Matt has tagged me....we list (at least) five of our favorite Christmas songs -- and then tag (at least) five other of your blog friends to do the same on their sites. If I haven't tagged you, but you would still like to list your favorites, please do!
Hmmmm...
Fav Christmas Songs...
1.Mary Did You Know? Mark Lowry
2.Precious Promise Stephen Curtis Chapman
3.Angels From the Realm of Glory
4.Silver Bells
5.I'll Be Home for Christmas
I'm tagging:
Kansas Bob
Barbara
BruceG
Paige
Becky
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Sleep...elusive sleep...
It's 1:30 a.m. here...can't sleep. Well, I did sleep for a bit. Went to bed at the very decent hour of 10 p.m. Unfortunately, the rest of the family didn't. Woke me up...now they're all asleep...and I'm not! Hubby is snoring away and we're having winter storms here in the Metroplex...which will shut things down later, I imagine.
Poor Gracie. She is terrified of thunder, but not enough to NOT make me suit up to take her out to do her business. She won't go out in the back yard when it storms...not by herself, that is. It's pretty ugly out there..but even she is sleeping nicely now! :-P
I wanna! Cable stinks. Nothing on. Does anyone else find that Overstock.com woman annoying?
Poor Gracie. She is terrified of thunder, but not enough to NOT make me suit up to take her out to do her business. She won't go out in the back yard when it storms...not by herself, that is. It's pretty ugly out there..but even she is sleeping nicely now! :-P
I wanna! Cable stinks. Nothing on. Does anyone else find that Overstock.com woman annoying?
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Leap of Faith. . .
Come to the edge.
No, we will fall.
Come to the edge.
No, we will fall.
They came to the edge.
He pushed them,
and they flew.
~Guillaume Apollinaire
No, we will fall.
Come to the edge.
No, we will fall.
They came to the edge.
He pushed them,
and they flew.
~Guillaume Apollinaire
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Psalm 66 & Hebrews 11
Psalm 66:16-20
16 Come and hear, all you who fear God;
let me tell you what he has done for me.
17 I cried out to him with my mouth;
his praise was on my tongue.
18 If I had cherished sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened;
19 but God has surely listened
and has heard my prayer.
20 Praise be to God,
who has not rejected my prayer
or withheld his love from me!
TNIV
No matter what others may think of you; He loves you! He will never leave your side! The more you feel separated from this world, the closer you are to Him! Although I have been rejected, He stays with me! ME! Little, imperfect, me. What an awesome God!
We had dinner with some people who are "on the fence" about Jesus. One of them looked at me and said, with huge blue eyes, "Sometimes I feel like I don't belong here...I see beauty, but it all feels so foreign." I asked him where he thought he might belong...if not here, where? He didn't have an answer, but he is open to all things ..so I gave him Hebrews 11:1-3 to ponder...
Hebrews 11
1Now faith is the real nature, the foundation of things we hope for, the evidence of actions which we don't see. 2This is what the elders had a reputation for.
3By faith we understand that the ages were completely equipped by God's spoken words in such a way that things which are seen came into being from things which were not made to appear. (Italics mine)
The Source New Testament
Now, the translation above is subtly different from one you might have, particularly verse 3. Check yours out and see if you get a pull in your gut from the difference. I did. If this verse doesn't scream quantum physics, I don't know what does. I've mentioned it many times in my blog, I think. It pulls God out of the fundamental box and puts Him where He belongs. Bigger than anything we could ever possibly imagine.
Our friend doesn't like people much, but he likes to think. He has a huge heart, but he has been rejected and hurt by others. Haven't we all?
Jesus loves him. This verse made his big eyes even bigger.....will you pray he gets it? Because..can you imagine the loneliness of being separated from this world without Him?
16 Come and hear, all you who fear God;
let me tell you what he has done for me.
17 I cried out to him with my mouth;
his praise was on my tongue.
18 If I had cherished sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened;
19 but God has surely listened
and has heard my prayer.
20 Praise be to God,
who has not rejected my prayer
or withheld his love from me!
