27 thoughts on “Rants and Raves 4-6-13”

  1. 🙂 Elvera came home to me yesterday afternoon. I picked her up at Polly’s and she didn’t want to fool with the kitchen so we went somewhere for dinner.
    😦 Friday night. I couldn’t even get a parking place at some of the locations. I wonder what it would be like if the economy weren’t so bad?
    We went to the Chinese place. It wasn’t bad.
    I saved all her mail for her. Even the advertisements. She reads everything before throwing it away. She never discards something unopened. So she was busy this morning.

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  3. 🙂 Dairy Queen sundae: chocolate ice cream with cherry topping. (I didn’t know DQ had chocolate ice cream until my husband ordered it once.)

    🙂 Lots and lots of work.

    😦 Lots and lots of work.

    🙂 Most of the current projects I like. (I got a lot of “duds” last year.)

    🙂 Spring is on the way. Goldfinches are yellow again, birds are singing, crocuses are blooming and other bulbs are up, and trees are looking like they’re considering let us see their leaves. And it’s supposed to be in the sixties today.

    😦 Very disappointing verdict in a case in the PCA.

    🙂 Being married to a man who cares deeply about theology.

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  4. 🙂 Kare’s new floor — especially when you see the “before” pics on FB! That was quite a job. But the end result was beautiful.

    🙂 Good week at work, capped off with a couple animal stories (bald eagles & a corgi) that I had fun writing.

    😦 Serious illnesses, a couple deaths hitting our church of late.

    😦 The return of foxtail season. I wish I liked spring more than I do sometimes. Too often I see it as the season of weeds. 😦 Blech.

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  5. 🙂 Gained five pounds in the last two weeks(!) And yes, that is a rave. I’d lost five pounds since Christmas for some reason, probably stress-related, that I could not afford to lose. Hubby (who has average-size hands for a man) can almost get his hand around my upper arm and have his thumb and middle finger touch. 😦 My weight loss was getting pretty scary to both of us, so gaining back the weight I’d lost recently is reassuring. Not sure how I managed to put the five pounds back on in such a short period of time, but I feel a lot better, and am glad of that. 🙂

    🙂 Snow is melting, birds are singing (but our goldfinches are not yellow yet)…I’m hoping spring will come shortly after it does for Cheryl. 😉

    🙂 First Arrow got a promotion to Shift Leader with the convenience store chain for whom he works, a good and reputable company.

    🙂 Hubby is done with overnights!!! Monday he starts his new shift, 1:00 pm to some time around 10:00, 11:00 or midnight. Ah, finally…relief! Thank you, Lord!

    😦 Struggling with using my time well after coming off my media fast. It was easier to resist the urge to get on the computer during my fast than it is to get myself off the computer once I’m on.

    🙂 But God is bigger than any earthly challenge. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

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  6. 😦 I tried to download Joel Rosenberg’s The Last Days from the library to my Kindle. It now tells me I have borrowed the book. But it isn’t on my Kindle. It isn’t on my Amazon account either. I can’t even return it.
    I called the library consultant, but she is out today.
    Saturday, you know.

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  7. Turn it off and turn it on again, Chas. Sometimes that works for me–the machine needs to sync, or get in touch with its innerself, or some other magic thing I never understand has to happen . . .

    🙂 😦 Fighting among my story lines. You can read the humorous account here: http://www.michelleule.com

    🙂 😦 Trying to pacify the stories by writing one in the morning, one in the afternoon. I’ll know by nightfall if it’s working . . . !

    🙂 H got off for Sicily after lots of prayer.

    🙂 I was blessed by how many of her young friends (H is 31) came together at various times over the week to pray for her.

    🙂 We’re feeling confident she is going into a God-ordained situation rather than the uncertain one from last week.

    🙂 She got lots of farewell flowers–which she left with me!

    🙂 Rain this week!

    😦 Sprouting weeds but not enough rain to discourage drought.

    😦 Reading in Joel. Scary.

