quote of the day...

"they should have a human exhibit. it would be like, 'hey, look at the humans.'" - guy walking behind us at the zoo as we passed by a section that had been roped off for construction. there were construction workers hard at work as we walked by. in retrospect, it actually did look a little like a human exhibit.

maybe this is how God always feels.

jw

another fun-filled day...

well, today was quite an adventure. it started out with a two and a half hour greek 1 final while elizabeh slept in. she didn't have class today. lucky her! can you believe i am done with greek 1? what happened to the month of june?

the real fun started after my exam. today was zoo day. elizabeth and i decided it was a great day to go. i have been waiting for this moment for the past two weeks. plus, i needed a treat for completing greek 1. again, it was packed, but we didn't care. it was great; although, i must say it wasn't as good as the dc zoo. here are some pics:


me and the ostrich... what an odd animal. these were in the same area as the elephants - another strange animal. i tried to imagine what life would be like if i used my nose as an arm and a hand. crazy.


check out this king (and queen) of the jungle... or cage? he was eating grass??? what is he... a vegetarian? she looked like she wanted to pounce on him.


hey, yogi!


peacock. these things were just walking all over the place. and the kids just chase them around.


and the polar bears. yes, it is right above us. the exhibit was really nice, and the bears were actually quite entertaining. they were actually playing... as opposed to the other animals, which all seemed really bored and lazy.


another p bear shot. these were only 600 lbs, 2-year old bears. the full grown bears are 1800 lbs.

as i walked around the zoo today, i found it harder to believe there are people who don't believe in a Creator. all of the diverse, beautiful animals. all the colors (some that didn't even seem natural). all the uniqueness (seahorses????). it is certainly easy to see that our God is extraordinarily creative and has blessed us with some amazing things here that give praise to Him simply in their existence.

so those are some of the highlights from the zoo. we hope you enjoyed. we sure did. later that day we went to a pirates - nationals game. see the next blog for details and pictures.

cheers (from the wild side),
jw

take me out to the ballgame...

here are some pictures from the pirates game at pnc park:


who cares that the pirates are terrible? look at this view!


left field.


you have to eat a footlong hotdog while watching baseball.


the pirates come back in the eighth. tie game in the bottom of the ninth. one out. bases loaded. full count. fly ball hit to left. left-fielder makes the catch. runner tags up. pirates win!!!!


the 45-minute fireworks show after the game. it was unreal. by far the best fireworks display i have ever seen. even better than starkville on the fourth!

cheers (and go bucs),
jw

quote of the day...

elizabeth - "i think you might have a good serratus anterior."
me - "okay. wait, what's that?"

cheers,
jw

lost and found (well not found... yet)

below is a list of things that are missing since the move. let us know if you have seen any of them wandering around. maybe we will give you a reward if they are returned to us.

missing:
a life is good nalgene bottle
a ruler
a belt
a crochet hook
the summer
a dishwasher
a washing machine and dryer (a lot of quarters have seemed to have gone missing with their disappearance)
elizabeth's sanity
$1.5 million (okay, we didn't technically have that before, but if you find it and want to donate to the cause... ;) )
our friends and family (i think some of them might be found in other countries. they are like luggage that got tagged to go to the wrong airport. we arrived here... they arrived somewhere else.)
connor
some DVDs (technically those were missing before we moved. what in the world happened to them?)
a job (can i get that transferred up here by any chance?)

we will keep you updated as we find this stuff!

cheers,
jw

disclaimer!!!! by the way, this blog was written in jest. we were bored and just having fun. we did in fact lose some of these items; although, they are not really missed (with the exception of the friends, family, and job part... those weren't really lost any way but are certainly missed). furthermore, we are certain that they are in our apartment somewhere. it wouldn't be a bad thing if they were gone for good, though. we realized when we moved that we have an excessive amount of belongings. hopefully, if we are lucky, we will lose a bunch of our other things in the next three years before we move again!

quote of the day...

elizabeth and i decided we should have a quote of the day each day. just one more random thing to make all of you (that is, the three people who are reading this) smile. so here it is for today, june 26: "i am mentally tired. like, i would be willing to go anywhere right now, just as long as i don't have to read... unless it's harry potter. i don't have to think to read harry potter since i've seen the movies." - Elizabeth after a loooong day (she has a exam tomorrow!)

