Big Move

Hey all! Way too long since I've posted on this blog - I started posting on my Yahoo blog - but then I sort of fell away from writing and blogging entirely. We recently moved to Oregon (like, a week ago!) and for some reason - maybe being unemployed - my brain seems to be going a mile a minute with writing ideas. It's pretty exciting!
I started surfing the net a bit to see if there was anything out there worth talking about and I stumbled onto this craigslist area called "Rants & Raves". What this really seems to be is a place for hate-filled people to spew their venom on the public (not that ALL of the posts were bad - some were quite eloquent, however they were greatly outnumbered and overpowered). You can be assured that I will not be visiting this site again. When I mentioned it to my husband, he laughed and says he reads it all the time - says it's funny to read the ramblings of stupid people. I thought about this for a minute or two, and then realized that he was the reason these things exisist! It's the same with the stupid videos on YouTube or Break.com. People don't watch them because they like them or think they are cool, they watch them out of humanities innate morbid curiousity. I admit - I have it too - I watch videos on Break with my husband and ask myself "what were they thinking?" The sad part is that teens who are smart enough to know how to use the camcorder or webcam better than their parents, but don't have the real life experience to know better - think this stuff is "cool" and want to recreate it. It's just like smoking and drinking. For how many decades did we watch our parents drink and smoke and laugh and have fun and think that it was fun and safe? When it finally came out that it was dangerous - and when technology started making it even more dangerous (i.e. - driving drunk at 70 mph is much more dangerous than driving drunk at 25 mph)look how long it took us to break the habits ingrained from our youth? People still smoke! Even though they KNOW it will kill them.

Anyway - it was an eye-opening experience. Now I just have to figure out how to keep my kids from thinking that this stuff they see every day is normal. Thanks for making my job that much harder.

First Assignment Complete!

Today I finished my first assignment in the Christian Writing Guild Program....I sat for almost an hour before I hit send, even though I had read, re-read and re-re-read the assignment. It's very stressful for me, as I'm sure it has been for every aspiring writer to take that first step; make that first move and actually do what it is in your heart to do. I have freinds who have taken this course - with excellent results. I don't dream of being a best seller - I know I'm not Stephen King (thank goodnes) or Nora Roberts or Jerry Jenkins. But I am me...and I think I have talent. I can't wait to harness it - refine it - and put it out there for all of you to read - or not read - as you wish. It's a very giddy feeling....one I hope won't fade too soon....
Here's to taking chances!

Mouse House

Another news story really got my attention - a man caught a mouse, and instead of just putting it out in the field, or killing it outright, he decided it would be much better to just toss the live mouse into a pile of burning leaves. The mouse, now on fire, ran back into his house and hid under a window - the house, of course, quickly burned to the ground.
Now, those who now me, know that I was cheering for the mouse.."Good for you, Mousie!" were pretty much the words that went through my mind.
I have to admit I paused a bit when I found out that the man who is now homeless was 81 years old. So, yes, I feel sorry for him...however, I think that maybe we should all think twice about how we treat God's creatures!

The Century Mark

This morning on iTunes (KLOVE radio) I heard a story about three sisters, the youngest of whom just hit the “Century Mark”. Her oldest sister is 104, her middle sister is 101 and she herself just turned 100. All three still sing in the church choir.
Three things immediately came to mind as I heard this story.
First - how wonderful it is for them to be able to share such an amazing landmark with each other. In many families, your siblings are your closest friends, and I would love the opportunity to have my siblings around to share life with for that long. I think of the joys and sorrows, and trials and tribulations that those three sisters must have gone through with such long lives…and how they have had each other to help them through. What plans God must have had for them – and obviously still has for them!
Second – I found myself wondering if they had children. If they did have children they could have grandchildren, great-grandchildren – possibly even great-great-grandchildren. What a history lesson those kids would get! Instead of reading about history in a dry textbook, they would have a living historian right there with them!
That goes hand in hand with the third thing I was thinking about, which was – what amazing things they have seen in their lifetime! To have seen all the new inventions that have changed the world, and all the terrible tragedies and amazing accomplishments.
Many times I have heard people I know say they would never want to live to be that old…they would just be a burden, or the quality of life wouldn’t be worth living…how sad I feel when I hear that! I want to live to be 100! I want to see what happens next! I want to know what God has in store for us…I think it would be a rare and beautiful privilege to be able to spend that amount of time here, seeing what happens next.
To those three sisters, I raise a hand in salute…

