So, the real reason I started this blog is because I have been reading the revgalblogpals blog for over a year, and, well, I want to be a cool revgal too! When I finally got my preaching license I thought it would be a good time to start. And now, today, when I haven't written anything for weeks - I'm a revgal! Thank you Mompriest for introducing me, and I will try to become more faithful at writing now that people may even actually read what I write (wink)
I don't have a lot of time for formatting here, suffice to say I love to read revgals and there are a couple of you whose blogs I follow...and I like to see what you are doing, look at your photos, and read your fantastic writing. I would love to meet you all IRL, someday. And I hope to post here more often and give my take on life in this old rust belt town where Starman and I are working and raising our family.
Blessings to all on this 5th day of Christmas!
Monday, December 29, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
RGBP Friday Five - Windows of the Soul
Sophia over at RGBP writes:
This Friday Five is inspired by my husband's Lasik surgery yesterday....He'd been contemplating it for a while and was pushed over the edge by the fact that we put too much money in our healthcare spending account this year and it would have been gone anyway. (There was only enough for one eye, but the kind people at the eye clinic figured out a way to divvy up the charges between surgery and followup in January=next year's spending account). So please say a little prayer for his safe recovery and share with us your thoughts on eyes and vision.
First of all, Sophia, prayer said - and I hope the recovery goes well!
1. What color are your beautiful eyes? Did you inherit them from or pass them on to anyone in your family?
I have blue-green eyes, not quite hazel. Starman's eyes are almost the same color. Skye's eyes are blue gray, and really quite beautiful - she has had comments made on her eyes since her birth. Freckleface also has big blue eyes, but Brown Eyes, the 4 year old has - you guessed it - brown eyes, and has since she was born! How did two blue eyed parents have a brown eyed baby? I have no idea!
2. What color eyes would you choose if you could change them?
A little deeper blue would be nice, but really, I don't mind my color at all.
3. Do you wear glasses or contacts? What kind? Like 'em or hate 'em?
I have worn corrective lenses since 3rd grade, and contacts since 9th grade, when I started running track. After so many years with contacts, I find wearing glasses really annoying, and when I must wear them, I feel very unattractive and nerdy - of course, part of that issue is that I AM a nerd, with two science degrees, so perhaps I should embrace the part? I know I will need to go the bifocal route soon, and I am not looking forward to that!
I have a "lazy eye" like my dad, and he at 65 or so gave up driving because of eye problems - so I wonder if things will get worse down the road. I dread going to the eye doctor because I really just can't see well out of my right eye at all, even with correction it is still about 20-40. I always tried to memorize the chart when I was younger, but now I just admit, I can't see! Fortunately, my left eye is pretty good
4. Ever had, or contemplated, laser surgery? Happy with the results?
No surgery here, too expensive for me, and I am so used to wearing the contact lenses.
5. Do you like to look people in the eye, or are you more eye-shy?
I am definitely someone who likes to make eye contact with people. WHen I preach, I find myself focussing on one person, then another, for just a split second, but I try to be careful about that so they don't think what I say is meant "just for them" in the wrong way! But I find face to face conversation very important - I can tell a lot about how a conversation is going by looking someone in the eye.
Bonus question: Share a poem, song, or prayer that relates to eyes and seeing.
I was going to share Brown Eyes' song which is of course, Brown Eyed girl, but many of you have shared that already. I thought of one of my favorite Elton John songs, but I am too tired to figure out how to post a link, so I will just include the lyrics here:
Your Song
It's a little bit funny this feeling inside
I'm not one of those who can easily hide
I don't have much money but boy if I did
I'd buy a big house where we both could live
If I was a sculptor, but then again, no
Or a man who makes potions in a travelling show
I know it's not much but it's the best I can do
My gift is my song and this one's for you
And you can tell everybody this is your song
It may be quite simple but now that it's done
I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words
How wonderful life is while you're in the world
I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss
Well a few of the verses well they've got me quite cross
But the sun's been quite kind while I wrote this song
It's for people like you that keep it turned on
So excuse me forgetting but these things I do
You see I've forgotten if they're green or they're blue
Anyway the thing is what I really mean
Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen
Thanks Sophia, for a Fun Friday Five!
