Crash and Burn

I have a friend named Ruby. Which is a bit ironic because that's one of my nicknames (maybe if you're lucky I'll tell the story). Anyways, I met her through some other friends and was told that she was very "open" to the Gospel. This I came to agreement on after only talking to her on the phone. She was very excited to talk about God and wanted to learn about how to forgive her friends and love others. I was very encouraged when she received Christ.
However, I failed to notice that first day how much she took over the conversation. She is also a very loud talker (which I did notice) and very direct. Since meeting her she has said things such as, "Why aren't you eating? Do you want to be skinny and sexy?" and "Don't bite your nails! You are baby! Babies bite their fingers." There are other things she has said, but I just can't think of them right now. Every time after I meet up with her I'm exhausted by the end of it. I actually dread our meetings on occasion (until I get there, then I remember how sweet she is and how much she wants to know about God).
Today Ruby came and played baseball with us. It was fun. Afterwards we were leaving to go and eat dinner. Ruby has a motorized scooter and I was riding my bike. We had played baseball with some other students and rode past them as we were going to eat dinner. There were about 15 students that we knew (most by name). Well, we ride past them and Ruby and I are talking and our bikes keep getting closer and closer. Then, all of a sudden, our handlebars hit each other. We go swerving off in opposite directions. Luckily, I catch myself after about 5 seconds of preparing myself to hit the curb. Ruby was not so lucky. She swerved and over corrected her scooter, which made her turn in a full circle too fast and her and her scooter went flying into the pavement. As if it wasn't embarrassing enough, all the other students from baseball saw our crash and ran up to help Ruby. She was so embarrassed. Of course this whole time I'm being sympathetic and laughing at our situation. I thought it was hilarious. And for the record, I would've laughed even if I had fell.
After picking up herself and her dignity, we rode off to dinner. On the way I asked her if she was embarrassed. She admitted that she was a little embarrassed about it, but reassured me she was fine. I couldn't stop laughing about it. Finally, she very directly asked me to stop laughing at her. I had to reassure her that I wasn't laughing at her, but at our situation. Anyways, I felt bad. Here is the girl that I have a hard time connecting with and I just knocked her off her scooter in front of all our friends. And she had just said, "You know, I really like you. You're nice."

Jesus

A conversation between me and my Asian friend, Vincent.

Vincent: What was Jesus' family name?

Me: Um, I don't know. *long pause* I guess I never thought about it.

Vincent: Do you think it was Christ?

Me: I don't think so, but that's a good guess.

Potato Salad

So we made the potato salad. After one broken knife and an hour peeling and cutting potatoes, it was worth it. I don't know how we've managed to live here over 8 months and not have anything sharper than a butter knife. My mom would be so proud. Michelle broke one of our butter knives on a massive potato that was plotting to take over the world (well, at least our kitchen). It also turned out colorful. We used the eggs we dyed with the girls, so there are specks of blue, pink and green in our salad. Not to mention there is also glitter in it. The dye kit came with glitter for the eggs, I hope it's edible because some of it ended up in our salad. Anyways, it's good. I'm happy to have potato salad, it has a nostalgic taste of backyard summer days.

And the eggs...

Of course, we introduced the art of egg dying to our national friends. It was fun to show them how to dye eggs (I think they were a little perplexed as to the idea of it). My friend, Carla, sent over an egg dying kit. It was cool. You could put swirls on the eggs and glitter too! After dying eggs, we then watched VeggieTales An Easter Carol. It was good fellowship and fun times all around. Happy Easter!

Before the dying starts...it's picture time! Yes, we dyed three dozen eggs...

Kelley, Becky and Michelle stare wide-eyed at our beautifully decorated eggs. Notice the swirls? Pretty neat.

A party isn't over until the last group photo is taken! Now I think I'll go and look up a good recipe for potato salad so we can rid of all the eggs in our fridge!

Happy Easter!

I pray that you have an amazing Easter and are able to truly experience God's love today. May you be able to grasp the notion of sacrificial love and see our Savior for who He really is. Thank you Jesus for the amazing gift of redemption through Your blood. Help us to love You deeper and desire You more.

