Category Archives: Faith

Flattened (XV)

Posted on by

Daniel has been home for two weeks and is doing great. I’m still fighting exhaustion though so we’re still “flattened”.

[+] We had to hit up UCD Medical Center on Thursday For Daniel’s Lovenox. We ran into his speech therapist on the way back out and she was very impressed with how he looked. I was asked by a couple people if we’d gone up to the PICU or the Peds Unit and the answer is “no”. For one thing, I don’t know that we would have been welcome on the PICU because of the infection risk and all that. For another thing, we’re going to send pictures of Daniel at his second birthday party with a thank-you note.

[+] I’ve witnessed a fair amount of cattiness between atheists and Catholics over Jennifer Fulwiler’s guide to atheists for Catholics. Atheist blogger PZ Myers (who is quite anti-Catholic) took her on and managed to make himself look like a complete jerk (as did the majority of his commenters). Jennifer asked her readers if she should have responded and the majority of us said “no” though there was some fisking of PZ Myers in the process. One person who did emerge from all of this (at least in my reading) is Leah at Unequally-Yoked who I’m finding to be pretty amazing (the girl is a Yale student so she’s obviously wicked smart). She actually wrote an impressive guide to Catholics for atheists (which could actually apply to Lutherans and Episcopalians) and does a really fantastic job of engaging Catholicism (and Christianity) in a respectful way. Her blog started as a way to argue faith with her Catholic boyfriend (she is an atheist) and she actually participates in the weekly 7 Quick Takes (a largely Catholic meme). Anyway, go check her out.

[+] All the reading of atheist blogs and the wiki article on Anberlin I read recently (the chorus of “A Whisper & A Clamor” was stuck in my head for three months) made me want to affirm something: this is not a Christian blog. I am a blogger who happens to be Christian. I do talk about faith issues on here inasmuch as they’re affecting my daily life though less so over the last year due to the lack of Internet access from March 2010 to February 2011. I’m not really in a complacent place with my faith — just not vocalizing a lot of what I’m dealing with internally. I also really have no interest in fighting with people about whether or not God exists and whether or not Christianity is a pack of lies. There’s a point at which people cannot be convinced without something very drastic happening and until that happens for people like PZ Myers or Jen McCreight (who I do read on a daily basis), I think there will continue to be people who want to have fights over this stuff.

[+] I started some seeds yesterday. I planted pumpkins, sunflowers, tomatoes, basil, cat grass, oregano, lavender, spinach, and cucumbers. I’m hoping they do germinate and I have seedlings in the next week or so.

[+] I made it to church today. Go me. (Actually, the deciding factor was that I needed a parishioner to look at the knot on Daniel’s leg. She’s a nurse and her daughter is diabetic so I figured she’d know something about it.)

Idiocy Breeds Violence

Posted on by

CNN.Com: 12 killed in Afghanistan amid protests over reported Quran burning

Most news outlets in the U.S. downplayed the burning so as not to give that idiot pastor in Florida any more publicity. However, Pastor Jones’ actions caused protests in the Muslim world and twelve people were killed in Afghanistan because of his bigoted actions.

Guess what, moron? YOU JUST PROVED THEIR ASSERTION THAT AMERICANS HATE MUSLIMS. Granted, people used the burning as an excuse to be violent (and thus proved Pastor Jones’ point) but the idiot gave them the ammo to do it.

This man makes me ashamed to be Christian. I wish I could tell Muslims across the world that WE’RE NOT ALL BIGOTS LIKE HIM!!!!!

On the other hand, security costs for his 60-member church are so high that he had to put his church building up on Craigslist. (Heard via Nightline)

Flattened (XIV)

Posted on by

Daniel has been home for almost two weeks but I’m still… flattened.

[+] I met with the case worker for Medi-Cal today and she was great — she treated me like a person and we did everything we could to get the case closed with what I had on me today. Unfortunately, she does need some more documentation. Drats!

[+] I’ve had a definite “pain day” today. Fibro really sucks. There’s no two ways about it.

[+] People have been telling me how wonderful I am and how amazing I handled the situation with Daniel. Thing is… other than two people from Metanoia, I don’t think anyone knows about the tears I shed, the helpless feelings, the angst, and anything else I went through. Our organist had no idea that I didn’t go home at night — she thought I commuted every day. I couldn’t commute with Daniel at this age — I honestly didn’t feel like I could leave him and I don’t think there’s a person out there who would fault me for that. Granted, I did leave the hospital to go out to dinner three times and to go to Michael’s once as well as showers every 3-4 days. (If it tells you guys how intense things were, showering was not a priority.)

There’s a video that fits my life…

Flattened (XIII)

Posted on by

Daniel has been home for a week and is doing well. He’s sleeping in his playpen (which is better than our bed), he’s tolerating his shots (though he still cries), his bloodwork came back looking good, and his follow-up appointment with his doctor went well. And yet… I’m still flattened with exhaustion.

