to find beauty

From: Korrin

Let me introduce myself; I am Korrin. The "other K/Cori". My wonderful friend invited me to be a more active participant in this blog by granting me guest author rights, so here I am.

 

I am complexly simply, (thank you Shay).   A creative… adventurous… nerd.

 

I also am really, really busy.  For the most part I love it, but when it comes to having time to write thoughtful, insightful blog posts that will not make Cori roll her eyes, the only time I can think to carve out is while I am riding the train to work.  So here is my very first post that started out as a comment to Cori’s post about peaking in high school and that was “typed” on my iphone, on the train, very early in the morning.

My life is the most important thing in existence.  It is the one thing I have; it is the one thing that I get to choose how to spend. Each day is granted to me, a day of conscious human life, to spend or waste. Existence is the summary of a lifetime of moments, well spent it is a cumulative triumph, when lived without intentionality it becomes a waste that is easier to look away from.

 

To have peaked in high school is to have an existence that is consciously or unconsciously wasted from the point of adulthood on. To say that someone peaked in high school would be to say that at the moment they come into their own, chose nothing and instead indulge in every conceivable anesthetic to the reality of life: television, relationships, work, alcohol, drugs the list could fill quite a page.

 

To get up every morning to face what the day brings with awe and reverence, to spend it without any of the narcotics that are so easy to fall into, to look back at it, to contemplate, to learn and grow.

 

This is the essences of life, embrace it! The joy, the heart ache, the disappointments, the triumphs! Take it and live it! Pull away the numbing barrier that you have place between youself and existence.

there's two of us now

So, one of my most wonderful friends who just so happens to have the same name as me (well, she spells it wrong) happens also to be one of my most loyal readers on here... and whenever I am being a little slow in posting something for her to read during work breaks, etc, she likes to tell me this... "Cori, I like to have something fun to read!" (Which makes my heart overflow with giddiness because I like to make people happy.)

And, so I have invited my dear friend to guest write on this little blog so we can together entertain each other and our collective friends. Other friends of mine are welcome to write as well, this is not a secret club. Except for the name thing. That is a not-so-secret club though.

And so, now I wait. I wait for my friend to write something fun for me to read during breaks at work.

Life is ironic, eh? Anyways, this little poke at her is in no way intended to make her feel bad. (Hi Kori!) Its just my sneaky way of introducing the newest voice on this little blog.

Welcome. :)

oh, yeah, i am scrabble queen!

So, I have been talking myself up as a Scrabble Queen for a couple weeks now with my pal Jake. And when you talk smack for weeks about how awesome you are at something... well, its embarassing if you can't walk the walk...

So, he challenged me to a game. A real game (since I beat him when we played the Scrabble game on my cell phone) with the wooden tiles and everything. We even had a dictionary ready for challenges.

Here's our final gameboard:

 

So yeah, my game-winning move was the word DIVER, followed by the use of all my leftover letters for the word IDEA.  I also added the S to PELT to which Jake challenged... (of course,spelt is a word. Spelt bread!) 

So this was exciting for me. I am now 2-0 and I am wondering if my scrabble smack should cease... humility is a virtue.. or if I should amp it up? 

my mom is a techie (and i never knew)

One of my assignments for school was to interview three people in different generations about their own use of the Internet. I chose my parents to represent the middle generation.

It was hilarious. I had no idea my mom used the Internet so much! I read them what I wrote and we laughed so hard I almost peed my pants. Really.

You can read my results at: corinnefisher.wordpress.com.

So, this leads me to ask you: how much do you know about YOUR parent's use of the Internet? Are they tech savvy or do they run (run quickly) away fom anything technical? Its an interesting conversation to have. Really. You might be surprised. I was.

true or false: "peaked" in high school

Have you ever left a conversation wondering if you were just unintentionally insulted?

I was told Saturday night that I "peaked" in high school.

I don't think this is true. And I want to write more on why... but its almost 1am and I have to work tomorrow.

For now, I am not going to let the Enemy use this comment to attack my confidence and my happiness in where I am and where I am going. I hope I never "peak" but continue to grow and learn more about myself and who God made me to be.

I know in life we have seasons where things are better/happier than others... but wouldn't it be depressing and hopeless if there was one time in our life that was best we could ever be- and it is high school?!

