I think the views are more beautiful on stormy days. The plane plunges through the flashing clouds, shaking with the force from the atmosphere and then, almost as if the plane knew it would find it’s rest, it perches above the clouds looking down in arrogance at the lowly puffs of water. The plane usually meets the gaze of the sun and the phenomenal juxtaposition of the grayish clouds and the rays of the sun make it impossible to focus on anything but trying to take in the view.

Tonight we reached our perch as the sun was setting. Orange glow radiated through the thin layers of clouds as if a wide fire caught specific areas of the sky. I just sat there staring and thinking about how much God must love pilots and people that fly in planes. Wait… I start to smile… It looks this beautiful every night, regardless of who is watching. God is creative and beautiful simply because he could be nothing less – not for pilots or people in planes. To think, the view above the clouds has always been this beautiful and God loves pilots and people in planes enough to let us see it.

I was there early, Nashville draws the lottery 2 hours before hand, not 2 1/2 like NYC… actually I ran there and arrived in a sweat because I thought I was going to miss it.  Regardless, I put my name in the black cauldron and prayed for the best.  Ash B. was on her way but couldn’t find parking and just as she arrived, they called out the first name.  That name was not mine.  Nor was the next, or the next, or the next…

Nancy Hawthorne.  WWOOO HOOOO!  I screamed!  I ran to the front, did a little victory dance and was all smiles as I accepted my little green button and gave them my $50 cash for 2 of the best seats in the house!

The show really IS as wonderful as you think it could be.  The talent was AMAZING.  Alpheba, Marcie Dodd, was phenomenal.  Every note was right on and her acting really captured the whole character.  Galinda and Alpheba made a great team.  Their duets meshed so well together, you could tell that (even if they have diva personalities) they wanted their combined voices to sound better than the individual.  (Galinda and Christine Daaé  are my favorite characters on Broadway – in another life I will perform both musicals on Broadway.)  Galinda, Heléne Yorke, did a quirky and fun job with the part and she has a dynamic voice.  Seeing the show from the front row was an experience that I will never forget.  The Broadway theatre has a much more intimate feel (TPAC is gigantic)… but the front row is incredible.  Don’t buy $55 cheap seats… that’s not the way to see it… there are so many nuances that are just too good to miss.  AND, if you’re going to spend $150… go see it on Broadway, the venue is much better.

The next morning when I got into work, Jerry (my boss) said, “I saw your huge smile on News Channel 5 last night!  Congratulations on winning the ticket lottery!”

I’m glad that all of Nashville experienced my victory dance!

I still have all the excitement and not the overload shock that some of my fellow students feel because I’m only taking one class.  Yes, unbelievably, the Board of Higher Education and Ministry will not let the little publications/office assistant off of her job for more than one class worth of time to get higher education for future ministry.  Therefore, I’m working full time and taking “Into to Hebrew Bible” with Douglas Knight.  (Despite the fact that he’s a Vanderbilt Rock Star Professor… he did not show up to class with an electric guitar… disappointing, being that we’re in Nashvegas.)  Regardless of the number of classes, I am so thankful for the opportunity to begin this journey and I pray to be a good steward of this remarkable gift!!

Besides the opportunity to combine my spiritual and intellectual domains in a grand and glorious grad degree, my favorite part of the journey thus far has been my INCREDIBLE colleagues.  It’s phenomenal to meet person after person that desires to change the world, pursue social justice, and eradicate poverty.  Due to past experience, I believe that God always finishes the things that he starts… to think that God will finish His goal through and in each one of us makes me want to explode with joy!!!!

