American indulgence

There is something almost sinful about being an American. There is so much done for the self. There is so much entertainment to recieve. Ok, that's enough of my introspective thought.

Basically, the reason I thought of that is the amount of sweet movies that will be gracing our movie screens in the future. Specifically, another Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie and Spiderman 3. Amazing stuff. Spiderman looks AMAZING, and it has the greatest villian of all time in it. It is Venom. Venom is the shaz. I can't wait for it.

Other thoughts....

Hog roast at the Braker's was great. It was great to see everybody. I can't wait to get back to school soon. Although, it's on the tail end of my family's trip to Seattle. It's very exciting. I am ready for a killer end to my summer. Once I return to campus, there will be much fun with much catching up and much goofing off. Oh yea, there could be learning too.

What else...I'm reading a book called Captivating. I've read the first two chapters. It is pretty sweet so far. It is interesting to see what John and Stasi Eldredge think of a woman's heart. Good stuff.

So there's these two muffins in an oven...

Yea, fun title, I know.

Anywho...I'm in Evansville, Indiana today and my family is working through the difficulty of deciding what to do with this plethora of stuff that my Grandparents left behind to us. It is a difficult thing as much sentimental value is ascribed to certain objects by one party and another just wishes to not be bothered about it anymore. It creates a lot of tension. Basically it ends up that I feel like I'm being asked to take stuff that I have no current need for. And I am trying to look to the future for some of the stuff and still don't see myself needing a ton of it. So on that note, I'm struggling with the commandment in Mosaic law, "Honor thy father and thy mother." What does that mean when you are 20 years old and you are legally able to be killed if you commit a crime severe enough and your parents can't protect you. You can go fight in a war and yet you must find a way to honor your parents. I've really seen it evolve. Before I left for college, it was still even a matter of 'do what they say', and that's honoring them. Now I see it as more complex and not surprisingly, more difficult. I have to weigh their opinions. I have to respect their opinions. I have to respect their age, their experiences, their knowledge, and their desire to watch out for me...Then I have to go make my own decision. It's very tough. Especially with me having been gone from home and in Colorado and at the U of I, I have learned to be very independent. So coming back, and respecting my parents has been a struggle at times. But I'm slowly learning what it means to honor them in a way that God would ask us. I'm also learning about the ever surpassing Grace of Christ...

When I hear that my sins are forgiven...when somebody says it to me, directly to me, not to a huge group of people, but to me, I can't help but have a smile frozen on my face. I mean, I know they are, but it's soooooo good to hear it vocalized. As you might be able to tell, I went to Reconciliation tonight and it was really good. Now my family is preparing for a night on the town to celebrate our roof's completion and I just couldn't be happier. My life is splendid, grand, glorious, even....scrumtrilescent. My family is great. My relationships are going phenominally. My God is all powerful.

Slight tangent in these random thoughts...which feel so good to write down and get in a form that I can somewhat organize. I LOVE music. It is darn near one of the purest forms of worship. It is a vocal, screaming, soaring, shouting expression of our LOVE FOR GOD! And it is such music to my ears and I pray even more that it is to his. But I've really decided that I love to worship with music and I just could do it foreverandever etc. (HAHA)

I'm going to go participate in an awesome week now in the form of an FCA camp and then a hog roast with my church. I'm very excited about the camp in such a way that is awesome:) I'm going to be helping with football during the day, and then talking about God at night. My excitement is ineffable.

I've also decided I have a pretty sweet vocabulary and I love fun big words. Help me to learn more by posting some if you'd like. It could be fun....

Another thought. I made napalm yesterday. It was awesome. I don't remember if I said anything about that before....but it was flippin' sweet. Dangerous, but sweet. I can't wait to do it again in a more controlled environment.

Yea, life is good. SOOOO at some point, just to shake things up, God is going to pull the rug out from under me. I'm excited about that, but it's also scary. I pray that it is a good thing and it doesn't just devastate me...whatev :) He's good and it's gonna be awesome

SOTD - 1 - one week left to work this summer.

It works...

Works bombs...They are a fantastic invention. And yet, they are so simple...1 part plastic bottle, many parts crumpled up pieces of tin foil, and one part The Works cleaning solution, and KABOOM!!! You fill the bottle with the foil pieces, and then pour works in...Close the lid and run. Let the pressure build up...it takes a minute or so, and then..BOOM! HA. It's fun. We made like 5 of them last night. It was most excellent. Much boomage and the like. Gotta love it.

More news...our roof is DONE!!! Booya. I also have installed a new toilet. I feel like I'm taking a good chunk out of my dad's Honeydo list. You know, "Honey, do this. Honey, do that." My mom shall be pleased somebody is taking care of stuff ;)

SOTD - 1.6 - The number of gallons our new toilet takes to flush.

So much to say, so little time to say it in

Those of you that know what's going on in my life, Congratulations. Those of you that don't, I'm sorry I've been slacking. Basically, some important stuff is going down, and it's very exciting.

hmmmmm, Alan is being so cryptic. Well, there are clues dropped here and there that would lead one to know what is going on with Alan.

Great, he's being more cryptic. Well, I can tell you that things are going wonderfully. God is throwing things my way that I was NOT expecting this summer, but that have been really good. I've been slacking on some things, but other things have been good. Our roof is FINALLY almost done. We're slow, what can I say... My youth group has been better and better the last couple of weeks and I'm very excited about the people in it.

I just got back from spending a sweet weekend in the burbs where I got to hang out with peeps and twas a very good thing. Most exciting in fact. I got to stay at Mike's, Woz's, and I saw a few other people ;)...cryptic........

Well I suggest you go to the Illlini Life hogroast if you know what I'm talking about. I'll be seeing you there! I'll also be in Champaign in the week before the hogroast, and it will be a fun time. Catch you on a flipside of some sort!

SOTD - 71 - Yep, going 71 in a 65 gets you stopped at 3 in the morning while driving on the interstate. At least it only gets you a warning.