More on this topic later.

first kisses

sometime over the snowed in days of december, i rediscovered the movie amelie (i own the vhs!) and how wonderful and witty and whimsical it is (you should watch it again) and sometime soon after, in the stillness of morning when sleep hasn't yet arrived (staying up til dawn becomes a bad habit of mine when responsibility is on hold)  when my brain is halfway to dream land, i scribbled on a blank card:

first kisses

am laying here... in the wee hours of the morning - snow continuing to fall, blanketing the world - or my world - with its icy fingers. i'm thinking of amelie and her first kiss to nino. right corner of mouth. left neck under ear. right eye. repeat. i wish i had someone to be my nino. 

then i woke up.

loving oneself and God

I am enjoying the long-awaited read of Anne Jackson's Mad Church Disease, so much so, I am taking my time to read each chapter thoroughly.

(Which is quite okay, since I am reading about ten books right now.)

So... on page 57, Anne talks about how "if we can't love ourselves, we can't love others in the way that God has designed us." She says we are in "the midst of a crisis that needs our full devotion of mind, body, and spirit."

She writes this after she says "we're pretty terrible at loving ourselves."

Think about this for awhile. How do you love yourself? What does that even mean?? How does one take care of oneself without being selfish or rude?

Now, read Mark 12:30. Really, Go open your bible and read it.

(I can wait.)

I don't know about you, but I have read this verse a lot. Its a favorite of mine. But something hit home.

Anne continues: "Notice Jesus doesn't tell us to 'love others with all your strength;' he says to 'love the Lord your God.' By loving God, we're faithful to his commandments. And when we're obedient, God will carry out his work through us. He will prepare us for battle in all areas."

How do you love God?

Who is getting your strength?

How does being obedient and taking care of oneself match up? What work is God going to do through you, and how can you be ready?

 

[By the way, you can also read Anne's book and learn even more. It's called Mad Church Disease and Amazon sells it!]

valentine's day party-HEARTy time!

Hello Beautiful People!

I confess. I love Valentine's Day. Even if I am single, and my one-and-only "Valentine" this year was from a 3-year old little girl (and was darling!)

I love the hearts, the pinks and the reds. I love the abundance of romance and kisses around me.

*Big Sigh*

And this year, while I would certainly not mind if I was going out with a hunk-all-mine... I am not. And that is OK! Rather, I am going to spend the evening living it up with some awesome women who also don't want to be stuck at home wishing for something that isn't...

So, in honor of the day of love, I am introducing the first of many videos of me practicing my public speaking skills. I am sure as I play with this new-avenue-of-techie-nerdiness I will stop moving around so much! Haha. 

Enjoy! XXOO

quiz time: do you know who i am?

This was an assignment for my "Giving and Volunteerism" class. We were to "pretend" to be someone who either is known for the great giving/philanthropy or leading of a non-profit organzation. Since I am a woman (duh), I chose to be the wife --who I learned had just as exciting contributions as the husband to the non-profit! Do you know "I"- or my "husband" is... or what non-profit he founded?

Upon a trip to South Korea in 1952 to spread the gospel to troops, my husband’s heart broke upon seeing the many unwanted children who were orphaned by the war. As a friend advised and challenged him: “You have seen the tremendous needs and unparalleled opportunities of this land. What do you intend to do about it?"  Soon, he was back in the US raising funds and brainstorming ways to help these children. It was when two checks were presented to him for ($50 and $1,000) to help the orphans of Korea that he-we!-knew. He said at the time, "This was conclusive proof to me that God was in it.”

 He conceived a fundraising, sponsorship program that through the regular support of givers these children would receive basic food/clothing/shelter/medical aid and biblical lessons. Initially, it all began with just a few dollars a month (and some donated rice and fuel) to help the Korean children… We knew something had to be done.

We became a non-profit in 1956. My husband was president and I was vice president on the board of directors. In the fall of 1964, I spearhead the first of four US tours for the Korean children, where they sang and danced and helped raised the number of donors!  This was after many projects including the “Operation Long Underwear” (where 6,000 Korean children were outfitted for winter.) My husband dies in 1965, but I am still apppinted Vice-President and continue to help with sponsor relations. It was a beautiful day when, about a year later, I participated in the ground-breaking ceremony for our first office building.

I was named “Director Emeritus” by the board on September 21, 1990, where I served until my death.

Today, the name of the program may be changed (to reflect Matthew 15:32) from my husband’s first conception, but the core values and the fulfillment of the Great Commission are the same… helping over 1,000,000 children in at least 25 countries world-wide today become healthy adults. The program recently won a four star rating from the nation's largest independent evaluator of charities for the seventh year in a row - one of only 45 charities in the nation to do so.