Category Archives: Faith

7 Quick Takes: Haircuts and the Run for Courage

Posted on by

7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

I’m taking part in the Run for Courage on September 29th. I had been hearing about it from Daniel’s former physical therapist and I decided to do the 5K and walk it. I’ve been a supporter of International Justice Mission for years and this deals with restoring and healing girls who have been trafficked for sex, including in the USA. My donation URL is: http://engage.runforcourage.org/goto/khouriajen. My fundraising goal is $200 and I’ve raised $90 thus far. Please share my fundraising URL and let people know about this.

— 2 —

To those who don’t like my Obama button: suck it up! I’m not commenting on your site and telling you what I think about your decision to back Romney — I might disagree with you but you have a right to vote for the candidate of your choosing and to post whatever political buttons you want on your blog. Kindly show me the same respect. Also, your comment isn’t going to show if I haven’t approved a comment of yours before so please stop leaving me variations on the same comment until I approve your comment. If 24 hours have gone by and I haven’t approved your comment, assume that I might not have seen it yet. (I do have a three year old and a life.) If 48-72 hours go by and it isn’t up, you can safely assume that I think you are a raving lunatic and you have no snowball’s chance of having your comment(s) approved. If your comment is a diatribe longer than the actual post on which you are commenting, your comment will be deleted.

— 3 —

Daniel is back in his class from last year and all is well. His old teacher and aides are happy to have him back and he knew *EXACTLY* where he was on Wednesday when he came back to school after his 4-day weekend. He belly-laughed for his teacher for the first time today and it was so awesome for her to hear. I’m glad the temper tantrum I threw fuss I raised last week was worth it. They’re going to start him working with a PECS board and train us on it next week.

— 4 —

The TV sitch was better during the DNC this week. Instead of not showing things on the schedule, CBS just moved them by an hour (i.e. NCIS was on at 8 instead of 7). Well played, CBS. Thankfully, I got the syndicated episodes of The Big Bang Theory at 7 p.m. so I had something to watch instead of just Judge Judy. Boo yah!

— 5 —

I’m pleased with how my hair turned out. It ended up chin-length instead of just at my shoulders but it still looks good.

Me asleep with Edda

— 6 —

Still editing devotions. I’m effectively done with Luke for the moment. I have what is looking like 4-5 to write on my own for Luke (replacing someone who couldn’t finish theirs) and whatever Jon can’t finish of his list. I’ll start formatting Acts once I get my passel of devotions done.

— 7 —

You see that cute little boy over on my sidebar? He needs a mama. Mind praying that we can find one, donating toward his grant, or even considering adopting him? He’s cute and I’m not just saying that because I’m his Guardian Angel. 🙂

— Bonus —

Kara posted a picture of Wren on her Quick Takes. Ten year olds should not look like that — she’s being abused and needs out of wherever she is NOW. There’s no donate link on her page but could y’all pray that we can get her out of that situation or even consider adopting her?

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

Just A Small Request

Posted on by

In the 12 years I’ve blogged, I’ve known about Mark Shea for probably 10 of them because we used to be part of blogs4God, a now-defunct blogging portal. I think I’ve read his blog a handful of times because I’m not Catholic and we occupy just very different parts of the Christian blogosphere. I respect him as I respect most everybody because he knows his stuff and I’ll defer to him on the subject of Catholicism as he would (hopefully) defer to me on Lutheran stuff.

So… having said all that, he’s under attack because apparently he doesn’t like Mitt Romney and he *gasp* showed admiration for a gay man. Yeah, I know… the world somehow did not implode and my life will go on.

So… could I please ask Thomas McDonald (my mistake — his was satire), Fr. Peter West, and all the other people who have decided to rip Mark apart and make his life hell (because, you know, his writing is a source of income for his family and the scorn of these gentlemen’s followers could really mess with that) please get your heads out of your butts and act like Christians? God is not glorified by any of this and actually, it gives Catholics a bad name when you cannibalize each other.

