Good morning everyone.
I almost said that I just told you everything that’s going on around here.
But? I got to see and hold my youngest great-granddaughter Presumably the last. They all say they are finished now.
She seemed extremely alert for a three month old. Most that age just lie there not seeming to be aware of surroundings.
But Caroline (Not “Carol” I was advised, but “Caroline”) looks around and seems alert for a three month-old.
Otherwise, everything is the same here.
I got my 3 miles in this morning.
Hopefully our new HVAC system will be installed today. It was a little warm last night even with 2 fans.
Thankfully this morning’s background noise is about Tua and Saban. 🏈 I can deal with that.
I went in to the office yesterday. I miss my people.
We have a winter wonderland here. Most of our leaves were gone, so I do not mind one bit. My daughters have a winter wonderland with a lot of leaves still on the tree and not raked yet. That I would not care for.
What joy for you, Chas, to hold that little one! As far as being ‘done’ goes, one never knows. Take it from me. I well remember one family who had surgery even and still there was another. Another area we should say, “If the Lord wills…”
Praise that Karen’s mom was given plasma for Covid and even though she is 90, she has not developed a fever. I think she has O blood type which helps, too. She may get to leave the hospital by Monday. She is so much healthier than her daughter and my friend, Karen. No one else in her assisted living/nursing home tested positive. This infection came from a doctor’s appointment she had.
Morning! We awakened to a frosty ice covered forest this am….hey it’s moisture even if it is 20 degrees outside…we’ll take it! Lots of cars in ditches and a neighbor reported there was an overturned semi truck in the ditch on County Line rd. He must have regretted taking the “shortcut” off of the interstate! County Line is very hilly and not for the faint of heart when ice covers it’s surface 😳 The pines are beautiful this morning!
Not sure I’ve mentioned this before, but Nightingale is 5’9″ tall, and has long arms and long, thin legs. (In fact, her arm span is slightly longer than her height!) Because of that, she has a hard time finding pants and jeans that are long enough, or tops with sleeves that actually come down to her wrist. One of her go-to places for tall sizes doesn’t always have what she would like.
She recently gave J.C. Penney a try when she saw that they have women’s tall sizes. She received her order yesterday, and was absolutely thrilled with how well the clothes fit, and the quality as well. I’m glad for her.
Deciding what to get my daughters for Christmas is hard, because Nightingale shops for herself and can be kind of picky in her preferences, and I don’t really know what Chickadee may need or want. The last two Christmases, I “lucked out” by stumbling across good gifts for each of them. (I only buy them each one, or possibly two, gifts each year, but they understand my financial limitations, which they have as well.)
This year, I again stumbled across something that Chickadee would love. A couple years ago, Nightingale and I wanted to find a classic kind of Christmas sweater (pullover) for her, but everything we could find was gaudy or meant to be humorous. When a Woman Within catalog came in the mail, the first thing I saw was a collection of cute Christmas sweaters. The one I chose for Chickadee has a couple kitties with red bows, and one wearing a Santa hat. Looks cute without being gaudy. (Chickadee loves cats.)
For Nightingale, I think I will get her a gift card to J.C. Penney.
As for Boy, Nightingale either buys my present to him for me, or tells me what to get, so that is easy.
Since not everyone who reads this thread also reads the politics thread, I’m sharing this in both places. From John Piper.
“Actually, this is a long-overdue article attempting to explain why I remain baffled that so many Christians consider the sins of unrepentant sexual immorality (porneia), unrepentant boastfulness (alazoneia), unrepentant vulgarity (aischrologia), unrepentant factiousness (dichostasiai), and the like, to be only toxic for our nation, while policies that endorse baby-killing, sex-switching, freedom-limiting, and socialistic overreach are viewed as deadly.
. The reason I put those Greek words in parentheses is to give a graphic reminder that these are sins mentioned in the New Testament. To be more specific, they are sins that destroy people. They are not just deadly. They are deadly forever. They lead to eternal destruction (2 Thessalonians 1:9).
.
They destroy persons (Acts 12:20–23). And through persons, they destroy nations (Jeremiah 48:29–31, 42). . . .
.
You may believe that there are kinds of support for such pathways that do not involve such a contradiction — such an undermining of authentic Christian witness. You must act on what you see. I can’t see it. That is why I said my way need not be yours.”
And I posted this tweet yesterday, AJ took issue with it but I think his point is well taken — I see it playing out primarily in the mask wars that have divided, for now, at least physically, some of our churches.
This election more than any in my lifetime is pitting Christian brother against brother, with so many acting as if politics is ultimate. Time to read Lamentations. 1:1 — "How lonely sits the city that was full of people!"
~ And it is the brother/brother conflict which left the city desolate. Tribe against tribe till eventually Babylon sweeps in. We’re tribe against tribe too. ~
I wrote yesterday for the first time since this round of fire nightmare. (Generator arrived yesterday just in time for threatened blackout Sunday night.)
One of my children is turning . . . really old with a zero . . . so, I’m writing the story of his life from Mom’s point of view. Nearly 4,000 words flowed easily, and it’s fun to remember.
I also scanned a few photos (!) from the albums to illustrate . . . so I may got up in that, too.
