Category Archives: Web Schtuff

The Picture in My Header and What It Means To Me

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I’ve had a couple people comment on the picture in my header. It’s a cropped version of this picture:

Grandpa and I in 1984

The man on the left is my very beloved grandpa. I’m on the right and judging from the hair and that I’m wearing a dress, I think I’m 4 years old which would have made this Thanksgiving or Christmas of 1984. It’s been 7 1/2 years since he joined the Church Triumphant and I still really miss him. I was (and still am — death cannot cancel out love) a very beloved granddaughter and was the only granddaughter until my cousin Kristin was born a few days before I turned 12.

I think the hardest Christmas other than the one after he passed was in 2009 when I came to Washington for Christmas with Daniel. I really wish he could have known his great-grandfather who fought in World War II, didn’t finish college because of the war but still spent his life learning, had volumes of poetry memorized, learned how to use the Internet in his 80’s, would instant message me every afternoon until he ended up in the hospital to say “hi” and “ich liebe dich” (“I love you” in German), piloted planes for United Airlines for 30+ years, traveled the world in his retirement, raised 4 kids, provided funds for us for college, taught us all the necessary knots for tying up boats on the dock in Canada, announced the banns of my marriage in church in September 2000, was married to the love of his life for just short of 63 years (and gave me excellent role models in terms of enduring hardship as a couple), and took me to Midnight Mass almost every year from when I was 13 until I was married. He adopted all of the spouses of the kids and grandchildren as a member of the family, including those who later left the family through divorce.

When I needed a header and was going through the pictures on my laptop, this one jumped out at me because it makes me smile to think of this amazing man who would be turning 95 this year.

This poem was read at his interment in June 2006:

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, ?? and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of ?? wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .

Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew ??
And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
?? “High Flight” by John Gillespie Magee, Jr

{Virtual} Coffee Date (vol. 4)

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{Virtual Coffee Date}

Once you’re done here, go visit Karianna and the other coffee drinkers.

If we were having coffee, I’d let you know that the professor behind Bible Students Say… is grading and you need to go check it out. It’s definitely face-palming to read but that’s what makes it so entertaining.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that my endocrinologist would be a great person with whom to share a cup of coffee but as a medical professional, she makes me roll my eyes. She keeps making helpful suggestions that would work… if they were actually practical for me with my food issues and my life. Example: suggesting eggs as a possible breakfast for someone who is allergic to eggs (which is on my chart) or making suggestions for stuff to cut up and take with me. I can do things like ziploc snack bags of nuts for a snack but some of the meal plan stuff she gave me just left me incredibly hungry. I get that a 1200 calorie diet would cause me to lose a boatload of weight quickly but that’s also not totally reasonable for me. (FitDay has me at around 1500.)

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that I’m bummed that the evil twin and his wife are now Washington-bound and how I’m secretly jealous because I’d love to live in the Pacific Northwest. I hate heat so living in Sacramento is hideous from about late May to early October. I’m also bummed because I was enjoying being close to family for a change. Oh well… this is another excuse to get to Washington on vacation.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that Daniel was his normal self today and I could probably have sent him to preschool but I didn’t want him giving whatever he had to the other kids or getting something else while his immunity was down. I also wish his ER doc had given him something that didn’t require improvising a mortar and pestle before dissolving it in 1 ml of water, and syringing it to him. (I’m glad to have the mad chemistry skillz but still!)

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you to go read Hallie’s Tell Me All About YOU! entry. I’m a wannabe sociologist and people-watcher and this is one of the few ways to do it online.

Thanks for having coffee (or tea) with me. See you next week!

7 Quick Takes: Virtual 5K’s, Harmless Political Fun, and Overheating Laptops

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Slow going. My laptop is overheating despite being on a cooling pad so Facebook is being slow (and of course, I have 15 hours of status updates to read) so I’m switching over here to write a Quick Take every time Facebook has to load more stuff. Whee! This is what I get for not being at my laptop for 12 hours.

