My Weekend

Tuesday of this week was the start of a completely insane 3 week busy-ness on steroids.  Part of the busy-ness includes two retreats.

Haha.

That just seems kind of ironic.

The first retreat was for All Things New, an abolitionist organization I work with.  I like to think of us as a stop on the Underground Railroad for trafficked women.  I am just starting to work with the volunteers for processing/debriefing and I love those heroic women.  I'm not real sure how I got this blessed - wait! Yes I am!  I'm God's daughter.  That's it.  Nothing else, I can promise you that.

Anyway, I was one of the planners for this retreat and by Friday morning I was pretty nutso because of my procrastination tendencies.  But then I got to the retreat center and it. was. beautiful.  And peaceful.  And God met us.  And now I am very grateful and happy.  And peaceful.  I will try to embed a video of the organization that hosted the retreat.  They also do missionary training there.

Last night, since I wasn't sleepy when I got back to my room, I finished this scarf!  I took the picture with my Blackberry, so please excuse the quality.

I love it!

Back to the crazy busy week - This week we are having a dear friend over for lunch Sunday, a party at our house Monday night, then I work all day Tuesday, Wednesday  and Thursday and THEN I leave Friday morning for a week long training that I am SO EXCITED ABOUT!  It will be at Our Father's Farm and I'm sure I'll be tired but very blessed when I return late next Friday night.  

So, if you feel so inclined, pray for me this week and next.  Pray for my family, who I miss a lot. Pray for Charlie, who misses me mucho.  And please pray for me to have stamina.  I'm pretty sure I'm gonna need it.

A Reading Room

I am thinking about transforming our dining room into a reading room.  We already have two living areas but they both have televisions in them and one of them doesn't have windows other than two sky lights.  We have used our dining room for dining two times in two years and it's a wonderful room that shouldn't be lonely like that.  It has a wall of windows that look out on the back porch and back yard.  It would be the perfect place to watch snow fall or watch a fire burn in the fire pit or watch the sky turn from night to day in the morning.

I envision something with a big bookshelf, a writing surface, a couple of comfy chairs, and maybe a hammock in one corner like this

or maybe a hanging day bed like this

I'd really like for it to be a whimsical room that makes you smile.  Because it is the first room you see when you walk in the front door, I envision guests thinking they want to go back to that room to relax later.  I think it would become my favorite hang out spot for crocheting, writing, reading and day dreaming.

It's a small room and really only has two walls so that will present some design challenges but I'm enjoying thinking about it.

Have any of you ever hung a day bed from the ceiling?  Sounds like someone is heading up into the attic to me . . . if that someone is me I will probably need a hasmat suit.

Just sayin'

UPDATE:  We can't have a hanging bed because we have beautiful wood paneling on the bottom third of the walls in that room and it would put dents in it.  :(  Back to the drawing board.  It was a fun idea though . . . .

Simplify

I am simplifying our life a little lately.  It's not really even a plan, I have just found myself cleaning out cabinets and rooms and completing projects that were left undone.  Those two things are the same to me.  I cleaned out the clutter under my bathroom sink by throwing things away and lining things up and putting things where they belong.  I cleaned out the clutter in my mind by finishing the prayer shawl I was working on.  Same happy feeling. 

I love it.

I occasionally make goals and work toward them but it is so frustrating to me when I don't meet a goal or deadline that most of the time I kind of live by the seat of my pants and I like it that way.  My house gets kind of messy but eventually I get around to straightening it and in the mean time I have fun conversations with sisters, children, friends, and dogs. 

It's not that I'm not goal oriented - okay maybe it is - but I have just found that I am happier when I have just a few things I routinely do that keep my life sane, and have big sections of 'do the next thing I want to do' in my life.  Maybe most people are happier that way but they call it vacation. I don't know, but I do feel blessed to live this life that allows me to enjoy my strengths and downplay my weaknesses.  It definitely helps that I'm married to a 'type A' kind of guy who loves his 'type B' kind of woman.

