I just finished the best book I've read since Francine Rivers' Redeeming Love graced my bedside table. Liz Curtis Higgs' newest novel, Grace in Thine Eyes, had me from page one. I would highly, HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who loves a good love story, but I would caution that the reader be prepared for an emotional rollercoaster. As I was reading and getting into the really good part, I kept thinking how similar my emotions were to the first (and coincidentally, the last) playoff game the Indianapolis Colts played this season. We're winning! We're not. We have hope! Dang it, couldn't cut it. He can still kick to win! He misses. Up and down, up and down...by the end of the game I'm exhausted and I didn't even get off the couch. Same with the book...He wins the woman! Oops, not quite. But she comes around! But then he screws up. But then she forgives! Then dang it, he goes and...I won't ruin the story for you. But seriously, I was exhausted by the seventy-first chapter!
Just to note, Grace in Thine Eyes is the fourth in a series, which I didn't know before reading it. Don't say no one told you. :)
May 23, 2006
May 22, 2006
The things you do for a decent sermon...
Nate and I are, unfortunately, STILL looking for a church to call home out here in West Virginia. It's really surprising, considering how freaking many people there are out here, how few truly-Bible-preaching-as-well-as-good-fellowship churches there are in the area. Like, none that we have found. Yesterday we tried a church in Middletown (which is in the middle, between Frederick, MD and Charles Town, WV) and heard a sermon that can pretty much be summed up in this:
"Okay, everyone turn to Acts 14. Here is what John 3 says... You see, in the diagram, we were on one side and God was on the other. But the cross makes a bridge! And I realized I was frustrated with the Coke machine. Frustrated with the Diet Coke button. Frustrated with the coin return. Frustrated with the drop box. And you know, sometimes we get frustrated with life, but God wants to fix that! When the stewardess asked what the man next to me wanted, he said, 'Beer.' Not Miller Light or Budweiser, just "Beer." And I realized God wanted me to share the gospel with this man. Because Franklin Graham is coming to Baltimore, and hundreds of people with him. Let's bow our heads..."
I am not even joking. Nate and I tried to be respectful, but we laughed the whole way home, just in total disbelief that this message came from the HEAD pastor of a GROWING church.
Thankfully, a sermon series we had ordered from College Wesleyan Church (which I am beginning to think is the last Bible-preaching church left on the planet) arrived not long ago, so we pulled out the tapes and prepared to get some good teaching when we realized that we didn't have a tape player. Must have ordered tapes because it was cheaper, overlooking the fact that we didn't have a way to play them. Except in Nate's car. So yes, we put the tape in the car tape player, rolled all the windows down, and pulled up our lawn chairs to hear the sermon. But we don't have lawn chairs plural, you say. This is true. So we pulled out THE lawn chair and dragged out the wicker rocker as well.
But it gets better. We had also had a rough couple of days at the office beforehand, and on Saturday night had purchased a six-pack of Mike's Hard Cranberry Lemonade. So we are out on our lawn, sitting on a camping chair and a wicker rocker, playing a sermon by a Wesleyan pastor on the car stereo at near-full volume as we drink hard lemonade. We even got a picture to prove it.
FYI, the dog was not drinking hard lemonade. He always looks like that.
Hope this makes you more fully appreciate your Sunday morning service. :)
"Okay, everyone turn to Acts 14. Here is what John 3 says... You see, in the diagram, we were on one side and God was on the other. But the cross makes a bridge! And I realized I was frustrated with the Coke machine. Frustrated with the Diet Coke button. Frustrated with the coin return. Frustrated with the drop box. And you know, sometimes we get frustrated with life, but God wants to fix that! When the stewardess asked what the man next to me wanted, he said, 'Beer.' Not Miller Light or Budweiser, just "Beer." And I realized God wanted me to share the gospel with this man. Because Franklin Graham is coming to Baltimore, and hundreds of people with him. Let's bow our heads..."
I am not even joking. Nate and I tried to be respectful, but we laughed the whole way home, just in total disbelief that this message came from the HEAD pastor of a GROWING church.
Thankfully, a sermon series we had ordered from College Wesleyan Church (which I am beginning to think is the last Bible-preaching church left on the planet) arrived not long ago, so we pulled out the tapes and prepared to get some good teaching when we realized that we didn't have a tape player. Must have ordered tapes because it was cheaper, overlooking the fact that we didn't have a way to play them. Except in Nate's car. So yes, we put the tape in the car tape player, rolled all the windows down, and pulled up our lawn chairs to hear the sermon. But we don't have lawn chairs plural, you say. This is true. So we pulled out THE lawn chair and dragged out the wicker rocker as well.