TNIV
No matter what others may think of you; He loves you! He will never leave your side! The more you feel separated from this world, the closer you are to Him! Although I have been rejected, He stays with me! ME! Little, imperfect, me. What an awesome God!
We had dinner with some people who are "on the fence" about Jesus. One of them looked at me and said, with huge blue eyes, "Sometimes I feel like I don't belong here...I see beauty, but it all feels so foreign." I asked him where he thought he might belong...if not here, where? He didn't have an answer, but he is open to all things ..so I gave him Hebrews 11:1-3 to ponder...
Hebrews 11
1Now faith is the real nature, the foundation of things we hope for, the evidence of actions which we don't see. 2This is what the elders had a reputation for.
3By faith we understand that the ages were completely equipped by God's spoken words in such a way that things which are seen came into being from things which were not made to appear. (Italics mine)
The Source New Testament
Now, the translation above is subtly different from one you might have, particularly verse 3. Check yours out and see if you get a pull in your gut from the difference. I did. If this verse doesn't scream quantum physics, I don't know what does. I've mentioned it many times in my blog, I think. It pulls God out of the fundamental box and puts Him where He belongs. Bigger than anything we could ever possibly imagine.
Our friend doesn't like people much, but he likes to think. He has a huge heart, but he has been rejected and hurt by others. Haven't we all?
Jesus loves him. This verse made his big eyes even bigger.....will you pray he gets it? Because..can you imagine the loneliness of being separated from this world without Him?
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
To my blog buddies....
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! I'm so thankful for your friendship, your encouragement, your wisdom, and your support and acceptance of me! You are all a blessing!
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Yuppers....
As Becky sez....I did it! Whatyathink? Can I change this again if I don't like it??? So fickle....
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Scare tactics...
Is upgrading your template a pain? Is it easy? What will I lose??? My fingers want to push that "UPGRADE YOUR TEMPLATE" button...but I'm scared! ;-)
Dang, it's windy here...
Stuff blowing across the yard, walked Gracie this morning. She was crazy! LOVE IT!!
Alfred Sisley "A Windy Day at Veneux"
Monday, November 13, 2006
Some open minds need to be closed for repair...
Here we go again...great thinkers sharing their great thoughts: Rosie O'Donnell thinks that "radical" Christianity is as dangerous to this country as radical Islam. Elton John decrees that we need to ban all religion.
This reminds me of a discussion that I had with a friend about Christianity in general. She told me that since I was a Christian, I must hate gays. I said, no....I don't hate gays. Every gay person I know is a good and caring person. Jesus never spoke against anyone except religious legalists. But, Christians hate gays, she says, you're a Christian, you all hate gays. I suggested that perhaps she was lumping all Christians together precisely as she felt Christians lumped other groups of people together....that she was intolerant toward a group of people, just as she accused that particular group of people. She could not comprehend her own intolerance.
What kind of ignorance is this? What makes "liberal thinkers" so close-minded? Rosie O'Donnell feels she can make bigoted blanket statements against a group of people? And her remarks ARE bigotry. Elton John has the right to call for a "ban" on groups of people!? Are these the "open minds" that we are all to aspire to? We are only open-minded as long as we agree with them?
As Paul would say (properly translated) "Utter rubbish!"
This reminds me of a discussion that I had with a friend about Christianity in general. She told me that since I was a Christian, I must hate gays. I said, no....I don't hate gays. Every gay person I know is a good and caring person. Jesus never spoke against anyone except religious legalists. But, Christians hate gays, she says, you're a Christian, you all hate gays. I suggested that perhaps she was lumping all Christians together precisely as she felt Christians lumped other groups of people together....that she was intolerant toward a group of people, just as she accused that particular group of people. She could not comprehend her own intolerance.
What kind of ignorance is this? What makes "liberal thinkers" so close-minded? Rosie O'Donnell feels she can make bigoted blanket statements against a group of people? And her remarks ARE bigotry. Elton John has the right to call for a "ban" on groups of people!? Are these the "open minds" that we are all to aspire to? We are only open-minded as long as we agree with them?
As Paul would say (properly translated) "Utter rubbish!"
