DarjeelinGirl

You know, in the busyness and constant grind of my life, I sorta forgot about this side of my personality. But thanks to Mr. Wit, I now remember. I T.P.’d my college pastor’s whole apartment once. I started at the inner most corner of the inner most room and worked my way out the door. He needed a machete to occupy the place. He wasn’t too happy with me.

the Prankster (43% dark, 17% spontaneous, 22% vulgar)

your humor style: CLEAN | COMPLEX | LIGHT Your humor has an intellectual, even conceptual slant to it. You’re not pretentious, but neither are you into what some would call ‘low humor’. You’d laugh at a good dirty joke, but you definitely prefer something clever to something moist. You probably like well-thought-out pranks and/or spoofs and it’s highly likely you’ve tried one of these things yourself. In a lot of ways, yours is the most entertaining type of humor. PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Conan O’Brian - Ashton Kutcher

UPDATE:

Dore’s comments in another post reminded me that I’ve been intending to add that although the scoring seems pretty accurate, some of the test questions are rather disgusting. Perhaps the writer of the test considers them within the scope of valid humor. And I guess that’s why I scored the way I did.

I’ve been learning more than I ever imagined about working with computers in the past year. Stacy at Writing Right lead me to this site with tips on cleaning your monitor. It’s so revolutionary, I just had to pass it on.

Anna and I played Tooth Fairy last night. She was pleased to receive 4 whole quarters even though none of them were Minnesota quarters, for which she has been hunting. Maybe next time - the neighboring tooth is doing a little jiggle…

Anna lost her first tooth! She is so proud; she asked me to post all about it on my blog. Then she called her friends Jadyn and Michaela to tell them the good news. When I asked her how much money the tooth fairy should bring her, she remarked, “$18.” She better talk to Josiah about that first. Her poor brother sent the tooth fairy notes for months after his last loss. I finally found a piece of it (his tooth) under my computer the other day.

She’ll be lucky if I remember to give her a quarter…

The miraculous happened last night. I was busy working on a business project around 10pm, and I told the kids to go to bed. Without any intervention on my part, look what I found at 10:30pm when I went to do the same:

3…

2…

1…

GOOD NIGHT!

words with fangs and teeth
ice cold or erupting fire
will hurt your feelings

See more poetry and art at words to go with.

art cool.

I went to Madison today to pick up the kids from their summer hiatus in Ohio. When we got home, shrew #3 was busy in J’s window well. So after having just passed the Dells, we thought we’d make our own in miniature.

Here’s the Critter Super Slide:

Here’s the lucky winner:

Here he is in lala land. We gave him a one way ticket outta town via Waste Management - if he survives the trip, he will think he landed in heaven!

In no particular order off the top of my head…

1. Leanne Payne (guess you saw that one coming)
2. C.S. Lewis
3. Lynn Davis (the homeschool mom who lives in Cleveland, not the one found by Google search)
4. Francis Frangipane (betcha knew that one, too)
5. Jamie Dawson
6. David Bayly
7. Dave Gorteski (my water color instructor)
8. Cher Baumhoefner
9. Andrew Pudewa
10. St. Cuthbert (named our cat after him)

Of course, none of these would have any meaning without Jesus. I see Him, our Ultimate Inspiration, in each of them.

Inspiration for this post: 10 on Tuesday via Millenium Hippies.

The most difficult and highest aim of painting, Leonardo wrote in his notebooks, is to depict “the intention of man’s soul.”

We had an awesome discussion at Women’s Group this morning. I shared just the tip of the iceberg of what I learned at the PCM. It’s all still marinating/baking within. Someday I hope to get to teach this stuff to lots more people. God’s laying out all kinds of insight about the True Masculine and Feminine within each of us, healing the split between the head and the heart, and Symbol and Imagery in the Christian faith. It’s all still swirling. As things settle and become more concrete, I will share them here. In the meantime, Jen did a phenomenal job of recording our thoughts and discussion this morning. Grab a cup of coffee and go ponder…

I’m really hankering for an iPod. My lappy with iTunes is a liiiiittle heavy to take for walks…

Really! It won an award. Click the picture to follow the link.

I swear, she IS smiling for the camera!

Read all about her at Humor Girl’s blog.

Here are my notes from a lecture given by Mark Pertuit at the 2005 Pastoral Care Ministry School:

Restoration of the soul = inner healing, being restored to the likeness of God, not merely “feeling better”, sanctification of the depths of our hearts, God making us like Himself, something we can never do ourselves, a work of grace.

God gives the growth. We do not self-sanctify. He gives us the grace to obey; our yeilding to Him transforms us.

The Cross takes the guilt of sin and the power of sin (which includes the pain). Isaiah 53:4, He has borne our griefs and inherited our sorrows… This includes the sin done against us as well as our own sin.