But it gets better. We had also had a rough couple of days at the office beforehand, and on Saturday night had purchased a six-pack of Mike's Hard Cranberry Lemonade. So we are out on our lawn, sitting on a camping chair and a wicker rocker, playing a sermon by a Wesleyan pastor on the car stereo at near-full volume as we drink hard lemonade. We even got a picture to prove it.
FYI, the dog was not drinking hard lemonade. He always looks like that.
Hope this makes you more fully appreciate your Sunday morning service. :)
May 16, 2006
Broken over Brokeback
I am really ashamed to admit this, but I feel the need to cleanse by confession: Nate and I watched Brokeback Mountain yesterday.
It really seemed so harmless and like it might be a good flick, having won a million awards and all, but the content of the movie made me want to vomit several times, and try as I might, I cannot get some of those scenes out of my head. I mowed the lawn today and the whole 3 hours I was pushing the mower around, I was asking God to cleanse my mind and my thoughts from what I'd seen and to forgive me for having kept watching when I should have quit (darn that whole "But the yucky stuff might be all over now!" thought train). I know I did nothing wrong, but I seriously feel like I watched two hours and eight minutes of pornography or something. It is that gross.
If it was supposed to give me cultural awareness, it definitely did that...I am painfully aware of the moral disintegration of humanity. If it was supposed to help me be more open-minded towards the gay lifestyle, it definitely did not do that...I am sickened by it and if anything, am more motivated to pray against people choosing that road.
It really seemed so harmless and like it might be a good flick, having won a million awards and all, but the content of the movie made me want to vomit several times, and try as I might, I cannot get some of those scenes out of my head. I mowed the lawn today and the whole 3 hours I was pushing the mower around, I was asking God to cleanse my mind and my thoughts from what I'd seen and to forgive me for having kept watching when I should have quit (darn that whole "But the yucky stuff might be all over now!" thought train). I know I did nothing wrong, but I seriously feel like I watched two hours and eight minutes of pornography or something. It is that gross.
If it was supposed to give me cultural awareness, it definitely did that...I am painfully aware of the moral disintegration of humanity. If it was supposed to help me be more open-minded towards the gay lifestyle, it definitely did not do that...I am sickened by it and if anything, am more motivated to pray against people choosing that road.
May 15, 2006
I am a cutter...of coupons, that is...
I love cutting coupons. One of the biggest highlights of my week is cutting out the coupons in the Sunday paper...sometimes I even wake up early on Sunday morning, too excited about the possible coupons to sleep! I end up throwing away a lot of the coupons I cut, but some of them I do use, and let me tell you, there are few feelings that compare to getting a great deal with a coupon.
One of the local grocery stores occasionally has Triple Coupon week, when they will triple the value of your coupon (up to 99 cents) when you use your value card. This week I managed to get a box of Kudos granola bars for four cents, another for 64 cents, a big tube of Colgate toothpaste for 24 cents, and a half gallon of Breyers ice cream for 25 cents. Those are some great deals, but they don't beat the one Triple Coupon week when the store actually paid me 30 cents to buy a box of Bisquick. That was neat. :)
The thing I really love about using coupons, though, is not that I save money; it's that I'm "sticking it" to the store. Making them give me a great deal that they hadn't really meant to give. It's like finding some great loophole that not everyone sees and proving to the store that I am not a stupid consumer. Getting them back for overcharging me all the rest of the time.
This was evident yesterday when Nate and I went to Uno's for lunch after church. I had a coupon for $5 off a $15 food purchase. We were stuffed after our meal, but our bill hadn't quite made the minimum yet, so we ordered a $5 dessert anyway just so we could use the coupon. Because it wasn't as much about saving the money as it was "sticking it" to the restaraunt.
There are lots of yucky money-costing things in this world that I cannot do anything about...late fees, the hiking of gas prices, the rediculous cost of a Starbucks coffee, etc...but I will get revenge with my coupons. Oh yes, I will get revenge.
One of the local grocery stores occasionally has Triple Coupon week, when they will triple the value of your coupon (up to 99 cents) when you use your value card. This week I managed to get a box of Kudos granola bars for four cents, another for 64 cents, a big tube of Colgate toothpaste for 24 cents, and a half gallon of Breyers ice cream for 25 cents. Those are some great deals, but they don't beat the one Triple Coupon week when the store actually paid me 30 cents to buy a box of Bisquick. That was neat. :)
The thing I really love about using coupons, though, is not that I save money; it's that I'm "sticking it" to the store. Making them give me a great deal that they hadn't really meant to give. It's like finding some great loophole that not everyone sees and proving to the store that I am not a stupid consumer. Getting them back for overcharging me all the rest of the time.