harry potter in 3-d

what's better than seeing harry potter and the order of the phoenix on opening weekend? seeing harry potter in 3-d on opening weekend, in effect combining two of the greatest things in the world - harry potter and imax theaters! that's right, muggles! elizabeth and i have officially purchased our tickets to see harry potter and the order of the phoenix at the imax 3-d theater here in the burgh on saturday, july 14th, at 7:30. be jealous... be very jealous. just one more advantage to living in a big city!

cheers (with a glass of pumpkin juice or maybe butterbeer if you prefer),
jw

p.s. don't forget the bertie botts!

they will know us by our love...

on the way to church this morning, we were passing by another church (of which i will not disclose the denomination) when a young couple, who had just parked their car across the street, were dodging through trafffic trying to get across the street to said church. i think they were a little late. any way, i made eye contact with the guy, who was in front of his girlfriend/wife/whatever. we had one of those awkward moments like you have when you are walking and you realize you are about to collide with someone. you both move to the side to miss each other, but you both go the same direction. then, for a moment, you both try to figure out which way to go. it was one of those instances. i had started to go as the couple approached my car, then i saw maybe they wanted to go in front of us, so I stopped. the guy then appeared that he was going to go behind the car, so i kind of hesitated for a moment. just then (i had the windows rolled down), the guy approaches the car waving me on, and i hear him say, "ah, go on... jerk off."

um, excuse me? you are running across the street through oncoming traffic, which has the right of way, calling people jerk offs. my word, man, you are in front of a church that you are going into to worship. are you kidding me? did this guy really just say that? this really upset me for a moment. i wish i had had a second to get out of my car and have a word with this guy (or maybe punch him in the face). i had one of those "scrubs" moments where i visualized it happening again, and i threw the car in reverse and ran the guy over. i realized that i needed to do some repenting as i entered the church we were going to this morning. i was still steamed about this guy, but he wasn't going to disrupt my worship.

anyhow, as i sat in worship this morning, i began thinking about this situation and something that elizabeth and i have been discussing and thinking about for a few days. we are here in a new city with no real friends yet. as we meet people, how do they know that we are christians, since the majority of the people we meet aren't in church on sunday? and how do we find good christian friends? really, what is it that sets christians apart from everyone else? everyone seems the same, you know? we are all sinful... broken... hurting... struggling to get by. are we just another "good person?" sometimes even we christians run to our churches, calling people jerk offs on the way.

maybe it just takes time through relationships to really show this, but i just think that there has to be a love that is shown at all times for us christians. there is a steadiness to living a life of faith. there is patience. there is hope. there is joy. there is kindness and compassion. there is peace. there is a completeness that isn't in life lived without God. but i have to ask myself how i am doing at showing these things. do they know me by the love i show? i desperately don't want to be "that guy." maybe we should be more careful with our words and actions...

love in Christ,
jw


a blurry downtown pittsburgh from mt. washington... this is why i need a slr camera!

look closer...

so for the rest of the story for the day that was supposed to be spent at the zoo...

something really impacted me today. we looked at an enormous amount of history and famous pieces of art by artists such as picasso, van gogh, monet, mary cassett, georgia o'keefe, frank lloyd wright, etc. i walked around for two hours unaffected by millions of years of history and some of the best art man has created. i thought some of it was pretty or fascinating or original. but then one artist really caught my attention. after wandering through gallery after gallery, there stood in front of me two enormous paintings by a guy named sir edward coley burne-jones, who i had never heard of. the works are entitled "the king and the shepherd" and "the nativity." "the king and the shepherd" is a painting of two men, one obviously a king and one obviously a common person, each led by an angel. at the top of the painting is a latin phrase. "the nativity" is obviously a nativity scene with three angels standing next to a relaxing mary, who is holding infant Jesus. someone is kneeling beside mary. again, a latin phrase topped the painting off.

you can check the paintings for yourself.

here: http://www.cmoa.org/searchcollections/imageview.aspx?image=22620&irn=1003063

and here: http://www.cmoa.org/searchcollections/imageview.aspx?image=22684&irn=1003074

the description next to "the king and the shepherd" read, "The King and the Shepherd combines separate events in the story of the birth of Christ: the voyages of the magi and the shepherds to Bethlehem. The artist's introduction of angels leading each traveler by the hand is unusual, as is the single figure who represents each group. The pairings visually suggest the equality, in the face of divinity, between the wealthy king and the humble peasant. In the context of the enormous social inequalities rife in Victorian England, this message smacked of social and political radicalism. The Latin inscription is from the New Testament description of the journey of the shepherds: Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us (Luke 2:15)."