We need to sort our our own stories, separate from our parents’/family’s stories. Saying “it wasn’t that bad” or “He/She meant well” justifies evil. Your story is a valid/official version and needs to be told.

Ask the Lord to show you what you may be in denial about.

Stop excusing those who have hurt you.

We avoid/disown the parts of ourselves that are in pain or in sin - it leads to intense loneliness.

Fear of being disowned or of being rejected for speaking your story is a twisted sort of pride.

Bring your story to the Cross. Look up and out of yourself. Name the sins committed against you. Release the pain to Christ. Picture Him taking it into Himself upon the Cross. Be specific. Also lift up your own ungodly reactions. Healing often happens as you articulate it. See with the imagination of your heart what He does with it. There is an end to the pain.

We get hurt in relationships - yes. But it is also where we get restored - in relationship with Christ and others. We do not get healed in a vacuum.

Forgiveness does not equal reconciliation. Forgiveness is not excusing evil. Loving someone is a choice and it varies by person/situation. Love is not the same as “being nice”.

Sins against you can be bound to the Cross. (It is interesting that during prayer, Leanne and other ministers always bound the sin done against the person or that they had done, but never addressed any fallen beings or principalities in that way. They bound sin away from people and loosed healing.)

You are not determined by what has happened to you.

God with the Israelites: I am giving you the Promised Land. Now fight for it.

Healing is a developmental process that requires a growing faith.

Cute comics with a conscience for earthly stewardship…

Update: ok, its more than cute. It’s also a little alarming. Read this:

GMO Food: A ‘Growing’ Concern

Pick up a microbiology textbook and you may be surprised to discover that genetically modified (GMO) food is being presented–not as an unproven new frontier raising both hopes and questions–but as a ‘done-deal’ hi-tech solution to the world’s hunger and health problems. You’ll read about corn plants that are genetically altered to carry life-saving vaccines to remote Third-World villages, and grains that can be engineered to produce their own pesticides! Missing from the curiously one-sided prose are accounts of the people in Spain who died after ingesting Canola oil pressed from genetically modified plants. Conspicuously absent is the test data showing how lab rats being fed GMO corn developed mutations in their kidneys and ended up with altered blood chemistry. Because genetic modification in food is such a multifaceted, politically charged science, we’ll devote the next six strips (as well as accompanying essays with related links) to the topic.

Go here for more.

I had nothing to do with the demise of Shrew #2:

But I think, perhaps, Snickers did!

The cat hair around the window wells is not working. And I think these little buggers may have something to do with the mysterious golf ball sized holes in the mulch… Any other suggestions???

See also April Showers.

Blog these 5 items:

What is the total number of books you have ever owned?

Tag 5 more people and pass it on!

I’ll start:

Total books I have ever owned:

I can’t even begin to count them - there are over 350 alone in my office, plus we have a room designated as the library that have to equal close to 1000. So in my lifetime, I will have to estimate about 5 thousand.

The last book I bought:

I just spent my children’s inheritance at the Pastoral Care Ministry School. I bought 32 books. Some for personal growth/ministry and some for school with the kids.

Highlights:

Man’s Search for Meaning - Viktor E. Frankl
The Healing Gifts of the Spirit - Agnes Sanford
Christ in the Psalms - Patrick Henry Reardon
Prophetic Untimeliness - A Challenge to the Idol of Relevance - Os Guiness
Orthodoxy - G.K. Chesterson
The Royal Way of the Cross - Francios Fenelon
Abandonment to Divine Providence - Jean-Peirre De Causade
Faith, Hope, Love - Josef Pieper
Abuse of Language - Abuse of Power - Josef Pieper
The Evidential Power of Beauty - Thomas Dubay
Authenticity - Thomas Dubay
The Christian Imagination - Thomas C. Peters
Feathers of a Skylark - Jeffery Satinover, MD
The Battle for the Trinity - Donald G. Bloesch
Is the Bible Sexist? - Donald G. Bloesch
The Flight From Woman - Karl Stern

Last book I read:

I just finished Listening Prayer by Leanne Payne. Actually, it was the third or fourth time I’ve read it. Before that I read Mad Cowboy by Howard Lyman and The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World by John Robbins.

Now I am reading The Quest for the Radical Middle by Bill Jackson, Crisis in Masculinity by Leanne Payne, and Sealed Orders, an autobiography of Agnes Sanford.

5 books that mean a lot to me:

Although there are 10 or 20 books that mean a lot to me, these are the books that have caused significant paradigm shifts along my journey:

Inside Out - Larry Crabb - started my journey from christianeese to wholeness
Restoring the Christian Soul - Leanne Payne
The Three Battlegrounds - Francis Frangipane
The Great Divorce - C.S. Lewis
The Sacred Romance: Drawing Closer to the Heart of God- Brent Curtis and John Eldredge

Taggin’ five people: Nick, Jen, Dan, Kari, Amy, and I am looking forward to their posts!