until we meet again

I didn't grow up doing Lent, but now that I know something about it, I like the idea.

And the point isn't to give up something that's easy. In fact, the point isn't even to give something up at all. The point is to sharpen your focus on Christ. To change an attitude or spend more time in the Word. To think of His sacrifice, sure, and some type of deprivation can be a great reminder of His sacrifice.

He has put on my heart something that will be a sacrifice, but will also free up time for me to focus on more important things.

My thought is if there is something in your life that you think you could never give up -- you  might want to give it up. If it has that much of a hold on me, I want to break that hold.

So, for that reason, I am giving up my online social networks. That includes blogs, Twitter, and Facebook. So, assuming I survive it, I will see you back here in blogland on the 13th of April.

Please don't abandon me. Come back after Easter and we'll catch up!

remember me

How do you want to be remembered when you die?

I'll admit that I've always wanted to be remembered for something grand. For changing the world in some way. 

I grew up reading biographies of great people, missionaries, and martyrs. The thing is that for many of those people, the defining moments that made them great were thrust upon them. Heroes seldom plan to be heroes. 

But there were some who made choices all along the way that caused them to lead extraordinary lives. 

I haven't seen much in my life so far that would be categorized as extraordinary. But I certainly don't want to be ordinary.

I want to be remembered for being just a little bit weird. My sister and I actually used to make plans for our eccentricity. We admire it. 

I want to be remembered as being kind and empathetic.

I would like to be remembered as being wise and good and generous. I might need to work on those things a bit.

I want my kids to remember me as loving and fun and smart and perfect.

If people can only remember one thing about me -- if only one thing stands out -- I hope it's that I love God and that my life brings Him glory. 

I hope I'm not remembered for my selfishness, pride, laziness, greed, procrastination, and arrogance. So, please, forget that I even mentioned those.

How would you like to be remembered?

passion

The Denver Examiner hires people to write about their area of expertise. Just little articles about the length of a blog post. And they pay!

But I said to a friend that I'm not an expert on anything and she said I should ask myself what my passion is.

...

...

um...

...

Wow. I came up pretty blank. I have a passion for God.  For knowing Him. That is my greatest passion.

I have a passion for my family.

Maybe if I was asked this question last week, or next week, I would come up with several answers.  Maybe I am just feeling passionless right now. It makes me feel rather gypped. I want to have a list of things I'm passionate about. Maybe I do. Maybe if someone were to hit a hot button and get me fired up, we'd know where my passions lay?

Maybe I just define it more tightly than others do. There are many things that I love. Many things that I care deeply about, but don't really consider myself passionate about them.

What about you? What are your passions? What does that term mean to you?

who are you?

I saw a bumper sticker yesterday. It said, Remember who you wanted to be? 

Not "what" but "who." 

I posted once on dreams. Kids have all kinds of ideas about what they want to be when they grow up.

But what did you think about who you would be? And are you that person? Did you plan to be generous, loving, fun, hospitable?

Did you plan to be bitter, critical, defensive?

I'm more selfish, lazy, and negative than I thought I would be. But I'm more outgoing, friendly, and compassionate than I expected. 

Who are you? Is that who you always hoped you would be?

a post worth revisiting

I posted this in '07, back when only about four people read my blog. So five of you missed it.

So for those of you who saw it, I apologize for the re-run. For those of you who didn't - I apologize anyway. I couldn't think of anything else to post today.

Ok, so you see a mattress store with a giant inflatable Statue of Liberty on top. Does that make you think, "Oh yeah, I Need a New Mattress. I think I'll go in right now and get one."??

You see one of those flexy, bendy guys, (air tubes, I discovered they are called). Do you say -"Hey, I think I'll go get my oil changed."??

You see a giant inflatable gorilla. Do you automatically decide to go buy a new car?

Do you even go into a business that you weren't planning to go into just because they have some kind of tacky inflatable thing on the roof?

There must be some statistics that show that they draw in customers. Why else would someone dish out the $800 or so? I looked at some sites that claimed your business would double with an inflatable, but they were selling the things.

I don't know - this was just on my mind today. I thought I would share.

nap time

Sometimes I just want to curl up in a corner with a blankie and Teddy. Even when there aren't any big problems or struggles, little pieces of life can pile right up and overwhelm a person.

I'm kinda there right now. 

I mentioned that we are homeschooling. This in itself is draining. A lot of that drain comes from my own anxiety about the process. Am I making my kids stupid? Will they be able to function in the real world? If they go back to public school, will they have to start over? I do not feel qualified or capable of doing this. But it is what we need to do, at least for the time being. 

And for someone like me who absolutely relishes alone time, it is requiring a lot of adjustment. It's no different than summer really, except that I don't have the first day of school to look forward to.

Hey, I love my kids. I love spending time with them. In fact one of the deciding factors was that we had so little time with them. Our girl was gone 8 1/2 hours per day and our boy, 7 1/2. I love having them around. And yet... 

I do miss my alone time. So, I have to figure out a way to get that because that is refueling time for me.

