As Christ Loved the Church

I love my husband. I would like to take the occasion of the interesting week we have been having to brag on my husband a little. We have been beset by a most unwelcome stomach virus in our house this week. Starting last Friday night, no sooner would one kid begin to be on the mend from throwing up all night, when, like dominoes, the next would fall. All three kids eventually succumbed. We have been up virtually every night this week with either full blown sickness or some kind of miserableness. From the first incident, my husband has taken upon himself the worst of the clean up duty. I got up, too, and did my part, but my darling husband took the worst of it, because he knows that this particular type of thing is a weakness for me, especially right now. Small aside, why does it always strike at night? Why not during the day when I can chase the kid around with a bucket and contain the damage? But no, it happens at night when it’s going to get all over the bed stuff and carpet.

He was not happy about having his sleep interrupted night after night, who is? But, even though I get to stay home each day and he has to go to work, he still demonstrated such a servant’s heart this week. And he always does. One huge example of his servant’s heart that still moves me to tears happened a couple of years ago after we suffered a second miscarriage. Just the day before I had realized I was miscarrying, we had gotten the maternity clothes down from the attic. I had not even taken them out of the boxes yet. When we got home from the hospital, I was worn out and still under the influence of some of the anesthesia from the surgery I had had to endure following that miscarriage, and while I was sleeping a drug influenced and depression influenced sleep that afternoon, Drew quietly put away the maternity clothes, because he knew how painful it would be for me to look at them there when I woke up. He is constantly doing things like that, looking out for me and the kids.

I love how he works hard to support our family and to allow me to stay home with our kids. I love how he is coaching the boys’ Upward basketball teams, head coach for one and assistant for the other. He loves his boys and is involved with them. I love how excited he gets when our least athletic boy finally ‘gets’ it and has a great, a great I say, game and how proud of his son he was when the other boys on the team patted him on the back and told him what a good job he did during the game. I love that. And I love how he helps our least mathematically interested boy patiently and how thrilled he is when the light goes on for our son and he understands the math problem. I also love it when our daughter puts on her ‘dress up dancing shoes’ and says, “Dance with me, Prince Charming,” and he picks her up in her arms and dances with her. And I love that he sees the kids' growing relationship with Christ and the development of good character as more important than everything else. I love that he loves our kids.

Is my husband perfect? No. But neither am I. Marriage is such a picture of grace when two imperfect people, two sinners in fact, covenant together to love each other and to live together until death do us part. Both of us believe we made our vows to God and to each other before witnesses who were our family and friends. We hold that covenant as a cherished thing. I love that my husband is not just committed to me, but to our marriage. That is a significant thing. And it takes a lot of grace. God has extended such amazing grace to us in saving us from our sin and reconciling us to Himself through faith in Jesus Christ, and marriage can be such a picture of that grace and light to a dark world. But the neat thing about my husband is that he does this joyfully. He loves me unconditionally, and has demonstrated it over and over and over in such practical ways. I am not easy to live with. He loves me on days when I am just not all that lovable. He may not feel all that loving, I don’t know, but if that’s the case, I don’t think he has ever shown it. He just goes on loving me more than I deserve.

And in that way, he shows a picture of Christ’s love that marriage is meant to show. How thankful I am that I got the privilege of saying, “I do,” to Drew on December 18, 1993. For sixteen years we have been growing together as we’ve walked through a lot. We’ve endured separations due to his Army commitment, and one of the highest compliments he ever paid me was when he told me about how astounded he was by the kinds of trials some of his companions faced with not being able to trust their wives back home when they were away, and how thankful he was that he knew he could trust me and that the finances and home and kids and everything else were being taken care of when he was away. That’s because I love him and I want him to be free to do his job well and not be worried by a flaky wife back home.

I love that we can share what God is teaching us as we read His word and as we hear it preached. That is a very great blessing, to share the most important thing in life together as we grow in the Lord and grow together as a couple.

The word ‘submission’ has gotten such a negative rap in our culture, but I think that is because we have so distorted the biblical meaning of it as to make it virtually unrecognizable. I also have to say that my husband does such a great job with his part of the biblical picture of marriage, loving his wife, that it is a joy to do my part. (Eph. 5:22-33) It is easy to respect a man like my husband, and for that I am very thankful. How grateful I am that I get to spend my life with him.

Think The Shack is Okay?