the description next to "the nativity" read, "Called The Nativity, its true subject is the redemption of mankind through cycles of birth, death, and rebirth exemplified by the life of Christ. The somber mood of the scene results not only from muted coloring and static figures, but also from many symbols of death: the crown of thorns, chalice, and urn; the shroudlike garments; and the draping of the manger reminiscent of a bier. The Latin inscription refers to the Resurrection: Because of the misery of the poor and the groaning of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord."

wow! what hit me very suddenly (besides how amazing these pieces of art are) was that artists, good artists, aren't just creating pretty pictures. we walk into art galleries and treat the pieces that way, though. the average person only spends about one second looking at a piece of art. we say things like, "oh, that one is pretty" or "that one is boring." the artists have something for us to see, though. they are creating beauty and truth and goodness in the deepest sense. they are giving the world a visual image for things that maybe the world will never see in a physical sense but are really there. they are sharing experiences that cannot be expressed in words. they are giving us something that we can be moved by. they are crying out for the poor and lonely and oppressed. in the case of these paintings, they are shedding light on and (dare I say) giving an image to an invisible God. burne-jones commented, "I mean by a picture, a beautiful, romantic dream of something that never was, never will be, in a light better than any light that ever shone, in a land no one can define or remember-only desire." i don't think that what he has shown us is simply a "romantic dream of something that never was, never will be..." he has shown us a piece of who Christ was for us.

it is no wonder that so many writers, especially theologians, have been inspired by art. take for instance, j.r.r. tolkien, whose works were inspired by some of burne-jones' pieces. how about henri nouwen, who wrote a riveting book on the prodigal son based on rembrandt's painting? maybe more astounding were the works of karl barth, who had a painting called "the crucifixion" by matthias grunewald hanging above his desk in his study. this painting still resides over his desk, which is now in the library at pts!

you can see this painting here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Mathis_Gothart_Grünewald_022.jpg

i wanted to share with you something that i read today about barth and this painting. it is from the pittsburgh theological's spring 2006 publication of panorama. "For that entire 50 years, a reproduction of Matthias Grünewald’s painting The Crucifixion hung above Barth’s desk. That reproduction still hangs above his desk, in the Barbour Library. Parallel to his love for Mozart’s music, Barth found in this graphic painting by Grünewald an especially telling symbol of his faith and theological impulses. Just two months before his death, Barth wrote, 'You can find my dogmatic theses recapitulated in all their strength and weakness in the texts of the Mozart masses. I might add that as a visual aid Grünewald’s picture of the passion has hung before me for the last 50 years'... If you spend time gazing at Grünewald’s Crucifixion, you will discover a wealth of symbolic reminders of the gospel stories of Christ’s agony. There is the darkened sky and the traditional image of a Lamb embracing a cross. There is the chalice of the Eucharist receiving the blood as it drips from the Lamb. And there is the customary mourning “trinity” of Mary, Mary Magdalene, and John. The agony of Christ is portrayed graphically, as his bowed head wears a crown of thorns, his fingers are stretched out in pain and shock, and his bleeding hands and feet are nailed to the cross. Even the cross itself shows the marks of this tragedy: the crossbar is bent as if to say that the world’s sin, carried by the Christ, weighs down upon it. Looking at Grünewald’s painting, the words of Psalm 22:14-15 come to mind: 'I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.' Barth’s interest in this painting focused on the figure to the right of the cross, John the Baptist. He is portrayed pointing towards the Crucified One. To assure that no one misunderstand his (or John’s) intent, Grünewald paints the relative sizes of Jesus’ and John’s bodies to correlate with the message behind John’s arm: 'He must increase, but I must decrease' (John 3:30). In Barth’s writings, there are some 51 primary references to the Isenheim painting. Occasionally, he refers to different scenes in the Altarpiece, but most of his comments focus on the crucifixion and John the Baptist’s relation to it. Barth seems to have been intrigued by John’s hand. It points directly at the wound in Christ’s side, from which issues a stream of bright red blood. In a 1920 lecture, Barth said, 'We think of John the Baptist in Grünewald’s painting of the crucifixion, with his strangely pointing hand. It is this hand which is in evidence in the Bible.' Twelve years later in the Church Dogmatics, Barth writes, 'In this connexion one might recall John the Baptist in Grünewald’s The Crucifixion, especially his prodigious index finger. Could anyone point away from himself more impressively and completely?' The point for Barth is precisely that John indicates Christ as the One to whom we should be directing our gaze. Barth’s stress on John’s pointing finger reveals the primary motif that fascinates him in this painting. John is a witness to the incarnate Lord. The Baptist, as the last and greatest of the prophets of the Old Testament, declines to glory in his own position. Rather, he sees himself purely as a pointer to the One who deserves all glory and praise. Even the orientation of John’s body in the painting carries the same message. The open stance of his feet, with one turned toward the Lord, and the other open to the viewer, almost beckons us to gaze at John’s body. But the angle of his body, in turn, causes our gaze as it were to shift from John to the One at the center. As Barth writes, 'Shall we dare turn our eyes in the direction of the pointing hand of Grünewald’s John? We know whither it points. It points to Christ. But to Christ the crucified, we must immediately add. That is your direction, says the hand.' John’s only purpose, according to Barth (but also according to the Gospels and according to Grünewald), is to serve as a witness to Jesus, the Crucified Lord of Glory. Barth sees even more here: 'This is what the Fourth Evangelist wanted to say about this John, and therefore about another John, and therefore quite unmistakably about every ‘John.''"