Christmas in Minnesota

For Christmas this year we packed up Colin and headed north. I was worried about the trip, traveling for several days by car with a three year old seemed like a very bad idea. However, Colin surprised me by being amazingly good...he was interested in the different places we were and he noticed things about the passing cars and trucks that had Mike and I both laughing our heads off (example - mama, what are those pigs doing in that big trailer? My answer, they are going on a trip. His deduction? The pigs were going camping!)
We arrived at my sisters house in Duluth the night before Christmas Eve...we arrived late, so most of the welcoming committee had already left, but my Mom was there and my normally shy son walked right to everyone and greeted them with a big "hi! This is my daddy!" pointing at Mike....why, I wonder, was he so concerned that no one would know Mike? One of life's little mystery's, I'm sure. We stayed at my sister's house through the day after Christmas and then from there moved over to stay with my nephew Chris. Now, Chris is only four years younger than I am, and we really grew up more like brother and sister than aunt and nephew. All the same, I was nervous about staying with his family in their brand new house. I haven't been very good at staying in contact with them and I wasn't sure if we'd have much in common anymore. I was also worried about Colin - what if he didn't get along with Jacob and Madi? What if he broke something? All these fears were completely unfounded, as we had a wonderful time with Chris and Corie and Colin and his 4-year old cousin Madi were instantly the best of friends.
Colin spent a good deal of the time outside - either sledding with my nephew Craig and his son Tyler or snowmobiling on some miniature snowmobiles that Chris had for his kids. They had a blast. We also got to see Chris' son Jacob skate - he is an up-and-coming hockey player who - at 8 - is being courted by several of the kids regional hockey teams. We only got to watch him play for a few minutes, but WOW - the kid is GOOD. I think my nephew has a future NHL player on his hands...
Leaving was very sad - I hadn't had enough time to spend with my Mom or my best friend since high school Mary and her family. I didn't get a chance to see other friends either, but there really is never enough time to do everything you want to do.
I was greatly saddened by a conversation I had with my sister...she is a hurting soul whom I want desperately to help...but the truth was evident this visit that she has to find her own way - I can't lead her or even help her much except to love her and be there for her when she needs me....I will say however that her new distrust of me just because I am a Christian was very disheartening. I saw most of our family do the same thing to Chris when he bacame a Christian several years ago, and I didn't really expect it to be much different with me, but I didn't expect to be ostrasized either.
The most comfortable I was on this trip was when we were with Chris and Corie and their family. We had fun, we could be ourselves, and we didn't feel like we were on the defensive every time we opened our mouths. It was very sad leaving Chris and Corie's house...I shed quite a few tears.
The other really good thing that happened while I was in Minnesota was that my brother Lance and I seemed to have reconnected. We had had a falling out several years ago, and had not been in contact much...he lost his wife (my beautiful sister Barbara) to cancer a little over a year ago, and I let anger and guilt get in the way...I was very nervous about staying with him - would he yell at me? Would he be nice to Mike? Would Mike be nice to him? It was all baseless...it was a wonderful visit and Lance and Mike and Colin bonded very well. I feel bad now that I lost so much time...but that is a mistake I won't repeat.
The rest of the trip home was pretty uneventful - a pit stop in Kansas City that was a little scary... but staying in Topeka New Years Eve was sort of fun... Mike and I toasted in the New Year with a little Bailey's Irish Cream...although I was already sick at that point - Mike and Colin got sick the next day - Happy New Year.
It was nice to get home - it always is. But I take a lot away from this particular trip - I think we are definately better people and happier and definately more full of family....
I have posted a couple of pics that we took on the trip - shows just how much fun we had!

I hope you all have a Happy New Year!