If you've read The Shack, want to read it, have gotten sick of having it recommended, are wondering what the hype is all about, please, please, please read this post by Albert Mohler. Seems I am linking to him a lot recently, but please read this. If you want to know why I decided not to fill my mind with this book even though lots of surprising people were recommending it to me, this answers the question.

Thank you. Public service announcement in now concluded.

What's On My Nightstand - January 2010

It's that time again at 5 Minutes for Books when we list the books we are currently reading (or just finished). Here's mine for this wintry cold January:

Just finished:

9 Dragons by Michael Connelly...one of my favorite authors, I have read everything I can get my hands on from his Detective Bosch series and all the others. The interesting thing is that all of his main characters, whether in the Bosch series or not are connected somehow, and I want to read them again in order, because not only is each book a good detective story in and of itself, it is interesting to watch the characters progress through their lives and see how their stories intersect with each other. Besides that, Mr. Connelly is a fellow University of Florida alumnus, though he finished there before I had even hit high school, and I think that is plain cool.

Currently reading:

Guardian of Lies by Steve Martini....another author I tend to like. His books are also best read in order, though each is a stand-alone story too, but I wish I'd read them in order since it is a series that follows defense attorney Paul Madriani through his career. I have not read Mr. Martini's work as voraciously as Mr. Connelly's, but I enjoy them just as well. Detective and courtroom fiction are probably my absolutely favorite type of fiction.

For Bible Study:

Hoping for Something Better by Nancy Guthrie.....I've already blogged some about this, and I'm sure there will be further posts as we continue our Tuesday morning Bible study. It's good! Today's discussion was excellent...I'm really glad this group of ladies gets to meet each week to learn together.

For Small Group Study:

Lies Women Believe by Nancy Leigh DeMoss....I really cannot recommend this book highly enough. I wish every woman would read it with an open heart and hear the wisdom in it. I've blogged a little about it and our group will be continuing to work through it until the spring, so I'll probably say more along the way. Ms. DeMoss does a wonderful job of pointing out the many subtle ways we buy into the world's way of thinking and helps us to retrain our thinking biblically. It's good!

Up Next:

John Adams by David McCullough. Very much looking forward to reading this biography. An HBO miniseries was made from it, which I hear was excellent. I actually bought this book for Drew for Christmas, but he's a little backed up with his reading at the moment, so I think I'll borrow it from him for a while and read it myself.

That's my short list for now. Please check out 5 Minutes for Books and see what other people are reading.

Tuesday Ponderings of Little Importance

I wonder if I made my boys buy the milk with their own allowance and they had to see for themselves how expensive it is, would it stop them from pouring a tall glass, drinking three sips and leaving the rest? I'm not saying this is what I'm going to do, but I wonder if it would work.

I may have found the answer to my potty-training frustration. She has gotten to the point where she knows what to do, she just doesn't like stopping whatever she's doing at the moment to go to the potty, and I'm tired of changing her pants 57 times a day and all the laundry that entails. Now, every time she potties or....you know....in her pants, she loses a toy. I don't talk loudly or get angry, she just knows that's the consequence - toy goes up on top of the living room bookshelf until she is able to stay clean and dry for a whole day. Then she gets it back when she has a dry day. So far, it's working. Two days and counting, and she can explain the consequence to us, so she knows what she's doing. We may just be on our way. Finally.

You know you have had a rather long run of gray and dreary days when your 3-year-old, while coloring in her coloring book, asks you what color the sky is and you answer, "Blue," and she says, "No, I think brown."

At least we get flurries with the gray and dreary today. That makes it interesting. And it's only 32 degrees - warm compared to minus 1 or some such very coldness.

The Y was very crowded today. People must be sticking to their resolutions....wonder what February at the Y will be like?

Well, I'm tired and need to go play with Boo for a while and maybe convince her to take a nap so maybe I can take one, too. That would be nice. Can't fault a girl for trying.....

Sanctity of Human Life Sunday

Genesis 1:27

"So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."

Psalm 139:13-16

"For You formed my inward parts;

You covered me in my mother's womb.

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Marvelous are Your works,

And that my soul knows very well.

My frame was not hidden from You,

When I was made in secret,

And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.

And in Your book they all were written,

The days fashioned for me,

When as yet there were none of them."

Interesting Thoughts from Albert Mohler's Blog

Albert Mohler has an interesting post today about "the death of the grown up." Very interesting discussion of a book written by Diana West that discusses the shift in Western culture over the past 50 years or so from mature adults being seen as authority figures and the source of wisdom to the so-called "wise child." Please read the article. I found it interesting, disturbing and extremely accurate.

