lauren laughs

maybe you’ve heard about the bionic arm. basically, this prosthetic arm is able to send and receive messages to/from your brain and thus move and grip, etc. much like a real arm would. part human, part robot, all awesome. here is a pic of the most technologically advanced prosthetic arm in the universe that my friend bob is working on. he may actually be leading up the project, or else his work friends tell me that to impress me. what’s important to note is the object the hand is gripping. that is one beautiful baseball. genuine italian leather. perhaps purchased from hamilton robbins, your one stop shop (in lexington at least) for distinctive gifts and design scruples?

every year for as long as i can remember, the cousins on my mom’s side of the family have drawn names to see which cousin they will get a christmas gift for. it’s fun because we’re actually a pretty close knit group, even now that we’re spread out across the states. this year i drew erin (the ballerina on the right) and i’m having fun remembering what gifts thrilled me the most at her age. suggestions? i remember liking really crafty things. i could get a set of 30 markers and my imagination would run wild. i never got too excited about the apple and orange santa would put in my stocking. filler.

preceptorial = the elective class lauren take’s at st. john’s each term.

johnnies had two good reasons to celebrate last night. 1) precep papers were due. this is the biggest paper of the term (and the only grade in that particular kind of class), so the end-of-term frenzy is now over. still one week of school, but the vibe is much more chill post paper. 2) we received our precep assignments for next term (those of us that are returning). this is like bid day, if you’re familiar with the greek system. a few weeks ago i got a list of electives and ranked my choices 1 to 6. last night the magic envelope in my school mail box revealed the following: “you have been assigned to the spring 2007 preceptorial on montesquieu’s persian letters and the spirit of the laws.” i’m psyched. this was my first choice because the tutor is supposed to be awesome, montesquieu has influenced other writers i enjoy and it’ll be a good way to practice my french in preparation for benin.

on wednesdays i get to call in and talk with other missionaries who are raising support and preparing for the field. it’s a great way to feel encouraged by people that are going through the same things i am. this week bill opened up the call by talking about rainbows in genesis 9. i immediately smiled as he began to read… i can’t tell you how many times i have seen and talked about rainbows in the past two weeks, so the “coincidence” made me laugh.

“this is the sign of the covenant that i make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations. i have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth… when the bow is in the clouds, i will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on earth.”

while bill read this scripture, i kept thinking of another book i’m reading about living life to trust God and what that looks like. rainbows remind me that God has made a covenant with me and that He will provide for me, but i think i need to respond to that promise with trust in order to really benefit from it. if God promises to care for me, but then i try to put all my trust in myself, it’s hard to experience the full blessing of his promise.

*dunnunununuh* they say it’s your birthday! *dunnunununuh* it’s my birthday too, yeah!! mom loves to sing the beatles on her b-day, which was saturday. my brothers stephen and pierce came in town for some quality time (and roof fixing… thank goodness for boys). we had a progressive celebration in locust point… dinner at hull street blues cafe, dessert at bob’s, libations at jp’s. we laughed a lot… as always.

anna’s beau jason is in town (from australia) so we decided to have a girls’ (plus boyfriends) night at pazo. yummmm. we had a ton of great spanish food… though i think the boys would probably disagree with the term “ton” since i’ve never heard a guy say he’s full after eating at a tapas restaurant. just look at this classy group of chicas. we stopped by anna’s later, where various people had left halloween paraphernalia from last month’s costume party. like this viking hat. good times. i’m going to be sad when anna moves to australia next month.

about a year ago a few girls at my church got together and started a book club/bible study thing on sunday nights. this fall we started meeting at the sunday school hour and more girls joined in. it’s so cool to think nothing like this existed this time last year, and now we’ve created a real sense of community for young women in our church. we’re about to finish a book called “sex and the soul of a woman” which is pretty funny to see printed in the church bulletin. especially when they print my name next to it. anyway, a bunch of us met up saturday night… and still made it to church the next morning.

i just spent the past 30 minutes curled up in a ball in chair in chris’ office with two other work buddies. they all had their faces pressed against the window watching the storm. i was as far from the window as can be. i forgot how scary storms can be. it’s been as dark as night for the past two hours… in the middle of the afternoon! but the sky is lighter now, so i’m going to go to school before it gets crazy again. i’m reminded of days in tx with tornado drills… makes me feel (and act) like a little kid.

yesterday i was playing the guitar (i don’t do that often enough) and i sang micah 6:8. then i went to church and the same passage was read and then incorporated into the homily. i always think that God’s calling my attention to something specific when things like that happen in a recurring manner. here’s the scripture:

He has told you, o mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but do do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

such simple words to live by. i love simplicity. doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with God are all part of honoring the greatest commandments–to love God and love our neighbors. this passage is what that looks like.

i love taking the train to and from dc. i’ll admit i was complaining as i got ready this morning that i had to spend so much time traveling for just one meeting, but i really do love trains. i can’t imagine how much homework i would get done if i had a two hour train ride every day to sit and read. shoot, i’d have time to read for pleasure too.

on my way back from dc today i sat next to a guy that loved trains as much as bubba loved shrimp in forest gump. the kid, from macon, georgia, even talked like gump. we were parked at union station, not even moving yet, and the kid goes, “look at that train! it’s come all the way from chicago!” i looked up from my book and smiled, “are you from chicago? how do you know?” he responded, “i’m not from chicago. i just love amtrak.” (he actually specified amtrak as he pointed to the amtrak lanyard around his neck.) he then went on to tell me all the places he had been via train in the past few weeks and months. “do you never fly places?” i asked. “the only way you’d ever catch me on a plane is shackled, bound and gagged,” he said with big dramatic eyes.