Top Six Christmas Tunes

Sometimes Christmas music can get really annoying. You know...same songs year after year...and never any other time. But there are some really good, fresh songs out there, too, so here goes my favorites list (in no particular order, except the one in which I thought of them).

1. Mary Did You Know? - Mark Lowry
2. Celebrate the Day - Relient K
3. Mary's Song - Amy Grant
4. Joseph's Song - Michael Card (this one is particularly moving for Billy)
5. O Come, Emmanuel - arr. Billy Chia
6. You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch - recorded by New Song

And the #1 Christmas Album of all time is....

A Cabbage Patch Christmas

Cheeseburger in Paradise

Last night, Billy and I got to spend a little time together away from the house and without the girls. My mom babysits the girls once a week so that I can either clean or have a date with the hottest man alive.

This week was date night.

We never really know what to do, so we usually end up at Starbucks, which is fine, but last night, we decided to hit up Cheeseburger in Paradise.

I hadn't been too eager to go previously because I'm quite an anti-fan of Jimmy Buffet. But I'm also quite picky about restaurant food, and since no other place sounded appetizing, we thought trying something new could be fun.

I was starting to regret it when we walked in and saw fish painted everywhere. I hadn't thought about the abundance of seafood in a place like this, and I cringed, hoping to find something I liked.

Our server was Irl, a friend of Billy's from the worship team at church. He made a slew of recommendations, and I ordered the Chicken Satay.

I am now in love with Cheeseburger in Paradise.

This chicken was so amazing, but it was also the Coconut Curry dipping sauce that sealed the deal.

I highly recommend you try out the joint if you've got one near you.

YUM!

Sarah McLachlan and the Spiritual Journey

Though Sarah McLachlan, has never publicily claimed a religion, her songs have been infused with spirituality from the beginning, and her continual popularity speaks volumes to the spiritual seeking of my generation.

As years went on in McLachlan's song creation, the spirituality coming through sometimes became more religious, including a beautiful rendition of "The Prayer of St. Francis." Also, some more Christ-centered Christmas songs, such as "What Child is This," appeared on her Wintersong album last Christmas.

Some of the songs that have spoken most deeply to me and played a part in forming some of my own theologies are "Full of Grace" from Surfacing and "Fallen" from Afterglow.

Other songs have reinforced convictions and turned into their own posts right here on this very blog.

In fact, I would unabashedly say that the most uplifting spiritual songs that I have depended on have come from Sarah McLachlan.

So, it was strange to hear her "newest" single, which was re-released on the House soundtrack a couple of months ago. This single was originally released in 1996 on Rarities, B-Sides & Other Stuff.

In a cover of the XTC song, "Dear God," McLachlan's message is emphatically one of anger and hatred toward the Creator she'd often shown reverence for. And while her version is far superior to the original, it's a confusing choice of song.

I'd love to hear her spiritual story, wouldn't you?

Steve Fee Promotional Photo

Does anyone else see the irony in this banner?

Not Somehow...

But Triumphantly!

This is a point my pastor has been emphasizing lately.

The Christian life isn't about pulling through the tough times "somehow." It's about the power of Christ pulling us through the tough times triumphantly.

My friend, Elaine, is passionate about this, and over the months that I've spent meeting with her, it has been an eye-opening and encouraging truth to talk about.

There's a problem in the church (and everywhere else, by the way) of people wearing masks and pretending everything's fine when really everything is falling apart.

It's become trendy to talk about being "real" and "transparent." This is a good thing...

Except for when the definition of real becomes a description for pouring out negativity and doubts.

You don't hear about transparency and realness when people are happy. And this is a slap in the face to God.

In the classic over-compensation, church-whiners today are forgetting that the power of God is real, and that victory is ours.

So, let's be real about the hardship, but let's allow that realness to include the triumph of Jesus being manifest in our lives.

Slavery in 2007

Think slavery in America was abolished during the Civil War?

Check out this 5-minute video concerning human trafficking in San Francisco.

via: HourChallenge

Too True

HT: MyStarbucks

Pray for the Persecuted Church

"Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering." Hebrews 13:3

Today is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, and since our local church is very involved in overseas missions, we had a special emphasis on the suffering that our brothers and sisters around the world go through.

Over 100,000 Christians a year are martyred for their faith, and even more are starved, burned, thieved, or otherwise tortured and unjustly treated.

It is difficult to even imagine what life under these type of circumstances would be like. We live comfortably, but the Bible calls us to suffer with our brothers and sisters.

So, please pray right now for our fellow Christians to persevere and for us in free countries to remember their cause.

If you'd like more suggestions on how to suffer with the persecuted church, Rick McKinley has a great couple of chapters on this in his book This Beautiful Mess.

The Movie to See

If you only see one movie to see this holiday, Billy might encourage you to see The Golden Compass.

But I'm leaning more toward this one:



HT: Will Samson

God is an Artist

I came across this amazing photo on NASA's picture of the day website. It's a great reminder of what an amazing Creator we have.

Review: Nooma "Name" by Rob Bell a Disappointing Release

I've long been a fan of Rob Bell. Billy and I played his video, "Flame," at our wedding, and Velvet Elvis was a great read.

But last night, we watched his new video "Name," and not only was I less than impressed, I was beyond disappointed in the psychobabble that Bell felt is necessary for spiritual direction from a Christian perspective (a position the Nooma website totes as its own purpose).

1. "Name" begins with Bell talking about a meeting with his counselor, and the relativistic question that his counselor poses to him.

"Don't worry if it's normal for people. Is it normal for you?"

Well, folks...hearing the "voice of God" through his neighbor's dog seemed to be normal for David Berkowitz. Somehow, I don't think that's quite right, regardless of how normal it is.

True, Bell discusses a verse in which Jesus tells Peter not to worry about whether the other guy is following, but this doesn't quite make the leap to "is it normal for me?" If anything, it asks the question, "Is this healthy?" After all, if Peter had asked the question, "Is this normal for me?" he would've come up with the answer,

"Wanting fairness and flying off the handle over it is normal for me."

But of course we know that Peter wasn't healthy in this particular emotional element of himself.

Jesus was drawing him out of what was normal for him and into what was healthy for everyone.

2. Bell also talks in depth about the story of Jacob becoming Israel.

Here, his point is that we must come to terms with all the things about ourselves that we hate before we can move forward and be used by God. Sure, that's my paraphrase, but that's the message that comes out.

Bells says, "You don't have to like your past, but you have to claim it." He also says this about our body shape.

And while I agree that we need to come to terms with "who we are," I feel like a more productive idea (and a more "Christian perspective" since that's what we're presenting in these Noomas) would be to focus on who we are in Christ.

There is room for "coming to terms" kind of stuff. But I feel like this is not about claiming our past so much as accepting Christ's love and forgiveness and believing that that love and forgiveness is truly sufficient.

After all, doesn't God (through Paul - who by the way didn't change his name, but simply started going by his Greek name since he was a missionary to the Gentiles) tell us to forget the past?

See the story of Jacob isn't about claiming your past (there's more I could say here), but it's about God giving a new identity. This true story is a symbol of the internal, spiritual workings of who we become in Christ. We have a new birth, don't we?

3. Bell discusses loving your neighbor as yourself.

While talking about this concept, Bell commits the ultimate annoyance.

He says something along the lines of, "You can't love your neighbor until you learn to love yourself." I think we've all heard this before.

