just cant help myself

Jeremiah 15:16

My return from Louisville did not come with a "God-high" like last year. No, it was much better. My weekend was full of conviction, encouragement, accountability, and fellowship.

Also, I went to the New Attitude conference. The amazing praise and worship time lead by the Na Band was followed by some excellent messages given by some incredible men. This year's theme was God's word and how wonderful a theme it was. How relevant to my life! Some of the things I heard during the sessions gave me great encouragement concerning issues with which I am currently struggling. What a blessing. How wonderfully refreshing to be surrounded by so many believers for an extended period of time and to be sitting under some of the best teaching in the country.

Like John Piper.

Twice.

You can go to www.NewAttitude.org and listen to the messages online. I would highly recommend this.

Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts.
*Jeremiah 15:16 (ESV)

Conference photos...

daily photo: super grean

You may not recognize him by his nostrils, but older readers will remember my friend Mike (not the same Mike with the color issues). On our way home from the New Attitude conference, he took quite a few photos with my camera. Those of you who are friends of mine of Facebook can see them in the "When You Give A Mike A Camera" album. While Mike is a rather skilled photographer, many of the photos are all similar: close ups of his nostril, goatee, ear, eye, etc.

Guys are strange.

daily photo: rundown side of town

You may not be able to tell by looking at this photo, but this building is on the less than aesthetic side of Louisville. We were hustling back to the convention center for the last Monday session and I lifted up my camera and took this shot in passing. It, as well as the others I took, turned out pretty dang cool, I think.

daily photo: reflecting

Shot while eating lunch at Los Aztecas in Louisville.

daily photo: fake miniature

You're looking at the corner of Liberty and 4th in Louisville, KY from 11 floors up.

Ever heard of fake miniature photos? I first saw fake miniature on daily dose of imagery which is quite possibly the best photoblog in existence. Ever since I saw the first one, I have desired to do fake miniatures of my own. As I don't own a tilt-shift lens, so I decided to fake it. Also, I only have Picasa--not photoshop--so I make do with that...

Some other fake miniatures: mini hotel, mini tehran, mini highway.

Na08

Humble Orthodoxy: a commitment to believe, live, and represent biblical truth with humility

May 24 - 27

Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooooh! I've got a new attitude!

I'm going on a trip this weekend. It's the first trip I've taken in a while that does not involve swing dancing. Ha-ha. In the past two months, I've been to two workshops (1 in Boone, 1 at Furman), two exchanges (ATLX5 and CHEX2), and dances in Spartanburg and Columbia. And, of course, all the dancing I can take in the Greenville/Clemson scene. I went salsa dancing last night (So much fun. It helps to already know how to follow) and I'm going swing dancing tonight.

And as much as I don't want to admit it, I'm looking forward to not swinging for a while. My whole body is tired and I've been refusing it recovery time.

What's this weekend? The New Attitude '08 conference. I'm pretty flippin' excited. Our schedules looks a little something like this:

Saturday evening: Josh Harris / “Jeremiah 15:16”
Sunday morning: Mark Dever / “The Authority of Scripture”
Sunday afternoon: Bible Q & A with Al Mohler
Sunday evening: C.J. Mahaney / “God’s Word and Our Feelings”
Monday morning: Eric Simmons / “What’s the Point?”
Monday afternoon: John Piper / “William Tyndale”
Monday evening: John Piper / “Fighting for Faith with God’s Word”
Tuesday morning: C.J. Mahaney / “How Do We Really Study This Book?”

I'm espeically looking forward to the community groups. Everyone at the whole conference will be divided up into communitys. Within those communities, we'll be divided up into our family groups of about a dozen folks. It's helpful to get to know others and to have some awesome discussion time about the talks.

The praise and worship time? Just flat out amazing. I am *so* excited.

Something I've got to concentrate on is serving my Christian brothers by not flirting with them. It seeems like such a silly thing to say, but I tend to be a flirt--especially in a situation like this when my emotions are on a high and I'm having silly fun. There might be something this weekend that could distract me and I don't want that to happen. I want to get a lot out of this weekend. I'm eager to learn, to connect, to apply.

My friend Mike is color challenged and I like to pick on him about it.

What color is my shirt?

[eyes shirt. says nothing.]

C'mon! It's a color. Which one?

.....light blue?

[insert look of disbelief here]

Pink! PINK! Oh, it's pink!

Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!!

The Edge of the America

You're sure you know the way there?

Yeah, totally. This is Folly Road. It ends in Folly Beach!

Oh yeah? Well, what if were were heading the wrong way on Folly Road? Huh? I guess we--

::passes a "Welcome to Folly Beach" sign::

....guess we wouldn't be seeing a "Welcome To Folly Beach" sign...

Reruns

I let too much bother me sometimes. I'm still replaying events from yesterday and from CHEX in my head. These events are aiding in my stress by continuing to upset me or humiliate me.