you can see the rest of the article and publication here: http://www.pts.edu/archive/spring2006.pdf.

how amazing is it that one of the most prolific christian writers of our time wrote volumes of books partly due to one pointing finger in a painting? maybe God is shining through art. i don't think you need to know the first thing about art to discover this. it just takes the time to slow down and look closer. i think i will spend a little more time and pay a little better attention next time i am in the art gallery.

cheers,
jw

a day at the zoo??

for over a week now, elizabeth and i have been planning to go to the zoo today. this was to be our treat and what has pulled us through this week of long hours studying for mid-terms. we woke up this morning (it was actually closer to the afternoon) with a wild expectation that today was 'zoo day.' today was the day. it was a gorgeous day to be at the zoo, too. sunny. temps in the mid-70s with very little humidity. a nice brisk breeze. i had imagined this day since before we moved here. the polar bear exhibit was waiting. after eating lunch (we missed breakfast), we raced out to the car to head down the street to the zoo. everything was going great. a beautiful day. two well-rested, nature-loving kids. two full bellies. a camera with fully charged batteries. a full tank of gas to go a quarter of a mile.

we hopped in the car and sped off with eager excitement of all the great things we would see. but as we pulled around the corner to the zoo parking lot, we noticed something very odd. the parking lot was full. this is a ridiculously large lot. as we pulled in behind a long line of other cars pulling in as well, we found that there were zoo staff directing traffic and opening up gates to overflow parking lots. what is going on? it looked like the msu campus on a game day (when state actually had a good team). we pulled up next to a lot attendant. i asked him if there was something special going on today. "nope."

my hopes for the day quickly faded. forget the zoo. i want the animals all to myself. i am not standing in a crowd of a.d.d. kids who are bouncing off walls and complaining that they are hungry or tired or that the animals are just laying around. what now? how about the carnegie musuems? okay.

so we headed toward oakland (mid-town where the musuems are for you non-burghers). after a stop at the bank and at a used/rare bookstore, we got to the museums. ah, the uncrowded musuems. to our surprise, we got into the museums of natural history and the museum of art for only $12. what a deal! all the dinosaurs, stuffed dead animals, and art the heart could ever desire in a day! although we ended up in doors, i must say that it was a delightful day. i will blog more about the rest of this day shortly!

cheers,
jw

WEEKEND BLOGGING

hello, hello. it is the weekend!!! yay! well... the 4 hour anatomy exam is over. after a test that long, it is hard to decide how you did on the test because you cannot remember anything once you are finished, haha. i will say that i think i did the best on the cadaver and palpation lab sections. actually, you know whether on not you did good in the palpation lab as soon as you finish because you either found the muscle, nerve, tendon, artery or you did not. well, that is enough about school.