For those who have a lot of paperwork that needs scanning, the Scannable/Evernote apps are SO helpful. It’s pretty much a click of the Scannable app–which it does itself as soon as it’s focused–and the next paper can be scanned. When it’s done, I push a “button” and it downloads to Evernote.
I cannot tell you how fast it is and simple. I can do it, simple.
That’s why I’m scanning docs, not photos. They take longer and the quality on the app is not as good. They have to go through the physical scanner.
I do pay for Evernote, by amount of storage, but since we’re all backing up the computers to the cloud, I download the docs from Evernote onto my computer, put them into their correct folder, and then delete from Evernote.
I used the app for the Cowman research–which is the only reason we were able to go through so much during our time in IN a year ago this week.
I keep feeling the nation is on the brink, potentially, as we shout and argue through this particular national election. It has made us weak and appearing to be a pitiful shadow of our former stronger, glory days.
We may recover from it, one of these two candidates will be elected and life will go on, for better or worse.
But I always remind myself and other believers, too, that this is all in God’s hands, including the outcome of the election. Vote, but remember and acknowledge that as well. God has a purpose in all of this. That helps in times as hard and as confusing as these have been. Remembering that as believers, I think, also helps to lessen our “fight” and argumentative instincts with one another.
Part of me feels like a fascinated onlooker to God’s history unfolding in our own nation right now.
Interesting, Kizzie, from John Piper, yet it still does not speak to those who vote on platform rather than personality, and on the vice president in case something happens to the man above. We are all speculating on the future and God’s plans/will when we vote or don’t vote. It’s impossible to have God’s perfect knowledge, so we each do what makes most sense given personal limited knowlege and experience. Some go with pragmatism and others go with idealism. There is room for both to still be counted among true believers. God knows the hearts.
Kizzie, when did women get so tall? I wish I were one of them, but I’m not. 😦 I am built quite close to the ground. It’s why I like tall SUVs, maybe?
Janice, I can’t remember if you ever said what the cause of your knee issue was? My knee still hurts, but is functional so it’s not causing a huge issue for me now; still, I wonder if this pain ever really goes away? I’m wondering if I should call the Ortho doctor to go in for another shot? I miss not having my physical therapist to stay updated with but I do have his email and can probably ask him about that, and whether still having this regular type of pain (only when I step down on that leg) is acceptable or not unusual considering how long my recovery in general has been.
I’m trying to exercise it (but should be doing more of the exercises, work days just keep me mostly sitting, like it or not, and time just goes by without my thinking or remembering to get up and MOVE more).
We have wonderfully cool weather here this week. It’s finally feeling like fall.
Hearing that the neighborhood that goes all out for Christmas every year has started some decorating — but it’s odd because some also have Halloween decorations up and sometimes they’re close together on a block. Trying to see if we can get a photo …
Folks seem to be going all out for decorating this year, at least around here. How about where you all live?
From my take on Piper’s points, it’s questioning why personal character issues have been so easily (?) pushed aside by Christians since 2016. Perhaps he’s simply saying they should be giving more pause than they are, even while voting on the issues.
DJ, for years I have had knee troubles related to the RA type symptoms I get from eating foods in the nightshade family. I assumed I had eaten too much of that kind of thing that brought on the problem. Sometimes food starch will be an ingredient that can mean potatoes and I may miss that in products. So it could have been from that. Also, since for years I did not get a flu shot or the pneumonia shot, and I got those last year, I have wondered if perhaps something about those brought such a severe occurrence, worse than usual. Last year was my first time to require a cane. So this year, most of our food has been more basic, organic, not processed, etc. We both can walk better now. But I never did get a medical diagnosis.
On Piper’s article, DJ, you are right in your take. It is total pragmatism that allows pushing aside, along with realizing that only God can truly know a man’s heart status with Him. I posted a link to a church service in which at the end there is a video clip of Trump giving credit to Jesus for his quick recovery from Covid. I don’t know if anyone watched to the end. Some things will never be seen on the news.
My knee Xray only showed ‘mild’ arthritis which was the good news for me. Mild arthritis is probably consistent with my age, maybe not as bad as some others my age. So mine was strictly a soft tissue tear or injury, but neither the PT nor the MD thought it seemed like a serious one. PT thinks the long recovery time may be age-related somewhat; MD said if pain persisted and the first shot didn’t keep the pain at bay until November (it largely has, at least the worst of it so far), he could order an MRI just to make sure there’s nothing in there they didn’t catch from all the external exams they’ve done in the office.
And with the character issue, too it harkens back to how upset Christians were over the issues surrounding Bill Clinton etc. That’s when the “character matters” mantra arose more prominently in selecting nominees for the party.
Much of that “appeared” to be thrown out the window or discarded when it came to Trump in 2016.
The header: 36 butterflies photographed in 2020. It’s not quite 36 separate species, but close to it. The last 10 are skippers, which are considered a form of butterfly but are kind of halfway between butterflies and moths. Skippers can be particularly tricky to ID, and I honestly just don’t know how many species are represented in those ten photos–it might be ten species or as few as seven or eight. Among the other photos, the “true butterflies,” I have identified all of them, and one species has two photos but the others are one shot each.