Yet, with all of this excitement and joy there is still something deep inside of me that is unresolved and uncertain.  It’s not wondering if Div school or Vandy is right for me… It’s deeper inside of me, deeper than I can articulate with words… but it’s there and I feel it… mostly when I turn off the the noise and sit in the silence.  It’s deeper than I can reach and God is reaching it… these are words I read tonight from Henri Nowen’s book, The Inner Voice of Love:

“You are not yet there, but you are moving fast.  There will be a bit more pain and struggle.  You have to dare to live through it.  Keep walking straight.  Acknowledge your anguish, but do not let it pull you out of yourself.  Hold on to your chosen direction, your discipline, your prayer, your work, your guides, and trust that one day love will have conquered enough of you that even the most fearful part will allow love to cast out all fear.”

Love conquering all of me.  That’s what I hope this journey is about.

They are having a competition and I REALLY WANT TO WIN!!  Not only because I get to have my hair cut by them again if I win, but also because I am very proud of my curls!

If you have time click here to vote!

If someone were to ask one of those famous “getting to know you” questions like: If you could go anywhere in the world tomorrow, where would you go?  I would say Uganda, India, Japan, Peru, or Brazil.  But when I asked my passportless roommate where she would like to go this summer on an adventure, she said: Santorini.  So I replied, “Great.  We’ll make it happen.  Get your passport.”

After months of planning and a couple hundred, ok… thousand dollars, later we have hostel/hotel arrangements, plane tickets, and PHENOMENAL travel plans to not only find the best Gelato in Italy, but also to find a bit more of truth, a bit more of ourselves, and a bit more trust in God all along the way.

Venice to Cinque Terre to Florence to Rome to Athens to Santorini sandwiched between two layovers in NYC.

God is SO good to me!

I decided to pick a kid 13 or older because they always get the shaft.  I saw this kid Ben from Uganda and it said that he likes music.  As most of you know, I love Ugandan music because FSU COM of a dear friend of mine from Uganda, so I chose to sponsor Ben… or maybe he chose me?!  His picture is below please pray for him!

Ben from Uganda

I want to be ordained as a Deacon in the United Methodist Church.  The candidacy process is quite involved with many hoops to jump through that is initiated by your home church pastor.  Before today, my home church was in Lakeland, FL, transferring my membership would mean that I could be ordained in the TN conference and I’ll be able to jump through all the hoops in the area in which I am living, serving, and growing.

I am also applying to Vanderbilt for Divinity School.  I am praying that as I trust God in the little things of my life, the big things will align as well… So, I guess my mom is right, I have nothing to be nervous about.

Do you remember in elementary school when they would line you up in the cafeteria or library for a vision and ear test?  Until the fifth grade, I would stand in line and memorize the eye chart.  The line would always swing around close enough to catch a glimpse of the last 3 rows, so that when it came time to cover one eye, I would pass my sight test with flying colors!  Like all good teacher’s pets, I sat in the front of the room so there was never a problem reading the board.

I lived my childhood never really seeing leaf definition in the trees or being able to recognize people from far away… I DIDN’T CARE, because I didn’t have to be a dork in glasses.

Somehow in middle school, I was assigned to a mid to back row and could no longer function in class without seeing the board.  I remember going to the optometrist and getting my eyes tested, hoping with all my might that somehow, just by visiting the eye doctor, I would be fixed and not have to wear glasses.  Before I went in to be tested, mom helped me pick out a few pairs that looked “nice.”  When the doctor wrote my prescription for glasses I freaked.  Tears streamed from my eyes that immediately became red and puffy!  In that moment, it didn’t matter what the glasses looked like, I knew it would be terrible no matter what, so I ended up with huge, ugly circle glasses that tented in the sun and didn’t change back when I came inside for at least 5 minutes.  They were terrible.

Luckily, when I entered 7th grade mom let me wear contacts!  They couldn’t be colored because she loves my baby poop, yellow, brown, green eyes, but I didn’t care because I got rid of the retched things!

I have worn contacts ever since and have only slept in them about 2 nights in my whole life.  Disposable, pieces of plastic rubbing my cornea day after day and the insertion, removal and care was always something that merited the greatest care.  I am amazed by contacts and thankful for their invention, but eventually it got to be too much, my eyes would protest every second of it, until months ago when I became a full time glasses wearer.