In fact, much of what bothers me about letters that come home from school, ways the teachers talk to the students and approach their interactions, the philosophy behind the school mission statements and things, and a lot of the "parenting" advice that I read, and even some of the ways parents talk to their kids these days stems from this shift, I think. Have you ever watched a mom on the playground or out and about who pleads and reasons and cajoles a kid who is obviously not listening or obeying like she's afraid of him or something rather than being able to step up and be the MOM and take charge? And I've been there, too. I've bought into modern parenting philosophies without even realizing it and had to retrain myself in how to step up and be the adult. I have been annoyed by so many things I see in this way, but I could never put my finger on what it was that bothered me, and this is it. It is the shift from adults being authority figures to everyone bowing to the all wise child. I could say so much more about this.

Dr. Mohler's article from yesterday also fits in to all this, too, I think. Please read this one, too, which is also interesting and disturbing. In it he is discussing how kids are so media saturated that it's really scary, in my opinion. At the end of the article he quotes a pediatrician who basically says we just need to accept that this (the media saturation) is the way it is and learn to deal with it. Ummmm, again, why can't parents say no to some of the media saturation? We do. My kids do not have TVs in their bedrooms and they don't watch just any old thing, and our TV is not on all day, and my 11-year-old does not have a cell phone...and won't for the forseeable future, and we monitor the time they are online, too. It can be done. But it involves being the adult and setting rules and not bowing to everything the kid wants.

Random Thoughts for a Rainy Thursday

Why is Caillou bald? His little sister has hair, but he’s a little cueball. Why is that? And while we’re on the subject, does anyone else find that show really annoying? Just asking. Because I do, find it annoying, that is. Everyone is just way too sweet.

Something I miss about Florida: being able to buy fresh avocados. In Florida, I could buy an avocado that was still hard and let it ripen a day or two on the counter until it was just right for use. Here I buy avocados that have stickers that say, “Guaranteed RIPE today.” What that really means is that it took them so long to get here that they are already soft.....most are too far gone before they even hit the store, in my opinion. I keep buying the best avocados I can find, but they are usually a little riper than I would like. I still like the guacamole I make, though, even if it’s not quite as good as it would have been in Florida.

Something else I miss about Florida: being able to see the sun during the winter. It’s gray and rainy today. Again. Plus sides: it is not snowing and it is not anywhere near zero degrees. Hooray! And the squirrels are making themselves scarce today in the rain, so my dumb little dog is quiet.

My dog drives me crazy. He has discovered squirrels and barks at them. All. Day. Long. And when he is not doing that he is stealing food from the table.

I’m beginning to wonder if it is a losing prospect to teach my middle son organization skills. You should see his room. The room he paid his brother to clean. It was messy within days. He came downstairs in distress one day this week saying he had no pants to wear and he’d grown out of all the pants he could find. I went up there and opened his closet and just about had a conniption fit. At least 3 feet of clothes piled up in the floor. Apparently, when I sort, wash, and fold the laundry and deliver his to his room to be put away, rather than put them away, he has been shoving them into the closet. I started in on the organizing of the closet today, and guess what I’ve found. Pants! Yes, pants that...wait for it.......fit him. And I’m not even done. You probably don’t want to know about all the other hopelessly lost things I’m finding as I work my way to the bottom of this pile. Grrr.

That’s enough break for now. Got to get back to it.

Tuesday Morning Bible Study

I know I have mentioned before that I love my Tuesday morning Bible study group. I love sitting around the table with this group of ladies and opening God’s word and discussing the study we did over the week before. This week we got to dig in to Chapter One of “Hoping for Something Better,” exploring Hebrews 1:1- 2:4. Have I told you before that I really love the book of Hebrews? I do. I love how rich it is, how as we dig in we get to see that Jesus really is so much better than anyone or anything else.

God is, and He is not silent. He has spoken formerly through the prophets and in these last days He has spoken through His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. From the pictures of the Old Testament to the fulfillment in the New, what a blessing it is to open and read and heed His Word. What a blessing it is to be able to share together with like-minded women who love Jesus and who are willing to journey together as we seek to know Him and love Him more, to feed on His Word together. We had a wonderful discussion yesterday, and I am looking forward to the weeks ahead.

