Summer Memories : June 15 - July 31

Fastest season ever. 

No, seriously. 

The days zip by in, like, 20 hours. 

B L I N K and we're half way through summer. 

😭

Let's check in to see how I'm doing on my bucket list, shall we?

Summer 2019 Bucket List

1. Make summer playlist. Might need help. Ask Facebook hive for recommendations. The Mama Mia soundtrack is my play list. On repeat. All weekend, maybe all summer.
2. Have pretty feet all summer.  ⬜Pedicure - July  DONE ⬜Pedicure - August Cancelled. Maybe I can make this happen by the end of the month. My usual place might be more reliable by then. 
3. Go to dentist a million times. ⬜Get tooth #1 capped. ⬜Get tooth #2 capped FINAL appointment for permanent crowns is on Aug 16. YAY. 
4. Replace/upgrade phone AND GET A SEXY PHONE CASE THIS TIME This pink case is not sexy, but it's also not dark brown like my last one. Here it is. First pic is untouched. Second is filtered. I really like filtered photos. I should really learn how to apply make-up.

1. Download a yoga/stretching app (or fine something suitable on Netflix?) Summer's not over, but this is probably not going to happen. Loser.
2. Read all of Louise Penny's books - Books 3 - 16 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ I'm on book 10. I loved book 9 with all my heart. 
3. Empty Master Bedroom closet at the lake Maybe next weekend.
4. Sort through my bedroom closet in the basement I started, and then thought... 'what if I lose weight? THEN ALL THESE CLOTHES WILL FIT'. So I'll pause this for now.
5. Take all resulting bags (of cleaning out closets) to Thrift Store (before Fall) I've taken two loads, of not-clothes. Once I decide to get rid of clothes, I will, I WILL take them away.
6. Bring contents of Under-the-Stairs closet upstairs for mom to sort through DONE. And it feels so good. 
7. See Spiderman movie with kids Saw Lion King instead. On the same day I had a breast biopsy done, so the freezing came out and my chest caught on fire halfway through. I don't remember anything about the movie. Was it good? Maybe? 
8. Level up in Pokemon Go (Level 37) DONE. And half-way to Level 38. 
9. Buy new runners Maybe this fall? Not going back to the mall this summer.  
10. Buy new shoes for work DONE. 
11. Attend NT Wright event (July 24) DONE. Notes are below. 
12. Temporarily suspend gym membership.Walk 50,000 steps each week of summer. 12 weeks: ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ Not near as much walking as I had hoped. Not as active this summer as I expected. 
13. Learn a new skill (?) I know how to add a filter to my pics. I am quite pleased about that.
14. Get camera repaired.Yup. Done. 
15. Plan, prepare, offer a Basecamp 3 training session at work Did two sessions, both successful.
16. Lead devos once Will lead them this Thursday.
17. Do not accept/use a single plastic bag when shopping for groceries. Enter stores prepared. I am rarely prepared when grocery shopping. But I am getting better.
18. Think about trying Whole 30. In August. But don't beat yourself up if this doesn't happen. It sounds awful Tried Intermittent Fasting last week. 16 hour breaks between eating meals. Totally doable. A great way to cut back on snacking. 
19. Tackle the filing at work. Maybe do this in 4 efforts. File for two hours ⬜⬜⬜⬜ Not sure if I'll get this done. 
20. Read bookclub book: The Eyre Affair Will read this as soon as I finish Louise Penny's books. 
21. Walk in 8 different neighbourhoods. Drop off books in a shared library stand. ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ Utter fail. 
22. Take 5 sunny days off work (unused vacation days) Go to a different beach each time: ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ I've taken a few sunny days off, spending them all at Cultus. 
23. Try kayaking. Or not. Not.
24. Watch the sun set from the lookout/viewpoint on Cypress Mountain Not yet.
25. Talk to someone smart about trees, specifically about the ones in front of the house at Cultus. Maybe this fall.
26. Go to Bard on the Beach or Theatre Under the Stars Mama Mia with Dani last Friday. SO fun! Will go to Bard on Sept 4. 
27. Ride the Roller Coaster at Playland. Nahhh. Not a priority anymore. 
28. Make some decisions about May 2020 trip with kids Only decision has been that we still want to go. :)
29. Move furniture into alcove in basement. Will need boys help. Be creative in asking.  All done. 
30. Celebrate July birthdays Done 
31. Celebrate August birthdays Will celebrate Drew's next weekend.
32. Read Brene' Brown's Dare to Lead book Started it. 
33. Try blogging 3 Things I'm Thankful For five times a week? Loserrrrr. Maybe I'll try harder in August. 
34. Attend a White Rock FREE CONCERT night. Bring lawnchairs and a friend; watch the sunset, listen to cover bands. DONE. GREAT music. Heard two bands; one did Beattles tunes, the other did Eagle's songs. 
35. See Louise Penny at the end of the summer. TICKETS BOUGHT. 4 of us going. It's a Penny Summer... I love seasons with a theme.
36. Do a few photo shoots in front of grafitti'd/mural-ed walls in Vancouver. FIRST ONE DONE. Anyone want to pose/model/have a photo shoot done next time?
37. Make appointment to have moles removed from back. OH MY GOODNESS, so DONE. It took two and a half hours. Felt like 1000 angry bees were stinging me. Worked from home for 3 days covered in an ancient, secret, smelly, magical Indian ointment. My back has been itchy for a week. It's all healed and looks lovely. SO glad I did it.
38. Get suspicious lump removed from left boob. (Biopsy results came back last week. Betty's gotta go. Odds are in my favor; 90/10. So I'm only 10% worried.) WAS DONE on Friday morning, July 19 Aach, Summer 2019 -so much slicing and dicing and burning on my body. I love a season with a theme. Haha.
39. Go for a ride on that lil boat on the Fraser River in New West.
40. Is there still an umbrella art installation in Yaletown? I want to go there and take pics. 
41. Be ready and available for an unexpected opportunity.
42. Put away my Christmas decorations. HOW EMBARRASSING. Haha. My display is still up. I hardly even notice it. 
43. Buy colourful pillows for my very white room at the lake. 
44. Go on a picnic. 
45. Listen to a sermon series/Back to the Bible series. 
46. Find a new eyebrow threading place.

