Recently...

Whenever someone uses the term recently, I am always reminded of the scene from Snow White & the Seven Dwarves where the new (neat-freak) girl on the block asks all her new little boyfriends when the last time they had washed up was.  As they sheepishly look around at one another, one of them pipes up, "Recently!"  Yeah right!, I imagine Snow White thinking to herself.  She sends them out to the wash tub anyway.

Photo credits here.

Anywhoo, here are some of the things that I have been up to recently.  **And yes, washing my hands is included in that list of things.

• My parents came to visit!!  SUPER fun.  They had an action-filled adventure packed with meeting the boyfriend, making me meatloaf, meeting my co-workers and other friends, going to Garden of the Gods (which my mother referred to as "those big rocks"), meeting up with my dad's cousin who he had not seen in 10+ years, heading up to crazy Boulder for the Celestial Seasonings Tea Factory tour, etc.  We also went to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, which my dad said had the best dinosaur exhibit that he had ever seen.  High praise indeed!   I had asked them to send me their pictures from the trip for blogging and other purposes, and the only ones they ended up sending me (on the first round) were ones with me in them.  I did want the other ones, I promise! 

3/4ths of the sweet Custer Family--Olivia (with me), Fiona, & Scott.  Don't worry, baby Megan is sleeping safely in her baby carrier behind us.

• I have been making LOTS of banana bread.  And eating lots of banana bread.  This last week, I didn't have any eggs because I had used them all making a vanilla bean custard or something like that. Oh gosh it was delicious.  Carrying on.  Banana bread.  No eggs.  Yes.  So I tried to do an egg substitute of oil, baking soda, and water...apparently that doesn't work at an altitude of 5,000 ft.  It was goopy and not baked well.  I ended up throwing it out, and then the next day, Amber made some after a trip to the store.  So our banana bread supply was not affected in the atrocity.  PTL.   

• A few oddities:  In the past couple of weeks, I have been realizing how small my little pup really is. He's a pipsqueak!  Also, I have been dialing 9-1 before almost all new numbers I dial on my cell phone--clearly I call a lot of people at work, as that is the dial out code.  So much for leaving work at work. And on the subject of work, I have also forgotten my lunch at home three times within the past week and a half.  Gracious.

Ugh.   Overwhelming cuteness right there.    

• Enjoying nice weather with a picnic on a Sunday after church...and then two days later going into blizzard mode. Not joking!  Sunday was a balmy 68 degrees with a little wind and some clouds, and then Monday night the snow rolled in.  I'm glad I didn't take off my (second) down comforter yet!

• I've been listening to The Wailin' Jennys on repeat for the last few days.  This album in particular.  If you like folksy girls who have awesome and beautiful harmonies who don't sing about lame stuff, they are a band for you.
  
  Photo credits here.
  
  
• Being SUPER convicted at church.  This past Sunday, one of our pastors, Dan, was speaking on Acts 1:8.

But you will recieve power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

 He spoke on how it is important to look at the passage with the eyes of the disciples--when they heard Jesus say the geographic locations, perhaps they did not see cities, but faces.  In Jerusalem, they saw faces of the angry mob who had Jesus arrested, beat, and crucified.  In Judea, they saw the faces of persecutors.  In Samaria, they saw the faces of half-breeds whom often were despised by the Jewish community at the time.  

Why was Jesus sending them to those places?

Ultimately, because He loves those faces.  He loves those people.  And He wants us to share that love with them.  He wants them to have new life.  He wants us, his followers, to love those faces and people as well.  I realized after church that I have believe the lie that my friend's and co-worker's hearts are too hard for the love of Jesus to handle.  Ummm, what?  Where did that come from?  Earth to Tamsen--if Jesus can raise from the dead, He certainly can handle a stony heart.  Does he not promise that to the Israelites in Ezekiel 36:26?

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your chest and give you a heart of flesh.