Peruvian Shenanigans!!!

On a lighter note – the Shenanigans continued on Saturday night with a Peruvian party.

Our friend Beth is moving to Peru – again – to launch and lead the creative arts department in our sister church in Lima Peru. GO BETH!! She is awesome and so we gathered to wish her a fond farewell.

After enjoying fine (and mostly) authentic Peruvian dishes we

were tested on our Peruvian trivia. Did you know that Peru is home to over 3,000 different varieties of potatoes and to 4 different types of llama like animals? We didn’t either – but we did know that the president is President A. Garcia (thanks Jason), their Independence Day is July 28^th (thanks early Wikipedia-ing) and were conquered by the Spanish. And so our team won – Go Team Llama!!! Sorry team …. Whatever your name was ;) I can’t remember.

Pictures of these Shenanigans will be posted as soon as they are transferred from camera to computer. Come back to see J J

The Shenanigans will commence again on Wednesday night when we get crazy in the kitchen

with organics and start mixing lotions and potions to make our faces and feet glamorous! Come and partake in the fun! (ladies only please) ;)

Yours truly,

Julia

J

I Was recently reading through the book of John and this verse really stuck out to me and I wanted to share it with you. J

John 17:4 “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.”

This is Jesus talking to his Father right before he is betrayed and arrested. My revie (this is my shorthand for revelation ;) was – this is the purpose of life: 1) to bring glory to God and 2) by completing the work he gives. How awesome! I wish I were sharing this with you in person because I don’t know how to really share in print the impact it had on me.

We each want to know that we have a purpose. Purpose gives meaning to life which is why “The Purpose Driven Life” was a bestseller. This is one area of my life that has been in dire neglect. Bad, I know. For years, I have worked towards a purpose of the daily grind (work, my job) and perfectionism. Not even realizing consciously that this is how I was defining myself. And once I left the work I had poured myself into, I felt a big loss. I felt how much I had defined myself by my work when I left. I felt like I didn’t have direction or purpose. It was hard. But in my new season of being partly jobless (I still have other projects) God has been showing me what a different mindset – a different purpose – His purpose – looks like. What it feels like. It is SO much more rewarding. I have been missing so much!! The period of ‘mourning’ over my ‘loss’ has been replaced with joy. J Just as God promises. Wow.

We each have certain gifts –given by God. My friend Courtney is very wise. I love getting advice from her because she is so wise. My friend Christine is an incredible mother. I love to watch her with her kids – raising them to be boys and (a) girl of character. She has the most amazing kids! My friend Jamie can make any house feel like home. This is such a special feeling because home is welcoming, warm and safe. I spend time with these women because I want to glean from them. I want to absorb their giftings and acquire them as my own.

These gifts are birthed within us to complete a purpose. And that purpose, you can be sure, is to glorify God. The method by which God will be glorified may be different for each one of us – it is to be expected that it is different.

It is such an awesome purpose because our God is such an awesome God. I love that the more time I spend with Him the more I recognize His presence in my life.

I have more to share but I will wait til tomorrow … perhaps.

Have a blessed and productive Saturday! J

Julia

J

Ok. Lately I have been spending more time reading and studying the Word of God. I have this very helpful hand book to compliment my daily readings of this awesome book called the B-i-b-l-e. The handbook provides insight and background / historical context to the people, places, and events that I'm reading about in the bible. I love getting the whole story - the history to unveil the mystery! (I'm only a little dorky) :)

I have been sending some of these fun 'epiphanies' to friends in emails and then thought to share them with all of you too. Some will be an ah-ha! moment and some will be oh interesting.

Today I will share this little historical calendar nugget:

B.C. is in fact ‘before Christ’

A.D. is not 'after death.' It is Latin and means “anno domina” or “the year of our Lord”

The monk, Dionysius, assigned with the task of redesigning a new calendar (after the Roman Empire fell and Christianity became the universal religion) divided history into the years before Christ and after the birth of Christ. Appropriately so as the life, Crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus was / is a BIG deal ... such a big deal that the world's dating system centers around it... or tried to ;)

It is now known that Dionysius made a math error and 1 A.D is not actually the year of Jesus’ birth but he was born 5 or 6 years earlier. SO, Jesus was born in 6 or 5 B.C.!

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To me this was an 'oh that's interesting' moment. One of those precious intelligent nuggets that will make you sound smarter in a conversation ;)

Have a productive and blessed Thursday!!

Julia