    🙂 Daughter got a PAID internship for the summer!

    🙂 Stargazer may run his dissertation computer modeling from home this summer–which means all my children in the county for a couple months! Sheer bliss!

    😦 But I have two big writing projects and need lots of time to write . . . job can’t release me this summer, so I will be very, very busy and in need of solitude. Sigh.

    🙂 Another adorable grandchild on the way–that makes five in six years!

    🙂 The Lord is very good to me.

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  9. 😦 The following essay…

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jessica-gerson/dear-opponents-of-marriage-equality-heres-why-i-call-you-a-bigot_b_2981744.html

    But even more so that this was posted on Facebook by a “strong” Christian believer, one of the adult daughters of the family upstairs.

    She also writes, “I’m afraid I need to strongly disagree that a child NEEDS a male and female influence in the home and by all means this should be the status quo to seek.”

    She has a degree in psychology, & tends to think quite highly of her intelligence & education.

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  11. 😦 Cell phone broken.

    🙂 Cell phone replaced.

    😦 Talked into upgrading the WiFi device at the same time. Assured it would work with our computer, but it did not. This started a chain of events, which ended in getting a laptop. This has been a plan for a few years, but not what we really wanted to do right now. The whole thing was a pain. Very unhappy with the sales people.

    😦 Washer broken. Will need to replace it.

    😦 Camera lost and possible left in a restaurant that is closed until at least May because of a water main break and flooding. We have talked to someone twice at the hotel where the restaurant is attached. They cannot verify whether it was left there. The lost and found is in the flooded basement.

    🙂 God is faithful and good. Eternal things are eternal and cannot be stolen, lost or broken. That is worth many 🙂

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  12. Good grief, Kathaleena. Sounds like you’ve moved into an anti-electronic zone of some kind.

    Chas, I also have to turn on the wifi on the Kindle before things that I’ve downloaded appear. Then remember to turn it off again because it eats up the battery time something awful.

    Karen, 😦 It’s struck me, too, how many Christians are jumping onto the same sex marriage bandwagon — most are young, but not all of them.

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  14. And more on the marriage debate:

    “… no culture can fight against God’s design forever. Eventually, they must recognize that, like the laws of gravity, the laws of creation don’t care about political persuasions. The tide can still turn.

    “But until it does, the Church must stand firm and be willing, with love and winsomeness, to resist popular trends and hold to the truth. …

    “… Thus, we can expect an ‘extended period of dullness, when truth about sexuality and marriage will fall on deaf ears until the obvious is relearned.’

    “But it will be relearned. After all, ‘no one can defy creation forever.’ ”

    http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/21871

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  15. Karen – I came across this site awhile ago, when France was debating their gay marriage law. As France is a very secular nation, one might not expect such a robust opposition, but the case the anti-side made was stunningly articulate. The link is to the translator’s views, but also read some the statements, made by homosexuals and those who were raised by a homosexual parent against the proposed bill (which was eventually passed): http://englishmanif.blogspot.com/2013/01/why-i-am-translating-all-of-this-and.html

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  16. 🙂 Our youngest (of two) son was married today. The ceremony was OK – Catholic, for some reason (long story), the reception was a smallish (85 people) brunch at a very nice Italian restaurant in Chevy Chase (MD), and they did it all with some help from parents and without going into any debt. Tomorrow they are off for a two-week honeymoon to Peru. We went to the ocean for ours – haha, I sound like Chas, don’t I?
    Emmy, who just turned two in February, was a flower girl and was supposed to be assisted by a four-and-a-half year old cohort, who didn’t show up in time. She started down the (looong) aisle by herself and was fine until about two-thirds of the way the organ started playing a tune she seemed to enjoy, at which point she stopped for a little dance. Poppy stepped outn and fetched her and walked the rest of the way with her. It was, of course, precious. She is very well-behaved and mature for her age. And smart – ask her what shape a stop sign is, because she knows.