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Baby Michael and Daddy R. . .9lb. 10oz. He just wanted to snorfle down in the blankie!
I decided to take R's pic off because Michael's mommy has one crazy relative out there...and even though the odds are that they won't see this...ya never know.
Here is happy Uncle K holding baby(Gee...K looks like R!)
Friday, November 10, 2006
Sunday, November 05, 2006
what to do, what to do...
Long week....I'll wait before I post some pics. Thanks for all the support and suggestions! Geez, kinda knocks the wind outta your sails when you can't post a visual.
Finished one big job, will do another this coming week, and a couple of sub gigs. We had a cat-fight break out at the elementary school I've been subbing for. My youngest corrected me; said it was a "kitten" fight, not a cat fight. It was pretty fightful...book throwing, face punching, hair pulling, Karen jumping in the middle while the other sub removed the hands of the hair puller from the pullee's hair. One of the paras was upset because she didn't get to see it, or practice her "restraining" training. Hm.
I'm in a quandary. There are so many Hispanic kids at this school. Everyone is learning Spanish, there are Spanish signs all over the place, etc. My personal feeling is that I'm a little perturbed that this much energy, money, and time is spent on many who are in this country illegally. Now, I could also say that our founding fathers were a tad illegal when they took things over. However, my ancestors that came here had to jump through hoops to become legal; they had to have sponsors, learn English, and be productive.
At a gallery opening last night, one parent was bragging about their American child being in a Spanish immersion class at school in their district. I suggested that perhaps the Hispanic kids needed to be in ENGLISH immersion instead. They are here on this soil, and it would only help them to be fluent in English. This parent looked at me dumbly, and said...well, they are here to stay, and they take jobs that our teens and workers won't. I found that offensive as well. Are we going to assume that Hispanics can't rise to anything other than working the jobs that American people are too "good" to take? That's a bit shameful. I'd like to see legal Hispanics thrive and prosper here, and become active citizens.
I'm not sure it's right to force someone to learn Spanish anyway. My kids didn't want to learn Spanish, they learned Latin, and one is interested in OUR ethnic background languages; Russian and Czech. My point is that I would like these kids to be enabled to succeed on THIS soil if they are to stay (and if they are LEGAL) and little kids would learn English in probably 2 weeks in immersion because they pick it up so fast. I also have to say that these are the sweetest kids, very helpful, and behaved compared to their U.S. counterparts! So, you might see my quandary. What do you think?
Finished one big job, will do another this coming week, and a couple of sub gigs. We had a cat-fight break out at the elementary school I've been subbing for. My youngest corrected me; said it was a "kitten" fight, not a cat fight. It was pretty fightful...book throwing, face punching, hair pulling, Karen jumping in the middle while the other sub removed the hands of the hair puller from the pullee's hair. One of the paras was upset because she didn't get to see it, or practice her "restraining" training. Hm.
I'm in a quandary. There are so many Hispanic kids at this school. Everyone is learning Spanish, there are Spanish signs all over the place, etc. My personal feeling is that I'm a little perturbed that this much energy, money, and time is spent on many who are in this country illegally. Now, I could also say that our founding fathers were a tad illegal when they took things over. However, my ancestors that came here had to jump through hoops to become legal; they had to have sponsors, learn English, and be productive.
At a gallery opening last night, one parent was bragging about their American child being in a Spanish immersion class at school in their district. I suggested that perhaps the Hispanic kids needed to be in ENGLISH immersion instead. They are here on this soil, and it would only help them to be fluent in English. This parent looked at me dumbly, and said...well, they are here to stay, and they take jobs that our teens and workers won't. I found that offensive as well. Are we going to assume that Hispanics can't rise to anything other than working the jobs that American people are too "good" to take? That's a bit shameful. I'd like to see legal Hispanics thrive and prosper here, and become active citizens.
I'm not sure it's right to force someone to learn Spanish anyway. My kids didn't want to learn Spanish, they learned Latin, and one is interested in OUR ethnic background languages; Russian and Czech. My point is that I would like these kids to be enabled to succeed on THIS soil if they are to stay (and if they are LEGAL) and little kids would learn English in probably 2 weeks in immersion because they pick it up so fast. I also have to say that these are the sweetest kids, very helpful, and behaved compared to their U.S. counterparts! So, you might see my quandary. What do you think?
