Like Rolling off a Blog

I just took my loving hubby to the airport for a trip to a reformation and revival conference. Frankly, I'd like to be the one going there for some "reforming" and "reviving." Don't get me wrong, I jumped out of bed this morning with lots of energy, and am enjoying my Nutrisystem scrambled eggs, but I'd rather be spending my birthday with family, friends, and doing some extreme relaxing. A reasonable second-place is what I'm doing - spending it with co-workers who love the Lord and me, too! Grandma, at the age of 96, just had a leg artery replaced, and although she is in pain, she's in pretty good shape! Age doesn't scare me. And it doesn't hinder me. I'm planning to "hop til I drop." None of this retirement mumbo jumbo. None of this "at your age" stuff. Some of it is indeed in your body, but most of aging is in your mind. So, I intend to read, read, read; keeping my mind sharp with words, puzzles, conversation, ma...

Remember that old campfire song? "I like the mountains, I like the rolling hills, I like the firelight, I like the daffodils, I like the fireflies when all the lights are low ... boom de ahdah boom de ahdah boom de ahdah boom boom" Oh, yes, it's a classic, and I probably misquoted it. But I digress. We just came back from the mountaintop. Literally. Rocky Mountain National Park. I can sometimes forget how much I miss the mountains until I see them again. I think Chicago is 500 feet above sea level. Not quite a contender for the 12,005 foot peak we stood on this past weekend. So, until I can do that again, I'll just look at my pictures. If you want the link, you can email me.

You know, mice don't really scare me. I'm not one of those women who dashes for the nearest chair and prances about waiting for someone to shoo away the critter. No, I'm really a bit fascinated by their twitchy little noses, and wonder what in the world they are thinking when digging through our combination seed and fertilizer bag in the garage. Perhaps they are eating the seed and building a nest with the rest. I don't know ... but they are a menace ... so ... We went to Target to get a "trap" of sorts. We decided on the sticky kind. Now I wonder what were WE thinking? Anyway... Within one hour of setting the glue out, placing a few crumbs of doggy bone on top, I heard squeaking. Fairly loud squeaking, I might add. Was he calling his family members? Mad? Frustrated? Okay, so we caught the thing, and now what? The instructions on the back of the package don't ever really show a mouse, they show a person throwing away the glue trap. Do you wait until it is ...

I've been accused of being shameless in bringing "work" to the blog. Ah, come on! Is that not the prerogative of the blogger? Are blogs not to vent the public as well as the private? As for nouthetic versus psychotropic. When you land somewhere, let me know. Do the book and film mentioned in the previous comment give any solutions, or merely mock the question? The very foundation of Freudian psychology is flawed. So until that is culled, and we can discern what we are labeling as "psychology," it would be hard to discuss the difference between the good, the bad, and the ugly of it. To "plunder the Egyptians" one must first value what the Egyptians have to offer. Referencing my comment in the first paragraph: this issue doesn't feel like work. It hits a deep chord. Evidence? Skofinopolis... :-)

Hello again! After a loooong hiatus (again!) I'm back. Busy, yes, but feeling good about it. Oh, hey, wanna get some people really talking? There's a new book coming up in a month or so called Will Medicine Stop the Pain? It's about the plethora of women diagnosed with depression, and how easily we fall for medicating the symptoms without getting to the bottom of the problem. So what do you think? If you want to find out more, check it out .

I must say I was smiling more, breathing more deeply, and ready to take on the challenge. The ecstatic reaction for the future, versus the mixed reaction in the present, did quite a bit for my morale. February 3, there I go. February 6, here I come!

Help! I'm caught between two possibilities and don't know which way to turn. Each holds its share of anxiety, benefits, and unknowns. One allows me to stay put in a tenuous future, while the other will surely bring stress. Why can't this be easy?

