Comfortable with Yourself

Andrew has a HUGE space between his two front teeth right now.

Today, as we're leaving church, Kara is coming down the driveway in her minivan, and Andrew dawdles around in the road, blocking her. As he finally moves and she drives past, she yells out the window, "Well, I could say something really mean, like 'Don't worry, I'll just drive through the space between your front teeth.'"

Oh my gosh. We cracked up! Andrew went back and high-fived her for such a great zinger!

As we were driving home, it crossed my mind that I would have been devastated if somebody had said something like that to me when I was in high school. But not Andrew. And I thought about Jane's fabulous post yesterday on homeschoolers having their own individual style, and knowing themselves, and not being Conformists Of The First Degree.

When the kids were young, and my mom was looking for gift suggestions, I would tell her about toys or kits or games they might enjoy from Timberdoodle or one of the offbeat toy catalogs. Mom would frequently comment on what neat toys there were, so different from what you see at the major big-box stores. I think the interest in unique playthings is kinda sorta symptomatic of my kids being their own individual people and not cookie-cutter kids.

Socialism and Communism

The definition of socialism is a political and economic system where the government/public owns the means of production, such as land and factories.

The definition of communism is a political and economic system where the government/public owns the means of production, such as land and factories.

Wait a minute. Those two look suspiciously similar.

So what's the difference between socialism and communism? According to my World Book encyclopedias, communists say that communism will be a freewill endeavor, and that socialism is a step on the road to communism. Under socialism, unfortunately, some of those greedy people have to be coerced into paying their taxes and doing what is right for their fellow man. The encyclopedia also reports that socialists see communism as the system where people are forced to participate in the system, but that socialism can be democratic and freely entered into.

I guess it depends on whether you call yourself a socialist or a communist. Either way, it's the other one that is the big bad bully of a system.

Of course, we know the history of the Communist Party in Russia and other nations, where the government terrorized and even murdered its citizens, discouraged religion, and curtailed freedoms. So what is it about Socialists that's different? Here's a quote from the encyclopedia about socialism:

Most socialists are firmly committed to work within the framework of a country's constitution. They seek to cooperate with all parties.

Ah. I see. So the socialists (as opposed to the communists) honor the nation's constitution and work for reconciliation between the political parties. Of course.

Just Stuff

Yesterday we thoroughly enjoyed an afternoon of sitting around with Rachel and Anthea (and part of the afternoon with Philip), laughing and talking and eating and laughing some more! And Anthea is going to come back for Easter Vigil!

Rosie was treed by a neighbor's escaped dog yesterday, and then last night I dreamed the wolves were closing in on Athena.

The orthodontist looked at Andrew's palate today. Even with the big space between his front teeth, he has to keep cranking the expander for at least another week. They don't care about the space between his teeth -- the doctor cares about how his molars are lining up. Wow, by the time his top molars are slightly outside his bottom molars, he's going to look like an 8-yr-old who's singing "All I Want for Chrithmath Ith My Two Front Teeth."

I didn't plant the spinach last week, anticipating having the little sprouts die in the cold of the weekend. Maybe I could haul myself out to the backyard now? I just remember the year I planted early, and late plantings and early plantings all came up at the same time. (Not unlike reading skills, where --by age 12-- the kids who learned to read at age 4 aren't any further advanced than the kid who learned to read at age 9.)

Between choir and the kids doing the Palm Sunday Gospel from Luke, Maggie is going to be at church every afternoon this week. A good homeschooling mother would ensure that Andrew gets a lot of individual attention during those hours. I'll make a stab at being good...

Less-than-fully Appetizing

I'm putting together the Mexican Casserole of Awesomeness for Sunday dinner.

I love refried beans. Truly, I do. But I do wish that, when you open the can, it looked a little less like dog food.

Orthodontia

Andrew has been using an expander the last week and a half. He doesn't want me to post a picture, but it's done its job. The expander has created a nice big space between his front teeth, through which he can whistle and shoot streams of water.

It looks like this has prevented the need for palate surgery!!

They're Moving

Thursday was Match Day for the fourth-year med-school students all across the country. For those of you who hang out in LCMS circles, it's pretty similar to Call Day for the vicars and pastors. The doctors receive their assignments. Like vicars and unlike pastors, there is no option to say no. The residency will be for 4 or 5 years.

Rachel's blog announcement is here.

As Rachel said today, it was the news we were not ready for. We had pretty good reason to expect that Matt would be placed in Milwaukee. It wasn't until Tuesday afternoon that it finally occurred to me that Milwaukee wasn't a sure thing, and there were several different Midwest metro areas that might become their new home.

Everybody says it's great that Chicago is close. But right now, I'm thinking about how seldom Matt will be able to see his brothers. And they will have to find a new church home. And I suspect that for the next few weeks I'm going to fail at holding back tears when I see little Joseph helping his grandpa usher at church, or when I see Hannah run up to Grandma Louise and give her a hug before choir, or when I hear Barbara and Laura and Cheri talking about babysitting their grandchildren. All the exciting prospects of living in a "world-class city" don't seem quite enough today to compensate for the fact that they're going away from his family, her family, and their church.

But we'll get used to it, and I'll smile again. I'm very proud of Rachel for being cheerful and upbeat for Matt. I'll have to get my act together before I see him tomorrow morning.

Just Like It Always Was

This evening we watched a dvd that was a cross between a travelogue and a food show. It was a show about sandwiches across the nation. A month ago we watched a similar show about ice cream stands. Besides some majorly delicious looking sandwiches, one thing jumped out at me.

Over and over and over again, the customers at these popular little restaurants said things like, "This place hasn't changed a bit since I came here as a child." Or "What others restaurants around here have the same decor they had 50 years ago?" Or the owners would say, "We haven't changed the recipe one bit. This sandwich has been our secret for success for decades."

Nobody was looking for "improvements."
Doing the same old thing was cherished.

But we don't even have that much sense about the life-giving liturgy.

I Can Do All Things

Faster than a speeding bullet!
More powerful than a locomotive!
Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!


I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)

It's a verse we hear a lot. It's often used to encourage us to try harder, to persevere, to set our hearts and minds to solving a problem. After all, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And God wants us to succeed, right?

But I can't run a 3-minute mile. And I can't carry 500# on my back. And I can't jump over the fire station. And I never will, no matter how hard I try, no matter how diligently I work at improving myself, and no matter how long I persevere. There are limits on what I can do. I can't survive on 4-6 hours of sleep a night, even if I think it would give me an extra 3-4 hours per day to clean house and grade schoolwork. I can't run an exemplary, rigorously academic, individualized educational program for six different people and keep house and cook and stay sane. I can't keep up on current events and be involved in community events if I'm going to do the work set before me.

Bummers.

So what does that verse mean, then?

Pastor said it's not a theology of glory verse; it's not about accomplishing all sorts of tasks to our heart's content; it's not about "succeeding." Look at where Paul tells us that he can "do all things." He's talking about being satisfied with Christ's forgiveness and his preaching, no matter what earthly circumstances he's living in. So, ultimately, being able to "do all things" has a lot more to do with
living in faith in a loving Savior even when things are not agreeable
than it has to do with
changing circumstances so that they are agreeable.

Today's Laugh

I used to think the brain was the most fascinating part of the body.

Then I realized, hey, look what's telling me that.

Today's Laugh

Why do people wear shamrocks on St Patrick's Day?