I understand the sentiment, but the issue I have with this reasoning is that it's focused on the self and not on God. (Well, actually, so was the whole "Name" video.)

The message was not, "God's love makes you worth-while. So take that love, claim it, embrace it, cherish it."

The message that Bell is sending is the same mumbo-jumbo as Oprah's universe-worshiping guests.

"Love yourself. Accept yourself. Don't apologize any longer. Oh yeah, and maybe God might do something, but mainly it's up to you.

If you'd like to watch "Name" for free. It is available until noon on Friday on Nooma's MySpace.

And We Have Hot Water...

...just not much.



Showering was not as enjoyable as I had hoped it would be.

How to Shower, Part Deux

Last week, Billy encouraged readers to take Navy Showers as part of the Blog Action Day campaign to save the Earth.

This week, we're experimenting with Kentucky Showers, which is the long-lost technique of bathing without actually getting more than 2 parts of your body wet at any given time. It is so named due to the similarity it has with back-wood Kentucky mountain dwellers' bathing patterns.

Something is mysteriously wrong with our hot-water heater, so today I thought I'd brave the cold shower. As I tested the water with my hand, I quickly realized that this was not bravery, but rather foolery that rivals the polar bear club.

So, rather than actually stepping into the stream of water, I simply bent over the tub to wash my hair. Washing my body was similar to that of a Navy Shower, except I learned that you don't actually have to be wet to get a good lather.

Rinsing was probably the only challenge, so after splashing handfuls of water from the faucet onto my body, I did finally turn the shower head on for 5 seconds. It was probably not worth it.

It seems Billy opted out of the process for today.

Celebrity Death Match > Driscoll vs. Osteen

Last night I was watching Billy go through his Google Reader (yes, folks...this is my exciting life), and a couple of posts about Joel Osteen came up.

One of them included this video:



Needless to say, it sparked some discussion around here.

So, let me begin stating my opinion by saying that I'm not a "fan" of either of these guys. I think Driscoll's jerky, and I think Osteen is creepy.

And in the end, I think they are both wrong.

Osteen's side is simply stated: We are victors and that is evidenced in our physical and mental lives. We will be taken care of as children of the King to the extent that our physical ailments will be healed and our mental anxieties will be quenched.

Driscoll's take is also simple: Osteen paints too pretty of a Christian picture. Driscoll's rebuttal focuses on how bad life is in the interest of discrediting Osteen's health and wealth gospel. He uses Jesus as an example of how disheartening earthly circumstances can be.

My Authoritative Verdict:

Osteen, of course, is glossing over the truth of John 16:33, which reminds us that we will have trouble. Not all of our problems will vanish simply because we are children of the King.

However, in all Driscoll's passion against Osteen's "heresy," he ignores the truth that is preached from the pulpit of Lakewood Church.

While I think Osteen's application of truth may extend too far, the fact is that he is basing his teachings on promises of scripture, such as 1 Corinthians 15:57, Romans 8:28-39, Matthew 6:33, and Philippians 4:6-8.

But what does Driscoll say about verses such as the ones above -- with the truth that we are more than conquerers (a.k.a. victors), we will have all our financial needs met, and we shouldn't be anxious? In this video, he neglects that Osteen's ideas come from scripture, and he gives all the reasons why these truths are not true.

See, I am not defending Osteen's implications (and at points, his outright statement) that God will heal all physical ailments. But I think this is simply an over-compensation, swinging far from people who are constantly reminding us that this life is hard.

I think Osteen's message is popular because we aren't called to be defeated, and people know this inherently. We aren't called to always focus on how screwed up the church is. We aren't called to simply accept hardship and remain in a victim mentality.

We are called to live with Christ's victory. We are new creations, and we are in Christ.

When this truth permeates our Christian circles, we won't need to have extremists like Osteen remind us that we are children of the Most High God.

When we trust that our position is truly what the Bible says it is, we do have victory, even though we may still have physical pain.

Don't Know Whatcha Got

So, they say that you don't know what you got till it's gone. It's that whole idea of taking something for granted until you lose it, and then it hits you--that thing that you didn't value meant a whole lot more to you than you ever admitted.

I know that a lot of women have husbands that just don't communicate. I've gotten a little taste of that today.

Now, wait...this is not about our latest fight.

Today, Billy got a wisdom tooth pulled. So, for the rest of the day, he's been unable to talk. This is not as fun for me as one might have thought.

See, usually Billy talks and talks and talks and talks. I mean, really...it's obnoxious. Or at least, I used to think so. But all this quiet is really unnerving, and I miss his handsome voice. So, I'm learning to appreciate him more and more.

We've been using Google Docs to converse. Billy types something, and I respond vocally. It's kinda a slow process, but it's worked so far.

His inability to speak hasn't stopped Billy from interrupting me, though--he simply doesn't wait for me to finish -

Hey wait a sec. This is Billy (I've hacked into Sarah's Blog.) I do not interrupt her. I have no idea what she's talking about.

- talking before he starts to type again.

The Rest of God

I've been taking a look at this old school book called Lord, Make my Life a Miracle, by Ray Ortland. I'm not a big fan so far. I find his tone to be quite condescending, and I typically feel like condescension doesn't go too far to spur on results. (I know that my last post probably fell into the condescension area, so I'm not claiming that I'm past that, yet.)

Anyway, I try to look past his tone to see if he has any valid points, and the truth is that he really does.

One thing that he's been talking about is practicing the presence of God (an idea popularized by Brother Lawerence in his book of the same title). He talks of how he tries to enter God's presence every hour, and how that brings him into a habitual state of focusing on God. So, I've been doing that the last few days.

It's been cool.

In addition, I've been reading Hebrews 4 over and over and over, and thinking about the rest that God offers. This has been bringing a lot of peace to me.

So...I don't know. I guess I don't have any higher purpose for this post to just let you know what I've been doing with God lately. It's been cool. :)

Let's Get a Little Creative, Please

I'm a good, obedient blogger. So, when I heard about blog action day, where bloggers are supposed to come together and blog about a topic all on one day, I thought that'd be fun. And here I am doing it.

But when I found out the topic, the only thing I could think was, "Oh, c'mon...can we please be a little less generic?"

I mean, who doesn't hear about the environment five times a day every day?

Now, you guys know from past posts of mine that I try to do my share to conserve energy and cut down on unnecessary fumes from my car. I've definitely had my kicks of going green, and I tend to think of myself as a concerned steward.

But really... isn't there something better out there we could make people aware of? I mean, you get all these people together to create a huge global voice, and environmentalism is all ya can come up with?

What would you have chosen if you were heading this up?

New Parenting Blog!

I've recently started a new parenting-focused blog so that Evansville Parent would link to me. This one over here is pretty much my own little random spiritual thoughts and struggles, which wasn't what they were looking for.

I'm trying to find a way to syndicate the new blog over here. But for now, you can check it out at http://parentingthroughthegreatunknown.blogspot.com.

Hope you enjoy!

God's Plan

So, today, I had a friend ask for an update on a situation I had told her about a few weeks ago.

My answer was, "Oh... it didn't work out." I was disappointed.

She replied smiling, "It wasn't God's plan!"

My first thought was that this was naive.

So, I began revisiting some old wonderings:

Does God have a specific plan for every situation we ever face?

And when he does have a plan, does it always come to fruition, or could this situation not working be complete against God's plan because someone involved was acting outside of His will?

