Thankful Thursday--food

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Acts 2:42

This week I'm thankful for sharing meals with friends and colleagues. It's not that big of a deal to cook for eight (or 12, like Tuesday night) instead of four, and it's fun to share time together.

I'm thankful that we live in a land of plenty and diversity, that we don't eat the same thing every day, every meal. How often I take for granted that morning banana or orange that came from many miles away!

I'm thankful for those who hunger and thirst for righteousness sake...and for those ministries that bring food to the hungry, from Second Harvest to Meals on Wheels to Bread for the World and World Vision. If you want to help, play the Rice Vocabulary game and donate rice through the UN Food program.

I'm thankful for the bread of life from heaven and manna for today--that God provides for today's needs today, and for tomorrow's needs tomorrow. I just have to trust that He will.

And I'm thankful to Iris for hosting Thankful Thursdays!

Works for me Wednesday--Cleaning the George Forman grill

I like cooking with our George Forman grill, but I used to hate cleaning it. It's one of the older models where you can't take it apart to wash it.

But I've found an answer! While the grill is warm (not hot, like after dinner), spread a couple of wet paper towels across the grilling surfaces and shut the grill. Wait about 10-15 minutes (long enough to clean the rest of the kitchen), then wipe off the grill. Voila, all the cooked on stuff slides right off!

What works for you? You can share at WFMW's new home, We are THAT Family!

The fridge is full, but there is nothing to eat

Do you ever look in the fridge, and although it's full, there is nothing to eat? Condiments, drinks, and things that have grown green stuff fill the fridge, and there is nothing to actually make a meal.

Sometimes my life feels like that--full of accessories and stuff I should have thrown out two weeks ago.

Lord, clean out my spiritual fridge, and make more room for the meat and potatoes of life--You.

Back to the beginning

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day's walk from the city. When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. Acts 1:12-14

One of my favorite movies of all time is The Princess Bride. Inigo Montoya is on a mission to find the six fingered man, but has taken a job with Vizzini to pay the bills. After being bested by The Man in Black, Inigo does what Vizzini said--if things fall apart, go back to the beginning. When told to leave by a member of the Brute Squad, he refuses, saying, "Well, this is where we got the job, so it's the beginning. And I am staying till Vizzini comes."

That sounds exactly like what the disciples did. Jesus tells them to hang out in Jerusalem until they get the Holy Spirit, then disappears into the sky. But rather than drinking themselves into oblivion, like Inigo did, they prayed.

This wasn't a dinner prayer; it was a continual supplication. Show us what we're supposed to do, Lord. Send this Holy Spirit thing you've told us about.

That's where we're at too. Ironically, our Wednesday night small group Bible study (of other people in the same boat) is meeting at the house where we first started. On Sunday morning, after the weekly"can't we go back to the church with donuts" conversation, Patrick explained that just like God told Noah to build a boat, God told Mommy and Daddy we're not to go back to the church with donuts, and we're obeying. But now we need to pray and listen closely to see where God wants us to go...or if He wants us to start a house church.

So we visited a church in our Jerusalem (we've been commuting to Samaria for church). The worship was ok, the sermon was good, a little more Pentacostal than we're used to (a time for speaking in tongues during the service, forced raising of hands), but they're growing and Spirit filled.

So we'll continue to pray and listen...back to the beginning, you could say.

Give us ears to hear and eyes to see...and patience to wait for your call.

BBC Book list meme

The BBC reckons most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here.

Instructions:
1) Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read. (I'll bold those I've read and italicize those of which I only read part.)
2) Add a '' to the ones you LOVE.
3) Star (*) those you plan on reading.

My list:
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen X
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte X
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling X
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee X
6 The Bible X
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily BronteX
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell X
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens (started but fell asleep every time I tried)
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott X*
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare Some
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien X
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams X
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky X
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck X
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll X
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame X
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens started, didn’t finish
33 Chronicles of Narnia X
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (Isn't this sort of a repeat of 33?) X
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne (the kid books, not the original)
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell X
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery - X
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen X
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens X
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett - X
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens X
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker X
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White X
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle X
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery X
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare X
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl X
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

I'm at 28...guess I have my "to read" list for a while! And if it wasn't for Advanced Senior English in high school or having a good library at home, I wouldn't have read most of these.

Henry playing basketball

Henry is #4 on the red team.

Saying goodbye

After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." Acts 1:9-11

I hate goodbyes. I hate even anticipating goodbyes--somehow knowing it's coming is worse. I especially don't like being the one left behind--it's much easier to be the one going than the one staying home.

I don't think the disciples saw this one coming. I can see them staring into the sky, thinking, "what just happened?? Where did He go? Didn't he just come back? Will he be back again?"