— 2 —

Endocrinology grumping. I cleaned up my diet and my A1C got worse. (I didn’t see my other numbers though my liver enzymes apparently continue to be beautiful — thank God for that!) I think my endocrinologist would be an awesome coffee date but she has no clue about what my life entails. I was able to test a little bit after eating lunch today but dinner eluded me because I’m sipping on tea a lot of the time. (I need to move from my Lipton Pure Leaf stuff to Crystal Light or something because the Lipton stuff *will* up my carb load.) My thyroid function is also the lower boundary of normal (thanks Mom!) so we’re going to up my Synthroid by half and see if that makes a difference. There was the usual fight over trying new drugs because my insurance company hates me so she gave me samples while a prior authorization could be worked out and also a discount co-pay card for the meds she wanted to give me. My glucose meter had died so they found me a new one (I use a Freestyle Light) and it had a $15 co-pay card attached for test strips. (They can be between $50-$150 if you have to pay for them at the pharmacy.) I see her again in 3 months and God willing, she’ll be happier with results. I mean, I dropped 10 lbs while sitting on my butt so my dietary changes actually did something.

— 3 —

Wow. For those who are fans of the musical Les Miserables, you have to watch this.

He also does an amazing parody of Disney princesses after their “happy endings”.

— 4 —

Humorous Amazon.Com reviews. Amazon.Com has done the world a favor and has compiled a list of their products with fake reviews. George Takei also should have a decent list on his Facebook page and you might even be able to find him as a reviewer on Amazon.Com’s website.

— 5 —

Some political fun. Al Franken is up for re-election in 2014 for one of Minnesota’s US Senate seats and he is engaging in a little political fun. He is letting people vote on what Minnesota State Fair food he will be eating in a virtual postcard to supporters. Choices are things like alligator, tater tot hot dish, a chocolate-covered pickle, a steak dinner-on-a-stick, ostrich, and walleye-on-a-stick. I’m linking it here because I think it’s creative and it’s some harmless fun where Republicans and Democrats alike can vote on something. It’s the 21st century equivalent of putting him on a dunk tank or a pie-throwing booth.

— 6 —

Run for Little Flowers Giveaway. Katie at Blessed with Full Hands is organizing the Run for Little Flowers again and is having a giveaway. There’s running gear, a $20 gift card (put up by me), and other things available. The virtual 5K raises money for the Little Flower Projects.

— 7 —

More on The Bloggess’ book. Like Jenny Lawson (the Bloggess), I deal with generalized anxiety disorder but I’m not quite as humorous about it. I haven’t told people about swallowing a needle at parties but I tend to be more likely to focus on one or two people and just have a conversation with them. Like her, I also sound so much more normal online than I do in person. I was interviewing a respite worker for Daniel and it was probably one of the more uncomfortable 2-hour blocks of my life. It’s been interesting to read her book because I can totally see myself doing the stuff she has… well, kind of but with less dead animals.

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

Conversion Story Link-Up: On the Path

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Conversion Story Link-Up

Amanda of Worthy of Agape is hosting a link-up of conversion stories and as I’m a convert, I thought I’d share mine. (How many are you surprised? Leave me a comment and let me know if you are.)

My parents aren’t religious and raised us without a faith. My dad is pretty much secular humanist/atheist material and my mom was raised Episcopalian but is more of a Buddhist these days. (She has said, however, that she would totally become Lutheran if Jon was the pastor of the church in town which is a pretty big compliment to him.) Despite this, I grew up with a belief in God even if I wasn’t entirely sure who or what God was.

There are a couple of events that stand out:

[+] When I was 6, my neighbor Mrs. G invited the evil twin and I over to bake cookies at Christmas. After we finished baking, she read the Christmas story to us from a book of Bible stories for kids. Sean (the evil twin) and I both loved having people read to us so we asked her to keep going and ended up hearing all about Jesus’ ministry, the Cross, and His resurrection. I don’t know if she realizes it but almost 27 years later, I point to that afternoon of baking cookies as the place and time when the seed of the Gospel was planted in me.

[+] When I was 9 or 10, I was pretty much an avowed atheist and used to daydream about someone stepping up and proving that the Bible was a fake book meant to deceive people. Thing is, I could picture people like Mrs. G and her family as well as my friend Emily still believing and continuing to worship God even after and I think God used that to show me that there was something there that I wasn’t seeing. I also unfortunately had a run-in or two with people who tried to aggressively “win my soul to Christ” which made me more determined *NOT* to believe.

[+] The summer before 5th grade, my friend Emily invited me to go to camp with her church at Camp Hammer. I went with her and enjoyed myself. We studied the story of Joseph and his brothers from Genesis, memorized Scripture, enjoyed ourselves, etc. One of the counselors talked me into inviting Christ into my heart which I did because I wanted to please her. It didn’t totally stick because I went back to my regular life after camp but the seed didn’t completely die but instead stayed dormant until I hit middle school.

