anxiously studying ...

I've been doing a little thinking about anxiety lately.

I've had some health issues for the last couple years, and after ruling out a lot of fairly scary stuff, the docs have settled on some kind of anxiety disorder. Basically my body is producing the "fight or flight" chemicals without any real reason to do so.

So ... if a wolf pack slinks up behind my on my way to my car some evening ... I'm ready!

I've started on some meds that are helping, and for which I'm very thankful. Right now, a side effect is that I could easily sleep 23 hours/day, but that will pass, and I'll be myself again, only ... hopefully ... feeling a LOT better.

That has led me to do some studying on anxiety in the Scriptures.

While I know that what's going on with my health is physically-caused, it's made me think about the sin of worry, and what it does to a person's life and relationship with God.

The first passage I looked at was in Psalm 127, and it stood out to me that God "gives to His beloved, even in their sleep." When I'm worried, and stressed, I spend the midnight hours trying to work through the issues, and figure out solutions. There is so little profit in this, and God is at work, whether I stay up or not!

I was looking, too, at Matthew 6 and Luke 12, where it talks about the Lord caring for lilies and sparrows. I happened to notice a phrase in "The Message" translation that I liked. It described the sparrows as "careless in the care of God." I loved that wording!

It was interesting to me how often worry/care/anxiousness is shown to distract a person from the Scriptures, and deaden to what God is doing. In Matthew 13:22, the parable of the four soils says that the weeds that choked out the influence of the Scriptures were the "cares of this life." And the reason why the banquet guests didn't come to the banquet in the Luke 14 parable, and why they weren't ready for the Lord's coming in the Luke 21 parable ... all the "cares of life."

And the special charge given to the single person in 1 Cor. 7 is directly related to being worry-free! vs. 32-35 say the single person is "free from concern" so they can serve God whole-heartedly. In fact, we're "free from concern" so we can be 'concerned about the things of God." "Careless in the care of God" just like the sparrows. :) Freedom from concern is the special blessing of singleness ... if we choose to reach out and grab it.

on helping

I was paid a great compliment today.

A friend had surgery, and I was over at her house giving her a hand this morning.

I did a little puttering around her kitchen, and just helped out a little here & there.

What was the compliment? She told me she felt "comfortable" with me in her house.

There is a delicate balance in being able to help someone without making them feel mothered or pressured.

I SO appreciate the friends in my life who are gifted at this, and it's a skill I've long wanted to develop.

Obviously everyone has different comfort levels, and so there's no one approach that will make everyone feel "at home" with you doing their dishes, or scooping their cat box ... but I know folks who seem particularly gifted at sensing where the lines are, and what the needs are.

Any time I get a little glimpse that I may have accomplished this in a situation, it gives me hope that I just may be of some use every now & again outside of my office!

suffering from a serious motivation deficiency ...

So ... don't assume that my lack of blogging is due to a spurt of productivity in other areas.

Napping. Been getting a LOT of napping done. TV watching. yep. That's pretty much it!

This has got to stop before my house gets to front-page-of-the-paper degrees of chaos!

a soldier in the family again ...

Not a new one actually ... the same one, just signed up again.

Congratulations to my brother, who's leaving in a month for officer training.

We're all a little blown away by how FAST this is happening, and he and his wife probably the MOST blown away.

But I'm quite proud of him for serving our country, though a little sad at the thought of him having to miss some time with his family to do so.

As the machinery in my life continues to deteriorate rapidly ... the power steering went out on my car yesterday. GOODNESS but that thing felt like a lumber wagon! The Saturn dealer seems to think it was caused by a buildup of ice under the car, and after running it through a car wash, it does seem to be doing fine. But it was a VERY weird experience.

My laptop is due to be home again today, and so blogging should resume more faithfully.

I started a word study Sunday afternoon on anxiety that I'm anxious :) to write about, but there just isn't time when I'm using work's computer!

Mac was just dirty ...

Once the screen was cleaned up, it works a LOT better.

Give it a try! :)

thoughts on dead computers

I just got an email from Carbonite today, warning me that my home computer hadn't connected to the internet for a backup in a week.

That would be the computer that's dead, and currently en route to somewhere for repair.

That online backup is SUCH a comfort. It's a hassle to be without a computer for two weeks, but I can't imagine what I would have done if I'd lost all the banking & tax information that's stored on that thing.

I just subscribed in December, and needless to say, I'm very glad I did. Consider this a product recommendation. (If you decide to give it a try, say that I recommended you, and I think we both get free months.)

And ... even if you aren't interested ... remember to back up this week. You've got a LOT of stuff on that critter that you wouldn't want to lose.

The Mac at work and I continue to try & hammer out a working relationship. Programs seem to hang up a lot on it, which isn't winning my affection, but I'm hoping it's a matter of getting things working smoothly with the server, and improvement will be following.

Adorable Niece #1

My sister-in-law pointed out this interesting video from yesterday's Today show about selective mutism. My four-year-old niece appears to have this challenge.



Update on the Mac situation.

We're learning to get along with each other, but I'm still finding everything taking considerably longer than it ought to! Part of that is that I'm so dependent on keyboard shortcuts, and I'm needing to re-learn them.

feeling lost ...

My home computer died Friday night, and so I've spent the weekend realizing how much I depend on the thing!

It's under warrantee, so I'll be able to have it fixed for free, but it will take two weeks. I might have to take up some real-world hobbies -- being without it for that amount of time!

Macinotsh is sitting on my desk

Yep ... set it up yesterday.

I'm still installing windows updates, and need to install my Office software to be able to get any work done today.

Woke up at 4:30 this morning thinking this ... and wanted to come in to work, but I have a house-guest who needed to be awoken at 6:30, so I couldn't.

However, I did use my time productively in meditating on Luke 12 -- all those wonderful reminders that the Lord will look after me, and being anxious and worrying will not do me a bit of good.

I needed that - as I sit here at work typing ON MY PERSONAL PC LAPTOP because the Mac won't connect to the email server ... looking ahead to my busiest day of the week ... not knowing how I'm going to make it all happen ... with needing to leave at 2:45 today for a doctor's appointment.

What was that Scripture again? Oh yes ... God will look after it. I need to remember that today ... and get to work!

thirsty?

Tonight, I showed up at church thirsty.

I'd like to say that by "thirsty" I mean I was longing to meet with God. But ... to be honest, by "thirsty," I mean that I was just wishing I'd had a glass of water before I left the house.

We had an excellent guest speaker today, and tonight he was talking about encouraging young people in your church who you see as gifted towards missions.

And while he was preaching, he had a glass of ice water available to him.

Right in my line of vision when I looked at him.

As I sat in the meeting, "a little thirsty" increased to "terribly thirsty," and the glass of ice water continued to sit there - not 15 feet away from me. The beads of condensation glistened on the side, and I could see the ice beginning to melt.

The speaker never took a sip.

I had a hard time tearing my eyes away from the glass, and he never touched it.

I was thinking tonight about the Lord Jesus' calling Himself the Living Water.

I WISH I had arrived at church with that kind of thirst for God, with a fixation on Him that nagged at my mind, no matter what else was happening.

But you know what, in Luke 9, the Lord says that we are to "ask and it shall be given, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you."

And, obviously, we're to ask for things that will be in line with His plan for us.

But I'm fairly sure that if I ask for spiritual thirst, that is in line with His plan for me! And more than that, not only is the thirst something He desires for me, He also desires to satisfy it. I don't have to look at the water from 15 feet away!

orchids everywhere

I drove over to Meijer Gardens for a walk this afternoon, and discovered they had an orchid show going on. It was just lovely. The variety in the flowers was amazing!

why not have a piece of fruit?

Our office is switching over to Apple computers.