We just said good bye to a church. It's the first time we've left without knowing where we were going first, so it's a little unsettling. It's also unsettling in that we felt so strongly called to it, then so strongly repelled by it. So I kind of feel like those disciples, wondering, "what just happened here???"

At least the disciples had the angels to explain it. While we don't have that reassurance, we do know God is still moving and working among us, and if we're lucky, we'll get to see his return.

Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Help us keep looking for what you're doing and join in, church family or not.

Thankful Thursday

I will enter his gates with thanksgiving in my heart,
I will enter his courts with praise;
I will say this is the day that the Lord has made,
I will rejoice for He has made me glad.

I'm thankful that Harmony thought this was a good song tonight--she said, "we should sing that at church sometime!" I'd have to agree.

I'm thankful that Henry thinks the courts are the basketball ones...and wants to praise God for basketball in his prayers at night.

I'm thankful that Hope's full face/full body smiles are enough to melt anyone's concern away.

I'm thankful that this song reminds me that sometimes praise and thanksgiving are an act of will...and it leads to much rejoicing.

If you'd like to share your praises, visit Iris at Grace Alone!

Thankful Thursday

He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:7-8

I'm thankful that we don't know everything...and that's ok.
I'm thankful that God is God, and He is the one with authority.
I'm thankful that we WILL receive power WHEN the Holy Spirit comes. Our God is not an if/then, He is a WILL/WHEN!
I'm thankful that we're sent in concentric rings--first where we are, then to our neighbors, then to the ends of the earth.

And I'm thankful for the opportunity to share my thankfulness with the blogging community at Grace Alone--thanks for hosting, Iris!

Not getting it

So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" Acts 1:6

They didn't get it. Even after Jesus conquered death and spent a bunch of time explaining the upside down priorities of the kingdom of God, they still thought he would restore and rule Israel as a physical nation.

Sometimes I don't get it either. It couldn't have been more obvious that we were to go to our last church...but God's purpose in that was neither for that to be our forever church home, nor to plant a church in our town out of that church.

He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:7-8

Jesus knew they didn't get it. But he knew explaining it wouldn't help...instead he sent his Spirit to empower them.

Send your spirit, Lord. Empower us to do Your will, not ours.

Top Ten reasons to pray for missionaries to go to China

10. Over 1 billion people live in China.
9. That's 20% of the world's population!
8. Only 7.3% of chinese people are Christian.
7. The country is officially atheist.
6. Churches must be approved, and most evangelical ones are not approved.
5. Christians are often persecuted for their faith.
4. Missionaries going to such environments need to hear a clear calling before committing to go, and ongoing prayer for fruitfulness and protection.
3. College students are both receptive to the message and personal interactions...and are enthusiastic missionaries.
2. The great commission requires us to go forth and tell the world.
1. If you're not being sent, you need to support the ones going.

Melodic Monday--1 Corinthians 13, camp style...

I have no idea who to acknowledge for this version, but it's stayed in my head for two decades, so it must be a keeper!

Love is a patient thing,
Love is a kind thing,
Love's not corroded with doubt or anger.
Love is enough when you've got nothing but love
Love never, ever wears out.
Wella, wella, wella...(repeat, getting faster each time)

I also taught the kids this simple song/bible verse (1 John 4:19) this morning, and heard Harmony singing it later...

We love (clap, clap)
because God first loved us. (repeat)
We love (clap, clap), we love (clap, clap), we love (clap, clap)
because God first (clap) loved (clap) us (clap clap).

Going to church vs. being a church

One day I hit a spiny bush and got a thorn in the back of my hand. I thought I got it out, but over the next three years, a lump formed in the area, and eventually it burst, expelling the embedded thorn.

I'm discovering that attending a church without being part of a church is kind of like that thorn...you can hang out for a while, but sooner or later you'll be expelled. When it's done right, church isn't something you can just attend. It's a body; either you're a part of it, or you're a foreign object, and sooner or later you'll be rejected.

This is really challenging when you have kids; even though our most recent church no longer exists, we're trying to give them at least some consistency in church attendance. We've been going to a church in our neighborhood on a semi-regular basis, but Hubby and I know what it's not going to be our church home--we're just attending.

But even our 4.75 year old daughter knows it's not our church home--she asks me several times a week, "Mommy, when are we going to the church with donuts?"

The donut church was more than a place that we attended on Sunday morning; we were a part of the body. And even if we were only a fingernail, it hurts when you get ripped out....even when you're only four. And although we see some of those people on a regular basis, it's different having lunch instead of worshipping with them.

So that's our challenge right now--to figure out where God is moving in our community, and plug into that church body...even if that means building our own.

The Kingdom of God

After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. Acts 1:3

It is so cool that Jesus talked to the apostles about the Kingdom of God. One of the things I love the most about the Vineyard Church is it's emphasis on the Kingdom of God. I had originally planned to write a series of Kid's Church lessons on the Kingdom of God for this spring, but that's not happening, at least not for the time being.