Hebrews 9:11-28 (NLT)
11So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that great, perfect sanctuary in heaven, not made by human hands and not part of this created world. 12Once for all time he took blood into that Most Holy Place, but not the blood of goats and calves. He took his own blood, and with it he secured our salvation forever.

13Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow could cleanse people's bodies from ritual defilement. 14Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our hearts from deeds that lead to death so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. 15That is why he is the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, so that all who are invited can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.

16Now when someone dies and leaves a will, no one gets anything until it is proved that the person who wrote the will is dead. 17The will goes into effect only after the death of the person who wrote it. While the person is still alive, no one can use the will to get any of the things promised to them.

18That is why blood was required under the first covenant as a proof of death. 19For after Moses had given the people all of God's laws, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, and sprinkled both the book of God's laws and all the people, using branches of hyssop bushes and scarlet wool. 20Then he said, "This blood confirms the covenant God has made with you." 21And in the same way, he sprinkled blood on the sacred tent and on everything used for worship. 22In fact, we can say that according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified by sprinkling with blood. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.

23That is why the earthly tent and everything in it--which were copies of things in heaven--had to be purified by the blood of animals. But the real things in heaven had to be purified with far better sacrifices than the blood of animals.

24For Christ has entered into heaven itself to appear now before God as our Advocate. He did not go into the earthly place of worship, for that was merely a copy of the real Temple in heaven. 25Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, like the earthly high priest who enters the Most Holy Place year after year to offer the blood of an animal. 26If that had been necessary, he would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But no! He came once for all time, at the end of the age, to remove the power of sin forever by his sacrificial death for us.

27And just as it is destined that each person dies only once and after that comes judgment, 28so also Christ died only once as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again but not to deal with our sins again. This time he will bring salvation to all those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Things that make my day...

My little sisters are always emailing me. Especially Katie, she loves to email me about how I never email her back. For awhile I got one everyday from her. She's so cute! Even though I get a little frustrated with how she always emails me, I do read them outloud to my roommates (who probably get irritated that I read them outloud). Her emails tend to make my day, and she has some great one liners. The best part is she's only 9, so most of her funny lines are either misspelled words or confused language skills. Here are some of my favorites:

"Kelly has had the craps (all the way to Utah!) as Kelly would say..."
"We are going to see Grandma in Spokane and so we are going to talk up some eggs for her to eat there too."
"...I know you are super duper busy but I have not got any e-mails from you since Saturday 3-25-06 and I think for half of those days I have been e-mailing you anf you have never e-mailed back."
"Thank you so much for....your awesome love!"
"I have learned the New Testament it is Matthew, Mark, Luke...." (on down the line)
And the latest and greatest:
"I am going to tell you ten things I love about you!...
1. I think you are a very good Christian
2. I think you love everyone in our family
3. I think you are a very good missionary
4. I think you are very pretty
5. I think you never give up on something
6. I think you have a very good singing voice
7. I think you are very kind
8. I think you are a very good babysitter
9. I think you have lots of friends because you are caring
10. And last but not least I think you are an AWESOME SIS TO ME!"

Haha, she is classic! I have so many more famous Katie one liners. Kelly comes up with some good ones now and again. Kelly tends to be more silly. I remember earlier this year she called and left a message on our machine about an elephant flying through our backyard. Crazy.
Well, now that I've made a whole post dedicated to my sisters and how much I love their emails, I think I will retire for the night.

*Maybe I should have emailed Katie back instead of putting together this post. I'll do it tomorrow...

Remember all those children's books?

Lately I've been reminiscent of my childhood book experience. My mom used to read to us every night before bed. She loved books and passed that love on to me and my sister. Some of my favorite books were Charlotte's Web, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, The Little House, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Frederick and the Mr Men and Little Miss books (Little Miss Neat was my favorite...Ironic since I'm actually really messy). Ah, the days of childhood books. I think part of my obsession with reading comes from my mom's love of reading to us. Thanks Mom!

Goodbye Dennys!