So far I have cleaned out cabinets and drawers in the master bathroom, the laundry room, and the kitchen (one drawer), finished that prayer shawl I mentioned, and touched up some paint on the walls in my kitchen.  It feels like a deep sigh or the first day of summer when I finish something small like that.  Definitely one of my favorite things.  I'm easy. 

That reminds me of that song "I'm easy like Sunday morning."  Are Sunday mornings easy around your house?  That guy must not go to church. 

Anyway . . .

The Lime Pickle Fiasco

At the end of March I planted a garden which had many purposes but two main ones:  Caprese Salad and Lime Pickles. 

Lime pickles are gold to our family.  It is my Grandmother Atkinson's recipe and they have a crisp, tangy, sweetness that you can't find in any other pickle.  They are delicious with sandwiches and in potato and tuna salad.  When I make tuna salad with these pickles it reminds me of summer days at Grandmother and Granddaddy's with cousins and horses and singing on the horse trailer "stage" with a stick for a microphone.  If you get a jar of Lime Pickles from a sister you know it is a sacrificial, deeply loving gift.

Here is the recipe - with a little bit of luck and a lot of hard work, you can enjoy this homegrown gold too:

Lime Pickles

7½ lb sliced cucumbers. Soak in 2 gallons water with 2 c lime (the mineral, not the fruit)  for 24 hours. Rinse in cold water several times. Let stand in cold water 3 hours. Pour this cold syrup over rinsed pickles: 2 qt vinegar, 4 ½ lb sugar, 1 t whole allspice, 1 t whole cloves, 1 t celery seed.  Let stand overnight. Simmer the pickles in the syrup for 35 minutes. Pour in hot sterile jars and seal.

It's a fairly simple recipe but it takes quite a few tools and three days and a lot of home grown cucumbers - and apparently for me it takes a lot of phone calls to my mother.  I was made sadly aware of this fact this weekend because my mother is on an Alaskan cruise and has been out of reach. 

The fiasco started when I harvested eight pounds of cucumbers last week.   Eight pounds is a lot of cucumbers but you really need ten pounds to get a recipe of these pickles because you cut off the ends and any bad parts. On Thursday afternoon I went out to Mom and Dad's to see if their cucumbers had any that were ready, but they either didn't plant cucumbers or they planted them later than me because I didn't see anything that looked like a cucumber in their garden - I admit I don't know my plants very well so it's possible they were there and I just didn't recognize them.  Of course, if Mom had been there she could have given me this information.  This was the first time in this process that I recognized that I needed my mommy, the master gardener.

I also needed to get into their house to get Mom's big pot and crock.  If they had been home this wouldn't have been a problem.  If I had the garage door opener they left us this wouldn't have been a problem.  But, my son has mowed their lawn and had  their garage door opener and he was at a friend's house so I left without cucumbers or pots and went to the grocery store to get some waxy-skinned, nasty cucumbers to fill out my recipe.  Second time I needed my mommy, the hospitable, generous soul.

When my son finally came home with the garage door opener on Friday afternoon, I went out to their house and got the ceramic crock that you need to soak the pickles but I couldn't find the big boiling pot so I figured I probably still had it at my house somewhere and decided to go ahead and cut up the cucumbers and get them soaking in the lime water.  No problem, I figured.  I was sure it would turn up in the 24 hours that the cucumbers needed to soak.  Surely I had just tucked it away somewhere around my house and if I couldn't find it I'd just run to Walmart and get one. 

Saturday came and Wade wanted to go see an afternoon movie so I asked our daughter to rinse the cucumbers for me and put them in cold water to soak overnight.  My plan had morphed into letting them soak in cold water overnight and waking up early Sunday morning to boil and can them.  The only problem was that I still hadn't found the boiling pot.  I still thought it was probably in my house somewhere but I had run out of places to look for it.  In the back of my mind I was thinking it might be in the shed - weirder things have happened. 

