This Blog's Reading Level

The Dante's Inferno Test has sent you to Purgatory!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very High
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	High
Level 2 (Lustful)	Very Low
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Very Low
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Very Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Low
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)	Very Low
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Moderate
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Very Low

Take the Dante's" Inferno Hell Test


It's comforting to know that I'll manage to escape that which I have been immersing myself in all semester long. Ahh, Dante.

Found while searching for wedding registry items...

Which of these is not like the others?

Sporting GoodsJbily.com, Altrec.com, Backcountrystore.com, Cabelas.com, Camping World, Campmor.com, dickssportinggoods.com, Fogdog Sports, LLBean, Overstock.com, Sears, Sierra Trading Post, The Sports Authority, Victoria's Secret, F




...as my fiance says, "That's not a sport!"

I'm Engaged!!!

Although I'm pretty sure that everyone who reads this blog has heard this already through some other source, I still thought I ought to post a very happy little announcement. Nate proposed on Saturday, and I've been caught up in a crazy rush ever since. He completely surprised me in the most romantic way possible. And, as you can see, the ring is stunningly perfect. If I had seen a thousand rings, I couldn't have found a better one than this.

Now the incredible task of planning begins for me and Nate. I know that it will be good to have school finished this fall, so that I can actually devote more time to putting all the little pieces of the wedding together without the stress of classes. We're currently planning on a June wedding, but haven't quite settled a date. I still find it incredible that in seven months, I'll be a married woman. Wow:)

Sometimes it's a little scary how very easy it is to become someone so totally different from yourself. Today, I became a babuska for a few minutes, and it was hilarious. My roommates and I laughed as I waddled my way across the room, attempting to figure out where exactly all the extra padding is supposed to go.


On a more serious note, it also concerns me how easily I can change from being content and happy, to being flustered and upset. I became very jealous over a friend of mine today. She's doing things I have dreamed of doing for a long time. I'm having to face the reality that very likely I will never get to see and do what she is seeing and doing now. It's a bitter pill to swallow, and I am having trouble letting go of that dream. I just have to keep praying that God will grant me contentedness with where I am now and the crazy moments like these pictures that just bring joy to the day.

Grace in to Darkness

Another picture from this summer. I took this one while in the University of B.C. Research Forest. Incidentally, this is an amazing, amazing place that I highly recommend to any and all considering visiting this odd corner of the world. I think I most like the light flooding the whole picture. It's overpowering light.

I've thought a lot about grace lately. Grace is the center of our faith. Apart from it, we are nothing. We are dead. We are filled with darkness and anger. It is a hard thing to remember sometimes that our guilt and shame -- our blackest sins -- are the areas God most desires to extend grace to. We just want to hide that darkness, bury it away. But we never can. It eats away the joy that Christ longs to fill us with. By denying this grace, we are denying that Christ's sacrifice was, is, and always will be sufficient for that corner of darkness. I don't want to have to rely on grace in those moments, but how can I live without this truly awe-some gift? I don't understand our Savior's love, but I accept it, and I hope that the changes that God is working within me continue and grow.

I've seen many good things this summer. Many strange kinds of beauty. North Dakota does hold an odd, empty sort -- the kind that demands you take notice of it, simply because there is nothing else to take your attention. This was a summer, I have decided, of many colors. Right now, with the vaguely threatening -- yet also strangely fascinating -- semester beginning, this picture I took out the train somehow summarizes the strange blend of excitement and fear I feel as I am into my final semester at Dordt. Very strange indeed.