taming the tongue.

on saturday, i was walking through our community and i stopped to chat with some friends. ji's little boy, dtuy, who is about 2, was standing off to the side, holding an ice cream cone in his left hand and his flip-flop in his right, just staring at me. i turned to him and asked, "does it taste good?"
he responded by staring more and then brought his hand up to lick the ice cream cone. unfortunately, it was the hand holding the flip-flop and he ended up licking the sole of his flip-flop (i must remind you that this is a slum flip-flop. disgusting.). he winced, threw the flip-flop down, and ran off.

and i couldn't help but laugh. i am a big sister after all (i love you, phil!). this is dtuy at his 2nd bday party in august.

butterfly in the sky

i can fly twice as high.
take a look; it's in a book. reading rainbow!

i've got 2 book recs for you, or should i say obsessions?

a wrinkle in time by madeleine l'engle
i vaguely remember reading this as a kid and liking it. but like disneyland, i think it's much better as an adult. l'engle beautifully expresses real struggles and tension through a surreal story. seriously, go back and read it. here's a beautiful little excerpt i loved:
"they left the great granite plain and over a garden even more beautiful than anything in a dream. in it were gathered many of the creatures like the one mrs. whatsit had become, some lying around in the flowers, some swimming in a broad, crystal river that flowed through the garden, some flying in what meg was sure must be a kind of dance, moving in and about the time. they were making music, music that came not only from their throats but from the movement of their great wings as well.
'what are they singing?' meg asked excitedly.
mrs. whatsit shook her beautiful head, 'it won't go into your words. i can't possibly transfer it to your words. are you getting any of it, charles?' charles sat very still on the broad back, on his face an intently listening look, the look he had when he delved into meg or his mother.
'a little. just a very little. but i think i could get more in time.' ...
[mrs. whatsit decides to translate]
...she was silent; the great wings almost stopped moving; only a delicate stirring seemed to keep them aloft. 'listen, then,' mrs. whatsit said. the resonant voice rose and the words seemed to be all around them that meg felt that she could almost reach out and touch them: 'sing unto the lord a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof, let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift their voice; let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains. let them give glory unto the lord!'
throughout her entire body meg felt a pulse of joy such as she had never known before, calvin's hand reached out; he did not clasp her hand in his; he moved his fingers so that they were barely touching hers, but joy flowed through them, back and forth between them, around them and about them and inside them. when mrs. whatsit sighed it seemed completely incomprehensible that through this bliss could come the faintest whisper of doubt."

superfoods healthstyle by steven pratt & kathy matthews
i have officially become my mom. she gave me this book and was raving about it for -i kid you not- a full year. after i got over my own pride, i started reading it and i'm totally hooked. in the past 24 hours, i've eaten 13 superfoods and at least 3 supersidekicks. i personally love the book because it's about more effective/smart eating (i've since recommended a lot of superfoods to my neighbors with health problems), backs everything up with scientific studies, and it gives a bunch of creative recipes.
i have to console myself by reassuring myself that i'm not as bad (or good?) as my mom, yet. at least i don't whip out the book and read the relevant chapter aloud while eating a superfood. wouldn't you be annoyed if you were in our family? i'm sure my roommate will be getting pretty fed up soon.ok, just to whet your appetites, a couple interesting facts about some superfoods:
* avocadoes have the most soluble fiber/gram than any other single food. also, the monounsaturated fat in avocadoes is the plant version of cholesterol, meaning it competes with cholesterol in your body and wins.
* a study was done on the absorption of certain antioxidants (alpha and beta carotene, lycopene, when eating salad dressed with either dressing with 0, 6, or 28g of fat (canola oil). those who ate 0g fat dressing had negligible amount of antioxidant absorption by the body, while those consuming full-fat dressing had the highest absorption. conclusion? don't go for a low-fat diet, go for a moderate one.

but you don't have to take my word for it.

campy

i haven't been to a youth camp in a while (maybe 8 years?). one thing i realized: i'm getting old. i was in bed as soon as activities finished and i know like zero slang.

i love the youth: about half were from our church and the other half were their friends that they invtied. i was so impressed with their talents and their hearts. a bunch made new or renewed commitments to following god and they all were so gifted socially and musically and dramatically and athletically and creatively...can you tell i could go on?

one neat thing was that teams of youth had to create some sort of dramatic music video/skit relating to the theme "what on earth am i here for?" i was a little skeptical since everyone was a little confused at first and slow to start. and one team of 7 only had 2 christians, as well. but even with all that, their skits turned out better than 95% of skits i've seen in my whole life and was blown away with how even the non-christians had a grasp of god's love.
can you tell that they're way cooler than i'll ever be? two of the girls are fire twirlers. neat, huh? yeah!