Sometimes

Sometimes, when I get off the train downtown and walk up the marble steps to my big, giant skyscraper office building.... I feel just like this. There's a thrill. Wanting to throw my hat in the air.

Sometimes, I feel just like this- warrior princess. Raised by wolves.
Kind of like my favorite thing I ever learned in four semesters of Swahili class:

Binti wa Simba ni simba pia.
The daughter of the Lion is also a lion.

Want to know a secret?
My mom and I are getting that proverb as a tat.

Invite your friends!

Let me practice Jedi mind control for a moment. Ready?

YOU WANT TO COME TO THIS AWESOME CONCERT! MARK IT ON YOUR CALENDAR! INVITE EVERYBODY YOU KNOW!

Click here for the Facebook event.

Let's see:

1. Free event

2. Tasty organic coffee at Mokah Coffee Bar, a pretty sweet place to spend a Thursday night

3. Really talented artists

4. Learning about and supporting Buckner International's ministry to orphans and vulnerable children around the world.

5. Door prizes

What a win-win! See you there.

Fathers, Brothers, Husbands, Sons

President Obama was elected one year ago this week. Though I did not vote for him, I am now glad that he won the election. His policies do not always align with mine, but I am particularly proud of his efforts to make America more of a "team player" in this global neighborhood of ours.

Even as a proud Texan who sported a "Luv Ya, Dubya" sticker on my car in the fall of 2000, I cringed at our damaged relationships with other nations over the following 8 years. Yet, as I read this data today, I remembered what the US have given to advance the cause of freedom in our world:

1. Aisne-Marne, France, a total of 2,289 of our military dead.

2. Ardennes, Belgium, a total of 5,329 of our military dead.

3. Brittany, France, a total of 410 of our military dead.

4. Brookwood, England, a total of 468 of our military dead.

5. Cambridge, England, a total of 3,812 of our military dead.

6. Epinal, France, a total of 5,525 of our military dead.

7. Flanders Field, Belgium, a total of 368 of our military dead.

8. Florence, Italy, a total of 4,402 of our military dead.

9. Henri-Chapelle, Belgium, a total of 7,992 of our military dead.

10. Lorraine, France, a total of 10,489 of our military dead.

11. Luxembourg, a total of 5,076 of our military dead.

12. Meuse-Argonne, a total of 14,246 of our military dead.

13. The Netherlands, a total of 8,301 of our military dead.

14. Normandy, France, a total of 9,387 of our military dead.

15. Oise, Aisne, France, a total of 6,012 of our military dead.

16. Rhone, France, a total of 861 of our military dead.

17. Sicily, Italy, a total of 7,861 of our military dead.

18. Somme, France, a total of 1,844 of our military dead.

19. St. Mihiel, France, a total of 4,153 of our military dead.

20. Suresnes, France, a total of 1,541 of our military dead.

Love those Catholics

I read a very interesting blog called Busted Halo that is written by Catholics, mostly, toward a younger, "spiritual seeker" audience. They cover very interesting topics often- for instance, this morning I read an interview with a Vatican-trained exorcist working in the San Jose diocese. Fascinating!

One of my favorite regular blog features is the Question Box. This morning's topic: What do Catholics think about speaking in tongues? The priest's answer is pretty much exactly what I would say I believe, too. I love it when I find common ground with Catholics, or other believers around the world. I think it brings great joy to our God when we are in unity and brotherhood. Church is supposed to be a singular word, after all:)

thx, Wade

"In a way all of us at Oxford knew, knew as an undercurrent in our minds, that it wouldn't last for ever. Lew and Mary Ann expressed it one night by saying: 'This, you know, is a time of taking in-taking in friendship, conversation, gaiety, wisdom, knowledge, beauty, holiness-and later, well, there'll be a time of giving out.' Later, when we were scattered about the world. Now we must store up the strength, the riches, all that Oxford had given us, to sustain us after. She stood there, Oxford, like a mother to us all with her hands heaped with riches. We could take what we would. We, Davy and I, would, for one thing, take all who came to the Studio. Whoever came, whatever the hour, was always welcome."


-Sheldon Vanauken, A Severe Mercy

Brudder

This is my brother.

Ladies, you can't date him. Because he's already in lover with her.