Last week we got to be reminded that God has broken the silence and spoken to us. And we talked some yesterday about how careful we need to be about experience-oriented faith and about not being too hasty to say “God told me....” without running everything, EVERYTHING, through the grid of His word. We talked about how so much of what is on Christian television is something to be very, very wary about. We talked about how much damage the ‘Prosperity Gospel’ is doing as people are sucked into its false teaching. You see, God has spoken to us...in His word and through His Son. We are to hear HIM. It isn’t about a feeling or experience, it is about faith in His revealed Word. It is about getting to know Jesus, the real Jesus, not what we think He is, or what we have become so comfortable with thinking about Him that we have begun to devalue His awesome majesty, but to really know Him.

And we can. Know Him. Jesus is the exact representation of God. He is the beloved Son. He is the appointed heir of all things. Meaning He can do just what He promised He will do because it is all His. He is the universe maker. He IS the radiant glory of God. Hallelujah! He is the powerful sustainer of all that is - and He will complete the work He has begun in those who have placed their hope and trust and faith in Him alone. He is the sin purifier. He is the seated Ruler...seated because His work is finished, and He ever intercedes for His own. He is the angels’ authority....have you ever noticed today how people love to talk about angels, but get really weird when you want to talk about Jesus and insist that He is the only way to God? People want spirituality and they like the idea of a guardian angel, but they want no demands made upon them. They want spirituality without Jesus. Problem is, that is not the truth. And Jesus is the enemy defeater. He is the One before whom every knee will bow.

I was thinking after this past week’s study about a sermon I heard once talking about how people talk about “God-to-me.” They say things like, “God to me is....” and they describe what a god in their image is like. They say things like, “My god would never....” Problem is, that’s an idol. Why settle for a weak and powerless “god-to-me” when we have been given the express image of God. Jesus came in the flesh to redeem us to Himself. We do not have to flounder around trying to define God or dictate what we think He should be like. How dare we? He has graciously given us Himself! How dare we neglect so great a salvation by settling for an idol of our own making? And knowing this, we must pay careful heed that we do not drift away. How I want to be about the business of heeding His word, and knowing Him and loving Him and living the life He has called me to live. May I be found faithful.

How good it is to read and study God’s word together and to talk about Jesus with other women who love Him and who also want to live a life that honors Him.

Moving Again

Well, since I've posted it on Facebook this morning, I guess I can write about it here, too. Drew got orders to report to Ft. Knox, KY in July, which means we have to move again - this summer. This is not unexpected for us, but still not easy, either. This time in St. Louis has been a real blessing. I am so thankful to God for the friends He has allowed us to make in the very short time we've been here, and I'm even thankful for Facebook which will at least allow me to sort of stay in touch when the time comes to say good-bye. I hate good-byes. Though we've known about it for a little while, we didn't tell anyone until we actually had orders because things change, you know.

It does look like it will be an exciting move, however bittersweet, but it's a little hard to get my mind completely wrapped around it yet. Anyway, that's the news from our front for now.

Praying for the People of Haiti

The Pyromaniacs website has this update about Haiti posted today. It is surreal watching the news coverage of this tragedy. I cannot comprehend the suffering the people are facing. Pray that those who would bring aid will be able to get it to the people soon.

Showing Support

Maybe I'm just cranky.

There's something that's been bothering me for a while, and I guess I'll just use the blog to try to hash it out for myself. Feel free to move along if you find this disagreeable.

I like Facebook. I enjoy reconnecting with old friends who I might have completely lost touch with altogether if we hadn't 'found' each other on FB. Granted it is not at all the same as actually seeing people and talking for real, but it does give some way to know how old friends (and new ones, too) are doing. I like that part of it.

Part of what I don't like about it is that you (read that "I") can waste too much time diddling around over there. It's so easy to go over to the computer 'just to check' and end up spending more time than I meant to. So, I have to place limits on myself.

One thing I find a bit annoying is some of the "pass it on" status updates. For example, there has been one going around recently about how it's time to show our support for our troops. It's all in caps, so I guess we're supposed to be yelling our support at the top of our lungs or something. Supposedly if you want to support the troops you need to post this status and tell everyone else to do it, too. I get e-mails quite frequently that say to forward the message on to everyone about supporting the troops, and the implication is that if you don't forward it then you must not support the troops. And I'm sure when people post that status or forward that e-mail, they probably feel pretty good about themselves for "showing their support."