Because real rocks are too heavy.

Getting to Know the World's Greatest Inventors and Scientists

This series doesn't look as interesting as the other two, but I want them sorted out for perusal anyway. After all, how will I know where to plug them into our history outlines if I'm looking at names that I may be unfamiliar with? (A few of these "world's greatest scientists" I'd never heard of until I was hunting up the artist series and stumbled upon this series and the President one, written by the same author.)

1706-1790
Benjamin Franklin : electrified the world with new ideas
electricity; other inventions such as lightning rods and bifocals

1847-1922
Alexander Graham Bell : setting the tone for communication
telephone

1847-1931
Thomas Edison : inventor with a lot of bright ideas
light bulb, movies, phonograph, etc

1856-1931
Daniel Hale Williams : surgeon who opened hearts and minds
first heart surgery

1867-1934
Marie Curie : scientist who made glowing discoveries
radioactivity

1863-1947
Henry Ford : big wheel in the auto industry
mass production; automobiles

1867-1948
The Wright brothers : inventors whose ideas really took flight
airplane

1878-1968
Lise Meitner : had the right vision about nuclear fission
radioactivity

1879-1955
Albert Einstein : universal genius
theory of relativity

1904-1950
Charles Drew : doctor who got the world pumped up to donate blood
blood banks

1907-1964
Rachel Carson : clearing the way for environmental protection
marine biologist and environmentalist

1911-1988
Luis Alvarez : wild idea man
radar

1934--
Jane Goodall : researcher who champions chimps
studied primates; environmentalist

1942--
Stephen Hawking : cosmologist who gets a big bang out of the universe
black holes; theoretical physics

1950--
Steve Jobs & Steve Wozniak : geek heroes who put the personal in computers
Apple computers

Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers

There aren't as many of Mike Venezia's books on composers as there are on artists.

early 1700s -- Johann Sebastian Bach (baroque)
early 1700s -- George Handel (baroque)
late 1700s -- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (classical)
around 1800 -- Ludwig van Beethoven (classical/romantic)

early 1800s -- Frederic Chopin (romantic)
late 1800s -- Johannes Brahms (romantic)
late 1800s -- Peter Tchaikovsky (romantic)
around 1900 -- John Philip Sousa (marches)
early 1900s -- Igor Stravinsky (neoclassical)

early 1900s -- George Gershwin (popular, jazz, classical)
mid 1900s -- Aaron Copland (American modern & folk)
mid 1900s -- Duke Ellington (jazz)
late 1900s -- the Beatles (pop)

Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists

Mike Venezia is the author of this children's series. The books are geared for grade-school kids, covering the life of the artist and some of the famous paintings by each one. They're easy to understand. (I can handle these books, and art is definitely not my style.) Katie read these kiddie books over and over in her pre-teen years, and it was definitely a big factor in why she scored so high on the Humanities CLEP.

Right now, I need to know which of these books dovetail with our history studies. So here's the approximate chronological arrangement of the series:


1300 Giotto (Italian)

1500 Raphael (Italian)
1500 da Vinci (Italian)
1500 Michelangelo (Italian)
1500 Botticelli (Italian)
1550 Bruegel (Dutch)
1550 Titian (Italian)
1575 el Greco (Spanish)

1650 Rembrandt (Dutch)
1650 Vermeer (Dutch)
1650 Velazquez (Spanish)

1800 Goya (Spanish)
1850 Eugene Delacroix (French)

1875 Camille Pissarro (French)
1875 Degas (French)
1875 Renoir (French)
1875 Monet (French)
1875 Mary Cassatt (American-French)

1875 Georges Seurat (French)
1875 Winslow Homer (American)

1875 Cezanne (French)
1875 Van Gogh (Dutch)
1875 Gauguin
1875 Toulouse-Lautrec (French)
1875 James Whistler (American-British)

1900 Frederic Remington (American West)

1900 Henri Rousseau (French)
1925 Matisse (French)
1925 Picasso (Spanish)
1950 Chagall (Russian-French)
1950 Salvador Dali (Spanish)

1925 Grant Wood (American)
1925 Edward Hopper (American)
1950 Norman Rockwell (American)
1950 Grandma Moses (American)
1950 Georgia O'Keefe (American)

1950 Frida Kahlo (Mexican)
1950 Diego Rivera (Mexican)

1950 Jackson Pollack (American)
1960 Andy Warhol (American)
1960 Roy Lichtenstein (American)



Paul Klee (early 1900s, Swiss)
Rene Magritte (early 1900s, Belgian surrealist)
Dorothy Lange (photographer during the Depression)
Horace Pippin (early 1900s, slavery and segregation)
Alexander Calder (1900s, American sculpture and mobiles)
Jacob Lawrence (late 1900s, American cubist)
Faith Ringgold (late 1900s, American, story quilts)

Today's Laugh

The doorbell rang this morning. When I opened the door, there was my mother-in-law on the front step.

She said, "Can I stay here for a few days?"

I said, "Sure you can," and shut the door in her face.

When God Doesn't Answer

Or maybe I should title it ... When God Doesn't Answer the Way We Want.

A friend was telling me excitedly the other day about her grandson's surgery, and how things worked out perfectly, and how the right people were in the right place at the right time to discover his birth defect. There were so many ways God provided for physical healing and sustenance for everybody concerned. That is a beautiful and happy blessing for which we thank and praise the Lord!

But there's always this little bit of me that shudders inside whenever I hear people say, "You could really tell God was there, working" when temporal blessings abound.

What happens when it doesn't work out the way we want?

My god-daughter was born with a serious heart defect. She was baptized minutes before the Flight-for-Life helicopter whisked her away to the humongo Children's Hospital. Not only was Bethany's congregation praying for her, but so were all the churches in our circuit, and churches across the whole country.

Five and a half weeks later, Bethany died.

Her daddy said that he was asked again and again, "What did we do wrong? Weren't we praying hard enough? Why didn't God answer our prayers?" And again and again, he was given opportunity to confess that God had indeed answered our prayers, that He had granted Bethany the new birth, that He had drawn her to Himself, and that her little body was awaiting the resurrection.

Thanks be to God that He gave physical healing to this little boy that's connected to our church family. But even if He hadn't, He still would have been there, He still would have been caring, He still would have been working. God did not forget us when Bethany died; He did not turn His back on her but opened His arms to receive her, just as He had opened His arms to spread them out on the cross to die for her and cleanse her of all her sin.

I still don't know how to respond to a joyful expression of "God was really there with us!" when things go our way. Because it's true. He is there with us when things go according to our wishes.

But He's there, too, when things hurt and when things go contrary to our desires.

The Lord giveth.
The Lord taketh away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Today's Laugh

Laughter is a lot like changing a diaper. It doesn't permanently solve any problems, but it sure makes things better for a little while.

Now That It's Light Later...

My husband queries ...

If we're on Daylight Savings Time now,
were we on Daylight Wasting Time yesterday?

It Is Finished

Gary points out that John starts his Passion narrative (13:1) with
Now, before the feast of the Passover,
when Jesus knew that His hour had come
that He should depart from this world to the Father,
having loved His own who were in the world,
He loved them to the end.

He also points out that it is John (and none of the other gospel writers) who reports that Jesus said on the cross,
It is finished.