The top row is swallowtails. Indiana has six species of swallowtail and there are six photos in the top row, but I didn’t see the giant swallowtail this year. The second and third photo are the same species, the eastern tiger swallowtail. Some females have a dark form, and that is what is shown in photo #3. As you can see, including the dark form of the tiger swallowtail, we have four species of dark swallowtail. I have trouble telling them apart in the field. After the tiger, left to right, are the pipevine (the one I see least, and my favorite since its abdomen is a dark blue like its wings), the spicebush, and the black swallowtails. The first one in the row is a zebra swallowtail, by the way, the species I have seen the least often. This is only the second time I’ve seen one, unless I saw one when I was younger and not keeping track of such things as species of butterflies.
The second row, left to right: red-spotted purple, question mark, red admiral, American snout, viceroy, and a pair of monarchs. The red-spotted purple is considered by evolutionists to be a “mimic” of the pipevine swallowtail, but I say that even if evolution were true, it wouldn’t be smart enough to figure out what a different species of butterfly looks like and imitate it. The question mark is so named for an interesting reason. Several species of butterflies are called “commas” (e.g., eastern comma, gray comma), because on the outside of their wing is a little white streak that looks like a comma. The question mark has that same white streak plus a little dot, like a question mark (but it doesn’t really look like a question mark). I usually see quite a few red admiral butterflies, but the one photographed is the only one I saw this year, and I didn’t see it till fall. Next, the American snout is quite an interesting butterfly (and I got to see one again yesterday). Look closely and you’ll see what looks like a “nose” on its face (the right side of this photo). Next comes the viceroy, which is best known for looking a lot like the monarch. But the viceroy is smaller and have that curving black line on the hindwings.
The final photo in that second row is a pair of mating monarchs. I had photos of everything in the life cycle of monarchs except a mating pair. I had a female laying eggs, an egg, all five instars of monarch caterpillars, a monarch caterpillar becoming a chrysalis, all the stages of the chrysalis, and the new monarch coming out of the chrysalis. But I was hoping to complete the cycle and get a mating pair, and this summer I managed to. The filed had quite a few monarchs in it, and I realized that might be my best chance to see some mating, so I started watching them. One male was flirting with some females, but they said no. And then I saw this pair, and I watched them for an hour. From time to time he’d fly off, and she’d hang below him. Most of the time he was on a flower, feeding, and sometimes she just hung below him with her legs folded, and sometimes she was on her own flower, but even if she was on her own flower she mostly didn’t feed. (Maybe because she might be pulled away from it at any time?)
If you want to know the species of any of the others, I can tell you, but I will leave it at that in describing them since most of the rest are self-explanatory.
Kizzie–I’m 5’9″ and the first time I owned clothing that fit me well was when I started buying shirts from Land’s End. The clothing is classic and good quality. I’m still wearing items I bought ten years ago. You might take a look at them online. They’re currently running a 40% off sale–which is the only time I buy anything.
DJ, it does appear there is a bit of disconnect, he? But things got so much worse from the time of BC to 2016 that people went into salvage mode in being pragmatic. It’s not that Christians have voted unaware of sins and flaws, but it is more an attitude of fighting fire with fire. At least that is my point of view. And who knows which sins are repented of and which are still left for repentance? Aren’t we all in that state as we go through sanctification? God knows what no person can possibly know in that regard.
I’m 5’11” and I used to get all my clothing from Long Tall Sally (out of London, Eng. but with stores in Canada and the US) but they recently closed during the pandemic. Not many options for tall ladies in Canada but there is a FB page for tall women with ideas and suggestions for where to look. https://www.facebook.com/groups/3140260522661124/
DJ – How tall (or short) are you? I am 5′ 3 1/2″, and am the shortest in the family. Chickadee is a couple inches shorter than her sister, but still a couple or so inches taller than I am. Supposedly, 5’4″ is average for women, but with the taller folks in my family, I feel short.
My dad was 6’2″, my mom was 5’5″, and Hubby was 6’1″.
Knowing the heart: on my walk the other day, I was telling God how interesting it is to get to know little boy twin and how frustrating it must be for him (as for fourteen) to not have people know his heart. God reminded me that I don’t know anybody’s heart, we are all kind of like little boy, with our little and big secrets we don’t even know we have. But God is working, cleaning from the inside out, So it is with little boy. I am to love him, talk to him about Jesus and what God has done. He (God) will do the heart.
In my mind I am 5’8″ and 120 pounds. In reality I am 5’4″. I grew up among giants, so I think I am one of them.
I have a new HVAC System. It should start cooling soon. They are still taping up some of the duct work.
AJ- I would love a She-Shed, but I already have one storage building in my yard hidden by the fence and the bamboo, that was grandfathered in. If I tried to do anything else the HOA Nazi across the street would come unglued.
I am officially 5’11”. But I have shrunk. I did not know that people shrink as they age until I kept wondering why some of my clothes no longer ffit.
No. I don’t remember what my height is now.
It doesn’t really matter now.