Does praying over a situation ensure that God's will will be done?

What do you think?

Volunteer or Servant?

I came across this quote recently:

In a day when women pursue balance as rigorously as they work out, God and his work are relegated to a percentage of time. A culture of volunteerism has emerged, but a heart for ministry has been lost.

Any thoughts?

I'm just glad my husband shaves.

Shaun Groves and Grody Brody

So Typical

So, I was on facebook, and the video below is what showed up as most-watched from my geographical area. What a great commentary on this lovely town. Enjoy!

Why I Homeschool

There's a myriad of reason why I home school, but here are a few of the clinchers.

Schools teach to the middle.

Early last school year, I talked to my daughter's kindergarten teacher at a local private school with a concern about her reading. She happened to be quite a bit ahead of where the classroom instruction was. When I asked her teacher how this would be handled the reply was, "Don't worry. The other children will catch up."

I didn't want the other kids to catch up...not because I am spiteful toward them, but because if others "catch up," then my daughter's not progressing.

The problem is just as strong for kids with a learning difficulty in a subject. Because elementary school classes are so large and general those who are either above or below the average will not be adequately taught.

School children are over-socialized.

Lots of people see low socialization as a drawback to homeschooling. I see it as quite positive. When children are surrounded by other children for 7 hours a day at school and a couple hours in the evening playing, they get too much socialization, in my opinion.

I want my child to be respectful and able to act appropriately in the company of adults. I can't teach my child to behave well by putting her around a bunch of kids that don't behave well all day.

My daughter goes to a gymnastics class, a kids' club, and Sunday school each week. She also has some friends in the neighborhood that she plays with occasionally. I find this to be sufficient social time.

Being publicly presentable early in the morning just doesn't do it for me and my kid.

Getting up and getting my child ready to send off for school by 7:30 doesn't fit into our lives very well. Even if I'm up then (which I usually am, thanks to the baby), I'm certainly in no mood or position to be getting my 7-year-old ready to catch the bus at such an ungodly hour. I don't think it's healthy for kids to get up that early. I'm a big believer in kids sleeping as much as they need to. I'm also a big believer in lounging around in pajamas for as long as we want.

World on Fire

Awake

I woke up at 5:40 this morning 80% groggy, 100% confused. Billy wasn't in bed, and neither was his pillow.

I got up to investigate and found him on the floor in Ashlyn's room, which sounds weird, but it was quite charming.

He did this because I've been all grumpy and tired lately. Well, okay for the last 15 months of my life. Something about pregnancy and new babies doesn't allow for much sleep.

Anyway, I never did get back to sleep, but I got to lay in bed without having to worry about how much longer it would be before Ashlyn woke up. At about 6:20, Billy came in to bed and I rose to start the day with the mini-him.

I feel really good today. I keep thinking, "So this is what it feels like to sleep all night! Amazing!"

I know that he won't be able to do that every night, but it was sure a considerate, sacrificial gesture.

Thank you, Billy, for letting me sleep.

Published

Today, I hung out with my partner in homeschooling crime, Kara. She's also the one that builds my self-esteem by saying that I'm a good mom, a good singer, and her resident Bible commentary. This is why I hang out with her. LOL

Over the year that I've known her, Kara has kept hounding me to turn in an article to a local publication called Evansville Parent. Today, I picked up a copy of the issue that has my article, "Lifelong Learners," on page 16.

I'm pretty proud of that. Billy is proud of me, too. He put my article on the fridge.

I'd love to know what you think of my article. (It's is on page 5 of this electronic version.)

School Days

We're back at it, again. And we've really been having a blast.

Figuring out this schooling thing is tough with Ashlyn demanding attention and Billy working at home these days. There are scheduling considerations that we just didn't have to deal with when we started last fall.

But all in all, it's gone well. Eve is progressing well with her addition and subtraction tables. We're studying ancient history from Creation to Christ. Science has focused on water and water-related weather for these first weeks. And Eve's doing great on the piano.

Right now, she and Billy are at her weekly P.E. session, otherwise known as gymnastics class.

So, it's fun, but also tiring. So, I'm spent.

Pages Tour: Bebo Norman in Concert

Recently, we had acquired some free tickets to see Bebo Norman in concert. He was part of the Pages Tour with Shane and Shane and Shawn McDonald.

So, on Wednesday night, Billy and took advantage of some babysitting from my mom and trekked out to the West Side of Evansville for the show. (On the way, we stopped for the complete luxury of ice cream, which I believe we should eat only slightly more often than we drink alcohol.)

Upon arriving, the crowd was sparser than I had anticipated. We arrived about 1/2 an hour before the concert started, but by the time Bebo Norman got on stage, the audience had multiplied.

Those people who came late really missed out. Not only did we get a spot really close to the stage, but Shawn McDonald had been replaced in the tour by a personal favorite of mine Monk and Neagle. I was super geeked to hear them announced and even more floored to hear them play. Their first CD is great. I got as a $3 add-on to a CD-club purchase about 3 years ago. I had never heard of them, but the 30 second clip sounded good. When I got the CD, I was amazed. So, to see them play live was a nice time.

Bebo took the stage next. As expected, he was awesome. He had a larger band than the last time I saw him, which was in a school gym about 4 years ago. Back then, he traveled with a guy named Gabe who plays every instrument known to man. These days, he's added on another guitarist and a drummer.

Bebo's set was great because he's beyond talented as a lyricist and musician, but I often felt like the electric guitar was overpowering his voice, I felt like this also hindered the worship at the end of his set. When I go to my church, I like that I can hear people around me. At this concert, I could only hear the performer. That is fine for a show. But when it's a time for corporate worship, I like hearing random Dan (or Clever Dan)next to me just as much as I hear the worship leader.

Still, Bebo himself is a very down-to-earth person, and watching his set...hearing him play and listening to him talk...feels like you're right around the campfire with him.

I think one of the nicest parts of the evening was sharing it with Billy. Billy's way more into music than I am. He always knows of more cool bands, so I liked that I've been able to introduce him to a couple of my favorite artists and that we got to experience them live together.

Favorite Movie Clip

Billy tagged me to post my favorite movie clip.

This is from the 1996 movie Mother, written/directed by and starring Albert Brooks.

Special thanks to Amanda for introducing me to it. Once I saw it, it quickly became a favorite, and I even watched it during my labor with Ashlyn.



So, now I'm tagging my fellow new mom/sister in frugality Jessica.

Just One More

Recently, I posted about a conversation that Billy and I had about whether or not we ought to spend money on expensive guitars or pianos or alcohol when there are more worthy causes such as people dying of starvation that we could give the same money toward. A heated response ensued in the comments.

After Billy tried to explain me (thank you, most valiant knight of mine), Jenn asked why I feel guilty of these types of pleasures. While "guilt" is probably not the right word, I definitely have deep feelings of turmoil when confronted with the choice to spend my money on a full-out luxury for myself as others go without the bare necessities.

Now, my understanding of Jenn's recent comments is this: Idealism is only good when it leads to enough change. Not buying luxuries like beer cannot bring about enough change. Therefore, my idealism has gone too far.

I disagree with this position. I do not believe God called billionaires alone to make change in the world. I don't believe that we need to have extreme excess (which is a relative term, anyway) in order to do enough to make a difference.

Rather, I think every "little" thing we do makes enough difference to be worth it. So, I ask myself..."am I doing enough little things?"