John tells the story in such a way that the same word from Jesus' mouth begins and ends the Passion. This is not merely that Jesus loved His own until the end of time, but He loved them all the way to the "It is finished."


(End and finished are the same word in Greek.)

Today's Laugh

A follow-up tale related by Nathan:



Katie's been trying to get Alia to do the "What does mommy say?" again, but Alia hasn't been too inclined to answer. So on Saturday, Katie tried springing it on her.


What does a cow say?
Moo.
What does a cat say?
Meew.
What does a dog say?
RAWR.
Aww, no, a doggy says ruff ruff! What does mommy say?
Ruff! Ruff!



Oh, that is one sly and tricksy child....

My Kitchen Counter

Y'know, there are times when an electric can opener would be very handy. Like today:

But then I look at the space lack of space on my kitchen counter, and I realize that hand-cranking a can opener is way better than having something else take up 25 square inches of precious counter space every single day.

Psalm 116:16

Oh Lord, truly I am Your servant.
I am Your servant,
the son of Your maidservant;
You have loosed my bonds.

Isn't that verse odd?

We state that we are God's slaves.

And then we say that He has loosed our bonds, set us free, unshackled us from the chains that held us.

It is an odd slavery which is propelled by freedom.

Think of Dobby.

Or there's our silly little Rosie-Kitty who wants to crawl up on my lap or sleep by my feet. I'm the one in the house who never forces her to stay on my lap, or picks her up when she wants to be left alone. The kids sometimes ask in wonder, "She jumped up on your lap, all on her own? Uninvited? You didn't put her there?" Nope. She came of her own free will.

Cate wrote a couple of weeks ago about her daughter's piano lessons. Madeline resisted practicing and kept begging to quit her lessons. When Mom and Dad finally gave her permission to quit, Madeline began to play. Freely. Willingly. She began to want to play piano and began to enjoy it.


I am Your slave.
You have loosed my bonds.

Today's Laugh

A newlywed farmer and his wife were visited by her mother, who immediately demanded an inspection of the place. While they were walking through the barn, the farmer's mule suddenly reared up and kicked the mother-in-law in the head, killing her instantly.

At the funeral service a few days later, the farmer's wife stood near the casket and greeted folks as they walked by. The pastor noticed that whenever a woman would whisper something to the farmer's wife, she would nod her head yes and say something. Whenever a man walked by and whispered to the farmer's wife, she would shake her head no and mumble a reply.

Curious, the pastor later asked the farmer's wife what that was all about. The farmer's wife replied, "The women would say, 'What a terrible tragedy,' and I would nod my head and say, 'Yes, it was.' The men would ask, 'You wanna sell that mule?' and I would shake my head and say, 'Can't. It's all booked up for a year.'"

Do We Need More Regulations for Homeschoolers?

Lora linked to an excellent article by a former public-school teacher who now homeschools. The author tells how regulations and frequent testing hamper the ability of public-school teachers to provide an excellent education to their students. She sees no reason to do the same damage to homeschoolers.

Today's Laugh

A conversation on Wednesday morning between my son-in-law and my 16-mo-old grand-daughter, adding some new twists to the usual questions:



Alia, can you tell me what a cow says?
Moo!
What does your lamby say?
Baa!
What does a tiger say?
Rawr!
What does a kitty say?
Meew!
What does mommy say?
No!

Book for Little Ones

Barbara and her husband have reprinted Kindergarten Stories which was first published in the 1890s. Looks like a winner of a book for those who are homeschooling under-8's or for those who would be interested in a wholesome, old-fashioned read-aloud for the family.

Maundy Thursday Vines

In the synoptic gospels, at the Words of Institution on Maundy Thursday, Jesus talks about not drinking of the fruit of the vine again until He drinks it new in the kingdom of God.

John doesn't record the Words of Institution. But he does record Jesus' words on Maundy Thursday: "I am the true vine; my Father is the vine-dresser. I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit, for without Me you can do nothing."

Do you suppose they're connected?

Today's Laugh

O'Gara was arrested and sent for trial for armed bank robbery. After due deliberation, the jury foreman stood up and announced, "Not guilty."

"That's grand," shouted O'Gara. "Does that mean I get to keep the money?"

Stylish? You Must Be Joking.

Sunday I bought a box of compression socks. I mean, "sock." Turned out there was only one in the box. That provided for a fair experiment, wearing it on one leg and not the other. Oh my goodness. The pain I've been having for the past 2½ weeks improved immensely. So while running errands Monday, I picked up another sock. This one had a flyer in it on "Style Tips."

STYLE tips.

I look like I'm wrapped in Ace bandage from the knee down. And they're talking about STYLE tips???

Paul said that the only attempt at "style" with these things would for me to keep them out of sight. :-)

Today's Laugh

I suspect this tale came from a Lutheran Sunday School...


The Sunday school lesson for the day was about Noah's ark, so the teacher decided to get her small pupils involved by playing a game in which they identified animals.

"I'm going to describe something to you. Let's see if you can guess what it is. First: I'm furry with a bushy tail and I like to climb trees."

The children looked at her blankly.

"I also like to eat nuts, especially acorns."

No response. This wasn't going well at all!

Finally a kid volunteered: "Well, I know the answer has to be Jesus -- but it sure sounds like a squirrel to me!"

Food Is Living

The other night we watched Food Inc. Definitely biased, but certainly no more biased than the big corporations that control so much of our food supply.

One of many thoughts in the wake of the movie:
A nice, scientific level of control is behind the government oversight of our food supply and of our butchers. Food factories must maintain a certain level of chemical cleanliness. Nutrition (removed through processing) is replaced with chemical versions of vitamins. Science says to eat more of this, less of that. We don't want food to spoil, so we do things to make lettuce shelf-stable for several weeks. We take our corn and soybeans into the laboratory and turn them into all sorts of food items. It's all very scientific.

But food is about life. Food was alive. Meat was alive, walking or swimming or flying. Milk came from a living animal, to be fed to the growing baby. Fruits and veggies came from living plants. Grains came from grasses.

Science doesn't control LIFE. Science doesn't rule life. Science doesn't make life.

Sometimes LIFE even has the audacity to do what science says ain't gonna happen. People who are supposed to die end up living. People who are supposed to live end up dying. Medicines that help some people to heal are the same medicines that harm others who have the same disease.

Food is from life, and food is for life. Food often requires sacrifice: the animal must die, or the seed must be planted into the ground to die and then bring forth new life. Additionally, food engenders fellowship, and food brings pleasure. Food is not cold, hard science. There are things about gardening, ranching, butchering, and cooking that are arts, ruled more by common sense and love and skill than they are controlled by science.

And where will we be when we've lost the common sense and the skill and have to depend only on the scientists for our food?

Today's Laugh

Reilly is walking through a graveyard when he comes across a headstone with the inscription, "Here lies a politician and an honest man."

"Faith now," exclaims Reilly, "I wonder how they got the two of them in one grave."

New Altar

These were taken on the Thursday that the new furnishings arrived and on Saturday after the introductory meeting.

Today's Laugh

A teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five- and six-year-olds.

After explaining the commandment to "honor thy father and thy mother," she asked, "Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?"

Without missing a beat, one little boy answered, "Thou shall not kill."

Today's Laugh

During a phone conversation, my nephew mentioned that he was taking a psychology course at university.

"Oh, great," I said, "Now you'll be analyzing everyone in the family."

"No, no," he replied. "I don't take abnormal psychology until next semester."

