This scares me, A LOT. I have known for a bit that I would not vote for Obama because he is wishy-washy on many issues, particularly the issue of abortion. The way in which he says he is personally against it, but does not feel it is his right to impose his values on others does not at all match with his early statement that he would not want his daughters to be "punished" with a child.
I wish this was discussed more than all the "yes, you did"/"no, I didn't" stuff. Argh. I remember how active I used to be in the pro-life movement, and feel sad that I don't really even think a whole lot about it now. But when I spend even just two minutes with a child of any age, I am reminded of how precious and unique that child is, and feel a bit of an innate urge to protect them from any surrounding harms.
Please watch this video and think about the child. Don't think of how well Obama speaks or how McCain is a little bit goofy-looking. Think about the little baby who knows nothing of all this political mumbo-jumbo and who has the ability to grow up to write inspiring novels or perhaps develop a cure of cancer, and who has the right to witness a breathtaking sunrise and the chilly splendor of a star-speckled night sky.
I am in South Georgia for a training for work ... and it's hot. The gnats seem to enjoy flying in my face and sticking to me anytime I am outside. I don't quite understand why they like me so much. I can be walking in a group of people, and for some reason the gnats pick me out and envelop me. It's quite a sight to behold, I'm sure ... just as I am when I have little black bugs sticking to me.
Have I mentioned I'm not a huge fan of summer in Georgia? I suppose it could be worse. I could LIVE in this area with all the overly friendly gnats.
This is a wonderfully deep post.
I miss my husband.
I am looking forward to finishing my degree in February. I am SO ready to be a counselor/therapist/something else ... but I don't think I will be pursuing any job changes until after the tentative move out west in a couple years.
I am not even sure what I'm writing about.
I miss my husband. And, surprisingly, I miss my kitchen and all that it holds. A lot.
I'm heading out now to battle the gnats (the high-speed in my room is actually no-speed, which means I have to trek over here to the conference center lobby to get on their wireless).
Ok, that's all for now. The gnats call, and I must answer.
hooray for Pioneer Woman and the beauty of procrastination!
Thanks to Darcie, I am now addicted to this site, and am using it (quite successfully) as an avenue to procrastinate all the various papers I need to write for school. The semester ends next week, and I have two book reviews (for books I haven't actually read), and a final paper to write (about a topic on which I have not considered at all).
So it makes perfect sense that I have been up for over three hours, and all I have done was make coffee, feed the dogs, unload the dishwasher and read about Ree and her man and how he swept her off her feet. That's about right.
This morning, my new hubbie went off fishing with his buddies to leave me alone to concentrate on schoolwork ... and I have done NONE of it. Hubbie ... still weird to think that I have one of those. But I have, for two weeks now ... and I like it an awful lot.
Speaking of hubbie ... I do believe I hear a certain white Jeep pulling into the driveway, so I need to go act very studious and productive.
It's funny, I really sort of never thought I would get married. In a way I wonder what I'm giving up. Not when I think about him. Just when I think about MARRIAGE. So I guess I just really need to think about him ... and how I am crazy about him ... and how he held me tonight when I cried ... and how he led me in prayer as I sniffled ... and how I miss him during the day at the strangest times ... and how I already LOVE that I can just come "home" and see him and not have to make plans to get together with him. Because he'll be there when I get HOME! And home is a house that he owns, not a temporary stop involving a shady and incompetent landlord who doesn't fix things.
There's lots and lots going on, and it's a very good kind of busy.
I should be asleep already, but I am busy thinking about this weekend and about this new life on which I am embarking.
I turned 31 this past Saturday, and this Saturday I will turn into someone's wife. There's lots going on.
My birthday was wonderful. He told me what to pack but wouldn't tell me what we were doing. The day was full of surprises. We stopped at a bike shop and he bought me new riding glasses (after many complaints from me of what a dork I looked like with his silly goggles). It was HOT out, and I wasn't that prepared ... so he also bought me a tough little red tanktop, complete with skull and crossbones on the back in the middle of an ad for the bike shop.
THEN ... he took me to get a massage. It was actually a couple's massage, but at a strange place where no one in the room spoke. This caused us to feel as if we shouldn't speak either. It was wonderful but also very oily. So we had to go back to the house and take showers to get off all the very fragrant massage oil.
And then we hopped on his bike and took off to the mountains. I hadn't been to the GA mountains yet, and I liked them almost as much as the mountains in NC (but not quite as much). Very pretty, and very fun roads on the back of a motorcycle with a man who likes to go fast.
We had dinner and wandered around, and discovered that we had just missed the biker rally earlier that day. I felt a little conspicuous walking around in my red biker tanktop and my leather boots, almost expecting one of the tough biker chics to pick a fight with the biker chic poser (me!). But no one did, and we left in peace. I only wish I had worn my cowboy boots that day, to complete my look.
The drive back was even better, because we caught the sunset. Will the rest of my life be this nice?