My love for all things geek-ish is at war with my hatred for change.

Pros:

I'll be running something called "Parallels" which will allow me to keep using the Access database in which I've invested more than a decade of effort. Said database ties into every nook & cranny of my job, and trying to replace it quickly and without a good bit of research would be an enormous obstacle.

Apparently the Apples will allow for easier calendar sharing and ... well ... I'm not sure what else yet. But "good things." Many "good things" will happen.

Cons:

Computer in my office breaks down, I can no longer set up my personal laptop and carry on. This has been a life-saver so often in the past.

Finding substitutes for when I go away is going to become far more difficult. I've created a fairly comprehensive procedure manual that almost anyone who's computer literate and comfortable with M.S. Office could use to do my job.

But, finding people comfortable with a PC and Office ... compared to finding people comfortable with a MAC ... quite a different proposition. I hope there exists some kind of Macintosh version of Snagit that I can use to re-do the procedure manual ... but haven't done that research yet.

Losing all my tech support. I have several friends, and when faced with a computer question, we go back & forth to try & help one another. Mac-using friends? Ummm ... maybe I should put an ad on Craig's List?


************

The Apples are pretty ... I'll give them that. They're cute and small, and white. The icons jump up and down apparently eager to do one's bidding. But when it comes down to having to produce something, I'm anxious to be convinced that it will be do-able.

I was using one of them the other day, for some VERY basic data entry, and was surprised at how cumbersome the interface was. There was a lot of reaching for the mouse, when a key combination would have kept things moving much more quickly. If a key combination was available, it was certainly not advertised by the traditional underlined letter on the button. While I tried to force myself to do everything with the mouse, I still, at least twice, hit ctrl+s to save my work, and apparently started some involved process that locked me out for the remainder of the day.

One thing for sure, I need to hit the library and try to find myself a "Dummies" book that will show me how to do all the basic OS-related stuff that is SO second-nature on a PC!

40 degree temp drop overnight

Yesterday I went for a walk in the rain. It was 47 degrees, and felt SO good to get outside.

I woke up this morning, and it was 7 degrees; we'd had a TON of snow, and the wind was gusting up to 60 mph.

So all the rain had frozen, topped with snow, and the visibility was nil.

It was NOT a fun drive to work, but I was thankful to get there in one piece. They even told everyone in northern Michigan they weren't allowed out on the roads!

My, but I'm looking forward to spring!

for lack of original ideas ...

I'll borrow this from another blogger:

1. What time did you get up this morning? 5:30 a.m.

2. Diamonds or pearls? I like both ... but if someone wants to spend money on me, electronic gadgets are better than either one. :)

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? "I Am Legend."

4. What is your favorite TV show? "Monk"

5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Oatmeal with walnuts & dried fruit.

6. What is your middle name? Kathleen.

7. What food do you dislike? dried coconut, liver (thankfully I've never run across them in the same dish!)

8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Robin Mark's "Shout to the North"

9. What kind of car do you drive? Saturn Ion (Lil #6)

10. Favorite sandwich? Bacon Lettuce & Tomato with fresh warm-from-the-sun tomatoes

11. What characteristic do you despise? "despise" is too strong a word. Cruelty

12. Favorite item of clothing? anything that came from Goodwill. No guilt!

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Back to Great Britain to see all the things I had to skip the first time

14. What color is your bathroom? cranberry

15. Favorite brand of clothing? LL Bean

16. Where would you retire? Don't envision retirement as an option, unless we get a president who will privatize social security. :)

17. What was your most memorable birthday? A surprise party at Pell's. I'm not overly fond of surprises, but this one was nice, and definitely made the birthday memorable.

18. Favorite sport to watch? does demo derby count?

19. Farthest place you are sending this? to the whole internet! (or at least the 3 people who read my blog)

20. Who do you least expect to send this back to you? Osama bin Laden

21. Person you expect to send it back first? (or in this case ... answer in the "comments" section. Kristen!

22. Favorite saying? "Bitterness is poison you take hoping someone else will die."

23. When is your birthday? too close to Christmas!

24. Are you a morning person or a night person? Morning.

25. What is your shoe size? 8

26. Pets? 5 African violets and 1 orchid

27. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? it got above freezing here today!

28. What did you want to be when you were little? housewife

29. What are you today? office drudge (can you tell the kind of day I had?)

30. What is your favorite candy? chocolate turtles (made with good chocolate)

31. What is your favorite flower? Lilacs, Hyacinths & Lilly of the Valley

32. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? May 28 - going to visit a friend!

33. What church do you attend? the one outside my office door.

34. What are you listening to right now? the news

35. What was the last thing you ate? chocolate with dried pear in it

36. Do you wish on stars? Nope.

37. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Grey

38. How is the weather right now? It was up to the low 40's today! I went for a walk after work, even despite the rain.

39. Last person you spoke to on the phone? L.M.S.

40. Do you like the person who sent this to you? I'm guessing Kristen has sent me this at some point, so I'll say "yes." :)

41. Favorite soft drink? Diet Pepsi, before I gave up soda

42. Favorite restaurant? It was La Shish in Detroit, until I discovered they were closed down for supporting terrorists! Now it's a toss up between Bangkok View and El Burrito Loco

43. Hair color? Brown and rapidly going gray.

44. Siblings? one, and a sister-in-law that I was blessed to gain in recent years

45. Favorite day of the year? New Years' Day - no expectations, and I have the world to myself for the first few hours of the day

46. What was your favorite toy as a child? toy horses

47. Summer or winter? Summer.

48. Hugs or kisses? Hugs

49. Chocolate or Vanilla? Is there more than one possible answer to this question?

50. Do you want your friends to respond back? If they're so inclined.

51. What is under your bed? A cutter for picture matting and a rolled-up rug.

52. Who is the friend you have had the longest? That I'm still in regular contact with, D.M.L. That I still have occasional contact with? L.J.

53. What did you do last night? paid bills ... it was fascinating

54. Favorite smell? Thunderstorms

55. What are you afraid of? medical stuff, if I'm the focus of it

56. Plain, buttered, or salted Popcorn? butter and salt.

57. How many years at your current job? 13 years

58. Favorite day of the week? Sunday.

59. How many towns have you lived in? 11

60. Do you make friends easily? acquaintances yes; friends, no

They play OUTSIDE? In THIS?

I've never been a sports watcher, so it had never dawned on me that professional football teams in the north play outdoors, and this late in the year.

They pay these guys astronomical salaries, and then don't even provide them with a roof in this weather?

And people pas astronomical amounts of money to watch a game, outdoors at below zero temps? I mean ... they sit outside for hours in this? I nearly froze going to buy a newspaper today.

Brrrrr!!!!!

why I loathe home-improvement projects

Because they always. ALWAYS. turn out like this.

I read the instructions. I follow them. I end up with a result that could have been surpassed by my 3 and 4-year-old nieces, and they would have had a MUCH better time producing it!

"Trinka, you COULD hire someone," you say.

True. True.

But my "hire someone to do this" list is quite long already, that I feel guilty if I don't tackle some of the things that at least SEEM to be simple (when reading afore-mentioned directions!)

Grrrrr!

I could see there was mold growing behind my tub's caulking. So I knew something had to be done before I had house-plants growing inside the walls.

However, the result? I'm not at all happy with.

On the other hand, the rest of the day was quite pleasant! I never left the house, and got all kinds of cleaning/organizing/puttering done, as well as enjoyed some good books.

an exceptionally clever little novel

Online somewhere, I saw a discussion about Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn.

It looked interesting, and so I picked it up at the library on my way home from work today.

It was so engaging, that I read it straight through!

It's the story of an island-nation that reveres the man who wrote the sentence, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." (Uses every letter of the alphabet.)

