BIRTHDAY WEEKEND!!!!!

...another birthday....I no longer care about getting older...I like where I am in life ...I would like to have a 25 year old body....but I wouldn't want to be 25! I am thankful for a wonderful family and great friends who make life better because I know they care! Happy Birthday to me, 2008! Yippee!!!Hurrah!!!! Delight!!!!

beauty queen of only 15

Whitney goes to Homecoming, in a limo, via dinner at MY favorite restaurant "Sky Fusion", escorted by Justin ....he's a cutey.....she's my baby....hmmmmmm?????? A good time was had by all. He got the "purple dress" memo...but have you ever tried to match purple? There are 100 shades.....but they look darling!

Barrack Hussein Obama is scarey!

I don't like Obama....at all. When I see him I think these things:

• White Washed Tomb
• Symbolism over Substance
• Cold and Angry disquised as "Very "cool"....(gag)
• Author of lies
• Masked
• Friend of Terrorists and not ashamed of it
• "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy..." (John 10:10)
• "Everything is permissible -- but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible -- but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good but the good of others" (1 Corinthians 10:23-24)

I almost like Hilary Clinton now...Barrack makes her seem..hmmmm, less awful....maybe that's the plan? Maybe the Democratic Party wants us to hate Obama so much that we will elect Hilary in 2012.....now that's a thought. God help us.

church...and all that it entails....

Basilica of St. Francis and St. Francis of Assisi!

Sistine Chapel

I'm a Christian... raised in a Lutheran church...born again in a Baptist Church....now spending time in a Presbyterian Church...and content. But after reading...and I'm not finished yet...."Chasing Francis" (a book about Saint Francis of Assisi)....I'm beginning to take another look at the Catholic Church....not that I"m considering converting to Catholicism....but I have a new appreciation for what they do in "their" church...something I haven't considered in ages. I"m all about head knowledge application of Scripture to my life...you know...the message!!


The Author of Chasing Francis, "Ian Morgan Cron" writes: Medievals built huge, ornate churches so that people walking into them would feel like they'd left one world and entered another reality -- the kingdom of God. ...{You see} stained-glass windows, frescoes and paintings, dimmed lights, flickering candles, the smell of incense, vaults and arches pulling your spirit upward, angels soaring on the ceilings. God {sneaks] up on you through the architecture...


He continues...."Augustine said the human mind was particularly delighted when truth was presented to it indirectly, like in symbols and sacred space. Unfortunately, most churches today are designed without any sense of the iconic because moderns like straightforward, unambiguous communication. We want 'worship centers' where hominess is more important than holiness."


THAT'S SO TRUE.....we focus more on 'lights, camera, action rather than "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost".

I just have to keep quoting this book....it has me enraptured! It's a story about a Pilgrimage and these quotes take place between 2 characters in the book. One is a Catholic Friar, the other a Baptist Minister...who is at the end of himself....tired of playing church....a place so many of us find ourselves these days....we just want more...and something different.....here's more...


The Friar says, "Next come the liturgy and the Eucharist".....most churches today downplay Communion...we 'just do it' ...sometimes. I always thought it odd that Catholic Churches and others serve the Lord's Supper almost every Sunday....in my piety I thought they should spend more time on 'the message'....but I learned something here in this short paperback.....

The Friar continues..."Church start[s] the moment you get in the car. ....Liturgy (the consecrating of the bread and the wine and it's consumption) is a journey that proceeds from the kingdom of this world into a brief encounter with the kingdom of God, and then back out again to bear witness to it. The liturgy began the moment you started separating yourself from this world so you could join the rest of the body of Christ. In liturgy, every act is a metaphor or symbol."

"The word liturgy literally means 'the work of the people.' It's an ancient text that helps us reenact the redemption drama. What we're reciting is a compressed version of the redemption story. At the end of it, we can't help but be moved to cry out with all the angels and archangels. "Thanks be to God! and give our lives to the God who gave his life for us.

So -- (when you enter one of these grand cathedrals) you entered sacred space, heard and spoke the Great Story. Next, you were mystically confronted with Christ at the climax of the liturgy, the Eucharist." (i.e. the Lord's Supper...it means "thanksgiving")

It's that moment in the 'work of the people' when we partake of the divine life and experience the presence of Christ in a way that can be particularly intense...Jesus draws very near at the Eucharist, and that can be unnerving. But think of it as a homecoming celebration. In the Eucharist, we are united with God, all the saints, the earth that gave us the bread and wine, and the whole universe.!"...