This is not a question I ask out of trying to earn salvation or feeling like I have to get notoriety for my actions. It is simply me desiring to put faith into action. This is me considering whether I truly have the Mind of Christ at fervent work within me.

So, similar to Oskar Schindler (see clip below), I believe the lives that could be saved from every small donation are worth said donation.

I believe that luxuries shouldn't be taken for granted, and that sacrifice is our calling. This doesn't mean we can't enjoy life. It simply means that we can enjoy life on less.

Review: Meal Mixer Menu Planning

After a new baby invaded our home seven months ago, I found little time for meal preparation, and even less for planning the menu in the first place. This resulted in lots of frozen meals and more eating out than this household had ever seen.

About a month ago, I decided it was time for me to get back in the game of housewifery, and one of my first stops along the way was finding a website that would plan my week's meals for me to alleviate that burden from my own load.

What I found was MoreThyme.com, which has now become MealMixer.com. So, today, I thought I would give a quick review of the site for anyone else who's in need of this service to consider.

The Set-up

Meal Mixer is above and beyond the generic one-size-fits-all site. It doesn't simply send out a menu to all its members, regardless of their tastes. Rather, it begins with a short preferences survey asking new members to rate various ingredients on a 5-point scale from "Yuck!" to "Yum!"

After getting your personalized preferences (you can also set your personal dietary needs, such as calorie, fat, and carb intake), the planner asks for a type of meal (pasta, vegetarian, casserole, etc.) that you would like for each meal you want planned. The member has full control over whether she wants just dinners or every meal, including snacks, planned.

The website then prepares a menu. This menu can be tweaked by the member and then printed.

The printed pages include a shopping list, recipes and a week-view menu for hanging on the fridge.

The Good

There are some great qualities that came with my membership to Meal Mixers. Here are my favorite things.

Time Saving

The amount of time I've spent planning good meals with Meal Mixer is minimal. The original set-up took a little bit of time, but once I got the hang of how things worked, I was able to breeze through recipes and have my printed list in about 15-20 minutes for the week. (Keep in mind, this is with a baby in arms. Those of you who are baby-free can whip through the steps much more quickly.)

Variety Inducing

Before using Meal Mixer, my poor family had about 5 meals they could count on week after week. But with the hundreds of recipes on Meal Mixers' site, we have yet to have the same meal twice. So, once again, Billy gets up from the table and tells me something like, "That was fabulous!" Aww...it's just like when we were first married.

Tradition Keeping

Not only does Meal Mixer have tons of new recipes, but it also allows you to enter in your own recipes so you can add your old favorites to your week's plan. The screen to enter these is very intuitive, and the recipes are immediately stored in your personal favorites and dietary information is also available on these.

The Bad

There are also several things lacking with Meal Mixer. Here are a few of the more disappointing features.

Technical Glitches

Recently, MoreThyme.com turned into MealMixer.com. With this change came some new features, but there are still kinks to work out, so some of the selling points of the site actually turn into pretty big annoyances. For example, if a member doesn't like the meal that Meal Mixer chose for her, she can (in theory) ask for "ideas" and all the meals that fit the previously chosen criteria and ingredient survey are supposed to pop up for her to choose from. This doesn't actually happen. When I tried this feature, I got a pop-up window, but it was blank. Also, Meal Mixer did not fill in all the meals I requested. Therefore, we ate cereal for breakfast on Saturday, because I didn't get the cooked meal I asked for.

Incomplete Recipes

Sure there are hundreds of recipes in one location, but many of them are hard to use due to missing information. Today, I went to make a chicken and cheese casserole. I mixed all my ingredients together and realized that I didn't know what size dish to use. I whipped out a 13x9 incher and filled it up. But it didn't actually fill up. The recipe was only large enough for a 9x9. So, I ended up with two dishes to wash. This type of thing is not unusual.

Un-intuitive Interface and Inconvenient Categorizations

This website takes quite a bit of looking around to figure out how to work efficiently with it. Once the basics are learned, it continues to be annoying to move from recipe viewing to the week's grid view. Also, if you would like to move a meal from one day to another, you must keep it as the same meal. So, you can't move French Toast from breakfast on Tuesday to dinner on Wednesday. Day to day moving is allowed, but the meal categories restrict your use of them without using the long-hand procedure of entering meals one recipe at a time.

The Verdict

Despite some of the negatives, mealtime has been much more enjoyable since I've begun using Meal Mixer planning site. Will I renew when I've used my 12 menus? Probably not right away. But I expect that a couple months down the road, we'll be back to our 5 staple meals, and I'll look to sign back up.

WARNING! If you sign up for this service, make sure that you realize that they will continue charging your credit card until you cancel. There is no way to make your membership a manual update, and this is pretty shady, if you ask me.

They have some nice fine print that they'll throw at you to say that they won't refund your money once they take it from you. So, that's annoying, needless to say, but it is there if you look around.

It does seem like a cancellation takes effect at the end of your time period. So, if you "pay" for time you don't want, make the most of it and use up your menus.

On Ditzy Blondes and Deeper Thoughts

There are times in my life, rare though they be, when I wish I could be more superficial.

Last night was one of those times.

Billy and I had a "discussion" about quality and money and beer.

It all started with the question, "Does God take pleasure in our pleasure?"

After a series of interrogatories, it ended with inner conflict between what I believe and what I've thus far done in accordance with those beliefs.

There are people out there who want to hear music played on $1500 guitars, and they don't consider that there are thousands of Jamaican orphans whose material possessions in their entirety can (and actually have to) fit down the front of their t-shirt.

These are the same people who drink beer without considering that the amount of grain used in the beer that Americans consume in a year, could feed the hungry in India for that same year.

So, does God take pleasure in our pleasure? Maybe a better question is "does God take pleasure in the misery that we're perpetuating for others?"

There are people out there who can ignore this question. To take it further, they ignore the implications that the answer has on their lives. And best yet, they can sleep at night. I sometimes wish I could release my convictions and become one of these people because life seems so much simpler for them.

But I'm not a ditzy blonde. I'm the kind of girl who dies her hair black.

Press-On Tattoos > A Family Affair

8 Weeks to Optimal Health -- Week 4

Okay...I'm gonna plead guilty on this one, BUT I do have mitigating circumstances. (Ah ha! All those years as a legal secretary paid off, didn't they?)

Week 4 went down the drain a little while back. Last week, I spent a lot of time getting ready for school to begin. We'll be back at the books next week, so look for an update on how that's going soon.

Anyway, I didn't keep up with Google Reader most of that time...or housework...or health.

But the Housewife recently linked to me. So, now I have to get going.

Here's how I did on Week Four:

1) Check on your bed, mattress, and sleeping location. Is [anything] interfering with restful sleep? If so, consider making the changes described.
Okay, I’m trying not to be sarcastic, but this is just funny. Anything interfering? Uh, yeah. It’s called a baby. Changes? Well, none for now. Really, I’ve been sleeping really well lately, except for when Ashlyn wakes up, which is still sometimes 2 times a night. Other times, it’s just once. Billy’s also been helping me out as we trade mornings to get up with her at 6 am.

2) Find out about getting an air filter for your home or bedroom if you live in a polluted area or suffer from ailments that might be worsened by inhaled irritants. I’ve had an air purifier for years now, and I really can tell a difference. Ironically, this week I’d been getting headaches, so I turned it off because I realized that I need to replace the ionizer. I have a call in to my supplier to get one of those ASAP.

