Another Anniversary

One year ago today was the provenance of this blog. This is the eighty-second post.

"Hast thou not seen how thy desires e're have been granted in what He ordaineth"

One year ago today I learned I was accepted to Wheaton College. I remember running to get the mail that morning - as I had been for a good month - seeing the envelope from Wheaton, and retreating to the empty kitchen to open it alone. It held good news!

What a lot has happened in the last year!

I don't feel like I have a lot to say about the year- I've written a lot on this blog about the happenings and changes and discoveries. This day is a good day to remember all the blessings I have at Wheaton. I'm so glad for the friends I'm making and the things I'm learning. There are so many wonderful things.

It's been a good year.

Advent

While it's not yet Christmas Day let me share one of my favorite advent hymns. Mr. Berdos shared it with me; it was one of the first hymns I learned to play, six years ago. Verse four is my favorite. Hmm. Five and six are my favorites too. They're all good. I really "let it rip" when I'm playing this carol in church.

Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates!
Behold, the King of Glory waits;
The King of kings is drawing near,
The Savior of the world is here.

A helper just he comes to thee,
His chariot is humility,
His kingly crown is holiness,
His scepter, pity in distress.

O blest the land, the city blest,
Where Christ the Ruler is confessed!
O happy hearts and happy homes
To whom this King in triumph comes!

Fling wide the portals of your heart;
Make it a temple, set apart
From earthly use for heavens employ,
Adorned with prayer and love and joy.

Redeemer, come! I open wide
my heart to thee; here, Lord, abide!
Let me thy inner presence feel;
Thy grace and love in me reveal.

So come, my Sovereign, enter in!
Let new and nobler life begin!
Thy Holy Spirit, guide us on,
Until the gloreious crown be won.


Merry Christmas, my friends!

On Holiday

It's glorious to have free time. To not have to worry about practicing, or studying, or waking up for class is a measure of earthly bliss. Of course much of the reason it's so wonderful is that most of the time I do have responsibilities. I should be rather useless if I didn't, but there is a time for rest. Christmas break is all the better for the work done during the fall semester; I'll be all the stronger for the spring semester after relaxing during Christmas break, I think.

Furthermore, I shall be all the more grateful for Wheaton's "resnet" after suffering the maddening slowness of firefox with the internet connection at home. This should speak volumes to any Wheaton students. (Hey, I just learned something cool: "Internet" is supposed to be capitalized. I wonder how much longer that rule will last. I don't feel compelled to follow it.)

I've been reading voraciously since I got home from Wheaton. I didn't realize how starved for pleasure reading I had become. I just don't seem to have the time during the semester. There's always some task more pressing. Hence my "recently read" has turned to "not so recently read, mostly". I wonder if next semester I can make an effort to always be reading a book for fun, not matter how slowly I get through it. It would take a lot of self control. I get easily engrossed.

I can't say that I've been reading particularly high literature, though I do plan on reading the Fellowship of the Ring sometime during break, eventually. First I feel like taking the edge off my appetite with lighter fare. I'm reading hors d'oeuvres, if you will. Anyway, what I have read has given me an abundance of new vocab words, most thanks to Alexander McCall Smith, a few to Dorothy Sayers. (Lord Peter Whimsy is a new favorite of mine.) Check out the sidebar.

Would that my Scattered Wits may at times be lambent!

Thou Who Wast Rich Beyond All Splendor

This is one of my favorite Christmas carols, though it's not so well known. You can read what my step-uncle Chip Stam wrote about its interesting history here. It is sung to a beautiful French carol melody.

Thou who wast rich beyond all splendor,
All for love's sake becamest poor;
Thrones for a manger didst surrender,
Sapphire-paved courts for stable floor.
Thou who wast rich beyond all splendor,
All for love's sake becamest poor.

Thou who art God beyond all praising,
All for love's sake becamest man;
Stooping so low, but sinners raising,
Heav'nward by thine eternal plan.
Thou who art God beyond all praising,
All for love's sake becamest man.

