Picture 10: donuts

i work for fuller's doctor of ministry program. THE MOST BRILLIANT PROGRAM IN THE WORLD. but, whatever, i'm not biased. our program is all distance learning so our students come in for one or two week intensive classes. on the first monday of each of those classes we bring in donuts for the students. we offer an average of 20-25 classes a year. soooooooo, that's a lot of donuts. i think offices are just the worst place to try and stay healthy.

by the way - that one donut in the middle that looks half eaten. that's me. i have to sit right by the donuts all day so i find that if i don't take a whole one but slowly chip away at one the whole morning i tend to eat less. GENIUS!

Picture 9: church

church and i have had a somewhat on-again off-again relationship for the last couple of years. sometimes i have difficulty articulating why exactly i've felt the need to withdraw a bit. seminary raised a lot of questions and challenges for me. i also think being a pastor's kid had its difficulties by showing you the political side of the church that is not as appealing. working at fuller has helped a lot. i have a great boss that has a ridiculous passionate faith in the church and what it can be. he has helped to encourage and inspire me  to never give up. i am a captive of hope - and part of that hope is in the church and what she is meant to be. no matter how many questions i have, i won't ever give up on being apart of some faith community, because i know that that's what Christ called us to - community. practicing our faith together.

just in this last year i have visited All Saints Church a few times and really love it. their community is so vibrant and welcoming of all people no matter where they find themselves in life. the traditional structure makes me feel safe and comfortable. while i appreciate all that the emergent church is doing to reach out to people - i think i need a more traditional structure. i am inspired by their commitment to social justice and care for the community.

i'm 2/2 in 2011 - and i'm hoping to keep it up!

Picture 8: the girls

i have some of the best friends in the world. i am so thankful for this community that i know i could turn to for anything. they keep me level headed - they encourage me - and they make me laugh until my stomach hurts. i love these beautiful women with all my heart and our saturday coffee times are the highlight of my week.

Picture 7: conspiracy theories

Sometimes, at the end of a long week, we need something interesting to get us through Friday. My colleagues and I decided that every couple of hours we would take 5-10 minutes to look into some conspiracy theories (CTF = Conspiracy Theory Friday). We weren't sure whether we would in the end prove or disprove them, but we were excited to research them with an open mind.

Here are the theories that we researched:
Chemtrails
Sylphs
Men walking on the mood
Terrorists and War
All the dying fish/birds/penguins/manatee/crabs

Basically, we found that ALL of them were related. It was all something to do with compartmentalization and global governance and the new world order and the fact that the goverment is actually testing all these chemicals and weapons on us without telling us and eventually going to kill us all. So....I hope you can't sleep tonight cause none of us are safe!!!

Happy Friday.

PS....here was my favorite/most informative video on why all the birds are dying. I wanted to leave you with at least a LITTLE information

Picture 6: weight watchers

I think of myself as a fairly confident person. I am happy with my life; both in what I have been able to achieve and the way that I look. But sometimes, the WORLD makes it really hard to continue to love and appreciate yourself. It seems that all society, the media and EVERYONE wants to do is point out to you what's wrong with your current situation. I mean, I have two Master's degrees....but shouldn't I have a Doctorate? I have a great office job with some of the most wonderful people I am privileged to know, but shouldn't I be doing something more in my field that I feel changes the world in a more obvious way? And I have been pretty much the same weight for the last 5 or 6 years but....

Today, at lunch, I was heating up a deluxe healthy choice frozen lunch (I know, I'm pretty gourmet). As I pulled the frozen deliciousness out of the box a coupon for WEIGHT WATCHERS fell out onto the floor. Really? Weight Watchers? I mean, okay, I guess that if someone is eating this type of frozen lunch that is only a small amount of calories for lunch then maybe they are a weight/health conscious person. But, COME ON.

We get hit by it from every direction. First you have to try the South Beach Diet then Atkins then the Master Cleanse (please, don't try to convince me that you are actually doing this to CLEANSE yourself), then everything you see on television is about the "secret to celebrities keeping thin!" Sometimes, it just gets exhausting. Can some of us just be happy with the way we are? Maybe some of our bodies were just made to be the size we are and won't ever be happy (or able) dropping to 100lbs.

I mean, I really enjoy all of the billboards along the side of the street that encourage me to think about how fat I might be. But, they could give America a little break.

Okay, I'm going to go work out - count my calories and then maybe get a little liposuction.

PS....a close second for today's photo was my colleague David. He brought in one of his Christmas gifts, a guitar t-shirt, And you can actually play it. It comes with a pick and has a little amp thing you can clip on to your pocket. It was so cool. But I couldn't really think of that much commentary to write with it other than IT'S ON FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!