By the time she died, my mom had shrunk so that she was shorter than I am. (Age was part of that, but I think her battle with cancer may have contributed to it, too. She was “only” 73 when she died.) Mom had gotten into watching those shows about “little people” (whom we used to call dwarves). I teased her that it was because she was becoming one of them. 😀
My mother, father and husband all died of cancer at ages we consider relatively young today (73, 70, and 62 respectively). But they were all taller. So maybe my being short means I’ll live longer than any of them did? (Yes, I realize that this makes absolutely no sense. 😀 )
*******
Something I liked about the Piper piece was that last paragraph that I quoted:
“You may believe that there are kinds of support for such pathways that do not involve such a contradiction — such an undermining of authentic Christian witness. You must act on what you see. I can’t see it. That is why I said my way need not be yours.”
He is not claiming that anyone who disagrees with him and supports Trump is not a real Christian. I’ve seen the accusation of not being a real Christian levied by some on both sides, so appreciated that Piper did not make that assumption.
I tell people I’m 5’12” almost 6 feet. Since I’m 5’11½” I round up. And I’ve lost ~20# in the last two years. My goal is another 5, but I’m satisfied. I just need to tighten the belt on some of my pants so they don’t fall down.
Our spines compress. I’m not sure that’s happened to me, but I did notice in my old very-tall Jeep that the step up into it and down out of it seemed to get higher more recently, it was more of a stretch. But legs don’t get shorter, do they? Whatever.
I don’t have that problem with the current Jeep, so I guess that’s good.
Cheryl – In your collage I see one that looks like an Imperial moth (bottom row, second from right and the one just above it). One of those was on the wall by the back door to the cave gift shop last summer. I have a picture of it. We didn’t know what it was, and one of the ladies looked it up. We felt privileged to see it since the info she got said they only come out once a year. It was huge – about 4 or 5 inch wing span!
Kare–it’s the Enduring Word commentary that is SO rich and insightful. I’d just never seen so much of this before. I don’t know that I’ve heard a sermon series out of the book. I’ve been so blessed. https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/numbers-1/
It’s just chapter fourteen–what happened after the return of the spies–that is so convicting and, frankly, shocking me about the rebellious state of my heart after all these years of, apparently, stumbling after God!
I am 5’2” and growing into the dirt….my last physical I measured 5’1 and a half inches…”she’s shrinking!” 😊
It has been cold and frosty all day long. I made it to the grocery to purchase all the fixings for a salad to feed 15 then dropped it off to the family who lost their son last week. It was good to see the multi generations gathered together and cherishing their time together….
I had a bit of a scare a little while ago. Before they administered the Novocain (spell check says it has to be capitalized), I had to read and sign a release form, and then another one before the extraction. One of them (or maybe both) said that some nerve damage can result. I didn’t say it aloud, but inside I figuratively shrugged my shoulders and thought well, that’s on the side that has the worst of the facial paralysis anyway, so no big deal.
But tonight, as the numbness was finally wearing away, I could tell that there was a difference on my bottom lip on that side, and that it was causing a little difference in trying to talk and eat right. Even after the numbness seemed to be all gone, the lip on that side felt droopier than normal and still was causing problems.
I panicked a bit. I’ve had to deal with the differences that having Moebius Syndrome has given me, but I really don’t want more issues! With aging and the effects of gravity, I already look different than I did when I was younger, with my lower lip lower than it used to be. I really don’t want to have it any lower on that side, which would make eating and drinking more difficult. So
of course, I prayed that this is only temporary, as the form said it could be (but could also be permanent).
As some more time has passed, it doesn’t feel as bad as it did at first, but it also is not all the way back to normal (well, what is normal for me, that is). I’m hoping and praying it will be back to (my) normal by tomorrow.
I am 5 ft. 1.5 inches. I have some really short aunts now and suppose that will be me one day should the Lord tarry and I live to be as old as they are.
Peter, 6:16, both of those are skippers, and small ones. The upper one is a Peck’s skipper and the lower a Zabulon skipper. (The wingspan of the Peck’s is 1 – 1.25 inches.)
I will begin my drive home from Portland tomorrow and probably take two days. Looks like another wind event for California and both Michelle and I will be losing power. My friends got a generator as did Michelle.
Wandering Views 
Good morning everyone.
I almost said that I just told you everything that’s going on around here.
But? I got to see and hold my youngest great-granddaughter Presumably the last. They all say they are finished now.
She seemed extremely alert for a three month old. Most that age just lie there not seeming to be aware of surroundings.
But Caroline (Not “Carol” I was advised, but “Caroline”) looks around and seems alert for a three month-old.
Otherwise, everything is the same here.
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I got my 3 miles in this morning.
Hopefully our new HVAC system will be installed today. It was a little warm last night even with 2 fans.
Thankfully this morning’s background noise is about Tua and Saban. 🏈 I can deal with that.
I went in to the office yesterday. I miss my people.
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Good morning! It has been feeling quite warm here lately. Each season requires clothes for all the seasons except for in the middle of summer.
I wonder how long it takes Kim to walk 3 miles? Maybe 45 min. to an hour?
I hope I won’t have the knee problems I had last fall/winter where I could hardly walk. We are well stocked with canes if needed.
Chas, that is so sweet that you saw your precious descendant. What a wonderful experience. ♡
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Art was agreeable to watching the debate last night. At 10 I told him he could turn it to whatever he wanted to watch which was ball games.
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Kim,
My wife Cheryl says you need a she shed. 🙂
She wants one too. 🙂
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We have a winter wonderland here. Most of our leaves were gone, so I do not mind one bit. My daughters have a winter wonderland with a lot of leaves still on the tree and not raked yet. That I would not care for.
