I’m smiling at how things change in life… and how, in a mind-boggling way, they really don’t change all that much at all. As I reached for a pot for making farina this morning, I smiled as I recalled how I delighted in putting the whole set of my new pots and pans in the draw beneath the stove. That was a long time ago. I delighted in that matching set, all neatly nestled in that drawer. But I didn’t get a pot from that drawer this morning. None of our pots fit in that drawer anymore. I got…
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The above cartoon is funny to me. Funny things always seem to contain a curious blend of truth, a stretch of that truth and a bit of fiction. Funny thing is, the fiction parallels the truth so closely that it’s hard to make a distinction sometimes. Well, so the above cartoon is funny to me. And if it weren’t so symbolic of different conversations had in our own van, I’d likely be smug and not laugh. But I am laughing bcz we have had those conversations… or similar ones. That’s another thing about “funny” things… you just can’t make that…
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I received a mail from a friend of mine this morning… when I see things like this, I’m nothing short of amazed. All things considered http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/eidstamp.asp or… are we at war?
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I keep thinking… no, I *cannot* be in this season. As if any day now, things will get back to normal. I will revert back to normal coloured hair, I will have tight upper arms, and the skin of my neck will resemble the skin of my forearm once again. I keep thinking that any day now, I will pick up my Bible and see the words clearly… that I will once again shop for a pregnancy-test kit or shop for maternity clothes and nursing clothes. I keep thinking that any day now… I won’t be in this season. And…
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911 reminds us, each one, to say one or two three-word sentences: I am sorry. I love you. 911 reminds us that whatever we have today is all we have… There are no tomorrows, only today’s and yesterday’s and sorrow skips no home. 911 reminds us: “…we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6.12) Peggy Noonan has a great piece: I Just Called To Say I Love You. 911 reminds us to say: I love you. And, I am…
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I spent the day yesterday with the olders… the olders, meaning the four oldest at home (and that, thankfully, included Timothy). We sort of followed an oft taken course… Penney’s in town, the bank and Starbucks. Our little town really only has one viable clothing store and we’re thus forced to drive a tad bit to surrounding towns to do any significant shopping. I guess we still do get into enough shopping trouble locally, so, I suppose it’s a good thing the great stores require a bit of time. Time and planning. My boys know there’s been some discussion of…
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I’m smiling, thinking about our Timothy. Twelve hundred miles away, he’s seeing the same full moon tonight. And after four months away… tomorrow he’ll be home… for a few weeks. And then he’ll return to California for several weeks. It would seem that this would get easier. But it doesn’t. I’m off to bake chocolate chip cookies. No nuts. And maybe we’ll set out some Nestle’s… and chips and salsa. Maybe horchatta, too. As with all homecoming’s… the rules of decorum sort of fly out the window and we’ll probably sit on the kitchen counter and just talk for a…
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Many times in the past several years I’ve written articles or posts on the topic of modesty and/or modest dress. I’ve received letters of thanks and letters of condemnation. I think the letters of thanks are the ones I prefer, but I also appreciate the letters of disapproval, for it is in the reading and mulling over these letters that I gain understanding and can better articulate my convictions “the next time” the modesty issue comes up. I’ve talked about modesty to groups of women at retreats and to women in Bible studies and then through articles posted on our…
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So… remember that sparkling clean oven I had just a few nights ago? Well… it’s not any longer. As if to reenact the barbecue effect in the kitchen tonight, I dumped the contents of pecan pie bars on the oven floor. So, that’s why the oven is no longer sparkling clean. And why there’s a semi-melted plastic garbage sack full of burnt offerings out in the tall can. Clean ovens: Vanity of vanities… all is vanity. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.” Ecclesiastes 1.14
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A couple of nights ago as some of the sisters in our fellowship gathered, we talked briefly about a sensational and shocking local news story that had just been broadcast that evening. It would have grabbed our attention had we not known the woman—but hearing her name on the news and in the conversation gripped us. And since we had met or talked to her by phone in the past, it was just too unfathomable to take in the story or to believe the allegations. Had we not talked with her in the past, had not shared many of the…