And, as I’m sure Fr. West and a few others might want to link this blog as an example of the kind of unsavory characters that stand up for Mark Shea, BRING IT!!!! Just remember that my first name is spelled with one “n”, I read ecclesiastical Latin fluently (even though I’m a heretic Lutheran), and if you say one bad thing about my son Daniel, SO HELP ME GOD, I WILL BEAT THE LIVING CRAP OUT OF YOU!!!!!

Snuggles,
jen

P.S. Thanks to Calah for the head’s up!

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: September 3, 2012

Posted on by

Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY September 3, 2012

Outside my window… sunny. Not too bad in terms of temperature — DEFINITELY better than triple digits!

I am thinking… about the devotions I’m editing and prettying up for a devotional book being put together by a friend of the family.

I am thankful… for Jon home today to watch Daniel while I ran errands.

In the kitchen… orzo with pesto, feta, and kalamata olives. (Going to go put the water on. Be back in a minute.)

I am wearing… Old Navy flag shirt and my Left Behind shorts.

I am creating… food and devotions.

I am going… to possibly take Daniel to the Sacramento Zoo tomorrow morning.

I am wondering… when our next rainstorm will be. (I love rain even if my body doesn’t.)

I am reading… Bossypants by Tina Fey.

I am hoping… tomorrow goes well and Daniel’s regressive behaviors cease.

I am looking forward to… Morning Prayer on Wednesday.

I am learning not to try and edit stuff once I’m exhausted.

Around the house… *puts fingers in ears* Lalalalalalalala… I can’t hear you!

A favorite quote for today… “My own experience is that when I first became a Christian, about fourteen years ago, I thought that I could do it on my own, by retiring to my rooms and reading theology, and I wouldn’t go to the churches and Gospel Halls; and then later I found that it was the only way of flying your flag; and, of course, I found that this meant being a target. It is extraordinary how inconvenient to your family it becomes for you to get up early to go to Church. It doesn’t matter so much if you get up early for anything else, but if you get up early to go to Church it’s very selfish of you and you upset the house. If there is anything in the teaching of the New Testament which is in the nature of a command, it is that you are obliged to take the Sacrament, and you can’t do it without going to Church. I disliked very much their hymns, which I considered to be fifth-rate poems set to sixth-rate music. But as I went on I saw the great merit of it. I came up against different people of quite different outlooks and different education, and then gradually my conceit just began peeling off. I realized that the hymns (which were just sixth-rate music) were, nevertheless, being sung with devotion and benefit by an old saint in elastic-side boots in the opposite pew, and then you realize that you aren’t fit to clean those boots. It gets you out of your solitary conceit.” — C.S. Lewis on hymns. (I had a portion of it on my mind earlier today.)

One of my favorite things… decent and authentic Greek food. Jon and I took Daniel to the Sacramento Greek Festival yesterday and it was awesome. Jon had some tiropita and I had an amazing gyro along with buying a dozen pieces of baklava which were the biggest I’ve ever seen. Daniel enjoyed parts of both the tiropita and gyro. He is developing good taste in cuisine even if he wasn’t impressed by the baklava. (Who doesn’t like baklava?!?!?!?!? Seriously!)

A few plans for the rest of the week: doing whatever tomorrow with Daniel, Morning Prayer on Wednesday and Thursday, breakfast date with Jon on Friday.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

7 Quick Takes: School Situations and Weekend Plans

Posted on by

7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Daniel’s school situation is messed up. I’d prefer not to go into it in detail here because this is a public blog so if you want details, just email me. Please pray that we can get it fixed expediently. It got fixed today without me having to fire a shot (figuratively). Apparently, I used the right three words yesterday while screaming at speaking with the school district (again, email me if you want details) so he’ll be back with his old (and VASTLY superior) teacher starting Wednesday when they come back from a 4-day weekend. I’m glad this is fixed because it was making me physically ill.