What joy for you, Chas, to hold that little one! As far as being ‘done’ goes, one never knows. Take it from me. I well remember one family who had surgery even and still there was another. Another area we should say, “If the Lord wills…”
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Yes, to done. I was done with having pets. Yeah, right♡
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Done got another! All it took was a little squeak on the porch in December.
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It’s raining, it’s pouring, the old men had their “debate” – BORING!
But the political cartoons aren’t.
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Praise that Karen’s mom was given plasma for Covid and even though she is 90, she has not developed a fever. I think she has O blood type which helps, too. She may get to leave the hospital by Monday. She is so much healthier than her daughter and my friend, Karen. No one else in her assisted living/nursing home tested positive. This infection came from a doctor’s appointment she had.
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Morning! We awakened to a frosty ice covered forest this am….hey it’s moisture even if it is 20 degrees outside…we’ll take it! Lots of cars in ditches and a neighbor reported there was an overturned semi truck in the ditch on County Line rd. He must have regretted taking the “shortcut” off of the interstate! County Line is very hilly and not for the faint of heart when ice covers it’s surface 😳 The pines are beautiful this morning!
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More interesting Covid news:
https://www.sciencealert.com/a-second-key-used-by-sars-cov-2-to-enter-cells-could-explain-why-it-s-so-infectious
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Oh, Nancyjill, that shortcut sounds treacherous under those conditions!
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Not sure I’ve mentioned this before, but Nightingale is 5’9″ tall, and has long arms and long, thin legs. (In fact, her arm span is slightly longer than her height!) Because of that, she has a hard time finding pants and jeans that are long enough, or tops with sleeves that actually come down to her wrist. One of her go-to places for tall sizes doesn’t always have what she would like.
She recently gave J.C. Penney a try when she saw that they have women’s tall sizes. She received her order yesterday, and was absolutely thrilled with how well the clothes fit, and the quality as well. I’m glad for her.
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Deciding what to get my daughters for Christmas is hard, because Nightingale shops for herself and can be kind of picky in her preferences, and I don’t really know what Chickadee may need or want. The last two Christmases, I “lucked out” by stumbling across good gifts for each of them. (I only buy them each one, or possibly two, gifts each year, but they understand my financial limitations, which they have as well.)
This year, I again stumbled across something that Chickadee would love. A couple years ago, Nightingale and I wanted to find a classic kind of Christmas sweater (pullover) for her, but everything we could find was gaudy or meant to be humorous. When a Woman Within catalog came in the mail, the first thing I saw was a collection of cute Christmas sweaters. The one I chose for Chickadee has a couple kitties with red bows, and one wearing a Santa hat. Looks cute without being gaudy. (Chickadee loves cats.)
For Nightingale, I think I will get her a gift card to J.C. Penney.
As for Boy, Nightingale either buys my present to him for me, or tells me what to get, so that is easy.
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Since not everyone who reads this thread also reads the politics thread, I’m sharing this in both places. From John Piper.
“Actually, this is a long-overdue article attempting to explain why I remain baffled that so many Christians consider the sins of unrepentant sexual immorality (porneia), unrepentant boastfulness (alazoneia), unrepentant vulgarity (aischrologia), unrepentant factiousness (dichostasiai), and the like, to be only toxic for our nation, while policies that endorse baby-killing, sex-switching, freedom-limiting, and socialistic overreach are viewed as deadly.
.
The reason I put those Greek words in parentheses is to give a graphic reminder that these are sins mentioned in the New Testament. To be more specific, they are sins that destroy people. They are not just deadly. They are deadly forever. They lead to eternal destruction (2 Thessalonians 1:9).
.
They destroy persons (Acts 12:20–23). And through persons, they destroy nations (Jeremiah 48:29–31, 42). . . .
.
You may believe that there are kinds of support for such pathways that do not involve such a contradiction — such an undermining of authentic Christian witness. You must act on what you see. I can’t see it. That is why I said my way need not be yours.”
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/policies-persons-and-paths-to-ruin?utm_source=ctdirect-html&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_term=9474712&utm_content=738823569&utm_campaign=email
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And I posted this tweet yesterday, AJ took issue with it but I think his point is well taken — I see it playing out primarily in the mask wars that have divided, for now, at least physically, some of our churches.
Someone then commented:
~ And it is the brother/brother conflict which left the city desolate. Tribe against tribe till eventually Babylon sweeps in. We’re tribe against tribe too. ~
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I wrote yesterday for the first time since this round of fire nightmare. (Generator arrived yesterday just in time for threatened blackout Sunday night.)
One of my children is turning . . . really old with a zero . . . so, I’m writing the story of his life from Mom’s point of view. Nearly 4,000 words flowed easily, and it’s fun to remember.
I also scanned a few photos (!) from the albums to illustrate . . . so I may got up in that, too.
For those who have a lot of paperwork that needs scanning, the Scannable/Evernote apps are SO helpful. It’s pretty much a click of the Scannable app–which it does itself as soon as it’s focused–and the next paper can be scanned. When it’s done, I push a “button” and it downloads to Evernote.
I cannot tell you how fast it is and simple. I can do it, simple.