I woke up super early Sunday morning (Father's Day) and looked in the shed.  No boiling pot.  I went back to Mom and Dad's to look again and couldn't find it anywhere.  I went to Walmart and they didn't have anything that was exactly what I wanted and what they did have was $50!  No way!  Besides, by then I need to get back home to make breakfast for Father's Day and get dressed to work in the nursery at church.  I made the decision to let the pickles soak for longer than overnight.  By this time I was beginning to think I was about to throw away 10 pounds of cucumbers and a lot of hard work.

On the way to church I remembered that Mom keeps some of her canning supplies in the basement!  Why, oh why couldn't I have thought of that on Friday?!  We had Father's Day plans for the afternoon and company coming to watch the Thunder that night so these pickles were looking very unlikely.  However, thanks be to God, we were so late to the afternoon movie that we couldn't find a seat, so we left, went to Pop's for a soda, and then came home early.

I went to Mom and Dad's, looked in the basement, and THERE IT WAS!  The Boiling Pot was sitting right where any organized person would put it.  If only I could have asked my mother, the wise, organized one, where it was!

I went home, and boiled and canned, making a huge mess that was finally clean 20 minutes before our company got there.  In the process, I knocked a jar of pickles over and lost all of the liquid from that jar.  Then one of the lids came loose when I put the jars back in to boil (which is not required on the recipe) and water got in the jar, so instead of of seven quarts of pickles, I only got five.

But, let me tell you, those pickles are going to taste delicious!  And I'll probably giggle a little every time I eat them, thinking about the story behind them.

Making Ourselves Ready

Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory,

for the marriage of the Lamb has come,

and his Bride has made herself ready;

it was granted her to clothe herself

with fine linen, bright and pure" -

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.  

Rev 19:7,8  

I am thinking today about the beautiful interplay between 'making ourselves' ready and 'being granted' to clothe ourselves with righteous deeds.

Our salvation is completely a free gift.

None of us can claim that we have done anything to earn it, in fact we are all broken people who do breaking things.

But it has been granted to us to clothe ourselves with righteous deeds.

And with those righteous deeds we make ourselves ready for the great wedding day.

Flowers Are Blooming!

I LOVE this flower!  I plant my zinnias from seed so I'm never really sure what they will look like.  I hope I get a LOT of this one.

This is Charlie begging me to put him outside, so I'm keeping it short.  I just had to share my  flower with you.

He Will Never Leave

A long time ago I was sitting with a client, talking about what the Lord was doing in his life.  He said that he had seen the Lord holding his hand at a time when he felt like he was going to fall into an abyss of despair.  I asked him what that meant to him and he said “If I fall, he is going with me.”

Psalm 139:8-12 tells me that no matter where I go or how much I try to hide in dark places, God is there with me and he’ll make the darkness light.  Psalm 23:4 says that if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, he is with me.  Hebrews 13:5 says that he will never leave me or forsake me. 

As I was pondering those verses, I sensed the Holy Spirit reminding me of First Corinthians 6:15-19 and I saw those verses in a new light.  I have always thought that passage was about the perils of fornication but I realized that it is also about the Lord’s closeness to us.  He is saying, “Don’t you realize that I live in you?  No matter what you do (even sex with a prostitute) I am right there.”  I see in this passage that it hurts him to be there, but he stays.

This is a wounding and a healing thought to me.  It hurts me that I bring the Holy One into my sin.  It heals me that he is willing to stay.  While it is true that he is spotlessly holy, he is not far off from me, even in my sin.  Ephesians 2:13 tells me that although I was far off, I was brought near by the blood of Jesus. 

He is near to me when I lie.

He is near to me when I am unkind.

He is near to me when I worry.

He is near to me when I think impure thoughts.

He is near to me in despair.

He is near to me.

A Beautiful Poem

I just read the most beautiful prayer/poem and I have to share it with you.  I think it may have come from One Thousand Gifts, which my friends and family tell me I must read.  I found it on incourage.me and it is by Amy Voskamp.

Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.
Enemies have driven me into your embrace more than friends have.
Enemies have loosed me from earth more than friends have…
Enemies have made me a hunted animal, finding safer shelter than an unhunted animal does.

I found safest sanctuary in You…may too my enemies-made-grace.
I found greatest grace in You… may my enemies-made-grace find Your generous grace alive and radical in me.
I found fullest forgiveness in You… may my enemies-made-grace find faith and freedom in You and Your forgiveness working surprising ways in me.

The longer I walk with you, Lord, I find I have no enemies: only your gift of chisels etching me deep.
Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.

Funny House Church Story

Here's that funny house church singing story:

A while back my husband and I went to our WONDERFUL house church.

By the way, let me just stop there and say that if you aren't getting to know some fellow believers in a deep way and being known in a deep way, you are missing out.  Find a house church.  It's worth the search.

Commercial over.

Our church is blessed by some amazing worship leaders. We have an abundance of artists of all kinds and when I say our worship leaders are amazing, I mean that we have a LOT of AMAZING worship leaders/singer/songwriters.  One of them, Kelsey, leads our housechurch worship.  God blesses us each week with His presence as we worship together.  

One night Kelsey sang a song over us, which means she sang it and we listened and meditated on it and then she invited us to sing along with her.  It was a beautiful song and we all wanted to join in but it wasn't on the printout of words.  So, our group did the best we could.  Picture thirty people, ages 20-80, following a song they just heard.  It was a quiet, meditative song and all of a sudden I got this picture in my head (after the ad go to 1:03 to get to the picture that was in my head):

'

(I really have to tell you that our house church didn't look like that AT ALL.  We were just a little behind Kelsey and kind of mumbly but it made me THINK of that skit and that was all it took.  I am so immature.)

. . . anyway, I couldn't get that picture out of my head and I started laughing.  It was tragic.  Then to make matters worse, in answer to Wade's worried look at me, I whispered "this reminds me of that SNL skit" to him and he started laughing.  By the end of the song, we were practically crying from trying so hard not to laugh out loud.

I always thought laughing in the quiet parts of a church service was the worst.  Trust me.  Laughing in the quiet parts of house church can be just as uncomfortable.

Maybe worse.

A Garden Tour

This morning I took a photographic tour of my tiny garden.  There are some exciting things happening out there and also some lessons learned.

Happy Cucumbers

My cucumbers are deliriously happy.  I planted a bunch of them because we ran out of Grandmother Atkinson's Lime Pickles this year and THAT CAN NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN.  Cucumbers and tomatoes are the main reason for my garden's existence.  And basil.  More on that later.

Roma Tomatoes with Parsley and Cucumbers in front

My Roma tomatoes are also blissfully growing alongside their parsley and cucumber cousins.  This year I am trying a new support system.  I put in bamboo stakes on either side and ran twine between the stakes.  When the tomatoes look droopy, I run more twine and tighten things up.  We'll see how this goes when the plants get really heavy with yumminess but so far I like this system.

Can you see all those blooms and baby romas?  

This is gonna be yummy!

The reason this makes me so happy is that I love Caprese Salad!  Have you had it before?  It's sliced tomatoes with basil and sliced mozzarella cheese (the wet kind) with Balsamic vinegar.  Grocery store tomotoes are hardly worth the effort but if you have a delicious garden grown tomato . . . Oh Honey!  You have deliciousness!  I planted a lot of basil but so far only one of the plants is really happy.

Happy Basil Plant

Last year we didn't get ONE tomato but our basil went crazy.  Hopefully, the other basils will come on quick.

We also planted strawberries

One of two plants and the lonely strawberry

and squash

Can you see the baby squash under there?

I don't think we'll have enough strawberries for jam, so that's one lesson learned.  Next year I'll plant about eight strawberry plants.

In the interest of keeping it real, here is the other side of my garden.