3) Eat some more garlic this week, in any form that appeals to you. I'm a fan of fresh garlic, but this week, powdered had to do. I do have some fresh in the fridge, but can you believe I was actually too lazy to use it. Wow! How's that for a spoiled brat? Still, one teaspoon of powder equals a clove of garlic, so we used some of that this week.

4) Replace at least two meals of animal protein with soy protein. Made some yummy TVP tacos. Mmmm-mmmm.

5) Be sure that your multivitamin is providing you with the B-complex group. I haven't used my vitamins for a couple of weeks, and boy! Have I been feeling it. B gives us some much-needed nerve energy. And I've been low on that lately. I'm feeling very worn out, which cause me to go to bed at 7:30 last night.

6) Increase your aerobic walk to 25 minutes, 5 days of the week. Again, I'm claiming that my religion forbids walks in the heat. But it is cooling down some, so hopefully this coming week.

7) Do two days of news fasting this week. I actually feel like I need to watch news more. Someone mentioned something about a bridge collapse somewhere in Minnesota (?), and I had no idea what they were talking about. I have no clue these days about the world around me, so I should probably subscribe to a news feed in Google. Then, I can do a fast from it next week!

8) Continue to practice the breathing exercises you have learned. This week you will add a powerful Relaxing Breath that will improve both mental and physical health. I did this stuff with my daughter a bit this week. She can really get herself worked up sometimes, so I thought it would be good to give her some skills to utilize when she gets overly anxious or nervous. It went well. We used an article from About.com that helps bring it to a kids' level.

Well, there we are! Back at it. See ya next week for Week Five.

Happy Birthday, Eve-Marie!

Seven years ago, my older daughter looked like this:


Here's what she looks like these days:


Happy Birthday, Chica!

Bible Journey > Galatians 5:1-12 > Circumcision or Castration?

Freedom is an amazing gift that God gave when Jesus died for us.

But for some reason, it's so freakin' hard to accept. The longer I walk this journey, the more I love my freedom. The more I appreciate the idea of living in relationship with God instead of in religion toward Him.

But on occasion, I'm still tempted to want to follow the rules.

I'm not alone.

In Galatians 5, Paul reminds his brothers that circumcision is no longer necessary. Rather, it is a harmful thing for a new convert to the Dao of Jesus to participate in.

But no matter what Paul preached, he always had people twisting his words. And this point is no different. Some people were claiming that Paul still preached the benefits of circumcision.

His response to such people?

Go castrate yourself.

Letting You Do It Instead

Today I went to the introductory session of the Women's Leadership Institute at my church. I'm excited to the rest of the classes I'll be able to attend (which will be affected by how quickly Billy gets a job).

While giving just a brief overview of the courses, Pat (our Women's Ministry Director) reminded us that we all have unique places in God's kingdom work. And she emphatically encouraged some of us by saying...

If you have small kids at home, that's where your ministry lies. Someone else can do the greeting. Someone else can do anything around the church. No one else can raise those children.

So, I'm encouraged, especially in light of my recent guilt over not serving more. For now, I'm glad to be the one who teaches my children and who raises up new followers of Christ. Soon enough, my baby will be toddling around, and we can go serve together.

But for now, I'll let you do it.

The Oh, So Precious Baby

8 Weeks to Optimal Health -- Week 3

Here we are again. Is this boring for anyone else?

1. Find out where to buy organic produce. Make a commitment to buy only organic.
Hey, Dr. Weil...how bout if you make a commitment to pay for my overpriced organic produce? It's available everywhere. It's just also twice as much as the chemical laden variety.

2. If you use an electric blanket, stop. Remove electric clock radios from the immediate vicinity of your bed. Buy a pair of UV-protective sunglasses if you don't have any.
Okay, this is getting increasingly hard to follow since I don't have the book. Why do I need to remove the clock from beside my bed??? I mean, while I'm at it, should I duck every time the microwave is turned on?

3. Make a conscious effort to eat an extra serving of fruits and vegetables with at least one meal this week.
I have definitely been doing this. I even ate *gasp* a salad!

4. Eat fish at least twice this week.
I made some super tasty tuna pitas this week. I ate that same thing for 2 meals.

5. Replace at least on serving of meat with a soy food of your choice.
I didn't know what this meant. Does he mean "meat" as in animal muscle? Or "meat" as in beef, pork, deer, and not poultry? Cause sometimes people don't classify poultry as "meat." Regardless, we didn't eat any "hard-core meat" this week, so I didn't substitute any soy. But when a recipe calls for ground beef, I use TVP. It's a soy product, and oh so good!

6. He introduced the benefits of vitamin E and selenium.
Uh, okay.

7. Start stretching.
Billy and I have been doing the Slim and Limber 15-minute video from Slim in 6 Beach Body series. (No, I don't own the whole series. I'm pretty sure I'd be embarrassed if I did.) We've both seen noticeable improvement in our flexibility, and it's a nice relaxing thing for before bed.

8. Add "Letting Yourself Be Breathed" to your breathwork.
Again, I don't have Weil's book, but I was able to find a description of this online, and frankly, this dude's weird. I mean, if the whole phobia of electronics wasn't enough, this one really takes the cake. He tells you here to lie on your back and let the universe breathe into you. Uh, no thanks. I think I'll breathe for myself.

9. Abstain from news at again one day this week.
Check.

10. Buy more flowers. Find out how to grow some of your own food.
Didn't buy flowers. I need to bring some in from outside before they all die, though.
As for the food...am I just supposed to find out? Cause I already know how, I just haven't yet set out to do it.

Alright...on to week four.

Love Song for Billy

Last week, Billy posted a Love Song video on his site, so I had to respond in turn. This is a song that I started writing in order to express how happy I was being married to him. It ended up being an apology after a fight. It also happens to be based on 1 Peter 4:8.



the lyrics...

Love covers over us,
Erases the sin,
Eliminates our weaknesses,
Removes from us the pain.
And this love is divine,
But I feel it in your touch.
And when you're close, I believe in God.

Love covers over us,
When we've given up
When we've failed to know what do to,
It's still the only Truth.
And this love is beyond any feeling I have found.
And it keeps me here when I'd rather go.

So, I'm sorry
When my words...
When everything I am is nothing that you deserve.
And I'm sorry
I forget about your love.

For your love is divine,
And I cannot measure up.
But you stay with me,
And I believe.

World's Easiest Cookies

I hate baking. But I have found a recipe for cookies that are not only addictive, but also very simple:

Cake Mix Cookies

1 box cake mix -- any flavor
2 eggs
1/2 c. oil
1/2 cup add-ins (chocolate chips, nuts, sprinkles, whatever) --optional

Mix ingredients and bake for 10 minutes at 350.

The end.

Bible Journey > Colossians 3:10

As I slowly plod through my studies, every so often a verse sticks out and compels me to slow down more and really contemplate (and inevitably thanks God for it). The verse that I've been meditating on a lot this week is Colossians 3:10.

I find that as I listen to sermons, read books, or simply have "church" discussions with Billy, I get down on myself more and more that I'm not living up to the standards of who I should be and what I should be doing as a Christian. Now, I'm not talking about works righteousness. I know that I'm righteous through Christ, but I'm talking about the good works that I was created for.