here are more apartment pictures!






here is a shot of the bedroom. we have a "sheets only" policy because it is just the right temperature at night. we will save the big blankets and down comforters for the FREEZING winter weather that is to come.







this is the hallway into the bedroom. i know it is not a very good shot. i am just trying to piece together the apartment for my beloved readers who have not yet made it for a visit.








just imagine you are sitting on our couch. do you feel like you are visiting? haha













we thought this was most appropriate! come on in!











i just stepped out our door. you can see our mailbox and the door outside to play!












outside out apartment buliding into the court yard in the middle of all the apartment bulidings. this is where all the kids play, and we have grilling parties.











storage unit? it looks more like an animal cage to me. someone give me bananas and peanuts, please!!










speaking of food... i am starving. the menu for tonight is grilled hamburgers by chef jon, and the grand finale will be DAVE AND ANDYS ICE CREAM!!! yay! (by the way, i hear the ice cream truck. too bad i cannot see it!) feel free to stop by for dinner if you are in the area!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE,
e l i z a b e t h

round 2 (ding!)

howdy. i must say it finally feels like summer. i guess with all the hustle and bustle of the past few weeks i forgot it was actually summer. today's 80 degree temp may have had some influence on this feeling as well. here i am back to deliver more wonderful pictures of the burgh! enjoy my friends...



the kitchen. we are working it in a rather primitive fashion i might add... no dishwasher or icemaker or a/c. it really has not been a problem. i think we use a lot less water, and the dishes are probably cleaner, too, because each dirty dish gets personal attention. i think they like it. except for the small drinking glasses, we are 2 down and have only been here 3 weeks!







here we have, you guessed it, the bathroom! the green wallpaper dates the apartment a little. be sure to take notice of the beautifully hand crafted (by yours truly) matching mosiac toothbrush holder and soap dispenser. you will notice we dispersed crosses all over the apt this time instead of making one huge cross wall. these we dubbed bathroom crosses. haha








more of the bathroom. the craziest thing about pittsburgh; you'll never believe it. the shower and towel racks are upside down. this makes things interesting to say the least!












our book display is overwhelming. somehow they are all packed into the apartment. jon's closet and dresser are in here, too. i am standing on the famous white sleeping couch to take the pic.



i think i am all blogged out. actually, i could stay on here all night, but i must learn more anatomy. the photo tour will be continued at a later date.

love, love, love,
e l i z a b e t h

greek exams, t.s. eliot, and paris hilton

i just got finished with my greek midterm! yay! only two weeks of greek, and we already had a midterm. school is crazy. my final is less than two weeks away. i can now look at a "v" and my mind automatically translates it into a "nu." a "w" becomes an "omega," and an "x" becomes a "chi." there is something disturbing about all of this. if my words begin to look misspelled, please refer to the greek alphabet!

on a different note, i have been reading some t.s. eliot, and it is blowing me away. i have been making an effort to be more attentive to poets and artists. i agree with eugene peterson that they are the modern prophets. their work often points to things that we dare not say or think. it exposes beauty and truth in a way that is stripped of all pretenses. it points to simplicity. any way, i wanted to share a little from the choruses from "the rock:"

The Eagle soars in the summit of Heaven,
The Hunter with his dogs pursues his circuit.
O perpetual revolution of configured stars,
O perpetual recurrence of determined seasons,
O world of spring and autumn, birth and dying!
The endless cycle of idea and action,
Endless invention, endless experiment,
Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness;
Knowledge of speech, but not of silence;
Knowledge of words, and ignorance of the Word.
All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance,
All our ignorance brings us nearer to death,
But nearness to death no nearer to GOD.
Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
The cycles of Heaven in twenty centuries
Bring us farther from GOD and neared to Dust.

it doesn't take much reflection to realize we can fill our heads with a lot of things, but we are missing it all if we are missing God. even at seminary, it is a constant battle, not just to know about God, but to know Him on a personal, intimate level. there is a great temptation to study man-made texts and arguments and not be immersed in God-breathed words and filled with God-breathed Spirit. it deeply saddens me to meet intelligent, talented people who are determined, well-intentioned, and have enormous potential but are missing the most important thing. what seems to be an area of a small weakness or ignorance translates into a huge area of incorrect living.