— 2 —

I’m currently editing a book of devotions for a friend of Jon’s family. I’m grateful that my mother-in-law went through and standardized everything so all I have to do is type, cut n’ paste, and format. It’s not professional by any stretch of the imagination but it’s fulfilling a dream of theirs so I’m happy to help.

— 3 —

I’m breaking my stance on keeping my mouth shut on politics for this take only. You know a candidate is deserving of the “liar liar pants on fire” label when almost every Republican on your Twitter (and I have many) as well as FOX News comments on how completely blatant the lies in Paul Ryan’s speech were.

— 4 —

“The Big Bang Theory” was pre-empted for Mitt Romney’s speech. RNC, you suck!!! And yes, I’d totally be saying this if President Obama was pre-empting it. Nobody messes with my shows, darn it!!!! I will be so happy when the stupid election is over so I can watch actual TV instead of Netflix and endless loops of “Winnie the Pooh”. There is one small benefit to being a very blue part of a blue state: I’ve seen only a handful of political ads outside of the primary season and the ones during the Olympics. Unfortunately, that’s probably going to change in a few days.

— 5 —

I’m planning to cut my hair tomorrow. Why is this newsworthy? It’s been 5 months (not purposely) and I’d like to get back to chin-length hair instead of looking like I’m 12 with my shoulder-length hair now. Well… either looking like I’m 12 or giving off the hippie vibe. Not that the last one is a problem. Nooooooo…

— 6 —

Daniel has Tuesday off next week in addition to Monday (Labor Day). Apparently, it’s an in-service day for teachers. As Jon’s craziest day as a pastor is Tuesday (go figure!), Daniel and I might head to the zoo as he’s not going to stay quiet if I go to Morning Prayer.

— 7 —

My little cousin Sarah is now at the OTHER school in Washington so there has started to be some major trash-talking over Facebook on game days. So far, the discussion has included comments on purple and gold being better colors than the OTHER school’s colors and how we can’t wait for the Apple Cup this year. (I’m seriously expecting Jessica to comment on this one. :p)

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

Our Lord Who Never Sleeps

Posted on by

Neil Armstrong passed away from complications due to cardiac procedures yesterday. It was a blow to the nation because he was the first man to walk on the moon and as Neil DeGrasse Tyson pointed out, it was the only positive event in the last 50 years where everyone can remember where they were at that moment.

Yesterday’s devotion in Our Daily Bread was fitting:

One of the most dangerous aspects of flying is the landing. As the aircraft gets closer to land, the air traffic is more congested, the weather on the ground may be far worse than the weather at 30,000 feet, and the runways may not be clear of other planes. So pilots rely on the air-traffic controller to coordinate all the details so that every plane can arrive without incident. Without the air-traffic controller, chaos would be certain.

Imagine, then, the panic when the pilot of an airliner full of passengers radioed the tower and got no answer. It was eventually discovered that the air-traffic controller was in fact there but sound asleep, putting pilot, passengers, and plane in great jeopardy. The good news is that the plane landed safely.

Even better news is that God, the ultimate traffic controller, neither slumbers nor sleeps. From His heavenly vantage point, He knows all that is going on in and around your life. As the psalmist notes, ??My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber?? (121:2-3).

You can count on it??God knows the impending dangers and will tirelessly direct the traffic of your life for your good and His glory (Rom. 8:28).

The reading was Psalm 121 and the words of the RSV from the Book of Common Prayer are often the words in my head:

I lift up my eyes to the hills; *
from where is my help to come?
My help comes from the LORD, *
the maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot be moved *
and he who watches over you will not fall asleep.
Behold, he who keeps watch over Israel *
shall neither slumber nor sleep;
The LORD himself watches over you; *
the LORD is your shade at your right hand,
So that the sun shall not strike you by day, *
nor the moon by night.
The LORD shall preserve you from all evil; *
it is he who shall keep you safe.
The LORD shall watch over your going out and your coming in, *
from this time forth for evermore.

