Inspiration; From book to film

My favorite book of all time, "Eat, Pray, Love" is being taken from it's beautifully written memoir and adapted to film.

The story follows Elizabeth Gilbert, a woman in her early 30's who, after a dreadful divorce and following relationship decides to go on a journey of self-discovery.. literally.  She travels to Italy, India and Bali'i.

I was heavily influenced by this woman's story, as I felt I could really connect with how she was feeling and what was going on in her life.  How she is so impacted by finding spirituality and bringing it to her life and being able to figure out who she is, her alone, without the men she was with, is something I could relate to.  And needed to.

I am greatly looking forward to seeing this movie.  When the fear of it being ruined by filmmakers attempting to make it more "exciting" drew me to see what Elizabeth Gilbert herself had to say about it, my fears were put to rest.  She states that those involved with the movie-making process are dedicated to keeping the film true to the book as they have also been deeply impacted by what it has to offer.

"Eat, Pray, Love" Trailer

Changes

As you may have already noticed, I've revamped the blog.  It still said I was in Germany, so I figured while I was busy changing that, I would update everything else.  Including the background, which is an honorary summer theme.

Erik and I moved to Idaho Falls this summer for an incredible internship opportunity he was offered.  While it is so incredible, it reminds me of how much I don't enjoy change.

This may shock many, since it seems that at times I am the Queen of Change.  I change my hair color, my nails, my entire wardrobe, my diet, my opinions, my outlook on life.  However, while I do make these drastic changes, it doesn't always sit well with me. Moving is my least favorite thing to do and I've done that, what feels like, a dozen times.  But every time I feel uprooted, vulnerable, alone.

What I find the oddest thing is that I usually bring this on myself.  I make a move when it isn't entirely necessary.  It makes me wonder if change is something that is done to prove yourself, show that you're a tough person, not stuck in one way of life and possess the ability to be flexible and open-minded.

I've spent many years trying to play it tough.  The last year or so has had me realizing how not so tough I really am.  I am hurt by the actions of others, hurt by my own actions, hurt by too much.  I regret decisions I have made so I would look tough, as though I didn't care.  I regret changes I made that weren't necessary, that wounded not only myself but others.

But... in the spirit of change, I am choosing to move forward, move ahead.

Some Socratic Teaching

Someone once asked “are you going to be a people pleaser or a God pleaser?” Sometimes this is one of the most difficult things to distinguish. People have decided what God likes, people have interpreted the Bible. But what if us being a God pleaser is what the general “Christian people” disagree with? How are we supposed to deal with this?

How can we say that one person is allowed to be God’s spokesperson? How do we know? God appointed Elijah as his prophet, along with Moses and a handful of other prophets. In this day and age when so many are self-proclaimed prophets, when you could say a bunch of things that could be interpreted in so many different ways, how are you supposed to know that this person is full of the Holy Spirit? When do you know that God is the One you’re pleasing and not the majority?

One year later..

This is an update for those of you who have been asking for a new blog post :).

I’m no longer in Europe. I know it’s been a ridiculously long time since I’ve actually posted something but it’s been a busy year. I moved back to the United States in July of last year. It was a whirlwind of adventure trying to figure out where I was going to live for the school year. I needed to get back to school, but my parents had moved back to Washington so living in Twin Falls wasn’t going to work out very well. I eventually landed on living in Moscow and attending the University of Idaho. I am in love with this town. The small, quaint, “hippie-town” is so welcoming and comfortable to live in. The community is full of unique people I have come to know simply through observation. For example, “the hobbit man” is an elderly man with leathery skin who walks through town with his walking stick, a worn hat and occasionally his young grandson. Friendship square is full of Farmer’s Market customers each Saturday morning and the Co-op is the health food store, full with aromas of patchouli and fresh baked goods.

Climbing is a new hobby I’ve picked up. My boyfriend, Erik, has been climbing for years and before we started dating he taught me how to climb at the University rock wall. Since then I have invested in my own pair of shoes and a harness. While I can make it half way up the tower without a moment of fear, the second half usually has me stopping for a second while my imagination likes to play itself out. I must pause, take a deep breath and remember that as long as I have complete trust in my belayer (Erik) I will be perfectly safe. I enjoy the strength I feel while scaling large rock columns.

I have been exploring my future career options. Education is what I’ve always thought I would do since I couldn’t think of anything else. It seemed like the best decision. However, since I’ve made specific dietary decisions (becoming a vegan vegetarian, eating non-processed, organic foods) it made me very interested in what constitutes a healthy diet. I’ve always thought of this simply as a hobby, but when I did some research I realized I could obtain a Nutrition degree here at the University in the same time it would take me to complete my teaching degree. While I love children, I want to spend my life helping people learn how to have healthier eating habits.

While being in Moscow I have really connected with the part of me who loves the earth. I so enjoy being surrounded by gorgeous rolling green hills, with flowers and so much rain creates a tantalizing smell. I’m also able to enjoy some of the freshest foods possible because of so many local farmers. I can spend time biking around the countryside or in a yoga class. My joy for the outdoors, food and connecting with myself is all met here. I am so blessed.

Marching straight through Spring

I haven't updated everyone in a while.  I forget that while I get to talk with many people through Facebook, there are those who aren't on there.

It has been a busy Spring.  We have taken a few trips to visit places such as a Monkey Mountain and a reconstructed prehistoric village built on the Bodensehe (a lake).  The Monkey Mountain was interesting, but kind of weird.  All these little monkey's were wandering around, as they aren't caged up.  You could feed them, but I had a difficult time doing that.  When you're so close to these animals, you really see the human-like features and it seems strange to be treating something that looks so human as an animal.  I can see how evolutionists think we evolved from monkeys.  

The village was also quite interesting.  Those who had rebuilt it decided to do somewhat of a reality television series, putting several families and a few single men together to live in this village for a certain period of time.  They were required to live as they were in the time period these villages were found to be in.  I watched a little bit of the show, and I found it interesting that what the children enjoyed most about the experiment was having everyone sleeping together in one big room.  I know as a child I loved to have sleep overs with my cousins, or even just have my brothers and sisters all in one room.  The highlight of being at my grandparents cabin is having all the cousins sleep in the loft together.  Children desire unity.  They don't want to be alone.   And yet we think it's the end of the world when we aren't able to give each child their own bedroom.  

This last week we went to visit the Flossenburg concentration camp which, among other things, was the camp where Deitrich Bonhoeffer was hung.  This camp memorial is hardly as difficult to see as the larger ones, such as Auschwitz, but it was still an intense experience.  To see the area where it's at, you would never think that something so horrific could happen in such a beautiful area.  There are trees and hills all over, looking very similar to the scenery in the third Harry Potter movie.  When the war was over, people immediately started tearing down the camp and building over it so there are very few original buildings.  However, the place they called "Death Valley" was intact enough to be sickening.  There was a mound where bones and ashes were and part of the wall where scores of people were executed.  The most chilling part of this area was the crematorium with the original oven and dissection table still in the building.  Walking on the ground where so much hatred and suffering happened felt nearly surreal at times.  

Over the last month or so, a few families including our own have been discussing starting a church.  We would use my home since it's so large.  It has been really exciting to get this started from the ground up.  My family church planted for years as I was a child and we had experience doing home church as well.  We have a pastor now as of about two weeks ago and will hopefully get started with services in the next month.  The pastor lives three hours away and will be bringing some people from his other church to help get things going, so the logistics of how they will regularly be getting here will take a little bit of time to work out.  But we are all excited to see what God does!