Category Archives: Memes and Link-Ups

7 Quick Takes: Independence Day

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Independence Day. Happy Independence Day to all my US readers. I hope you had a lovely day filled with parades, patriotism, good food, and fun while watching things explode.

— 2 —

Thankful. I’m down in southern California with my in-laws for a couple days. I got to meet my nephew Patrick this morning at his (SECRET BAPTISM) and enjoy some squishy baby cuddles. Unfortunately, there are no pics for this blog post because I left the transfer cable for my camera at home (!!!!!!) He is a cutie though and I thoroughly enjoyed having a sleeping baby in my arms for the first time since Daniel was that age.

Oh yes… it’s also 106F up where we live today. Down in southern California, it’s only 94F. So happy to be down here instead!

— 3 —

Zucchini of Light. My mother-in-law has a massive zucchini which she set on the counter with some patriotic candles stuck in it. When I asked her what it was, she explained that it was the “zucchini of light”. Apparently, she grew a huge zucchini one year and the family recoiled at the sight of it because they envisioned the hell of zucchini bread, zucchini pickles, zucchini pancakes, zucchini coleslaw, zucchini fries, etc. She put it on the coffee table with some Hannukah candles in it as a decoration piece and when some people came over for an Indian Princesses meeting, they asked what it was. My father-in-law replied sarcastically, “The Zucchini of Light”. Anywhere else, people would have caught the joke, However, in uber-PC California, nobody did. So… I guess we’re having a “zucchini of light” tonight in place of firecrackers. (It’s more than a little dangerous to have fireworks in southern California.)

— 4 —

She knows me well. While we were stopping by the church yesterday to pick up supplies for the (SECRET BAPTISM) today, I got a message from my mother-in-law telling me that she had bought TWO BOXES of Trader Joe’s Coffee Latté and Creme Bars for my 3 day stay in southern California. Every time I’ve had one since in her presence, I’ve been stroking it Gollum-style and saying, “My precioussssssss…”

— 5 —

Kitty kitty kitty. There is a tabby attempting to get my in-laws to adopt him. He has gorgeous stripes and beautiful green eyes but he’s skittish. I’d love to play with some string with him but he’s too afraid, especially since a small screaming creature (a.k.a. Daniel) tends to follow me places. *sighs*

— 6 —

Itchy. Something bit me or got me some other way because Tuesday night, I started breaking out in hives and when I scratched them, the burning started. I ran into the kitchen and begged Jon to go out and get me some Cortizone-10 at 11:00 p.m. After a tube of that, a bottle of Sarna, and some Benadryl, it stopped. Well… it started up down here so I took some Benadryl and just showered. I’m hoping it’s not my shower gel or something — that would be really bad.

— 7 —

*grumblegrumblegrumble* The only thing worse than being married to a Dodgers fan when the Giants are playing the Dodgers is to be married to one when the Giants are at the bottom of the NL West. C’mon boys! #BeatLA

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com.

Five Favorites: Taizé Chants

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Five Favorites

You can credit Thomas of Strong Catholic for inspiring this week’s post. He was posting Taizé prayers on Twitter last night.

One

In the Lord, I’ll be ever thankful. This one that we used to sing in seminary on Mondays or Fridays when we’d have Taizé worship. I have fond memories of singing harmony on this one with a couple male classmates.

Two

Nada te turbe. The words are by St. Teresa de Ávila. I learned this during monthly Taizé prayer put on by the Christian groups at UCSC.

Three

Ubi caritas. This was one of the first ones I learned during Maundy Thursday 1997. It’s still one of my favorites and one that I think I’ve sung to Daniel.

Four

Jubilate Deo. I actually learned this as a grace at Girl Scout camp before I knew that it was from Taizé.

Five

Misericordias Domini. This is another one I learned while in seminary when I played piano for Taizé evening prayer.

Go love up Hallie and the others.

Blogging with a Purpose: 5 Years From Now

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This week’s topic: 5 years from now…

In five years, I will be 38. While that is still young in the grand scheme of things, there are still things that I am hoping will be worked out. Anything I put here is up to God in terms of whether it happens because I know fully well that when mortals plan, God laughs. So this is what I’m hoping will be in place in 5 years…

The puzzle that is Daniel, my medical mystery, to be assembled. Every time I think we have Daniel figured out, something new gets thrown at us. I’ve finally stopped crying every time it happens… most of the time. (The latest is him having mild hearing loss.) I’d like to have things with Daniel more figured out and for him to be able to be mainstreamed into a regular classroom.