Why do I bother? Don't I have enough to think about for TODAY than to worry about what happened in the past? I cannot erase what was said. I cannot change people. I cannot erase that horrible dance move.

Oh so horrible. I cringe thinking about it. I don't care if it got me laughs. I shouldn't have been out there in the first place, I still think. I'm glad I did, though, because it put me miles outside of my comfort zone. Eep.

But this isn't really about the sprinkler.

This is mostly about conversations that I had yesterday. Good ones and bad ones. All together, they're making me realize more and more how I am in the right place. Decisions that I thought were wrong? I was wrong about that. They were right.

I flippin' love my life. I am so blessed. And, okay, I would like a car and a 2nd job. But those are relatively minor things right now. (Mostly because I can drive my mom's car for another couple of weeks.) I have wonderful new roommates. I am able to travel around the southeast to go to lindy exchanges. I have a blossoming group of wonderful friends who love the Lord. And that is probably a larger blessing than any of them realize.

It is NOT unbiblical to want to develop your own identity without a boyfriend around. Right now, what I want to pursue is the LORD--not my next boyfriend. I want to pursue deeper frienships with godly people. There isn't anything wrong with a gal wanting to establish her own friendships. Singlness is a gift, not a punishment, and right now I'm relishing it.

Each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. -1 Cor 7:7 ESV

daily photos: chex mix

Miss me much? here are some photos from my weekend:


The Joe Clark Big Band at the Charleston Visitor Center at the first dance.


Saturday afternoon lunch @ Taco Boy w/ Lindsey & Chris


Matt & Shawna at the Sunday afternoon dance


a crab at folly

Yeah, I know, none of my photos are of dancing, but these are some of my favorites from the weekend and I'm sure you can see why. My full CHEX2 (Charleston Lindy Exchange 2) album is here. I'll be uploading videos to youtube soon--including videos of the solo charleston "dance-off" competition in which I competed.

Charleston

I'm in Charleston in between dances chilling out at my host's place. I've been to three dances so far--Friday night (8p-11:30p), Friday late night (1a-5a), and Saturday afternoon (1p-5p) We went to bed this morning around 5:30AM. My brother called at 6:28AM. I don't remember answering the phone but I do vaguely remember talking with him. I was pretty much dead to the world.

Tonight is a solo charleston competition. There is a pit in my stomach. Ack.

DJ Sparkle

I'm a dancing fiend. This is not news to you. In my attempt to recruit more people to my passion, I invited some friends to come dancing last week. I promised one guy (who has never been dancing before) a free lesson if he would come to the dance. Step, step, rockstep. Step, step, rockstep. Across-the-body, turn around, rockstep. And more fabulous stuff like that.

He picked it up pretty well and, after a bit of teaching, I dragged him out to the dance floor for a song. Periodically over the evening, I brought some gals who knew to how dance his way. "Chris, this is Anna! She seriously wants to dance with you." And he would laugh as he found his way to the dance floor for more dancing and learning.

Aaaaannd guess what happened later that evening? DJ Sparkle was guest for about a 35 minute section. Who is DJ Sparkle? C'est moi! ^_^ The nickname came from my friend Dustin who decided that I needed a DJ name. Why sparkle? I have no idea. Maybe, just maybe, I'm *that* fabulous.

That was on Tuesday. On Saturday, DJ Sparkle struck again. It wasn't as big as the Handlebar or anything--in fact, it was a house party in Columbia. It was, however, lots of fun. I helped teach, I played some awesome tunes, and (most important) I had a blast.

Hopefully, I'll get to DJ more this summer. ^_^

daily photo: collegiate

Until my roommates pointed this out a few days ago, I had no idea that I had a Furman University issued microwave. It says "MicroFridge" on the front, so I knew that it was half of a set that probably belongs in somebody's dorm. My father has a friend who works at Furman and is an avid dumpster diver leading me to the conclusion that this is very likely a salvaged piece.

Foolishness

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart."

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." ~1 Corinthians 1:18-31 ESV

"In Pursuit" of what?

My blog title, as you can see is "In Pursuit." The subtitle is in Mandarin and it means a knot of self-indulgent lunacy.

I am not in pursuit of a knot of self-indulgent lunacy. Rather, I sort of view this blog as a knot of self-indulgent lunacy. What, exactly, am I pursuing? There are many things that one can be in pursuit of: love, fame, wealth, etc.

Not in pursuit of gentlemen. This is in effort to not get tangled up in yet another whirlwind storm of a romance. Yeah, yeah, you may find yourself thinking. You've said that before, lady. And I cannot deny that you have every right to think this isn't going to last. Maybe it will. Maybe it won't. I know what I'm thinking but I don't know what God's got in mind. I'm not going to indulge here on the intarwebs what is going on in my heart, but those of you who have a similar mindset to mine (and how few of us there are) may know what is there. I've drafted new standards that I wholly desire to follow. Standards to keep this time, you know, with His help. Lord knows I fail on my own.