...the Eucharist is the sacrament of love and joy...

"We need more than reason or information to nourish our faith; we're built for firsthand experiences of God through things like the Eucharist as well. Gandhi (and I don't particularly care for Gandhi) said, "The world is so hungry for God that God could only come as a piece of bread. We so long for joy that God even risked coming into the world in the form of intoxication, that risky thing called wine."

"Sometime back I heard someone say that the Bible is less a book that tells us what to do than a story that tells us who we are....The liturgy moves us...taking us on a guided journery where we are reminded of who we are, where we came from, how things have gotten so out of whack in this world, how God intervened, and how history is going to end.

Sometimes we feel dislocated...liturgy helps relocate us. We are not characters in search of an Author...we have a story.

Sometimes our spiritual lives feel like they are dying a slow death....maybe things would be different if, week after week, we sit in a community that repeatedly reminds us of who God is and who we are thru something like the liturgy. It's like someone says, "Don't worry, Faith might be hard for you to come by right now, but listen to these ancient words we're saying and 'rent' our faith until yours revives".....

shoowee.....touche' The End! 'Nuf said!

My cup runneth over!!

It has been said, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder."

.... BUT, I believe, when it comes to friends and family... absence makes the heart

BURST... with joy when you finally see them again! This weekend I was able to reunite with my doll, Adrianne, having not seen her since I left her at college abruptly back in August. I was also able to spend some quality time with my favorite gal-pal Cyndi...having not seen her since mid-September. The joy my heart felt at seeing their faces and then embracing them is difficult to put into words. I will just say this...my cup was completely filled.

Love of others fills you up!! I thank YOU Lord for family and friends!! The extra addition to cup-filling was the fact that Cyndi had her family there PLUS we were able to spend time with our new friends, The Kuykendalls along with their Little Phi SK as well.

Good friends, good food, bad football, but fun football game...SO...a grand time was had by all!!

Musings from a great book!

Sometimes we lose our composure when we ponder the painful parts of our lives and other times we lose it simply because our environment overcomes us . In the book, "Chasing Francis" the Author writes..."Not to worry, sometimes prayers are wet." I agree. Scripture says it best in Romans 8:26: ...the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express...."

Ponderings

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

Moving...can be difficult. There are unpleasant parts and good parts. I was pondering them yesterday.

First, Whitney is moved from her home and School that she has been in since she was a first grader. She had "her place" in her comfortable school. Now she is in a new school...new home (however temporary), and on a new team....guess what? She loves it! God has added new friends to her life...and they genuinely love her. Whitney is content!

Next, Adrianne is taken from her home and moved to a city where she will probably not make new friends (as a college student)...BUT, at Auburn she has wonderful new friends that she #1 lives with, #2 has classes with and , #3 are in her Sorority.....they will be her life-long friends, as well as her beloved friends in A-vegas....Little Karina, Katah, Claire-bear, and Britley!!!

Both girls have added friends to their lives!

Then...Marc...he has no regrets leaving Ash-vegas....his hiking buddies will still be calling him to get out there and "die-hard" on the trails. As far as his job????.....well, in A-vegas that was going no where positive....I won't elaborate! As far as Florida??? Let's just say he is the happiest he has ever been work-wise!! Let's see.....tomorrow he is going with his boss and co-workers to check out a new Country Club golf course that is courting the hospital employees....yeah, he's alright!

Finally, me...I miss my friends. I miss my house. I miss my life.....BUT...I do not miss the weather....and that is VERY important....no one can take the sunshine from me. Every day is beautiful...if it doesn't decide to rain....and I will always keep my A-vegas friends....they are too wonderful. God will sell that house and I will have a new life here...there are hints of new beginnings. I have re-established old friendships here...and they are good! We have a home....a temporary one that is not my favorite...but it has access to a pool, has all the comforts necessary (not all that are desired) so I am trying everyday to be thankful.


MLS listing #406460

One last thing....we have a wonderful church. I love the Pastor, the music, the heart of the church AND the people are becoming more familiar each week. We even have people there we can now call friends!!

God is working all things for our good....according to his purposes not mine. So I will trust. Lord, help thou my unbelief....and not complain...but somedays....well, I whine.

But, in spite of me God is still good....all the time!