Thanks to Amanda (Skofstad) Williams who posted the results of her theological survey . Okay, Amanda, here are mine: You scored as Reformed Evangelical. You are a Reformed Evangelical. You take the Bible very seriously because it is God's Word. You most likely hold to TULIP and are sceptical about the possibilities of universal atonement or resistible grace. The most important thing the Church can do is make sure people hear how they can go to heaven when they die. Reformed Evangelical......................82% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan.............79% Fundamentalist............................75% Neo orthodox..............................57% Charismatic/Pentecostal...................54% Emergent/Postmodern.......................50% Classical Liberal.........................36% Roman Catholic............................25% Modern Liberal............................14% Hmm, seems we scored upside down from one another in many ways. I respect that in you! wink, wink "TULIP...

The plug was pulled on the overflowing river of clear water ... drained ... and replaced with bitter gall. Instead of 12 survivors and one dead at the Tallmansville mine, 12 died, and one survived. Pray for his complete recovery so that the entire story can be told. Ironic that the mine owner is represented by Hatfield. And that the miner who has survived thus far is McCloy (close enough to "McCoy"). Why? The age-old battle in the Appalachians of the "Hatfields and McCoys." People had prayed. Where was God? People rejoiced at God's salvation. They sang "How Great Thou Art" when they heard that 12 had been found "alive." What happened to their rejoicing? Is God any less great? Is He less good? Their rejoicing turned to anger and talk of suing the mining company. We want to mourn with the mourners. But it's hard to mourn with those whose grief has become a bitter scream for revenge. One was found alive. It may be hard for the relatives of t...

Christmas surrounded by family Losing 40 pounds (ouch!) Getting out of debt (double ouch!) Finishing the decorating before the New Year (what are the odds of that?) The kids having more kids A gorgeous candlelight service on Christmas Eve Hearing Ingrid sing on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve An early spring! Friends and family correspondence

I'm sipping "winter tea" from my Christmas house teapot. I'm baking banana bread, washing the dishes, doing the laundry, and soon I'll pay the bills. Tomorrow I will compose the Christmas letter, after knocking myself out decorating today. Yes, it's the day after Thanksgiving, and I'm getting geared up for what has become one of the most secularized holidays of the year. Frankly, I can understand why some so-called Christian cults decide not to celebrate these things. Let me be Scrooge for a moment and remind us all that Christmas (the date) is never mentioned in Scripture. And those who have studied the signs of the times much deeper than I have, have determined that Jesus' birth probably took place in the spring. We have the early Catholic church to thank for lining up our current Christmas celebration with the pagan festival of lights. For good reason, of course. The pagans were not wanting to give up their holidays, so why not just overlay a Christ...

My last blog was about not having blogged in a long time, so what do I do for an encore? Britany was kind enough to remind me that I hadn't blogged in a while. And I just got an email from a friend in England yesterday who said she was going to reinstate her blog, so ... I should get rolling off my blog. I like using the blog as a journal, but then I'm opening myself up to the world, and someone is liable to get hurt! Me? You? This past weekend, I was allowed to attend -- via the generosity of my employer -- the National Media Prayer Breakfast in Hollywood. It is put on by MasterMedia , a group that seeks to befriend Hollywood in the name of Jesus. It was quite encouraging to actually PRAY at the prayer breakfast! After the breakfast, Mark and I visited the west coast office of Questar, Inc . and were treated to a lunch near the Warner Brothers Studios. Boy, do I miss California! We've talked about "retiring" there. Two problems with that scenario... we don't...

Wow! I almost forgot I had a blog, let alone do anything about it. The big things in life right now are work, babysitting my favorite little girl - Ashley - and studying the book of Acts. I love studying the Bible. It appeals to my increasing appreciation for history, for one thing. I imagine myself living during that time, and in fact, we are all descended from *someone* during that time period! Amazing, huh? From the time I put my trust in God through Jesus and the truth of His Word, I have been a staunch advocate for studying in truth - not tradition, not personal interpretation - but the truth of the Word of God. So, for example, when I hear someone say that "speaking in tongues" is required as proof of being filled with the Holy Spirit, I say, read your Bible! That is not what it says, and the use of the word "tongues" is misused. In Acts , we see that the Holy Spirit was given to explode the church at a certain time. The apostles there were GIVEN THE ABILITY T...