Our favorite restaurant has moved. Yes, I know, I cried too. The place we have eaten at 5 or 6 times every week for the entire year packed up and moved locations. We're not sure why this happened. A few weeks ago it changed management, and now it's gone. After our family time on Sunday morning, we went to Denny's to have lunch and found them hauling out tables and chairs and loading them into a truck. Without warning it disappeared right before our eyes. It was hard to pull ourselves away from the devastation of losing the best Asian food restaurant we know of and go next door to eat. I think I still might be in denial. Denny's had the best food! I loved it! And it will be missed. We brought them so much service. They knew what we liked to order and were always excited when we showed up. We brought our students there all the time. Every Wednesday after playing baseball we would take 10 or so students there to eat with us. It was the best $1.25 meal you can get. So, goodbye dear Dennys. You will be missed!

Stinky Tofu

Tonight I learned some startling information about a favorite food of some of my friends. This food is called stinky tofu and is justly named. I remember back in October we took a retreat with our students and the town we went to served this local snack on every corner. The smell was overpowering. I can't even describe it. Maybe it's a mix between dirty feet and rotting food. You think I'm kidding...even my Asian friends describe it this way. So, tonight, our friend was telling Michelle how to make stinky tofu.
Stinky tofu is made by first taking the tofu and smashing it with bare feet. This isn't a joke. She didn't mention anything about washing the feet first, but this would explain the horrible smell that comes from it afterwards. Then she explained that they take flies and let them lay eggs in it. At this point Michelle figured out that it was maggots. One of our other friends told Michelle that she doesn't eat it for this reason. She said, "I don't think it's very healthy to eat something that had those maggots in it." I think she may be right. After the maggots, the tofu goes through fermentation in rotting vegetables or something like that. Sometimes it ferments for three months! However, our friend reassured us that it was safe because it is fried. We're not sold on it. There were even parts of the process that she left out because she didn't want us to know. What can be worse than maggots? All in all, I know that our Nats love it and for that I will endure the smell as they enjoy their favorite food. However, I will not be partaking in this tradition of foot-stomped-maggot-infested-rotting veggies-fermented tofu. Can I get a Snickers bar please?

Sara Gerber!!!!

This weekend my dear friend, Sara Gerber came to visit me! It was so much fun! We did some indoor snowboarding, toured around town and went to the aquarium. Sara kept saying how it was "water to her soul" to get out of her city and come and visit me. I felt like it was water to my soul to have her here. I posted some pictures of our adventures at the aquarium. It was so awesome! The best aquarium I have ever been to by far. I'm so thankful for friends like Sara that God has blessed me with! Thanks for coming down, Sara. See you in June...

Sara and I taking a photo op while getting Starbucks. Ah, how I love those conversations and coffee!

Yes, while at the aquarium we took a detour to the ruins of South America. Take out the carpet and you might think I actually went there! Exciting!

This is an Australian Sawfish. I had never seen one of these before. It was so cool! If I was a fish I'd want to be this one, just think of all the fun you'd have sawing things apart. Whoo-hoo! I'm excited just thinking about it.

I don't remember what kind of turtle this is but I thought his snorkel nose was one of a kind.

And of course, what's an aquarium without Nemo...

I feel lied to

Diet Pepsi is one of my favorite foods. It should be it's own food group. Really, I'm being serious. Anyways, over here in the land of a thousand lanterns the diet Pepsi bottles have a picture of woman wearing boxing gloves. She is a very attractive Asian woman and I always assumed she was a world class boxer, or something like that. Well, a couple of weeks ago a friend of mine told me that she isn't in fact a boxer, but a racecar driver. I believed her, why shouldn't I? I mean, how do I know what kind of superstar she really is except that she must be indeed super? So, for about a month now I have been telling everyone that the boxing glove clad woman on the diet Pepsi bottle is a racecar driver. I even told our visitors from WSU who were here a few weeks ago. Yesterday I was at dinner with a group of students and some of my teammates. I was talking about the racecar driving, boxing glove wearing superstar and told the students I wanted to be just like her when I grew up (because, let's be honest, who doesn't want that?). My friend, Ruby, looked at me funny and said, "but she is a singer." "She is?" I asked and looked at her picture again on the diet Pepsi bottle. "Are you sure?" Everyone else at the table just looked at me like I was crazy. So, my friend (who was American by the way) lied to me. I don't think she really knew she was lying, there is a girl racecar driver who does do advertisements, just not for Pepsi. So, I'm sorry to all of you I told that the girl on the diet Pepsi bottle is a racecar driver. She is instead a singer. Either way, I still am confused about the boxing gloves.

