...A Time To Speak

Swinging in the Rain

2006-07-04T17:01:00.000-04:00

I started my new job this morning. To be honest, I was rather nervous about starting because I have never worked with children with special needs. (I work at a fine arts day camp as an integration facilitator). Things went pretty well considering we didn't have as many kids as we had anticipated. The only major incident that happened to me today was a little girl with downs syndrome who ran out into the pouring rain only to hop onto the tire swing for 20 minutes. I had to run after her and enjoy a mid-day shower.

One of my goals this summer is to be refreshed in the area of what it means to be childlike. As a young adult, I have quickly learned how easy it is to slip into mundane "adult" routines, doing what you have to do without taking moments to simply enjoy the gifts the Lord gives us each and everyday. I do not want to live a life of complacency and blindness - missing the wonders and adventures of life. Children are such a beautiful example of what it means to live freely. Thus, in hindsight, running out in the rain was actually not an inconvience but rather a blessing; for if it weren't for that little girl I would have stayed dry...and how fun is that?

Lauren's Summer Book List:

2006-06-20T14:52:00.000-04:00

1. The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis
2. Night - Elie Wiesel
3. East of Eden - John Steinbeck
4. Confessions from an Honest Wife - Sarah Zarcharias Davis
5. To Own a Dragon - Donald Miller & John MacMurray
6. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

Summer Reading

2006-06-14T14:53:00.000-04:00

Something that I much anticipated at the end of the school year was being able to sit back and take some time to read a long list of books that I had been wanting to delve into for some time now. (I admit there were times I was jealous of Ian as he got to read so many great and interesting books while I was stuck reading some boring textbook on the American Revolution).

Recently I finished the Chronicles of Narnia. The Last Battle was simply a life changing book for me. To think of the glorious realm of Narnia as only being mere shadowlands is such a beautiful picture.

To be honest, not a day goes by when I don't think about heaven. The highly acclaimed New Testament theologian, N.T. Wright emphasizes the importance of making sure that Christians do not forget to focus on this earth in the midst of longing for the eternal bliss of heaven. I agree that if we are fixed on what is to come when we die, then our focus will be on revealing the kingdom of God on this earth. Eternity is now! Wright also emphasizes, as well as the Bible of course, about the renewal of this earth. None of us have any idea of what this will actually look like. The way I look at is, if we didn't get to do all the travelling that we wanted to do in our lifetime, then one day we just might be able to climb up a mighty waterfall like Lucy did or soar over the most perfect Swiss Alps!

To be in a realm where fear is non-existant - how exciting! To see the Lord face to face - unfathomable! Praise God, for the beauty of this earth truly does reflect the Lord, yet in the words of C.S. Lewis we are merely walking in the shadowlands. Every good thing that we know is only a glimpse of what is yet to come. If that isn't exciting, I don't know what is?

Dinner with Friends

2006-05-31T15:10:00.000-04:00

I recently watched a movie called "Dinner with Friends", it reminded me of my love for cooking and spending quality time with friends over good comforting food. Some days I dream about how great it would be to have a grand kitchen with cool retro looking gadgets - I have always loved the diner style. It would be nice to take some culinary classes one day to sharpen my entertaining skills - in the mean time I will stick to the food network (I quite enjoy Rachel Ray and the Barefoot Contessa).

Tonight our wonderful friends Lynn and Ian are coming over for dinner. Lynn and I have been best friends since grade nine and we both enjoy the fact that our "Ians" get along so well (they really didn't have much of a choice). On tonight's menu I am going out all Greek - hummus with toasted pitas, spanikopitas, greek salad, and souvlaki with tzatziki sauce. I didn't feel so bold as to attempt the scrumptous baklava for desert so I made a chocolate ice cream cake instead.

Speaking of chocolate, I had a huge craving for those two bite brownies the other night (for I do experience chocolate related cravings on a monthly basis). I stated my cause to my sweet husband and he kindly got up and walked to the store in the sticky heat to get what I "needed"...ok, wanted! I thought to myself, man I am going to have it good when I am pregnant one day! Seriously, my husband is such a servant and I am one blessed woman.

Hey, I'm liking this blogging thing! I have a lot of down time right now and I am really enjoying the time to do some summer reading (currently, East of Eden by John Steinbeck). In sum, cooking is fun, I love my friends, chocolate does wonders, my husband is a gem, and kicking back is a gift.

Hello Blog-world!

2006-05-29T13:10:00.000-04:00

I never thought this day would come - I Lauren Anne McLaren am officially starting my very own blog! I have a list of reasons why it has taken me so long to begin this writing endeavour:

1.I am not one to enjoy time spent in front of a computer screen
2. I did not want people to hold the expectation for me to write regular entries
3. I can be a private person and was not willing to share details from my life with the entire internet world
4. I am an old fashioned journal writer and have filled numerous books over the years (I did not want blogging to take away from my time spent with my pen and paper)
5.I did not want to be judged by what other people think about what I have to say
6. I wanted to avoid the temptation to write for the wrong motives (look smart, write funnier entries than my husband, strive to become the most popular blog girl ever!etc..)

But I realized that I have a voice - granted, a quite one, and I think that this will be a good outlet for me that hopefully other people will enjoy. My husband, Ian has encouraged me for a long time to do this and I figured I would finally follow up on his kind words. Now that summer has arrived I definitely will have more time to invest in this and I am excited to see where this takes me...because even though I have graduated university I want to continue to nourish my brain by reading, blogging, and eating tuna!