New Altar Arriving

Do you remember what it was like when you were little and just couldn't wait for Christmas to arrive so you could open your wonderful, awesome, totally great, beautiful, fantastic presents?

Like Pastor said Wednesday night at choir practice, it felt like Christmas Eve. The new chancel furnishings were due to arrive Thursday morning after Bible class.



Mark and Jim putting the new cabinet into place under the old altar, which stands against the back wall.


Jim, who did a lot of the work on the chancel renovations last spring. (Maybe his wife or daughters will provide some input as to what he helped with on the furnishings.)

The new pulpit.


Mark and Jim carry in the base of the new altar.

Al, Pastor, Mark, and Jim putting the altar into place.

Quite the crowd stayed to watch after Bible class. The excitement and the awe was sure something! Here we have Judy and Bonnie (with Ralph, Kurt, and Frederick the Wise in the background).


And here we have Judy, Erma, Guenther, Shirley, Luise, Bernice, Jim, and Ed.


By the way, just for the record, I'd like to point out something. All y'all who buy CCA materials, take a look at these pictures. These are the folks who collate and bind your books. Some publishing houses have machines to assemble their materials. But we have this crew of saints who do an awful lot of the work by hand, fueled by coffee and laughter and Marcie's baked goods.




Adjusting something for leveling.

Janelle and Marcie. (Aren't they just SO darn cute??)

Andrew, Leah, Maggie, and Bryce.

Kara, looking more serious and ponderous than you normally see her. Maybe it's time for a serious caption, like "Jesus, I will ponder now on Thy holy passion... Grant that I in love and faith may the image cherish of Thy suffering, pain, and death, that I may not perish."

Kara, Kathy, and Jeannine.

And, for the craftsmen...
applause and thanks and
awe-struck dropped jaws and gratitude
(and whatever other words a thesaurus might supply for "thanks") ...
Allan the master, and Mark who helped.

Today's Laugh

Paddy and Mick were nailing up the side of a wooden house. Mick noticed that Paddy was examining the nails and throwing away every second and third. "What's wrong with the nails?" he asked.

"Sure, the heads are at the wrong end."

"You are stupid, you idiot. Can't you see they are for the other side of the house?"

Psalm 94:12-13

Blessed is the man whom You instruct, o Lord,
and teach out of Your law,
that You may give him rest from the days of adversity,
until the pit is dug for the wicked.

We so often think that verses like these mean that God instructs us in how to be good, how to follow rules like the Ten Commandments, how to be nice.

But that's not where we find rest.

When we actually look at the law in Exodus and Leviticus, it's full of stuff about sacrifices. It tells about God's arrangements for worship. It tells how God provides the sacrificial system, as well as the animals for the sacrifices. There's atoning blood all over the place in the Law. There are pictures of Jesus all over the Law: the altar, the lampstand, the priests, the sacrificial lamb, the tabernacle, etc.

When we are taught from the Law, we see how there is always need for forgiveness, how we cannot obey the laws of God, how the blood of another must be shed on our behalf. When we are taught from the Law, we are shown the God of the Promise of Salvation.

And that's where we find rest from adversity.



If I say, "My foot slips,"
Your mercy, o Lord, will hold me up.

Today's Laugh

A little boy at school asks the teacher if he can go to the washroom.

"Okay" says the teacher. "But first you've got to say the alphabet."

They boy says the alphabet: "a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k,l,m,n,o,q,r,s,t,u,v,w,x,y,z."

"What happened to the 'p'?" asked the teacher.

"It's leaking out of my boots now."

Quarry Coffee

Gary took today off work because he needed to take care of some business at one of those government departments where the wait is usually 2-3 hours around here. (He drove to Elkhorn and took care of the renewal there. Quicker to drive than to stand in line in Milwaukee or Waukesha. And he fetched my piggy from the butcher.) He also wanted to attend the pollworker training that our township conducted this afternoon. We did go on a "date" for the training of how to set up the voting machines. I can't believe how humongous the instruction guide is for how to deal with various situations that will arise on election day!

We started the day with a breakfast date at Quarry Coffee. Our friend Randy took Gary there a couple of weeks ago, and Gary was so impressed that he wanted to take me. (Actually, he wanted to introduce me to baked oatmeal so that I could make some at home; the date was just the excuse. Lucky for me that Erin has a recipe for baked oatmeal.)

Quarry Coffee is a lovely little place. With real food. And a great atmosphere. I kept thinking, "This is the kind of restaurant I want to have." Someday. In my dreams. Either when the government cuts back on the hoop-jumping, or when I resign myself to jumping through a gazillion hoops. I would love to have a restaurant like that: a limited menu that has a bit of variety each day, quality ingredients, and a warm & friendly ambiance. Ah, dreaming ....

American Players Theatre

Anxious for Richard III this summer. APT-lovers can check out the APT Channel on you-tube.

Today's Laugh

If at first you don't succeed ...

duct tape.

HT: Kari

Today's Laugh

A man died and was greeted by St Peter at the gates of heaven.

"Well, I don't have much data on you. Please tell me what you've done that you think you belong in heaven," St Peter said.

"Three Hell's Angels types had stopped a car with a woman in it. I stopped my car and ran up to them. I told them that if they didn't leave immediately, I would stomp them and send them home with their tails between their legs."

St. Peter was a little skeptical about the story and asked, "When did this happen?"

The man replied, "About two minutes ago."

Unchangeable Law

In our Bible story today, we heard that Daniel would not pray to King Darius but continued to pray to the Lord. When Darius found out he'd been tricked into condemning Daniel, he "set his heart on Daniel to deliver him; and he labored to the going down of the sun to deliver him" (Daniel 6). But the laws and statutes and decrees could not be changed. So Darius had no option left but to commend Daniel to his God.

Like the laws of the Medes and the Persians, God's law cannot be altered. The law could not be set aside simply because it was going to have ugly consequences; it had to stand. But God is greater than Darius. When the Lord set His heart on us to deliver us, when He labored to the going down of the sun that one Friday, He was able to deliver us.

Swelled Head

School auction yesterday. This is a cruddy picture of Vanna Emma, the "MC," and the auctioneer, but hey, it was dark and this is the best shot I got.
Having never been to one of these before, I wasn't sure how it all worked, so what I offered was small: just two loaves of bread a month for four months. But good golly, it went for a lot more money than I expected. And so many different people bid on it ... like as if they anticipate yummy bread from me. Oh boy!

It's going to be fun to bake loaves for the purchaser along with our regular just-for-toast loaves, knowing they will enjoy it.

Today's Laugh

If you can't get rid of the family skeleton,
you may as well make it dance.

- George Bernard Shaw

HT: Kari

Rahab

As we read the first couple of chapters of Joshua today in Sunday school, we talked about the spies' escape from Jericho. Rahab hid the spies because she believed in the Promise (Genesis 12 & 15). But what I thought was really nifty was the scarlet cord she used to sneak the spies out of the city, letting them down from the window on the city wall. It was almost like Passover, what with the red sign marking the entry into the home, and the red sign meant everyone in that household would be spared.

See, His blood doth mark our door.
Faith points to it;
Death passes o'er,
And Satan cannot harm us. Alleluia!

Today's Laugh

A nursing home resident, suffering from dementia, decided to shed all her clothes and "streak."

She passed two male residents sitting in their wheel chairs in the hallway. The first male asked the second, "Who was that?"