[+] I’ve dealt with the various social agencies this week that determine Daniel’s eligibility for a social program to pay our hospital bills and I meet with yet another person next week to continue the process. Monday, I was treated like I was trying to defraud the government by one of the people I had to interact with and Friday, they were nice to me. It was like they understood that crap happens to people sometimes and this was one of those things. I’m hoping that I get treated well by the person I meet with on Tuesday.

[+] Jon was installed as pastor of Metanoia Lutheran Church on Sunday. We had a number of clergy there and my evil twin and my sister-in-law came up for it as did one of my college friends. I didn’t know how Daniel would handle it but he did well… with some bribes of yogurt snacks.

[+] I saw a link to an article called The Lutheran Landslide on the National Catholic Register and discovered that one of my seminary professors, Dr. Michael Root, had converted to Catholicism. This doesn’t surprise me — he was one of the BIG people in the ecumenical movement in the ELCA and with the decisions made by Churchwide Assembly in 2009, I believe that he was pondering in his heart how to remain faithfully Lutheran but disagree with the denomination. He was one of the most “Christian” professors I had and I can’t think that this was a decision he made lightly. I totally support him in it (not that it matters whether I do or don’t) and I wish him the best. His pastor (previous to him converting) blogged very gracefully about the conversion and even posted a picture of him at the mass celebrated in honor of his conversion. I am a bit disheartened, however, by certain Lutheran dissidents (Kris Baudler among them) who made snippy comments about Dr. Root not being a real Lutheran to begin with. (I’ve unfortunately had the experience of meeting Pastor Baudler and he is rather vitriolic and is puffed up with pride in his academic connections.) To Baudler and others like him: GET A LIFE. Dr. Root is twice the theologian (and twice the person) than you’ll ever be and I’ve never known him to be vitriolic about those with whom he disagrees. (This has nothing to do, of course, with the fact that he managed to keep me awake through two quarters of Systematic Theology at the most sleep-inducing class times and put up with me pulling myself up to my full 5 feet 1 inches and asking him in my sarcastic 21 year old way what we were talking about actually had to do with reality.)

[+] One of the Catholic bloggers (Jennifer Fulwiler) who I have found through my Byzantine Catholic blogging friend wrote a guide on understanding atheists for her Catholic readers that was based on her experiences as an atheist. (She has since converted and is widely-read and sought after as a speaker.) Well… PZ Myers of Pharyngula decided to refute her… in just about the most disrespectful way possible. Most of the 200+ comments are along the same line of disrespect. One cannot comment on his page without logging in so I couldn’t tell him that he and his minions suck. But seriously… is it so hard to be respectful? Not to mention… atheism has just as much of a wide spectrum as Christianity so Jennifer’s experiences are just as valid as Professor Myers’ experiences are.

[+] Currently, I’m dealing with a little bear who does not want to go to sleep and who has been exhibiting toddler rage for the last 30 minutes. God willing, he’ll go to sleep so I can watch COPS in peace.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: March 21, 2011

Posted on by

Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY March 21, 2011

Outside my window… sunshine after storms.

I am thinking… about all the patient assistance stuff and bureaucracy to deal with to try and get some of Daniel’s hospital bills written off or paid by the state.

I am thankful for… Daniel being discharged.

From the kitchen… not sure tonight.

I am wearing… black v-neck shirt, pj bottoms

I am creating… a baby blanket and this entry.

I am going… to UCD Medical Center tomorrow for Daniel’s Coumadin Clinic appointment and various other places this week.

I am reading… Legs Benedict by Mary Daheim.

I am hoping… Daniel’s clot goes away so I don’t have to do 2 1/2 more months of shots on him.

I am hearing… Finian purring and Daniel whining.

Around the house… stuff to unpack.

One of my favorite things… having a snuggly child again.

A few plans for the rest of the week: doctor’s appointments, mid-week Lenten services.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing… My wedding bouquet and the rings. (My 9th anniversary is Wednesday.)

Bouquet and rings.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

Flattened (XII)

Posted on by

[+] We are having to give him shots and I’ve done 3 so far at home. This isn’t making me a happy little lepicat but it’s better than the feeding tube.

[+] Daniel used to like baths — he now appears to be afraid of them. Oyyy… It might be that there’s pain involved or that he’s afraid of the sound of the running water. I climbed into his bath last night and tonight because I needed to clean him (first bath in almost 3 weeks last night and had to get the adhesive off his neck tonight). Hopefully, he gets used to them again.

[+] I had an excruciatingly painful migraine today, complete with nausea. Jon had to do bear care and it was hard because Daniel is not being his normal self. He’s much more clingy and on the plus side, he’s fallen asleep on laps today.

[+] I have to get taxes done in the next two days and go apply for Medi-Cal on Monday. I then have to go down and apply for California Children Services on Friday. I’m hoping they’ll accept me instead of Jonathan for that appointment. I’m also praying that we’re approved — it’s going to be a 5-figure hospital bill otherwise.