ransom

here are a couple of things i have been thinking about tonight, as i sit bored out of my mind in the john g. mitchell library during missions conference week. 4 hours down, and 1 to go:

1. beware of taking somali children to see a movie in a movie theater. jenni and i took our families (along with her sister and krispin) and it was a bust. we saw charlotte's web (great book, terrible movie), which the kids hated. abdulihi fell asleep. everybody got grossed out by charlotte the spider. and the kids were . . . bored. come to find out that their brother/uncle/cousin (i never quite know) had gotten an illegal copy of the movie from the asian market and they had seen it already. i also forget that these kids aren't exactly children either; at one point during the movie maryan pointed at the two crows onscreen and informed me that "those are the birds that eat the dead people", referencing her life in africa.

2. beware of american weddings. i know, i know, i have 10 months. but the way people have been treating me, it's like i have 10 days. here is what i don't want:
a. no stuffy wedding-ness.
b. no monogrammed napkins.
c. no extravagant waste of money.

here is what i do want:
a. missionary wedding!
this means the color scheme is that of a globe (brown, green, and blue), i want to buy everything second hand (from the dress to the decorations), i don't want to register anywhere for gifts, and i think it should be held in an old church with orange pews with a potluck reception containing deviled eggs, cocktail weiners, jello-salad (green, natch), and cupcakes instead of the traditional stuff.
give me suggestions, people.

3. beware of literal interpretations of books of prophecy. the book of revelation is crazy. i feel like i am in a bad sci-fi movie when i try and envision all of the things it is talking about. so i try not to, because i don't think that's what the original author intended. but still. what the heck does it all mean? i'm reading matthew as a counter-balance, and i am finding comfort in the sermon on the mount.
actually, i am just trying to find comfort in christ. period.

you remind me of home.

the engagement story.

two weeks ago, as we were casually hanging out, krispin announced that he had been doing some thinking. "there are two things," he said. "one, i think we should be in a band together." i agreed. "and two, i think we should get married. in december." i agreed to that as well. it was all very low-key and danielle and krispin-like. the next day he asked my parents, and they were thrilled to the bone.
now, both krispin and i are the epitome of poor bible college students, and i have never been a traditionalist. i absolutely did not want krispin breaking his back to get me a diamond ring that i would most likely lose on the mission field. and so, we talked to my mom and she produced my great-grandmother's engagement ring, a beautifully simple gold band with single pearl.
then, all krispin had to do was figure out a way to surprise me.
last week was extremely busy for both krispin and i, in fact, i hardly saw him. on saturday, we had made plans to hang out after i got off of work. krispin had told me that his friend jacob was coming in from out of town, and that we were going to go hang out in downtown portland with him. i was a little bummed that my one afternoon with krispin was going to be shared with jacob, but i was excited about seeing him regardless.
after i got off work and drove home, i noticed a note taped to the back door that showed a boy holding hands with a girl who had a house for a head. i was extremely confused. the only person who wrote me strange little notes was krispin, and i was supposed to pick him up at multnomah in an hour. i walked inside my house to find a table set with ornate chinese place settings, complete with a heart made out of red chili peppers. krispin was in the process of cooking a gourmet chinese meal (from scratch, using authentic ingredients from the local asian grocery store). as soon as he saw me, he proposed. he was extremely nervous, which i thought was cute.
basically, he explained the note like this:
"i've lived in a lot of places, and i'm going to live in a lot more places, but you are home to me."
and, if you can't already tell, i said yes.


my three favorite things right now:
dark chocolate
matthew chapters 5-7
being engaged to krispin.