Busy busy busy

No doubt, the length in time between now and my previous blog bears evidence to the busyness of our lives at the given moment. Last night, I preached at our church on Romans 8, today and tomorrow Amber is at a conference in State College for sign language interpreting, and tomorrow I take the GRE in hopes of bettering more scores to increase my chances of getting into a quality PhD program next fall. Hopefully, by tomorrow night I'll be able to breath a sigh of relief!

During the month of June, I was also able to submit a philosophy essay to an academic journal, which is currently being peer reviewed but the editor of the journal said he was planning on publishing it. Additionally, I wrote a book review on a recent commentary regarding the works of Emmanuel Levinas and sent it off to another academic journal. And today, I put in the mail a grant proposal to an organization that offers fellowships worth up to $3000 to do research on the nexus between theology and society. Ah, the games I play all in the name of academic advancement. Now its the waiting game, but it was also a relief to get these projects done and submitted.

This last Thursday, Shane Claiborne visited our church and spoke to a packed out crowd regarding his latest book, "Jesus for President," which I highly recommend. CNN was there too, and you can check out their coverage of it right here. Consequently, some friends from Indianapolis dropped in to see us the same day while in the middle of a road trip, so we managed to go to half of the event, and then stepped out in order to spend time with them (thanks for stopping by Dennis and Heidi!).

How (Too) Firm A Foundation

Finally, after an uphill battle, I think our garden is starting to shape up. Of course, it's still a little bit behind schedule and it won't bear any fruit for another few weeks, at least its starting to grow. Turns out, the dirt in PA just isn't cut out for growing vegetables as its about 20% clay. I talked to an owner of a local nursery and he said, "You could make bricks out of our dirt here. It takes at least two years of tilling the ground here and working in compost and organic materials before you'll get good soil." Nice...Guess we should've looked into things a bit more. No wonder everyone has raised beds around here.

Nevertheless, we've made three big changes that I think have helped us out tremendously. First, we placed our grass clippings around the plants in order to help hold in moisture and keep the ground from drying out so quickly. Next, we broke down and used some 20-20-20 fertilizer we had around the house (we had hoped to go "organic" but... alas...). Finally, I brought home about twenty pounds of used coffee grounds from the coffee shop I work at and we spread it around our plants. So, "with your powers combined..." we're finally starting to see some progress.

In other news, I managed to get an assistantship next school year as an editor for Duquesne's academic publishing company. Not only does it pay for my tuition and offer a stipend, it will provide me an insider's look on the publishing business and provide me some ample opportunities to make contact with people within academia. Part of my job description will be finding scholars within the field who can serve as peer reviewers of the manuscripts Duquesne is thinking about publishing. Additionally, I was just accepted to present a paper on the Jewish philosopher, Emmanuel Levinas, at a national conference in Seattle in late August. My brother Bryce just moved there, so not only will I get to present "with the big dogs," I'll have a chance to see my brother and have a free place to stay.

We're having fun continuing our CVS treasure hunt and earning "Extra Care Bucks" (ECBs) The last couple times, we've combined coupons with CVS sales, and along with the return ECBs, we've actually earned money off our transactions... Craziness. For instance, we purchased everything in the picture to the right for a total of 67 cents after using coupons and ECBs. The last time we went, we purchased some shampoo, deoderant, and other things, and after everything panned out, we spent about 20 cents, and made money on our ECBs. The clerk was incredulous.

Last weekend, we saw Over the Rhine perform in Pittsburgh. It was somewhat of a disappointing show even though we enjoy their music so much. The show was only about an hour long and the seats Amber and I were right next to the speakers. We listened to most of the show with our ears plugged! Overall, we had a fun time though, as virtually everyone we know in Pittsburgh was in attendance. We went out with most of them afterwards to a place called Fatheads that has some of the most amazing hamburgers.

Aside from all these things, I've been busying myself with relearning Algebra in preparation for the GRE which I am retaking in early July for my Phd applications and getting over a cold that Amber graciously passed on to me. I went through a whole roll of Halls yesterday to ease my sore throat, and now I'm on to the perpetual nose-drainage stage... Who knew one head could produce so much snot... (TMI, I know). Hopefully, I'll be feeling better soon so I can stay on top of the various projects I am working onat the moment.

Do You Believe?

“The sterner part of me, the part that’s determined to be nobody’s fool, says, ‘Just admit it. God is a fiction we’ve invented to help us live with our awareness of our own mortality.’ Dogs and cats think they will live forever, and have no god. I can’t help but notice that the only species that knows from the get-go that it will one day no longer be alive is the one that erects cathedrals and marches around with statues dressed in robes.