I am off to sleep about photographers who don't show up (a real dream the other night) and whatever else comes up.
I will post a link to some pictures after I get them, which may not be for a few weeks.
But know that this weekend, in the mountains of NC, I will be wedding, kissing my HUSBAND (at the wedding, of course!), listening to a bluegrass band, eating BBQ, riding some horses, maybe fly-fishing, doing other assorted things, and not thinking at all about writing on this blog.
I've been busy ... because of this person (the bigger one):
who gave me this:
and now I'm busy making plans for a gathering in the mountains of western NC. But I'll be back soon, with lots more juicy details and maybe even some pictures! Hope each of you is doing well. :)
The weather today is my favorite: gray, rainy, and chilly. It's strange that I love this type of weather so much, because I would rather be outside any day than stuck indoors. But this kind of weather is somehow comforting to me. It seems like it's designed to get me thinking more than I usually do, while sipping coffee and relaxing in warm, comfy clothes.
I really considered working from home today - it's the perfect weather to do it ... but I had paperwork and filework to do, so I had to come into the office. But still, I'm sitting in front of a window, sipping coffee, and wearing warm, comfy clothes. So things are good.
This morning on the way into work I caught part of a radio show. The topic was "dreaming great dreams" - part of a 10 part series by Chip Ingram, who I always enjoy. The series is entitled, "Good to Great in God's Eyes" and I just went online and ordered the book. His words today struck some chords in my heart, and I can't seem to shake thoughts from my mind.
The main idea of today's study was that "God delights to do IMPOSSIBLE things through IMPROBABLE people to IMPART exceeding grace to UNDESERVING recipients." He talked about how we so often limit what God does in our lives because we keep Him in a small box and create small boxes around our lives, when He is just watching and waiting to instill great dreams inside us.
So much of what he said rings true in my life ... how sometimes we dream a dream and start to take steps toward it, but then an obstacle pops up or a door closes and we think we were wrong about the dream. Really, it's more likely that we are not in a place in our lives where the dream is ready to be realized. There are still things that need to happen with us before the dream can become reality. Like Joseph, who had the dream but then ran into snare after snare - eventually his dream became reality, but only after he became the man God wanted him to be.
My "dreams" lately seem to involve mountains, horses, other animals, troubled kids, and sharing lots of love. I am excited about the future and how everything may transpire.
Lately the Bible has been coming alive to me. I'm not sure what's different, but in my morning reading - currently in 2 Kings - I am suddenly interested and intrigued by the stories of sons killing their fathers to take over reign of nations. Honestly, this particular section of the Bible isn't really all that exciting to me. And I know that God is not so concerned about me being excited about stories in the Bible, as much as He is about me living a life that is consistent with His ways.
But really, there are other sections of the Bible that keep me interested and keep me up later than I should be at night. The books of 1 and 2 Kings are not those sections. But I made a decision to read through the entire Bible, and I'm going to follow through.
Anyway, today I was reading in 2 Kings 19, and I realized I was actually absorbing what I was reading. Especially when I got to verse 28, which contains words God spoke to Isaiah for him to share with Hezekiah. They were talking about Sennacherib, who was not the nicest guy around at that time. The words in that verse really struck me. I love imagery, and God creates a powerful one here:
Because your rage against Me and your tumult have come up to My ears, Therefore I will put My hook in your nose And My bridle in your lips, And I will turn you back by the way which you came.
My first thought was of a bridle on a horse. I guess I have horses on my mind lately, probably because I see so many of them as I drive all over the state. Anyway, then I realized horses don't usually have hooks in their noses. So I pulled out my commentary, and saw a note about this being a reference to the Assyrian custom of treating captured enemies like animals in a caravan. How powerful that God is using their own custom to create a picture of the way that He is ultimately in control over what happens to them!
I love the moments in the Bible where God sort of flexes His muscles and reminds man of His strength. I think too many Christians have a false sense of humility in their view of and approach toward God. We like to approach him meekly because we think we're being respectful, and in some ways while doing this we also treat Him as a weak God. I have a feeling that God really wishes we would be bolder and grasp a hold of the promises He makes to us, and claim the power He offers us. We are called to be more than conquerors, but it seems we act more like timid little kids than brave, valiant warriors. Verses like this give me a little bit of a rush, because I am reminded what a powerful, mighty God I follow and serve.
I have a renewed desire to know this book well. I constantly have a "to read" book pile by my bed, but for now the Bible is sitting at the top of it and staying there.
Lots on my mind, as usual. Last night while talking to a pastor at a nearby church, I heard him mention something about their visits to a local nursing home, and I felt a pull in my chest. I need to dust off my guitar and find a new place to plug in. I think one of the things I loved most about playing for the people in Sanford was that they always thought I sounded great. :) Of course, most of them also had hearing problems, so ...
"I don't have the inclination to look back on any mistake ...
Like Cain, I now behold this chain of events that I must break ...
In the fury of the moment I can see the Master's hand ...
In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand ..."
- Bob Dylan
