Summer

The sunshine has finally been gracing Austin with its' presence! My nanny friends and I have been taking our kiddos to pools, sprinkler parks and various air conditioned places for a month now. Austin is blessed to have a colony of bats that live under our bridge, so we have very few mosquitos compared to the rest of the state, but somehow I still ended up with as many as 19 bites at one time. I'm certain it'll only get worse as the summer continues, but I am now armed with bug spray! I fell in love with the sun on my many contracts on ship in the heat, so I am happy to absorb all the vitamin D I can. Sun dresses, bathing suits and sandals are my outfit of choice and I can't stop smiling!!! Here's some of what I've been up to:

My friend Miranda Dodson is a singer/songwriter and performed at Stubbs. She's amazing and the show was too much fun. The Austin heat collided with a packed room and created something close to suffocation for most of us. Sweat was dripping off of everyone and we could barely move, but it was worth it. That girl's gonna be famous one day and we will all be able to remember seeing her first Stubbs gig!!

At the Thai Festival with Colins' friends we got to watch various cultural celebrations. I just loved this poster...clearly a copy of the "Jesus Loves You" slogan, this made me smile!

I just adored this creation at the Thai Festival. I'm unclear as to what it's for and why it's here, but if Buddha likes it, so do I!

This gorgeous creature is one of many butterflies that descend upon Austin in the beginning of summer. I have spent weeks now trying to not run over or step on caterpillars so they may turn into one of hundreds of species of my favorite insect!

Colin knows I love bridges, so he directed me to what is boringly called the "360 Bridge", after the highway it's on. What is NOT boring is this view at sunset!! Gorgeous, eh?

The night of Miranda's show, the Rot Rally was in town. Biker chick I am not, but I had to snap this little keepsake.

Polka-dots and pink toes. Looks like summer!!!!

While I will admit I am actually not a super fan of Sugar Mama's (mainly because the cup-cakery of the same name, though no affiliation, located in Skagway, Alaska is by far superior), I did very much enjoy hanging with a couple friends taking silly photos!

Right as the weather started to warm, I took a stroll along the river. I love this view!!!

Favorite Photos

If a picture is worth a thousand words...here's my life story from '09!

January: Oahu

February: Huatulco, Mexico

March: Puntarenas, Costa Rica

April: San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua

May: Leon, Nicaragua

June: Ketchikan, Alaska

July: Valletta, Malta

Corsica, France

Dead Sea, Israel

August: Istanbul, Turkey

Rome, Italy

September: Piraeus, Greece

October: Queen Mary, California

November: Huntington Beach, California

December: Austin, Texas

Bun Run 2010

Austin's oldest 5k is called the Bun Run. I don't actually know why, but it's a pretty big deal. Colin had already signed up for it when we met and talked me into thinking it would be a good time. We prepared for it a bit beforehand by walking both indoors and out, though next time I'd like a little more prep time. The morning of, I awoke early and decided to get down there. The race started at 7:30 and I hate being rushed. I had time to grab some breakfast and find primo parking. Colin got a bit of a late start and ended up feeling rushed, but we managed to get there ahead of schedule together.

The starting line had a loud announcer warning everyone not to park at Hooters as they would be towing; though none of us could quite imagine why...who goes to Hooters at 7 in the morning??? Seriously?

The disabled started the race off first, followed by the timed people and then us untimed folks. Colin and I just kept our own times. My goal was to finish the 3.1 mile race in less than an hour, Colin's was to go as fast as he could without hurting himself. As I started off, I decided to just put on my ipod, find a comfortable speed and stick with it. I ended up doing about 18 minute miles, which isn't terrible. Especially considering I was not wearing the shoes I wanted to be. Long story. As we began our race, the initial timed people were already beginning to finish!!! Some were less than 15 min. Freaks of nature, I tell ya.

At each mile there were the usual kids handing out water, but then there was also the sponsors handing out Cinnabon. Really? During a 5k? It was so tacky. Around the turn, there was also a band playing, which is just SO Austin!

I ultimately finished in 55 minutes, thereby reaching my goal! Colin finished a good 10 min. ahead of me and was feeling good, so he too accomplished his goal. Hearing my name called as I crossed the finish line was pretty fun. We got powerades and a pulled pork taco and sat watching as the winners of the race were called.

To anyone interested, there was not a bone in my body that felt the need to be one of those called. I like to finish what I start, but I compete only with myself.

All in all it was a pretty great experience and I still had enough time and energy to get an Americano and make it to church :)

Kayaking

I have mentioned once or twice just how much I love living in Austin :) This weekend was a true case and point. Saturday, the non-profit that was started by elders of my church (Music for the City) had a neighborhood BBQ in the oldest housing projects in the country. They're called Santa Rita Courts and are located in Austin. We had food, live music, games and face painting. Tons of neighbors came out and enjoyed the beautiful day with us and each other. There was laughter, smiles and lots of chatting. The afternoon weather couldn't have been better and we all felt really blessed to be witnessing such a feeling of community. Colin and I then headed over to the Green Eco-Convention that is in town for Earth Day. We got to see all the newest equipment in the fight to save the earth from the disease that is human consumption. From there, we met up with a few of Colin's friends at the Thai Festival in the Buddhist Temple. We watched Thai dancers, listened to a karaoke singer and sampled an array of ethnic food. Just as we were ready to head out, a friend of our group led us into the temple itself and we got to pray and burn incense. What an experience!! It could not have been a more eclectic, Austin type of day!!

