a Captain Sundae!
And in the bathroom of the Captain, the girls wiped off the worst
of the sand, sun, and stream; trading their suits and their shades for black dress -- and ice cream.
And with ten minutes to spare, the girls pulled in - to an open driveway with a little girl playing within.
"Please tell us, dear one, how to get to this church!"
"Mommy?" she called, as if they were cursed... (Maybe we should have offered her more candy?)
But Mommy and Daddy came out to save the day - turns out, the wedding's only five minutes away!
Now with five minutes to spare, we pulled in the church
and sat with dear friends, watching the wedding couple burst
with joy.

And then we went bowling, and I only threw the ball behind me one time.
The songs were plentiful, the pins were not (or were, depending on how you look at it),
My phone returned, to Ohio I went back,
leaving you, dear reader, to know that I wish you a happy weekend
and that you'd cut my writing some slack.

Guess what? I'm back.


I think most everyone knows that I am going on a mission trip to Peru at the end of June, but I'm putting this brief little information up here!

In the spirit of loving God and loving others, I have prayed about and decided to join a mission team to Andahuaylas, Peru, for nine days this summer. 

You may be wondering what could have possibly inspired me to sign on to a mission trip in the Andes Mountains. Was it because the dates fit perfectly in between quarters and summer weddings? Because the word Peruvian rolls off the tongue so nicely? Maybe it was because the trip had an asterisk next to its name that signified a possibility of “intense physical demands”? (Let’s be honest, that was influential.) Or that the organization we’ll be working with has a care program for children and a program for mothers to create micro-businesses? (If you have heard me talk about Half The Sky by Nicholas Kristof or other women’s issues, you already know that I strongly support micro-businesses for women.)

Those are great reasons, but the catalyst was the constant reminder that God has placed before me (and all of us) to take care of the widow, the orphan, and the exile. That call guides and inspires my research at OSU, and I believe that this trip will teach me more about loving God and loving others, particularly in this village.

This trip will work with ministries already in place (see www.friendsofperu.com) and our work will include evangelism, work in a family-owned children’s center that also fosters micro-businesses for the mothers, and transporting Bibles to nearby homes. The trip is through Heritage Christian Church in Westerville, Ohio, and it is the church’s first trip to this location. It’s scheduled for August 28 through September 6 of this summer.

My other summer plans include some trips to Michigan, some weddings, some running, some studying neuroscience (yeah, that's going really well) and developing an online course based on the child development course that I taught spring quarter. That will end up being my Masters project, so it will be great to get that out of the way and to get some credit for the work.

This quarter, I'm taking a course on Structural Equation Modeling (again, but the professor doesn't know that!) and adolescent literature (for teachers). 

I recommend: 

Witness  - Karen Hesse. A story of the KKK entering a small, Vermont town told from many characters. 

Jacob Have I Loved - katherine paterson - Interesting to read just after reading the (adult-ish) novel Prep. Both have these incredibly self-focused narrators in which the reader can easily tell the narrator has a skewed perception. It makes me think about how I am viewing the world. 

I'm sure I'll have more, but there are still 3 more weeks of that class!

After this week (I actually have a lot of work this week) I hope to have time to cook some yummy things with fresh fruit and veggies, as well as to read Sense and Sensibility. I've never read it before, so I thought I should. 

such 'citing things!

Gah, a couple updates.
1. Guess where I was?

Denver!
2. Guess what I won in Denver?

An honorable mention for my lovely poster! (See it? It;s the little paper tacked to the corner.) That's me, next to my poster. We had fun in Denver that's not photographed here, including mostly restaurants and some really fun runs in the sunrise because 5:30 in Denver felt so late! I was at a conference for Society for Prevention Research (actually, my honorable mention won me a year membership) and we talked a lot about preventing things.

3. Guess what I've been cooking?

Some yummy chocolate chip cookies for Stephen for suggesting a good label name for my creeper stories (although they're temporarily on hiatus since it's warm enough to bike again.)

And I had a nice attempt at making cereal. It kind of worked, except the liquid didn't spread all the way out, so there are some cereal-pieces and then some burnt-oat pieces... But I liked it. And I'm going to try again. Now, can someone tell me why More with Less doesn't explain how to add in extremely condensed marshmallow charms?

4. Guess where I'm going this summer? Everywhere. I will update more later!

Marshmallow Test

Delayed gratification at pre-school age is associated with higher SAT scores, interpersonal skills, and a lot more good things. A mom in my class tried to give this test to her son, and he just said, "Well, fine. I'll just take this one now." So we don't think it works if it's someone you're not afraid of offending.



Notice the distraction technique for the boy who makes it the whole way through - he looks everywhere else for a while!

P.S. Sitting in Pittsburgh right now. Working on a paper. (See how well that's going?)