Tomorrow I will experience a miracle!!  I will be able to see 20/20 without glasses or contacts!  It will be one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life.

With my new improved eyes, here is a list of things I hope I NEVER take for granted:

To wake up and see the time on my alarm clock from ½ way across the room.
To play the piano in my glasses and see my fingers out of my peripheral, heck, to have peripheral vision!
To shave my legs in the shower and not miss a HUGE patch of hair because I can’t see it.
To never be frustrated when I can’t tell the difference between 1 and 2 at the optometrist.
To watch a movie without having to lick my finger and stick it in my eye to unstuck my contact.
The fact that my eyes will not look like tiny beads behind my glasses.
To never feel on every surface to find my glasses, or get frustrated and ask someone else to find them, just so I can see enough to do a menial morning or night time task.
To sweat without my glasses falling down my face and get rid of the constant acne around the bridge of my nose.
To never worry about the corneal thickness, curvature, and surface regularity or feel the effects.
To perform without being able to see people face’s because my contact is dry or out of focus.
To lay in bed and see the white dots on the roof and for shadows to have definition in the dark.

But alas, I have taken for granted my ability see at all, my whole life, and will probably take this miracle for granted too.  HOWEVER, tonight the prideful little girl who squinted her whole childhood and the grown girl obsessed with quality and  efficiency will be thankful and rejoice for the legally blind will see!

There are a few fascinating things about Latin American music understanding, such as the names of notes in both pitch and rhythm.  The names for note duration in Spanish are: Whole = Redonda (rounded), Half = Blanca (white), Quarter = Negra (black), and Eighth = Corchea (??).    Therefore explaining that half note is 1/2 of a whole note is a bit more complected when the note name is a color and not a geometry term.  Then explaining that to my non-musical, but wonderful translator was moi dificil!  Notes names for pitch in Spanish have two different names:  one for speaking and one for writing.  They write the letter names of the notes, but when they speak the names they use solfege.  The Do does not move with the key signature.  Do is always C, and in order to differentiate between the sharp and flat notes in a key signature such as key of F, one would say:  Fa, So, La, Si Bemol, Do, Ri, Mi and back to Fa.  For the key of G they would say:  Sol, La, Si, Do, Re, Me, Fa Sostenido and back to Sol.  But when they write them down on chord charts they know the letter names.  Very Interesting.

When teaching time signature today I was so excited to explain dotted notes, that I completely forgot that my students could not understand English!  When teaching in a different language the eyes are on you but the recognition of understanding is not there until it is translated.  So the whole time you are thinking… not a single person understands these concepts… but really they are waiting for the translation!  I finally asked the students to come to the board and fill in rhythms.  It reminded me of Sophomore year when Dr. Rodgers would make me come up and write secondary dominates on the board and I was nervous to make a mistake!  They caught on very well and I couldn’t help but be overjoyed to share one of the most important things in my life, music, with people who desparately want to learn.  And the purpose of their wanting to learn is to worship God with excellence!!  Absolutely FANTASTIC!!!

The members of the Músico a Músico team are incredible.  They are not only talented musicians, but they deeply love the Lord.  1/2 of us are bi-lingual and 1/2 of us only speak Spanish or English – It makes for very interesting rehearsals when the electric guitar player and second piano only speak Spanish and the lead vocal/piano/band director, acoustic guitar, drums, and myself (singer) only speak English.  The base, and 2 singers have to translate all the directions.  It was only by the grace of God that we sound half decent, let alone play with excellence together!  Its unbelievable how tight we sound… I can’t help but dance.  We sing in Spanish.  It has been wonderful to realize that making a sound is my worship, not what I say.  I will write more on that later . 

I am so thankful for this learning and teaching oppertunity!  Te Alabo!

http://www.theledger.com/article/20080816/NEWS/808170316/1326&title=Experiencing_A_New_York_Minute

(They even paid me!)