Ali's give-away

Give-away time! Head on over to knittybutton for your chance to win this sweet little lamb!

Home Sweet Home

Mom, I thought you might like to see where I am living! So this is what I'm calling home for the next few weeks. My dorm room is on the 6th floor and is definitely small, but I have it all to myself so it is perfect for a short stay! The photo above is taking from my doorway so that is basically it.

To the right when you enter is my own sink. The toilets, showers, and kitchen are down the hall.

My bed is not much more than a piece of foam but I have been sleeping great! Maybe because I have been sooo sleepy every time my head hits the pillow!

The big closet is to the left when you enter and then I have my own fridge (which I have been filling with groceries so I can save some money on meals) and then I have tons of shelf space--more than enough since I don't have many belongings with me. Also, my internet is hooked up in my room now. Yay! This is my view of the modern part of the city from my dorm window. Our dorm is in a little quiet neighborhood about a 15 minute walk from the campus.

This is my view of the modern part of the city from my dorm window. Our dorm is in a little quiet neighborhood about a 15 minute walk from the campus.

Willkommen in Frankfurt

Well, I am here in Frankfurt Germany now for the month of August! I'm going to try to be a good blogger while I'm here to update you on my impressions of the city, classes, and my adventures.

Our plane ride was uneventful and we arrived to spend a full day of seeing the city. There are 9 people plus 2 professors in our group and we all went down to the waterfront for the Mein Festival last night. Somehow, despite our lack of sleep, we all managed to stay up until 11:00 to enjoy the festival and the most amazing fireworks show I have ever seen. In between we enjoyed some thunder and lightning too--it has been overcast since we've been here.

This morning we had a welcome meeting with all the other international students who are here for the summer language classes. A guy played two beautiful songs for us on this lovely pipe organ. Afterwards we all took a placement test to figure out which level of German we should be studying while we are here. Sadly, I think all of us Americans failed--but I guess that just placed us into beginning German where we should be. It seems like everyone else who is here for the language classes has been studying German their whole school careers whereas we all just began a couple months ago!

So far everyone in our group gets along really well and everyone seems really friendly and happy to be here. Marcus and Jennifer are in the middle photo and above with me is Sarah who I have been spending a lot of time with. This is all I have time for now, but I will try and be a faithful blogger this month so keep checking in! Meanwhile, send me an e-mail and let me know what you are up to!

Summer Bible Reading Plan

School's out for the summer and with it my part time jobs working at a couple of schools have concluded as well. I am definitely already enjoying a little extra free time to accomplish those little things that pile up when school takes most of your attention. I'm sure the summer will still be busy and full of fun and work, but as my schedule is changing I want to make sure that there is a constant every day: a time set apart to read God's Word and pray. I love the spontaneity and sporadicity (I think I made that word up...) that comes with summertime but this is why I think it is even more important to discipline myself to a daily devotion time. So what's the plan? Well, starting today, Autumn and I are going to be following Professor Horner's Bible-Reading System. Basically it involves reading ten chapters from the Bible every day using ten lists. The purpose of this system is not to have a time of deep meditation on a few verses, but to have a greater overview of the Scripture. Each list covers a different amount of days so as a result, you are able to make connections between different books of the Bible as you read various chapters of them side by side.

Autumn and I are doing this together for accountability's sake, but I would love it if you asked how this is going. It will keep me on my toes! Also, would you like to join me in this? The more the merrier! Let me know if you are interested and become a fan of Prof. Horner's Bible-Reading System on fb for more info.

THE TEN LISTS:
List 1 (89 days)
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John

List 2 (187 days)
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy

List 3 (78 days)
Romans, I&II Cor, Gal, Eph, Phil, Col, Hebrews

List 4 (65 days)
I&II Thess, I&II Tim, Titus, Philemon, James, I&II Peter, I,II&III John, Jude, Revelation

List 5 (62 days)
Job, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon

List 6 (150 days)
Psalms

List 7 (31 days)
Proverbs

List 8 (249 days)
Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I&II Samuel, I&II Kings, I&II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther

List 9 (250 days)
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah,
Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi

List 10 (28 days)
Acts

"Each day you will read one chapter from each list, in order. THAT'S RIGHT -- *TEN CHAPTERS PER DAY*!!! Use ten bookmarks or sticky notes with the individual lists on them to keep track of your locations. (LOOK BELOW at the Wall for several posts on Feb 1 2009 and you will find links to handy bookmarks made by users.) On day one, you read Matthew 1, Genesis 1, Romans 1, and so forth. On day 2, read Matthew 2, Genesis 2, etc. On day 29, you will have just finished Matthew, so go to Mark 1 on the Gospel list; you’ll also be almost to the end of 2nd Corinthians and Proverbs, you’ll be reading Psalm 29 and Genesis 29, and so forth. When you reach the last chapter of the last book in a list – start over again. Rotate all the way through all the Scriptures constantly. Since the lists vary in length, the readings begin interweaving in constantly changing ways. You will NEVER read the same set of ten chapters together again! Every year you’ll read through all the Gospels four times, the Pentateuch twice, Paul’s letters 4-5 times each, the OT wisdom literature six times, all the Psalms at least twice, all the Proverbs as well as Acts a dozen times, and all the way through the OT History and prophetic books about 1 ½ times. Since the interweaving is constantly changing, you will experience the Bible commenting *on itself* in constantly changing ways -- the Reformer's principle of 'scriptura interpretans scripturam' -- 'scripture interpreting scripture' IN ACTION!"

SECRETS TO SUCCESS WITH THIS SYTEM:

• Read one chapter from each list each day, in one sitting or two. At the end of a book, go to the next book. At the end of the list – start it again. Do it in the order given above.
• Read quickly (without “speedreading”) in order to get the overall sense. Read as fast as you comfortably can with moderate retention. You’re not studying deeply or memorizing; shoot for 5-6 minutes per chapter. At the end of a chapter, move immediately to the next list.
• GET THROUGH THE TEXT – no dawdling, back-reading, looking up cross-references!
• There are different ‘kinds’ of reading: super-quick skimming, careful moderate-paced, studying the text, deep meditation. You should be between the first and second kind.
• Most people decrease their time spent and increase their retention after just two-three weeks! I now read and retain the entire text of Matthew in 35 minutes, Romans in 20, Genesis in *one hour*!
• Don’t look up anything you ‘don’t get’ – real understanding will come through contextualizing by reading a LOT of scripture over time. Get through the text!
• If you miss a day or two – ok, get over it, then keep going. Don’t cover yourself in sackcloth and ashes and quit! Move the bookmarks along, to find your place(s) quickly next day.
Heb 4:12&5:11-14; Eph 5:26&6:17; Col 3:16; 2 Tim 3:16; Ps 119; Ezra 8; Prov 3: 1-2, 10:14; Dan 1

Welcome to the World...

...Baby Luke! I'm so excited that you are here!!

Luke Wayne Anderson: born to Jonathan and Keren Anderson, March 25, 2010. 9 lb 3 oz.

Ruffly Apron

This week, my project was a ruffly apron for Mandy's bridal shower. She loves PINK so I think my favorite part was getting to pick out such fun girly fabrics. The apron was actually very easy although the instructions in the tutorial I found were a little bit unclear on certain steps.

Here is the finished results. Now Mandy will look stunning while she whips things up in the kitchen--if I do say so myself. :-)

For Baby Anderson

Baby Boy Anderson is almost here so I made him a little rag quilt to welcome him to the world. It was my 2nd rag quilt and the first time I've worked with minky (the dotted brown squares) which is an ultra-soft velvet-like fabric. I wasn't sure if it would work for a rag quilt since you generally work with flannel, but from everything I read, it works just fine as long as you make sure to take the time to pin it before sewing as it is slippery. The pooh squares (yellow) are very similar to their crib sheets although I didn't know that at the time that I bought it. It's so great when things work out that perfectly!

Anyway, I gave it to Jonathan and Keren tonight and in exchange got some Chinese food. yum! I call that a pretty good trade. Oh and my fortune? "You will win over someone's heart." hmmm wonder when... or maybe it's just that baby Anderson will fall in love with me the second he cuddles with that uber-soft minky!