The sad, pitiful Better Boy tomatoes and the killer dill plant (with a few zinnias and thyme thrown in)

I put in these robust Better Boy tomatoes, looking forward to some yummy slices on sandwiches this summer.  Then I planted a tiny, little, grown from seed in my kitchen, dill plant in front of it.  The dill went crazy.  This is cut back to about half it's size in an effort to encourage my tomatoes to live and not die.  The tomatoes looked much worse before I did that, if you can imagine.

I couldn't figure out what was wrong with those plants except that "Better" Boy was apparently NOT better, so I called my master gardener Mom about my problem.

She said, "I don't know" and we continued garden talking.

I told her how much I love the fresh dill on my scrambled eggs and she said, "Oh!  I bet you will have some beautiful butterflies this summer.  They love dill too."

Mystery solved.  Butterfly babies killed my better boys.  Or at least bullied them.  Those butterflies had better be pretty!

Multi-Tasking

I have developed a really bad habit of multitasking. All the time.

I used to think it was a good thing but it has become a problem - even an addiction.  At first, I just didn't like sitting to watch t.v. without something to do in my hands because it felt like a waste of time, but now I really can't just sit and watch something and I even find it difficult to stay tuned in to a whole conversation, especially when I am in work mode - which is most of the time.

And there in lies the problem.

If I'm watching t.v. with my family I am also usually crocheting or (sigh) playing solitaire.  This doesn't seem like a big deal but I frequently miss important parts of the t.v. show while I'm looking at my game or project.  Then I either ask hubby to rewind or I spend the rest of the show trying to figure out the plot line without an important piece of the story.  This isn't a  big deal with a sitcom or even a movie but I have noticed that it has bled into real life interactions and there's no rewind button on real life.

The problem isn't the crocheting, it's the lack of focused attention and it has blurred into most areas of my life.  When I'm driving, talking on the phone, or even just waiting for a program to load on my computer, I find myself looking for something else to do.  The other day I realized I was doing it while a family member was talking to me and decided I need to stop.  It caused me to wonder how often I do that to my loved ones?  Do I tune out with them while they are talking to me?  If so, I'm sure I am missing out on important pieces of their plot line as well.  This is a real problem since I am a main character in those stories.

Can you imagine if the main characters of the shows you watch spent the majority of the show trying to figure out what just happened so they can respond to it appropriately?  It reminds me of one of my favorite skits on SNL, Garth and Kat.  It's funny on t.v. but not so funny in real life.  (Although I have a hilarious house church singing story to tell you sometime that reminds me of this skit!)

So, I have decided to attempt to correct this problem and be in the moment.  I think my first exercise will be to force myself to watch a 30 minute sitcom without doing anything else.  I don't think I'd better try a one hour show.  That might be like running a marathon your first time out.  I am also going to try putting down whatever I am doing with my hands when a loved one starts talking to me so that I can listen, really listen.

I don't want to catch the highlight reel of my family's life.  I want to be a main character.

Pray for me.

All Things

Today I woke up overwhelmed.

There is some pretty major stuff going on with the budget at work right now that will effect my practice.  I work for a non profit medical facility and sometimes 'non profit' means 'no money'.  Things were really picking up with my caseload and then WHAMMEE!  I had to slam on the brakes while we figure out how to work with what we have.

The thought that was on my mind was 'When am I ever going to just coast and enjoy having a little extra money and time and peace?'  That's what I thought was about to happen heading into last week.  I was pretty grumpy as I brought that thought to the Lord and you know what he said?  He said "All things work together for your good."  Since that was what he was saying to me, I thought I would look that passage up for my morning devotional and it is so meaty!  It's Romans 8:26-30 and here are a few of the things the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart:

• I don't really know what to pray for but the Spirit prays/intercedes for me.  He helps me by praying for me because I am weak.  By the way, Jesus also prays for me but that's another verse.
• The Holy Spirit helps me by praying the will of God for my life.  So while I might pray 'please make my path easy', the Holy Spirit is helping me by praying 'not my will but thine be done'.
• I am destined to be transformed into the image of Christ.  That is what God is doing in me through everything that happens in my life.  
• If I really know Jesus I will love him enough for that to be gloriously wonderful but that's a hard test for my love because sometimes I can get pretty pouty about not getting my own way.  

