This basic training video gets me super pumped. Go military! Especially Air Force airmen, hoah! I hope we can all remember our veterans on this day, and the sacrifices they have made for us.

P.S. This video not only makes me motivated, it makes me feel uncomfortable and scared and depressed and hurt and disgusted. We don’t live in a perfect earth, though, so what should I expect from its people?

The military gives me an awkward mix of emotions.

Here is my favorite thing to make!  I love that the preparation time is long enough to enjoy, but not annoying or complicated, busy enough yet mindless too.  Perfect baking combination!  Plus, the final product is SO good it’s gone in literally three or four days… maybe five if you’re slow.  Plus, it works for any meal… breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack!

Banana Bread
5 T butter
½ cup sugar
½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
2 egg whites
1 t. whites
1 t. vanilla
1 ½ cup mashed bananas
1 ¾ cup flour
1 t. soda
½ t. salt
¼ t. baking powder
½ cup heavy cream (some recipes don’t include this…but I like to think it adds that something extra that makes this recipe extra good.  Though this is usually the only ingredient that needs to be planned)

NOTE: These are REALLY good with white chocolate and many people like them with chocolate too.  Estimate how much you want in there.

1.    Preheat oven to 350.  Spray the bottom of the loaf pans (2 reg. or 4 small).
2.    Beat butter in a large bowl on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Add sugar and brown sugar.  Beat well.  Add egg, egg whites, and vanilla.  Beat until well blended.  Add mashed bananas.  Beat on high 30 sec.
3.    Combine flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder.  Add this flour mixture to butter mixture alternately w/cream.  End with flour mixture.
4.    Pour the batter evenly into the loaf pan.  Bake until brown, toothpick inserted in center will come out clean.  Baking times: Larger Loaf pan—1 hour 15 minutes.  Smaller Loaf pan—45 minutes.  (I don’t know if I buy these times… each oven is different and I usually find it needs more time).
5.    Cool on wire rack in pan.  Remove from pan after 10 minutes.  Cool completely on wire rack.  (Nah, go ahead and eat some after the first 10 minutes… YUM!)

I want to be this coach!

I remember coming to work early on a cold December morning, and one of my co-workers started talking about life and ethics. This was of no surprise to me, as he was a theology student at the University of Mary in Bismarck, ND. I knew there was a lot of work to be done that day, but the green glow in his eyes told me that he wanted me to argue with him. So I did.

He eagerly asked, “What do you think the difference is between humans and animals?”

Nothing could have puzzled me more, but I told him that I thought animals were more intelligent than humans. He said that he actually felt that humans were more intelligent because we can do things like construct buildings, design laptop computers, and fly airplanes, but I responded, “Well, I think animals are gifted in other skills. We can construct a building, but I don’t think any of us humans are skilled enough to create a web like a spider or use our bodies to get energy from the sun as plants go through photosynthesis. Maybe plants are smarter than us, because it seems like humans destruct the environment while plants and animals seem to do a better job at creating the environment.”

After I started reading different books about the environment in Dr. Helstern’s class, I realized that the conclusion I made that December was probably very true. On the very first day of class, we began reading Aldo Leopold’s essay, Thinking Like a Mountain. Leopold mentioned that “wildness is the salvation of the world” that has been long known by the mountains and that the safety humans strive for may produce danger over time (Leopold, 141). This really got me to thinking. What if wild animals are smarter than humans who try to be safe? Maybe being “wild” is more safe than actually trying to be safe. Leopold talks about the geese who survive through all the shooting in the winter (Leopold, 22). Even while there is shooting, the geese are still tough to be out in the wild. They don’t build little houses so they can be protected from all those shootings. If they did isolate themselves from the natural world as humans did, they wouldn’t be able to sore way up to the sky. In other words, they would not be able to be a goose, which is the greatest risk of all, and many humans unconsciously take that risk every day.

In order to prevent taking that risk, humans should follow the example Sylvia, a young girl in Sarah Orne Jewett’s story, “The White Heron.” Sylvia treated a cow as her playmate and spent time in the natural world as if it was her home (Jewett, 14). She even becomes friends with the white heron. However, a stranger comes to her house and tells her that he is hunting for white herons and wants to know if she has seen one (Jewett, 15). While Sylvia liked the stranger, she decided to keep the location of the white heron a secret. She couldn’t understand why some who was so fascinated with this bird would actually go out and shoot them (Jewett, 18). The animals were friendly to her, so it didn’t make sense to be unfriendly to them. This girl seems to be very wise, but somehow, many people have disregarded her kind of logic.