This Friday Five is inspired by my husband's Lasik surgery yesterday....He'd been contemplating it for a while and was pushed over the edge by the fact that we put too much money in our healthcare spending account this year and it would have been gone anyway. (There was only enough for one eye, but the kind people at the eye clinic figured out a way to divvy up the charges between surgery and followup in January=next year's spending account). So please say a little prayer for his safe recovery and share with us your thoughts on eyes and vision.
First of all, Sophia, prayer said - and I hope the recovery goes well!
1. What color are your beautiful eyes? Did you inherit them from or pass them on to anyone in your family?
I have blue-green eyes, not quite hazel. Starman's eyes are almost the same color. Skye's eyes are blue gray, and really quite beautiful - she has had comments made on her eyes since her birth. Freckleface also has big blue eyes, but Brown Eyes, the 4 year old has - you guessed it - brown eyes, and has since she was born! How did two blue eyed parents have a brown eyed baby? I have no idea!
2. What color eyes would you choose if you could change them?
A little deeper blue would be nice, but really, I don't mind my color at all.
3. Do you wear glasses or contacts? What kind? Like 'em or hate 'em?
I have worn corrective lenses since 3rd grade, and contacts since 9th grade, when I started running track. After so many years with contacts, I find wearing glasses really annoying, and when I must wear them, I feel very unattractive and nerdy - of course, part of that issue is that I AM a nerd, with two science degrees, so perhaps I should embrace the part? I know I will need to go the bifocal route soon, and I am not looking forward to that!
I have a "lazy eye" like my dad, and he at 65 or so gave up driving because of eye problems - so I wonder if things will get worse down the road. I dread going to the eye doctor because I really just can't see well out of my right eye at all, even with correction it is still about 20-40. I always tried to memorize the chart when I was younger, but now I just admit, I can't see! Fortunately, my left eye is pretty good
4. Ever had, or contemplated, laser surgery? Happy with the results?
No surgery here, too expensive for me, and I am so used to wearing the contact lenses.
5. Do you like to look people in the eye, or are you more eye-shy?
I am definitely someone who likes to make eye contact with people. WHen I preach, I find myself focussing on one person, then another, for just a split second, but I try to be careful about that so they don't think what I say is meant "just for them" in the wrong way! But I find face to face conversation very important - I can tell a lot about how a conversation is going by looking someone in the eye.
Bonus question: Share a poem, song, or prayer that relates to eyes and seeing.
I was going to share Brown Eyes' song which is of course, Brown Eyed girl, but many of you have shared that already. I thought of one of my favorite Elton John songs, but I am too tired to figure out how to post a link, so I will just include the lyrics here:
Your Song
It's a little bit funny this feeling inside
I'm not one of those who can easily hide
I don't have much money but boy if I did
I'd buy a big house where we both could live
If I was a sculptor, but then again, no
Or a man who makes potions in a travelling show
I know it's not much but it's the best I can do
My gift is my song and this one's for you
And you can tell everybody this is your song
It may be quite simple but now that it's done
I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words
How wonderful life is while you're in the world
I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss
Well a few of the verses well they've got me quite cross
But the sun's been quite kind while I wrote this song
It's for people like you that keep it turned on
So excuse me forgetting but these things I do
You see I've forgotten if they're green or they're blue
Anyway the thing is what I really mean
Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen
Thanks Sophia, for a Fun Friday Five!
Friday, December 5, 2008
Grateful
So, how do you thank two friends whose favors you could never return? I am feeling exceedingly grateful today. This week, my friend MusicMaker took two days out of her hectic family and work schedule to drive me 8 hours away to a nearby state. In that state lives a friend and her family who used to be our neighbors. This loving friend, SaltOfTheEarth, gave me, that's right, gave me, her car. It's a 1995 Toyota Camry, it has 108K miles on it and it runs just great.
I am in awe. I am amazed. I hope I can somehow pay this forward someday. Now Starman doesn't have to walk in the rain and sleet and snow to pick up the girls from school while I am at work. Now we can get the girls to different places at the same time. Now, I don't have to drive a gas-guzzling minivan 90 miles twice a week just to get to the church. Wow.
Thank you, MusicMaker. Thank you, SaltOfTheEarth and your families, too. What could I ever do to deserve such wonderful friends?