Moldy Bread Awareness

Have you ever eaten moldy bread before and not realized it was moldy until after you had consumed the entire sandwich? Well, unfortunately I just made myself this wonderful peanut butter and jelly sandwich with bread from a bakery here in town. The sandwich tasted fine, I didn't really notice anything wrong with it. After I took the last bite Michelle, who watched me eat the sandwich, looked at the bag of bread and asked, "is that mold?" To my horror, I looked at the remaining loaf of bread and realized that the top piece was covered in mold. Um, dang. My mind is reeling. The first question I ask is, "was my bread moldy?" Well, I should be the only one who can answer that question. Now that I think about it, there was one bite I took that tasted really funky, but I didn't think anything of it. So, Michelle and I investigated the bag (which smelled horribly of mold) and tossed it out. I was still nervous about my mold consumption, but Michelle kept reassuring me that she had never known anyone to die of eating moldy bread. Not entirely confident of her answer, I googled "can you eat moldy bread?" and got this website. Here are a few things I learned:
"Mold can cause illness especially if the person is allergic to molds." Darn it. I am allergic to mold and mildew! This is not sounding good...
"Mold on grain products is the worst, e.g. moldy bread...." Strike number two.
"It depends on the bread mold some are harmless, some are indigestible and can make you throw up, some are poisonous and can make you very ill or kill you." Uh oh, I think this is it guys! I'm done for. The mold got me. It's all over.
So, I guess bread mold isn't what I would call "good for you." I could possibly die from this fiasco. Word to the wise, checking bread before eating it could save your life! That could be a slogan for a community awareness ad (like the smoking ads). I'm starting my own non-profit group based on mold awareness. It will save lives and put an end to moldy bread consumption. I have already thought of some others slogans that are a little catchier than the one previously mentioned. "Know about mold and you can grow old" or "Check your bread before your dead!" I think I'm on to something here. However I'd need a good name for my non-profit mold awareness group. If you have any suggestions you can submit them in the comments section of this blog. If you come up with a good one maybe I'll make you co-founder or something cool like that. I will get back to you shortly, if the mold doesn't kill me...

Speechless...

I have no words to say about this. I was wandering around BBC News and found this article. I'm speechless, really. Mike Tyson and Mao Zedong? Interesting... Tyson is quoted as saying he felt really "insignificant next to Mao's remains." I would insert a good closing sentence here but I'm unable to do so at the moment...

A little song I wrote...

So this is a little ditty I made up last week on my way to a meeting. It pretty much sums up how I feel some days.

I want to go back home and take a nap
And never wake back up... (repeat)

That's it. That's the whole song. Pretty catchy, huh? I wish you could hear me sing it, it sounds better in person. Oh yeah, also every time you repeat the song you have to sing "up" a note higher. It's fun! A friend of mine said "there's a word for that it's called, suicidal." I don't think of it as suicial so much as being realistic, or trying to avoid being realistic. Either way, somedays, an eternal nap sounds like a pretty good idea (plus while you're in bed sleeping you tend to forget about the world going on around you...which on occassion is exactly what you need).

Tap Dance

Tonight Kelley, Michelle and I watched Elizabethtown. Um, not what we expected. It really wasn't that great. I thought it should have ended way before it did, and although it had some redeeming qualities at the end the part in the middle was too hard to sit through. If it wasn't for Orlando Bloom, I wouldn't have stuck it out at all. So anyways, the gist of the story line is Drew (Orlando Bloom) is a failure at making shoes and is going to take his life when his father dies from a heart attack. His father, however, is visiting his family in Kentucky that doesn't get along with his wife (Susan Sarandon) so Drew is sent to "bring dad back" to Oregon. Well, Drew meets a girl (Kirsten Dunst) and finds life again (even though he ruined his company with his shoe idea). The story line twists and turns and has little side stories and montages along the way that don't make sense. He also has this inner dialogue the entire time that gets kind of annoying. Well, at what I thought the end should be, his mom and sister fly in for his father's funeral. His mom has not been grieving well and so has taken on a number of new hobbies in the past week since her husband's passing. Among them cooking, comedy school and tap dancing. So, at the end of her speech/eulogy she tap dances to her husband's favorite song. It was sweet, and very me. In fact, I turned to Kelley and Michelle and said "that's me, I would do something like that" to which I contemplated and commented on my own remark with, "in fact, I'm going to tap dance at your funerals!" So, there you have it. I'm going to tap dance at Kelley's funeral and at Michelle's funeral. And if I go first, they're tap dancing at mine. It's a pact, sealed on the pleather couch. So, even though Elizabethtown was hard to sit through, it was worth it for that one scene. Some days I'm more sentimental than others.