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  21. Kare, get some rest. Do you keep going into the kitchen just to look at your floor? 🙂 I was so smitten when I bought a new refrigerator last year that I would do that, just get up to go admire it for a few seconds now and again. 🙂

    🙂 God’s timing in providing us with the messages we need when we need them. I woke up this morning feeling overly anxious (something I’m prone to wrestle with frequently — anxiety, worry, fear, especially in the mornings before I get moving).

    So after my shower and getting the animals fed, I was going to check in on the tv news (yeah, like that’s a great prescription for anxiety, right?).

    But the channel I’d been watching a movie on last night is what first came on & it was the morning’s sermon by David Jeremiah, whom I’ve listened to from time to time on the car radio. And he was preaching on anxiety & the important role that the renewing of our minds plays in combating that; the necessity of inputting Scripture and replacing our anxious thoughts with the thoughts of God.

    I know, we all know this. Not a new message, of course — but how I can “forget” it or need to be pointedly reminded of it. So how helpful it was to hear that particular message considering the mental “place” I found myself in this morning.

    Now on to church. The Lord is good, amen?

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  22. The only time I went out to admire something I bought was my first car.
    But then, I go to admire Elvera occasionally. I paid $13.00 for her.
    😉
    When we bought our first house, before we moved in, Elvera wanted to drive by to look at it every time we passed close by. We were living in an 8×35′ house trailer at the time.

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  23. Chas, that’s very sweet. 🙂

    😦 Boy, I feel dumb. Because I wasn’t picking up my usual ride for church this morning (she strained her back pulling weeds and was staying home), I had a lot more extra time than usual before I had to get ready and leave this morning. But then I got completely off-track, I kept thinking it was one time when it was really way later. I realized too late that I’d never make it to church even remotely on time. Guess that sermon I unexpectedly stumbled upon and then listened to got me off-track. So there I was taking notes and nodding about his comments about having a “disciplined mind” while I was oblivious of the time. I kept thinking I still had another 1/2 hour of free time after that before I had to get ready. La-dee-da. My mind. A scary (and very undisciplined) place sometimes. 😉

    🙂 So, I spent the morning picking up and clearing off the desk in the front room which had taken a hit in the past week with junk mail and other things that needed to be sorted, shredded or otherwise dealt with. Also doing some more laundry. But I hate missing church! What a strange morning. …

    😦 This is my Week of the Giant Bills — the ever-rising property taxes (check written, ready to be mailed), homeowners insurance, car registration (at least that one’s slowly going down, but it’s still nearly $200 — and this time I need to get the car in for a smog test first, sometime this coming week).

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  24. Donna 🙂 yes I do go and admire my floor several times a day! I also give my fridge a hug every now and then (I really like my fridge)

    I rested and made a good indent into the Bible reading I’ve been neglecting lately. I heard a sermon recently that one should not just read the Bible but read it as if listening to it being read. I tried to do that this morning, not sure if I succeeded.

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  25. 🙂 Kare is doing what is on my list to do today — I’ve also fallen behind on the readings. I’m up to date through April now, but I’d missed several days at the end of March that I now need to catch up on.

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  27. 😦 Tried sharing a couple links on my friend’s comment thread (the one I mentioned earlier), by a gay man (Doug Mainwaring) who is against SSM, in an effort to show that there are genuine concerns some opponents of SSM have that are not based on hate, ignorance, or bigotry. I’d also shared those same links with Emily last week. (One was the same article Tychicus linked on Our Daily Thread.)

    With both Emily & the other young lady, the author of the pieces was criticized & his arguments ripped apart. I’ve tried making the point that there are genuine concerns on the part of those who oppose same-sex marriage. One doesn’t have to agree with those concerns to acknowledge that they exist & that maybe those who have them are not bigots after all.

    But my point is not being accepted.

    I feel I have stuck my neck out just to make that simple point, & I cringe to know that my niece, who has already cut me off from her life, is reading that particular thread, seeing me being more bold than I was with her. (She “liked” a couple comments by the young lady ripping apart the articles I shared.)

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