Sunday after church, I headed back to get Colin and we met up with another friend of his to go kayaking. We enjoyed time out on our portion of the Colorado River and made friends with turtles and a swan. We watched an odd game of water volleyball via kayaks (still unsure how it worked) and people watched as is a norm in Austin. We topped off the Austin Weekend Experience with lunch at Chuy's...an Austin Tex-Mex staple.

I love Austin!!!!!

Music and Beer and Bikes, oh my!

As with most Austin past-times, my last weekend consisted of a couple of planned events, a few unplanned ones and was brought together with a ton of laughter. Saturday was the block party that my city group has been planning since the night I joined them. We got to set up an event that allowed all the neighbors to come and enjoy each others' company! There were musical acts who volunteered their time to come, everyone brought food and even in what turned into a crazy storm people came out and enjoyed each other! Friendships were made, conversations were had and lots of smiles were seen. Katie is a young up and coming singer-songwriter. She is from Alaska originally and like me is new to Austin. Her voice is ethereal and her sweet nature can be heard in her words. The fireman's 4 beer is a local favorite and the rain barely slowed us down!

Sunday after a great service, a group of us from church had lunch and then went to cheer on a fellow church member who was completing the ridiculous bike race from Houston to Austin. It's a 2 day event and we were able to watch her cross the finish line!! I snapped this photo of a group of bikes along with some of their crew. It was an exciting time, with tents of bicyclists getting massages, families laughing and everyone just enjoying another Austin day.

Easter Weekend

Friday

After getting off work early to get my car back (hooray!), I scored on a parking spot downtown and hung out at Starbucks. I perused online and chatted with the friendly staff until my friend Amy came to pick me up. We headed over to Walton's for some grub, which is always a good time. We got done just in time to get into Momo's, where we were meeting our other friend Sarah to listen to a fun swing band. The place has a rooftop patio, which made me happy! We listened to the band and watched some people dancing. Amy wasn't feeling great, so we left a bit early, but I still didn't get home until after midnight!

Saturday

Sleeping in is really an awesome ability. I got sleep, lounged around, made brownie cookies for my date later that night and then went to the mall with my roomie, Michelle. We shopped for needed items and each got what we went there for, which makes for an excellent shopping day! The weather was gorgeous, so we decided to lay out (each in our new tops) as soon as we got home. I am now a professional lay-er-out-er, so I stayed out for over an hour. The breeze was just right and the sounds of the day were relaxing.




I finally decided I should head inside and get ready for my date, which I did. As soon as he was done with his fun work day, we met up downtown and saw Alice in Wonderland in 3D!!! What a movie! I never liked the first Alice and was prepared to be a bit bored (save Johnny Depp, whom I adore). On the contrary, I would even have enjoyed it without Johnny (although I do prefer it WITH him!!!). The plot is different and way more interesting than the first movie and the visuals are perfectly Tim Burton. Johnny's random scottish accent is pretty fantastic too!

When the movie was over we tried to have Wahoo's, which apparently closes at 10 on a saturday night. LAME. We went to Opal Divine's instead...which is also pretty fun. I had a Pecan Porter and pulled port sliders. Yum. After that we walked around downtown and tried not to get stepped on by the huge crowds in town for the Austin Relay.

All in all, a pretty great evening.

Sunday

EASTER!! I awoke early and headed to church to help the children's ministry set up the crafts. We correctly anticipated a larger attendance for this particular Sunday. There was standing room only in our cool church venue of the Highball (a bowling alley/fun zone type place) and everyone was having a great time. Jonathan's sermon was about the difference between Jesus' death on the cross and the death of all Jewish martyrs that were crucified. Namely that Jesus is the only to have risen!

After helping to tear down, a group of us went to one of the families' homes to have a potluck and enjoy each others' company. We ate and laughed and drank and held babies and shared stories and swapped info and just really had a great day together. The sun kept peeking out at us, but the rain stopped just in time for us to set everything up outside AND allow the kids to play out back (thank God). The food was yummy, the company was fun and the weather was warm. A pretty awesome afternoon!

Easter evening was 4 1/2 hours of doing my taxes. No comment.

Salvation Point 5

The final point of the argument is about who remains saved. Preservation of the saints to a Calvinist is guaranteed. For an Arminian, because you must choose Christ of your own accord in order to be saved, you must remain choosing him until your death in order to remain one of the saved.

One of the main questions amongst our group was this: if Calvins are correct, then how are there people who are saved (or claim to be) and then live really sinful lives, appearing to have "fallen from grace"? The Calvin would answer that one of two things has occurred. Either the person was never saved to begin with or they are indeed saved and will come back to Christ after going through whatever turmoil they got themselves into. If you are one of the chosen people, you will eventually come back to Christ before your death. It may be at the last breathe, but the chosen are never lost.

I would say after these weeks I have realized I pull more to the Calvinistic perspective. I do believe (as does my pastor) that we have free will when it comes to our lives and decisions we make; but I believe that when it comes to salvation there is no way to "earn" it. For the most part, we are all God's chosen people...we are human and will sin often, but that is what humans do. We can see proof of our salvation when the desire to follow Jesus' lead is stronger than our desire to sin. Sin will still win sometimes, but if we feel the pull in our hearts to do better then eventually we will!

I have really loved each of the classes I got to take. The last class, my pastor came in to do a Q&A session and while naturally it wasn't long enough, he was able to clear up several questions. I really got to see why I love going to this church so much and the real love of all people that he has. It is such a refreshing feeling to get to belong to a church family AND have all of my beliefs supported. THAT, to me, is a true Christian. Christ loved all. So should we.