it all begins with stillness and silence. these things can be quite disturbing, since we discover our emptiness and incompleteness in them. paris hilton is finding this out. i am sorry, paris, but you are no different than anyone else. you screwed up, and now you have to deal with the consequence. paris' biggest struggle isn't the danger of prison, however, it is that she is being forced to sit alone in a prison cell for 23 hours a day and think. she has nothing to think about because her existence thus far in life has been utterly meaningless. she has been removed from her worldly identity and possessions, as we will all one day, and there is nothing left. her emptiness is eating her alive. maybe she is figuring all this out. but even in a place that is physically still and silent, there can be great noise. i pray paris finds true stillness and silence and can hear God whispering words of love.

may we all find it.

cheers,
jw

a beginning blogger

hi all! i am so proud to finally make time to do this. the weeks are flying by. you know life is crazy when there is not even time to clip your nails and floss your teeth! all of my blogging goals have taken a backseat... until now. i must make this brief.


what i love about pittsburgh:
1. dave and andy's ice cream!!!!!!!! (apple cinnamon, oatmeal, walnut and wildberry crumble all made in the shop)
2. the bus... and jon walking me to the bus stop every morning :)
3. my school!... anatomy lab and wayne and the remote control wrapped in saran warp
4. our back porch where we spend MANY hours studying
5. target(s) and other wonderful shopping opportunities
6. finding new and exciting places on our saturday afternoon search trip
7. our new apartment
8. highland and schenley parks
9. the ice cream truck
10. different ethnic neighborhoods
11. beautiful churches... the open door
12. grocery stores! (giant eagle and whole foods)
13. the arts center ( i wish to take some type of class in all my free time)
14. the childrens' hospitals i will work at
15. all the kids who play in the courtyard everyday
16. rain and shine all in the same day (we rank just behind seattle in rainfall)
17. musicals (yay for high school musical!)
18. getting mail from people i love!!!!!

what i do not love about pittsburgh:
1. that it is not in alabama (sorry connor)
2. no one from home can come see all this great stuff
3. missing the bus
4. being in the middle of so many great things and not having time or money to do them! (thanks for the tickets, anthony!)
5. getting to know new newscasters and weathermen


love to all from the burgh!
elizabeth

snap shots of home

you are looking at downtown from mt washington. i love all the boats in the river; they are listening to the kenny chesney concert at heinz field.








here are the apt pics as promised. this is the official study porch! studying outside is a good cure for cabin fever.









the spacious living room... couch area and you can see directly into the kitchen. take a left before the kitchen and you go into the hallway to the bedrooms.








this is where we dine. also in the spacious living room. we finally got around to ordering drapes this weekend. they should be up soon. the door to our porch is after the couch on the right. please notice my cute plants! i love them. the window screens are in the corner because they are painting the window frames.




welcome! here is the door. lovely coat closet on the right. what a treat to have such wonderful closets!





whew!!! blogging really takes a long time. especially with all these pictures. this grand tour of the apt will be published in a few doses. stay tuned!

bye for now.
elizabeth

the pittsburgh pigs???

so elizabeth and i are out making a quick trip to a shopping center near our apartment. it has a wal-mart and a giant eagle (grocery store), which is why we were over there, as well as a sporting good store, a tj max, a barnes and nobles, a staples, a cinema, etc. any way, it is a big, nice shopping center. can you picture it?

after we finished our shopping at wally world and the grocery store, we decided to see what time the movies were showing, so we proceeded to drive over to the cinemas. on the way to the cinemas, i'm not paying any attention to anything but the road (in my stellar driving manner), and, all of a sudden, i hear elizabeth say, "is that guy walking a pig?" what? no way! i look back, and sure enough, i see something that i never saw in my 21 years in mississippi - it is a fat guy in overalls walking a big, brown pot-bellied pig on a rope leash in front of durham's discount sports!

what the crap! and they think we are rednecks! by the way, to make the story even better, we had seen an old chevy s-10 truck that was painted camo earlier that evening. last saturday pittsburgh was in a gridlock due to a sold out kenny chesney concert at heinz field, where the steelers play (we are talking 50,000+ people). oh, the times i wished i had my camera... you realize very quickly that, although there are some minor differences, people are the same everywhere.

cheers,
jw

random updates...