The country has a monument to this man, with the sentence on the top. When the letters of the sentence begin to drop off due to glue -failure, the citizens take it as a sign that they need to cease using those letters.

And the book, also, stops using them.

It's an excellent story, and obviously very clever. It's quite far into the loss of letters before the writing becomes difficult.

If you want a short book that will grab your attention, I'd recommend it!

ah yes ... it's still winter

Saturday, I was running around without my winter coat, and wearing sandals. It was above freezing (34, in fact!), which to a northerner = "summer."

Today around noon it was 20 degrees. They say that's the warmest it will be for a week. We just started getting heavy snow and a strong wind.

Yep ... stayin' home this weekend. Yes, I am!

thoughts on comfort

I'm for it. Comfort I mean. I'm WAY too much in favor of it!

I've been reading Goforth of China. It's a biography, written by his wife, of a missionary in China during the time of the Boxer rebellion.

They went through so much for God, and were eager to do it. And He blessed them with such a wonderful ministry there. The underground church in China is thriving, and the fact that they've been strong through so many years of persecution is in large part due to missionaries like these, who gave them a solid foundation to grow on.

I was reading last night in 2 Samuel 11. It's the story of David's sin with Bathsheba, and his attempt to cover it up by murdering her husband.

But it starts so innocently ... at the time when kings went forth to battle, David sent Joab.

Instead of going out to war himself, he sent someone else.

So instead of seeing God use him to win a great victory, David had a great personal defeat.

I love my job, and my life, and so it's easy to say that "this is where God wants me."

But am I willing to have the apple-cart upset, if He chooses another path? I'm so fond of my situation, but I want to have my eyes open if becomes "the time when kings go forth to battle." I don't want to miss out on the life God wants for me.

No exercise today - I ended up taking my car to the Saturn dealer after work, and just now got home. An annoying little "thunk" turned out to be a need for sway bars & miscellaneous other stuff I don't understand.

But what I DO understand is that I'm thankful I bought the warrantee. I've had it for about a month, and I've already had $380 worth of work done. I do believe that piece of paper is going to pay for itself.

Which candidate matches your views the most closely

88% Mitt Romney
86% Fred Thompson
81% John McCain
77% Tom Tancredo
71% Mike Huckabee
62% Ron Paul
61% Rudy Giuliani
33% Bill Richardson
29% Joe Biden
26% Hillary Clinton
24% John Edwards
23% Barack Obama
23% Chris Dodd
12% Mike Gravel
10% Dennis Kucinich

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

and the phone calls continue ...

Just discovered a phone message from Philips saying, "your warrantee information is updated, and all is well. We'll be sending you a new unit, and taking yours back!"

Of course, acting on the information they gave me at 4:30 today, "you can't return it to us," I made arrangements to return it where I bought it.

So ... here I am on hold ... again ... to explain to them NOT to send me a replacement unit, or expect me to ship this one back to them.

jousting with customer service

This was the theme of the day today!

I have some eyeball issues that require yearly visits to an eye doctor, rather than the store-front glasses-fitting places preferred by my eyeball-insurance company.

Afore-mentioned eyeball-insurance company supposedly will cover part of the out-of-network costs, although I got a response from them saying I had "already exceeded my yearly benefits." Which seemed odd, as this was my first attempt to USE this particular insurance.

So bureaucracy #1 consumed 15 minutes of my life, ending with William telling me, "it was just a clerical error that caused that message. Your check is coming."

Call me "dubious" about that one. But I'll wait and watch the mail.

Bureaucracy #2 was Philips customer service regarding a defective dvd recorder.

I bought it. It never worked.

I called customer service Saturday, and cheerful-man said, "of course we'll replace it. Fax us the proof of purchase, and we'll call you right away."

Fax sent Saturday.

No call.

Fax sent again Monday.

No call.

I call back after work.

"Oh, we can't support it because you don't have the serial number." (It was a refurbished unit, and the number had been obliterated.)

Hmmm ... do you think it might have been helpful to call me with that information? Or did you think I'd just forget? Cheerful-guy from Saturday told me it wouldn't be a problem when I asked him a question about that very issue.

So ... back to company-it-was-ordered-from, who will take it back, but don't have any more. Though there WAS a cheaper unit by a different company for sale, so I ordered that ... as Philips is now one of my lesser-favored companies! Another 20 minutes of my life to Philips, and 15 more to company-it-was-ordered-from.

AND ... if you think it's boring to read ... imagine how much MORE boring it was to DO. Almost an hour spent with customer service folks today. I believe there should be a trophy of some kind coming to me.

I've been enjoying my friend Deb's new blog. She's writing daily about the Scriptures, and it's been a blessing. If you get a chance, pay her a visit!

She's inspired me that I haven't been blogging hardly at all recently about what I'm reading. I will endeavor to rectify that situation!

Which reminds me of my second accountability point - exercise. It's actually been going well. I was on the elliptical yesterday after work, and lifted weights today.

primaries tomorrow

Michigan's primary election is tomorrow. So I spent the weekend watching debates on youtube, and reading about different candidates.

I'm convinced that Fred Thompson is the guy who thinks closest to what I believe.

Of course, now that I've decided that, I'm a bit discouraged at how little I'm actually hearing about him!

A lot of my research came from youdecide2008.com. There are links to debates, and a lot of good information there.

the tea-cozy of terror

This morning, I was making my coffee, when I turned around, and saw ...

The biggest spider you've EVER seen!

And it had WAY more than 8 legs.

It was a mutant spider, hiding behind my tea pot.

I'm not normally afraid of spiders, but mutant, giant, sneaky spiders ... yes!

Oh.

Wait.

It's the tassel on the tea cozy.

Never mind. Forget it. False alarm.

a test from your friendly neighborhood English major

Whats wrong here:

AAA
BBB
CCC
DDD
EEE
FFF
GGG
HHH
III
JJJ
KKK
LLL
MMM
NNN
OOO
PPP
QQQ
RRR
SSS
TTT
UUU
VVV
WWW
XXX
YYY
ZZZ

Did you know that 80% of UCSD students could not find the error above?


(P.S. ... got the guest room done, and a good start on the living room & my bedroom. I LOVE de-cluttering days!)

basement's done!

Now ... on to the guest room.

(Well ... it's as "done" as it can be until I borrow a vehicle to haul a bunch of stuff to Goodwill!)

visiting a new church

Yesterday the church where I work & attend held our first service in our new addition. We built on a sanctuary, kitchen, classrooms and BATHROOMS (can you tell we needed those?) that more than doubled the size of our facility.

Meeting there for the first time was very strange! It was like visiting a friend's church ... but having everyone I know visit along with me. Very odd, really!

"So, Trinka, what are your plans for New Years? Particularly since you took today off from work, you must have something exciting planned, right?"

"Yes! Very exciting! I'm de-cluttering, organizing, getting rid of stuff, etc. Starting with my basement storage room, which is in deplorable condition."

"No party?"

"What? Party? Who needs a party when you can have EMPTY SHELVES?"

Have a safe evening everyone!

yikes, that was close!

On my way home from my mom’s yesterday I was on a road that has a big open field along one side.

An elderly man in a monster, tank-like car was driving right on my back bumper.

In the field was a deer, and I saw it coming at me.

I had to slow down to an almost-stop and get off onto the shoulder to avoid it.

Mr. right-on-the-bumper didn’t slow down at ALL, and started to go around me.

Fortunately he finally saw the deer. He must have been so focused on my back bumper and wanting to pass me that he wasn’t seeing ANYTHING else, because that deer was VERY visible (and very large!)

