I feel like a true DC resident.

It occurred to me as I was thinking about this that I've actually done and experienced lots of things that are probably necessary to be a resident. I've ridden the metro a zillion times, including once when the giant escalator of death in Tenleytown broke and we had to walk the rest of the way up. I've experienced a rally and been angry at the tourists not knowing how to cross streets/walk down sidewalks/ride escalators/use the metro. I at least attempted to hear a speaker at Busboys and Poets. I regularly eat at Five Guys. I can navigate a roundabout (most of the time). I've seen most of the monuments.

And now I've experienced a serious snow, shoveled off cars the next day, and eaten a Georgetown Cupcake.

Here's the snow from Wednesday night out our back window Thursday morning:

The final verdict was that it was about 8 inches. For some of my yankee friends this wasn't very much, but for this Texas girl it was absolutely insane. I loved it.

Then on Friday Jeff and I were supposed to go get our DC licenses, but since it was still snowing Jeff opted out of driving. So I went out shopping for the afternoon with a couple of friends, and we got Georgetown Cupcakes!

If you don't know, Georgetown Cupcakes is basically a DC landmark and I was told that they were worth the huge lines. Oh my gosh, were they. The one on the left was a Strawberry Champagne that I brought home for Jeff, mine on the right was Chocolate Ganache. I can't speak for his, but mine was heavenly. Oh. So good. Now I want cupcakes again.

I know there are still more things to do before I can really feel like a resident, like experience the cherry blossoms or Embassy Week or see the President (or, you know, get my DC license), but I do feel much more at home here than I did a few months ago. For 5 months here, I think I'm doing pretty well.

I will never be perfect.

As some of you may know, I am a bit of a perfectionist. Just a bit. Or maybe a whole lot, and it affects everything I do. You know.

Being a good person? Snapped at someone. Failure. That dinner I made? Scorched the bottom in one corner. Failure. That artsy thing I did (scrapbook, painting, sewing, journal-making...)? A piece is out of place and I can't fix it. Failure. Singing? Missed a note in the song. Failure. My grades? Got a B. Failure. My youth group? Not everyone likes every activity I plan. Failure.

Yeah, yeah, so I'm kind of hard on myself sometimes. Harder on myself than anyone else is, that's for sure.

Well, for my January term class on youth ministry I had to read this book, Sustainable Youth Ministry. It was a good book. I liked what I learned from it and am really excited to start implementing some of it. But it occurred to me as I was reading and planning things out and thinking how awesome everything will be from now on that this isn't going to fix everything. It's still not going to be perfect. And you know what? It never will be. Nothing about me, nothing I do ever will.

I will never respond rightly in every situation. I will never be able to make a perfect meal every time. I will never be an arts genius or a voice prodigy. I will never have a flawless 4.0 for my entire educational career. I will never be the ultimate youth minister with the ultimate youth ministry.

While this makes part of me want to cry, this makes the rest of me feel a lot better. I don't know how many of you struggle with this, but hopefully it will make you feel better, too. Take a deep breath and tell yourself right now: "I will never be perfect at everything, and it will be ok." It's kind of freeing, isn't it? It's OK when I mess up. The world goes on. I learn. Everything's gonna be alright.

Blessed are who?

One of my favorite parts of every week is Wednesday night. Every week here at Wesley the students who live on campus have what we call Open Room. It's a student-led discussion of any topic the leader for the week feels like discussing, usually with some sort of faith-related bent. We've talked about epic movies, economics, and the Wizard of Oz. We've talked about prisons and church buildings. While we discuss, we share bread and wine; it's not consecrated Communion, but it's communion for us. Afterward we head to McDonald's for fries or shakes or, every once in a while, the 20 piece chicken nugget deal.

This week the topic was the Beatitudes (listed below) and instead of discussing we spent the majority of the hour cutting out words and pictures and pasting them to the poster boards for each blessing. Totally my kind of night.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely^* on my account. ¹²Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." (Matthew 5:3-12, NRSV)


It was interesting to see the words and pictures people chose for each one. Personally, I spent most of my time at "Blessed are the peacemakers." But the most thought-provoking Beatitude interpretation of the night was, by far, a picture someone pasted on "Blessed are you when people revile you on my account." It wasn't a church or a cross or a middle-class white person praying and looking sad. It wasn't even a missionary in some deep, dark jungle. It was a Muslim.

