I have a disorder!!!

So, apparently, in West Africa there is a disorder called Brain Fag. It stands for brain fatigue, and is indigenous to to the local high school and university students who are overwhelmed with academic stress! This is so me!!!

Anyways, I discovered this disorder after a crying spit, when I finally hiked up my big girl pants and got back to the books...you see, I discovered that a vital notebook was missing as I began to finish an assignment that is due Monday. It contained about 10 hours of long hard work, work for two presentations (one Monday and Tuesday) and notes for about 3 chapters that I intensely pondered, summarized, and interacted with all day Friday.

I guess the lessoned I learned, was stick with the computer for note taking and pen and paper days have ended=) No, seriously, there is hope that maybe the notebook will be where I think it is, my professors office, locked away nice and safe after a blessed thesis meeting Friday afternoon....but if it is not discovered, this will be another thing adding to my severe case of brain fag.

I know some people use their disorders as an excuse and I indeed plan to do the same! JK, it was just humorous that it has been labeled because I have definately experienced it to the fullest in the last 3 weeks!

On wednesday night, Decemvber 20th, the most amazing man asked me to marry him, of course I said yes!!!!! So, sometime towards the end of this year I am going to become Mrs. Matthew Andrews!!!!!!!

So, we started going on dates on January 1, 2006 and have been inseparable since then!!! He is a studly English major. He asked me in the most romantic of ways....we were at his work Christmas party and my mom had tried calling us both to ask us to let a dog out on our way home (my sister was house sitting)...so we pulled up in front of the house and Matt asked, "is this that yappy little dog?", I said "Yes, you can stay in the car." He said, "cool." (he was really grabbbing the ring)..he got out and said, "I will come and snoop around."...I unlocked the door and openned it and I could hear Christmas jazz music...and was like, "hello, I think someone's here Matt."...we both called for anyone and the dog, walked in a little further...to a nice coffee bistro table with roses and rose petals....I turned around and said, ":what?????" He smiled flipped on the fireplace, lit the candle and told me to take a seat....he said lots of nice things about me, got down on one knee, and said "Sarah Elizabeth Clements"....I yelled, "Yes!!!!!! and kissed him"..he told me he hadn't asked yet and to sit back down...we giggled then he really asked me and I said yes again and kissed him, had some sparklying cider then went to my home to celebrate!

So, I am pretty excited and so is he!!!!!! Just wanted to share with you all!

Today I got the opportunity to go and hear Brian McLaren talk at an open forum at Grace Cathedral (http://www.gracecathedral.org/). I went two weeks ago to this church to hear Anne Lamont speak. It is this beautiful old Episcopal church that has been hosting a series on Christian activists.

On my way to San Francisco I was reading some of Yalom's idea (a psychologist, big in the 80's). The chapter I was reading was on Existential-Humanistic Psychology....big words to say that this school of thought doesn't have any specific techniques but the focus is on journeying with the individual (client) to help them discover why they do what they do and the purpose it brings to their life. What I was reading was about this dude Yalom, who came up with these four basic givens in which people shape their lives around (what gives them meaning is based on how they act in response to each of these givens).

These revoluntionary givens are: Freedom, death, isolation, and meaninglessness. Yalom proposed that every human has these four issues at their core to define and live their lives in response to. As I was thinking about Brian, and what he was sharing, I was awestruck that these are the very things that religion has sought to answer; how people live within their religious framework as well. I was thinking about Brian and this whole Emerging Church wave and the freedom it has brought about in Christianity. I was thinking about death, and how Hindus believe in reincarnation to cometo terms with this inevitable circumstance. I was thinking about isolation and monks, and the paradox on the emerging church urging people to live in community, and I was left dumbfounded by the given of meaninglessness. I think Solomon was right in Ecclesiastes, everything under the sun is meaningless (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=25&chapter=2&verse=17&version=31&context=verse).

The more I am given the opportunity to hear the great minds of our days speak, the more I am humbled, that we (Christians) are still figuring it all out. I was impressed today with the humility of the speaker and the interviewer. I love that they do not claim to hold all the answers and can come to terms with the fact that they are still seeking and searching and learning. Brian shared about his struggle with the church and how he did what he knew to do (pray and read his Bible), even in the midst of the frustration with the theology of it. I think sometimes we get so focused on the theology of the faiths/life that we forget the essentials: to love your neighbor, to love God, to pray, to read, and to be in community. I think that it is these essentails that fight the meaninglessness. I think that when we focus on the essentials and trust and keep seeking the theology of it will come. I think that the essentials of faith give freedom, peace in the reality of death, leave us with community and not isolated, and give us meaning in how to live to the fullest.

FUN!!!



Sometimes in life we just keep going and forget to smile. This lady always puts a smile on my face. I love my grandma! Families can be crazy...but they sure are fun sometimes=)

Isaiah 60:20 (New International Version)
20 Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end.

Sometimes I still get scared of the dark. I feel like I am 5...it's ridiculous. I get so freaked, it could be because of the two times strange people have ran through my backyard in the dark...or simply because it is dark and it is difficult to see what is going on around me. Just last night, Matt and I were pretending to run to his parents house on a dark and secluded path...sounds romantic, but more freaky to me=)...anyways, I like this verse because it reminds me that God is my light. Not only that He is my light, but an everlasting one. The sun is cool, but it sets, and the moon is cool, but it dwindles in light over the course the month and can be shadowed by the clouds...yet the Lord does not...that's all.

So, if you know or don't, my family rocks!

This is my hot boyfriend...oww. Actually, he is super cool and him, Beth, and Rodney are bloggers so I wanted to join too!!! Yeah, peer pressure! Love it!
This is us at a fun game, Go Giants!