sometimes a song describes it best...

Drifting by Bebo Norman

Sometimes when I'm all alone
I don't know if I can
Take another breath
Some say home is where the heart is
Tell me where my home is
'Cause I am scared to death

Falling from the rooftop
Crashing like a raindrop
Can you make my heart stop
Shaking like a leaf
Standing at the floodgate
Steady as an earthquake
Can you hear my heart break
Tearing at the seams

I am drifting in the deep end
Holding on to Your hand
Is all that saves me now
Life can treat you like a beggar
You hold me together
But I don't know how
Some say home is where the heart is
And my heart is in Your hands
You are all I need

Rising from the ashes
Lifting from the madness
Now You see my heart is
Deep enough to dream
Heal me from the deathblow
Lead and I will follow
Now You feel my heart glow
Mending at the seams

Caring as Jesus did

Sunday night I gave my first talk at our weekly meeting. I wasn't really nervous, but I was a little intimidated. Never having talked there before I didn't know what to expect as feedback. It was part of project of sorts we're doing with our students called "prayer, care, share." They were challenged to pick three friends and then pray for them, care for them and eventually share with them. It has been exciting to see them respond to it so far. So, this week we were starting "care" and I was speaking on the topic.
I choose to focus on loving others and in turn caring for them. I hit on the Great Commandment to love the Lord your God and to love others as yourselves pointing out that if we don't love God and are an outpouring of His love in return it is hard to love others. Then I proceeded to use examples from the Perfect Example, Jesus. I used the famous passage of feeding the 5,000.
Matthew 14:13-21
I just want to share a few major points that God showed me from this passage.
1) First off, in verse 14 the very first Jesus does for the people is heal them. He had compassion on them (aka love for them) and healed them. Caring for people is fulfilling a need in their lives, Jesus saw their need for physical restoration and he filled it. He loved them because he put their need for physical healing above his need for rest. He didn't even have time to sit down...He got out of the boat and started caring for the people gathered there. Wow...
2) In verse 15 the disciples tell Jesus to send the people away so they can get food. They recognized that these people were getting hungry and had a need to eat. However, they assumed that the people needed to fulfill that need themselves. Instead, in the next verse Jesus tells them to feed them! He says, "they don't need to go away. You give them something to eat." Whoa, how many times have I tried to send others away to tend to their own needs? Jesus knows they are hungry, and He knows they are capable of going off and finding food themselves (they have afterall, been eating their whole lives, right?), however, He instead wants His disciples to care for and feed these people. To fulfill their needs. To demonstrate God's love for them by fulfilling a simple need for food.
3) Jesus provided the food but the disciples passed it out. Verse 19, Jesus blessed the food (it multiplied) and He gave it to His disciples for them to give to others. So, Jesus wants us to care for others, but He doesn't leave us high and dry. He provides for us a way to care for others, the means of caring for them. That is a true picture of us being vessels for Him! The people ate and were satisfied.
4) Never once does it talk about Jesus preaching to the people. Verse 22 says "immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat..." Jesus cared for these people but didn't preach. I'm not a Biblical scholar, but I felt God is showing us through this passage that actions speak just as loud as words. What we do effects how people will respond to God and see us as messengers of Him. It's just as important to care for people and show them God's love as it is to tell them of God's love.
As I was sharing this during my talk, I actually didn't prepare for 2 & 3...God brought those to my attention while I was talking. Talk about a revelation from God! As my eyes were opened, I was impacted my what God was using me to tell others. The picture of Christ asking us to care for those in need was so beautiful to me. Just thinking of how many times I've turned people away convicted me. Sometimes the simplest passage, even a popular passage we've heard hundreds of times, can impact you more in one moment than it you ever imagined.
Who have you cared for today?