This morning I decided that it is enough to be changed to be like Jesus.  He is glorious.  He is strong.  He is loving.  He is true.  He is so wise.  He is everything I want to be.

Gratitude

Today I am so grateful for so many things.

1.  I woke up to a Facebook message from a cousin-in-law thanking me for Meem's green enchilada recipe that I sent her and telling me how much she misses Meem and wishes she had her turkey stuffing recipe.  And I had the stuffing recipe! Happiness!!!  My husband loves green enchiladas so one time while I was at Meem's house I got her to let me follow her around in the kitchen and write down what she did to make it.  Then a year or two later Meem said she thought it would be the last time she made her stuffing so I wrote that down too.  I miss her.  We all do.  But I am so grateful that I got to be one of her grandkids.  You want those recipes, don't you!?  I think Meem wouldn't mind.  She was sweet like that.

Green Enchiladas

1.5 lb ground beef, browned with ½ - 1 onion

1 can cream of mushroom soup, 1 can cream of chicken soup, 1 large and 1

small can chopped green chilies, warmed with ¾ can of water

1 lb longhorn cheese, grated

Layer – Doritos, Meat, Cheese, Soup

Finish with cheese then soup.

Bake 350 for 25 – 30 min.

 Meem's Turkey Stuffing

1 large pan of cornbread

< 1 loaf of white bread, toasted

6 eggs, beaten

4 stalks of celery, chopped

4 onions, finely chopped

chicken broth to moisten

sage to taste (~1-2tsp)

salt and pepper to taste

Crumble breads.  Mix in eggs, celery, onions, chicken broth, sage, and salt and pepper until very moist.  Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes or until top is slightly crusted and eggs are cooked.

2.  I am so grateful for Compassion today.  My little girl's name is Anna.  She is eight and will turn nine July 1st.  I remember this because Compassion sent me a reminder that it takes three months for gifts to get to her.  I hope that my gifts make her birthday special and bless her family.  I pray for her often and hope to meet her someday.  My tiny monthly gift, that just posts to my credit card so I don't even have to think about it, feeds and educates her and makes it possible for her very old parents to have peace of mind for their late in life little girl.  If you want a little piece of this joy, just log on to Compassion and pick a child.  You won't be sorry.  It has been one of the things I have been grateful for a lot of days.

3.  I am grateful for peaceful music.  This morning I am enjoying Gungor.  You might enjoy them too.

4.  I am grateful for my big bathtub.  I take a bath every other day (I shower on the other days, don't worry) and it's a little bit of an event every time because I have this big jacuzzi tub.  The jacuzzi jets aren't really placed well and it has some cracks.  Someday we should replace it.  But everytime I use it I am just grateful for it, even a year and half after we moved here.  It's just one of those little joys that makes my life beautiful.  

5.  I am grateful for the men in my life.  My hubby is putting a beautiful wood parquet floor down in the office today.  It came out of my mom and dad's old bedroom and my dad pulled it up piece by piece so that it wouldn't go to waste.  That's just like my parents.   They don't waste anything.  They were green before it was cool, but don't tell them that.  They like to think they are just frugal.

6.  Speaking of men in my life, my son is going to a concert in Dallas tomorrow with some wonderful friends.  I am so glad he gets to do that.  It has been such a joy to have him home and see him grow into a wonderful young man.  

7.  I am grateful for my job and the opportunity to learn and grow in it.  Speaking of which, I'd better finish getting dressed and get to work!  

I Love Ya' Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is Friday - one of my two favorite days of the week.  On Mondays and Fridays I do housework, errands, gardening, lunches with friends, and catch up on projects - all of my favorite things.  Fridays are especially nice because Wade and I spend Friday evenings together.  Tomorrow is going to be especially, especially nice because we are going on a double date with some really fun friends.