“But at the same time a universe with no ordering intelligence of any kind is so barren. I wonder if some of us aren’t too smart for our own good on the subject. It’s easy, especially in this late age, to congratulate yourself on your ability to see through everything, but when you see through everything you end up with nothing at all. Do I, does anyone really and truly want to be so undeluded as to live in a world wholly devoid of mystery and magic?”

- Novelist Michael Cunningham when asked, “Do you believe in God?” in Antonio Monda, Do You Believe? Conversations on God and Religion (New York: Vintage Books, 2007), 36.

Update on the Green/Frugal Experiment

We've had an uphill battle with the garden. Upon returning home from our Memorial Day trip, we discovered that something (probably a rabbit) had taken upon itself to eat the heads off of every one of the tomato seedlings we had planted and a couple of the pepper plants. We could barely tell that anything had even been planted. On top of this, there was evidence of bugs chewing holes into some of the other pepper leaves, and one of our zucchini plants decided to keel over and die. Overall, the ground also looked way too dry and was probably inhibiting growth.

So, this past week, I spent my days bringing in reinforcements. I tilled the garden area again, adding compost & manure as well as some organic supplemental soil. I planted more tomatoes, this time covering each one with their own personal force-field. I planted more peppers, and then sprayed everything with an environmentally-friendly spray that basically keeps animals away because they don't like the smell (kind of smells like rotten eggs). Now, I think we're finally making some progress. Our cucumbers and yellow squash are beginning to flower, the other plants are getting used to the sun, and we've had some good rain over the last couple days. We may even have some lettuce coming out of the ground as well!

In other news, Amber and I are coming up with new and innovative ways to save money. One way is through CVS's "Extra Care Bucks" program. There are numerous people out there who blog on this topic, but essentially it works like this: each month, CVS has products that, when purchased with your CVS member card, give you a coupon of the same amount of the product. In other words, the product is virtually free, and then when combined with other manufacturer's coupons and other CVS discounts, people have figured out ways to actually make money off this program by only purchasing the items that give the biggest bang for the buck. Once you put in $15-20 to purchase your first items with "ECBs," as long as you keep purchasing things that give you more of them, you basically pay nothing in your next visits if you add things up right. We've tried it several times, and not only is it a way to get things for really cheap that will be put to use at some point (even if it means stocking up on 1500 q-tips at the moment!), it's also kind of fun to see how much you can get for the least amount of money. And since there's a CVS a block from our house, we don't even have to pay gas to get there!

On Living Long, Living Fully

This weekend, Amber and I spent 13 hours in our car to drive home to Lafayette, IN and back to Pittsburgh. Of course, with gas prices as they are, one would wonder who in their right mind would be taking road trips so frequently, but it was so worth it. This past Sunday night, my 82-year grandma was baptized and became a member of the church I grew up in. It was such an amazing moment to watch this short, old lady, this gentle, warm spirit, to walk into the waters and get dunked. I was moved as I listened to her testimony - something I had not heard before - and hear her recount the many twists and turns life has brought her and the way her faith has grown since the death of my grandfather and her move to Lafayette.

It's weird how God works sometimes. For years, we prayed for my mom's family and their spiritual walks, and for years my grandparents had issues with my family's Baptist church and its conservative, Republican leanings (and probably for good reasons!). So when my parents first told me my grandma had decided to get baptized and become a member, I couldn't believe it. Then, my mom said, "It's just amazing how all these years, you boys and our family have slowly had an influential impact on her life." And I responded, "Yeah, but it goes both ways. She may be becoming a member of our church, but she's convinced our family to vote Democrat!" [Go Obama!!] What a wonderful thing it is to be in relationships with people with whom we have sharp differences only to find that, through humility, those differences can help shape and mold our own views and turn into dialogue, mutual sharing, and positive influence.

This was really a large part of the message of the pastor this past Sunday. Of course, I honestly did have reservations going back to my home church, and still have qualms about the conservative, Baptist framework, but it was a beautiful thing to see so many people I know and love, hear the old and great hymns of my childhood, and sit under the preaching of the pastor I grew up with. He spoke largely on the need for Christians to spend more time building relationships with the lost, the despised, the dropouts of society. He challenged this conservative congregation to spend time with those Jesus spent time with, those who even secular society consider the scum of the earth and told him it was wrong to cave into the insular, confining sub-culture of conservative Christianity that always lives in fear of what people think of us if we're hanging out with the 'wrong' people. What a message we all need to hear. And who knows, maybe those we consider "wrong" and the lost cases of society can prove to teach us more than we ever imagined. Maybe we'll be able to see the many ways we ourselves are wrong, are lost cases.