Only the Sinner, Only the Weak

Only the dirty

Never the clean

Only the beggar man

Never the king

Only the messed up

Never the made

Only the sinner

Jesus saves

I love this song "Only the Sinner" by Josh Bales.  It has such a unique way of explaining what real Christ-followers are truly like.  Lest you be mistaken, we are not shiny, happy people who have it all together.  Rather we are messy, messed-up, desperate, broken sinners in need of God's mercy, forgiveness, and salvation.  You have to know you're sick before a doctor can make you well.  Jesus did NOT come to this world to save righteous people who have it all together, but He came to save sinners who know their need for a Life Saver, a Savior.

On this Good Friday, I remember the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.  I remember that He gave His life as a sacrifice of love for us.  I remember that He did this for the least and for the worst of offenders.  I remember His suffering and His body broken for me.  I remember that though Jesus was perfectly holy and SINLESS, He gave up His life to save the sinful, so that the just wrath and punishment our filthy sins deserved would not fall on me, but on Him.  I remember the cross of Jesus where both the justice and love of God met for the sake of our redemption and reconciliation with an Almighty God, and supremely for His glory.  

To think on how Jesus died for ALL my sins is an overwhelming thought for me.  He died for the ugliest, dirtiest, most despicable, unspeakable sins at the bottom of the pit.  He died for our arrogant pride, bad thoughts, jealousy, anger, discontentment, lust, sexual immorality, complaining spirit, distrust, apathy, vanity, worldliness and materialism, worry, selfishness, failure to seek justice for the oppressed, greed, etc, the list can go on.  You see, these things aren't just "mistakes" we make because we are "merely human."  These are sins and acts of rebellion that corrupt and pollute every fiber of our being and thus separate us from a holy and perfect Creator God.  

This sin makes us filthy, and only Jesus is powerful enough to make our heart, mind, spirit, and soul clean.  There is a price to pay for these sins, and Jesus paid that price at the cost of His own life, so that we wouldn't have to.  He lovingly took on the wrath of God, so that we wouldn't have to.  And He didn't just do that for me, but for anyone and everyone who would put their trust and faith in Him.  Not one of us could ever be too far off from God.  The deeper our sin, the deeper His grace.  "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved" (Ephesians 2:4-5).  

I want to emphasize that the GOOD NEWS doesn't just end there.  Because after three days, Jesus rose from the dead!  We call that the Resurrection.  How crazy is that!  Us Christians don't follow a dead man.  We follow a resurrected LIVING God who showed His power over sin, sickness, evil, hell, and even death.  And since Christ is risen, we who have also died to our sin are also made ALIVE in Christ.  We now have a LIVING HOPE, no matter what circumstances, good or bad, may come our way on this earth (1 Peter 1:3).  There is POWER in His resurrection, and that power is also ours.  The same Holy Spirit who rose Jesus from the grave is the same Holy Spirit who lives in those of us who believe in Jesus.  "...and [He] raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:6-9).  

I'm not quite sure how fuzzy bunnies, colorful eggs, and Cadbury chocolates somehow made it into this mix (not that I'm complaining...I LOVE Cadbury), but THIS is what Easter is all about, friends.  I pray that each of you would become aware of how deeply our Lord Jesus loves you - just as you are.

Thankful Thursdays

Here's what I am thankful for this Thursday.  In no particular order:

-friendly staff at my local gym who already know me and my daughter by our first name

-cafe lattes from The Silver Spork on Capitol Hill!  Buh-bye, Starbucks!  

-freedom in our country to rally and protest as we deem necessary, freedom of religion, and freedom of thought

-super helpful and supportive in laws whose presence and company I sincerely love and enjoy, and who bless me and my daughter so much!

-a mom who takes off of work just to watch my little miss when I need to run to the doctor's! Local family rocks!!

-a hands-on husband who selflessly serves me and my daughter even after a long day's work

-meeting other fun moms in my neighborhood that I can easily connect with

-strawberry licorice from Trader Joe's...Oh.  My.  Gosh.  It was LOVE at first bite!  