"I THINK it was Miss Rita," answered his friend.

"Well, what was that she had on?"

"I don't know," he considered, "but I think it needs ironing."

I Confess

We watched I Confess again last week.

This time I was struck by two things I hadn't noticed before. (Warning: spoilers follow.)

First, everybody knew that the seal of the confessional was not to be violated. The murderer relied on the fact that the priest could not and would not tell. The murderer's wife wasn't completely sure that the priest would keep his mouth shut, but with the reminder about the seal of the confessional, she was pretty sure he would abide by it. The detective pressed the priest for information, but he did not know that he was asking Father Logan to reveal what he'd heard in confession. The priest's former girlfriend and the blackmailer both know that the priest will not tell about sins he knows of. Today we have pastors telling other pastors that there are times when they must reveal what they've heard in confession. But in years past, people had a better sense that the ordination vow, "Do you promise never to divulge the sins confessed to you?" actually meant never.

Second, what brought about Alma's confession? She went through the movie worried that her husband's crime would come to light. She sat through the priest's trial without a word, watching with increased discomfort as her husband lied. But still she bore her own guilt. It was Father Logan's sacrifice and love which finally moved her to confess. It wasn't guilt. It wasn't the law. It wasn't threats that moved her. Her heart was changed as she was the recipient of sacrificial love, as she saw this man silently and patiently bear their sin.

Wow! Compare Hitchcock's theology to much of what we run across today.

Hoarding

Why is it that I hate using that last of something?

It doesn't bother me to use hamburger and rice and canned tomatoes freely. I'm fine with getting out plenty of potatoes or tuna or pasta. But using the ONE salmon steak in the freezer? Eeek. Opening those precious jars of chicken meat that came from Katie's pantry? Well, well, ... I might need those later. I can use lettuce freely in summer when I can get gobs from the garden, but using lettuce at this time of year means that it will be gone from the fridge, and there wouldn't be any if I want some tomorrow on my sandwich.

So if there's just a little, I don't touch it. And risk letting it go bad. How dumb is that?

God Works for Good

On this St Matthias Day, Pr Eckardt writes on whether the Eleven should have chosen a successor to Judas so that they would again be the Twelve, or if they should have waited until God gave them Paul to be the twelfth.

The important point, though, is not about who picked whom and when.

What matters is that the Lord blesses what we do. He even blesses our mistakes. Even when we screw up in the offices into which He has placed us, He does good to those we have been called to serve. I love Pastor Eckardt's conclusion: we too may learn to live without regret. If we might have made decisions that in retrospect could be called ill-advised, we may take confidence in this, that God assumes them into the course of our grace-laden lives, and moves forward with us in His unspeakable mercy.

Today's Laugh

From Kari, who has some of the best laughs!


LETTER FROM AN EXCELLENT BOSS

Dear Employees:

As the CEO of this organization, I have resigned myself to the fact that Barack Obama is our President and that our taxes and government fees will increase in a BIG way. To compensate for these increases, our prices would have to increase by about 10%. But since we can not increase our prices right now due to the dismal state of the economy, we will have to lay off sixty of our employees instead.

This has really been bothering me since I believe we are family here, and I didn't know how to choose who would have to go. So, this is what I did. I walked through our parking lots and found sixty Obama bumper stickers on our employees' cars and have decided these folks will be the ones to let go. I can't think of a more fair way to approach this problem. They voted for change ... I gave it to them.

I will see the rest of you at the annual company picnic.

THE BOSS

Embroidery

Mag mentioned last night wanting to learn to sew. I wasn't sure whether to start with the machine or hand-sewing.
Last night while we read Betsy-Tacy, she embroidered a simple heart on some scrap cloth and did an awesome job! Today we downloaded a simple coloring-book picture of a bird on the branch of a cherry tree, traced it onto a piece of scrap cloth, and she's outlining it in appropriate colors.

We're going to need to buy more colors of thread or floss. Pretty quickly she's going to run through what little I have. Nifty, eh?

FOMS

Fear Of Missing Something. It's a fear that I share with a lot of my friends. Online friends and some in-real-life friends.

As I try [again!!!] to get my computer addiction under control, it crossed my mind that I miss something no matter which way I turn. I may miss the online conversations. But if I participate in them to my heart's content, then I'm missing something at home -- the time reading with Maggie, the math play-time with Andrew*, the cleanliness of keeping the kitchen floor properly mopped, watching a movie with Gary, phone chats with Mom & Katie & Paul, etc.


* Okay, so Andrew thinks it's torture. Give me an algebra book and I can't help but think "play-time"!

Biblical Redundancy

My friend Steve told me once about the Department of Redundancy Department, augmented by the Department of Multivalence Bureau. My pastor (a son of Stephen) talks about how important it is for pastors to be redundant and to repeat themselves and to be redundant.

Okay, but still... Psalm 14 and Psalm 53 are the same thing. It seems pretty weird to me. Why put two of the same hymns in your hymnbook? Wouldn't you like to know what was up with Asaph and his hymnal committee?

And now that we're studying Micah on Thursday mornings, I keep getting jolted by how much Micah sounds like Isaiah. Well, now, they were contemporaries. They must have been going to the same symposia and were probably talking theology at the local Starbucks or pub. Reading Micah (and hearing Isaiah) is almost like listening to some of my pastor-friends and how they all sounds alike.

Rest

The house was cleaned fairly recently.
I'm done editing Karl's book.
I'm going to Woodmans tomorrow, so there was no sense in grocery shopping on Saturday.
More than a week ago, I finished studying the book about a social-skills curriculum.

I went to bed on Friday night not knowing what I was going to do when I woke up on Saturday. Freaky.

I didn't do anything on Saturday. I rested. I got up late. I watched some tv. I tortured Andrew worked on manipulating exponents with Andrew. The kids and I read a little from our history book. I didn't cook; we ordered pizza. I washed only two loads of laundry. I sat with my legs up for much of the day.

I cannot remember the last time I rested like this. It certainly hasn't been since we moved. And I honestly can't remember how long it was before this that I did nothing.

It was a very weird day.

The Scientific Method Meets the Human Nervous System

We learn that when we do experiments, we must change only one variable at a time. If there are several variations happening, you don't know which one is responsible for the change in outcome.

That's why it's hard to experiment on people. Did the person feel different (or did the medicine or diet have an effect) because of the weather, because of personal or social or emotional issues, because of change in nutrition, because of activity level, because of exposure to germs, or what?

A person who is obviously celiac can't be expected to eat wheat for a couple of weeks to prove to the doctor what effect gluten has on his system.

A person who suspects she is having problems digesting milk can only know for certain if she adds milk back into her diet, and then abstains from milk, and then tries it again. This has to occur several times before she can be sure that the trouble arises from dairy products and not from other environmental factors.

Thing is, testing some of these things hurts. If I, oh, say, get new glasses and within hours begin to have pain in my eyes, how do I know whether the pain is a long-term problem or just the "growing pains" of adjusting? Back and forth, back and forth, testing whether the bifocals are actually causing problems, or if it's just circumstantial. Maybe the eye pain and the headaches are due to some other cause.

Today I am --with much trepidation-- wearing my bifocals again after the pain drove me to tears on Wednesday. After having experienced relief from returning to my old glasses three times, it's mighty hard to put the bifocals back on my face again, anticipating that my current hypothesis will prove correct. Thing is, even if the glasses aren't the cause of the pain, I'm afraid that my expectations may give me problems.