I am currently reading This Beautiful Mess by Rick McKinley, and so many of his words resonate with me. But so many of his ideas only contribute to the guilt that I feel for the amount of money we spend on convenience...the internet, the air conditioning, all the comforts that we take for granted. We spend enough money on our electricity that every month we could buy a goat for a family in India to be able to raise and milk and gain income from.

I'm so far from what I think Christianity lived out is that I often read things like McKinley's book, and rather than feeling inspired, I feel guilty. Why don't I do these things? Why do I talk about service, but use my 6-month-old as an excuse for why I never leave my house?

But Colossians 3:10 was encouraging for me. It reminds me that my newly created self is still in the process of being renewed. That was a comforting thought. The greek word for renewed is in the present participle form, and also importantly in the passive voice. Now what all that grammar lingo (which I absolutely ADORE by the way) means that GOD is at work, right now, in me. And though I have yet to be fully Kingdom-focused, He is constantly renewing me. So, while I'm not yet where I will eventually be, I am on the path, and this faith thing? It isn't a destination.

8 Weeks to Optimal Health -- Week 2

Today marks the end of my 2nd week for this 8-week program by Dr. Weil. I had a little less commitment to it than I did the first week. In fact, I don't even know all the things I was supposed to do, except for eat fish. This is mainly due to the fact that our library doesn't carry his book, so I'm relying on the Housewife to be my guide. So, as I read her posts, I'm tagging along, and basically it's hard for me to get online much when the kiddos are taking my attention. Darn kids. (That was not serious...I love my children like crazy, and I'm super blessed to be able to stay at home with them.)

So, for week three, I'll print out her post so I can follow along better, but for now, here's my progress...

1) Again, eat fish at least once this week and broccoli twice. I did the whole salmon thing again. Tried some Salmon Cakes, and they were pretty good in the taste category. Unfortunately, the recipe didn't have enough moisture, so even after I added an extra 2 Tbsp. of mayo (I'm sure that's super healthy), they were still dry. But once I doused them in ranch dressing, they weren't half bad.

Broccoli is easy. We love it around here.

2) Try to increase your consumption of whole grains. Choose whole grain breads or cereals. Does Frosted Mini-Wheats count?

3) Go to a natural-food store and look through the frozen and refrigerated sections to familiarize yourself with the many different products made from soybeans. Select one to try. No thanks. I did the soy stuff in college and never could get a taste for it. Plus any frozen food from a natural store is beyond obnoxious in the price category.

4) Buy some Japanese or Chinese green tea and try it. If you drink coffee or black tea, try to substitute green tea for some or all of your usual beverages. I've been told not to drink teas while breastfeeding. Just in case weirdo herbs give my baby retarded development. So, I stuck with my coffee, but I do use an all natural sweetener called Stevia.


5) Find out where your drinking water comes from and what impurities it might contain. Stop drinking chlorinated water. Get information about a home water-purifying system. In the meantime, drink bottled water. Our water is gross. It's contaminated with all kindsa crap and calcium. So, we have a water softener and we run tap water through old, overused pitcher filters that probably no longer work. I need to change those.

For the record, I do not agree with bottled water. Sure, I like the idea of the cleanliness of the H2O, but the excess plastic waste is not so appealing. I've gone beyond my allotment of plastic usage with baby food containers, so I cannot justify buying bottled water.

6) Start taking one capsule a day of mixed carotenes with breakfast. I ran out of vitamins this week, and have yet to get some more from my dealer.

7) Increase your daily walk to 15 minutes. Daily walks in 95 degree weather do not agree with me. Again, I spent an hour walking around the grocery store, and it also took forever to walk around the lake where Billy got baptized this weekend, so that was my exercise.

8) Visit a park or some other favorite place in nature. Spend as much time as you can there, doing nothing in particular, just feeling the energy of the place. I wish I had read this advice before the week started, cause I would've loved to make this part of my week.

9) Try a one-day "news fast." Do not read, watch, or listen to any new for a day. This is my lifestyle. I probably need to watch news more.

10) Continue with Breath Observation for five minutes a day. Then, for one minute a day, try to experience the breath cycle, beginning with exhalation and ending with inhalation. nope...I have been focusing on my breath as Billy and I prepare for leading youth in worship tonight.

So, yeah...the inner slacker has come to the forefront. I'm hoping to be a little better at this in the coming week. We shall see.

Book Review: Listening to the Beliefs of the Emerging Church

I just recently finished a great book called Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches.

There was a ton of great information in the book, but it was also the format that was just as intriguing as the beliefs that were discussed. One of the big deals of the emerging church in the post-modern world is to have a continuing conversation about God. Rob Bell talks about this in Velvet Elvis, and the idea is manifested in the pages of Listening to the Beliefs.

Each contributor has a chapter to discuss his or her beliefs on God, and then each other contributor responds. This is about as close to a conversation as you can get in print, although I imagine this one will continue at conferences such as Emergence 2007, where 4 of the 5 authors will be featured along with a couple of other names in the emerging church leadership.

Another thing that I liked about the format was that each contributor wrote the chapter in his or her own style without much direction. At times, it seemed like some of them didn't get the memo about what the chapter was supposed to be about (which was apparently their beliefs on the Trinity, the atonement, and the Scripture). If a reader approaches the book with a need to come away with solid understanding of all the beliefs, then it may prove to be an annoying read. But the reason I liked this was that it really gave a feel for the individual's personality and highlighted the diversity among emerging church leaders. Mark Driscoll wrote his chapter as a well-structured argumentation. Dan Kimball wove his beliefs into the story of his own spiritual journey, and Karen Ward's chapter was patterned more like a myspace blog than a book chapter. I found each of them to be captivating and compelling.

The content in each chapter was just as diverse as the styles in which they were written. One of the warnings against the emerging church (and a warning that 3 of the 5 authors [Driscoll, John Burke, and Kimball] themselves bring up) is that as it moves with cultural relevance, it must not water down the truth of God in exchange for a post-modern pluralistic social gospel. I felt like Driscoll, Burke, and Kimball were all pretty solid. The exception to that being that Burke believes in an old Earth. Doug Pagitt was probably where my questioning on sound doctrine came in. It's hard to nail down exactly what struck me as off because sound bites from his chapter all sound okay. It was more of a feel from both his chapter and his responses to others' chapters that caused me to think that he was a bit too open-minded for my taste. He seemed to approach theology from the starting point of experience, instead of starting at the Truth we know and integrating our experience into it to find a more complete picture. To finish the discussion, Karen Ward and her community wrote a great chapter that makes me want to re-form my church to emulate hers. I felt like she kind of suggested that they do church the right way, so that kind of attitude wasn't as cool as I'd like. But her main response to others' chapters was to emphasize the unity, and that was cool.

This information was all framed by an introduction and conclusion by Robert Webber. It was nice to have his information there because it really put the currently emerging church into perspective over the course of 2000 years, and especially in terms of the modern church that we're moving away from. He explained why the modern church grew into its place, which was helpful information for those who are disenchanted with it to hear about. To know why something happened in the first place can help us to understand more and condemn less. After reading his intro, I felt like I could better appreciate some of the people and methods that have been at the forefront of the recent church. Do changes still need to be made? Yes. Our culture continues to change, and our church is a living organism that will need to change. But at least we can understand the purpose that modernism and the church in the modern context served, and we can realize that culture is a progression, and we would not have the same ideas now about where the church should go if we hadn't seen it be where it was.