-our wonderful play group!!! Such a sweet group of mamas and their kiddos!

-being surrounded by wise and gracious friends who speak God's truth into my life

-caring pastors at our church who point us heavenward, work hard to prepare gospel-centered, Christ-exalting sermons for us every Sunday, and faithfully care for our souls, our marriages, and overall unity in the church body

-Jesus who on this day celebrated His last Passover Supper with His disciples and washed their feet.  What humility.  

-knowing that tomorrow, we will remember the crucifixion of Jesus, who left the glory of heaven and came to this earth to die for the sins of all those who would come to trust in Him.  

-anticipating this Easter Sunday where we will remember Christ's Resurrection! To show His power over sin, over sickness, over evil, over Hell, over death.  

-that I am led, guided, and protected by a risen Lord Savior; that I serve a powerful and victorious Living God.  Therefore, we have hope - not only in this life but most importantly in the life to come.

Let Us All Agree That I Shall Never Wear Tortoise Glasses

So glad I learned about Lookmatic, a website that allows you to virtually try-on glasses.  I think we can all agree that I shall never wear tortoise glasses.  Exhibit A:  

Gosh, that looks so. awful.  Consider this my very own episode of What Not To Wear.  Thou shalt nots are just as important as Thou shalts, correct?  I really wanted things to work out with these tortoise glasses, so I tried using a B&W picture to see if that might help matters.  All is forgiven in B&W, right?

Ummmmm....I'd say that's a big, fat NEGATIVE!  

Resolved: No tortoise glasses for me.  Sigh.

BALLET DAY! Did I Really Just Go to The Gym on a Saturday Morning?

I found myself in an intermediate/advanced level Ballet workout class this morning (...just in case you're wondering, I'm not an "advanced" ballerina.  HA!).  It's been a looong while since the last time I did battements, rond de jambes, arobesques, tondues, and pirouettes.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  I think I must have forgotten how to spot.  And I think I must have forgotten how much I *LOVE* bossy ballet teachers too.  I truly do.

It was SO, SO, SO great to be back in the studio again.  Beautiful wood floors throughout the studio, mirrors all around the walls, wooden barres, piano music, and a bossy ballet teacher.  I loved it all.

Photo from cnx.  

Here's the funny thing about ballet.  If an outsider were to observe a regular ballet class, he or she might think, "That looks so easy!" or "How the heck is that a workout?" (With the exception of pointe classes which OBVIOUSLY looks painful and difficult!)  What that outsider fails to appreciate is the way ballet dancers use muscles that are largely ignored everywhere else in everyday life and how they strive after perfect technique.

There's a whole lot more going on that just lifting your leg, pointing a toe, bending, or prancing around.  Disciplined ballet dancers focus on every.little.thing and every.little.muscle that she (OK, I know there are dude dancers, but it was an all-female class I attended) moves.  It's about focus, meticulousness, skill, and CONTROL.  And!  Making it look flawless, fabulous, ELEGANT, and easy.

Knees, legs, toes, your bon-bon, core, hands, fingers, neck, chin, head....ALL these things must be in just the right place at just the right time while staying in sync with the music.  It's the art of working and thinking VERY hard, without looking like you're trying or thinking about anything at all. :)  I am SO rusty; my Ballet Poker Face needs a lot of work too.

I suppose someone could attend this class, go through all the motions pretty sloppily, and walk away not feeling like any of that was particularly challenging.  But the dancer who focuses, strives after UTTER EXCELLENCE (I hesitate to say "perfection," but that's really what dancers are after), and remains careful and intentional about being in absolute control of every muscle of her body...THAT is the person who appreciates ballet as an art AND a sport.  Come to think of it, doesn't this basically apply to everything else in life?

Hippie Pocahontas Hair How-To

Welp.  This is basically what happens when you've driving home from Georgetown on a Sunday afternoon, but all roads leading to your home are closed because of a St. Patrick's Day parade.  If you're like me, you get bored, and you start doing funny stuff to your hair.

