Here we go, 2008!

I've never blogged before, and I must say I had some reservations about it. I have considered it a few times, but I could never settle on a name! I once named my floormate's red pillow - soft bean-filled and tremendously huggable- Abente Agua. The name stuck. People I had never met before know about this pillow and refer to it by its proper name, all the while they fear for what sorts of names I could dream up for future kids. Be it a blog or a kid, rest easy: needless to say, I didn't want to name this venue something quite so spontaneously and it has taken me a while to get that good feeling and slight tingle that comes with hitting the "just right" title for a poem.

Seen all sorts of blogs - from the daily rambles, to a focused study of car models, to travel accounts, to delicious recipes (yes! fine food es mi amor - though I can't say I ever really exactly follow recipes that I start on). Sign of the times, eh? Looking down at my beaten up but faithful computer, affectionately dubbed "The Dinosaur" for the life its been through (frequent transfers from a stuffed-to-bursting carry-on bag at the airport to the x-ray belt, trips to school, countless papers, and at least 5 failed relationships with various printers). I can recall a time when libraries had gray drawers filled with cards (the card catalog). Now, it's all online. Sometimes I think I'm so old-fashioned! I think I met computers in 3rd grade. I came home from school one day and we had this huge box - gray, of course - that eventually yellowed over the years, neglected and washed by various floods and moving vans. I think we currently use the old hard drives for exercise - to do those step programs.

What do I envision with this bit of "quiet time?" Not sure. But writing is peaceful - a way to empty the mind of all those sticky notes that I mentally write and hope to remember and share. A New Year. Lord, thank you for another year! I won't likely be writing papers or analyzing the fascinating lives of characters in modern literature this semester, but I've always felt at home writing. My writing style and content has spanned literary analysis, scientific, short story, poetry, to some blend of everything.

You can probably expect a melange. Some blend (NOT made in a BlendTec - apparently all the rage at baby showers??? hehe) of observations that tickle me, serious considerations, things that make me laugh and the people that color my life :) How's that?

So, 2008 - Last year of undergrad, a time of transition, but more importantly, a time of growth in life and in grace.

If anything, I want to love and care for others with no love of mine, but with that of God.

God meets you where you're at. He has a perfect will. Every difficulty allots a specific and valuable portion of grace - without the difficulty, you would miss out on that particular type of grace! The Lord is the shepherd of our souls - he cares for us practically and spiritually so that we can personally know the reality of what it means to ENJOY Christ. Even if we give our heart to other things, all we need to do is to confess it, make a little motion to Him, and He'll come running.

bonne nuit :)