So what might Jesus have talked to them about? Perhaps he explained all the things he had already told them, like:
--the parable of the seed and the soil (Mark 4)
--the parable of the mustard seed (Mark 4)
--it's righteousness within you (Luke 17:21; Romans 14:17)

Lord, we want to see your kingdom come in powerful ways. Send your spirit to make our soil fertile and give us that grain of faith to live out what you've called us to do.

Happy Valentine's Day?

It's Valentine's Day. As I was standing in the bathroom, rocking Hope with the fan on in an attempt to get her to stop crying and fall asleep, I realized I'd been anything but loving.

I wasn't patient with Patrick, who is trying to figure out plane tickets for a spring break trip.
I could have been kinder to the kids at multiple points during the day.
I could have been less insistent upon my own way, especially in the vacation planning process.

Have I born all things? believed all things? hoped all things?

Not today.

I'd say I'd better try harder, but it's not by effort that I can love more...it's by spending more time with the source of love. Back to that preschool song...
we love because God first loved us.

ETA: I spent some time last night praying about why and what in particular gets in the way of loving others. And what I heard boils down to selfishness. "I've waited ten years; don't I deserve a normal looking house with light fixtures and trim? I cleaned the kitchen while everyone else was napping (Patrick and Hope), playing on the computer (my mom) or watching a movie (Henry and Harmony); didn't I earn a trip to the bathroom by myself?"

The answer was no: "For the wages of sin are death." The only thing I can earn and desere is death! When I spend time in God's presence, I'm reminded how much I don't deserve love; what a wonderful gift it is. I realize how far I fall short of the mark, yet He gracefully forgives and loves me anyway. Its those reminders that let me love others more.

China prayer vigil

My grandfather grew up as a missionary kid in China in the early 1900s. He told exciting stories, including one of how he and his dad hid in a haystack while the soldiers stabbed into it with their swords.

Even though there are some officially sanctioned churches in China, many Christians attend house churches and are still heavily persecuted.

One of my friends is involved with a missionary group in China, and they are having a prayer vigil next week. If you're interested in signing up for a time slot, either e-mail me or leave a comment and I'll connect you to the sign up wiki.

Prayer might seem like a little thing, but it's not--it's the most powerful thing you can do.

Thanks!

Dead or alive?

After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. Acts 1:3a

A friend's grandmother passed away this weekend. She's having a hard time convincing her six year old son that great grandma is dead--he thinks she's on vacation in Europe.

Imagine how hard it would be to convince adults that the reverse was true--Jesus ISN'T dead, at least not any more.

I saw him die.
I helped bury him.
Someone must have robbed the grave.
You're an imposter--dead is DEAD.

I wonder, what were the convincing proofs Jesus gave? We know he showed Thomas the nailmarks. He probably continued just being Jesus, healing the sick, bringing sight to the blind, and totally turning over their definition of what the Kingdom really is.

Butthe most convincing testimony was the Holy Spirit...the same Holy Spirit that gives us a glimpse of that other Kingdom, that gives us a mustard seed of faith that blooms and grows.

Jesus isn't on vacation in Europe; he's alive and well!

Thankful Thursday

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Romans 12:10-13

This week I'm incredibly thankful for community.

We've started a new tradition this semester--after faculty meeting, we have a couple of other faculty families join us for dinner. I'm thankful for the opportunity to get to know my colleagues and their families a little better this way, and for how we can support each other this way.

I'm thankful for Jen and her family. I can't tell you how blessed we've been by them, and their generosity blows me away. For Christmas, Jen gave us the gift of a meal a week. Not only does that relieve one of the stresses of the week, Jen is an awesome cook! I know what a sacrifice of time this is, and it is such a blessing. No wonder that is the name of her blog--she and her family are such a blessing!

I'm thankful for our community of Christians, both in the town where we live, the town where our church is, the town where we first met the Vineyard Church and the community of Christians on the internet...like Thankful Thursday!

Sitting in the dark

Tonight the wind was blowing, and blowing HARD. Hard enough that the power went out...and we were suddenly sitting in the dark. It was a little bit scary, to say the least.

It made me think of the first Christians after the cruxifiction--what's happened? How'd we end up in the dark? Is He ever coming back?

They were scared. They were angry. And they didn't even have the reassurances we have in the New Testament, that Jesus IS returning, and this world is His...He just doesn't do it our way.

We eventually lit some candles, and our eyes got used to dark, and tried to make do. It's hard to hang out in the dark for long.

So tonight I pray that the Light comes soon, that the Holy Spirit fills us to overflowing.

Thankful Thursday: Act 1

In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach... Acts 1:1

What I love about this passage is the word "began". Jesus' ministry on earth was just the beginning--more was to come. It wasn't over when He died on the cross or even when he ascended into heaven; it was just the beginning...Act 1, you could say.