The poor fellow must have been from California ... where 5 mph over the speed limit isn't nearly fast enough, and they don't HAVE to watch for deer!

when the extraordinary interrupts an ordinary day

The man playing the video in this clip is Joshua Bell.
He's one of the best violinists in the world.
He's playing a violin worth several million dollars.
He's playing some of the most beautiful music you can imagine.

and nobody stops to listen

He's in a metro station in D.C. as part of an experiment that the Washington Post did. They planted him there, to see how the public would respond.

And the public's response? Almost exclusively ... they didn't notice him.

Over a thousand people passed him, and less than a dozen stopped to listen. Only one spoke to him. His open violin case received $35.

This isn't a lecture about busy-ness, and how it distracts us from smelling the roses.

It's a lecture about Christmas.

What was playing on your car radio this morning? What was printed on that Christmas card? The music in the mall ... what were the words?

Veiled in flesh, the God-head see
Hail the incarnate deity
Pleased -- as man with man to dwell
Jesus, our Immanuel (God with us)

Are you listening? Am I?

Mark 27:36 And sitting down they watched him there;

This was spoken at the cross, but the same can be said of the incarnation ... God becoming man ... the awe we should feel at the very idea of

Him.
There.

Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth, peace among men upon whom His favor rests.


(much of this post stolen from a sermon illustration this morning, by the way!)

Kristen says I need to post something

Didn't I just say I don't like change? Here the internet keeps on changing all the bloomin' time, and Kristen wants me to contribute to that unhappy situation? :)

What I'd really LOVE to post is one of my friends' descriptions of a funeral she just attended in Cyprus. But I don't dare, lest someone acquainted with the situation somehow run across it and be wounded by it.

The internet is a big place, but indiscretion somehow makes itself known even in the largest room!

However, if you'd like to read the description, and won't forward it ... I will share via email!

Change continues to intrude on my life. Our office is discussing switching to Macintosh computers.

I can deal with the actual O.S. change. But the thought of losing 10+ years worth of work and having to start from scratch ... THIS is not a pleasant thought. Most of what I do is in Microsoft Access, which doesn't have a Mac version. I've been up several nights dreading this thought!

Anyone out there use Filemaker Pro? What can you tell me about it? I've made some pretty fancy Access forms & queries, and a friend whose co-worker uses Filemaker says I'll need to learn to write code if I want to do anything beyond the basic. I'm quite sure I can learn it, but what I'm NOT sure of is if I can learn it AND get my job done at the same time!

change

Yesterday, our morning ladies' Bible study was canceled due to the ice on the roads. One woman hadn't gotten the message, and showed up with her baby and little girl, Olivia.

Poor Olivia. When she heard she wasn't going down to the nursery, it just broke her little heart, and she sobbed and sobbed.

Now, the nursery wouldn't have been ANY fun yesterday. All the kids she liked to play with had stayed home. But she had been PLANNING on being there with them, and she was crushed at the change of schedule.

I know just how she feels!

It takes me an inordinate amount of time to adjust to change. I can't even write it off to the fact I'm getting OLD (my last year in my 30's is just about to begin). I've ALWAYS been this way. I have these friends who are spontaneous and flexible, and while they're good for me, I have to force my brain to join that particular party!

So this accelerated car-change process is still boggling my brain. Normally I spend months deciding to get rid of a car and researching its replacement. I'm astounded that I just went out Monday and signed papers on a new (used) car with only a weekend's consideration.

Drove to the body shop Monday, also, and cleaned my stuff out of Lil #5. I hope to pick up Lil #6 today after work, and if so, I'll post a picture.

a tale of two bicycles

I don't remember much from my childhood. In fact, I don't remember much from high school, college, or anything else that happened more than 5 years in the past.

However, one strong memory I have of growing up involves these red & yellow bicycles. (the back tire of the yellow one is just visible in the left side of the picture next to my brother).

The yellow bike was a small one, and the one on which I learned to ride. Once I had grown, my parents bought me the red bike, and put training wheels on the yellow one for my brother. (They were still together at that point ... it seems SO strange to speak of them in the plural -- they divorced at about the time this picture was taken.)

The red bike was snazzy. It had gold flecks in the paint. (Even then, I thought gold was prettier than silver!). It never had a kick-stand, but other than that, it was the perfect little-girl bike.

But I couldn't enjoy it!

Why?

I felt sorry for the yellow bike. I was concerned that I was abandoning an old friend.

OK. Kids personify objects. Understandable.

But know what?

I still feel that way about my cars. :)

I went car shopping yesterday, and am going to Lansing today to look at a dealership my step-father likes.

But I just want Lil back!

Night job over the holidays

See what useful things the internet has for us? :)

Get to work Trinka!

oh please

Jews urged to light one less candle this year for Hanukkah to help the environment.

whew - right-side up

Well ... no word on what the insurance company is going to do, but I at least discovered I'm not upside down on the loan. That was a relief!

So, now, either way, I'm happy.

I don't particularly like car shopping, but I also know that a car that's been in an accident can be a rattle-trap sometimes. So either option has its pluses and minuses.

Relieved ... yes, I am.

totaled

They're talking about totaling out my car.

I'm upside-down on the loan.

I'm SO not excited about this possibility.

Did the car in the below pictures LOOK totaled to you?

update on the car situation

The car is at the collision-repair shop, and they've sent an estimate to the insurance company. As soon as it's approved, then (hopefully!) they'll get to work, and I'll have my little car back. I'm thankful for the rental, but I find myself wandering aimlessly around parking lots, forgetting what I drove. :)

Oddly enough, my mom & step-dad hit a deer the next day, and so they're awaiting a car repair as well.

Had a delightful early-birthday celebration today. The above-mentioned mom and step-dad went with me to Meijer Gardens, and then we tried a new restaurant called "The Melting Pot" - it was a fondue place. Quite fun! And any meal that ends with a vat of melted chocolate is a winner in my book.

poor wounded Ion

I went to the body shop to look at the car and snap a few pictures.

I was surprised - it doesn't look nearly as bad in daylight, without police lights flashing on it. In fact, the lights aren't even broken.

Interesting that you can see the outline of the other car's tire on the front bumper!

I was turning right, and then realized at the last minute that I needed to go straight. I turned off my blinker and kept going, and the lady who was coming from the other street, thinking I was turning, pulled out in front of me to make a left turn.

I squished her, or she squished me, or maybe both.

She was at fault on the police report, but thankfully didn't get a ticket.

Things to be thankful to God for about this:

* it didn't happen in any of the far-from-home places I've been in the past few days
* nobody was hurt
* the other driver was very pleasant, as was the police officer. Our stories all agreed, and everyone was civil ... even kind ... to one another
* it was still light - our cars were at the end of a curve, and after dark, would have been hard to see in time for other traffic to stop
* because the police report did not list me as being at fault, none of it will cost me a dime ... even my rental car is paid for
* it happened to damage my car in the same area where I had gotten a scratch on the bumper from a parking lot, so that will be fixed in the process
* T. was riding with me, and her level-headedness, and sense of humor, made the whole thing much easier to deal with
*the officer was willing to use her discretion and not give the other lady a ticket
* T.'s friend lived nearby and was willing to give me a ride home (about a half hour away)
* my boss was willing to pick me up for work this morning

So, while I have a sore neck and shoulders, and am somewhat inconvenienced, there were a great many blessings in the whole thing.

after all those miles ...

In the last week and a half, I drove from Grand Rapids, Michigan, to Roanoke, Virginia, to Kingsport, Tennessee, and back to Grand Rapids, Michigan.

So tonight?

I wrecked my car driving to Taco Bell.

