Our lives.. on a page

We were invited to write about our activity and about one of the children’s history for CF’s June newsletter. 

After discussing with mom & dad and putting their thoughts and my recollections into words, I asked Dani about 10 questions and then assembled his answers.

Here is the outcome:     Easy to read on CF’s site

Roses & Thorns

A conference I will not forget

I just came back from the first conference I really don’t regret to have attended!
University of Oradea’s Aula Magna was the place where, for 2 1/2 h, PhD Chris Firestone, associate professor of philosophy at Trinity College, presented Immanuel Kant’s entire philosophy, with the central theme being Kant’s vision upon God and faith.
It was a theoretical presentation complex enough to satiate inquisitive and scholarly minds, but with general concepts so witty explained with examples from real life that everyone could understand, provided he/she followed him closely.
It was an exquitiste time which I enjoyed to the fullest!..Though I am not sure if I would have enjoyed it as much if I hadn’t been (a little bit) atracted to philosophy since highschool and hadn’t known notorious philosophical terms like empirical, transcendental, skeptic, agnosticism, inexorable, ontology, a priori and so on. Believe me or not, there are many that don’t have any idea what they’re about.

 I want to share now, in colloquial words, only 3 easy-to-understand statements that Kant holds to be rationally true, as Dr Firestone asserts in his book, In Defense of Kant’s Religion

v     the depravity of human nature: the human nature is evil by propensity (predisposition), but not from necessity;

v     the necessity of a disposition that is both divine and human in order to ‘please’ God;

v     the people morally converted to this “principle of good” or this “prototype of human perfection” need to band together in a community, so that they are less ‘tempted’ to relapse;

 

Conclusion? I wish I could attend such awesome conferences weekly! It helps make a clear understanding of concepts and visions I wouldn’t have the time and patience to study otherwise, even with the abundance of information that we have on the internet and in spite of the desire to know more..

February 14th

We had snooow these days!.. a looot of snow - as much as we always had when we were kids.. The black trees were instantly beautified by the its purity and shine.. The thin branches were so loaded with snow that I was thinking they could actually brake under its weight!..

omat

zapada

nea

The day ended with the funniest children’s programme I have ever watched: the Children’s After School Club presentation for the parents.

after_school_club

Theme: Friendship with others, with your spouse & with God.

Witty skits, insightful songs with coregraphy, bells choir.. Wonderful! Like nothing I’ve ever seen.

parents

Oh, and look what I got! :D

valetines_day_heart_snow

Edith & the nature

The birthday of the greatest Romanian poet, Mihai Eminescu [read a poem here], coincides with that of my best friend, Edith [see last year's post about her].

We had a short but fun birthday party at her place on the 15th..tort_edith

with her girls..

zi_nastere_fete

~~~

One day, as I was coming home from an exam, I was dazzled by the scenery on the sides of the road leading to my house.. The fog floating above the barren ploughed land and the cries of the birds conspired to rise in me a feeling of anxiety.
It felt like I was in another world, far-away, in one of my dreams.. It was irreal, too beautiful to be genuine. I imagined that if I stopped and went out of my car, I might never be able to go back to my real life.. so I decided to go on and just come back and surprise that eerie world on my camera. 
I soon got home, grabbed the photo camera, put my roller skates on and went off to take some shots.. [with my not pro skills :D  ] But, as all the beautiful or dreadful dreams we have, by the time I got back there, it was all gone..

This is all that was left for my human eyes and optical lenses:

trandafiri

cf

ciori

cararea_cf frunze_copac_uscat

frunze

Reading..

I used to consider reading among my passions..but I’m afraid it isn’t!

If it would be, I would try harder to make it happen. I would arrange my schedule so that I can do it..  I need to read books and short stories for my seminars, but I never managed to read them all!

I love reading, but I just don’t seem to find enough time to read more..until..I enter the exams session!

I feel time is organized in a different way then. It goes by slower than usually and yet faster than I want.

 Still..that’s when time seems to be all mine..

I wish I would be in this “read-every-spare-minute-you-have” mood the  whole year! I wish I wouldn’t forget that I can really make time to read even when I’m so jammed up..

Reading really is something I love.

~~~

Among my latest readings  is the saddest short story I have ever read: Melville’s  Billy Budd, Sailor: (An Inside Narrative). I just found out that it isn’t finished.. that’s probably a clue..

A book I absolutley enjoyed reading is Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlett Letter.  If you want to read it, read it as it is. If not, don’t just read its summary -don’t waste all its beauty! OK?? ;) The style of the author is far more delighting than the mere story. 

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Litera stacojie

The book debates themes like legalism, sin, guilt, dignity, repentence, a person’s evolution and other’s involution, law, truth and so on  and it concludes with the words:

“Be true! Be true! Be true! Show freely to the world, if not your worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred!”

Sammy Tippit in Oradea

biserica_baptista_emanuel_oradea_11

January 12-18 – a week of evangelism at Emanuel church in Oradea. Brother Sammy Tippit is the special guest, preaching every night, translated by brother Paul Negrut. 

bbeo_2
Theme: Hope for Thirsty Hearts                    

emmanuel_oradea_3

Sena’s birthday

January 3rd. She’s 7! It’s been 7 years since she’s ours.. :D  Wow!

sena-tort

 After she gave us each a piece of her birthday cake..

sena-serving

 she hurried to eat hers and go back to her presents.sena-eating

It was a nice beginning of the year.

Christmas 2008

We let people feel the scent of Christmas by singing carols several Sunday afternoons in a row -with the youth choir. I looove 
Read the rest of this entry »

Santa & Jesus

copii_grupaToday, one of my fellow teachers mercilesslytold the 6-7-year-olds at our Sunday School group that
Read the rest of this entry »

« Older entries