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| Heh. It's been a while, hasn't it. I've also heard a
vicious rumor that all the xangites are moving to other venues... so
the odds of anyone reading this are slim. But it'll still be
cathartic.
I got my first lesson in driving in the 'hood the night before
last. I was taking one of my coworkers to visit another coworker
and it was dark and it was... a place to exercise caution. Friend
'A' wasn't exactly sure which house we were going to, so he had me do
several u-turns. NOT in a driveway, because, that's not
done. Also not done is parking at the side of the road.
People get nervous when an unfamiliar car slows down and stops by your
house. Very nervous.
What do you do for a person who just became blind? Anyone know
any crafts that don't require sight AND don't take a lot of resources
AND doesn't take a LONG time to master? I mean, yeah... I know
people can crochet w/out sight, but really... that takes so much
time? Piano maybe... I mean, I can see how that would be instant
feedback, and really, any instrument. But it's a small
house. Maybe something quieter?
I was tapped to fill in for the 3rd and 4th graders today for Sunday
School. There was no time to prepare, so we blitzed right through
the lesson of Jesus staying behind at the temple... and then we got
creative. :D
Since there was still time to fill, we went on and discussed the next
part... where John the Baptist gets introduced. I read the part
where Luke pulls in from Isaiah, mentioned casually that it was written
about John long before John was born. They were shocked.
How did that happen? Were they psychic? I threw in the word
'prophet'. What's a prophet? Could they be one? Were
they psychic? So then, we decided to see what we could learn
about prophets. So we read about Elijah and the prophets of Baal
and the bulls and the water and chanting and the taunting and slicing
and the dicing. One of my favorite stories. By the way, 3rd
and 4th graders LOVE the parts of the taunting and the chanting and the
slicing and the dicing. I'm pretty sure that some of that stuff
got edited out when I was their age, but I figure, hey. If they
like R-rated stuff, they're gonna love the Bible. I even threw in
that Jezebel was a bad, bad woman and she died when someone pushed her
out of the window and the dogs ate her bones. The kids didn't
even blink. Mildly curious as to who pushed her and whether the
dogs were okay. Then one little girl asked me how we knew this
story was true. Wasn't really sure on what level to answer, so I
asked whether she thought the Bible was true. She said yes (of
course, since it was Sunday School...) but how did the people who wrote
the Bible know what happened? So I replied that the people wrote
it down when it happened and that the Bible was really old.
Hmm... looking back, I wonder how accurate I was and how long it was
transmitted orally.
So then we started talking about how old the Bible was and swiftly
summing up Job. It was great. It was cool. It was
heartbreaking. They didn't know the stories. They were
flabbergasted when I mentioned (because at this point, I figured I
should assume they know nothing) that Jesus was God before
Christmas. WHAT!? No way! Who was God then? And
of course we ran out of time.
But this was at church. And these kids grew up in church. They'd been here since birth.
Oh... and just out of curiosity, I ran into one of my youth friends and
quizzed him whether he knew the story of Elijah and the slicing and
dicing. nope. sounded interesting though.
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| Why DID God wait four thousand years after Adam and Eve's mishandling of fruit before sending the Messiah?
What did it prove? What did it achieve? If the Messiah had been born...say... nine months afterwards, would that have been so bad? It would have eliminated the need for the ark. grah! I'm not saying that God doesn't know what he's doing. Far from it, actually. It's just that... I've never asked that question before, and it's bugging me. >.< Oh. And I'm sorry for the nasty letter I sent to the dampener and soiler of towels. You can borrow the cat. :D | | |
| and I don't know why. >.< Just a thought... whenever I'd read where a character was admonished to read a book of sermons, or maybe where they voluntarily
read this book... my first thought was "what a prude." Can't
remember any specifics, but I just have vague memories of a dusty
female having some chore-free time, so she settled down and read said
book of sermons. And I was repulsed. Which... come to think
of it, was probably the author's intent. At least one of
them. The other author (was it Jane Austen? - yes, it WAS!!)
hah! Northanger Abbey, what's-her-face comes home from Bath and
Northanger Abbey and she is restless and unable to settle down and do
housework. Her mother thinks it's because she's spoiled by her
amazing jaunt to Bath, when in reality, she is blue because she has
forever lost her true love (who will show up in the next chapter and
claim her hand [I do love JA!]) and... *deep breath* mentally
resolves to find a book of encouraging letters to give to her
daughter to read. <end deep breath> (side note, true
love comes before the mother has a chance to find book) Anyway.
Long and probably unnecessary background to lead to one thing. I
like C.S. Lewis. I've just discovered that reading those sermons
isn't necessarily... a victorian thing to do. *sigh*
another entrenched idea gone to pot. But I still secretly think
that most of them were pretty boring. :D Maybe I just don't
like the idea of morality being shoved down someone's throat... and
that being counted as righteousness.
Sorry for the roughness of this, I'm still trying to think it through. What do y'all think?
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| Heee!!
So anyway, Mom and I are Atkinsing...
Last Sunday was Communion Sunday. When it was time to go down to
the altar, we looked at each other, questioning whether the sacramental
bread was carb-free.
After the service, we figured that since we'd already blown the diet we could... you know... have a day off. 
So we went to Marshall and wove around the back streets never quite
getting lost and never quite finding the big old houses we were looking
for. And then we ambled (via car) towards Jefferson and spent
quite a bit of time meandering through the General Store, sampling the
pecan pralines, the jellies, the jams, the honey butters, and the
pickles. And then the jellies, the jams, the pickles, the pecan
pralines, and the honey butters. I'd like to personally recommend
the sweet potato butter and the strawberry rhubarb jam with a special
shout-out to the pecan honey butter. *happy reminiscent
sigh*
Low Carb nothing.
It was a good day. One that will be pleasantly etched into my memory
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| heh.
a drop of oregano oil in a teaspoon of olive oil is... tasty. I guess.
fascinating the stuff they sell in health food stores.
even more fascinating the claims they make.
oo... speaking of which, I just made me a jar of the all-time panacea
of colloidal silver, so if anyone needs anything from mouth sores to
umm... amoeba, let me know. I'll slip you some.
Diving was spectacularly amazing. Exhausting yes, but amazing.
I just got kudos with a coworker. Apparently he didn't know of
the existence of Kobi's Sushi and Steakhouse in Longview... and he is a
big sushi buff. bluff? hmm... Anyway. eternal
gratification is mine until at least Monday.
And I guess... the real reason I logged on after so long...
One of my friends is in Iraq. I just got news that his troop ran
into a road mine and all seven of them were sent to the hospital.
Right after being assured that no one died and that they were all
'fine', I was told that his right leg had to be amputated below the
knee and that his left foot is 'badly mangled'.
He got married two years ago and his wife is pregnant and in Colorado
and alone. (I hear her mother is trying to get up there).
His parents and sister are in Longview. I guess... after being
supremely thankful that he's alive, the next emotion is grappling with
the idea of the devastation. It's so easy, at least for me, to
forget we're at war. I guess I just assumed he was invincible...
from what I gather, he's always wanted to be in the Army... I guess I
assumed that if you WANTED to be there, you got an automatic titanium
bubble. I know that prostheses are a lot more advanced, and I'm
sure that he's going to be fine, and virtually unstoppable, but,
still. I am shaken up and grieved. If y'all could lift him,
his troop, and his family up in prayer, I'd appreciate it.
Thanks.
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