I love the promise of the word tomorrow.  You know the song 'Tomorrow' in 'Annie'?  I'm pretty sure it actually says 'Tomorrow!  Tomorrow! I love ya' Tomorrow!  You're only a day away!' but I like to sing it 'Tomorrow!  Tomorrow!  I love ya' tomorrow!  You're always a day away!'  That's a true procrastinator's song, don't you think?

I do love that tomorrow is always a day away.  Tomorrow always holds the promise of being better than today.  Maybe tomorrow I'll actually finish cleaning my house.  Maybe tomorrow I'll make that apron I have cut out.  Maybe tomorrow I'll get the top soil put on the garden.  Or the clothes from the drycleaner.  Or maybe even get my whole to do list done.  That's the thing about tomorrow.  Anything's possible.

It's always a day away!

Tattoos

I am raising hippies at my house.

I'm not real sure how that happened because their dad and I are pretty conservative in most ways. I am a little bit of a Jesus freak and I don't really care that much what people think (or I like thinking that's true) but my values are pretty mainstream conservative. That is unless you consider my views on immigration (pro amnesty - I know, I know) and the environment (I think we should take good care of our planet and if corporations won't do so. I think they should be made to do so by government).  If you think that's liberal, then I'm cool with that being liberal.

This is my daughter.

That is a nose ring.  And she wants to dred lock her hair.  We said no to the dreds.  We had to draw the line somewhere.  She plans to get a tattoo and dreds on her 18th birthday.  My husband has encouraged her to do it because he says it will save him a boatload of money that he was planning to pay for college.  I'm not sure what I think about that.  I'd be more on board about the dreds than the tattoos because even if she has to shave her head to get rid of them, it's still not permanent.

I wouldn't get a tattoo for a lot of reasons.  For one thing, I'm a complete wimp and I'm pretty sure that would HURT! I don't even eat spicy food because of my moral conviction that if it hurts you shouldn't eat it.  This conviction includes activities.  In general the 'no pain, no gain' crowd and I don't hang out.  Also, I am old enough to remember how many favorite colors, quotes, shapes, and sayings I have had in my forty plus years.  I'm so glad those things weren't indelibly printed on my body.  I like being free to change my mind.  To me a tattoo limits my freedom of choice.

My daughter wants to get the globe printed on her back.  It's actually quite a lovely tattoo, as those things go . . .

But I'm not convinced she will always want that showing through her t-shirts and her formal dresses. I might have wanted it on my back at one stage or another but not now and guess what? It would still be there!

I think it's likely that tattoos are just a way for adolescents to say "I'm different than you" to their parents.    If that is the case, I got that message a LONG time ago.  She definitely is different from me in so many wonderful ways.  Time will tell if tattoos will be one of those ways.  I hope not, but at some point it will be her decision and if she goes ahead with putting permanent art on her body, I might even think it's pretty.

I May Be Back!

I really can't believe it's been four and a half months since I blogged. Then again, I've had a hard time keeping track of time lately so I guess it has been. For example, how long have we lived in this house? I'm pretty sure it's been a year and a half but it seems like at least three years. How old is Charlie? He'll be four in June but he seems two to me, while it also feels like I have had him forever. Charlie got a hair cut while I was away. He really needed one. Bless his poor, pitiful, filthy heart! This is the before picture:

But Tiva, his groomer, made him happy again. Yay for Tiva!

A couple of weeks ago our daughter and I went to Wheaton College to let them wow us and WOW us they did!

Wheaton is a lovely college that has produced many well known missionaries and evangelists as well as being the alma mater of some of our favorite people. Our daughter wants to be a missionary and we think Wheaton would be a great fit. They are a relatively small college in a cute town that is close to a big city. Wheaton is a thirty minute train ride from Chicago, where we had a wonderful time.

We took the train into the big city.

We ate great pizza.

We explored Millennium Park

and had a great time checking out the people and architecture. Chicago is a great city. When I think about Micayla going so far away (twenty hours by car), I feel a little sad but I also know she will more than likely live really, really far away after college. At least if she is in Chicago we can use frequent flyer miles to get home every once in a while.