Moose Country and a Wet Computer

This post has been a long time coming. I’m trying to be more intentional about my blog, so I keep struggling to think of topics to write about, which means long delays in between posts. But I will try to do better!

I have more photos of Canada to accompany this post (I tried to pick the most quintessentially Canadian one to upload individually, seen above featuring mounties), but I was going to upload them to Facebook first. iPhoto and Facebook are were not playing nicely last week so that was a fail. But Laura, you may ask, why don’t you just upload them this week? Well, I’ll tell you, blog reader.

Sunday night my computer took a little bit of a bath. A cup of water was sitting on our coffee table—as was my laptop— and it got knocked it over. Alas.

Apparently the one thing you do not do when you spill water on your computer is attempt to turn it on after you dry it off with a dish towel. Nor do you plug it into the charger when it fails to turn on, thinking it may have just run out of battery. This will only result in a static-like noise projecting loudly from your speakers and a malfunctioning trackpad. Also you will then discover that the Apple website says at the worst thing you can do after spilling liquid on your computer is attempt to run power to it. So there’s that.

So now my macbook is at the Apple doctor where they will “take a look at it” in 2-3 days and get back to us. Sigh. I just hope I don’t lose anything, seeing as I have failed to set up Time Machine since I got my new computer after we got married. I am particularly concerned about the fact that I have a story I’ve been writing for a contest sitting on that thing, which I have started over on about 3 times. (Turns out the 3rd time really IS a charm. [Insert sad trombone here.]) We think it will not be a hard drive-related problem, but still keeping fingers crossed.

Anyway. This post was going to be about our Canada trip, but now it is getting long. So here are some highlights:

1. Lumberjack competition. When in Rome, right? 2. International festival weekend [My grandparents’ town is right on the border of Maine. Also I love all things street fair. Particularly the lemonade.] 3. Fish & chips from a tiny takeout place. [I am not a huge seafood fan but this stuff was legit.] 4. Scenery, which I will post pictures of as soon as my computer makes its triumphant return. 5. Chocolate. [My grandparents’ town is also “Canada’s Chocolate Town” due to the fact that there is a chocolate factory located there. Chocolate-fest was wrapping up that weekend. Win.] 6. Mrs. Dunster’s Donuts. Seriously, these things are amazing and I am disappointed that no one in the States has decided to get in on that yet. The ones we love are whole wheat (aka totally healthy right?), cinnamon & sugar, and they come in a bag. (They’re more like giant donut holes rather than glazed O shapes.) We still have some in our freezer. I think.

We had a great trip even though it was super short. We left on Friday & came back on Monday. It was fun to show Craig around and to see everything from a new perspective since I hadn’t been there since high school.

Next time I will have a more purposeful post. I promise. Also maybe a video of Lumberjack Roger hurling an axe and getting a bullseye (I was proud to get that footage).

Return to Me

Friday night I had the privilege of being a part of the Mosiac’s CD release show at Rolling Hills Community Church in Franklin. (You may or may not remember my post about getting to do gang vocals on their album, which was such a fun experience.)

These fine people are 5 friends from Belmont Craig has known since his Freshman year, and consequently so have I. They’re some of the most talented people I’ve ever known, and they’re even more amazing live than they are on the album.

They have felt called to proclaim God’s word through music. Nearly verbatim, actually. Combine that with their crazy-awesome arrangements and ridiculously beautiful voices and you’ve got yourself something special.

The music I heard that night brought scripture alive. I’ve actually learned a lot from Mosaic through the videos they posted explaining the theology behind their songs and what experiences the songs sprung from. (You can watch them here.)

One of my favorite songs from the night is called Return to Me. It’s written from the point of view of God, particularly in the Old Testament books of Jeremiah and Hosea. My friend Emily Martin (who co-wrote it and sings it on the record) explains in regards to this song that we tend to think of the Old Testament God as sort of harsh or mean, especially in comparison to the words of grace that overflow in the New Testament. I mean, he’s always condemning groups of people or sending in a flood to destroy humanity, but then Jesus comes and everything’s okay, right? But in the scripture this song comes from, God is speaking to his people, dying for them to just turn from their ways and come back to him. Sometimes God has to bring us to our knees before we will realize how much we need him and just run to his open arms.