I noticed that if I add photos to the list, the numbering goes out of wack, so I'll add summer pictures to future blog posts.

On Wed July 24, I attended a Regent College Free Public Lecture in Vancouver with a couple friends. The speaker was N.T. Wright,  (Nicholas Thomas Wright is an English New Testament scholar, Pauline theologian, and retired Anglican bishop. Between 2003 and 2010, he was the Bishop of Durham. He then became Research Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at St Mary's College in the University of St Andrews in Scotland) and we were in over our heads.

Haha. He started talking, and we started taking notes but he didn't pause or repeat himself for emphasis or give us a break. So there was that. But all was not lost; the Q + A session was awesome. He talked slower. And didn't use such big words. And ultimately it was a good brain-stretching exercise. 

These are my notes.  Each point makes sense, but how they all fit together is a bit of a mystery. 

My take-away from the evening (whether or not this was his point, is unknown) is that I don't know very much. And I need to be curious and ask questions. Engage in conversations with people who have different beliefs, people who have studied more, people who are passionate about their faith, people who have questions too. I need to accept that maybe the 'traditional' way of thinking about Biblical things may have been tweaked as really smart people discover new truths. 

And I need to be equipped, so that whenever I am invited into, or initiate a conversation about faith, I am prepared to chat, with love and wonder and confidence.  

• Study the Bible intelligently, vigorously, joyfully.

• Natural Theology: Observing the natural world, then arguing up to God.

• Put Jesus IN THE MIDDLE of theology NOT at the end of the story. He was here right from the beginning.

• HISTORY is Real Knowledge. It’s not ‘guess work’. It’s verified. Theology is a HISTORICAL study of Jesus. Some made him ‘just’ a human. Other’s a diety. And just like newspapers from different cities will report the details of a rival teams’ football game differently – they won’t get the final score wrong. There will be plenty of bias, depending on who’s story you read. True of historical accounts as well.

• Studying history is studying WHY DID PEOPLE DO THAT?

• HISTORY looks for a connective narrative; not just random chronicles. Historians look into the minds of other people. They wonder why? They are curious.

• We know, without a doubt, all about Jesus’ life on earth.

• Re: Jesus and the Temple: It is the fulfilment of God’s promise to turn the world inside out. To establish JUSTICE and PEACE. The temple is the promise of a new creation, where Heaven and Earth come together. (The climax of Exodus is NOT the parting of the Red Sea. It’s the Tabernacle – where God dwells with us.)

• We misinterpret Apocalyptic language = end of times. It's not. 

• Jesus was RAISED FROM THE DEAD = perpetual Sabbath. Sabbath isn't a rule we need to adhere to one day of the week. It's a mind-set; a way to live. That said, it IS a healthy/good idea to have a day of rest.

• The heart of knowledge is love.

• We didn’t reach up to God. He came down to us.

• What’s important is God’s knowledge of us NOT OUR KNOWLEDGE OF HIM.

• God offers a deeper sense of WELCOME HOME than we could imagine.

• The cross: justice, truth, power, freedom, beauty, forgiveness.

• Tabernacle isn’t a safe place away from the world – it’s a bridge to the REAL WORLD.

• Tabernacle: He pitched his tent amongst us.

• Jesus healed and loved. He didn’t raise up an angry, armed army of rebels. He was offering something different than the current situation.

• Jesus was/is the means by which heaven and earth would join. The temple is where heaven and earth met.

• Sabbath is where the age to come broke into the age that is, with rest and celebration.

• Echo chambers. Listening to the same things over and over again. Saying the same things over and over again. We need to be curious/study other peoples.

• The Bible is the living word. Ask Jesus to speak to you through it. Lectiva Divina.

• Bad theology is bad for your health. Bad theology reaches forward for two generations.

• Jesus isn’t a spaceman. He didn’t ‘go away’. He’s not ‘coming back’. He’s here. He will APPEAR again. He is not far away. There are ‘thin places’ where He feels/is especially close. Heaven isn’t ‘way up there’ in outer space… Heaven is HQ. Jesus is running things. He’s in charge. He didn’t go away.

Three things I'm thankful for:

1. Weekends with my kids. So very laid back and relaxing.
2. The sun. It shone all weekend. Was glorious x 1000.
3. Nail clippers.