Thou who art love beyond all telling,
Savior and King, we worship thee.
Emmanuel, within us dwelling,
Make us what thou wouldst have us be.
Thou who art love beyond all telling,
Savior and King, we worship thee.

- Frank Houghton, 1894-1972

A Short Rant

At Casa Verde in Reynosa there is no hot water for showers. Water is kept in big cisterns on top of the building. They only get as warm as the sun heats them each day. So after a long day at the work site, when we all get back hot and gross and sweaty, we can enjoy cool, refreshing showers. If you don't die of shock when the cold water hits you, it's actually quite nice.

Cold showers in the summer in Mexico are fine. Cold showers in Wheaton, Illinois "in the bleak midwinter when frosty wind makes moan" are less pleasurable.

It's been an interesting week.

It was the last week of classes for the semester. That means no more aural skills for me! I think the full meaning of this joy will sink in more next semester when I've fully recovered from the trauma. Now I have the feeling you have when you've just gotten over a stomach bug. It's great not to be so miserably ill, but you still feel kind of crummy because it messed you up so much.

In a month from today I'll be starting new classes. I'm registered for Composition and Research (the writing gen ed), Classical and Early Brit Lit (with three friends!), Intro to Evangelism (because Dr. Root is teaching it and I heard he's amazing), piano lessons, and Wellness 101 (I was wait-listed so I e-mailed the professor asking to be added. He said if I was Liz Harber's roommate I was very welcome!) I'll also have Music Theory II with Dr. Wheatley again. I like theory - a better understanding of music means a greater appreciation of great composers' brilliance. I didn't realize how many rules guide composers. If forced, I can write and harmonize a melody. Just follow the rules. It takes a musical genius to create music that will be played and enjoyed for centuries.

Last Sunday I lunched at the Ryken's house with Arwen, Erin, and Robin. We volunteered to help him out with something, and he and his wife thanked us by inviting us over for a meal. It was delightful. If, when I'm old and settled, I live close to a university I hope I'll be generous and hospitable with college students. It means so much.

As to why this week has been interesting . . . This week I lost my naive optimism about Wheaton and Wheaton students. It was a nasty jolt. I came in knowing Wheaton wouldn't be perfect, but I guess a lot of good conversations and experiences lulled me into glossing over its faults. It's good that I've "come to", so to speak.

Chapel at Wheaton has been consistently disappointing. It started off very good at the beginning of the year with a week with John Piper, but things went down hill from there. Some of my friends are similarly discontent and a few of us were, or rather are, planning on visiting Chappy K, hoping to convince him that reform is needed. We're tired of "chapeltisements", tired of poor worship music, tired of moral but gospel-lacking messages. Several weeks ago we had a psych prof who managed to speak without mentioning God until the closing prayer. But this past Monday was the final straw. Rev. Alise Barrymore came and spoke about what she has learned about the advent from watching Smallville. It's so shameful I'm embarrassed to write it. If you have a morbid curiosity, you can listen here.

Previous chapels saddened and disappointed me, but this angered me. Honestly I don't remember ever being so angry before - angry that my God was so disrespected, angry that chapel wasn't what was promised, angry that I had to be so disillusioned. It was frightening. What also upsets and saddens me greatly is that while others agreed with me that it was a travesty of chapel, few were willing to take action - to write to Chappy K, to express disappointment, to ask for reform. Anything. The general response is that some chapels are worse than others. That's the way it is here. I don't understand that complacency. How can that be okay?

On Wednesday I had lunch with Jay Thomas, the college group pastor at College Group. I was glad for the opportunity to talk about this disillusionment and seek his advice. I guess the danger for Wheaton students as they lose their optimism is to fall into cynicism. I want to walk the middle line of "idealistic realism". Jay said it wouldn't be wrong to think of Wheaton as a kind of mission field. A Christian witness is so important here.

I began a letter to Chappy K on Tuesday. But this week has been busy and I have not yet completed it. What further frightens me is that as my anger abates, my drive to get the letter written weakens. May I not become complacent too.

Let it Snow!!!

