Copying Julia here…

Of the board list, I’ve read…

#2: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
#3: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
#19: Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
#20: Native Son by Richard Wright
#41: Lord of the Flies by William Golding
#64: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
#67: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
#77: Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce
#88: The Call of the Wild by Jack London

Of the author list I have read:
#5: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
#13: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
#19: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
#25: Lord of the Flies by William Golding
#43: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
#57: A Portrait of the Artist as a Yong Man by James Joyce
#69: Invisible Man By Ralph Ellison
#75: Call of the Wild by Jack London
#77: Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
#90: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
#94: My Antonia by Willa Cather

That’s 13 distinct books out of the Modern Library | 100 Best Novels. I’m not into modern lit at all (evidenced by the fact that these were all read for school purposes) so if there was a 100 best of all time, I’d probably be in the 20-30% range on that.

Church
My mother-in-law and I walked to the church that my father-in-law is supplying and ended up being 15 minutes late, meaning that we missed everything up to the Gospel reading. Ray’s sermon was great and after church, we discovered that his parents were sitting right behind us. Oh joy. This was the church’s huge Christmas shindig so I ate really crappy Lutheran church food (the desserts were the highlight). The children sang us Christmas carols off key. Jon preached today in Newark. I’m sorry I missed it.

My Afternoon and Evening
When we got home, we chilled for a while and then we went to see the new Harry Potter movie. It was wonderful and I got to see Emma Watson who doesn’t have as good Hermione scenes as she does in the first movie (which is truly unfortunate), but it was lovely to see her again. The basilisk scene reminded me why I’m so afraid of snakes (and white cats who pretend to be snakes!!!!!!) We walked home afterwards and went to see some of the neighbors. After this was… Advent devotions!!! My father-in-law refused to get off the phone to join us so my mother-in-law stood in the hallway singing Advent hymns off-key at the top of her lungs, spooking many cats and causing me to laugh so hard that I was shaking and had tears running down my face. (Yes, I know these are run-on sentences. Deal with it!!!!) The devotion was very cat-centered — each of the four candles stood for a cat and their quality.

Now… off to bed so I can get up and pack in the morning. The little white mamba cat is asleep on my bed and he hopefully will stay that way!!!!!

Joanna (my sister-in-law) and I went to my friend Susanna’s wedding and it was… interesting. The service was VERY Calvary Chapel. The music was praise music and very redemption-centered. Wayne (Sus’ husband) accepted Christ before she did (her acceptance came on 9/11) and the ceremony had an altar-call of sorts. Joanna is very agnostic and I owe her big time for making her sit through a lot of the service, especially the vows which were REALLY patriarchal in my humble opinion. (Note: This is coming from Jen who is totally down with having God as her Heavenly Father.) I was really glad to be there and it was so wonderful to hear Sus squealing and laughing as she came down the aisle.

The reception was… interesting and very full of Christian kitsch. The wedding favors were Christmas ball ornaments with “Susanna and Wayne Burrow, December 7, 2002” on one side and a Scripture reference on the other that was “God appointed for [us] to read”. There were also crocheted Cross bookmarks at each place to remind us of the saving value of the Cross. Scattered across the table were TestaMints — you get the picture. (I will say that the Testamints amused me greatly.) The bride-and-groom talent show was spectacular and I was able to politely roast Sus at the reception. (I threatened to tell stories about our time at UCSC. I politely refrained though.)

I will say this… I prayed for a long time for Susanna to accept Christ and it came on 9/11. The pastor was commenting during the service that such a thing redeems the day. Sorry… it doesn’t redeem the day but… her acceptance of Christ does answer my prayers and I am thankful that she is with Jesus now. I’ve been praying for her for quite a few years and when I finally got to talk to her, I told her that she really should have emailed me when she accepted Christ. She laughed (which was music to my ears despite the high decibel level) and I have to admit — though none of our mutual college friends were there (possibly because she lost touch with a lot of people after college and many would probably remind her of her BC life), I am SOOOOO happy to have flown out to see her on her special day.

Well… I’m in California safe and sound. I slept on the leg from Columbus to Denver and read on the leg from Denver to Ontario. My father-in-law took me out for lunch and I spent some time crocheting with my mother-in-law.

Substitute Friday Five (c/o blogs4God)
These all apply to the storms that came on Wednesday and Thursday

1.) Did you get any snow yesterday? If so, how much?
About 3 inches

2.) What is the biggest snow storm you’ve ever experienced?
A blizzard in Wyoming when I was 7

3.) What is your favorite snow-time activity?
Saucering and snowball fighting

4.) What is the largest snow man you’ve ever built? What were the circumstances?
10 feet tall. Christmas 1990. We put a flowerpot on it, named it “Snowdam Hussein”, and pelted it with snowballs.

5.) With regards to sledding, do you prefer the old-school American Flyer with metal runners, a poly vinyl plastic wonder, an inner tube, a “liberated” cafeteria tray, other?
Probably the innertube.

OK… I need to go rescue Baby Jesus from the ferocious white cat who is carrying him around in his mouth. (My in-laws have a creche that sits under the tree and has been attacked by two generations of cats.) TTFN!

A few lingering thoughts and shout-outs and such before packing and snuggling with my kitties:

To Richard: I offer you Psalm 13. This is in no way intended to take away your pain; but instead to remind you of someone who can. 1 Peter 3:15 tells us to “sanctify the Lord God in [our] hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” My hope is in God. Trust in Him.

To Bri: Congrats on the apartment! You’re in charge while I’m gone. And remember: no parties, no sex, no boys (except Mike of course!), and no rock music!

To those of you who are praying for travel mercies for me: Jon and I thank you in advance. I have to admit that I am a bit on the petrified side after hearing the Al Qaeda warning but… I’m still going to fly. Osama and his followers WANT me to be afraid and not to fly. Why give in to them? I don’t negotiate with terrorists (or liturgists *shiver*).

To Leenie and Doug: Happy Birthday a few days early! (I’ll be at the wedding on Leenie’s and flying back to Ohio on Doug’s.) May your day be filled with friends, family, joy, happiness, cats (for Leenie), and geritol/black candles/fake walkers/”uplifting cards”/reading glasses (for Doug). (Before you give me any slack about the reading glasses, remember that I am the only 22 year old in the world with BIFOCALS!!!!)

That is all. Entry ite est. Go in peace. Serve the Lord. Gratia Deo!