That’s why I’m scanning docs, not photos. They take longer and the quality on the app is not as good. They have to go through the physical scanner.
I do pay for Evernote, by amount of storage, but since we’re all backing up the computers to the cloud, I download the docs from Evernote onto my computer, put them into their correct folder, and then delete from Evernote.
I used the app for the Cowman research–which is the only reason we were able to go through so much during our time in IN a year ago this week.
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I keep feeling the nation is on the brink, potentially, as we shout and argue through this particular national election. It has made us weak and appearing to be a pitiful shadow of our former stronger, glory days.
We may recover from it, one of these two candidates will be elected and life will go on, for better or worse.
But I always remind myself and other believers, too, that this is all in God’s hands, including the outcome of the election. Vote, but remember and acknowledge that as well. God has a purpose in all of this. That helps in times as hard and as confusing as these have been. Remembering that as believers, I think, also helps to lessen our “fight” and argumentative instincts with one another.
Part of me feels like a fascinated onlooker to God’s history unfolding in our own nation right now.
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Interesting, Kizzie, from John Piper, yet it still does not speak to those who vote on platform rather than personality, and on the vice president in case something happens to the man above. We are all speculating on the future and God’s plans/will when we vote or don’t vote. It’s impossible to have God’s perfect knowledge, so we each do what makes most sense given personal limited knowlege and experience. Some go with pragmatism and others go with idealism. There is room for both to still be counted among true believers. God knows the hearts.
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Kizzie, there are a lot of perks with a J C Penney credit card which Nightingale may want to consider if it becomes her main place to shop.
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Kizzie, when did women get so tall? I wish I were one of them, but I’m not. 😦 I am built quite close to the ground. It’s why I like tall SUVs, maybe?
Janice, I can’t remember if you ever said what the cause of your knee issue was? My knee still hurts, but is functional so it’s not causing a huge issue for me now; still, I wonder if this pain ever really goes away? I’m wondering if I should call the Ortho doctor to go in for another shot? I miss not having my physical therapist to stay updated with but I do have his email and can probably ask him about that, and whether still having this regular type of pain (only when I step down on that leg) is acceptable or not unusual considering how long my recovery in general has been.
I’m trying to exercise it (but should be doing more of the exercises, work days just keep me mostly sitting, like it or not, and time just goes by without my thinking or remembering to get up and MOVE more).
We have wonderfully cool weather here this week. It’s finally feeling like fall.
Hearing that the neighborhood that goes all out for Christmas every year has started some decorating — but it’s odd because some also have Halloween decorations up and sometimes they’re close together on a block. Trying to see if we can get a photo …
Folks seem to be going all out for decorating this year, at least around here. How about where you all live?
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From my take on Piper’s points, it’s questioning why personal character issues have been so easily (?) pushed aside by Christians since 2016. Perhaps he’s simply saying they should be giving more pause than they are, even while voting on the issues.
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I am sure that you are interested in the new words to Baa Baa Black Sheep
One for the MiMi
One
For the Papa
One
For the Mommy
One for the Daddy
Now sing LOUD
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DJ, for years I have had knee troubles related to the RA type symptoms I get from eating foods in the nightshade family. I assumed I had eaten too much of that kind of thing that brought on the problem. Sometimes food starch will be an ingredient that can mean potatoes and I may miss that in products. So it could have been from that. Also, since for years I did not get a flu shot or the pneumonia shot, and I got those last year, I have wondered if perhaps something about those brought such a severe occurrence, worse than usual. Last year was my first time to require a cane. So this year, most of our food has been more basic, organic, not processed, etc. We both can walk better now. But I never did get a medical diagnosis.
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On Piper’s article, DJ, you are right in your take. It is total pragmatism that allows pushing aside, along with realizing that only God can truly know a man’s heart status with Him. I posted a link to a church service in which at the end there is a video clip of Trump giving credit to Jesus for his quick recovery from Covid. I don’t know if anyone watched to the end. Some things will never be seen on the news.
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My knee Xray only showed ‘mild’ arthritis which was the good news for me. Mild arthritis is probably consistent with my age, maybe not as bad as some others my age. So mine was strictly a soft tissue tear or injury, but neither the PT nor the MD thought it seemed like a serious one. PT thinks the long recovery time may be age-related somewhat; MD said if pain persisted and the first shot didn’t keep the pain at bay until November (it largely has, at least the worst of it so far), he could order an MRI just to make sure there’s nothing in there they didn’t catch from all the external exams they’ve done in the office.
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And with the character issue, too it harkens back to how upset Christians were over the issues surrounding Bill Clinton etc. That’s when the “character matters” mantra arose more prominently in selecting nominees for the party.
Much of that “appeared” to be thrown out the window or discarded when it came to Trump in 2016.
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The header: 36 butterflies photographed in 2020. It’s not quite 36 separate species, but close to it. The last 10 are skippers, which are considered a form of butterfly but are kind of halfway between butterflies and moths. Skippers can be particularly tricky to ID, and I honestly just don’t know how many species are represented in those ten photos–it might be ten species or as few as seven or eight. Among the other photos, the “true butterflies,” I have identified all of them, and one species has two photos but the others are one shot each.