This book is a great tool to learn about both of those issues.

8 Weeks to Optimal Health

So, yesterday, I went to our fancy-schmancy library that cost WAY TOO MUCH money to build, and not nearly enough money to stock. I went in search of the book to change my life --Dr. Weil's 8 Weeks to Optimal Health. Alas, they had it not.

I was looking for it because my friend over at Musing of a Housewife was talking about her quest for better health and the new program she was trying from this book. I told her I'd tag along. I thought it was lame for me just to read her posts and copy without the benefit of the good doctor's explanation, but as our library is crap, that's just what I'll do.

So, week's one's assignments, according to the Housewife:

Clean out cabinets from all foods with artificial sweetener and artificial coloring.

I was happy to find that I didn't actually have that much in my cupboards to begin with. So, I cleared out a few canned items that I probably wouldn't have used anyway, since they've been sitting there for about a year. These are gross things like Vienna Sausage that I got from the church food pantry because they were about to expire. That was last summer. I also had some things like those bright yellow peppers. Talk about artificial coloring. I was going to take them all to a food pantry, but I've always thought it was pretty mean to take things to a food pantry that I wouldn't eat myself. So, I just threw this junk all away. I did NOT throw away my Ritz Bitz cheese sandwiches or the last package of fruit snacks. I ate these, as a last rite.


Use olive oil.
I bought some extra light flavor because I don't actually like olive oil. Plus, I can use it in Ashlyn's formula when I need to give her a bottle. It's really good for her.

Eat broccoli and salmon.
I hate salmon. My skin actually crawls at the thought of eating any fish but fishsticks. Still, I was willing to try it with a cranberry compote. Especially for the sake of not wussing out in my post here. I went ahead and got the broccoli in too. It actually turned out to be okay. Not great, but okay. The rice with cranberries mixed in, though, was amazing.

Use Dr. Weil's recommended supplements.
I thought this was cool. He has a Vitamin Advisor right on his site. Unfortunately, he wouldn't give me recommendations because I'm breast feeding. So, I'm just sticking to my normal Shaklee supplementation.

Walk 10-15 minutes 5 times a week. I went grocery shopping yesterday for an hour. And tonight I made a point of taking a walk around the 'hood with Ashlyn (I should get extra pointsa for pushing around 15 pounds, I think) while Billy and Eve rode bikes.

Take 5 minutes a day to breathe and meditate.
This is something that is nice for me. Housewife said that it bores her, but I could probably spend all day doing nothing but breathing. Today, it was especially nice to lay down to nurse Ashlyn and get some quiet prayer time in.


Get some live flowers for your home.
I will do this...really. I have a whole rose garden outside. It is actually a source of stress, because I never have time to weed it. But TOMORROW I will go cut some pretty flowers for my house. I'll even post about it just to be accountable.

From the Mouth of Babes

The other day, I took the girls to Lic's Ice Cream Shop because Eve had won a coupon for a free kiddie cup.

While we were there a song came on the radio and Eve sang along. I asked her how she knew it and she said it was on the radio in her room.

So, I asked if she's heard it a lot.

Her response: Yeah! (read: duh!) They always play the same songs!

True, true...very true.

HOT!

Is it wrong to get turned on in church?

Last night was Billy's first time leading worship at CFC. Fortunately, we got a chance to see him before the service and he could ask me to sit in a different spot than we normally do. This way, we could see each other while he was on stage, which was nice because in my selfishness, I really want to be able to worship with him in our service. And even though I was super happy that he has found the time, energy and passion to join the worship team, I didn't really want to miss out on having that joint time together. So, this way, we worshiped together, even though we were apart.

I have to say, though, that while I was worshiping God, I was also thinking about how totally HOT! my husband is. Made me really super proud to see that shiny band around his finger.

I think that other girls will be seeing him right about now (he's at church for the Sunday morning services) and be disappointed when they see that ring. And I'll be the girl they're all jealous of cause I get to hold his hand walking down the hallway...

And I get to go home with him at the end of the service.

Praise the Sweet Lord Jesus

Ashlyn's had a hard time with the whole sleeping thing ever since the Michigan disaster.

Tonight, I thought, was bound to be the same. After being an incredibly agreeable girl all evening, though, Ashlyn laid happily on Eve's bed as I tucked the latter in. I then carried Ashlyn to her room, swaddled her and proceeded to try nursing. No cooperation. So, I gave up on that, and tried rocking with her pacifier. No thank you, she argued.

So, I said, "Oh, yeah? Then you can just be by yourself for a while." I laid her down in her crib, and her an hour later haven't heard a peep from her.

I'm going to bed!

He-e-e-e-e-re We Go....

Every time I've been on a roller coaster, there's always been someone that hears the click of the mechanism unlocking the cars from the start gate and feels the need to announce to those around: "Heeeeeeeeeeere we go!" My mom is that person. It's quite endearing. So much so that I've become one of those people, too, out of habit.

There's an amusement park in Pennsylvania called Kennywood. It's a small, local-type deal outside of Pittsburgh. My family went to it when I was around 5th or 6th grade, as we were visiting the town where my mom grew up.

Kennywood has an ancient wooden rollercoaster that's built into the side of a huge hill. It was jittery as the train rushed over it, and honestly, it was a bit scary, but in that adrenaline-pumping, I-can't-get-enough sort of way. Ultimately, it was exciting.

But the thing that I remember most about that particular coaster was that the Thunderbolt was where I realized my mom was "that person."

But this isn't about my mom being "that person." It's really about the emotional and spiritual roller coasters that we ride throughout our lives. I'll be the first to say I'm on one now. With a 6 month old baby, I never know when sleep will elude me or when I'll be well-rested. Likewise, I never know if I'll be happy to be a mom or depressed to the point of drastic measures. And unfortunately, where my mood goes, my faith follows.

And I was wondering today why I'm scared of those roller coasters. This isn't the excited kind of scared. This is the fear-ridden kind. Why am I afraid to be sad? Why am I afraid to be hurt? Why am I afraid to be passionate?

When I married Billy, I vowed to him before God and our witnesses that I would join him in the adventure that God ordained for us. That adventure will include a coaster, and I don't want to be too afraid to enjoy it.

Why can I say, "Heeeeeeeeeeere we go" on the man-made ride, but not on the adventure that God is guiding me in? Why are amusement parks' rides exciting, but life's roller coasters paralyzing?

Bible Journey > Paul's Passion

I went back to Romans 19 today. This Bible study this is the place where my token ADD rears its head.

I was reading of the riot in Ephesus that the idol makers started. I found it interesting that they were mad first that their trade would fail if Christianity overtook Artemis-worship, and then...oh, yeah...Artemis will be degraded. It was more their impending loss of work than their belief in the worship that they were concerned about. How many parallels can we make on that today?

But what really stuck out to me was a couple verses into the account where it talks about Gauis and Aristarchus, two of Paul's companions. My Bible had a couple of cross-references notes and I have a growing fascination regarding who traveled with Paul when, so I checked into some other verses where these men are named.

Long story medium length...it struck me that everywhere Paul went, he seemed to drop someone off and pick someone else up. This speaks strongly of the passion for Christ that is in him and his disciples.

I'm on an upward climb, I think, back toward passion for God. It's been a while since I've felt like Christ's love compelled me the way it did for Paul and his friends. I think one of the things that's exciting to me is to see how community affects this passion.