A Muslim?

Yep. On purpose. At first it was jarring. Confusing. And then it hit you, looking at the words and the picture together.

What if God blesses the people that we as Christians persecute--in the name of God, no less--because they are not Christians? Or the other people who call themselves Christians that we disparage because they don't fit into our little mold (that happens to look quite a bit like us) of what a "good Christian" should be? What if it isn't just about us and our petty little troubles and trials? What if God really cares for every person? (I think it says that somewhere. Can't think where...)

Maybe you think I'm being blasphemous here, but... oh well. Hang out in Luke 15 for a while and get back to me, if that's the case. Here's what I know: I'm not responsible for deciding who's a Christian and who's not. I'm responsible for deciding how I will treat other people. With love.

Starting Over, Part 8,067

Well, 2010 was one heck of a year. I graduated from the best university in the world. I said goodbye to the city that I've called home for the past four years, not to mention all of the amazing people I loved there. I married my best friend. I moved a thousand miles away from my family, my friends, and everything I've ever known. I started seminary. I got my first position as a youth minister. I was stranded halfway across the country as my family fell apart and struggled to put itself together again. I made wonderful new friends (without whom I wouldn't have survived at all--CD group, Dumbarton folks and Thursday night bunch, I'm looking at you) and managed to succeed in my classes despite taking a ridiculous number of them.

But with everything that happened, I feel like I slacked off in some things, like this blog (which, I'm told, "people actually read, you know!"). And in keeping up some of my relationships. And in remembering to take care of myself. So let's see if I can keep this up, shall we? Maybe if I share my resolutions I'll be more apt to keep them, or so I've read. So, in no particular order:

-Lose my newlywed weight. Apparently that's a thing? No one warned me!
-Do so without going back to looking as anorexic as I apparently did when I started college. Again, no one told me!
-Pay more attention to my readings for school. They're assigned for a reason. Mostly.
-Go to chapel more. Since I'll be in choir this semester that shouldn't be too hard, right?
-Work harder on serving other people, especially Jeff.
-Finally establish that date night we've been talking about since June.

And to that end, we decided to start the new year with a date day, which was wonderful. Actually, we started the new year with the wedding of some of Jeff's friends, then a day of catching up with some of our best friends before they/we head off again, and then we got to have a day to ourselves. Slept in, did a little work to justify taking the rest of the day off, then headed out to do whatever we wanted. Which meant getting a little dressed up, going to the gigantic playground in town, playing and taking pictures, getting some amazing TexMex while we can, spending almost two hours in Starbucks (next town over, of course, because Sulphur Springs is one of the few places in the world that still doesn't have one) just reading and drinking tasty warm drinks, and attempting to see Harry Potter again. I say attempting because turns out the theatre we tried to go to closes at 8 now, at least according to the guy who stuck his head out the door to ask if we needed any help. Despite the fact that the internet said they were showing HP7 at 8:45. But I'm not going to go so far as to say that it was shady, or allege that they were having massive drug deals behind the theatre facade, or anything like that... maybe.

All in all, though, it was a fantastic way to start off the year.  And now to get organized with work and doing reading for school, and we'll be back in DC at the end of this week. As much as I've loved being in Texas and everything that goes with it--family, friends, places I grew up, accents, friendly people, access roads on the freeways, warmer weather, Houston thunderstorms, Dr Pepper in every restaurant, TexMex, Bluebell ice cream, everything being cheaper--I'm also really excited to get back to DC and our life there.

I wanted to end with a picture from yesterday and one last thought. We were watching TV (also crazy, since we don't have it in our on-campus apartment) and saw a commercial whose premise was "What if we treated every day like New Year's Day?" I loved it. I've always loved that thought. Every day is a chance to make your resolutions again, to change the way you live or the way you look or the way you feel. So even though it's January 4, happy new year! Go out and be the person you wish you could be.