I love the last verse in which we are reassured that “the Lord shall watch over your going out and your coming in, from this time forth for evermore.” I love that this translation renders the words as “coming in and going out” because it’s a psalm that was read/recited while traveling to the Temple in Jerusalem. The Lord protected Armstrong’s steps as he left his capsule and walked on the moon and he will protect my steps as I head to church with Daniel today (it’s 1:07 a.m.) as well as wherever my journey takes me.

Godspeed, Neil.

Because Friday Is Five Days Away…

Posted on by

I’m down in LA with my in-laws and need to purge my brain. As it isn’t Friday and I can’t do this in seven nice Quick Takes, I’ll do it my way.

[+] I’m going to be shot for saying this but Bad Catholic sounds like a teenager wrote it. Whaddaya know… Marc Barnes is 19! Shocker. I’m not saying that all his writing has grammar mistakes and sounds like bad text messages but the voice speaking sounds like the blogs I read of 16-18 year olds when I was in seminary. 1Flesh.Org sounds about the same. I’m not anti-NFP — I’m a huge fan of iuseNFP — but the 1Flesh.Org site sounds immature and simplistic when it’s not a simple issue in the slightest.

[+] Jon’s parents suprised him with tickets to Mary Poppins: The Musical yesterday. After the family cupcake brunch, we took Metro-Link to Union Station, took the subway to the Civic Center station, and then walked to the Ahmanson Theatre for it. The show was all manner of awesome — music, special effects, etc. were great. They had to fudge the story a bit to fit the musical but it was still pretty faithful to the Disney movie with things from the book thrown in. Afterwards, we had dinner at Buca di Beppo where I had some lovely calamari and enjoyed some of Jon’s pizza.

[+] The downside to yesterday: MY FEET!!! My nice shoes gave me serious blisters on my ankles and my small toes. I’d post pictures but the blisters on my toes have popped and are nasty-looking. (There are also some people who haven’t recovered from me posting pictures of my foot when I suffered an avulsion fracture in my ankle with a sprained foot.) I’m thinking I’ll be rocking some Old Navy flip-flops for at least a week when I get home.

Late Night Thoughts on Fitness

Posted on by

When I lived in Minnesota, I was under so much stress from church crud that I would do taebo for an hour and then go for a 3 mile walk. It wasn’t impossible — I had started walking 3 miles every non-Sunday morning during my first summer there and it was a pain when winter came, the snow flew, and I couldn’t go on walks because it was -20F outside. I probably would have continued the practice once I moved to Montana except that there were these obnoxious things called hills. When I worked for UPS, we had a virtual triathlon where we could run, bike, walk, or swim and rack up miles that way. I would have won the first year had I not gotten bronchitis and then morning sickness which made me stop walking at lunch because I couldn’t breathe and was puking.

I should ideally be walking these days except for a few excuses reasons:

1.) It’s bloody hot outside these days. Triple digits and I don’t get along. Why yes, I’m fully aware that it’s not 104F at 9 a.m. Shut up.

2.) I’m not a morning person. I have the living room childproofed so that if I accidentally fall back asleep, Daniel isn’t going to cause much damage. This rules out 9 a.m.

3.) Every time I’ve wanted to do this, I wake up having an achy day with fibromyalgia. Of course, I’d have fewer days like that if I walked more but that would make too much sense and besides, it’s a catch-22 because when I end up in pain when I try to walk.

So anyway, Daniel starts back to school in a week and I technically have no excuse why I shouldn’t go for a nice walk in the mornings… most of the time.

The lovely and snarky Cari Donaldson announced a virtual 5K in a Catholic Exchange post a few months back and according to it, we can either run, walk, limp, or crawl. Yeah… I think I can do that. At the very least I’ll limp the 3.1 miles and go get a frappucino or something.

Oh wait… I’m Lutheran. Should I even be doing this?

Catholic Exchange Virtual 5K