Firstly, I feel the need to emphasize that I am not some sort of Hair Guru.  Like, whatsoever.  Like, at all.  I am only posting this because a few people have asked me how I did this with my hair.  My husband kept saying I looked like a "hippie Pocahontas."  Um.  I'll take that as a compliment?  Evidently, a lot you women out there like the flower-child-slash-first-peoples look.  

As previously mentioned, I am not a Hair Guru, so this so-called "How To" is going to sound overly simple.  Alas...

1.  Sit in the passenger's seat while cars are bumper-to-bumper in DC traffic.

2.  Get really bored.  

3.  Start feeling angsty, and just slip the beaded hairband you impulsively bought at CVS atop your head of hair.  Don't do the traditional way of keeping the lower-end of the headband underneath all your hair.  You must be feeling bored and weird in traffic, so you have to keep it over all your hair, like you're wearing an elastic crown or something.

4.  Take small handfuls of your hair, and stuff the ends of your hair in the headband, so that the hair is covering the lower-end of the band.  Since I have long hair, I had to find the middle point between my roots and the ends, and then stuff it from there.  (Is any of this making sense??!  Maybe we should just Skype this demo?!)

5.  Keep repeating steps 3-4 until all your hair is up in a hippie-Pocahontas "bun" of sorts.

6.  Rock the look like you just painted with all the Colors of the Wind.  The end.

Little Munchkin's First Trip to the Library!

After 14 months of life, I figured it was about time to bring the Little Miss to the library for the first time.  And no, she cannot read.  And no, I am not doing this because I am some sort of "Tiger Mom" that expects her child to be a super hard-working genius (OK, maybe I have to fight against some TM tendencies...).  

It was a cold and rainy day, and the both of us were going a bit (and by a "bit," I mean, A LOT!) stir crazy literally running circles in our little condo.  So logically, I thought the best way to cure this dilemma was to bring a loud and vivacious toddler to a public location where all persons are expected to stay absolutely silent.  :)

Look at Little Miss browsing the shelves.  By golly, she really looks like she knows what she's doing!

She pulled out so many books from the shelves!  This turned out to be a good thing because I then realized what a plethora of "diversity" books they had.  As in, books whose characters are not only white Americans or cute and fuzzy animals.  

Every time Little Miss found a book that caught her attention, she would simply sit herself down on my lap so I could read the book to her.  *MELT!*  Guess that's also how she learned to sit pretzel style.

The children's librarians were ROCK STARS during our visit!  They were kid-friendly, kind, and not to mention very patient.  They even let us color with crayons.  Well, sort of...

Excited for more trips to the library!  

Little Miss Says, "When Life Gives You Lemons..."

Little Miss says, "When life gives you lemons..."

"...put the stickers on your forehead, then laugh about it!"  

Obviously.

I Wore My Jazz Dance Shoes to the Gym. Please Don't Judge Me!

I wore my jazz dance shoes to the gym.  [Insert celebratory JAZZ HANDS here!]  Anyone who knows me well enough can tell you that I know next to nothing about sports and that I can't think of anything more excruciatingly painful and miserable than going for a run.  I don't understand you runners.  (BTW I am convinced I have exercise-induced asthma, but that is neither here nor there.)

The only sporty shoes I have are a pair of newbies I bought nearly 10 years ago, and one shoe doesn't even have a pair of laces.  Ridiculous, I know.  I was sharing with a new friend at church yesterday that I felt like my depression was starting to become a problem again, as if I "hit a wall."  Honestly, I am not as familiar with depression in myself as I should be, because it wasn't until I returned from a couple years in Beirut that it hit me hard.  I had always thought of myself as this super peppy person inside my own little happy bubble before, so the onset of depression a couple of years ago was quite frankly confusing and foreign to me.  Anyway, this dear sister has also struggled with depression in the past, and the first question out of her mouth was: "Do you regularly work out?"  She told me about how exercising regularly and eating a "clean diet" has helped SO much more than any other medication or treatment ever has.  Before I knew it, I had a gym date the next morning.