Two things resonate with me about this. One, that God is the same then, now and always. He’s always been (and always will be) more gracious to us than we deserve. Two, that God cares about me (and you) as an individual. He cares about my thoughts and fears and knows who I am inside. More and more scriptures, songs and sermons are revealing this truth to me lately.

This song is a perfect marriage of tension and release reflecting the solemn, heartbreaking situation of our stubborn rebellion and the gentle yet firm response of God—filled with grace for his people. And it’s even better live.

Here are the lyrics to the Mosaic song:

(Click here to listen as you read—it’s pretty epic— and/or to hear Emily explain the song better than I can.)

Tell Me House of Israel What injustice did your fathers find in Me That they would go so far from Me?

Hear Me fearless daughter, You’ve forsaken Me and you’ve exchanged your glory For a well that won’t hold water.

[Chorus] How can I give you up? How can I make you see? Why are you bent on turning from Me? I will contend until you are free.

Return to Me, return to Me, return to Me Jerusalem Return to Me, return to Me, return to Me Jerusalem And I will heal your faithlessness.

See your way in the valley Know and understand what you have done You are stained before my eyes

Feel my pain, beloved I can’t restrain you or subdue your thirst for sin My love, you’ve become a slave

[Chorus]

[Bridge] Break up your fallow ground daughters and sons Sow no more among thorns; stray no more Turn your eyes back to me; trust in My name I am Jehovah I’ll never leave you wanting

Hear Me House of Judah Obey My voice and I will be your God And you will be My bride

Shark Week

Ah, Shark Week. It makes its triumphant return this week, barreling into our Twitter feeds, TVs and hearts with abandon.

Shark Week is a phenomenon I don’t understand, but I can appreciate the fact that we live in a country where an entire week of television programming can be 100% dedicated to footage of a deadly sea creature ripping off limbs and marine biologists trying to convince us that said creatures are merely misunderstood and not in need of a major attitude adjustment. (Clearly the “go big or go home” philosophy is not lost on us.)

I don’t know the history of Shark Week or how long it’s been a thing, because I’ve only had Twitter for about two years, and I never watch Discovery Channel. But I do know that it has awakened this collective love of all things shark in the hearts of the American public, which kind of makes me want to be a part of it. [I love pop culture phenomenons that can be mentioned in any setting, and almost everyone around you will get the reference (see: bed intruder song; anything Harry Potter).]

It’s okay, though. I get it. I’m a “dog person.” I like animals that do not generally threaten my existence when I find myself within a 50-foot radius of them. I’m not, however, what I am heretofore referring to as a “shark person” (which is something entirely different from a “shark-person”). Noun; One who enjoys learning fun facts about and/or interacting with sharks; see also: flirts with death.

Anyway. All that to say, I’m not against Shark Week, there’s just nothing within me that emphatically yells, “I love sharks and I want to view them in their natural habitats!” So, Shark Week Lovers, I ask you: am I missing something? Is there a redeeming quality to sharks that I am clearly overlooking? Will this weeklong shark-tacular in actuality not just increase my fear of oceans? In all sincerity, I want to know. Leave me a comment and let me know why you love Shark Week.

Happy Shark Week to all you “shark people” out there!

HGTV

So lately we have been watching a lot of HGTV. If you’ve ever watched HGTV, chances are you are still watching it. They suck you in by not making you watch credits in between shows. They seriously just start the next show immediately and shove a 1-minute overview in your ear before you can change the channel or turn it off, and soon enough you’re too invested in the featured couple’s jank (soon-to-be-fabulous) rental space or new life in Denmark to just walk way. How will we live if we don’t know what house they pick??? If you must leave, you simply hit “record” and come back to it later for your resolution, then when you turn back to live TV, it’s still set on HGTV, and the cycle starts all over again.

We’re probably just going to turn into design experts through osmosis.

Anyway.