My family to be “complete”. This could mean that Daniel is an only child, that I have another one naturally, or that we are called to adopt. Whatever it means, I’m open to what God has in store for me in this direction.

To have my respiratory therapy training or whatever it is that I’m going to be when I grow up figured out. Yes, I’m 33 and I’m still trying to figure out what it is that I want to be when I grow up. Current thought: respiratory therapist. I’d like to have it figured out and my training done.

Being part of a community choir that allows me to indulge my “great works of choral music” itch. I love to sing. I don’t have a place to really scratch that itch at the moment.

To have grown in grace and love for God. It’s my goal pretty much every day and I pray in 5 years to be better at conveying God’s amazing grace to others and to be better at loving God and His people.

Now go see Becky and where everyone else who is linking up hope to be in 5 years.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: July 1, 2013

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY July 1, 2013

Outside my window… dark. It’s 3:15 a.m. so I’m trying to blog out my brain so I might be able to fall asleep.

I am thinking… that climate deniers need to be shot. This could also be the triple digit heat talking.

I am thankful… for A/C right now.

In the kitchen… teryaki chicken marinating.

I am wearing… olive-colored t-shirt and running shorts.

I am creating… blog entries on various subjects

I am going… to hope and pray I can eventually get some sleep. I took some more Benadryl so hopefully that works.

I am reading… Between Heaven and Mirth by Fr. James Martin, S.J.

I am hoping… the heat goes away soon.

I am looking forward to… seeing my in-laws this week.

I am learning to be patient with myself.

Around the house… the Roomba is broken so I’ll be chatting up tech support today to find out what they want me to do.

I am pondering… my faith.

A favorite quote for today… “Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance.” — C.S. Lewis

One of my favorite things… cool rainy weather. I want some. NOW.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Trying to get caught up on devotions, ABA therapy on Monday afternoon, Morning Prayer on Tuesday, heading down south on Wednesday, my nephew’s baptism on Thursday, coming home on Saturday.

A peek into my day… Ernie singing “I Don’t Want to Live on the Moon”. It’s been stuck in my head so I thought I’d share.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

What I Wore On Sunday: June 30, 2013

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What I Wore On Sunday

I actually made it to church today. *waits for applause*

But Jen, you’re the pastor’s wife.

Yes, I’m the pastor’s wife but I have a sick kid, have my own health issues and have been gone at least 2 weekends this month.

So anyway…

I woke up with enough time to have some personal devotional time before going and getting the little blond boy up and having a tickle fight with him before getting dressed. We made it to church with a little bit of time to spare and one of my church women did the most gracious and wonderful thing ever: she offered to take Daniel outside during the service if he got grumpy so I could focus on worship. I felt really bad turning her down but it was about 85F outside around the time church started at 9:30 and is going to hit at least 104F before the day is through — I didn’t feel like I could ask her to do that if it was going to be that hot. The little monster and I lasted until after the sermon hymn before he hit the point of no return with his grumpiness so we headed back to the parsonage, grabbed my purse, and went out to take care of a couple errands before the day got too hot. (It was 90F by that point.) When Jon got home, he communed me. (The deal we have is that if I’m not present at the altar rail to receive, he brings the Eucharist to me at home.)

So… onto the pictures!

Do you know how heavy that laundry basket is???

I hate just posing by myself and Edda (my beautiful house panther) was off skulking somewhere so I decided to hoist the bear child in a laundry basket. If I look a little grim, consider that Daniel is almost 35 lbs so that laundry basket was heavy!!!

I've got 33.4 lbs of boy in there!!!

My clothes
Shirt: Kohl’s.
Skirt: Kohl’s.
Flip flops: Old Navy.

The skirt is one that I got a year ago and forgot about. The nice thing is that I’ve lost some weight so I can actually pull it up over my hips without unzipping it. I love the length because it works for chasing Daniel and taking him around the block during worship on days when the temperature doesn’t approach the surface of the sun.

It's a good thing he's cute because he's breaking my arms!!!!

The bear child’s clothes
Shirt: True Fan. Go Giants!
Shorts: Circo.

Go check out the better dressed people in the link-up!