Back to the shoe dilemma.  Thankfully, I saw on the schedule that there was a barre class around the same time we planned to meet.  Instead of trying to pretend like I was a runner, I figured I could just wear my jazz shoes to barre!  In barre, we basically used the same techniques and exercised a lot of the same muscles as I used to during warm-ups in jazz, lyrical, and ballet dance classes in my former life.  So why not just wear my jazz dance shoes?  :)    

This was my first barre class.  Everyone else wore tennis shoes or went barefoot, but I feel like my jazz shoes really did the trick.  I was able to maintain the balance and mobility I needed to do the exercises properly.  

Here's to friends who force you out of your comfort zone!  Here's to barre classes and to hardly being able to walk for the next two days!  I'll be back!  

Got My Hair Did at MASSIMO Salon: An E! True Hollywood Story

Well, after way, way too many months, I finally went back to my beloved Massimo Salon on Capitol Hill to get my hilites touched up.  Words cannot express how so very grateful I am for Owner/Stylist Extraordinnaire Massimo (AKA Max)!!!  Seriously.  The man is a magician.  

Here's the BEFORE shot:

And then DURING!  Random fact: Max's assistant from Iraq and I chatted in Arabic.  I so miss Salon culture in the Middle East.  It's been awhile since someone last told me, "NAIMAN!"  And yes, that is a cup of coffee in my hand.  Hilites take a long while, ya know!

La dee daaa, more DURING shots.  Does this mean we are BFFs now that you've seen me with a hair cap?  And yes, that is a glass of vino in my hand.  I believe in balance, people...balance.

And FINALLY, the AFTER shot!  Bye, bye, roots!  

I always feel like I could be in a Pantene Pro-V commercial after Max styles my hair.  Unfortunately, this feeling only lasts a couple hours before I royally mess it up or my Little Nugget spits up all over it...or something.

Massimo Salon on Capitol Hill, people!!  I am quite picky when it comes to finding the right balance between top-notch talent and reasonable prices, and I have found a glorious union of those two important factors in Massimo Salon.  Not to mention, they serve you drinks on the house and their welcoming, lively customer service is second to NONE!  

Happy Friday, everyone!

DA BOMB Brussels Sprouts Recipe

I honestly cannot  remember the first time I had brussels sprouts.  All I know is my heart skipped a beat when I had this amazingly delicious dish for the first time.  Many thanks to my Foodie and Lover-of-All-Things-Glam-and-Gourmet-Friend Krista for introducing me to this recipe!

Single ladies, I would like to gently warn you that if you make this dish for an eligible dude, he JUST might drop on one knee and ask for your hand in marriage.  That is, if he really loved brussels sprouts.  And you, of course.  You have been forewarned.  Do not cook this for your beau until you are ready to say, "Yes!"  It's just that good.  Are you ready for this?  Here you go:

Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Apple Salad
Recipe and photo by Bon Appétit.

Ingredients

• 2 cups brussels sprouts, trimmed, halved
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided, plus more for drizzling
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 apple, cored, thinly sliced
• 2 ounces feta, crumbled
• 2 tablespoons torn fresh mint leaves
• 1 tablespoon capers, drained
• 1 tablespoon (or more) fresh lemon juice

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 425°. Place brussels sprouts on a rimmed baking sheet; drizzle 1 Tbsp. oil over. Season with salt and pepper. Roast, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and crispy, 15–20 minutes. Let cool.
• Combine roasted brussels sprouts, remaining 1 Tbsp. oil, apple, feta, mint, capers, and lemon juice in a medium bowl. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and more lemon juice, if desired. Drizzle with more oil before serving, if desired.

You can sautee the brussels sprouts in butter right before popping em in the oven for extra flavor and overall amazingness, as recommended by my foodie friend.  I personally hold off on the mint leaves, and it still tastes wonderful.  Be sure that you don't over-roast the brussels sprouts, or else you will have a very mushy salad - no good!  ALSO!  Important tip!  I add a generous splash of apple cider vinegar for an extra kick.  It has a way of bringing all the flavors together.  

Happy cooking!  And...I look forward to receiving your wedding invitations in the mail!  ;)