I am SO not kidding.

remember how fun leaves used to be?

my nieces

This is Adorable Niece #2 and Adorable Niece #1 wearing their new aprons my mom made for them.

a view from vacation

Thanksgiving

I've been having a delightful trip. On my way to Roanoke I happened to run across Fenton Glass's factory, and I stopped and enjoyed their outlet store. I wanted to take a factory tour, but I would have had to wait for an hour for the next one to start, and I didn't feel like cooling my heels quite that long. I also stopped and wondered around the West Virginia capitol building in Charleston for a little while.

While in Roanoke, I had a lovely visit with an internet friend and her family. Then I left yesterday morning to head to my brother's.

It was a beautiful day -- the sun on the remaining autumn leaves was beautiful, and I stopped mid-way for a walk in a park I happened across. When I got to my brother's, we loaded up our kayaks and took my nieces out for a paddle on a lake. It was that warm out!

This morning, my sister-in-law's parents and sister came for Thanksgiving, and it was so nice to see them. We had a good dinner and visit, and have been playing with my nieces the remainder of the day. (We had a tea party and pajama party all in one afternoon ... ah, the social whirl).

Tomorrow, I hope to do all in my power to avoid any encounter with a retail establishment.

ahhhh ... vacation

Now, if I could only persuade my body not to wake up at 5:00 a.m., THAT would be a thing!

While I've traveled a good deal, I've always flown if I was going alone. It was usually cheaper to fly than to drive, with one person. But this time I had several stops I wanted to make, and needed to have my car.

Hence the reason I find myself in Akron. I was thinking last night how strange it is to find myself in a city where I don't know anyone. I walked to a restaurant last night from the hotel, and it seemed odd that there wouldn't be any cars passing, or families at the restaurant, who would know me.

While I'm a fairly solitary person, I see how I really do have quite a community around me of extended connections. It's actually quite ideal. God has blessed me in a way I hadn't realized.

After a day at work, I LOVE being able to go home, close the door, and be alone and quiet. But I also enjoy bumping into familiar faces at the grocery store, or seeing cars of those I know when I'm out walking.

So, in this season of Thanksgiving - I am Thankful for His blessing to me in that area.

I'm going to Roanoke today to meet a friend from the MeetChristians site. (added for my worrying mother's sake - a female friend). Then I'll be going to my brother & sister-in-law's to spend Thanksgiving with them and the adorable nieces.

On the way back home, I'm looking forward to visiting Answers in Genesis. They have a new museum on creationism, which I've been wanting to see. I had forgotten where it was located, and when reminded, looked up the location of the hotel room I had already booked, and discovered it was only 5 miles away. Well ... that aspect of the planning was easy!

Well, I suppose rush hour is probably almost over, and I should start thinking about getting on the road.

Remember this week, it's impossible to be truly thankful, unless you're thankful TO someone. God has blessed us greatly.

well ... doesn't THIS fellow just get down to the real issue

If it were just about people who wanted to come here, work hard, and support their families, I could almost see leniency. But there's way more to it than that.

I don't know anything about this candidate, but if he's pro-life, I think I'm interested!

Daydreaming about Dogs

I've always loved dogs, but the daydream of getting a puppy has been quite persistent lately. My main reason for not thinking of a puppy up until this point in my life has been that it didn't seem right to leave a dog alone for all the hours when I'm away at work.

The new addition to our church is such that I'll have an office to myself. (The one I'm in now doubles as a work room and storage.) This relates because having my own office would (probably) mean I could bring a dog with me to work, providing it was well trained. (I'd have to make sure that the leadership didn't have a problem with that concept!)

However, my condo doesn't allow pets. And my basic plan was to be in it for 10-15 years before I considered something closer to work, with laundry facilities, and the ability to have a dog.

So ... if I've still got 5-10 years before I could have a pet, I REALLY shouldn't be choosing breeds (German Shepherd), should I? :)

(photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

what's with the watches?

In the last week or so, the church's email has been totally overwhelmed with spam wanting to sell watches.

What is that all about?

They delete just as easily as the usual stuff wanting to send money from Nigeria, or increase the size of body parts I don't have, but it puzzles me that this new theme has developed. Makes me wonder if somewhere on our website someone expressed a longing for a new watch!

trying to break my talk radio habit

For the last week or two, I've been trying to listen to music at work instead of talk radio. It's been helpful in lowering the stress levels a bit (though I'm starting to feel woefully out of touch ... who IS the president right now?)

However, for the last two days, both music stations I enjoy are running money-raising campaigns.

So I have the options of:

* Feeling guilty because I listen to WCSG and am not sending them any money

* Or I can feel MORE guilty that I'm listening to WGNB and not sponsoring a child through Compassion International. They keep describing the pictures of the kids, and breaking my heart into bits!

UGH!

There are so many needs in ministries and individuals who are directly involved in my life, that I can't send checks to much that's beyond that radius. I wish I'd just hurry up & win that bloomin' Publishers' Clearinghouse I enter every morning, so I can do EVERYTHING I want to do!

Trinka

stalked by multiple lawyers

My sister-in-law mentioned this might make for an interesting blog entry.

Remember the subpoena I mentioned a few days ago? It was issued by a law firm nearby.

Then, Friday morning, when I got to work, I had a voice mail from yet another attorney, from a different law firm, asking if I could call him and answer some questions about the same accident.

I asked a lawyer-friend what was up, and he said that lawyer #2 was probably wanting to hear my story twice, so he could make me look silly when I tell it Friday.

Since I already KNOW I'm going to look silly, trying to remember something from two years ago, I was not at all looking forward to this possibility. And my friend reassured me that I don't have to talk with lawyer #2, if I don't want to.

So when I called lawyer #2 back, I left a message, asking if we could communicate via email, instead of phone. He sent me an email, saying he didn't like to type, and he wanted to talk on the phone. So I replied back with this:

I think if phone is our only option, then I'd prefer to pass. While you're not comfortable with typing, I'm not comfortable with the telephone ... so it seems that meeting in person will have to do for us both. I'm assuming you'll be there Friday, or someone from your firm.

Actually, the more I thought about it, the more it doesn't seem fair to talk ahead of time to the lawyer from one side and not to the lawyer from the other side.

I know ... that's probably naive ... but I didn't pay to go to law school for all those years, so I'm allowed to be naive when it comes to legal matters. :)

So ... at least I'm off the hook on talking to lawyer #2. I'm thankful that none of the lawyers seem to have my cell number or home address. I plan to maintain this happy situation if at all possible!

Hoping to get through Friday, tell lawyers #1 and #2 what I remember as best I can ... and then never talk to an attorney again! (at least not in a professional situation)

It is "really" a problem

I once had a boss who was quite found of encircling any word he wished to emphasize with quotation marks.

Which, usually, made it look as if he meant the opposite of what he was trying so desperately to communicate.

The reports are due "tomorrow."

He thinks he's emphasizing a firm due date.

The average reader thinks he's winking and saying, "Sure ... have it here tomorrow ... or next year ... whatever."

He would also choose to quote the occasional "noun," for no identifiable reason.

I have long been a lover of the Grammar Vandal's blog (she fixes incorrect signs with a Sharpie. I wish I had the guts!).

I recently discovered the Blog of Unnecessary Quotation Marks. This one also makes me laugh. I wish I could somehow send it to my previous boss, without actually having to communicate with him to do so. :)

blitz!

A couple from church invited me over for dinner last night, and it was such a nice evening. She's a wonderful cook, and just walking into their house and sniffing was amazing.

But, after dinner, she asked if we wanted to play games.

And out came ...

BLITZ cards!

Oh, I do love that game! And it's so rare to find anyone who plays it.

I've really got to buy myself a deck of those cards!

I feel the same way about Rook - there's nothing like walking into someone's home and seeing a deck of those familiar bird-cards on someone's bookshelf.

