Pre one-year learning: Today I learned what the word “xyst” means. It is a garden walk planted with trees; a covered portico// promenade.
1st: Today, I learned that a church in Maryland supports Just Haiti, a coffee program that sends 60% of the amount of each $12 coffee bag back to help the community using a fair trade model.
2nd: Today, I saw a picture with this quote “When I hear somebody sigh, ‘Life is hard,’ I am always tempted to ask, ‘Compared to what?'” and I think thats a pretty good way to look at life. Do everything without complaining.
3rd: Today, I learned, while hiking that if you come across a bear, you need to stand up tall and make yourself big. (there is a bear on the loose that was sighted a few hours earlier only a few miles away) What a naturally american thought.
4th: Today, I learned that good authors either never really grow up or they’ve grown up into another level of imagination. Truthfully, they seem to be born with a mild form of multiple-personality differentiation, at least in thought because how else do they come up with convincing, and captivating dialogue between two completely different people? People not even in their own form of thought. crazy
5th: Today, I learned that when you withdrawal from addictions, you get twitches when you sleep. I hope I never experience that. I hate not being able to sleep, and your body jerking randomly would totally freak me out. Im already mildly afraid of the dark.
6th: Today, I learned that ARVO, the company I bought my new watch from just switched this week to a new kind of leather that is stronger. The reason I know this is because mine broke 24 hours after I got it but they are sending me a new band, (thankfully), because it was expensive and I really loved it.
7th: Today I learned that Peter Van Houten is not as much of a jerk as the book TFIOS portrays but that everyone has bias and so when we reject someone either we’ve been misunderstood or they have. No need to get angry.
8th: Today is sunday, and today I learned that Sam Mann, a former men’s player at UNW, played tonight for the professional Minnesota Soccer team, United. That’s pretty cool.
9th: Today is my grandmas birthday, and on the hour drive to our destination tonight I learned, squished next to her in the back seat, that the way she got money in college was by taking good notes, typing them and selling them. What a smart cookie.
10th: In the oceanspray commercial have you ever found yourself wondering why the guy is submerged waist deep in what looks like a gigantic pool of cranberries floating on top of it? well, tonight I learned that cranberries grow in acidic bogs in the northern hemisphere. The supposed pool that guy I’ve seen in the commercials is wading in is a cranberry bog!
11th: A boys home in Lebanon does not just house all orphans but boys from families who can’t afford to care for their children. Oh, what love those boys need.
12th: Today when I had lunch with my other grandma, I learned that 7 of her friends died in the last year. What a sobering thing to experience and feel the weight of eternity lying so close but also what a joyous thing to be near to jesus in a way that full sanctification, redemption and holiness are just as exciting to feel.
13th: Today, I learned that my grandmas dog annie only eats her dog food (the dry kind) if it’s topped with a spoonful of the wet kind. It smells disgusting and looks like cat food. But Annie is still cute.
14th: I learned that there is a village of people in India who all have leprosy. Some of them are missing limbs, or eyes or other parts of their bodies and those that have met the Lord most clearly understand the meaning of restoration. They are looking forward to meeting they savior because their bodily decay is a picture of their souls before believing in Jesus. Oh what a day that will be when their souls and bodies are renewed.
15th: Father’s day is a lot harder for a lot more people than I ever realized. Its a reminder of what they no longer have, or never ever had.
16th: Today I learned that the better camera you have, the more focal points its capable of detailing. (I’m on the hunt for my very first DSLR!)
17th: Today I learned that even when you are already stressed out from crashing your car, stressed for crashing into someone else’s car, and stressed about how much thats going to cost, on top of it, the cop, who you called for safety will still give you a ticket for unsafe driving. Cool burnsville police. cool.
18th: Today I learned that with the new Mazda that has the computer capability to break for you based on sensors could have the ability, because of the computerization, to hack into phones attached through blue tooth.
19th: today I learned that when you educate yourself about the thing you fear, it not only becomes less scary but also seems more conquer-able.
20th: Today I learned that when you are pregnant, towards the end, the muscles on the sides of your abs can get sore from holding up your belly all day. You need to wear a belly support strap or sit down more.
21st: One of my friends is applying to Princeton for grad school who has a recommendation from a Scholar-in-residence Professor with two Ph.D.s having given lectures on the Dead Sea Scrolls from coast to coast. His work has been profiled in Time magazine, Vanity Fair, National Geographic, the New York Times, Chicago Tribune and the Times of London, and on the old MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour, the BBC, A&E’s “Mysteries of the Bible,” and in many other media in the United States and abroad. Lets just say she shouldn’t worry about being accepted into their program. I plan to post something she wrote on the blog later this summer.
22nd: One of my supporters gets up at 4 am to do devotions with her husband before he leaves for work at 430 am. That is really sweet to me. Today my heart is full.
** I’m sorry I’ve been slacking on this. Here are the last four days!:
23rd: There is a girl named Emily who is an incoming freshman at UNW who will play soccer this fall. I got to meet her and her mom, have a quick convo during lunch and reinforce the amazing program soccer holds at Northwestern ahead of her.
24th: A girl in my mom’s Jr High lost her mom when she was an infant. She craves female attention and clung to me and my cousin Kate all day at the Bunker Hills Wave Pool. Reminded me of how much I want to work with orphans some day.
25th:Today I learned that one of my most generous neighbors took 18 credits in College each semester, worked 30 hours a week so that he wouldn’t have any loans when we graduated. He was successful!
26th: Today I learned why “mise-en-place” is important for starting your day off right. Pronounced: “meez” as the professionals call it is translated into meaning “everything in it’s place.” “What’s the first thing you do when you arrive at your desk? For many of us, checking email or listening to voice mail is practically automatic. In many ways, these are among the worst ways to start a day. Both activities hijack our focus and put us in a reactive mode, where other people’s priorities take center stage. They are the equivalent of entering a kitchen and looking for a spill to clean or a pot to scrub.” Says Ron Friedman from the Harvard Business Review. Find the rest of his article here.
27th: Today I learned that Kim Walker-Smith of Jesus Culture is pregnant.
28th: Two of my really sweet friends just started dating. So excited to see how God uses them in Corporate America.
29th: My best friend is thinking about getting a nursing degree to go a different direction in life. How neat.
30th:My final day of the first month: today I learned that North Minneapolis is not just north of Minneapolis, its also not just a neighborhood but a culture. When you watch movies that show “life in the city”, the areas that a poorer and maybe a little more culturally diverse… well North Minneapolis is just that. There are people everywhere. Everyone is outside on their front porches, they are enjoying the summer breeze, and each other. They are walking the streets, bicycling, going to get groceries on foot, waiting for the bus, dancing to their boom box, or playing catch, coloring with side walk chalk. Its a darker place when all you see are the skin tones, and watching the crime rates on the 5 o clock news but its happier than the freshly manicured lawns of the southern suburbs that aren’t enjoyed. There is so much life in north Minneapolis. What a beautiful thing to live less extravagant but to actually come home from work and live in the place you call home, enjoying your community.
Thanks for following. This has been a very happy month of learning.
Dear Samm, 