7 Quick Takes: An Update on Daniel, Hot Weather, and Interesting Posts This Week

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Update on Daniel. Everything went as well as things could go today. We had to be at UCD Medical Center at 6:15 am and though we were a bit late (the main hospital is a maze), it worked out fine. The Child Life therapists met us at the the desk while we were checking in and took us back. They entertained Daniel while we got him measured and weighed and then while they were taking blood pressure/pulse ox/hooking him up to monitors. He got to pick out two toys to play with and that kept him entertained until the Versed (which he took by syringe with no problem) kicked in. Our anesthesiology resident was lovely (and a former autism therapist before she went to medical school) and our audiologist (who I had met the day before) was great. I had a 2 hour wait while he was in the test and then we got the news that they did find something: mild hearing loss in Daniel. (More later.) They let Daniel sleep the anesthesia off instead of rousing him and while we were waiting, I talked to his nurse about his knitting/crocheting/quilting projects. (The conversation got started because the nurse was telling me about the pillows one of the nurses and her daughter make for all the kids to take home. Daniel’s has Sesame Street characters on it.) Daniel woke up and had some juice while we waited for anesthesiology to clear him to go home. He is now (Thursday night) his normal bearish self. As far as these things go, this was an absolutely painless experience.

— 2 —

So, about that hearing loss… I was suspecting that he wasn’t hearing things totally and this was actually a relief because it means that my suspicions were correct. Yeah, it’s not ideal that he has the mild hearing loss (something that was probably present at birth and missed on his newborn hearing screening) but he qualifies for hearing aids and between insurance, Medi-Cal, and California Childrens’ Services, we can get them paid for. It’s also one more puzzle piece in place for the medical mystery that is Daniel. It isn’t ideal but very little in my life is at the moment and I’ll settle for “we know what’s going on” rather than all of the “we have no freaking clue why this is the case” that I usually get. This will probably also affect his speech therapy because he’ll probably be able to understand the things his teachers and speech therapist are trying to do with him.

— 3 —

The next steps. The next step is an ENT appointment to look at this from a medical perspective and then we’ll meet with her for a hearing aid appointment where they’ll give us a boatload of information and do ear molds (so we can mold the hearing aids to his ears). I also really like this particular audiologist — she’s a warmer person than the other one we’ve had through UCD and she’s got other autistic patients who have hearing aids so it’s not like this is new for her.

— 4 —

All is well again. Wipeout is back this week. All is well with the world. At least they just pre-empted ABC shows for the NBA Finals instead of CBS ones — that would have been just brutal.

— 5 —

Orphans. Do you see these three cherubs?

First row: Brett and Iris.
Second row: Kaia.

BrettIrisKaia

Brett still needs a mama. Iris finally has a family committed to her. Kaia has a family committed to her who will be traveling to her country to meet her on July 26th! Click on their names to see their Reece’s Rainbow pages.

— 6 —

Blog posts of note. This week, I wrote about my experience with the Promise Walk this year, 10 things I live for, and five of my favorite passages of Scripture.

— 7 —

Hot hot hot! It was 97F today and will be 100F or higher for the next 5-6 days. This would be lovely if I didn’t have to be out in it. However, we’ve got the parish picnic tomorrow so I’ve got to deal with at least an hour of it in addition to whatever time I spend out doing errands and at Daniel’s WIC appointment tomorrow. I’m thinking that it would be great if Jon were called to a church in Alaska…

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com.

Five Favorites: Favorite Scripture Passages

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Five Favorites

Thomas of Strong Catholic asked a bonus question on his Quick Takes this week: What’s your favorite Bible verse? Or, for the indecisive, one of your favorites… ??? Dude, that’s like asking me which of the flowers in a rose garden is my favorite because I tend to read Scripture by passages. So… here are five of my favorite Scripture passages. The version will be in parentheses at the end of the passage.

Isa

Romans 8:31-39. It’s one that we use frequently for funerals in the Lutheran Church because it’s a reminder that nothing can separate us from God’s love.

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all??how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died??more than that, who was raised to life??is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: ??For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.?? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NIV)

Dalawa

Psalm 121. I love to read this one, especially when I travel. Like all Psalms, I prefer reading the King James Version because the language is so elegant.

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.
The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore. (KJV)

Tatlo

Hebrews 4:14-16. I love the reminder that we can approach God with the knowledge that we will find grace and mercy.

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are??yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God??s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (NIV)

Apat

Isaiah 55:6-11. A woman at the church I attended in high school was British and used to pronounce the name of the book as “I-Sigh-Ah”. I also need the reminder frequently that my thoughts are not God’s thoughts and thus I really need to stop obsessing and be patient.

Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. ??For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,?? declares the Lord. ??As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. (NIV)

Lima

Philippians 2:5-13. One of my favorite pieces of Scripture is “[work] out your salvation with fear and trembling”.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature[b] of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death ?? even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed??not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence ??continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. (NIV)

Go love up Hallie and the others.