So that is one piece in my pile of life. There are lots of others. Some are good.  Some are necessary.  But all together they are exhausting. Anyone have an extra Teddy?

update

I had requested prayer for several friends in a previous post. I think it was in December. I thought I would update you on some of the requests.

Claudia's husband Denis is doing fairly well after his stomach was surgically removed. I believe he starts chemo this week, or maybe it was last week.

Susan's mother had surgery to repair an extreme hiatal hernia and went home, but is back in the hospital and the doctors aren't quite sure what is going on. You can read updates on Susan's blog Accidental Poet.

My friend Robbie's husband who suffered a brain injury is back at work! His brain is completely healed! He still has a leg injury that will take some time to heal, but God did a big thing in their lives. Read more at Joy Dance.

Brenda has improved considerably but is still not well. 

One thing I know. God answers prayer. We may not always see the results immediately, it may not always look the way we expect, but He does answer. Always. And His answer is always far better than anything we could hope for. Because He's God and He does all things well.

Love  Kisses  Flowers  Hugs  Chicken Soup  Pain Meds  Thin Mints  Ice Packs  Strawberry Shortcake Candles  Chocolates Happy Valentine's Day

some BBC bites

Before you take a bite of those french fries, or chips as the Brits say, take a deep sniff. Smell some cocoa? Maybe butterscotch with undertones of ironing board?

Scientists have analyzed the essences of fries and broken them down into other scents.  Check out the BBC article. 

One day people will be snobbishly smelling their fried and saying things like, "I detect onion and flower notes.  This fry originated in the southern McDonalds."

Thinking about joining a monastery? Well, if you live in England, you can try it for a weekend before you make a commitment. 

In 1982 England and Wales had 217 novices. In 2007, only 29.

So now men can go to the monastery for a couple of days and see what they think.

You can read the article here and see a video.

not a post

It's time to post, but I don't really know what to say.

There are a few things I could talk about:

 I started homeschooling three weeks ago.

 A friend's husband died suddenly last Thursday.

 I took up knitting.

 I started a new book.

 I took an exercise test yesterday.

 I'm doing the Believing God study by Beth Moore for the second time.

 

but I don't feel like talking about those things.  I guess I'll post tomorrow instead.

but God

One of my favorite phrases is "but God."

It is probably most often heard in this context:

"But God, you know I can't speak in front of people."

"But God, I don't even like her."

"But God, they already have a teacher for the five-year-olds."

"But God, people will laugh at me."

"But God, I'm not qualified."

Sound familiar?

That's not the "but God" I am referring to, though.  I'm referring to this one:

"You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good" 

"My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart" 

And my favorite of all --

"Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy ... made us alive together with Christ ...  and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus..." 

"But God, being rich in mercy..."

I was a terrible sinner, but God...

I was full of fear, but God...

You wanted to hurt me, but God...

I was lost, but God...

I was dead, but God...

I was headed down the wrong path, but God...

What is your "but God?"

 

friday fill-in

1. Please don't tell _me how it ends!____.

2. Can you _make me pancakes_ in the morning?

3. The color _red__ makes me want to __dance___!

4. I have a craving for _a smoothie____.

5. If my life had a pause button, I'd pause it _right now____.

6. Eyes are the _opposite of nose___.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _crashing____, tomorrow my plans include _family game night____ and Sunday, I want to _ collapse in God's arms____!

hair today

hair yesterday

I am getting a haircut today.  Not sure yet exactly what I'll have done with it.

I thought I would share a little montage of just a few of the styles I've had over the years.

My blog friend, Dayle, won the Writer's Digest short story competition.  His story was chosen out of seven hundred entries!  

If you want to read it before the issue comes out you can do so on their site.  I just read it.  It's brilliant, as the British would say.

Way to go, Dayle!

WFTJ

Lifelines asked me to talk about my writing group.  Words for the Journey was started by Sharen Watson down in Texas, I forgot how long ago.  Then, three years ago she moved to the Denver area and started our group.  She has since moved back down yonder.  Our new fearless leader is Michele Cushatt.  So, for even more info, I recommend visiting their blogs and asking them.  

But, I will tell you what I know.

It is a Christian group and we have forty-six names on the roster.  But, I don't recognize some of those names.  In our weekly meeting we will have anywhere from eight to thirty people, I suppose.

The group welcomes all type of writers and we have a good mix of fiction and non-fiction.  Article writers and book writers.  We applaud each others successes and failures.  If someone gets a rejection, we cheer because at least they are submitting and that takes guts.

We have weekly meetings, except during December and the summer.  Usually there is a lesson of some sort.  Someone teaches something that has to do with writing.  Anything from grammar to how to talk to an agent.  People are also encouraged to bring in some work for critique.

Once a month we meet at a different location in the evening.  At this meeting special speakers are brought in to talk about writing.

It is a fun and supportive group.  I don't know what I would have done without them when we moved here.  And I probably would have given up on writing by now without them.

Any other members of the group are welcome to add to this in the comments.