As in Gary Synder’s poem, “Night Song of the Los Angeles Basin,” people only seem to be concerned about themselves, judging by the way they live in the city. People are driving cars, using artificial lights, and building entire cities that ultimately destroy the natural world, that ultimately try to defeat mother nature. This poem says that there is a “slash of calligraphy of freeway cars.” I interpret this as meaning that all the lights and noise that humans make is interfering with the owl call, the beauty of the rising moon, and whatever else that goes on in the natural world. I think it goes without saying that we can all learn a lesson from this story, along with other stories about the environment. Then, maybe we can listen to mother nature and remember what we are losing if we decide to chop a tree down or kill a bird; or maybe we could even be a friend to the animals and the rest of the world.

Works Cited

Leopold, Aldo. “Thinking Like a Mountain.” A Sand County Almanac. Ballantine Books: 1970, 262.

Jewett, Sarah O. The White Heron. Jaffrey, New Hamshire: David R. Godline, 2004.

Synder, Gary. “Night Song of the Los Angeles Basin.” Mountains and Rivers Without End . Publishers Group West: Washington D.C., 1996.

I suppose (in Minnesotan) that I should talk about what has been going on in my life. My spiritual brother and I have decided to start a courting relationship, also known as “dating with a purpose.” I like this concept! Yet, I am freaked out and happy and excited and scared and my mind is racing with thoughts. What should I do differently? How can I show him that I care about him? Basically, how do I not screw it up?

I am not necessarily afraid of messing up the core of the relationship, but I am afraid that we are taking it too far too soon. I don’t want this new level of love to change our already well-developed friendship. If that happens, I’m afraid it will die out soon. David, if you are reading this, please know that I love you and care about you so much. I want you to know that. I want you to be ridiculously happy. We need to stop putting so much focus on the relationship that we lose focus on God, our lives, and ultimately, the friendship we have grown this year.

That said, I hope that we can continue being what we have become. I am sincerely excited about this next step we are taking because truthfully, I have wanted to do this but was too afraid to say it or I was very certain that you didn’t want to. My goal is to not focus solely on the relationship aspect, as that can make us become overly obsessed with it. I KNOW this can become a horrible obstacle in a relationship. You are my best friend, my spiritual brother, my courter. You are a gift from God. Please let everything happen naturally, don’t rush anything, don’t change the wonderful person you are, stay sane, and as my grandma always said, “Take time to smell the roses.”

I don’t know how I feel.

I mean I do,

I just don’t know what.

Why is love so confusing?

I wish life was simple again,

Remembering the good old days

When all I would have to worry about

Was a simple hello or a friendly goodbye.

Can’t I have love without pain?

I understand how I feel;

It’s just a stubborn emotion.

Well I wont back down, no I won’t back down
You can stand me up at the gates of hell
But I won’t back down

Gonna stand my ground, won’t be turned around
And I’ll keep this world from draggin’ me down
Gonna stand my ground and I won’t back down

Hey baby, there ain’t no easy way out
Hey I will stand my ground
And I won’t back down.

Well I know what’s right, I got just one life
In a world that keeps on pushin’ me around
But I’ll stand my ground and I won’t back down

Hey baby there ain’t no easy way out
Hey I will stand my ground
And I won’t back down
No, I won’t back down

- I Won’t Back Down by Tom Petty

How often do we find ourselves fixating on our past sins?! I may even question… do we worship our sin? I find myself doing this FAR too often! I dwell on the sin. I let the sin define me. I find doing these things much easier than letting God define me, letting God forgive my sin and remove my transgressions as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103). God doesn’t want us to worship our sin! He desires for ALL of creation to worship and glorify Him (Psalm 148). Not only does He call on humans, but He calls on the sun, the moon, the mountains, and the animals among others to praise Him.

Furthermore, we are called to throw off everything that hinders us–including the sin that so easily entangles us (Hebrews 12:1). Instead, let us fill ourselves with God; let us keep all these wrong things (sin included) from coming to our minds. Let God define us, let God fill us. Let us set our mind on things above (Colossians 3:2).

Right now my heart feels like lumpy clay that seriously needs to be molded. Tossed. Turned. Warped. I need a change. I have fallen in love, yet I am still needing to mold that clay into a form fitting pitcher so I can provide water to the seed that has been planted in my life. I don’t want the roots to shrivel up and die.

I also don’t want to start growing without revealing all of myself either. I need to speak the truth. I can’t hide my faults anymore because let’s be honest, I’m not flawless. I don’t want the seed to start growing and all of a sudden some crabgrass appears. I want this seed to become a beautiful, happy flower. Not some sorrowful, common rose. I want it to be a pretty flower that is worth staring at, smelling, and yes, even talking to. It could be a violet pansy, a red poinsettia, a yellow daisy. As long as it’s happy.

Looks like I have some truth telling to do.

I took the 5:54. Will you?