Here's the thing. As an Army wife, seems to me the best way to "show support" isn't to hit the forward button or to copy and paste some dorky status. The best way to show support is to tell someone you know who is in the military, "Thank you for serving." Or something like that. When we first moved here, Drew and I were walking the boys in to their first day of school a year ago this month, and since Drew was on his way to work, he had his uniform on. A student who was in the hall came up to him, held out his hand for Drew to shake it, and said, "Thank you for serving our country, sir." That was cool. He didn't know us at all, but he went out of his way to 'show support' in a tangible way. Another way to show support is to show practical love to a military family when their soldier is deployed. Listen to them, offer to bring a meal or help a wife with some chore her deployed husband usually does when he is home (yard work, perhaps?), be available to just be a friend. Having been separated from my husband numerous times for various deployments and trainings and whatnots, I cannot tell you how meaningful those types of kindnesses can be. And, let me tell you, my husband feels supported when his family back home is treated kindly by people who remember he is away, too.

And while I'm thinking it out, there is more. Just because I didn't choose to post the color of my undergarments for all my Facebook friends to see does not mean that I do not understand or care about the serious nature of breast cancer. I get it. It is devastating and we all hope for a cure. I hope for a cure for other cancers, too. There again, seems like there are more practical ways to 'show support.' Donate to a cancer research organization, participate in some of the actual awareness events, do practical kindnesses for someone you know who is going through the horror of cancer treatments.

And one more thing. Just because I don't post a theologically unsound status or send an e-mail, don't assume that I do not love Jesus. I get so tired of the sanctimonious status things and e-mails that go around and say something like, "I'll bet most people won't post/forward this, but I'M not ashamed of Jesus...." or something along those lines. I get stuff forwarded to me that is just horrible theologically, and then there's the little thing at the bottom that implies that if you choose not to forward it and delete it you must not love Jesus. Actually, there are times I delete it BECAUSE I love Jesus and do not want to spread error about Him and how to worship Him. There again, there are more tangible ways to show that we love Jesus and are not ashamed of Him than to post a status or forward an e-mail and feel all good about ourselves that we've taken a stand for doing so.

I told you I was cranky.

Slush Puppy

It is 43 degrees this afternoon. Much warmer than temps to which we've become accustomed recently. MUCH warmer. Hey, it was actually pleasant out this afternoon. Compared to 1 degree with minus digits windchill factor, 45 is welcome indeed. And sunny, too! Growing up in Florida, I never would have believed you if you were to have told me that one day I would think 45 degrees is warm, but I have come to learn that it is all about perspective. It's also all about humidity. Florida cold feels different from Missouri cold, I'll grant you that. It feels colder at higher temperatures there, and there are lots of reasons for it which are way beyond the scope of this little post. Anywho.....it was a little hard not to leave snarky comments around my FL Facebook friends this week when they were whining about the cold there while we were so cold that frostbite was a real threat. Just sayin'. I also, for the most part, kept my snarky comments where they belonged, in my head and not on the computer screen. For the most part. I do remember what it was like when we broke out the heaviest winter gear for 45 degree weather. And, to be fair, when you live in Florida for years and years, you don't HAVE winter gear to break out when you have a weird year like this one. I also greatly appreciate the danger to the crops that the cold is there (save the oranges and strawberries!!). So there is sympathy from this end of the blogosphere. Some.

Anyway, on to today. Seeing as it was warm enough for the snow to be melting, I decided that it was warm enough to walk home from school. So, Boo and I put the leash on Roscoe and began our trek up to the school. And it was pleasant out comparatively speaking. We could actually endure being outside without our faces and hands hurting.

It was also muddy.

Unfortunately, I did not have the forethought to factor in just how muddy the dog would become. He was a mess. Really and truly. Thankfully, I DID have the forethought to put snowboots on the three-year-old, however. Those humongous puddles are just too irresistible.

By the time we got home, Roscoe was quite a muddy little thing, and I recruited my oldest son to keep him from venturing onto the couch while I changed my white sweater (forethought again) so I could give him a bath. I had been thinking just the night before that he needed one, and I sure am glad I waited. He hates to take a bath. I had to close him in the bathroom and force him into the tub, but once there he was patient.

You should have seen the state of that tub. It was trashed. So much dog hair and mud everywhere. Good thing I changed my shirt first. So, I also got to clean the tub this afternoon due to my need to get out of the house.