It's funny how games we played at pleasant times in our life carry those pleasant memories along with them. I learned to play Blitz when I was a camp counselor, and it carries with it memories of warm summer evenings, with rain pounding on a metal roof, and happy teenagers gathered around tables under fluorescent lights, in the dining hall high on the hill. :)

Off to search for "Dutch Blitz" on Froogle after I post this!

I've been served!

I just got subpoenaed to testify about a car accident I witnessed on April 15, 2005.


Oh dear ...

I knew one day I was going to wish I kept a diary. :) I have vague memories of the accident. It was a doozy! But memories I'd be willing to testify to under oath? Ummmm ....

They sent me a $10 check along with the subpoena. I'm guessing my memory isn't worth much more than that!

I'm going to see if, by any chance, I wrote an email to anyone on that date that might describe what I saw. That's about my only hope to be helpful to them!

Meijer Gardens

I went with two other ladies from church to the Meijer Gardens today. It was so beautiful. The gardens themselves are just lovely, but there was also a special sculpture exhibit of these metal sculptures that were made with precisely balanced elements, so they would move very gently in the air. It really reminded you of tree leaves, or tall grass, moving in the breeze.

It was a lovely choice for a Sunday afternoon, with delightful company as well.

The gardens now has a children's section, which I'd love to take the adorable nieces to one day.

a relaxing paddle / working without a contract

I found a park yesterday near my house that has a boat launch into the river. It's at a wide spot, so the current isn't quite so fast, and I had such a nice time. There were two blue herons on the bank watching me, and I was able to see them so close-up. I've got to start bringing my camera.

Wednesday night, in prayer meeting, one of our pastors was speaking and he was talking about rewards.

He used the two parables of the talents, and the one about the boss who hired several sets of people to work in the vineyard at different times of day. He was pointing out how God rewards believers in different ways - according to their labor (Luke 19), according to their use of the abilities He had given them (Matthew 25), and according to no standard those around them could ever see (Matthew 20).

He then talked quite a while about the vineyard parable, and how the unseen quality in those who started late in the day was their faith ... the first workers had a contract, but the latter ones only had "I'll do what's right by you."

The early workers were blessed by the boss. They signed on, and got what they were hired for. And that's a good thing.

But the later workers ... they were standing around because nobody hired them, and the boss came and offered them work, with no promise of what he'd pay. And he paid them the same as those who worked all day. The people looking on couldn't figure out what he was doing. But it came down to the fact that the had, in the secret places of their minds, trusted him, and stepped out in faith.

And in the combination of his grace, and their faith, there was a great reward.

on how we discovered the current is stronger in the center of the river

After a delightful Fernando Ortega concert last night in Berrien Springs, I came home this morning, went to church, and headed out with my kayak looking for an inaugural voyage.

I was originally planning to go to a small lake near my house, but when I got there, the beach was closed due to e-coli warnings. This triggered my "ick" reflex, and I left in search of less disgusting water.

After some wandering, I ended up at a public boat launch on the Grand River. I didn't have any trouble setting up the kayak, or getting it in the water. I decided to paddle up-river, and float back, since I wasn't sure how easy the little Dragonfly would be to paddle or steer.

It's definitely not AS easy as a hard kayak, but I think the fact I can realistically carry it from place to place more than makes up for it.

I paddled like CRAZY upstream. I went out in the middle of the river, so I wouldn't have to dodge around fallen trees. After 15 minutes of furious paddling, I looked back, and realized ...

I'd gone about a quarter mile.

That's it. :)

I floated back, enjoying the view.

But despite the lack of long-distance progress, I had a great time, and my arms now have all the strength one would expect to find in cooked spaghetti noodles.

such fun

One of the ladies who was at the retreat sent me this picture. :)

a handy bit of information I just found out yesterday

Picture this ...

You're driving a rental car, or a friend's car, or even an "I just bought this car" car.

You pull into a gas station.

And then you realize you forgot to look and see which side the gas tank door is on.

At this point, I normally open the window, and crane my head outside, trying to see the door.

But ... did you know you can tell from looking at the gas gauge?

You did?

Well, I didn't!

See the arrow next to the picture of the pump? It's pointing at the side where the door is located. (Or sometimes, they just show the picture of the gas pump, and the hose is coming off the pump on the proper side.)

Amazing the little conveniences that surround us, and we don't even realize they're there!

bought myself an early birthday present

Now I've just got to wait for it to be shipped here from Texas. :) Yesterday was a perfect fall day - warm, with the sun on the changing leaves, and I just kept thinking of how much fun it would be to be out paddling along the river shoreline at Riverside Park.

Of course, when it gets here, the weather will probably be cold and miserable. But I'm thinking ... I'm going south for Thanksgiving ... I might just take it along. :)

our church's first ladies' retreat

This past Friday and Saturday, our church had our very first ladies' retreat. It went so well - we had a nice mix of ages, and many ladies came who were fairly new to the church. This gave us a great chance to get to know them.

There were a lot of set-backs that the ladies doing the organizing faced - the lady who was scheduled to speak was hospitalized, and not able to make it. The lady who was scheduled to play the piano wasn't able to come, as her husband went home to be with the Lord. (He was a very active member of our church, and has been seriously ill for 4 years now. He and his wife were very much "present" in the weekend, even though they weren't there.)

Yet God worked all those unexpected events into the plan, and the time was a true blessing.

And ... on a personal preference note ... they had kayaks. I do love kayaks. I ended up soaked to the skin, but had a wonderful time! :)

I've wanted a kayak ever since the first time I tried one, but my short little car won't accommodate one on the inside, and my short little arms wouldn't be able to boost one up to the roof to carry it on the outside!

But in yesterday's most recent bout of online kayak shopping, I ran across a couple inflatable models that have a rigid bow and stern. I had resisted the inflatables before, because it seemed like using them would be similar to paddling around in a child's pool-toy. But these models, with the stiffening in front and back, seem like they would glide through the water more like the real deal.

I'm pondering ...

what a blessing this weekend was

I took a long weekend, and went to Kirksville, Missouri to meet some friends there from Lake Road Chapel. It was such a treat to enjoy their fellowship for a few days. And one lady who attends there spent her whole Saturday helping me, and my friend T., get our Access databases smoothed out and working well.

What a refreshment to come home, not only having enjoyed some great fellowship, but also having made such huge strides with the database. There's nothing like the help of someone who really knows what she's doing!

On the way down, we stopped in Hannibal, and enjoyed seeing the Mark Twain museum, and a beautiful over-look called "Lover's Leap" which looked down across the Mississippi river and Hannibal.

We discovered later that there's a little shop in Hannibal where they make dulcimers by hand -- so we'll have to go back again and try to find that. But I sure enjoyed what we did see there.

I picked up a shirt with a Twain quote I'd somehow missed all this time, but which I really liked: Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.

nothing can sweeten a sour disposition

I made banana-oatmeal-chocolate-chip cookies last night, so I could bring them along on my long weekend visit to some friends in Missouri.

These are my MOST favorite cookies, and I made a double batch, because I wanted to be able to give them to the people we're staying with, take them to the meal at church on Sunday plus have a few to nibble on in the car.

I finished up the last batch, washed the dishes, and put a couple of hot cookies on a plate. I poured myself a big glass of milk, sat down ...

Took a big bite of hot cookie

Took a big sip of cold milk

Except, the milk was about as sour as anything I have ever tasted. I think I can STILL taste it. UGH!

No matter how much sweetness you try and cover it with, there is NOTHING that can overcome rotten and sour.

Here's to aging well!

(P.S. the milk's expiration date was Oct. 6 ... so even we, who may not have reached our elder years, have to be careful of going sour too!)

maybe a second chance

As I contemplated the upcoming need to bring my house-plants inside, I singled out several for possible euthanasia-by-frost.