When I hit middle school, something in me wanted more. I started praying the Lord’s Prayer as kind of a “covering my bases” situation so that if this Jesus stuff was true, I might not be risking a trip to Hell. (I didn’t know it at the time, but I was totally living out Pascal’s Wager.) I also tried to teach myself as much as I could about Christianity. Mrs. G and her husband told me that they would totally take me to church if I wanted but I didn’t accept because I was completely afraid that people would find out that my parents weren’t religious and give me a hard time for not converting them.

When I hit eighth grade, the depression started in and it got worse when I hit high school. Looking back 18 years later, I can see how completely ill I was mentally and emotionally. I started thinking about death and probably wouldn’t be here today if God hadn’t finally made Himself real to me in the spring of 1995. On one really bad night (which I don’t talk about even in passworded posts), I ended up giving my life to Christ. After that, I sought to educate myself on Christianity and what people believed, buying out almost the entire section of religious books at my local bookstore. My friend Kyle invited me to church with him and I got involved in the choir there. I became part of a community who loved me because I was Jen and not because my parents were there.

During my freshman year of college, I discovered that I hadn’t been baptized (long story) so I went to the pastor of my college church and asked him if I could be baptized. I expected a lecture and an inquisition on my faith but got the following answer: “How’s a week from Sunday?” I was baptized during Memorial Day weekend of 1999 in a baptismal font (with warm water) by a guy in a Harley Davidson shirt and swim trunks. I’m sure Easter Vigil baptisms at a Catholic church are prettier but this worked.

It’s been 18 years since that night in the spring of 1995 and it’s amazing to me now (18 years later) that I’ve been Christian for a longer portion of my life than I was a non-believer. I’m married to a Lutheran pastor and have a degree in Religious Studies because I never quite stopped trying to learn about what people believe. 🙂 It blows people away that I’m a convert because I apparently “talk a good game”. As much as I wish I’d been raised in the faith, I think my background gives me an advantage because I can talk to people about faith things and do so knowing how not to completely screw it up. I can also look at the last 18 years and see the things I’ve been able to do because I chose to say “yes” that night. I’ve taught Bible studies in medium security prisons, taught Koine Greek to prisoners, held the hands of dying people, preached sermons, sung special music with Jon, had some life-changing conversations, and learned about some fascinating sub-cultures (I am a religious sociologist at heart).

The song “Who Am I” by Casting Crowns describes all of this well:

Yes Lord, I am Yours.

7 Quick Takes: Writing These Took a Herculean Effort

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Serious cuteness. When Jon was about to pull into the driveway this evening, Daniel rushed to the window to watch and started singing “da da da da da” to the tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. As Jon walked around the house to get the garbage cans to put out, Daniel followed him around the bank of windows and then rushed to the door when Jon started unlocking it. When Jon came in, Daniel took his hands and started bouncing. It was totally fun to watch.

— 2 —

Orphans. Do you see these three adorable children?

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 and will meet her tomorrow! Click on their names to see their Reece’s Rainbow pages.

— 3 —

Not good for me to find. Did you know that HuffPo has a Cats section???? A page full of cat stories!!! Can we say “massive time waster for Jen”???

— 4 —

I might be getting a little verklempt… Thank you to Beth Anne who shared this with me on Twitter. The ones involving cats are lovely but they’re all good and may cause a little water to leak out of your eyes.

— 5 —

Real life. So my chest cold *did* turn into bronchitis and by Sunday, I was sick enough that my parents were terrified of letting me drive home by myself. On Monday, I went to the clinic where my FNP wrote me a script for antibiotics and an inhaler as well as giving me the option of also having a Rocephen shot. I took her up on it (mostly because my life would suck immeasurably more if Daniel got this) and of course, the shot *would* have to be given in my rear end. (It’s probably good that I was too sick to reflect on this at the time because I think prudish me would have been blushing and hugely embarrassed as it was the male student nurse giving it.) I was also too tired and sick to think of curse words to say (the shot hurt like Hades) and was instead going through the Jesus prayer to try and keep myself calm. The injection site is still sore a few days later but the shot was a good thing — I turned a corner within 24 hours and am almost back to normal today.

— 6 —

Some good news. Thomas of Fuller Life (formerly known as “Strong Catholic”, “Identified Catholic”, and “Listening for the Shepherd”) has some BIG NEWS. He’s been a little vocal about it all week and I’ve been mocking him mercilessly so I figured I’d give him some link love as a way of making it up to him. I’m also under orders to pounce on his naysayers like a “mama lion” (or is it “friend lion”?) so please go give him some congrats and please don’t make me screw up my gel nails.