Longsuffering and Abundant in Mercy

In the parable of the vineyard (Matthew 21 and Luke 20), the owner of the vineyard sends messengers to his workers. But they refuse to listen. He says, "Surely they will hear my son." But when he sends his son, the workers kill him. The owner will certainly destroy the workers and give the vineyard to others.




Until the last few months, I had never engaged in a really good, deep study of The Acts of the Apostles. As I dug through Acts, one of the things that struck me is how many times God reached out to His people, calling them to repentance, loving them and giving them mercy.

The Jews refused to hear the prophets of the Old Testament and killed many of them. They killed God's Son. But the Father is even more patient than we might expect from the parable. He didn't stomp in and smash His people for killing His Son. Still He sent them prophets. Peter and John preached and were persecuted; Stephen was martyred right away; it wasn't long before James was killed. But still God sent them prophets. When He sent Paul to the Gentiles, Paul always went first to the synagogues, calling the chosen people to repentance, preaching God's love and mercy. But still they persecuted the prophets. They attempted to assassinate Paul. But even after that, it's ten more years before Jerusalem is leveled to the ground.

God gave them forty years [interesting number] after killing His Son.

Psalm 86: But You, o Lord,
are a God full of compassion
and gracious,
longsuffering
and abundant in mercy and truth!

February 20, 1960

Today's Laugh

A man lay sprawled across three entire seats in the posh theatre. When the usher came by and noticed this, he whispered to the man, "Sorry, sir, but you're only allowed one seat." The man groaned but didn't budge. The usher became impatient. "Sir, if you don't get up from there I'm going to have to call the manager." Again, the man just groaned, which infuriated the usher who turned and marched briskly back up the aisle in search of his manager.

In a few moments, both the usher and the manager returned and stood over the man. Together the two of them tried repeatedly to move him, but with no success. Finally, they summoned the police. The cop surveyed the situation briefly then asked, "All right buddy, what's your name?"

"Sam," the man moaned.

"Where ya from, Sam?" With pain in his voice, Sam replied, "The balcony."

A Change in Peter

Do you remember the story in Luke 8 and Mark 4, where the disciples' boat was caught in a storm, and Jesus was sleeping through it all? The men accused Him of not caring about them: He was snoozing instead of being panic-driven and frantically helping them save their ship.

Do you remember the story in Acts 12, where Herod executed James and discovered that it pleased the Jews? He decided to earn more brownie-points with the Jews by killing Peter too. But while Peter was in jail, awaiting his death, an angel came and released him. We read:
Constant prayer was offered to God for Peter by the Church. And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers,...

Peter is sleeping. He is on death row, and he's sleeping. He is no longer panic-driven and frantic in the face of death. Now he's looking more like Jesus, trusting in the Father though the circumstances bode ill.


Entrust your days and burdens
to God's almighty hand.
He cares for you while ruling
the sky, the sea, the land.
For He who guides the tempests
along their thunderous ways
will find for you a pathway
and guide you all your days.

Today's Laugh

When the office printer's type began to grow faint, the office manager called a local repair shop where a friendly man informed him that the printer probably needed only to
be cleaned. Because the store charged $50 for such cleanings, he said, the manager might try reading the printer's manual and doing the job himself.

Pleasantly surprised by his candor, the office manager asked, "Does your boss know that you discourage business?"

"Actually it's my boss's idea," the employee replied. "We usually make more money on repairs if we let people try to fix things themselves first."

Today's Laugh

A mathematician, a physicist, and an engineer are all given identical rubber balls and told to find the volume. They are given anything they want to measure it and have all the time they need.

The mathematician pulls out a measuring tape and records the circumference. He then divides by two times pi to get the radius, cubes that, multiplies by pi again, and then multiplies by four-thirds and thereby calculates the volume.

The physicist gets a bucket of water, places 1.00000 gallons of water in the bucket, drops in the ball, and measures the displacement to six significant figures.

And the engineer? He writes down the serial number of the ball, and looks it up.

Today's Laugh

The doctor said, "Jerry, the good news is that I can cure your headaches, the bad news is that it will require castration. You have a very rare condition, which causes your testicles to press on your spine, and the pressure creates one hell of a headache. The only way to relieve the pressure is to remove the testicles."

Jerry was shocked and depressed. He wondered if he had anything to live for. He couldn't concentrate long enough to answer, but decided he had no choice but to go under the knife.

When he left the hospital he was without a headache for the first time in 20 years, but he felt like he was missing an important part of himself. As he walked down the street, he realized that he felt like a different person. He could make a new beginning and live a new life.

He saw a men's clothing store and thought, "That's what I need-–a new suit." He entered the shop and told the salesman, "I’d like a new suit." The elderly tailor eyed him briefly and said, "Let's see … size 44 long." Jerry laughed, "That’s right, how did you know?" "Been in the business 60 years!" Jerry tried on the suit. It fit perfectly.

As Jerry admired himself in the mirror, the salesman asked, "How about a new shirt?"
Jerry thought for a moment and then said, "Sure." The salesman eyed Jerry and said, "Let's see … 34 sleeve and 16½ neck." Jerry was surprised. "That's right, how did you know?" "Been in the business 60 years!" Jerry tried on the shirt, and it fit perfectly.

As Jerry adjusted the collar in the mirror, the salesman asked, "How about new shoes?" Jerry was on a roll and said, "Sure." The salesman eyed Jerry's feet and said, "Let's see … 9-1/2 E." Jerry was astonished, "That's right, how did you know?" "Been in the business 60 years!" Jerry tried on the shoes and they fit perfectly.

Jerry walked comfortably around the shop and the salesman asked, "How about some new underwear?" Jerry thought for a second and said, "Sure." The salesman stepped back, eyed Jerry's waist and said, "Let's see, size 36."

Jerry laughed. "Ah ha! I got you! I've worn size 34 since I was 18 years old."

The salesman shook his head. "You can't wear a size 34. A 34 underwear would press your testicles up against the base of your spine and give you one hell of a headache."

The Self-Indulgence of Fat Tuesday

Today is the last humongous party-day before Lent starts. It's our last chance at self-indulgence until Easter-tide, right?

Even for those who go meatless during Lent, very few get rid of the butter and eggs and milk and cheese. The "self-indulgence" of Fat Tuesday used to be getting rid of the fat in the house. Woo hoo! We're going to indulge and feast by using up all the butter and the eggs! (I wonder if they made quiche?)

And now what does today's self-indulgence consist of? It's a little wilder than eating quiche. Come to think of it, society-wide, normal everyday life during Lent today is probably a lot more self-indulgent than Fat Tuesday was in centuries past.

Wishful Thinking

Give me spring, lots of spring,
under sunny skies above --
don't fence me in.
Let me be in the wide open spaces that I love
[in summery warmth] --
don't fence me in.



So, will the sheets actually dry before it's dark and time to bring them in? Probably not. Hopefully, though, they'll retain a little of the outdoorsy scent while they finish drying in the machine.

Today's Laugh

Toward the end of Sunday service, the minister asked, "How many of you have forgiven your enemies?"

80% held up their hands.

The minister then repeated his question. All responded this time, except one small elderly lady.

"Mrs. Neely? Are you not willing to forgive your enemies?"

