So last week, I announced a contest to pick my Lenten discipline. The winner is Beth Anne and after praying and talking over with me what is possible with Daniel, she came up with this:
I think you should go pray in a church an extra 1-2 days a week. And get some kind of Lenten book or website with reflections and read from it everyday.
I’ll be using this book.
Here’s to an interesting Lent!
FOR TODAY March 2, 2014
Outside my window… dark. We’ve gotten some storms coming through this weekend and are supposed to have more tomorrow. I’ve got at least 4 hours of driving to do so I’m hoping the roads stay safe.
I am thinking… about my trip to San Jose tomorrow.
I am thankful… for good interactions with parishioners in the last week.
In the kitchen… dishes though I did several sinkfulls today. (My kingdom for a dishwasher!)
I am wearing… beige v-neck and black capri sweats from Target which are super comfy.
I am praying for… traveling mercies as I head to San Jose tomorrow, discernment for people involved in my special intention, and for patience with regard to Daniel.
I am going… to $tarbux on my way out of town.
I am wondering… how tomorrow will go.
I am reading… This Our Exile by James Martin, S.J. which I highly recommend if you have any interest in Africa or missiology.
I am hoping… to sleep well tonight.
I am looking forward to… seeing my parents tomorrow though I wish it were happier circumstances. (Nobody died — I have to go deal with a family matter.)
I am hearing the Roomba trying to dock. It’s like having a Dalek moving around the darkened living room.
Around the house… cats are scattered haphazardly. (In other words, everything is normal.)
I am pondering… what to take with me tomorrow for the time that I’ll spend sitting: crocheting or just my NOOK?
A favorite quote for today… “We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.” — C.S. Lewis (How true this is right now!)
One of my favorite things… quiet.
A few plans for the rest of the week: trip to San Jose by myself tomorrow, Morning Prayer on Tuesday, Ash Wednesday stuff on Wednesday, meeting on Thursday morning, and Ladies’ Night Out that evening.
A peek into my day… Daniel and Cullen taking a nap together. When I was pregnant with Daniel, Cullen used to settle on my baby belleh and purr… only to be kicked by Daniel. My mom and I have been joking for almost 5 years now about them having a Calvin and Hobbes type of relationship someday. (Cullen is a gigantic scaredy cat so he’ll hang out with Daniel if Daniel is asleep or in my lap being sedate.) Maybe that day is coming soon?
Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook
Today is the last day of the challenge to write 7 posts in 7 days. I decided to only do the Five Favorites meme at Moxie Wife as one of the entries and do a couple other small link-ups, which has meant that I’ve had to write two posts on Thursdays and Sundays to keep the 7 Quick Takes and The Simple Woman’s Daybook separate.
So…
It had been probably 30 years since I had a shamrock shake from McDonalds and my Twitter has been full of people talking about having one. Given that I am an adult and can consent to purchase and consume one, I thought “why not?” and headed over to my local McDonalds to try one.
My take: a waste of $3.
Seriously, I’m a huge fan of any thing mint-flavored so I thought I’d like this. The thing tasted like toothpaste and for the caloric load, I could have consumed 3/4 of a container of Talenti Mediterranean Mint gelato. I’m also a bit afraid to go online and look at the ingredient list after seeing a sign about this.
My two cents.
I’m wearing my Online Debate Team shirt at the moment and I just had to referee a cat fight in a group on Facebook where I’m one of the admins so this subject seemed appropriate.
I try not to pick fights… too often. (Maybe once every few years and only on subjects where I’m pretty confident that I’m right.) It’s not worth my time (especially these days) and I know I hate it when people pick fights with me. Any comments left on this blog that are nasty go right into the spam folder and the offending party has their I.P. banned.
Last summer, I saw a post on a blog with which I disagreed so I refuted her points. That irritated her and she waged an all-out war on me on her blog and in my comment box where she created new identities and I.P.’s using a proxy server. A pastor’s wife friend of mine dared to defend me so she went after my friend on my friend’s blog and in comment box the same way. After praying about the situation, I decided to be the bigger person and called a truce because sitting back and eating popcorn while watching her self-destruct was not a godly way to handle the situation.
Why am I bringing it up (other than her bringing it up on her blog nastily a few months ago)? Well… I believe there are some rules we should be following in how we disagree online.
[+] Try to remember that the person you disagree with is a human being and not a disembodied voice whose text is appearing on your screen. I try to remind myself of this when I read someone online with whom I disagree and/or find to be an utter twit. As much as I might find what they say to be stupid, they have as much of a right to hold that opinion as I do to hold mine.
[+] If you’re going to refute something that someone has written, do so charitably. You can disagree as much as you want; but if you’re sticking a link to the original post, understand that it might get back to the original poster that you’ve written it and they may not be happy. Also, quote the whole piece in blockquotes so your readers can see the context in which they said things. It’s only fair. Lastly, try not to speak of the poster derisively. You are trying to refute their ideas, not their existence.
[+] If you’re disagreeing with someone on Facebook, remember that your conversation is visible for the entire world to see. I’ve seen people act like jerks on Facebook and I kind of wonder if they’re oblivious to the fact that everyone in that group can see the conversation. Ditto when it’s on someone’s wall.
[+] If you claim to be Christian, remember that you are representing Jesus to non-Christians. Another one of my pet peeves is Christians acting like bullies in places where non-Christians can interact with them. It sends the message that God is OK with people behaving shamefully in His name, regardless of whether God *is* in fact OK with this. (Spoiler: He isn’t.) Are people going to be attracted to Jesus if you call other people names? As a convert, I can tell you the answer is “NO!!!!” If nothing else, it took *longer* for me to come to faith in Christ because of the way I had seen some people act who professed to be Christians.