— 7 —

With Simcha on this one… Apparently, there has been some grumping in the Catholic blogosphere (where I hang out because there aren’t any Lutheran bloggers like me) about the confessionals at World Youth Day in Rio because they aren’t “pretty”. Simcha Fisher takes them to task and I’m with her on this one — yes, they aren’t as aesthetically pleasing as Gothic cathedral but seriously… THAT’S NOT THEIR PURPOSE!!! I’d personally rather see hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of young people having the opportunity to engage their faith and seek forgiveness for their sins than something that may be aesthetically-pleasing but not functional.

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

Five Favorites: Miscellanea (IX)

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Five Favorites

One

Not a favorite. Let me be clear: this one is NOT a favorite. Dwija from House Unseen just lost her son Nicholas at 21 weeks 3 days gestation. Please send prayers, positive energy, good thoughts, or whatever you do to her and the rest of the Borobia family at this time. I’m wishing I lived anywhere within driving range so I could bring them food, take care of the littles, hug them, and cry with them. Such is the nature of bloggy friendships — we may never meet in person but we know each other by our souls.

Two

Jenn’s Litany Run. Jenn has discerned her vocation as being a nun with the Norbertine Canonesses but in order to enter in August, she has to be debt-free. She has $33K of student loans to pay off and someone has offered to match any donations between now and July 31st. That means that $25 becomes $50, $100 becomes $200, and so on. Go on over and toss a few bucks her way.

Three

The shirt mentioned in #4 on Kelly’s Five Favorites this week. Kelly commented that she needs a shirt that says “socially awkward and unable to shut up.?? If that shirt is ever printed, I seriously need a copy. I seem to be putting my foot in my mouth this week and just opening it to switch feet.

Four

Robitussin. I’m fighting allergy crud that has migrated to my chest so I was up until 4 because breathing hurt. Robitussin is getting rid of some of the crud. I saw my nurse practitioner today and it’s apparently not an infection so I’m on orders to get intimate with my inhaler to deal with the breathing issues and she ordered up some Tessalon pearls to help with the cough. Robitussin has helped though.

Five

Trader Joe’s Honey. One thing that irks me is the fact that a lot of the honey you buy in the grocery store isn’t from the US and some of it isn’t honey. There was an investigation by one of the Seattle newspapers in 2008 or 2009 that showed antibiotics in honey that was imported from China and as I was working for an import brokerage at the time, this didn’t surprise me. One of the store brand honeys that they tested that was what it said it was came from Trader Joe’s so I’ve been buying my honey from them if I don’t have the option of getting it from the beekeepers themselves.

Go love up Hallie and the others.

Why I Am Not Homeschooling Daniel (II): About That Last Entry…

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For all those who are engaging in discussion on the first post in this series, right on! I’ve appreciated what almost all of you have to say. There has been one person whose comments have been marked as spam and then I.P. banned for spamming me but that’s been it. I’ve been impressed that the discussion has been civil and I don’t know if y’all know how much I appreciate that.

Of all the people who have commented, the only two I specifically asked for feedback are Sara of A Shower of Roses and my friend Crystal. Sara has homeschooled/is homeschooling all 6 of her kids up until high school. She seems to have seriously found something that works for her family and which I thought people might appreciate knowing about. Crystal was educated in California public schools from K-college and teaches English at a private Catholic school. I figured that she could talk about curriculum and how decisions are made.

“Zelie Martin” raises the point that Elena isn’t here to refute what I’ve said. The reason for this is that she was I.P. banned last Friday for leaving me a really hateful comment here that went into moderation. I don’t tolerate drama in my combox and while I’m fine with people disagreeing with me, I have zero tolerance for people attacking me personally. Additionally, a friend of mine from college attempted to refute Elena on that entry over at her blog and had her comment deleted. (I personally went over and checked. Katia commented twice and only one comment is there.)

The commenter “Zelie Martin” (whose username is profaning the name of Bl. Zélie Martin, mother of St. Thérèse of Lisieux) went over and attacked my friend Katia, mentioning me as the cause. Her comment has now been marked as spam and she has been I.P. banned. Seriously? Drama is not necessary.

Tomorrow, I’ll post my personal reasons for not homeschooling my son Daniel.