milestone.

word of the day: milestone \ˈmī(-ə)l-ˌstōn\ a significant point in development

As of yesterday, this blog has been in existence for one year. And, as someone who is infamous for not following through with things, I feel as though that is a pretty good statistic.  (Remember when I said I was going to hula-hoop every day?  Yeah right.)

Anyways, being the nostalgic sap that I am, for the past few weeks I've been reading over my blog's history.  And with this milestone in mind, I realized that some others have been hit even since this blog was born.  We adopted Ginny and celebrated our second wedding anniversary  I started my career as a teacher and Jake received his acceptance into medical school.  For the Flinkmans the milestones have been many in this past year.  

In addition, I feel as though I have also reached a milestone in my faith.  A significant point in development in my relationship with God.  A point at which I feel called to take steps forward despite the questions that continue to linger in the back of my mind.

Recently I heard a sermon preached out of the book of James on conflict, and as one who generally shudders at the thought of any form of argument, it especially hit home for me.  However, the main thing I took away from the sermon didn't really have much to do with conflict itself.  The pastor focused his sermon on James 4:

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. 

As he read, the following words stood out to me: submit, resist, come near, wash, purify, grieve, mourn, wail, change, and humble. 

That's right all you English grammar nuts.  Verbs.  In that moment, I suddenly realized that I had been feeling disconnected from God because I was living a life of inaction and passivity.  The verbs required of me were collecting dust on the shelf. 

My train of thought quickly took me back to a passage I remembered reading in Forgotten God by Francis Chan: 

You are most likely familiar with the 'fruit passage' in Galations 5, which says, ' But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law'. You may even have the list memorized.  But look over those traits right now and ask yourself if you possess each to a supernatural degree.  Do you exhibit more kindness and faithfulness than the Mormons you know?  Do you have more self-control than your Muslim friends? More peace than Buddhists?  More joy than atheists?  If GOD truly lives in you, shouldn't you expect to be different from everyone else? (146)

At that point, I remembered my chalkboard dream and realized that my commitment to love more faithfully had dwindled almost as quickly as my dedication to the hula-hoop.  I had succumbed to inaction.  I had loved halfheartedly, cared lackadaisically, and prayed dispassionately.  

I am called to live a radically different life; although, I'm not entirely sure what that looks like yet.

And so I begin a new journey that will ultimately bring me to new milestones.  A new journey that asks me to live a life of action and commitment despite the roadblocks that I find in my way.

A journey that I hope to be unexplainable without the Holy Spirit (Chan 142)

A journey that, if you read this blog for another year, you will no doubt become very familiar with.

Chan, Francis, and Danae Yankoski. Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit. Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2009. Print.

utah.

word of the day: utah \ˈyü-ˌto, -ˌtä\  the 45th state to be admitted to the union; population 2,550,063

The sky is blue.  Granted, as I look out my window, I see leave-less trees and brown grass, but the blue sky is smiling through.  Its cloudless hue only reminds me that spring is on the cusp which makes sitting inside grading research papers all the more bearable.  How else do I know spring is near?  My toenails are painted, I wore flip-flops two days in a row, and I made myself an iced vanilla latte this morning.  

[insert sigh of contentment]

Oh, and it's Spring Break.  And a glorious break it has been.

As you can see, I don't use the word "glorious" lightly.

Jake and I became 'people of the mountains' this week as we visited Nate in Utah. Did you know that Utah means 'people of the mountains'?  Fittingly so.  You can't go anywhere in Utah without seeing a mountain.  I decided while we were there that everything is better with a mountain in view.  Everything.

Grocery shopping is better.

Card playing and drinking coffee is better.

Playing basketball is better.  So is watching.

Shoot, even McDonalds ice cream is better (as if it's not good enough already).

The common question around a school come spring break is, "Are you going anywhere?".  I found that every time I told someone that we were Utah bound, they would get this confused look on their face and then ask, "Why?" like it was the strangest destination possible.  Well, let me tell you people--Utah rocks.  

I forced Nate to take us to Park City, because the sappy tourist in me wants to see all the hot spots.  I could have spent hours upon hours on the Main Street alone.  

I love a good tourist trap even though it probably makes me a prisoner of consumerism (that one's for you dad).

We also spent some time at the Sundance resort which is way more low key than Park City but just as fabulous.  The only disappointment of the experience was that I didn't get to meet Robert Redford.  It's been said that Jake looks like a young Paul Newman and I was hoping that would be our in if he stumbled into the cafe or something.  Unfortunately he didn't make any unexpected appearances or I'm sure he and Jake would have been fast friends.

Jake spent an entire day snowboarding Sundance with Jon and Nate.  

What did I have to do for an entire day, you ask?

Again, better with mountains.  

But now we're back to the plains. Ginny is fast asleep on the couch and Jake is watching some old show on Retro TV (because we don't have cable and Oprah is on CBS instead of basketball).  The research papers quietly whisper to me from their perch on the kitchen table as if their presence alone isn't enough to remind me that they're there. 

I've heard the phrase, "I guess it's back to reality" a few times since being back which I suppose is true.  But if back to reality means blue skies, iced drinks, and beating Jake in my March Madness bracket, I'll take it.

Yeah, I'll take it.  

However, even though we're home, I think it's safe to say that a little piece of our hearts now remains in Utah.  But, then again, that was to be expected.

procrastinate.

word of the day: procrastinate \prə-ˈkras-tə-ˌnāt, prō-\ to put off intentionally the doing of something that should be done 

Today's word was chosen because these are currently staring me in the face:

 

 My 9th graders turned in their research papers on Thursday and Friday, so now I have 150 world problems to read up on.  I even bought new pens for the occasion.  It's hard to start though because then I can't stop until they are all done.  So for now, I'm going to tell you that I went to a baby shower today.

I bet that wasn't the picture you were expecting to follow the phrase, "I went to a baby shower today," huh?  It's actually the only picture I took from the day because it was one of the funniest things I have ever seen.  Funniest/creepiest.  The game is that if your ice cube baby melts first, you win.  

I thought putting mine next to the burning candle was a surefire win.  Then Sarah chewed hers up and put my candle idea to shame.  Darn it all. 

I got some new jewelry in the mail today.  This was especially exciting because when I got dressed this afternoon (yes, this afternoon), I thought to myself, "Those new earrings I ordered would look really great with this outfit." 

 

 You can't see the outfit (or the earrings for that matter), but I was right.  

Have you ever noticed that on Wheel of Fortune the wheel inevitably favors one of the contestants?  Someone generally gets all the luck, someone else wins at least one puzzle, and someone else spins "Lose a Turn" every single time.  In case you didn't know, I'm really good at Wheel of Fortune.  

For instance, I just guessed the puzzle "Largemouth Bass" with the following letters:

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_ _ S S

It literally happened while I was typing.  Scout's honor.

All right, well the stream of consciousness is running out and the research papers are beckoning.  And by beckoning, I mean staring at me uncomfortably. 

But, before I get to productivity, you should know that I got the Final Puzzle tonight.  Unfortunately Sam couldn't hear me yelling through the screen, or he would have gotten it too.

_ R _ I N

_ _ _ E S

Brain waves.  No big deal.