Because Earth Day should be celebrated! (And other beginning of the quarter updates)

I just realized we are already beginning week 4 of the quarter, which is slightly unfortunate since I have been out of town so much and not doing homework like I should have been these past few weeks, but they have been such wonderful weeks I can't really say I am feeling all that guilty! (And don't worry, Mom and Dad, I AM getting caught up!) There are several random things that have happened in the last couple weeks I found amusing/post-able, so here ya go...

**Last night Chuck and I walked to Coldstone to grab some ice cream after studying for 6 hours straight. The girl behind the counter asked us where we were from, and when we said we lived here, she looked surprised saying "wow, you totally don't look like you are from here, you look so much more relaxed than people who are from LA!" Thanks, I'll take that as a compliment :)

**I've been learning about and looking into the Presbymergent movement, an emerging church movement located within the PC(USA), basically saying that we recognize there is value in the structure of denominations--in having support, accountability, a doctrine that is clarified, a rich tradition and history, and financial support from a denomination, yet this group wants to be able to do church a little differently. Focusing on authentic lived out community, spiritual formation (reconnecting with the spiritual disciplines/practices of long ago that bring great richness and depth to our spiritual lives that we do not encounter in a 'normal' sunday worship service), and justice in our world. There are some wonderful blogs out there for those interested in more of this on going conversation that I have been enjoying reading. Probably one of the most well known from a fellow PC(USA) person is Princeton Seminary student Adam Walker Cleveland's blog

**Chuck & I celebrated 6 months of dating this past week by enjoying a picnic dinner and an evening at the Griffith Park Observatory. For those of you in the LA area, I would HIGHLY recommend this FREE evening of entertainment! It was a beautiful night with a full moon and amazing views of the entire valley. The only thing we'd recommend doing differently is getting up there before sunset so you can see LA in the light and watch the sun go down from there. Here was the beautiful full moon that night:

He tells me his favorite posts on my blog are ones where I tell people how great I think he is :) So I'll just say it has been an amazing 6 months and I really do have the world's greatest boyfriend who I am pretty crazy about :)

**Becca and her roommates hosted an "Earth Day" party on Saturday night, complete with reusable cups/plates, great wine (strawberries floating in white wine--a wonderful invention!), and a party game that proved highly entertaining.

Becca and her roommate, Becky

Pocket, Tera and Dave took my camera when I was not paying attention and gave me several photos to choose from when looking for ones to post!

**I love both of my classes this quarter--Reformed Worship & Perspectives on Christ and Culture. Reformed Worship is a Presby class designed to help us look at questions such as "what is worship? Who should participate? What elements of a service should be present? Where do the sacraments fit? What does scripture say about worship? How do you write a wedding or a funeral service (both of which are services of worship). My Christ & Culture class is a philosophy class looking at the various ways throughout history people have thought Christians (Christ) should interact with popular/secular culture. It's taught by Dr. Richard Mouw, Fuller's wonderful president, and has been fascinating; I have loved looking at a theology of creation and of how as Christians we can be involved in helping Christ as He transforms culture and this world that He declared to be good. I just finished reading a wonderful book called When the Kings Come Marching In: Isaiah 60 and the New Jerusalem, by Dr. Mouw which is a short but very profound book I would highly recommend to anyone interested in issues of secular culture and how that intersects with the Church.