Surrender

Do you ever think you really give something to God and then come to find out that it never left your hand? The past two weeks have been just like that. A back and forth rollercoaster of emotions and surrender. I keep asking myself the timeless question, "how do I really surrender?" At what point do you really let go and give it to God? Is it in one full swoop, you hand it over and all of sudden it's out of your grasp and in the hands of the Father, or is it a process? A slow turn over of giving the whole situation.
I'm beginning to see that it's daily. Daily surrendering all that I have and need to give to God. There are many things I need to daily surrender to Him. But with every day it gets a little easier, a little less painful. However, just as easily I can take it back and then it starts all over. Hmmm, I have so many thoughts running through my mind right now.
Ok, first off, surrendering to God is a desire. You have to want to give it to Him to really give it to Him. Otherwise, the whole time you're thinking about that thing you "gave to God" and wanting it back (when really you probably never gave it to Him in the first place). Think about a little kid with a toy. Let's say the toy is not a safe toy and his dad asks him to give him the toy. The kid really likes the toy, but he gives it reluctantly to the dad. Even though he gave it to his dad, he's constantly thinking about the toy, trying to figure out how he can get it back from his dad. He's thinking of all the fun he had with the toy and how unfair his father is being in asking for the toy. However, if he understands why the toy is not safe for him and why his father wants him to give it to him then the situation changes a little. Instead, the kid gives it to his dad, is sad for awhile but then continues on playing. His thoughts are no longer consumed by this toy and he has no bitter feelings towards his dad. Then there's the kid that realizes the toy is not safe on his own and he wants to give it away to his dad. This kid then never thinks twice. He's not bitter or even sad, but excited and happy that finally his dad has this toy that he could not use safely. And he understands that one day when he grows up and can maybe better handle the toy, his dad will give it back to him (in his timing, of course). Then, the kid will be able to use the toy and enjoy all it has to offer.
I find myself being the first kid all too often. I surrender things to God, but really I don't give them up fully, instead I hold onto them and think about them constantly. Such has been my life as of late. However, now that I've come to this shocking realization maybe I can ask God to teach me to desire to surrender. To open my eyes so I can see how much better things are in His hands. That His hands keep those "unsafe toys" from harming me until the time is right. And then, when His timing is perfect (which could be never), maybe I'll receive back what I gave to Him and find more joy in it than I could ever have hoped for.
Lord, give me the desire to surrender to You all that is Yours...

Happy!

Cute coffee shops make me happy! Kelley and I discovered a very fun, incredible cute coffee shop that serves good coffee and amazing fruit smoothies! I'm excited to go there tomorrow and have an extended QT. I miss American coffee shops, but this one definitely reminds me of a place where all my friends would go and study together (which never really ends up happening, I mean, c'mon...studying together...you never really study...well at least I didn't). So yeah, today we sat there for about a half hour and talked and I drank my berry smoothie, contemplated a mural on the wall of two nuns and dreamed of being in America. I was happy. Very, very happy. In fact, it totally made my day. Ahhh...

Picture time

I wanted to share some pictures with you all involved in my "blogger's paradise." I think allowing you to view the fun I have will help you feel more connected to me...however creepy that may sound I more or less have nothing else to blog about and this seemed like the best alternative.

We had some friends from WSU visit recently. This is me and the infamous Malisa Canto doing some sight seeing and such. It was a blast to have them here with us for a very short week.

Ok, these kids are super cute! Kelley and I witnessed their dance routine early one morning while out prayer walking on campus. They had routines to songs with dance moves and everything! So cute! The girl in the white jacket was our favorite.

This is me with my friend's rabbit, Hawaii. They've actually been through quite a few rabbits naming each one after a state. They started with "A" and have made their way to "H"...hmmm. And yes, that is a David Beckham bobble-head on their TV.

Ah, Kelley and I doing some sight seeing of our own. Which we never really get to do much of living here (weird). I love this picture. It's fast becoming one of my favorites!