Don't worry, there's a bunny.

What is Easter to you? Another holiday to gorge on sweets? Receive gifts? Go on an egg hunt?  Spend time with relatives?

This is a link to the Google Image search of “Easter.” Google Easter Images

How is there a picture of Robert Pattinson next to a rainbow but not a single image of Jesus Christ?

To a Christian, this day is not just another holiday. This is THE holiday.  And I would like to take a moment just to remember what this day really means.

Easter as FORETOLD by Jesus:

“See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.” Matthew 20:18-19

This is the day that Jesus rose from the grave. And not only did He conquer death, He sacrificed his life for us so that we might have a chance for eternity in Heaven.

What if we all spent Easter remembering THIS story, not the one with a bunny and eggs?

What if we remembered it more than once a year?

What if we were all as selfless as He was?

What if we all lived out what we preached?

Imagine THAT world.

Lately, this message has really struck home for me, and I looked into ways that I can make a difference. This June I will be travelling to Romania with Hope 4 Kids International. For centuries the gypsy minority in this country has battled against discrimination, poverty and illiteracy. Only 1 in 10 can read or write and 85% live below subsistence levels. There is no running water or sanitation in their homes and with parents unable to work, the poverty levels are 3 times greater than the national average. For the last 5 decades the community has not had the option to send children to a literacy program, leaving them little alternative but to beg, partake in crime or even prostitution. While there we will be bringing medical supplies to hospitals, care packages to orphanages, and help the needy people of the nation with construction and renovation projects.

This trip will be the opportunity to show God’s love in action. Pray that we take full advantage of this, and that we are able to make as much of a difference in them as I am sure they will make in us.

Happy Easter everyone. 

Just a bunch of Nancies.

A topic of discussion that has popped up frequently the past couple of weeks is this question of “where have all the good men gone?” Ladies, I would like to stop you right there, because a better question would be, “what have we done?”

If a man were trying to "pursue a woman", there would be a constant question of what his role was in the relationship. Does he ask her out, or wait until she makes a move? Should he open her door? Pay for the meal? Drive? Women stripped men of their roles in relationships, the household, and in the workplace. Girls, you always say, “Chivalry is dead.” Well, duh. And guess what? We are the ones to blame. Women have taken up the roles that men used to hold in society, empowering themselves and feminizing males. Where does this leave the men?

Like I said, men have been feminized, their roles scoffed at, families have been redefined so there is no traditional father figure, and male characteristics have been caricaturized as cavemen. Feminism attempted to create a goal for strong and independent females, but went too far by creating a culture that minimizes and emasculates males. And we are all worse off because of it.

“If women ruled the world there would be no war.”

Pish posh.

Some fun stats about children raised in fatherless homes:

85% portray behavioral disorders

71% of high school dropouts

63% of youth suicides

70% of juveniles in state-operated facilities

Young men are twice as likely to engage in criminal activity if he was raised without a father, and triples if he was raised in a neighborhood comprised of single parents.

Children need a dominant male figure in their lives. Statistics like these would not have even existed 50 years ago. There was a shift in the roles of men and women, and that shift threw everything off balance.

Women make up 46.8% of the work force in America, and 51 percent of all workers in the high-paying management, professional, and related occupations are women. We have gotten everything we asked for. So what are we still fighting for?

I would like to say that this is not an anti-feminist argument. I believe that women are strong, individualistic, and capable. But I do not believe that one can exist without the other.

I believe in interdependency, or at the very least an acknowledgement of the roles each person should play out. To diminish the role of one diminishes the role of the other.

In closing: women, can we just stop the complaining? If you want a good guy, stop trying to control everything and let them do their job.

Good grief.


On a side note, I would like to quickly mention how thankful I am for my wonderful boyfriend. 

Now that's a man. <3

Never judge a book by its movie.

After 9 straight weeks of travelling and company, it feels good to have some time to myself. Time to catch up on work, spend time with people I haven’t seen in months, work out again, sleep in…but I have to say my favorite thing of all is the chance to read again.

It has been such a long time since I have been able to pick up a book and read it straight through. My parents instilled literature into me when I was extremely young. My dad read Little House on the Prairie to my sister and I every night for years, and my mom taught me to journal when I was 4 years old.  I documented everything, and because I was so shy, I actually took to writing things down as a means of communication. I walked to and from school with a book in front of my face (which I still get teased about to this day) and even got my books taken away from me as a form of punishment. (My boyfriend told me last night that he can always tell the kind of book I am reading by how I act. The example he gave is that I sometimes speak in Old English when I read classics. How embarrassing.)

Some of the many books that captured my heart when I was young include the Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Eragon, and Inkheart series. I religiously read each of these books every year. One series I am now able to add to this list is The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins.  A fascinating Sci-Fi about a dystopian society where kids are forced to kill each other off for sport…it consumed my life for 3 days straight.

I heard a lot of weird but good things about this next children’s novel. The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick is a book made up of 50% text, 50% illustrations (it even won a Caldecott.) My curiosity peaked and I bought a copy for myself and read it in just a couple of hours. Beautiful and creative, and in my mind a brilliant twist to literature, even if it is just a children’s book.

The last book I read this week was Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult. She is the only author I know who can make the reader love and hate each character so much. Every book of hers has blown my mind, and this was a definite favorite. 

 Happy reading!

(I realize that the title has almost no relation to this post, I just really like the saying.)

Framily.

Let me tell you a little story.

Once upon a time, there lived two next-door neighbors who were the very best of friends: Lynette and Shelly. Through laughter, and tears, they built the foundations of a lifelong friendship. They took long walks during the day, had barbeques at night, gardened in the backyard, (one hard at work, the other watching). Their husbands even shoveled the snow off each other’s driveways in the winter.

As time went on, each had three kids; two of them were born only a few months apart. What were their names? Daniel and Danielle. Better known as D-Squared.

The friendship of Lynette and Shelley evolved. There were now play dates; watching the kids playing in shallow plastic pools, setting up crafts, digging in the sandbox (where most of the time was spent yelling,  “Don’t pour the sand onto the grass!”). Holiday parties, parades (strollers and bikes decorated)…life was good.

It would seem that nothing could bring them apart, until one day Danielle’s dad (Lynette’s husband) was transferred across the country for his job. Daniel and Danielle grew up. They are now adults studying their future careers (both to be teachers, actually). They even go by different names: Dan and Dani. And yet still, after 12 years and 3,000 miles of separation, they still make a point to stay in contact.

Friends? Nah. Family? Not by blood. Framily.

I had the great pleasure of a weeklong visit from my framily last week. It stinks that they have to live so far away, but it is always so wonderful when we get the chance to meet up again. I can say that Shelly is one of the most incredible women I have ever met. She makes a point to lift up and encourage everyone around her, and has the most amazing gift of creativity that she always uses to brighten someone’s day.  She is one of the few people who kept in contact with me while I was abroad, writing without fail even when I forgot or was too busy to respond. I am blessed to be able to say that she is not only a wonderful friend to my mom, but to me also. Daniel is still the same goofball he was when I left him 12 years ago. He is witty and never afraid to be honest. He can make anyone laugh with just a few words, and I am so thankful he flew so far to come visit.

Left: The two dads and D-Squared. Right: Shelly look at us!

And so, here is a shout out to my framily from Minnesota. I love you and miss you Nemitz family. Until this summer…J