While this is what I would consider a huge step up in terms of adulthood compared to my usual Disney Channel (Wizards of Waverly Place is ending soon so all I will be left with is Good Luck Charlie, which is not a close 2nd), it does come with one downside.

I now expect all houses to be awesome.

If they are not awesome, someone should make it over and it should end up being awesome.

I’m pretty sure when we eventually look for a house in our price range, I will be sorely disappointed.

Especially since now they (read: HGTV; see also: The Man) show us multi-million-dollar vacation homes in Maui that families get to spend a week in. Not helping.

I will say though that I don’t care about having a huge house. And I don’t really care about having stainless steel appliances, or even granite for that matter (though it would be nice). And I actually kind of like carpet (which is apparently not all the rage in design-land). At least in bedrooms if nothing else. But the house must be cute on the outside or it means nothing to me. And that might be a problem.

Anyway, good luck to Craig who will likely have to convince me to get a house that may not be precious enough.

Did I mention that this whole Pinterest ordeal has done nothing but feed this unrealistic image in my head about what a house should look like? Everything is pretty and I want it all in one house.

Sigh.

Last night we sunk to a new low and set up a DVR series recording on Design Star. Seriously? What is happening to us? If you give a moose a House Hunters…

Speaking truth

We went to see two of our favorite singer/songwriters, Sandra McCracken and Derek Webb, this weekend at 3rd and Lindsley. It was a great show. I always end up feeling encouraged after hearing Sandra’s songs. In her set, Sandra said lightheartedly that sometimes you just have to confess truth even if you don’t believe it at the time, and your heart will catch up. Even though she was just talking about the highs and lows of raising a toddler, that statement resonated with me on a deeper level. I think lately I’ve been having to do that myself—confess things that I know to be true, even if my heart doesn’t necessarily feel it at the time. Just because I’m having trouble believing it at the time doesn’t make it any less true. So I continue to speak truths to myself in the hopes that my heart will catch up. So I thought I would share with you a song of Sandra’s that has been speaking to my heart over the last few days. When she performed it on Saturday I heard the lyrics in a new way and they were comforting to me. Hopefully it is encouraging to you as well [click here to listen as you read]:

I confess the things I am afraid of: thorns and danger just around the bend.

I pray for tongues of fire and bands of angels to come and circle ‘round me like a fence.

I lift my eyes to the hills, where comes my help?

I lift my hands—empty hands—I can’t help myself

I can’t help myself; no, I can’t help myself

My enemies surround me like an army; within, without, the battle’s raging on.

I pray the Spirit will be strong and mighty for courage through the night until the dawn.

I lift my eyes to the hills, where comes my help?

I lift my hands—empty hands—I can’t help myself

I can’t help myself; no, I can’t help myself

Oh, trust the Lord, my soul and all that is in me; oh trust the light to show your darkest parts.

With wounds of truth and love, a friend who has known me; a fool would keep his secrets in his heart.

I lift my eyes to the hills; here comes my help

I lift my hands—empty hands—I can’t help myself

I can’t help myself, can’t help myself

Can’t help myself; no, I can’t help myself; I can’t help myself.

Pandora

Songs my Pandora station has played that made me wish I had a “repeat” button: -“I want it that way”

-“Little Lion Man”

-Anything by Third Eye Blind

Things my Pandora station has played that made me wish I had an “obliviate” button:

-Something about an axe by Yngwie Maimsteen (Real. Name. So many questions…)

-18 different versions of Coldplay’s “Clocks” and/or “The Scientist”

-Pretty much every CCM song from 1998 it decides I must like because I like Derek Webb.

-Simple Plan.

Artists/songs my Pandora station somehow has come to the conclusion that I cannot live without:

-Mat Kearney (own none of his albums)

-Coldplay (as evidenced by the aforementioned songs in the “obliviate” category)

-U2 (Okay, I like U2 as much as the next girl but really? Every third song is some obscure non-hit. Where’s the “One?” Where’s the “Elevation?” Get it together, Pandora.)

-Indie folk and/or techno-pop-rock bands from other countries (Just because I gave a thumbs up to The Killers and one song by The Weepies does not mean I want to sit through that nonsense.)