Well, it has certainly been a while. I've been posting pictures instead of blogs, it seems. Especially since I spent a week in Denver, a week in Colorado Springs, and a week in Las Vegas. I mean, that warrants pictures rather than blogs, don't you think? And if you want the link, you can contact me, otherwise you are already on my list of people to bore with pictures of places and grandbaby!

It's July 1st and the 4th is coming! I remember that same style of delivery in a sermon years ago -- It's Friday, but Sunday's comin'!!! referring to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now THAT is freedom! Freedom from sin. Freedom from death. Too often, we Americans have used our freedom for just the opposite -- freedom TO sin ... well, yes, we do have that freedom, but as the apostle Paul said, does it profit me anything? Here's another freedom. Freedom from constraint to a chair for my hubby. He is back at work this morning, and it sure is good to hear his voice . Albeit, he does have to keep his foot elevated, but that is a small thing compared to having to sit and watch daytime TV! Deep within the heart there is a cry for freedom . We tend to think that our agenda and our license will bring us freedom, but ... you guessed it ... no. The rebellious heart desires to be free from God's leading, but the submitted heart is truly free. No more paranoia; ...

Whew! A lot has happened since I last posted! Life and death kind of stuff. It makes one marvel at the tapestry that God weaves in each of our lives. We can't see where the warp and weave are headed, but he is creating a gorgeous scene. Check out the daily musings that my hubby started writing because of the twists thrown his way ...

Although I don't remember it first hand, I understand that when I was a child some schools practiced prayer for "ourselves, our parents, our teachers, our country." This morning I will pray for those same things, but in a formal setting on the National Day of Prayer. I will expand "my parents" to include my husband and children. I will expand "our teachers" to include my co-workers. And "our country" will specifically be our president, our troops, and as Jesus commanded -- the peace of Jerusalem. This morning, explosions went off in front of the British consulate in New York. Thugs, terrorists, bullies on a grand scale. In their finite minds they must think they are accomplishing something. The prayers of the righteous accomplish more in a millisecond -- within the will of God. And on that rambling, I'm going to catch a cab for the breakfast. Indirectly, I will be praying for you.

Okay, so I decided to use some of our land money for a new iBook. I'm going to have to get used to using a Mac again. But here's the problem: I bought iWork "preinstalled." Did it come preinstalled? NO! Ah, but there is a disc in the package that says "iWork" on it, so okay, I can install software ... except that when I put the disc in, it clearly says this is a trial version and to purchase the full version go to apple.com. Hey, guys, I already BOUGHT the full version!!! What's going on here? So I have my little email question sent to Apple and we'll see what happens. But this is creating a bittersweet taste to the Apple experience. In the meantime, I'll try out a few new things on Tiger. And in the Mac help I'll do my "converting from a PC" training.

More blogs ! I need more blogs ! I didn't know just how much I depended on the postings of my kiddos to keep me informed. I take that back. I've always been an information junkie, and the blogs are no exception. What a wonderful communications-rich world we live in. So does it make us better communicators? I imagine not. Whether I send a runner 13 miles with a message, or send an email 1300 miles, the communicator and the communique remain the same. So, please post, leave a message, send an email, give me a call.

Well, as referred to in a previous post, that "swamp" land in Florida finally paid off. By the way, we still have another lot if anyone is interested ... Anyway, after giving our tithe, we have had a bit of fun -- paid off a bill, bought a 56 inch TV (HD all the way!!!), and today we treated Mark to an I-Pod and me to a replacement computer -- an I-Book. Wow! Also, we'll be joining Ingrid and Andy for a trip to Dallas, to congratulate Andy on his Masters in Biblical Studies. One of the grandmas will most likely be holding Miss Ashley while Ingrid concentrates on Andy's every step down the graduation aisle. This is a small taste of what it would be like to not be in debt. We're on the way. And if I can encourage anyone reading this ... please pay cash for all but your house! This indebtedness is a downward spiral into monetary slavery. But as I said, we're on a plan. Yea! In the meantime, we're sure enjoying the fruits of this investment. Viva la Citrus Spr...