In pursuit of more Godly friendships. I've been getting those too. A new bible study. New roommates, at least one of whom is a fellow believer. More time fellowshiping and cultivating new and old friendships. It's so fantastic.

In pursuit of a deeper fire for the Lord. I don't think this is something that really needs explaining. I'm getting there too.

In pursuit of sanity. That's greatly on my mind today because the babies (two of whom are no longer babies) have been particularly trying today. Grace and patiences sent from above is a great aid in keeping my sanity in tact.

In pursuit of better dancing. Laugh at this one all you want, but I love to swing dance. It's a passion of mine. God gave me the dance floor, He provided the lessons, He even introduced me to other swing dance obsessed believers.

In pursuit of more fine tuned writing. By having an audience, I desire to keep that audience captive. This can't be done if I write about the mundane things of life...and keep them sounding mundane.

In pursuit of artistic photography. I try to take photos every single day (granted, I don't always succeed) and in doing so, I like to think that I force myself to be more artistic. Sometimes it works, sometimes the pictures are anything but artsy.

So now you know, I guess, what I'm in pursuit of.

("Hi!" says Stargirl, "To your constituents.")

daily photo: renovations

I'm trying to fix up my new room. Hanging things on the walls (paintings, mirrors, etc), hanging curtains, putting up some floating shelves, etc. I couldn't do any of this without a drill.

So, now I have my very own drill. ^_^

w00t and...oh yeah...daily photo?

We have wireless internet.

Huzzah!

***edit. added a few minutes later***

While I'm here, how about a photo? I know you miss my photos.



Now, this is hanging next to my desk. It's actually red in color, but the sepia tone photo looked the nicest. It would be nice if it came true. Wait...actually, I have won a poetry award. But that makes me an award-winning poet, right?

Sardines

Nowadays, one can always find me hanging around Vintage Ave one night a week. There's an awesome bible study with seriously cool people. We eat dinner, fellowship, sing praise, and then split up to study. The book of Luke came to and end last week after we poured over the last chapter.

This week, it was someone's birthday and to celebrate, we went to a downtown church and took over the youth floor. It was refreshing to spend the evening playing dodge ball, 9-square, knock out, and sardines. Ever played sardines? I never had. It's kinds of like a weird hide and seek. 1st thing: it's completely dark in all the rooms. The hallways have a little light, but that's it. One person is hiding. The key? To find that person (a.k.a. the sardine) and hide with them. Oh yeah, and no talking. Easy peasy, right?

You may not know this, but I'm kind of afraid of the dark. My imagination starts going into hyperdrive. I see things that are not there and even if they were, I wouldn't be able to see them because I can't see my hand in front of my face. So, I hung close to a friend for the first half, but then he disappeared. It was was really really really had for me to be in a pitch black room, tripping over furniture, and NOT freak out. Eventually, I found another friend stumbling about. I grasped his hand for dear life and we continued our search. Soon, we found the sardines and we weren't even the last. ^_^ How about round 2? I faced my fears and took off on my own. Que the hard pounding and potential hyperventilation. I found the sardines. I survived to tell the story. I'd even be willing to play again.

Ready for an update? It's been almost a week.

Have you missed me? I'm posting something new, finally, so you don't have to see those awful pictures of me every time you come to "In Pursuit." (Just FYI, I have a good excuse. I have no internet. It's crazy how something like that makes you incredibly productive!)

Huzzah.

So, I moved out on Saturday and have been spending nearly every spare moment getting things settled. Yes, my rent is going down by a generous quantity...but so is everything else. My room is 1/2 the size of my old one (if that) and while my old closet was the size of a dorm room, my new one is the size of a linen closet. Oh yes. So, I'm having to downsize quite a bit. Goodwill has had a lot of donations from me in the recent days. Target has oft seen me purchasing storage boxes, more storage boxes, cafe rods, Huggable Hangars, a drill, hooks, etc. Oh yeah, and I bought a new dresser. The black piece is good and solid. Brand spankin' new and only $25.00.

My social calendar is busy as ever. I'm booked each night this week. Sunday was Planet Earth & Halo at Mike's. Monday was bible study. Tuesday was Food For Life and dancing. Tonight I'm going to see my friend Heather. Thursday, I'm meeting friends for lunch and then hanging out downtown w/ my dad that night. And then I'm headed up to Charlotte for the weekend. Fun stuff. I know.

My personal life? Gah. We're not even going there. Could I possibly be more confused? Maybe. But I like where I am right now. I love where God has brought me and the people he has surrounded me with. I seriously could not ask for more right now.

Except maybe a car...

daily photo: the tin grin is OUT

Now, add about 28 months...

To give you an idea of why I wanted braces, I've added the following photos to serve as evidence of the snaggle tooth of horror (RIP).

[summer '04]

[january '05]