-3 different versions of “Falling Slowly” (Seriously. One by The Frames, one by Glen Hansard, and one by Kris Allen. It was fun the first time, but now I’m regretting ever giving that song a thumbs up…)

Songs my Pandora station occasionally plays that make me think it can see into my past:

-Anything by Story of the Year

-“Flavor of the Week” by American Hi-Fi

-“Just the Girl” by Click 5

-“Drive” by Incubus

-“Hemorrhage (In my Hands)” by Fuel

Needless to say, I have a love/hate relationship with Pandora. Especially since it only gives me 40 hours per month for free. Hope you have a great weekend!

Disturbing Headline of the Day

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a Disturbing Headline of the Day, but this is mostly due to the fact that I was suffering from CNN overload and decided to take a break from reading the news every day. It was just getting depressing and/or frightening knowing every bad thing that happens, so I just decided to choose not to read it so much. Judge if you must. Your DHOTD:

Kid Sells Kidney for iPad 2, Regrets Transaction

I think the person who came up with this headline should get a gold star. I just love the: “*pause*… regrets transaction.” It’s as if they’re kind of laughing on the inside even though this story is terribly sad and all kinds of illegal. Or it’s as if there’s some subliminal sad-trombone going on in the background.

Also I think the fact that this majorly serious, drastic exchange it is simply referred to as a “transaction,” as if you were just buying some batteries at Kroger, just speaks volumes.

Anyway apparently this poor sweet (in pat-him-on-the-head, ignorance-is-bliss sort of way) 17-year-old iPad-coveting kid sold his kidney for about $3100 on the black market at a questionable “hospital” and did not tell his mom about it.

She noticed. But not because he assumably had stitches, or she hadn’t seen him in a while. She noticed that he had an iPad and that, my friend, seemed fishy. He then apparently told her the truth and they called the authorities.

I’m just not sure whether to laugh or cry at this story, but it was disturbing nonetheless.

Read the full story here.

Greenville, SC, my new favorite place.

This weekend I finally got to see my husband after two painfully long weeks! After a delayed flight and circling the air above the airport waiting for the storm to pass before we landed (really??), I finally touched down in Greenville, SC and power-walked down to baggage claim to see Craig. We had decided to make a night of it and book a nice hotel and go out to dinner, so we got to our super awesome hotel (see below) around 8:45 or so and almost immediately left to go find a restaurant. (Delayed flight plus time difference = late dinner = hungry McClellans, which you may or may not remember from our honeymoon photos waiting for our 9pm dinner reservation).

We ate at a great hibachi place only a couple blocks down from our hotel in the cutest downtown of all time. The restaurant was very similar to the one we went to in Asheville over Christmas. They don’t cook it right in front of you, but it’s totally worth it because a) it’s cheaper b) no one tries to squirt you with fake condiments, make corny jokes about you or set you ablaze c) you can get soup, salad, shrimp, steak, chicken, veggies and rice for two people for $30 and d) you get your food faster. So we’re fans of the non-cooking-in-front-of-you hibachi places now. We didn’t have to wait to sit down (because it was already 9pm) and we got our food in like 10-15 minutes. Score 1 for hungry McClellans.

We walked around downtown for a little bit - I loved it. They had twinkly lights in the trees, hipsters playing their little hearts out on the corners, lots of fun restaurants…what’s not to like? We got coffee and gelato and then headed back to our super awesome hotel.

We also walked out of our hotel in the morning (read: 9am. the only downside to that hotel was what we considered an early check-out time. it was saturday, ok?) to see main street filled with people and little tent-booths as far as the eye could see, which can only mean one thing: farmer’s market. Score 2 for sleepy McClellans.

This made me happy because I keep wanting to go to a farmer’s market in Nashville (we have a plethora) but I either keep forgetting or when I do set aside a morning to go, it rains. So I made the most of it and got a homemade croissant for pre-breakfast (I say pre-breakfast because we later met someone for real breakfast), homemade salsa and some vegetables which I determined would probably survive the 6 hour drive the next day and still be edible on Monday. The results of which remain to be seen but I will find out later tonight! [Update: I wrote this yesterday, and the results were delicious.]

