California Pictures :)

Last weekend, Jesse and I took a trip to the wonderful land of sunny California :) We arrived Friday afternoon, rented a cute little red car that I neglected to take a picture of, and drove to my grandparents house :) After a delightful lunch with them, we drove to the little historical city of Benicia, which once served as the state's capital for nearly 13 months.




We drove to the outskirts of the city where there was a beautiful view of the Bay. Here's a few pictures of the bay-bridge.



After that adventure, we went to the ever-famous hot dog restaurant...Caspers :) YUM. When ordering "everything" on a casper's dog, you get mustard, fresh tomatoes, and onions.

Saturday was our visiting day. After breakfast at my grandpa's favorite diner, Jesse and I drove to my hometown of Scotts Valley where we visited the wonderful little farmer's market! Joe Carlson, the most gifted coffee shop manager/barista I've ever met, made us some delicious iced coffee. :) After some shopping around and visiting with friends, we headed to the Carlson's house for lunch! Seeing old friends and meeting new ones was a blast :)

After lunch, we got to sneak a quick trip over to Felton to see more family...literally give hugs and visit for 5 minutes, then Jesse and I had to book it to the rehearsal dinner...YIKES! Time got a little bit away from us, but we still managed to arrive on time!

We kind of forgot to take pictures in between...like at the rehearsal dinner and at my aunt and uncle's house (I know...don't throw stones at me) :( but WE HAD A SUPERB TIME at both. It was so wonderful to be with family and see faces we hadn't been around for so long.

Then came... SUNDAY!!!!

Jesse and I were up early, on our way into Berkeley, when we missed our exit and ended up on the Bay Bridge :) So we drove into San Francisco and back out real quick, but got a few pictures along the way :)

We finally got to Berkeley and had a little time to spare. Since we hadn't eaten, we drove around town trying to find a place for breakfast. Me in heels and Jesse in a tie, we tried to avoid going to McDonalds and found a cute little French Bistro instead! Oh boy was it delish... :) AND...after brunch....we ordered flourless chocolate cake. Amen and Amen.

We finished our brunch and made our way to the church...



I camped out at the piano to rehearse the music with my little sister (Elaine) and her boyfriend (Josh). We hadn't practiced the music together before that morning. :) Jesse was kind enough to be the photographer.

The wedding was structured as a contemporary Catholic mass with a few additional characteristics added for the vows and special offerings. It was a lovely service...very unique to Chelsea and Marcus.

After the ceremony, the auditorium emptied and Marcus' sister led the procession of people to the reception hall with a belly-dance. (Sample clip to be posted at a later time) :)

Pictures from the reception...





Chelsea and Marcus peeled an orange rather than cutting cake. It was very unique :)

Family Pictures...





And that was our adventure :) A wonderful (FAST) trip to the west coast. Thank you to everyone that hosted us and made it such a special time!!!

Legacy

It's finally turned winter in the city. I'm learning to appreciate the cold, as it makes me that much more grateful for things of warmth: a home, blankets, socks, a hot drink, friends to snuggle with. When I was little, my mom wanted so badly for me to be a "snuggler." She'd make me crawl up on her bed with her for nap-time so she could hug me or make me scratch her arms. I wanted to be an independent brat then so I rarely obliged her and when I did it was out of "have to" circumstances. "SNUGGLE OR YOU CAN'T GO PLAY!" ;) I've always had a great mom...but she certainly has gotten cooler over the years.

Do you ever smell something that brings back memories from years ago? Camp fires, musty books, cedar and pine trees...these remind me of my dad. Our family didn't have a lot of money when I was growing up so instead of flying, we road-tripped for most of our family vacations. We drove to Redlands, California to see my grandparents several times a year. I remember, the final part of the drive was climbing through a forest on one of the mountains. Pine cones would sometimes hit the top of the car and squires would dodge across the road. It always smelled of Christmas with the pine and cedar decorating the slopes. If it was near winter, there would be patches of snow on the tops of trees or in the rock crevices. My dad would get this smile across his face as he rolled down the windows and put his head into the wind. This was home for him.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

College students are an interesting bunch. Young adults all about to begin their "real lives," some single, some starting families. Each one returns to their past for a glance at what has gone before them. Their parents play such a vital role, be that bad or good. Sadly, a great majority look back at broken marriages and families...failed relationships and hurting family members. It's so easy to see the hurt and not beyond.

I have come to grips with the fact that there will be hurt and brokenness in my family's past that will just remain, like a picture framed in someone's house...it just hangs there as something you may see everyday that acts as a reminder for you. But as I look at it and wonder why it's still around, I've realized that healing doesn't come until we can look at those people and situations and see the redeemable elements of them. It's easy for me to pick out flaws in my family, but how little I have sat to think of the good they have taught me...the qualities they have passed on to me.

As we interact with people, I think it's important that we don't judge them for where or what family they've come from, but we should be encouraging them to seek the redeemable things from their past. What is the good of the past if we do not learn from it?

Times of learning...

This morning in my Missionary Relationships class, the topic was about priorities. How many people get so frustrated with themselves or others because they think their priorities are out of whack?! I raise my hand high to this and say that I am certainly one. I get frustrated, mostly with others, if I think their prioritizing things above other more pertinent or important areas of life. Here's how most people (at least in the ministry world) think life SHOULD be prioritized:

1) God
2) Wife/Husband
3) Children/Family
4) Ministry
5) Community/Church

"This is a setup for frustration and guilt." -Dr. Liz Lightbody

Things cannot ALWAYS be the way we like them. We cannot ALWAYS have a devotional time from 8-9am. We cannot ALWAYS have family night on Thursdays. We cannot ALWAYS go to church on Sunday mornings. The only ALWAYS is that CHRIST LOVES ALWAYS.