So with this first post, I'm thankful that God's not done with us yet, that He continues to send his presence and work through us.

Melodic Monday--Seasons of love

Patrick and I saw "Rent" in NYC several years ago. This song still pops in my head sometimes...

525,600 minutes, 525,000 moments so dear.
525,600 minutes - how do you measure, measure a year?
In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee.
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.
In 525,600 minutes - how do you measure a year in the life?

How about love? How about love? How about love?
Measure in love. Seasons of love.

SOLOIST 1
525,600 minutes! 525,000 journeys to plan.
525,600 minutes - how can you measure
the life of a woman or man?

SOLOIST 2
In truths that she learned, or in times that he cried. In bridges he burned, or
the way that she died.

COMPANY
It’s time now to sing out, tho the story never ends let's celebrate remember a year in the life of friends.
Remember the love! Remember the love! Remember the love!
Measure in love. Seasons of love! Seasons of love.

==================================================================

So how would you measure your year?

In snuggles, in giggles, in heartaches and tears.
In laughter, in books read, in new gray hairs.
in teeth lost, in milestones achieved.
In gym trips, in princesses, in legos...

It's been quite the year!

(Why am I being sentimental about this in February???)

Thankful Thursday--asking

Tonight I'm thankful that we can ask God for anything. Ten minutes into a thirty minute drive, I realized that Hope was going to get hungry...now. Ugh. I dreaded 20 minutes of crying, trying to reach back to comfort her, wondering if it was worth the big kids getting to bed late so we could stop and feed her.

Patrick heard my sigh as I reached for the spat-out pacifier, and said, "Why don't you pray for Hope?"

Duh...why DON'T I pray??

So I did. I threw up a quick "God, you stretched the widow's flour and oil to last for a famine, and fed thousands with a kid's lunch. Stretch Hope's last feeding until we get home."

And He did. There were a few squaks, then she fell asleep...until about two minutes after we got into the house.

James 4:2b: You do not have, because you do not ask God.

So why DON'T I pray??

Sometimes I think the problem is too trivial--why would God care if we have to listen to a crying child, or that Hope is hungry?

Sometimes I think the problem is my fault--I should have realized Hope would get hungry, and fed her before I left. I made my bed, shouldn't I have to sleep in it?

Sometimes I think the problem is too big--I'm sure someone else has already prayed for it, so what difference would my prayer make?

The good news is, I'm wrong.

Matthew 7:7-11:

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

So I'm thankful that there is no prayer too trivial for God to answer. I'm thankful that God doesn't punish me by denying prayers because it's the natural consequence of my bad decisions. I'm thankful that God does listen to our prayers, both big and small...even when He doesn't answer in the way I'd expect.


Thanks, God, that you are a great daddy, and you love to give good gifts to your children. Forgive me, for not asking more, for minimizing my needs, relying on my own abilities. Help me to bring everything, everything to You in prayer.

Wordless Wednesday--

Hope at 2 months:

Guess what?

Harmony: Mom?
Me: Yes?
H: Mom?
Me: Yes?
H: Excuse me, Mom?
Me: Yes?
H: Guess what happened at school today?
Me: What?
H: At school today, guess what?
Me: What?
H: We painted a tooth with guess what?
Me: Painting sounds fun. What did you paint with?
H: You'll never guess what!
Me: What!
H: A toothbrush. And guess what?
Me? What?
H: We used toothpase to paint them!

Off and running...

Well, the semester has started. It's like being on a treadmill:

Week one: 3.0 miles per hour. Lectures start; I need to grade written comps, but it's not due for a while. Hope does great in her trial afternoon at daycare. An easy walk.

Week two: 4.0 miles per hour. Labs start, as well as lectures. Things are picking up.

Week 3: Monday 5.0 mph. Assignments start coming in...grading begins.
Incline goes up a notch: Hope and Henry tag team being up alternating hours of the night.
Tuesday: 6.0 mph. A committee I'm chairing meets tomorrow--gotta get everything out. Incline up another notch: Henry sleeps better, but Hope is awake from 5 am on, screaming. She's having poop problems.
Wed: 6.5 mph. I don't have the instructions for next weeks' lab written. Work on that during lab. Hope is boycotting the bottle at daycare and with Patrick, so she's up every hour or two at night.
Thursday: Incline up another notch...actual committee meeting happens; I have a bunch of work to do as a result. Speed back down to 6.0; the lab instructions are done.
Friday: 6.5 mph. Lab notebooks are piling up. The house is a disaster, and we need lots of basics from the store.

If I were in better shape, this isn't an unmanageable pace...but now I have a sinus infection, and a couple of clogged ducts on my right side. Plus this next week is our first biochem exam (gotta write it!) and oral comps....oy. So if I'm not here much, that's why!