We ate breakfast at a really cute place called Mary Beth’s with one of Craig’s friends from camp. I had crepes and they were delish. Craig had what I can only assume from his reaction was The Best Egg Sandwich in the World.

Needless to say, I am a huge fan of Greenville, SC. I guess it’s not that exciting if you’re the go-out-to-bars-and-live-on-the-wild-side type of person, but I’m pretty much the opposite of that type of person so I enjoyed it very much.

The rest of the weekend I got to experience what Craig has experienced 3 months out of his life at this point, which was really cool to be a part of for a short time. We spent a lot of time Saturday night at a really cute coffee shop they have there (also a fan) just talking (not over FaceTime finally), which was probably one of my favorite parts of the weekend. Cannot wait for him to be back for good!

Baptism Sunday at Fellowship

For the past 2-3 Sundays, my church decided to take a break from studying Luke and spend some time talking about the sacrament of baptism—what it means, why we do it, and why we believe what we believe about it. We focused on the fact that while baptism does not save you, it is an act of obedience to God. It publicly identifies us with Christ and allows us to profess faith in Him to others.

This weekend, instead of having our regular services, we had one giant church-wide service out on the lawn and more than 150 people were baptized. The people who were baptized had to attend one of two baptism classes where they spoke of why they wanted to be baptized and learned more in-depth about what it meant to be baptized.

In the picture above you can see 4 baptismals on the stage where two of our pastors were taking turns baptizing them. At our church we always celebrate when people are baptized by clapping and cheering after each one—it always brings tears to my eyes but this one was especially joyful! I could barely hold it together. We clapped after every individual baptism. From children about 8 years old all the way up to an 83-year-old woman. It was beautiful. And we sang the whole time.

I just thought I would share this with you in the hopes that it would give you joy to see so many people taking the step to publicly profess faith in Christ! It just reminded me that God is so good, and made me so happy to remember when I took that step in 2009 in front of our church family! If God has been tugging at your heart to be baptized—be encouraged that it is never too late, no matter what age you are or how long you have been a believer.

Happy Monday! His loving kindness is everlasting.

Baby Bird

For the last few months, we have observed as a very diligent robin built a very picture-perfect nest above our gutter on our house. Being the kind and compassionate human beings that we are, we allow Regina (named such by yours truly) to cohabitate with us peacefully and refrain from disturbing her from her work. Once she realized we are in fact not going to come at her home with the business end of a broom, she became more comfortable with us and even stopped flying away in a panic whenever we opened the front door. We realized at some point that she must have been sitting on some eggs that she’d laid, since more often we began to notice her just chillin’ in the nest all day. But I missed the opportunity to see the pretty robin’s-egg-blue we always hear about. (I kept meaning to grab a ladder and instagram all over that.) I know this because today, I looked up to the nest (as I usually do to see if Regina is there and promptly greet her) to find a little beak wide open and reaching to the sky! A real life baby bird waiting for his mama to bring her back a worm. Little buddy was so cute I had to try to capture this moment. And welcome him into the world. That is the picture you see above. He moved his head so slowly and sweetly! [But also in a way that reminded me of an anamatronic figure on the sidelines of a 40-year-old water ride at Disney World.] I’m no ornithologist, but I’m fairly certain he had to have been hatched within the last 24 hours. We also noticed a new sibling on our way out the door tonight! So we are now the proud roommates of a full-blown family of robins. There you have it. The circle of life unfolds right before your very eyes.

Perspective

Over the last couple days, a cold has been brewing within me. I thought it was coming last week but I like to think I fought it off with my mind power since Carlin’s wedding was that weekend, and I refused to be hacking up a lung during the ceremony. But today I have hit the low point. I woke up feeling like…well…death. A recent development is that my throat is scratchy and therefore I have begun to lose my voice.

Who I wish I sounded like:

Who I actually sound like:

Death cold—be gone so I can sleep in peace.