I am in awe. I am amazed. I hope I can somehow pay this forward someday. Now Starman doesn't have to walk in the rain and sleet and snow to pick up the girls from school while I am at work. Now we can get the girls to different places at the same time. Now, I don't have to drive a gas-guzzling minivan 90 miles twice a week just to get to the church. Wow.
Thank you, MusicMaker. Thank you, SaltOfTheEarth and your families, too. What could I ever do to deserve such wonderful friends?
Advent Simplicity, light and beauty Friday Five
Sally over at RGBP writes:
"Imagine a complex, multi-cultural society that annually holds an elaborate winter festival, one that lasts not simply a few days, but several weeks. This great festival celebrates the birth of the Lord and Saviour of the world, the prince of peace, a man who is divine. People mark the festival with great abundance- feasting, drinking and gift giving....." (Richard Horsley- The Liberation of Christmas)
The passage goes on, recounting the decorations that are hung, and the songs and dances that accompany the festival, how the economy booms and philanthropic acts abound....
But this is not Christmas- this is a Roman festival in celebration of the Emperor....This is the world that Jesus was born into! The world where the early Christians would ask "Who is your Saviour the Emperor or Christ?"
And yet our shops and stores and often our lives are caught up in a world that looks very much like the one of ancient Rome, where we worship at the shrine of consumerism....
Advent on the other hand calls us into the darkness, a time of quiet preparation, a time of waiting, and re-discovering the wonder of the knowledge that God is with us. Advent's call is to simplicity and not abundance, a time when we wait for glorious light of God to come again...
Christ is with us at this time of advent, in the darkness, and Christ is coming with his light- not the light of the shopping centre, but the light of love and truth and beauty.
What do you long for this advent? What are your hopes and dreams for the future? What is your prayer today?
In the vein of simplicity I ask you to list five advent longings....
1. I long for my children to know what it means that their God came to earth in a little baby, that this baby grew just as they are growing, that this baby came for the whole world
2. I long for myself to find a balance between worshiping and decorating, gathering with friends and finding time alone to be in God's presence.
3. I long for a way to be able to give more - more out of my pocket, more time, more freely, to those who are truly in need.
4. I long for those who are in need to know some peace this season, to be warm, to be fed both physically and spiritually.
5. I long for peace, here in my community, in our country, in the world. True peace.
May each of you be blessed with satisfaction of your own longings this season. Thank you Sally, for a chance to reflect on this cold and gray December morning.
"Imagine a complex, multi-cultural society that annually holds an elaborate winter festival, one that lasts not simply a few days, but several weeks. This great festival celebrates the birth of the Lord and Saviour of the world, the prince of peace, a man who is divine. People mark the festival with great abundance- feasting, drinking and gift giving....." (Richard Horsley- The Liberation of Christmas)
The passage goes on, recounting the decorations that are hung, and the songs and dances that accompany the festival, how the economy booms and philanthropic acts abound....
But this is not Christmas- this is a Roman festival in celebration of the Emperor....This is the world that Jesus was born into! The world where the early Christians would ask "Who is your Saviour the Emperor or Christ?"
And yet our shops and stores and often our lives are caught up in a world that looks very much like the one of ancient Rome, where we worship at the shrine of consumerism....
Advent on the other hand calls us into the darkness, a time of quiet preparation, a time of waiting, and re-discovering the wonder of the knowledge that God is with us. Advent's call is to simplicity and not abundance, a time when we wait for glorious light of God to come again...
Christ is with us at this time of advent, in the darkness, and Christ is coming with his light- not the light of the shopping centre, but the light of love and truth and beauty.
What do you long for this advent? What are your hopes and dreams for the future? What is your prayer today?
In the vein of simplicity I ask you to list five advent longings....
1. I long for my children to know what it means that their God came to earth in a little baby, that this baby grew just as they are growing, that this baby came for the whole world
2. I long for myself to find a balance between worshiping and decorating, gathering with friends and finding time alone to be in God's presence.
3. I long for a way to be able to give more - more out of my pocket, more time, more freely, to those who are truly in need.
4. I long for those who are in need to know some peace this season, to be warm, to be fed both physically and spiritually.
5. I long for peace, here in my community, in our country, in the world. True peace.
May each of you be blessed with satisfaction of your own longings this season. Thank you Sally, for a chance to reflect on this cold and gray December morning.
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