The first significant snow of the year was Tuesday. It started flurrying in the later afternoon and by the time darkness fell it was coming down wholeheartedly. I couldn't resist spending several hours outside, delighting in the weather. I have a lot of memories about snow - late night walks with the family, sledding at Colgate field, Mrs. Cutler calling about school cancellations, watching Lewie hop around and puppies bound, the blizzard of 1996, playing in the mounds of snow at the edge of the school parking lot during recess, and the year it snowed on Christmas and we had to drive David to the airport in treacherous conditions.

Erin, Arwen, Swims, and I walked through the snow to Lawson field where we danced and goofed around. Swims had to return to work, but the rest of us walked further through the neighborhood, singing Christmas carols together. There's something magical about a snowfall at night. Then we headed to the stupe for ice cream and coffee. And later that night we got raided. It was a good day.

Erin and me.

I saw this guy on the way back from the conserv after practicing last night.

Below is the view from my dorm window. I live on the "U" but at the end of the hallway so I can see a little more than just ugly Fischer. Snow makes everything prettier. I even love the contrast between the bare tree branches and the white sky.

Officially

The official word is that though I never entered the conservatory I have to transfer out of it because the registrar got confused.

So. . .

On Wednesday I declared an English major.
On Thursday I submitted the form requesting to transfer into Wheaton's College of the Arts and Sciences and declared a music minor. (perhaps I should have done this before declaring the English major. Hopefully the registrar can handle this . . . )
And today someone walking out of Fischer said to me, "Hey, you're a conservie, aren't you."

NO!!!!

A special day

This past Saturday was my nineteenth birthday. Birthdays make me so happy. I start thinking about all the people I love and the ones who love me and all that has been good in my life, and I become very joyful. I wish I thought like that every day. Attitude makes such a difference. Why is it such a struggle other days of the year? On Saturday I was counting my blessings; today I'm tired and grouchy as I fight off another cold, I'm afraid, and worried and frustrated after practicing for aural skills several hours, probably to no avail.

Every year, despite my better intentions, I get so excited about my birthday that I tell people weeks, or even months, in advance. So funny, that I should read this post by my more mature friend in Mexico on December first. But I think we love birthdays for the same reason.

My friends helped make my birthday a special day for me. Jeremy hooked up an answering machine to take all the calls I missed. Liz and Katelynn surprised me with a room decorated with balloons and streamers, breakfast in bed, a giant card signed by lots of friends, and the extension set to Settlers of Catan. I spent the morning practicing at the conservatory and then was thrilled to open the door and see snow coming down! Liz and I braved the elements and spent several hours in downtown Wheaton. Supper was off campus with friends and the evening finished with a game of Settlers in the lobby. In short, it was a wonderful day. And I didn't have to eat at Saga all weekend!

Two more weeks of classes, a few days of exams and I'm done with the semester! I'll be ready. Especially for aural skills to be finished. . .

I'm thankful for my family

John and Mary

Mother

Daddy

David

Ruth and John

Kate

Jodie and John

John

Radu and Ruth

John

I love them all, but John is cutest!

Ukrainian Eggs

Mary taught Kate, my Mother, and I how to make Ukrainian eggs. She
had lots of colorful dyes and a book with different designs that we could choose from.





We started by finding the poles of the egg and drawing a line through them to divide the egg in half. We drew designs in pencil and covered those lines that we wanted to stay white with wax. This is painstaking work.

I put my whole egg in blue dye and then had to cover every part of the egg that I wanted to stay blue with wax before putting it on brown dye. You can see the tool that you use to put wax on the egg in this picture. You melt wax into the little well and it comes out through the really tiny point. I spent hours bowed over the table focusing on that little egg. It was fun, but I honestly don't think I have the attention span to do it again. At least until I'm old and mature.

When the eggs are dyed you have to poke holes in the poles and blow out the innards. This was pretty gross. I didn't want to document with pictures. It made me think of my nephew John who had a bad cold at the time.


Mary put our eggs in the oven until the wax was liquid and we wiped it off with paper towels. The egg in the picture below is my masterpiece.