23.9.08

on octogenarians, craftiness and churchiness...

Just a few things:

- Jordan and I watched a great documentary last Saturday night about a senior citizens chorus turned rock band. It's called Young@Heart, and is one of the sweetest films I've seen in a long time. Here's the trailer:



While I was out renting the movie and getting poor Jordan some NyQuil, he was at my house trying hard to stay awake studying for a host of tests he has this week.

- Most of you know I'm not very crafty or decor-oriented. It's not because I don't care. If the volume of design blogs I read on a daily basis is any indication, I care a whole lot. I just don't seem to have/make the time. For instance, Jordan gave me some beautiful framed pictures for my birthday. In April. I just hung them up last Sunday. One could argue it's because I moved out of my apartment in May, and then lived in Dr. W's home (where I didn't feel like I could just start banging holes into the wall), but still. It's just sort of what I am. But I decided to shake it up a bit and made a 'memory board' using some beautiful fabric BRuch gave me. I followed instructions on a craft blog and I think it went rather well. But, knowing me, I probably won't get around to hanging it on my wall until next spring.


- A few churchy things. I'm attending an institute class all about the temple as found in the Old Testament. It's being taught by the same guy whose classes I've attended pretty consistently since I first moved here. He's also taught Isaiah, Hebrews&Revelations, and the Writings of Paul. I generally like the classes because our teacher, who's working towards his PhD at UNC in archaeology (I think), brings quite a bit of academics into the mix. I took a class at BYU called Texts and Ancient Temples by a really brilliant guy, so a lot of the stuff we're going over is a bit of a review from my college days, but Matt (our 'prof') has mentioned a few new things I thought were pretty interesting. These might sound a bit random taken out of context, but I thought I'd throw one or two out there:

Matt's take on symbolism in the Garden of Eden: Adam in Hebrew means mankind. Which is apt, because Adam (and Eve)'s story is our own story. Adam represents the whole of humanity. Adam's fall from the presence of God is symbolic of our own fall (or separation from His presence). Upon partaking of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, Adam & Eve discovered they were naked (Genesis 3). This nakedness represents the fact that upon 'falling', they became subject to the effects of sin and to the temptations of Satan... a spiritual nakedness of sorts. Later on in the same chapter we find out that God made Adam&Eve coats of skins and clothed them. In order to make these protective garments, an animal more than likely had to be killed. So something had to die in order to protect them from their state of nakedness. Read: Christ had to suffer the atonement so that we/mankind could be protected from the effects of sin.

- I promise to post some pictures of my new place, but right now I think it's time for bed.

3.9.08

... and more waterfalls

This will be a quick post because it's bedtime and I have another three-hour drive ahead of me tomorrow afternoon. But I wanted to put up some pictures from our camping trip two weekends ago. The Melonaki planned a great little campout/hike for us and some other friends in Pisgah National Forest in western NC...

We got up there Friday night and hiked a few miles the next morning into the waterfalls at Harper Creek--two charming waterfalls that feed into swimming holes. The fun is sliding down the waterfalls to get from one pool to the next. The water was rather cold, but it was just hot enough outside to have it be refreshing instead of bone-chilling. 
 
and yes... Jordan knows Mitt's not in the running anymore. 


Stay tuned for pictures of my new dwellings.... as soon as I get my desk cleaned off.