i just wanted to mention a few things. first, i have updated some stuff on the blog. i have added mama cooper's blog site to the blogroll. second, elizabeth has officially signed on, so our profile looks a little different now. i am working on getting a picture back up. speaking of pictures, we finished hanging pictures and crosses in the apartment today, and elizabeth took pictures. those should be up in the next day or two. we also got some pictures overlooking downtown pittsburgh from mount washington last night, but that is a whole different story. third, i got a different picture of us and eugene peterson, so i changed that picture with the one in the earlier blog because it was better.

that's about it. elizabeth and i are just getting ready for the week. we are heavy into studying. elizabeth already knows over half the parts of the body, and i am already translating greek from the nt! crazy what you can learn in a week. tomorrow we are going to try to get our cars (titles, registrations, license plates, driver's licenses) taken care of. also, i am applying for some jobs at the apple store, borders, starbucks, and maybe a barnes and nobles.

cheers from the burgh,
jw

p.s. check out bryan daniel's blog! he is blogging from uganda. also, becca warden is blogging from spain. really, you should check their sites out.

p.s.s. go bulldogs. we are still bleeding maroon and white even up north.

elizabeth to begin blogging!

elizabeth will begin blogging on this site soon! ...well, that is, if she gets time to. look out for some thoughts and pictures from her.

cheers,
jw

comments!

a few of you have mentioned to me that you tried to post comments to the blog but had to get a google account to do so. i have fixed this inconvenience. you can now just post a comment anonymously. thanks for reading, and elizabeth and i look forward to your comments!

cheers,
jw

the man!!!

guess who? that's right folks... it is the man himself... in person... eugene peterson. i had hoped to get a goofy picture with him (like him holding me in his arms or fake punching me in the nose) but chickened out when it came time. so we got a serious one... one that will hang on the wall of my study. i still think he would have gone for the goofy one.

he has been here at pts the past few days speaking at a seminarian's conference. it was amazing to see him and hear him speak for the first time. he looks older than i imagined... not in a bad way... but it appears that he has worn himself out from a well-lived life. his voice seems especially worn out. it is quiet and raspy... like he has spent years preaching the gospel and talking about Christ and one of these days his voice will disappear as enoch did. he seems to be a very gentle man, and he does not demand attention when he speaks. he gets it, though, because his words are wise and filled with truth. he speaks just as he writes. he speaks with deep concern for the church and the spiritual lives of the people of God. he seems so serious, but just when you think that he could probably get dull to be around, he smiles. he has the greatest smile. his whole body smiles. you see the life in him. you can tell just looking at him that there is a tremendous amount of energy built up in him. there are words waiting to burst through the surface. words about hope and love and resurrection. words to correct and encourage.

he is like no other. i pray all of you will read his words at some point in your life, and if you have the opportunity to hear him speak in person, do it. you will not be disappointed. he is indeed a modern prophet.

cheers from the best seminary in the world,
jw

more pics

here are some pics of the last week:

elizabeth vs. the primanti brothers sandwich.

elizabeth scarfing it down. despite its ginormous size, elizabeth still wins the battle.

elizabeth and i in front of the american falls of niagara falls. they are pretty spectacular. sorry the picture is too dark to see the falls well. we went at dusk, which was actually awesome for us because we got to see the falls illuminated. some of the lights behind us are in canada!

elizabeth at school! the physical therapy part of the school of health and rehabilitation sciences (shrs) is actually ranked 3rd in the nation. we started school today, by the way. i walked elizabeth to the bus stop at 7:10, and she rode off to begin anatomy at 8. she played with real bones today! i didn't have class until 9, and it only lasted about 45 minutes, as dr. allison stated, "that's all i can do until you all learn the greek alphabet." i think i got it down now. alpha... beta... gamma... delta... oh, sorry. things are going great!

our favorite professor! dr. purves' office door. i can't wait to have dr. connery... er, i mean dr. purves next year...

cheers,

jw

things to do in the burgh

we have done quite a bit since we got here last sunday (including a trip to niagara falls in the middle of last week). we found some amazing grocery stores (hooray for giant eagle and whole foods), eaten at some great restaurants (joe mamas, primanti brothers, roxies, and dave and andy's ice cream), gone to two city parks, and visited some incredible churches (shadyside presbyterian and the open door). here is a list of places we want to see and things that we want to do in the next few weeks. we will be updating you as we do them. hopefully some of you can come up and visit soon and participate in the city exploration.

