Wonderful donation

On my way home from school today, I picked up 6 computers! I had mentioned our school's need for computers to my home group, and two people there said they had a bunch of old computers hanging around at work! So, I dropped by the Center City architecture firm, and they gave them to me! It was great--except that now I need to go through and format them all and reinstall software on them. Creating work for myself isn't so bad, I guess...I'm excited for the kids to be able to use them.

Seth and Sarah are both going to be busy this weekend--Sarah is going to a medical missions conference in KY, and Seth is going to a Christian counseling conference here in Philly. With my extra time, I plan on putting some extra time into upgrading the school's computers. We'll see how it goes!

Speaking of donations, I gave one of another kind recently. Sarah had a clinical skills session on giving IVs, where all the med students practiced on each other. Well, after she practiced on them that night, I volunteered my right arm the next. Note to self: when girlfriend is practicing on you, don't think about what she's doing, the fact that she's new at it, what the needle is up to, or anything as such! Now, I used to get allergy shots in both arms every week, and I also gave blood several times in college. It's been a while since I had my flu shot last year, but I didn't think I had a fear of needles. (once I did need to lie down after giving blood, as my face turned white) Unfortunately, I let my nerves show, and after Sarah successfully removed the practice kit needle, my face turned "a lovely shade of green", and I had to lie down and drink something. I was a little frustrated at myself and for making Sarah more nervous than needbe, but it was really good to give her an opportunity to practice and even provide a somewhat stressful environment to simulate some potential futuristic times during rotations next year.

School was exciting today--for very non-academic reasons. There was a robbery at a store a block from school, so nobody was allowed to leave or come into the building for the morning. Helicopters circled the area as the police looked for the villians. We were allowed to go back to normal schedule by lunch. The 7th grade teacher also had a fight break out in her classroom, and several of the boys had to intercede for her to stop it. She was pretty shaken up. When I picked up her class earlier in the day, it seemed like they were doing whatever they wanted to in the room, so I'm not totally shocked that something like that happened. She is a first-year teacher, and as with most of us, her classroom management is developing. These kids aren't exactly from Hudsonville anymore!

Next stop, home group!

Pics from the homestead

Here's a picture of me at my computer desk in my room.



Here's a picture of Seth and Murphy after photographing a wedding (they don't ALWAYS dress in black to match)



And here's a picture of me on my bed in front of my blue curtains. Take careful notice of how the elaborate wall decor draws you in! That'll change soon.

World Cafe Live

Friday afternoon, our church's home group received an e-mail from one of our members inviting us to a free concert at the World Cafe Live. As it turns out, our church worship leader played and wrote music with several of the musicians when he lived in Nashville. Neither Sarah nor I had been to the World Cafe Live before, but we decided to check it out. We were very glad that we did! The atmosphere at the WCL was very cool: dark lighting, nice tables, small venue, candlelight...wonderful. A simple setup of guitars and a djimbae combined with the singers' beautiful voices created a very camp-like feel. Delightful!

The musicians were Jeremy Lister, Sandra McCracken (wife of Caedmon's Call member), Katie Herzig, and Matthew Perryman Jones. Sarah, Seth, and I went in together and bought five of their CDs for $33. Well worth the money.

Why is it that live music so often sounds better than CDs ? There must be some indescribable, unmeasurable, element to it.

Saturday morning I drove out to the Roxborough neighborhood of Philly to help our church clean out a few rooms for their new service site. Even though Liberti is only three years old, they've grown to over 400 people and, as of this coming Sunday, will have three service sites! I enjoyed serving along with several other members of the community...there is perhaps no better way to get to know others than by serving alongside of them. I believe this is one of the biggest reasons that people return from mission trips with such close bonds with their team. The church that serves together, stays together? =)

If you haven't checked out Liberti's website yet, please do so! We had a bunch of high schoolers from Pittsburgh in the "balcony" (aka: sitting on top of tables) in the back today. They were on a service project, found the church online, and decided to check it out!

The whole service today blessed me. From the sermon tracing communion back to the passover to the children singing "Live a Life of Love" to praying for the groups starting the new site to discussing a Brian McLaren book, I felt encouraged, challenged, and embraced. Somehow, going out to lunch with fellow worshipers helps combine the compartments of home and church into a new compartment of community. I like it.

Would it be called a poddy?

Somehow, this seems like a joke--something someone cooked up in his college dorm room to make his friends laugh. But it's not. Buy one for yourself!

Podunk and Rogers

Here is what Sarah and I went as for Halloween! She as the Podunk County Fair Queen and I as Mr. Rogers. Scared yet? =)

Microbiology: a musical

Happy All Saints Day everyone! This marks my first true celebration of the catholic holy day, as I have off from school today. There are days like this when I'm grateful to be in a catholic school , but I'm sure others will come in due time (ask me again when other schools have spring break and I do not...).

I'm spending my day hanging out. I slept in as much as I could, wasted a bunch of time online, attempted to track down information on United Airline's website and phone support regarding free vouchers, and reading. For lunch, I met Sarah at one of her medical school lunchtime lectures. While eating free roast beef and turkey sandwiches, we watched a lecture from a UPenn professor called Microbiology: A Musical. Indeed, it was for medical students! However, it interested me because the professor put information about microbiology to tunes of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, Popeye the Sailor Man, the Star Spangled Banner, I will survive, Yesterday, and She'll be Comin' 'Round the Moutain. I'll have to hunt for the lyrics and post an example.

My clock says it's almost 2PM already. Slow starts to day certainly make the day go by quickly! I'm not sure if I like that or not. Enough blogging...I'm gonna get going!

An apple a day...

Yesterday I got to help chaperone my school's prek-4th grade trip to an apple orchard called Highland Orchards! We had a great time!! The kids got to stuff a scarecrow, walk through a hay maze, pick apples, make apple cider, eat donuts, enjoy a hay ride, and have a fun day together. Experiences like this outside of the classroom are so good for teacher/student rapport. Instead of giving instructions, I could hang out with kids more and enjoy their company. The weather was great too! It was surprising that we could fund a trip 40-60 minutes out of the city to visit an orchard like that, but we got funds from somewhere to gas the buses.

The 4th grade teacher who organized it did not assign me any specific kids. Consequently, I could just float around and take pictures! And I did:



See more of them!

The teacher joked that I should come on all their trips from now on. I'm fine with that!