"I don’t have any," she replied, smiling sweetly.

"Mrs. Neely, that is very unusual. How old are you?"

"Ninety-eight," she replied.

"Oh, Mrs. Neely, would you please come down in front and tell us all how a person can live ninety-eight years and not have an enemy in the world?"

The little sweetheart of a lady tottered down the aisle, faced the congregation, and said, "I outlived all those bitches."

Progress on Woodmans

Four walls and part of the roof!

Another 6-8 months of traipsing to far-away Woodmans locales and/or fudging by with Aldi & Walmart, and then there will be a Woodmans close. I timed it the other day when I headed to Shorewood: it was less than 20 minutes to the off-ramp near the new Woodmans. And it's right smack-dab on Gary's way home from work too.

Dark Pedestrians

What is it with all these people in dark coats and dark jeans walking around at night, on unlit streets, crossing the road without checking for moving vehicles? No white on them anywhere. No reflective stripes. But they walk, oblivious to where the cars are, or who's turning, or whether they've crossing against a red light.

I don't wanna hit anybody! But I don't know how long it'll be before it happens. Especially during winter, with all the people walking in the road instead of attempting unshoveled sidewalks.

Today's Laugh

Nostalgia ain't what it used to be.

Today's Laugh

Jacob, age 92, and Rebecca, age 89, are all excited about their decision to get married. They go for a stroll to discuss the wedding and on the way they pass a drugstore. Jacob suggests they go in. Jacob addresses the man behind the counter, "Are you the owner?" The pharmacist answers yes.

Says Jacob: We're about to get married. Do you sell heart medication?
Pharmacist: Of course we do.

Jacob: How about medicine for circulation?
Pharmacist: All kinds.

Jacob: Medicine for rheumatism, scoliosis?
Pharmacist: Definitely.

Jacob: How about Viagra?
Pharmacist: Of course.

Jacob: Medicine for memory problems, arthritis, jaundice?
Pharmacist: Yes, a large variety. The works.

Jacob: What about vitamins, sleeping pills, Geritol, antidotes for Parkinson's disease?
Pharmacist: Absolutely.

Jacob: You sell wheelchairs and walkers?
Pharmacist: All speeds and sizes.

Jacob says to the pharmacist, "We'd like to register here for our wedding gifts, please."

Sinus Rinse

Stores sell packets of sinus rinse for people with allergies or sinus infections. But if you want to use a neti-pot or a sinus-rinse kit, there's a cheaper way to do it.

The harder way: combine equal parts of baking soda and table salt. Use about 1/4 or 1/3 teaspoon per 8 ounces of water. That would be similar to what's in one of those 11-cents-each packets.

The easy way: just use 1/8 or 1/4 teaspoon of salt in your water.

Much cheaper.
And you don't have to mess with the little packets.

Today's Laugh

Jim asked his friend, Tony, whether he had bought his wife anything for Valentine's Day.

"Yes," came the answer from Tony, who wasn't usually thoughtful about these kinds of holidays. "I've bought her a belt and a bag."

"Wow, that was sweet of you," Jim added, "I hope she appreciates the thought."

Tony smiled as he replied, "So do I, and hopefully the vacuum cleaner will work better now."

Why Theistic Evolution Is Impossible

In public school, they taught me about the Big Bang theory and about man evolving from apes. I believed it.

In Sunday school, they taught me about God's creation of the world in six days, Adam and Eve, and the fall into sin. I believed it.

At school, they told me that the story from the Bible was wrong. I didn't believe that. After all, what else would you expect them say?

But I don't think anybody ever told me that the evolutionary tale they taught me at school was wrong. My Sunday school teachers and parents and pastors told me what was right, but I don't think they ever told me that my school teachers were wrong.

Sometime in my late teens, the conflict between evolution and creation was pointed out to me. For a while I thought theistic evolution -- that God created the world through evolution -- might be a plausible theory. So I do realize that just because somebody believes in evolution does not mean they are damned to hell and standing outside the Church in rejection of Christ's atonement. Christians often live with inconsistencies in their theology and philosophy and worldview.

For a long time, "because the Bible said so" was reason enough to believe that God created the world in six days. And it is reason enough. Not exactly an evangelical, gospel-oriented reason. But definitely a good enough reason. But there was always that little, nagging voice that said, "How do you know for sure that God didn't create the world through evolution? And why does it matter, anyway?"

It matters because of what the Christian Church teaches about sin and grace.

The wages of sin is death.

If that is true, then there was no death before the Fall into sin. If there was no death before Adam sinned, then the whole evolutionary process could not have occurred. According to evolution, amoebas and worms and fish and birds and reptiles and mammals died for millions of years before that first person appeared on the scene.

If you want to believe in evolution, you can do that. It may fly in the face of fossil evidence. But people are free to believe what they believe.

But you cannot believe in theistic evolution and be a Christian. It's an impossibility. It's inherently self-contradictory. If you believe in the triune God who made man and grieved over His creation's turning from Him, then you believe in a God who took man's sin upon Himself and who died in the flesh to satisfy the Law's demand that "the soul that sins shall die."

To believe in so-called theistic evolution means that
you must accept death as a "natural" part of creation,
which would ultimately mean that death is not a result of man's sin,
which would mean the forgiveness of sins has nothing to do with restoring life and undoing "the wages of sin,"
which would make Christ's cross irrelevant and meaningless.

Theistic evolution may fit with some religions. But it cannot mesh with Christianity, where we believe in a God who died to atone for sin and to give life to those who plunged the world into death & decay.

For Bible Study

Sometimes the following links come in mighty handy. And they don't have just the text, but you can do word searches too.

A Greek New Testament.

A Vulgate (Latin Bible).

The Septuagint (Greek Old Testament).

Today's Laugh

A blonde walks into the police department looking for a job. The officer wants to ask her a few questions….

Officer: What's 2+2?

Blonde: Ummmmm… 4!

Officer: What's the square root of 100?

Blonde: Ummmm… 10!

Officer: Good! Now, who killed Abraham Lincoln?

Blonde: Ummmm… I dunno.

Officer: Well, you can go home and think about it. Come back tomorrow.

The blonde goes home and calls up one of her friends, who asks her if she got the job. The blonde says excitedly, "Not only did I get the job, I'm already working on a murder case!"

Illini Girl Behind the Cheddar Curtain

Last Friday was non-uniform day at our parochial school. The kids were all supposed to wear a Packer shirt (or Bears or Vikings or Cowboys or whatever). It was a choir day, so Maggie would be there, and she decided to wear her Illini shirt from Aunt Karen. Not NFL, but the closest match she had for the theme.

After chapel, as we stood around gabbing, Kara commented on the Illini shirt. Kara is a Wisconsin girl. I don't know what I am any more. I was raised a flatlander. But as of last Thanksgiving, I'd lived more of my life in Wisconsin than in Illinois. (Four more years, and half my life will have been in Wisconsin. Wow.)

Wisconsin is beautiful. My grandpa would go up to the northwoods to fish every year for vacation. He took his family. My mom grew up, and our family went up north. I grew up, and sometimes my mom & dad would take my family up north too. I love it up there (even if the water is too cold for swimming).

Wisconsin is beautiful. The Kettle-Moraine area is lovely to behold. The southwest corner of the state, too, is beautiful in its terrain and fields and woods.