This was evident yesterday when Nate and I went to Uno's for lunch after church. I had a coupon for $5 off a $15 food purchase. We were stuffed after our meal, but our bill hadn't quite made the minimum yet, so we ordered a $5 dessert anyway just so we could use the coupon. Because it wasn't as much about saving the money as it was "sticking it" to the restaraunt.
There are lots of yucky money-costing things in this world that I cannot do anything about...late fees, the hiking of gas prices, the rediculous cost of a Starbucks coffee, etc...but I will get revenge with my coupons. Oh yes, I will get revenge.
May 14, 2006
Okay, God, what are You up to here?
You know those moments when something happens...something very small and seemingly insignificant...and something about that moment just stays with you in a really big way? I had one such moment yesterday. Nate and I took the dog out for our nightly walk and decided to take the long way home, through the campground, just to see how things were going around the park. We were walking up from the tent area when I noticed a disabled girl using a walker to follow some other kids up a grassy hill. I thought she was really cute and watching her struggle up that small knob kinda tugged at my heart...I wanted to help her get up there! I was just about to turn my eyes away when all of a sudden she lost her balance and just kinda tipped over. I ran over to make sure she was okay, and as I helped her up, I was surprised to realize she wasn't trying to stand up on her own, but that she was leaning into me, trying to get her arms around my neck. I didn't really know what to do...I didn't want to alarm any watching parents by picking up their child, but this girl was leaving me no other option! So I wrapped her up in my arms (as much as one can wrap an 8-year old up in her arms) and just held her for a minute, rendered speechless at the trust this girl was showing to me, a complete stranger, and at the swirling mass of emotions I was feeling in that moment. Just about then her father arrived and I handed her back, he thanked me, and we continued on our way home.
Seems like no big deal, but all evening I thought about how much I'd wanted to help her up that hill and what I felt when she latched onto me. Even after I'd gone to bed, I just layed there and tried to understand why disabled people get to my heart the way they do. I told Nate maybe we should adopt a disabled child, because I'm sure there is a need for good homes for those kinds of kids...even as I said it I realized how strange such a statement was, coming from the mouth of someone who'd written a post just days earlier about not wanting to have kids. And there I was suggesting that we not only have kids, but that we have kids who need us more than normal...talk about a lifetime commitment. Hello, God, I can see You've been working on some things here. :)
I don't have much more to say on the subject...I'm still just kind of overwhelmed by the thoughts I've had about it and curious as to what God has up His sleeve. ????
Seems like no big deal, but all evening I thought about how much I'd wanted to help her up that hill and what I felt when she latched onto me. Even after I'd gone to bed, I just layed there and tried to understand why disabled people get to my heart the way they do. I told Nate maybe we should adopt a disabled child, because I'm sure there is a need for good homes for those kinds of kids...even as I said it I realized how strange such a statement was, coming from the mouth of someone who'd written a post just days earlier about not wanting to have kids. And there I was suggesting that we not only have kids, but that we have kids who need us more than normal...talk about a lifetime commitment. Hello, God, I can see You've been working on some things here. :)
I don't have much more to say on the subject...I'm still just kind of overwhelmed by the thoughts I've had about it and curious as to what God has up His sleeve. ????
May 07, 2006
The Best New Coffee Shop in Town
Since we arrived at the Harpers Ferry KOA in January, we have had Christmas just about every day. No snow, no manger scene, no snowperson-shaped cookies, but definitely a new surprise around every corner. Usually it is not a good surprise, like that the store roof had a small leak..."small" meaning large enough to cause flooding of the theater and almost 100% rottage of the stuff between the shingles and the ceiling. Or that the foundation of our house is caving in in the garage. Or that many of the full hook-up sites were improperly wired, causing power outtages and a few sparks here and there. Or that all of our first aid supplies expired two years ago. Or that our laundromat was THOROUGHLY infested with termites. Or that 0% of our propane lines were up to code. And the list goes on. As we frequently say, "We are in a rebuilding stage. Right now you go to fix one thing and ten other things break."
But we did actually have one nice surprise yesterday. Nate discovered a relatively new but hardly used coffee grinder and espresso machine in some random storage area while trying to get the snack shop together. Thinking it would be great to follow up on the coffee craze and add coffee drinks to our menu, Nate decided to bring the machine home to try it out. Let me remind you this is an industrial sized espresso machine and that he wanted to bring it HOME. :)
It sat in the kitchen for 24 hours before I made him move it, and it has since been relocated to the laundry room. The funniest part is that it is set up to be hooked up to a faucet; it's not the kind you just fill up. So Nate ran a hose through the laundry room window to the water spicket outside. I've included a photo to help your imagination.
