MiSURA

I won't show you my room bc I have no money to decorate and it looks awfully messy. =)
BUT I will show you pictures of Koinonia! And works at the Cleveland Museum of Art and some works from the chalk festival.

Koinonia!
Our NSO events were awesome! I wish I took photos, but we were quite busy with getting prepared, talking to freshmen, and just having a good time. So I apologize. But here are a few photos from the luau and some that phil took at the labor day grill.





lovely cakes that justeen made. =D



mike and alex laying out the cheese & crackers





poor steven and his torn acl and mcl. T___T;; please be more careful!!


Cleveland Museum of Art!
Have I mentioned that I love the CMA? Ohman.
I go there everyday for classes and the gallery every Wed. for class but this past Sat. I went with the small group girls and it was a lot of fun. I finally took my camera with me so I took some shots of my fav. things.



whoo-hoo! it's FREE to alll!!! The new buildings aren't open, but they will be by the summer of 2009!



amazinnng... and kinda scary



had to read about 80 pages in four different articles about this painting.
jacques louis david, cupid & psyche, 1817



one of my faves. didn't turn out too well because the lighting isn't so great.
john martin, ruins of an ancient city, 1810s



checking out the porcelain works



faberge................



alice =)



ah.. still life.



forgot which painting we were looking at but i think it's right next to the one where the monkey is choking a cat? something like that. =)



this is what i wish i could do right now.


Chalk Festival!
This is the first time I went! I didn't participate.. kinda expensive. I'm not even sure if they were able to do it in previous years due to construction. Anyhow, they did do it this year and I'm so glad I went. Why? BECAUSE....... on the 19th, Yoon bought me (and then I paid him back) a box of Faber-Castell soft pastels. I dunno why I suddenly had the urge to buy them, but I did. And guess how much they were: $10.01. My birthday! And then the next day, there's a Chalk Festival (which I didn't know about until after I bought the pastels). I think it's a sign.. that I should drop out of college and do sidewalk chalking for the rest of my life. ^ ^

Anyway. Here are some works that I saw on both Sat.



veggie tales! check out the smooth finish...



COOOLLL =)



PRETTYYY



i like this one.. a lot.



and the finished product!!



vanitas themed still life.



i like the brickwork.

unfortunately, i wasn't able to go back on Sunday to see all the finished works.
and to conclude, one of my own pastel creations. =D
If you have a sketchbook that you don't need and it's good for pastels, please donate. =).


have a great week!~

http://picasaweb.google.com/bokeum.ra/RomeItaly#

Those are my photos from when my dad, my brother, and I went to Europe two summers ago.
In one of my art history courses, we're learning about Ancient Rome right now and I marvel truly at the works that man can make.

Roman emperors deified themselves after death so they could be worshiped. They did all they could so they could be remembered: erecting triumphal arches that eloquently and graphically describe the military victories, memorialized through larger than life statues, etc. Almost 2,000 years later, we visit these grounds and all we can do is imagine what it was like.

I'm mainly talking about this because I have to research the Arch of Septimius Severus and give a 10-minute presentation on it. And I don't mind, but it really got me thinking about the things that man makes as opposed to the things that God created.

He who is everlasting and neverending will never crumble like the creations made by man's hands.

I was always annoyed by all the upgrades that happen every few months. I remember when the first AOL came out... and then AOL 3.5... and then 7.8 ... and then whatever else that came out. Every year we would have to upgrade. Same with Microsoft. I love the 2007 version, but I was just starting to get used to the 2003 version! Whatever is made by man will always need upgrading--partly because we want things to be faster, more convenient, and efficient, but moreso because we want to be perfect. But God who is perfect gives all things that are just right for us. We don't need upgrades. He is enough for us: His grace, love, mercy, justice, and faithfulness.

Don't get me wrong, I love studying for this class and learning all these things! Because I certainly didn't appreciate it as much when I went two years ago. And now I wish I took more photos and learned more about the city before walking through it. But I like to make connections to our Almighty God because ultimately we're living for Him, aren't we? And everything that we learn relates to Him in some way. In everything we do, we give Him praise, do we not?

I love it when my roommate tells me all these complex things about enzymes and our stomach and whatnot and ends with how intricate and amazingly detailed our God is and how He made man so fragile that we must depend on Him.

Praise Him!

Listened to an amazing sermon today by John Piper. Seriously check it out. You can even download it and you can listen to it while you're on your way to class! =) A big plug for John Piper (not that he needs it)... the website Desiring God and the blog are both huuuuge encouragements to me when I'm at work and reading and starting to feel lazy or anything. The blog is written by different authors, but still, the entire ministry is flourishing and really feeding me when I sometimes can't feed myself.

The sermon is about how the early church (in the Book of Acts) was an example of an explosive fellowship. John Piper goes on to name events in which this happens. And basically, it's not just about being a bigger group than the last year or adding to our numbers but WHAT are we exploding with? joy? love? encouragement? worship? music? dance? hugs?

He really focuses on small groups. I think that's a weak point in Koinonia but I can already sense changes happening! =) How small groups praying can make a giant difference. It all starts there. Koinonia didn't start out with 50 people.. but only 10. It didn't originate at Case, but in a church located 40 minutes away. And it certainly didn't start out perfect, and we are nowhere near perfect now, but by prayer all things can happen for the glory of God.

"I pray that everything that happens in the small groups will be explosive—will produce explosives or ignite the fuse of explosives or toss explosives. I hope that the mindset of every small group is to serve an explosion of love and compassion and truth and joy and worship and power and ministry." -John Piper