The top row is swallowtails. Indiana has six species of swallowtail and there are six photos in the top row, but I didn’t see the giant swallowtail this year. The second and third photo are the same species, the eastern tiger swallowtail. Some females have a dark form, and that is what is shown in photo #3. As you can see, including the dark form of the tiger swallowtail, we have four species of dark swallowtail. I have trouble telling them apart in the field. After the tiger, left to right, are the pipevine (the one I see least, and my favorite since its abdomen is a dark blue like its wings), the spicebush, and the black swallowtails. The first one in the row is a zebra swallowtail, by the way, the species I have seen the least often. This is only the second time I’ve seen one, unless I saw one when I was younger and not keeping track of such things as species of butterflies.
The second row, left to right: red-spotted purple, question mark, red admiral, American snout, viceroy, and a pair of monarchs. The red-spotted purple is considered by evolutionists to be a “mimic” of the pipevine swallowtail, but I say that even if evolution were true, it wouldn’t be smart enough to figure out what a different species of butterfly looks like and imitate it. The question mark is so named for an interesting reason. Several species of butterflies are called “commas” (e.g., eastern comma, gray comma), because on the outside of their wing is a little white streak that looks like a comma. The question mark has that same white streak plus a little dot, like a question mark (but it doesn’t really look like a question mark). I usually see quite a few red admiral butterflies, but the one photographed is the only one I saw this year, and I didn’t see it till fall. Next, the American snout is quite an interesting butterfly (and I got to see one again yesterday). Look closely and you’ll see what looks like a “nose” on its face (the right side of this photo). Next comes the viceroy, which is best known for looking a lot like the monarch. But the viceroy is smaller and have that curving black line on the hindwings.
The final photo in that second row is a pair of mating monarchs. I had photos of everything in the life cycle of monarchs except a mating pair. I had a female laying eggs, an egg, all five instars of monarch caterpillars, a monarch caterpillar becoming a chrysalis, all the stages of the chrysalis, and the new monarch coming out of the chrysalis. But I was hoping to complete the cycle and get a mating pair, and this summer I managed to. The filed had quite a few monarchs in it, and I realized that might be my best chance to see some mating, so I started watching them. One male was flirting with some females, but they said no. And then I saw this pair, and I watched them for an hour. From time to time he’d fly off, and she’d hang below him. Most of the time he was on a flower, feeding, and sometimes she just hung below him with her legs folded, and sometimes she was on her own flower, but even if she was on her own flower she mostly didn’t feed. (Maybe because she might be pulled away from it at any time?)
If you want to know the species of any of the others, I can tell you, but I will leave it at that in describing them since most of the rest are self-explanatory.
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Kizzie–I’m 5’9″ and the first time I owned clothing that fit me well was when I started buying shirts from Land’s End. The clothing is classic and good quality. I’m still wearing items I bought ten years ago. You might take a look at them online. They’re currently running a 40% off sale–which is the only time I buy anything.
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DJ, it does appear there is a bit of disconnect, he? But things got so much worse from the time of BC to 2016 that people went into salvage mode in being pragmatic. It’s not that Christians have voted unaware of sins and flaws, but it is more an attitude of fighting fire with fire. At least that is my point of view. And who knows which sins are repented of and which are still left for repentance? Aren’t we all in that state as we go through sanctification? God knows what no person can possibly know in that regard.
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“he” was keyed in “eh”
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I’m 5’11” and I used to get all my clothing from Long Tall Sally (out of London, Eng. but with stores in Canada and the US) but they recently closed during the pandemic. Not many options for tall ladies in Canada but there is a FB page for tall women with ideas and suggestions for where to look. https://www.facebook.com/groups/3140260522661124/
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I’m in a land of giants here
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Everything I buy is way too long.
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I come from a short family lol
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In other news, I’m being completely convicted by the book of Numbers.
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DJ – How tall (or short) are you? I am 5′ 3 1/2″, and am the shortest in the family. Chickadee is a couple inches shorter than her sister, but still a couple or so inches taller than I am. Supposedly, 5’4″ is average for women, but with the taller folks in my family, I feel short.
My dad was 6’2″, my mom was 5’5″, and Hubby was 6’1″.
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Knowing the heart: on my walk the other day, I was telling God how interesting it is to get to know little boy twin and how frustrating it must be for him (as for fourteen) to not have people know his heart. God reminded me that I don’t know anybody’s heart, we are all kind of like little boy, with our little and big secrets we don’t even know we have. But God is working, cleaning from the inside out, So it is with little boy. I am to love him, talk to him about Jesus and what God has done. He (God) will do the heart.
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In my mind I am 5’8″ and 120 pounds. In reality I am 5’4″. I grew up among giants, so I think I am one of them.
I have a new HVAC System. It should start cooling soon. They are still taping up some of the duct work.
AJ- I would love a She-Shed, but I already have one storage building in my yard hidden by the fence and the bamboo, that was grandfathered in. If I tried to do anything else the HOA Nazi across the street would come unglued.
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Officially, 5’4″ but I think I’m shorter now than I used to be. My cousin is shorter than I am, closer to 5 feet, as is my best girlfriend.
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I am officially 5’11”. But I have shrunk. I did not know that people shrink as they age until I kept wondering why some of my clothes no longer ffit.