things we want to see and do:
1. pittsburgh zoo and aquarium (right down the street from the apt. and has a new polar bear exhibit!)
2. the carnegie museums (i think there are four. dinosaurs, art, and andy warhol - woohoo!)
3. pirates, steelers, penguins (go black and gold)
4. try out for wheel of fortune (you heard it folks! the w.o.f. rv is here in the burgh next saturday and we are spinnin' the wheel to play. come on big money!)
5. ice skating in schenley park (the city parks are incredible!)
6. eat at church brew works and the original primanti brothers
7. farmers saturday market (we have one next to the seminary)
8. point state park
9. high school musicial!
10. falling waters (frank lloyd wright house)
11. mattress factory art musuem
12. national aviary
13. catheral of learning (we actually have been there accidently on our first visit to pittsburgh)
14. the strip district
15. three rivers arts festival

this should get us started. we will give you details as we explore and experience the city a little more. if you want to check some of these things out, go to www.visitpittsburgh.com.

cheers,
jw

the drive to pitt

so here it is... the pics and notes from the looonnngg journey from starkville, ms, to pittsburgh, pa.


beginning of day one. we left around 7:30 on saturday morning. here is a shot of mississippi between starkville and tupelo. i have realized from my journeys around mississippi the past few weeks that apparently cotton is no longer king. this pic is evidence to this fact. what once was a cotton field is now a corn field. cotton is now queen as farmers have crowned corn with its ability to yield ethanol and lots of money.


tennessee. i wanted to listen to ryan adam's song "tennessee sucks," but the cd was packed in the truck.


that's one big bag of groceries! apparently people are hungry here in jackson, tn.


and kentucky. i almost missed this sign. snapped it just in time.


this is somewhere in kentucky - i think around bowling green, where, by the way, the national corvette museum is. also close by is mammoth cave national park. we actually stayed the night on the kentucky - ohio border in walton, ky, which is just outside covington, ky, and cincinatti, oh. after a little over 10 hours in the car and a delicious meal from raymond's hong kong restaurant, day one came to an end.


beginning of day two. we left our glorious holiday inn express around 7:30 sunday morning and drove into cincinnati. i wish i had a picture of us entering the city. it was gorgeous as we descended into the hazy city on a bridge early in the morning. even better than the view was the fact there was no traffic. any way, i didn't see a "welcome to ohio" sign, so i took this picture a little later on. a bunch of barns around the interstate had paintings like this one.


here is another shot from the ohio/kentucky region. i was trying to get all of the cars in our caravan in the picture as we descended this hill. all you can see is elizabeth directly in front of me and our budget truck driven by my dad.


west virginia. this was a tricky shot as i was going 70 mph and the sign was above me on the bridge into wv. we were only in west virginia for a moment, but it was a glorious moment. elizabeth and i quickly decided we wanted to live there when we get done with school.


this is why. mountains, mountains, and more mountains. my feet were itching to get my hiking boots on. unforunately, they were packed somewhere in the middle of a 15' budget truck that was packed from floor to ceiling and from front to back. really, i am not quite sure how both dads and randell foxworth managed to get all of our stuff into this truck. thanks guys!


yay!


a sign of hope after over 15 hours in the car.


the tunnel into the burgh.


the light at the end of the tunnel - downtown pittsburgh!

cheers,
jw

we're here!!!!

hey everyone (all three of you that are reading this)! elizabeth and i are here in the burgh. the move went great; although, it was a whole lot of driving. i don't think you can ever prepare yourself for driving 15 hours in two days. any way, we arrived safely on sunday afternoon, got moved in, and spent the next two days getting the apartment set up. "thank you" to all of you who managed to have mail arrive in our mail box here the day after we got moved in! we felt right at home!

sorry i haven't blogged until now, but wednesday morning we decided to head up to niagara falls with my parents to see my grandmother. we didn't get back tonight until a little after 7 and learned a few lessons in driving in pittsburgh - avoid hwy 28 at all costs and 376 is the only downtown exit when you are on 579 (i will explain later). i will also be putting up some pics and details from the trip, as well as some pics of our new apartment. i have yet to put up pics and details from the last stop of the intermission "never say die" tour, so that will be coming soon, too.

cheers from the burgh,
jw