There are a couple of women in my life right now that have played a big role in getting this momentum going again. One of the is Kara, and the other is Elaine. I am beyond grateful and forever indebted to both of them for their encouragement and love and, above all, their understanding.

It makes me excited to press on and find out some day...who will my passion encourage?

Bible Journey > Colossians 2:2

When I'm not studying for my adventure with Kara, I've been looking at confidence in God. As part of that, my friend Elaine suggested that I read Colossians 3 often. But I wanted to do so in context, so I started at the beginning of the book. This was a month ago.

Tonight, I started at the end of chapter 1 and looked into chapter 2 just a bit.

I stopped when I got to verse 2. Yeah...I'm truckin along.

It was encouraging to read this verse and helped me to gain a little passion back for serving others. After New Life, I felt like people at church weren't worth it. Elaine is helping me to learn that most people will not be interested in truly knowing God, but there will always be a faithful few that want to learn and grow and serve.

So, for them, I cling to Colossians 2:2, "My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ himself"

The Worst Weekend in the World

world record for number of door slams in a half hour...
allergic reactions...
people who cuss at their kids telling me what's wrong with mine...
alcohol emanating from pores...
nausea...
non-stop noise...

All I can say is I'm glad it's almost over.

Bible Journey > Acts 18-19 > The Dao of Jesus

As background for studying Ephesians, Kara and I started in Acts 18, when Paul leaves Corinth to set sail for Jerusalem. Apparently, the boat needed to make multiple stops, which makes sense, and one of those was Ephesus. Here Paul spoke for a couple of weeks, but promptly left to finish fulfilling his vow.

This vow is not completely described, but it was most likely a vow of consecration to God, as outlined in Numbers 6. This is an optional act of devotion that Jewish men and women are able to do, but one of the parts of it is to not cut hair until after the vow is over. The hair is then to be cut at the end of the time and taken to Jerusalem as a burnt offering. And so, this is where Paul was bound.

But he returned to Ephesus and remained there for about 3 years, which was longer than any other one spot in his missionary journeys. In this time, churches were planted all over Asia, which meant that he was sending others out and of course, those coming into Ephesus were returning to their homes to spread the Gospel.

By the middle of chapter 19, we're seeing the spiritual battle between the magicians in Ephesus and the followers of the Way. Because the Spirit of God was so powerful, many magicians revealed their secrets and burned millions of dollars worth of witchcraft paraphernalia. Pretty amazing things.

But one of the things that we loved the most was that Christians were called Followers of the Way. I guess we liked this cause it sounded cool, but as we discussed other culture-related issues (Kara and I can never quite stay on task, and that's what makes our times so much fun!), we talked about the idea of "redeeming" the things of this world for God. That said, it was our newest idea to proclaim ourselve Daoist (a.k.a. Taoist, Follower of the Way). It's a lot more acceptable to be part of an Eastern religion these days, so calling ourselves Daoist reminds us that Christianity, too, is an Eastern religion, that has been taken over by Westerners.

Sure...we're heading over to the far east in our terminology, but that's just a cultural thing, right? People in America today are more tolerant of Buddhists than anything else, so we figure being Daoists will gain us a better audience to share our faith. Ohhh....so sneaky.

Bible Journey > The Concept

So, everyone knows how cool Billy is, and when he gets on a kick, I always want to emulate him. So, on his blog, he's started posting about his Journey through the Bible, and the insights he's gaining as he goes. He'll be writing about each book he finishes, or perhaps more often, I don't really know. You should find some good stuff there.

I decided to try this same thing, but there's a difference for me. As he's going for an overarching view of the story the Bible tells, I'm going for an in-depth study that I haven't really done yet. I'm starting in Acts 18-20 because my friend Kara and I are looking at that together as a preparation for reading Ephesians.

Anyway, this is the concept... as I learn, I'll share. I'll start soon, sometime when I'm not holding this ever-fussing baby.

Too funny to keep to myself

The wages of sin are death, but by the time taxes are taken out, it's just sort of a tired feeling.
- Paula Poundstone

A Few Good Reasons to Hate the 4th

In the past several years, I've become somewhat apathetic about politics on a day-to-day basis. I don't find myself very loyal to the American way of life. But something in me stirs around this time of year, and when I see posts comparing America to Babylon and and living here to exile, well, that makes me upset. I'm not completely sure why, but I guess I feel like being in exile on earth makes sense, but limiting that to calling America "Babylon"? Well, the problems with America are problems with humanity, not just with Americans.

Anyway, today, I come to complain about the day, too. Actually, the day was great. I donned my "America Rocks" shirt, and entered the family room to find Billy faithfully practicing with his new mixing software. After finishing finishing up some school with Eve-Marie (yes, I'm an evil dictactor. Freedom is fine for America, but not my home. Mwaaahaahaa), the girls and I headed over to my parents' house. Billy joined us later.

It was after returning to our humble abode that it started. The Fireworks. Now...I love fireworks. Well, actually, I think their kinda dumb EXCEPT for when you're celebrating your country's independence, so on the 4th I love them. But I digress.

So, the fireworks are going full force right around the kiddos bedtime (did I mention that the explosions had kept me up till midnight on the 3rd when a few eager neighbors just couldn't hold off another day?), so it was unnerving when Ashlyn just couldn't get to sleep for anything. Billy and I took turns swaddling her and rocking her, but nothing. The upside of this was that we also alternated creating drums loops on the computer. Finally, Billy had the idea of bringing in a CD player to drown out the noise. Thank God for Jack Johnson.

So. all this time I was trying to not begrudge my neighbors their celebration. I wasn't really mad at them, I was just frustrated with Ashlyn and feeling rather sorry for her. But when the fireworks continue despite sheets of rain and end up waking the sleeping beauty back up at 2:00 in the morning...c'mon people.

After I got her back to sleep in the complete dark (oh, yes...the power had gone out sometime between 10:00 and 2:00), I just couldn't get MYSELF back to sleep. Somehow, I've become addicted to my air conditioning and ceiling fan for ensuring a comfortable sleeping climate. So, in the heat of my bedroom, I lay awake for a while till the power came back on. Then, I reset clocks so Billy could get up in the morning for work.

Grrrrr....I hope I get some sleep tonight.

Tackle It Tuesday

This was our garage a few days ago. It's been like that, really, since Billy moved in. We've tried to get it straightened up a time or two, but there's just no where in the house to put his things, so our two car garage was being used for ONE car...and a whole bunch of crap.

That is until "Tackle it Tuesday" came along. Now, I'm not one to really fall for gimmicks, but this time, I was a sucker. I figured that my overwhelming household chaos could be eliminated one Tuesday at a time, so here's the newest plan: one day a week, we'll be tackling another section of our house until we're happy with the organization...or until we lose interest, whichever comes first. On Tuesdays, you can come to my blog here see how nice everything's looking.

Anyway, the garage was our first project because organizing the house includes actually finding places for things. The garage had plenty of space, just a bunch of junk disorganized in it. I guessed that this would be the quickest gratification project we have.

So, on Saturday, we were set to take Sunday afternoon to tackle the garage. Only problem was that I had some kind of crazy bad sleep or something, and all I could do Sunday was get dizzy every time I stood up. So, after church, I laid down, and I woke to find this...


There's even enough room for hula-hooping.


Thanks, Billy! I love you!