FLEXIBILITY has to happen in ANY relationship. There will be times that we will need to be flexible and need to ALLOW for our spouse/partner/friend/etc to FLEX where they need to, even if it takes away from us. HOWEVER, DO NOT ABUSE THAT FLEXIBILITY WITH ONE ANOTHER. It will turn to bitterness, hurt, and frustration.

Instead of looking at priorities as a list, try viewing it this way:

Spouse------Children/Family

CHRIST

Ministry-------Community/Church

EVERYTHING STEMS FROM CHRIST.

Not what you get, but what you can give...

One of many nights I miss my family. Be well, wherever you are. You are close to my heart.

A sacred song for the purpose of worship...

Face masks and capes...

Perhaps we'll discuss a different type of hero.

Who are 5 people you would consider to be your heroes in this life? (People you have known in your lifetime.) I can name several of my own...

What happens when you realize your hero is also human...has flaws...defects...sins of their own? Do you brace yourself under that pedestal to keep it from toppling over?

I've been processing this concept for the past few months and come to a few conclusions. There have been several people in my acquaintance that I've truly looked up to...worshiped, in a loose use of the term. These people have a great deal of wisdom; they approach life with a solid mind and open heart. But as with anything in the human life, we must be wary of putting to much admiration and emphasis into another person. We're all humans...depraved humans at that.

The cliche, but none-the-less true, fact is that Christ is the true hero. Our hearts long to be in awe and astonishment of someone. Humans will disappoint and fail. Christ endures forever...Christ never fails. "The soul was made to stand in awe of a Person--the only person worthy of awe. All heroes are shadows of Christ. We love to admire their excellence. How much more will we be satisfied by the one Person who conceived all excellence and embodies all skill, all talent, all strength and brilliance and savvy and goodness" (John Piper--Don't Waste Your Life).

I believe it's okay to look up to people...to appreciate the Christ-like qualities in them...but not to the extent that we cannot recognize their humanity and depravity as well.

The fruits and nuts of the family tree...

Sorry...no pictures in this one. :)

I'm a thinker. This is a blessing and a curse. I think too long on things that don't mean 2 cents and I don't think before I act or say something stupid. Unfortunate. However, in the hours and hours of miscellaneous thought-flow, God sticks in a very directed chain of thought, and boy are those times good.

Throughout the summer, I have seen patterns in my life that reflect very similarly to some in my parents and grandparents. As I looked into it more, I realized that I had never studied or questioned the concept of generational sin. Now, be advised that these are merely the preliminary findings of an ignorant teenager. However, they have opened up some great doors of understanding for me.

First of all, there is something to be said for the way one is influenced by parents and previous generations. The all too common example people use is that of an alcoholic: a child of an alcoholic parent is statistically more likely to become an alcoholic. I think the same can be said for any prevalent sin--children watch their parents' example of sin, there is a chance they might follow such example and be guilty of the same sin.

HOWEVER...(brilliant quote I found)..."Although significantly influenced by them, believers are not slaves to their environment, circumstances, nerve endings, psyche, chemical soup, or parents."

The concept of "generational sin" seems to stem from the passage of Scripture: Exodus 34:6-7. "⁶Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; ⁷who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations."

Listen to what Wayne Grudem says about this passage: "This statement shows the horrible nature of sin in the way it has effects far beyond the individual sinner, also harming those around the sinner and harming future generations as well. We see this in tragic ways in ordinary life...the children of abusive parents often become abusive parents. Christians who are forgiven by Christ should not think of these phrases as applying to them, however, for they are in the other category of people mentioned just before this section on 'the guilty': they are among the 'thousands' to whom God continually shows 'steadfast love,' and in continually 'forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin' (vs. 7). When someone comes to Christ the chain of sin is broken (1 Peter 1:18-19)."

Unfortunately, it seems as though many people have taken the scriptures on this subject and changed them from a message of hope to one of excuse. We cannot say, "well, because of this generational sin in my family, it's not my fault that I struggle with it." WRONG-O. May I again say, if we are believers in Christ, then it is HE who has won the victory over sin and REDEEMED us from the "curse of the law" (Galatians 3:10-14).

Here is the cool part...when we believe in Christ, we are no longer heirs of SIN...but heirs of GOD. We have an inheritance in Christ.

So there are some of my random thoughts. These are some websites I read and a couple books that discuss generational sin:

www.tmch.net/gensin.htm
www.porn-free.org/generational_sin.htm
www.christianitytoday.com/tcw/2004/mayjun/4.16.html
www.voiceofonecrying.com/generational_sins_or_god.htm
Breaking Free by Beth Moore
Blessing or a Curse by Derek Prince

2 bits worth

I just wrote this long theological post with quotes and opinions and personal thoughts and convictions and whatnot. I didn't read over it. It was boring. I won't make you suffer through it. Do you ever have those days where you want to write, but by the time you finish your manuscript, you realize that people will walk away no more encouraged or enlightened by your words? yup...that was this morning. So forget it...nothing impressive here today :)

I'm eating my fresh red grapes that I bought at the market yesterday. A random memory popped into my head about a time my siblings and I put all the grapes in the freezer and made grape-sickles :) yeah...random. good times though. My siblings are pretty cool like that. :)