Thursday, November 02, 2006
love and body wars. . .
Okay. If you're lookin' for laughs today, you might not find them. I'm not sure I should proceed with this post, but I'm thinking that someone out there might benefit from it. I'm reading Bernie Siegel's "Love, Medicine, and Miracles." I've come a long way in my general attitude about life in general, according to what he writes, but the exercise I did this morning tells me I have lots to do.
Now, years ago, I unknowingly employed some of what he talks about in prayer, meditation, and visualization and was spontaneously healed of Crohn's disease. Of course, since then, I developed other stuff. . .and have tried to "think myself well" again ever since.
Anyway, one section of his book asks the reader to draw a couple of pictures, one of them with their disease and with treatment curing it. Another is supposed to be just a picture of anything. 'Sposed to use crayons. This exercise kind of scared me to start. I advise any of you out there who are ill to try it. What transpired really hit me, and was quite cathartic.
The first picture is of me. I started out with "bites" by bugs causing pain, just about everywhere. I added red to those spots which were mostly all over my body. I added the drugs that they throw at me that I think are blocked by me (zig zag barrier) and even supplement treatments that often don't seem to help. I replaced the treatment with hearts, purple for the love of God that can help me heal. . .and yet I found myself coloring over that, subconsciously, with the red again! So, I went over it with purple--again. Quite the battle, eh?
Then I drew the other picture (Horizontal. The first is supposed to be vertical) I draw this picture all the time. It's of a lone tree, full and growing, but still alone. I always draw a setting sun, or a rising sun. Never one full up in the sky. There are shadows cast behind the tree, but at least there are flowers all around. The tree is set apart from the other trees that are grouped together that are soaking up the sunlight. There's that purple color again, in the tree in the form of a bird. There is a melancholy feel about this; yet the colors are alive and vibrant. ( I notice a resemblence between this picture and the Windy Day painting by Alfred Sisley that I had never seen before this was drawn!)
There you have it...me in living color. You might be able to see things in here that I don't, but they revealed much to me; and must admit I'm feeling very vulnerable showing you. But I still think that this exercise might help someone out there.
Try it.
Now, years ago, I unknowingly employed some of what he talks about in prayer, meditation, and visualization and was spontaneously healed of Crohn's disease. Of course, since then, I developed other stuff. . .and have tried to "think myself well" again ever since.
Anyway, one section of his book asks the reader to draw a couple of pictures, one of them with their disease and with treatment curing it. Another is supposed to be just a picture of anything. 'Sposed to use crayons. This exercise kind of scared me to start. I advise any of you out there who are ill to try it. What transpired really hit me, and was quite cathartic.
The first picture is of me. I started out with "bites" by bugs causing pain, just about everywhere. I added red to those spots which were mostly all over my body. I added the drugs that they throw at me that I think are blocked by me (zig zag barrier) and even supplement treatments that often don't seem to help. I replaced the treatment with hearts, purple for the love of God that can help me heal. . .and yet I found myself coloring over that, subconsciously, with the red again! So, I went over it with purple--again. Quite the battle, eh?
Then I drew the other picture (Horizontal. The first is supposed to be vertical) I draw this picture all the time. It's of a lone tree, full and growing, but still alone. I always draw a setting sun, or a rising sun. Never one full up in the sky. There are shadows cast behind the tree, but at least there are flowers all around. The tree is set apart from the other trees that are grouped together that are soaking up the sunlight. There's that purple color again, in the tree in the form of a bird. There is a melancholy feel about this; yet the colors are alive and vibrant. ( I notice a resemblence between this picture and the Windy Day painting by Alfred Sisley that I had never seen before this was drawn!)
There you have it...me in living color. You might be able to see things in here that I don't, but they revealed much to me; and must admit I'm feeling very vulnerable showing you. But I still think that this exercise might help someone out there.
Try it.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
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