But it was worth it. Nothing relieves cabin fever better than to be able to go outside and breathe in some fresh air that doesn't hurt your lungs when you fill them. The dog was glad for the long walk, too. I think his cabin fever may just have been worse than the people in the house.

Thankful for the warmer weather today. Not nearly as optimistic as my oldest boy who asked me if this means that we won't have anymore snow for the rest of the winter. Dream on, boy, dream on.

Meeting Together to Study the Word

Our Tuesday women's study starts back today. We're going to be starting our journey through the book of Hebrews with Nancy Guthrie's book, Hoping for Something Better. I've been looking forward to this for a long time. I've missed our Tuesday meetings during the break, and I've had my appetite whetted as I began preparing for this study. Here's the letter I will share with our group today:

Hello Ladies!

My prayer for each of us as we study Hebrews together is that we will take the goals given in the book and make them ours. How I want to Go Deeper, Draw Closer and Hold Tighter to Jesus. I pray that we will grow in our understanding of and love for Jesus Christ, to desire Him more than anything or anyone else and to experience great joy as He satisfies our longing for something better by revealing to us more of Himself. I pray we will seek to live lives that honor our great King, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Ladies, let’s dig in and learn more about the great hope we have that anchors our souls as we continue to Hope for Something Better and learn to see Him for the great and glorious Lord that He is. Let us drink deeply of the Living Water that is Christ the Lord, our peace and the One who reconciles us to God, our Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace, and our hope.

This truly is my prayer as we seek to know Him more, love Him more and hold tight to His promises and trust His mercy and grace! How good it is to open His Word and know that He will speak to us through it.

For LOST Fans:

I got hooked on the story line of the TV show LOST during its first season, and I've followed it through each agonizingly slow revelation of plot twist and each much-too-long break between seasons up to now, when we are anticipating its final (finally!) season which begins in February. Finally we'll get answers. I have to tell you, that as a Christian I have become pretty sure I may not like the answers or the direction it takes, but, as I've said before, the story became so intriguing that were it a book I would have stayed up all night to finish it. Every episode, not to mention season, left us hanging, usually scratching our heads and saying, "I didn't expect THAT!" I drive my husband nuts with speculation after every episode. He will probably be very glad when the show ends, too.

Anyway, Drew stumbled across a Christian blogger who is writing some interesting discussion about the show, and, though I don't know if I will always agree with him and I try not to get too excited about supposed Christian themes from a secular show - mostly because I am pretty sure it's not being written from a Christian perspective and I am quite wary about the direction it may take, I thought I'd share a link for my blog friends who may share my interest in the show. Enjoy!

Snow Day Pictures

And now I can share some pictures from yesterday. Did I mention I am liking my new computer...and my new camera?

Behind our house

Roscoe bounding through the snow, probably trying not to let his paws touch that cold stuff too much.

M and Boo

J all bundled up for the cold

She finally got to make her snow angels after practicing in the living room floor all morning.

The big sled hill. Lots of fun, but the wind was bitterly cold so we didn't stay out too long.

Well, We Took the Plunge

I just found out we are having an "Extreme weather" day again tomorrow. But I have a new Mac to play with. Woo hoo! Bye-bye Microsoft, hello Apple! We were just plain tired of dealing with viruses - especially the latest one which basically destroyed our main computer. My husband says now my computer addiction could be justified as adding more fruit to my diet. Ha, ha. Very funny. I'm sure I'll be letting you know how the learning curve is going, but I must say, as of right now I'm liking it. A lot. It's so much faster!

Oh, and as to the extreme weather.....It's 12 degrees (feels like -7...that's MINUS 7) and dropping at the moment. Weather channel says Saturday's low is expected to be minus 1. Global warming, baby......HA! We're staying indoors and are extremely thankful for central heat. I'm not even complaining about how dry it is, I'm just very thankful to be warm inside.

Status Report - January 2010

Emulating my friend Lisa again, and still trying to get back into the blogging grove, here is my January status report:

Sitting: in my dining/living room, limping along with my slow computer (mentioned in the previous post).

Missing: being able to open my Google Reader, which, for some reason, I don't seem to be able to do with this computer. I have something like 240 unread posts sitting out there, and I miss my blog friends and reading what's going on out there in blogland. I'm not completely out of circulation, I'll be back to reading and sporadically commenting soon, I hope.

Drinking: hot chocolate that I'm sharing with my frozen little kidlets.