However, as I examined #1 candidate for an untimely death, I noticed that the scraggly-looking thing is producing FLOWERS. Strangely-flat flowers, but flowers.

Maybe it deserves another winter in the house. :)

I like plants, but I hate clutter - and the two preferences conflict greatly sometimes. I have absolutely no trouble getting rid of un-needed things, but I find it more difficult when "getting rid of" involves killing something alive ... even a plant!

I'm thankful, but ...

Our local Christian school is having a day where they send their teens out to volunteer at different organizations.

We're getting 10 or 11 to put to work tomorrow morning.

I'm thankful to have their help. But I sometimes wonder if getting READY for volunteers is more work than just doing the volunteer work myself! :)

they're so mock-able

I was home at lunch and had the television on, and there was this ad for these electric wheelchairs.

They had people ... all dressed alike ... driving their little wheelchairs in synchronized patterns to happy-happy joy-joy music.

It was ... odd. Really odd, in a strange, almost-mockable-but-not-quite kind of way.
Really ... go to YouTube and watch it. Ignore the middle, but be sure to jump to the end, so you can see the fancy synchronized-wheelchair moves again.

Trinka

money is tight

Michigan hasn't been able to come up with a budget.

Our esteemed (liberal!) governor says that ... if one isn't approved soon, she will need to shut down essential services.

Those being:

the lottery
casinos
packaged liquor sales

Horrors ... where WILL our quality of life go?

And if we allow a break in the above three excellent institutions, and hence temporarily stop bleeding money off those who can least afford it, maybe they'll become accustomed to doing something like ... oh ... I don't know ... SAVING it, or some such nonsense, and THEN what would happen to the moral character of our fine state?

what do you want to come home to

Earlier this week I was out for a walk, and passed a house that was notable for the shrieking coming from it. A man was sitting on a motorcycle in the driveway, and his wife was apparently screaming at him from just inside the garage door. She dialed it down when I walked past, so I didn't get the topic of the "discussion" ... just the tone.

Also this week, a friend had her court date, and her divorce will be final in two weeks.

Today I had lunch with another single friend about my age, and we were discussing how hard it would be to adjust to having another person in our lives ... what if we married someone who always had to have noise in the house, and the TV or radio was always on. What if it were someone who liked to spend money on useless luxuries. What if sports had to become a fixture of our weekends? What if ... what if ... what if ... What if God had allowed us to marry any of the men we were interested in when we were 20? Eeeek!

Then I was talking with a man at church who knew of a fellow who was marrying a woman he had known only a week and a half. The fellow was recently divorced and probably terrified of being alone.

Funny ... as I think about living alone for the past 20 years ... I don't find it at all fearful!

Thursday is my busiest day at work, and this past Thursday, I came home, tired, and stepped inside my condo, closed and locked the door, dropped my purse on the floor, and thought, "it feels so good to be alone."

I didn't have to talk. I didn't have to listen. I didn't have to drag myself back out to some social thing that night. I could just sit with my eyes closed and breathe, listening to the leaves outside my window blowing in the breeze.

Life is sweet.

Last night, I watched 20/20, (or started to ... I wanted to see a segment on a blind man who had gotten his sight back after 40 years ... but when they hadn't gotten to it after an hour, I gave up on them).

One of the segments I DID see while I was enduring the boring parts was on reparative therapy for gays. There are ministries out there (specifically Love in Action) which help those who don't want to live a homosexual life, or are struggling with other sexual addictions.

A good friend is a graduate of one of their programs, and it was a tremendous blessing to her, so I listened with interest as ABC maligned the program.

One of their points was that some of those who came from the program hadn't married ... as if the proof of their change was whether they were in a relationship. The world can't wrap their minds around the concept of celibacy. Sex is almost its own deity (as one who watched the commercials during this particular program might have gathered.)

The idea of writing a book has begun to percolate again. In fact, I'm thinking I'd like to write one jointly with the friend I mentioned above who was at Love in Action. There is a perspective that is not being shared, even in the Christian community, and needs to be.

And that is that singleness/celibacy is not simply a phase to be endured ... but rather an opportunity -- both for a closer fellowship with God, and for greater service to others.

God does not withhold something unless He has a greater gift to offer in its place.

People are missing that.

Please note that this post is in no way an endorsement of a celibate priesthood ... I think imposing something like that on an entire class of people is downright unbiblical. But if any Christian is single, we can say with certainty that ... right at that moment in time, he or she is called to be wholeheartedly seeking after God.

1 Corinthians 7:32 But I want you to be free from concern. One who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord;
33 but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife,
34 and his interests are divided. The woman who is unmarried, and the virgin, is concerned about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit; but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband.
35 This I say for your own benefit; not to put a restraint upon you, but to promote what is appropriate and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.

That's what I'm after ... "undistracted devotion to the Lord."

The tale of the smitten grandpa

This is my father.

You may notice he is carrying a bottle of Hershey's syrup.

You see, while I was visiting over Labor Day weekend, they ran out of syrup.

At dinner, dad happened to ask adorable-niece-number-two (A.N.#2) if she liked syrup on her ice cream.

A.N.#2 said, "yes."

So, in between dinner and dessert, my father (who, I seem to recall, would have told my brother and I to "suck it up" ... or something similar in a situation like this) ... drove to the store and bought Hershey's syrup for A.N.#2.

Yep.

He sure did.

Smitten. The poor man is smitten.

(And in A.N.#2's defense ...she did not wine, or cry, at the idea of no syrup. In fact, she didn't even eat it when it came. She simply expressed a preference.)

Methinks the poor man has gone most soft in the light of those little brown eyes!

the adorable nieces

Labor Day weekend, I spent at my dad & step-mom's house, along with my brother, sister-in-law, and their two girls.

It was a treat to have some relaxing time together ... particularly since we don't see much of each other. It amazes me how fast the girls are growing up ... looking less like toddlers, and more like school-agers.

Here they are, ready to leave for Sunday school, that morning.

Tomorrow ... the story of the smitten-grandpa ... (with photographic proof)

September 11

Aren't we all remembering where we were, and what our life held, 6 years ago?

It was a normal day at the church, right up until I heard the report on the radio that a small plane had hit the WTC.

I mentioned it to the other staff members, and they popped in and out of my office, listening to the news, as the events unfolded. I remember our music director saying that the air traffic control system had gone haywire, and we had to get planes out of the air until it was fixed. That certainly sounded like a more reasonable cause for the situation than what we eventually discovered was accurate.

We had a consultant here visiting us, planning for our new building (currently under construction), and he wasn't able to get home. He had a son in the military, for whom he was justifiably concerned.

The office phones kept ringing, with people calling to find out if we'd heard what was happening. Gas (which was less than $2 that morning when I bought it on my way to work) immediately went up to $4/gallon.

It was also the day I found out that a friend had done something really, really stupid and gotten herself into trouble in Africa. So the horror at what was happening in the world at large was compounded by the knowledge she was in a mess, and I had no way to help her.

I think the thing that still shocks me about 9/11, is how quickly I heard people begin to speculate about why America is hated so ... that someone would do this to us. There comes a time when we need to grow up, and acknowledge that there IS evil in the world, and evil can not be reasoned with, or even understood. Evil does not act rationally, and does not even always care for self-preservation.

I'm pro-Iraq war. I'm pro-Afghanistan war. In fact, I'm pro-any-country-that-harbors-terrorists war. G.W. did NOT lie. Our soldiers are NOT dying in vain - they are protecting our country. They're even protecting the liberals and news media that don't give them credit for doing so.