It is not quite working yet...the hose leaked all over the table/ironing board. But Nate assures me he can fix it. :) So we're not open for business yet, but the Lail Laundry Room may soon be the hottest coffee shop in Harpers Ferry. Just step on up to the window to order. And while you're out there, turn on the water for the espresso machine.
But we did actually have one nice surprise yesterday. Nate discovered a relatively new but hardly used coffee grinder and espresso machine in some random storage area while trying to get the snack shop together. Thinking it would be great to follow up on the coffee craze and add coffee drinks to our menu, Nate decided to bring the machine home to try it out. Let me remind you this is an industrial sized espresso machine and that he wanted to bring it HOME. :)
It sat in the kitchen for 24 hours before I made him move it, and it has since been relocated to the laundry room. The funniest part is that it is set up to be hooked up to a faucet; it's not the kind you just fill up. So Nate ran a hose through the laundry room window to the water spicket outside. I've included a photo to help your imagination.
It is not quite working yet...the hose leaked all over the table/ironing board. But Nate assures me he can fix it. :) So we're not open for business yet, but the Lail Laundry Room may soon be the hottest coffee shop in Harpers Ferry. Just step on up to the window to order. And while you're out there, turn on the water for the espresso machine.
May 03, 2006
A Taste of Home...not the cooking magazine...
We just got back from an AMAZING weekend in South Dakota...it was so hard to come back east! We headed back last Friday for Nate's mom's wedding on Saturday. It was a beautiful ceremony and it was great to finally meet Jim. Phyllis had done her best to describe him to us, but "ohhhhhh" and "*sigh*" and **big smile** don't really paint a very definitive picture. :) We got a wonderfully clear picture painted for us on Friday night, though, when his kids started sharing stories of him over dinner. Let's just say that when Jim gets excited, you'd better have on a helmet and at least a towel across your back, especially if there is any sort of gun (air, paintball, water, shot, etc.) within reach. ;) He is a wonderful guy, though, and we are thrilled to have him in the family. He and Phyllis are just like two kids on cloud nine but way more wise and mature. Photos of the bliss are at: http://photos.rcfirst.org
One other highlight of the trip home...my dad met us at the Minneapolis airport and rescued us from a four-hour layover by whisking us away to the Mall of America. After driving completely around the mall about 8 times, we finally figured out how to get in and we had a fabulous lunch at Rainforest Cafe. We tried really hard to remember where we parked...and did such a great job at it that I still remember we parked in P2East Georgia B10. Hey Dad, remember to not put your mug in the dishwasher. Wash by hand. :)
Another great part of the weekend was "just" hemming Nate's pants! Aunt Pat saved the day with a crash-course in hemming, and now Nate has three very wearable appropriate-length pants, and I have hemming skills! We also got to sneak in a couple games of disc golf, Balderdash with the Johnson clan (yes, all 80), and a night at the campground in Hill City, where all our craziness got started. We really packed stuff in and still feel like we didn't get to do everything we wanted to do.
So that was our weekend. :) Okay, so I wasn't going to say this, but it is Wednesday night, 9:30pm, which means another contestant from American Idol has just been sent home. All I'm going to say about this week's results is IT'S ABOUT TIME PARIS WENT HOME!!!!
:)
One other highlight of the trip home...my dad met us at the Minneapolis airport and rescued us from a four-hour layover by whisking us away to the Mall of America. After driving completely around the mall about 8 times, we finally figured out how to get in and we had a fabulous lunch at Rainforest Cafe. We tried really hard to remember where we parked...and did such a great job at it that I still remember we parked in P2East Georgia B10. Hey Dad, remember to not put your mug in the dishwasher. Wash by hand. :)
Another great part of the weekend was "just" hemming Nate's pants! Aunt Pat saved the day with a crash-course in hemming, and now Nate has three very wearable appropriate-length pants, and I have hemming skills! We also got to sneak in a couple games of disc golf, Balderdash with the Johnson clan (yes, all 80), and a night at the campground in Hill City, where all our craziness got started. We really packed stuff in and still feel like we didn't get to do everything we wanted to do.
So that was our weekend. :) Okay, so I wasn't going to say this, but it is Wednesday night, 9:30pm, which means another contestant from American Idol has just been sent home. All I'm going to say about this week's results is IT'S ABOUT TIME PARIS WENT HOME!!!!
:)
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