so what's been going on?

Not much. Drove up to Wellington over the long weekend to visit the fam on the hubby's side. Got to spend some time with his aunt and uncle from VT, which was cool. They're cool peeps, and we don't see them very often, since they're, you know, many many miles away. The four of us went to Great Lakes Brewing Company where I ordered and finished a beer (my 3rd ever beer ordered at a restaurant). It's coming slowly, but I am trying really hard to aquire a taste for beer. I can honestly say that I actually enjoy wheat beers now (rather than just choking them down to prove to myself that I can do it without gagging).



I also have been feeling like God's teaching me more about my identity. Story of my life, right? Well they say that the Christian life is like a spiral staircase--you just keep learning the same basic truths over and over, just a little deeper each time around. Silly me, I start to think I've "arrived" after one time around the circle, and when a theme comes up again, I balk "Isn't this a rerun? Uh, new episode, please? Thanks." I guess this particular theme is going to be a major one--separating my perception of myself from what others think, my actions from others' expectations of what my actions should be. Bev was telling me a story recently about someone who was trying to manipulate her, and she was able to say, "Ah! He's being manipulative, but I'm not letting him manipulate me!" So there's a choice in there somewhere...a point where we allow others control over us that they cannot otherwise have. That's tricky, and I can't yet figure out where that place is, but I'm now looking for it (which is more than I could say before).

"Oh, these little rejections--how they add up quickly!

One small sideways look and I feel so ungood...

Somewhere along the way, I think, I gave you the power to make

me feel the way I thought only my father could..."

-Alanis Morissette