Nancy Pelosi's flowery words yesterday don't change the fact that her party is trying to strike a great blow to our national security. And we need to remember that (and ignore the media) when elections come up again.

thoughts on traveling

I've just gotten back from a couple of trips. #1 was over Labor Day weekend, to Pennsylvania, to spend some time with my dad, step-mom, brother, sister-in-law, and the two adorable nieces.

#2 was just a brief jaunt down to Berrian Springs to pick up a friend who needed a ride home after dropping off a car.

What interested me was the comparison between the two trips.

#1 required a round-trip airplane ticket, with a stop in Cleveland both coming and going

#2 was a simple two-hour drive, staying for dinner, and a two-hour drive home again.

What I found interesting was that the level of preparation for the two was roughly the same.

Those of us alive on this world right now have become so accustomed to flying. It's so easy (except if you're my father ... plane-chaos seems to follow him). The routines are familiar, and even the snags are easily overcome.

I don't even think to PRAY about it -- I'm being hurled into the air, held aloft by scientific laws I don't fully understand, and dropped down again in a strange city, where I know nobody ... with only a piece of paper (which I printed myself, at home) guaranteeing me that I'll continue on to my final destination.

And I actually put more preparation into a Sunday afternoon drive (get gas, clean out the car, charge my mp3 player and phone, tell the GPS where I want to go, etc.)

It just struck me strange!

I have some sweet pictures from Labor Day with the nieces, and I hope to post a few, provided their parents give permission. (pssst ... parents .... ???)

an early morning

God woke me up about 4:00 this morning for some time together. It's been a long time since that happened, and it was such a blessing.

I was reading in Matthew 17 & 18, and was impressed at the lengths God goes to, and wants US to go to, in restoring those who have sinned (and ME, when I sin). He hates the muck that clings to our feet, and rather than rejecting us for it, He seeks to win us away from it. And He wants US to seek to win one another away from it.

A friend is going through a hard time right now. She & her husband disagreed on whether he could have a girlfriend, and he's divorcing her. It's easy for me to be furious with him ... but God wants me to seek his restoration. I think I'm being led to write him a note ... though I'm really not liking the idea. I'll need to pray for a softer heart in this one!

Another unexpected treat I discovered in getting up so early this morning was that I was ready for work, and able to sit down with a cup of coffee to watch the lunar eclipse at 5:30. My attempt at a picture is above. I was able to see the moon go into shadow, but the clouds covered it when it was coming out. It was a beautiful way to start the day.

the raccoon story

This is my tent. The tent design is significant to the raccoon story.

You'll notice there are three "rooms". The center one is a screened area, where our supplies were sitting. The left side is where we were sleeping. The right side is empty, and only set up because we were too lazy to figure out how detach it.

Among the supplies in the center section were a couple bags with bread and hot dog buns.

We had gone out to a free concert by the Niagara symphony on one of the canals in Welland. It was beautiful, and got us back to the camp-site quite late.

Not thinking much farther than the pillows, Caroline and I tucked in and went to sleep. It was cold, and she thought that zipping the flap between the small section and the screened section might help keep us warmer.

Then, in the wee hours of the morning, raccoons started fighting outside the tent, and sniffing around the base.

It was then I remembered that I hadn't put the food away properly.

It was also then I heard activity INSIDE the tent ... just on the other side of the flap into the screened room.

There was much flailing about, as our nocturnal friend got the food he smelled, and then discovered he couldn't get OUT.

I got up and unzipped the screen room doors, but it was impossible to tell when the critter(s) were exiting and entering, so I never dared zip them back up again, lest we have another prisoner.

It was a MOST long night (for me). Caroline is gifted at being able to fall asleep immediately, and in almost any circumstance!

At one point, I realized that not only was the food in the center section, so were my car keys. Raccoons love shiny things. Car keys are shiny.

I woke Caroline up to mention this. She mumbled something about raccoons not being able to drive, and went back to sleep.

When the sun came up, the fuzzy fellows retreated to the woods. Any un-sealed food was picked clean, but there was remarkably little chaos otherwise. They did refuse to eat the heel of the loaf of bread, and left it crumbled in the middle of the room, but other than that, everything was fairly orderly. I was picturing what a fearful animal could do when trapped in a room, and the mental picture was everything-but-orderly!

We made the choice to spend the next night at her parents' house. It was much more peaceful. :)

stay tuned for

the racoon-in-the-tent story ...

subtitled

How the girls rememberd in the middle of the night they forgot to store the food in the car.

bringing out the vigilante in me

I'm a pretty passive sort of person.

Until ...

I'm on a highway with one lane closed for construction.

There's nothing that enrages my sense of frustrated justice like having people go whizzing past a whole line of people, and cutting in line just before the highway narrows down.

Today I found myself driving straddling both lanes, clenching my teeth. One fellow drove on the shoulder to get past me, and then tried to nudge in front of me.

Nope.

Not gonna happen.

I was prepared to DIE on that hill.

I parked my front bumper an inch off the back bumper of the pickup in front of me, and refused to move.

Weird. Just ... weird.

Weird because - don't they realize they're causing the whole line of cars to have to slow down for them, because they weren't willing to wait their turn (a skill, I believe, most of us learned in Kindergarten, if we hadn't gotten it before that.)

But also weird, because ... why am I making this my personal crusade? There just seems to be far more significant issues I could choose.

Speaking of crusades, I heard a quote from Hillary Clinton this afternoon, mentioning that the government doesn't care about daycare for single moms, and health care.

My question is. WHY do we expect the government to fix this stuff? I just don't get it.

Families, and churches, and communities are SO much better equipped, yet they've ceded the responsibility, and the government has picked it up, and we've passively let it happen. To the point that now, it seems taken-for-granted that the government is the best institution to solve these issues.

A radical change of thinking is needed in that regard, and it needs to START by the family, and the church, and the community re-claiming the responsibility to meet the needs of our own.

OK, end of rant. SEE - I knew there were issues I wanted to blog about. :)

the unfaithful blogger goes camping

It seems the more blogs I read, the less often I post on my own. I find other people's stuff is SO much more interesting than my own, since it hasn't already been floating around in my head for weeks.

I'm looking forward to meeting some folks in Ontario to go camping this weekend. One is a friend who's living on Cyprus now, teaching school, so it will be great to hear about her life there.

Hmmm ... anything blogworthy ... anything at all ... ??? Nope. Can't think of anything.

patting self on the back for SOMETHING

The exercise and eating-right thing is NOT going well this summer. It's just not.

But I CAN say that I've quit drinking diet soda. I know the stuff is just a conglomeration of chemicals, and serves no purpose. But I love sweet stuff, and it's one of the diet-friendly sweet things out there.

So ... I've been a month without it so far, and I consider this at least ONE good-health thing I've accomplished this summer, along with the fact I can now swim for a half hour without stopping. I don't swim FAST, but at least it's moving. :)

I'm also reading Watchman Nee's Sit Walk Stand, and really enjoying it. I've been listening to Harry Potter in the car, and it is a good story. I find myself lingering in parking lots trying to get to the end of a chapter.

Gave up on the running program temporarily - I want to take off 20 pounds before I re-start it so my knees will protest a bit less.

There ... a conglomeration of updates ... none particularly interesting. :)

I've finally decided it's time to read it

I'm a big fan of well-written children's literature. I have very fond memories of books that captured my imagination for days on end

So when I hear of new books being published that have that kind of transporting influence on kids, I'm immediately prone to think positively of them.

So, I've decided to give this Potter kid a try. I've waited until now, because I knew they were a series, and I VERY much dislike having to wait for another book to be published to be able to continue the story.

Now that they're all out there, I'm ready to go. I'm picking up an audio version of book 1 from the library today.

If they're as good as people seem to think, I may disappear for several weeks. Don't worry ... I'll come up for air (or dinner) eventually. :)

Love a good story ...