And yet, Illinois is beautiful too. Besides that, I think there's something of a natural love for the place you knew as home. Immigrants talk with fondness of the fatherland. I mean, really, now, how many of you will think this




music is more beautiful than anything by Mozart or Beethoven? Well, I do. The Three-in-One gives me goosebumps just as much as Bach's Largo or Vivaldi's Seasons.

I don't have a clue as to what my own college's song was. I don't know the Badger songs at all. But Oskee-Wow-Wow is a different story. And it doesn't even bother me if my loved ones laugh at me for clapping my hands, thumping my foot in a Chief-like way, and singing Illini songs.

"Keep us marching and singing,
in true Illini spirit,
for our dear old Illinois."

Today's Laugh

During the admission procedure at the hospital, new patients were asked if they suffered from any allergies.

If they did, the nurse printed a special "allergy band" which listed the allergens. This was then placed on the patient's wrist as a reference for all other hospital employees.

On one particular occasion the nurse asked an elderly woman if she had any allergies. The old dear responded by saying that she was unable to eat bananas.

Later that day, the nurse received a considerable surprise when a very irate son came out of the ward demanding, "Who's responsible for labeling my mother 'bananas'?"

Flatlanders

When I was in teen choir at church, we went on tour each year. One year we headed west and visited Pueblo CO and Pikes Peak. When I arrived back home, I bubbled over with how beautiful the mountains were!

Dad told me that, when he came home from his military stint in Texas, he thought he'd never seen anything so beautiful as those flat fields of corn for as far as the eye could see. And let me tell ya, when you're in central Illinois, the eye can see a long, long, long way.

I didn't understand. It's just flat fields of corn. And little silos here and there. And elevators every 10 miles or so. What's so beautiful about that?

And then I went to college. In Chicago. Where there are buildings. Lots of buildings. No horizon. No sunsets. No space. No fields of corn. No stars at night because of all the lights.

One day Gary and I were driving down home to visit the folks. You know what???? There was a horizon out there in the country! You could see the whole sky! And miles and miles and miles of corn. Beautiful fields full of corn and beans.

Dad was right.

Today's Laugh

After passing the bar exam, a man opened his own law office. He was sitting at his desk when his secretary announced that a Mr. Jones had arrived to see him.

"Show him right in!" the lawyer replied.

As Mr. Jones was being ushered in, the lawyer wanted to look busy. He quickly picked up the phone and shouts into it "... and you tell them that we won't accept less than fifty thousand dollars, and don't even call me until you agree to that amount!"

Slamming down the phone, he stood up and said, "Good morning, Mr. Jones, what can I do for you?"

"I'm from the phone company," Mr. Jones replied. "I'm here to connect your phone."

Buying Shoes?

I've been in Birkenstocks all day every day for over nine years.

Today I saw the podiatrist. He diagnosed metatarsalgia. Because I have been doing all the right things to keep the problem from getting worse and coping with the pain, the next step is orthotic inserts. The first step in that will be to see if they'll be covered by insurance (probably not) and try to convince them of the necessity. Next step would be getting the inserts. And then comes something that I don't even know how to think about.

Buying shoes.

For nine years, my only choice in shoes was whether I wanted two straps or three straps on my sandals, and whether I wanted them in navy, black, or brown. Now I'm going to have to find some lace-up shoes. The options are overwhelming.

And...
what will I do about church? As the podiatrist and I conversed about my pain and the past solutions and the current options, he mentioned that you can't wear sensible shoes all the time. For instance, you can't wear Birkenstocks to a wedding or to an anniversary party.

Hmm. I guess if your feet hurt badly enough that you're willing to look ultra-dorky by wearing Birkenstocks to your daughters' weddings, then maybe you really do need the orthotics. Do you think the health insurance company will see this as compelling evidence?

Today's Laugh

Patient: It's been one month since my last visit and I still feel miserable.

Doctor: Did you follow the instructions on the medicine I gave you?

Patient: I sure did. The bottle said "keep tightly closed."

New Glasses

Okay, the world is a bit wavy around the edges with these new bifocals. It's a lot easier to be still and read a book or be still and look at the computer than it is to work in the kitchen. I feel like I'm in a science fiction movie and reality is warping and twisting on the fringes. But it's actually easier wearing the no-line bifocals than I expected it would be. I hope I feel the same way by the end of tomorrow!

Wisdom Teeth

Andrew's home from his extractions. At first he was insisting that he didn't go to sleep during the surgery; the doctor and nurse thought otherwise. General anesthesia does tend to put a person to sleep. (Philip and Katie, did you guys have general anesthesia or just local? I don't remember your wisdom teeth being like this.) After Andrew saw the clock and how much time had passed, he thought maybe he did go to sleep for the surgery after all.

Andrew's doing well. He's watching tv and icing his cheeks.

The weirdest thing about the morning was that Maggie fainted. When we were removing Andrew's gauze packs and checking the level of his bleeding, it didn't set well with her. And pretty soon I saw her going. I caught her and broke her fall so she didn't hit her head or become injured in the fall. But that was weird. I've got one home from oral surgery, not barfing, not fainting, coping just fine, and it's the other one who crumples.

Today's Laugh

Funny. I don't remember being absent-minded.

Lofty Goals

Some homeschoolers set lofty goals. They see no harm in shooting for the stars, achieving as much as possible. After all, no harm done if you fail at the goals, right? You've achieved more by setting high goals (and "failing") than you would've achieved if you set lower goals and actually met them.

Other homeschoolers set smaller goals that they're pretty sure they can meet. Whatever they do beyond that is gravy.

Right now I'm reading a book about social-skills curriculum and perspective taking. The author describes that social skills can be learned by folks with autism or VCFS or any number of other impairments. She discusses that the ability to learn these skills is on a continuum: some people just won't get it, some learn with great difficulty, some can learn relatively easily, and then there are the neuro-typical folks who learn social skills and perspective taking naturally. The author discussed recognizing the limitations that some children face:

Some parents express concern that by acknowledging that their child will not completely resolve his or her social/communication challenges, they are giving up "hope" for their child's future. I believe the opposite. Realistic hope helps us focus proactively on how services can help the child progress beyond his or her current level. In my experience, members of the treatment team who have unrealistic expectations often put unreasonable pressure on the child, parents, and supporting professionals. This creates stress and even animosity related to establishing and carrying out the treatment plan.

Thinking About You Thinking About Me: Teaching Perspective Taking and Social Thinking to Persons with Social Cognitive Learning Challenges; Michelle Garcia Winner, 2007, page 4.

Locusts

Our story in Bible class today was from Exodus 6-8, the plagues on Egypt. Pastor mentioned that blood flowing is always a sign of death. He mentioned the lice and flies which are pesty and disease-causing as a result of the Fall. He mentioned the boils as disease which is indicative of death. He mentioned that locusts are never a sign of anything good in the Bible; they are always destructive.

And then he threw in a side-comment:
I think that's why John the Baptist had the diet he had. Devouring the locusts showed the triumph of the forgiveness of sins over destructive forces.

Cool!

Today's Laugh

Two silver-haired women entered a restaurant for lunch.

Each caught the other's look of joyful recognition; they had been college mates 50 years earlier. They spent the afternoon laughing and reminiscing.

Then one looked at the other in obvious embarrassment. "I hate to say this," she confessed, "but what is your name?"

The other one thought a moment, then asked ruefully, "How soon do you need to know?"