No. I don’t remember what my height is now.
It doesn’t really matter now.
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By the time she died, my mom had shrunk so that she was shorter than I am. (Age was part of that, but I think her battle with cancer may have contributed to it, too. She was “only” 73 when she died.) Mom had gotten into watching those shows about “little people” (whom we used to call dwarves). I teased her that it was because she was becoming one of them. 😀
My mother, father and husband all died of cancer at ages we consider relatively young today (73, 70, and 62 respectively). But they were all taller. So maybe my being short means I’ll live longer than any of them did? (Yes, I realize that this makes absolutely no sense. 😀 )
*******
Something I liked about the Piper piece was that last paragraph that I quoted:
“You may believe that there are kinds of support for such pathways that do not involve such a contradiction — such an undermining of authentic Christian witness. You must act on what you see. I can’t see it. That is why I said my way need not be yours.”
He is not claiming that anyone who disagrees with him and supports Trump is not a real Christian. I’ve seen the accusation of not being a real Christian levied by some on both sides, so appreciated that Piper did not make that assumption.
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I found this article really surprising; far more young people live at home now than they have since the 1930s: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/09/04/a-majority-of-young-adults-in-the-u-s-live-with-their-parents-for-the-first-time-since-the-great-depression/
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I tell people I’m 5’12” almost 6 feet. Since I’m 5’11½” I round up. And I’ve lost ~20# in the last two years. My goal is another 5, but I’m satisfied. I just need to tighten the belt on some of my pants so they don’t fall down.
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Our spines compress. I’m not sure that’s happened to me, but I did notice in my old very-tall Jeep that the step up into it and down out of it seemed to get higher more recently, it was more of a stretch. But legs don’t get shorter, do they? Whatever.
I don’t have that problem with the current Jeep, so I guess that’s good.
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Cheryl – In your collage I see one that looks like an Imperial moth (bottom row, second from right and the one just above it). One of those was on the wall by the back door to the cave gift shop last summer. I have a picture of it. We didn’t know what it was, and one of the ladies looked it up. We felt privileged to see it since the info she got said they only come out once a year. It was huge – about 4 or 5 inch wing span!
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If only
https://www.google.com/amp/s/wgntv.com/news/we-can-disagree-without-hating-each-other-candidates-for-utah-governor-appear-in-joint-ad/amp/
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Michelle, husband and I start into Numbers this evening. Now I’m worried 🙂
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5’6″ but wanted to be 5’3″. I am working on it, lol
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Kare–it’s the Enduring Word commentary that is SO rich and insightful. I’d just never seen so much of this before. I don’t know that I’ve heard a sermon series out of the book. I’ve been so blessed. https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/numbers-1/
It’s just chapter fourteen–what happened after the return of the spies–that is so convicting and, frankly, shocking me about the rebellious state of my heart after all these years of, apparently, stumbling after God!
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I am 5’2” and growing into the dirt….my last physical I measured 5’1 and a half inches…”she’s shrinking!” 😊
It has been cold and frosty all day long. I made it to the grocery to purchase all the fixings for a salad to feed 15 then dropped it off to the family who lost their son last week. It was good to see the multi generations gathered together and cherishing their time together….
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I had a bit of a scare a little while ago. Before they administered the Novocain (spell check says it has to be capitalized), I had to read and sign a release form, and then another one before the extraction. One of them (or maybe both) said that some nerve damage can result. I didn’t say it aloud, but inside I figuratively shrugged my shoulders and thought well, that’s on the side that has the worst of the facial paralysis anyway, so no big deal.
But tonight, as the numbness was finally wearing away, I could tell that there was a difference on my bottom lip on that side, and that it was causing a little difference in trying to talk and eat right. Even after the numbness seemed to be all gone, the lip on that side felt droopier than normal and still was causing problems.
I panicked a bit. I’ve had to deal with the differences that having Moebius Syndrome has given me, but I really don’t want more issues! With aging and the effects of gravity, I already look different than I did when I was younger, with my lower lip lower than it used to be. I really don’t want to have it any lower on that side, which would make eating and drinking more difficult. So
of course, I prayed that this is only temporary, as the form said it could be (but could also be permanent).
As some more time has passed, it doesn’t feel as bad as it did at first, but it also is not all the way back to normal (well, what is normal for me, that is). I’m hoping and praying it will be back to (my) normal by tomorrow.
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I am 5 ft. 1.5 inches. I have some really short aunts now and suppose that will be me one day should the Lord tarry and I live to be as old as they are.
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Peter, 6:16, both of those are skippers, and small ones. The upper one is a Peck’s skipper and the lower a Zabulon skipper. (The wingspan of the Peck’s is 1 – 1.25 inches.)
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I hear there’s another fire in Northern California/Napa?
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This one’s for Kim (though I think I’ve shared it once before)
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And this one’s kinda dark, but funny
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We moved north after retiring, and our house was paid for. Our old town is now the “Mexican Beverly Hills” of Los Angeles County.
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I will begin my drive home from Portland tomorrow and probably take two days. Looks like another wind event for California and both Michelle and I will be losing power. My friends got a generator as did Michelle.
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Sleepless so far at 5:45 a.m.
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At 5:45, I was just waiting for time to get up.
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