[+] If you’re going to post something in which you disagree with someone else, pray before you hit the “publish” or “submit” button. It hasn’t stopped me from completely putting my foot in my mouth but it at least gives me to think about it first.
My two cents.
I’m feeling really twitchy about a family situation (I can’t discuss it publicly out of respect for that family member) so I’m up posting and I thought I’d listen to some Bach to calm me down.
For those who don’t know, I’m a classically trained pianist and vocalist. I rarely play piano publicly anymore and I don’t have opportunity to sing much because of Daniel. To be clear, I’m not a soloist — I’m one of those people who loves to lend support to a community choral group. Bach is considered “the master” and it was pretty much expected when I participated in Guild Auditions that one of my Baroque pieces would be something by Bach.
Concerto for Two Pianos C major BWV 1061 (Vivace) This is the third movement of the concerto and it’s a fugue. If I could, I would have this as the ring tone for my cell phone. I liken the piece to children playing tag with the way that the theme jumps from person to person and instrument to instrument. This particular video does a good job of showing it.
“Jesus bleibet meine Freude” BWV 147 The English for this one is “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” and it should be familiar to many people. It was my first vocal solo (singing soprano with my friend Joyce doing second soprano and my friend Sunitha singing alto — absolutely terrifying for me but so incredibly wonderful) and it was also the processional at my wedding. I have probably 5 versions of it in my iTunes and on my “Bach and Baroque” playlist.
Prelude and Fugue No.12 in F Minor BWV 881 from “The Well-Tempered Clavier” This pianist does it well but my favorite version is from Windham Hill’s album “The Bach Variations” with Philip Aaberg playing it. I’m biased because he actually played it for a concert at the Montana Synod Assembly in 2006. I swear every bone in my body relaxed during it.
Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (Sleepers Awake) BWV 645 My church choir director in high school was one of my professors in college. (I sang in the Women’s Chorale for 5 quarters and she was my conductor for 3 of them.) This is a piece that I remember her playing as an offertory when I was home from college.
“Little” Fugue in G minor, BWV 578 This is the piece that was used in Music Appreciation in high school to explain the structure of a fugue. It’s a pretty well-known piece and I chose this particular video to show you how insanely intricate it is. One of the reasons that Bach is considered “the master” for many people is that his music sounds so simple when in reality, it takes a great deal of skill to make it sound that way. Polyphony for the win!
Go love up Hallie and the others.
A few minutes ago, my friend Presley posted this picture of Rand Paul:
(And yes, I’m aware that some of your heads just exploded at me posting a picture of Rand Paul on my blog. It happens.)
I responded by posting this picture:
What do the two of us have in common?
The answer: we are both committed to ending slavery and human trafficking.
I first learned of the issue in college and was inspired when I saw Gary Haugen of International Justice Mission speak at Urbana 2000. I’ve raised money for them and used to be on their mailing list. (Now that things are more settled for us, I think I need to get back on it.) As I’ve read about various people’s experiences with the issue, I’ve discovered that there are many who were completely fired up by that talk 13 years ago. I think the thing that really hit home for a lot of us was that he talked about the number 20,000 (the number of students at the conference) and how it relates to the issue worldwide. It was captivating enough that I remember almost every detail of that talk despite fighting bronchitis at the time. (All of us came home from the conference with respiratory ailments of some nature.)
Anyway, I challenge all of you to learn more about the issue and to watch the video above.
Pick my Lenten discipline! I’ve decided to take a page from Fr. James Martin, S.J. and allow *someone else* to pick my Lenten discipline for this year. To enter the contest, click here to find the lovely Rafflecopter. The pre-reqs are super easy: leave me a comment and like this blog’s page on Facebook. I suck at updating it so it’s minimal as far as impact to your Facebook wall.
Orphans. Do you see these sweet children?
Brett still needs a mama. Iris finally has a family committed to her and they were supposed to have met her on the 29th.
Rain! I replaced my Old Navy flip-flops a couple days ago and wore them out. It started raining shortly after. You’re welcome, northern California. It’s not stopping me from wearing my flip-flops though. 😉
Sibling rivalry. Daniel climbed into my lap a few minutes ago, wrapped in the afghan my mother-in-law made for my husband when she was pregnant with him 36+ years ago. I sent Jon to go fetch Daniel’s own “mommy blankie” which I made for him when he was a red panda cublet in utero 5 (!!!) years ago. Daniel followed after him, dragging Jon’s afghan like Linus with his blankie. The little monster is back on my lap snuggled up with his own blankie. Edda is sitting on the back of the recliner meowing at me to make Daniel go away because I am *HER* mommy.
Smelly box. One of Daniel’s ABA tutors noticed him smelling his feet and getting excited about me putting alcohol gel on his hands so she suggested a “smelly box” where I put stuff like lip gloss, lotion, and other things he can smell instead of his feet or a pen. (He gets a rather “colorful” face from markers.) Any ideas for things to stick in there or what scents to put in?
And yes, I did get “Smelly Cat” stuck in my head while typing this.
Interesting idea. I was reading Beth Anne’s site and saw this on her sidebar. For those needing a system for keeping track of bills and mail, go check it out!
Special intention. For those praying for my special intention, especially in regard to forgiveness, I wanted to let you know that the prayers for forgiveness are working. Please continue praying for discernment. Thanks from the bottom of my heart.
For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com.