I love it when he posts on his facebook, because he is very far away. In Spain, with the Marines. Truly, Skype may be one of the greatest inventions ever for familiar and (and best friend-ial) communication and harmony.

This photo I love very much because I reminds me of getting ready altogether backstage, or in the girls' locker room.

Have a delightful weekend:)

Coming Home.

What's the happiest place on earth?

Nope, not Disney World.

It's here.

My favorite place in the whole wide world is Baylor Homecoming.

Justice Revival

The Lord, your God, is with you
He is mighty to save
He will take great delight in you
He will quiet you with his love
He will rejoice over you with singing
Zephaniah 3:17

One of my favorite blogs, Sojourners, wrote today: Justice Revival is coming to Dallas.

Justice Revival (more info at http://www.justicerevival.org/) will "unite more than 1 million Christians and 1 thousand churches in Dallas to address issues of public education and chronic homelessness."

The articles reminds us that in Dallas, my dear hometown, 89% of high school seniors are not college ready. Leaders have come together across racial and socioeconomic lines to rally for 25 new partnerships to be created with public schools and for 700 new units of affordable housing to be built.

Justice Revival will take place November 10-12 at Dallas Market Hall.

Autotune the News

Have you heard of these Autotune the News videos? They are hysterical! Ben's friend Jeff (1/2 of those cool Gillum kids) showed them to him, and last night we laughed for an hour watching them all. Here's the latest one, #9:

There are 9 of these so far, mash-ups of the latest top news stories, interviews, and just plain ridiculous television  moments. Oh, and an occasional appearance by an Angry Gorilla. The brothers who make these videos got started during the Presidential campaign last year, and they've even Autotuned famous speeches like MLK's "I Have a Dream":

Now, messing with this speech has of course been controversial. Is this tantamount to sacrilege, or is it a clever way to engage young people with one of the most important speeches in American history?

To end, some parting wisdom from my good friend Clive Staples Lewis.

"The thing is to rely on God. The time will come when you will regard all this misery as a small price to pay for having been brought to that dependence. Meanwhile, the trouble is that relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing has yet been done."

More Clive quotes here.

Place

A sense of "place" is very important to me. Places can be magical, as anybody who's ever roamed the Baylor campus knows. Many cities have that special sense of place that makes them tourist destinations- San Francisco, or New York, or Savannah, George, for example. Dallas- not so much. Until now, I hope.

Dallas has jumped right up there on the hot architecture list with the opening last week of the Dallas Performing Arts Center. The highlight of the new space are two buildings.

The Wyly Theater

The Winspear Opera House

Inside view of The Winspear:

And, literally, on top of it all, the city is building a 5-acre park on top of the Woodall Rogers highway running through downtown. Can you believe that?!

It's like our own little Central Park, on top of a highway! Sic em, Dallas!

It will have a dog park,

recreation fields,

a restaurant,

botanical gardens,

chess games,

and more!

The Park website says "The Park will serve as a central gathering space for Dallas and its visitors to enjoy in the heart of the city. The 5.2 acre deck park will create an urban green space over the existing Woodall Rodgers Freeway between Pearl and St. Paul streets in downtown Dallas. Plans include a performance pavillion, restaurant, jogging trails, a dog park, a children's playground, a water sculpture, an area for games and much more.

Connectivity is central to The Park's pupose. The Park will promote increased pedestrian, trolley and bicycle use between Uptown, Downtown, and the Arts District, contributing to a more walkable city center.

The Park will create a front lawn for the surroundign cultural offerings including the Dallas Center for Performing Arts, Dallas Museum of Art, the Meyerson Symphony Hall, the Nasher Sculpture Center, the Crow Collection of Asian Art, Booker T. Washington High School for the Visual and Performing Arts and the future Museum of Nature and Science. Construction will begin in October 2009. The base park is expected to be complete in late 2011 with amenities expected to be complete in 2012.

You can learn more about the very famous design team, park features (can't wait for the reading room, The Groves, or the Icon Fountain!), timeline and more at http://www.theparkdallas.org/.

In addition to my beloved hometown, there's a second place far away that's capturing my heart today.

Kenya.

My dear Satpack is there right now, loving people right and left.

Guess which one is little Satty:)

How often would I go to church if my church had no chairs? or air conditioning?

See the blend of old and new. See the difference a well makes.

Well done, little Sarah, and her companion Wade!