Enjoyed: playing in the snow with those same kidlets. Boo was so cute all bundled up like the little brother from "A Christmas Story." She even got to ride the sled down the sled hill with her brother and a neighbor boy a couple of times this morning. Climbing back up the slippery hill was....interesting. Thankfully her brothers take good care of her. I'm not so sure I would have been able to get back up that hill if I'd gone all the way down. Someone would have just had to send down an igloo and some firewood and we'd have had to camp out until it thaws, I think.

Laughed: When Boo saw her snow pants and said, "These are for cute little girls!"

Took: some funny pictures. Wish I could share them with you, but, well, we discussed that in the last post, too.

Contemplating: (don't get all weirded out, I mean it in the good sense, not the weird and mystical one) moving the blog. Several of my blog friends have done so and I am investigating it. I'm working behind the scenes on a new one elsewhere. I'll keep you posted. Only thing is, I'll miss my cute header. May have to commission a new one after I move if I can afford it. One thing I'm wondering, if I import my blog to a new site, does this one go away? Do I need to tell you all I'm moving before I try to import my archives over to the new place? I'm very computer illiterate. I know enough to know I'm quite sure about wanting to switch to Mac, though. That I do know.

Just finished: reading one of the bleakest books I think I have ever read. The Road is not your escapist reading, but it is one that leaves you thinking about things. It is also not for the faint of heart. It was not an easy book to read. It wasn't the language or the typical things that bothered me, but the total depression and hopelessness of it. It takes place in an Apocalyptic world, after a major tragedy has occurred over the entire earth, and, well, I'll just say that you get a glimpse of the total depravity of man when confronted with utter hopelessness in the particular dangers encountered by the father and son as they travel the road seeking warmer weather and looking for the "good guys" of whom you begin to wonder if there are any left. You also get a glimmer of hope in that it is a moving story about the strong bond of love between the father and son as you see the lengths the father goes to as he tries to protect and keep his son alive, and Drew happened to come home from work just as I was getting to the last pages and he asked me why there were tears streaming, streaming I say, down my face. I won't spoil it for you, but I will say that at the end, you are not left completely without hope. I can see why the book won a Pulitzer, but I would not give it a blanket endorsement because of the extremely bleak and awful nature of the subject matter. I don't think I'll be watching the movie. The book left me affected enough...I don't need visual images to go with those I conjured up on my own.

Preparing: for our Bible study in Hebrews, which starts next Tuesday. It's going to be good! Praying that each of us who are part of it will grow in our understanding and love and relationship with Jesus as we seek Him as the Something Better we long for.

Needing: to end this post. Drew wants me to look up some stuff as he decides where is the best place for him to go this afternoon to shop for a new computer.

Happy Thursday! And a belated Happy New Year, too, since I just realized I didn't wish you, my blog friends, that yet!

Snow Day!

Well, after nervously watching for the promised snow all day yesterday, and leaving choir practice and AWANA in the snow last night, we got a phone tree message last night at 10:17 PM (!!!!) saying that our school district had made the decision to close the schools today. Great rejoicing in the land this morning as the boys awoke to this joyous news. Roscoe, the hyper dog, is not as thrilled. We didn't even have to use a leash with him this morning, he did his business and ran right back to the door. He's no dummy. He knows where it's warm!

We ended up getting about 3 inches overnight and it's a winter wonderland out there. Boo has been practicing making snow angels in the living room floor this morning, so I guess I'd better get moving and get breakfast (and my necessary coffee) finished so we can get out and play.

I'd share some pictures from my NEW CAMERA (yes, my husband loves me), but our main computer has become infected with a nasty, nasty virus and is in the computer hospital, leaving me to limp along with Drew's old, very old, like when he was in Bosnia old, very slow lap top for any computing I need doing, and it does not have a memory card reader for me to download pictures. Seriously, ya'll, I feel like part of my right arm is missing without my computer. We are SERIOUSLY looking at leaving the Microsoft darkness and buying a Mac. Seriously meaning that I think Drew is going to be making a visit to the Apple store this afternoon. We are TIRED of the viruses and hassle of Microsoft. Sorry to my brother....., but I think we may be one more family making the exodus away from the PC and moving on to the better and friendlier world of the Mac. More on that as events warrant.

For now, I'm off to enjoy our snow day.

Quote of the Day

Or maybe it's the quote of the month, even. Love this quote.

"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me." - C.S. Lewis