I have so many things to blog about from the past few weeks, I get discouraged just thinking about it! I don't even remember what I wrote about last. Sheesh.

So, to recap (briefly): We went to Colorado over Labour Day weekend, ran in our first West Texas Running Club race last Saturday, saw A Midsummer Night's Dream (also on Saturday), and started a new term of teaching Sunday School on Sunday. Except we aren't actually teaching.

So I will come back and cover all those later.

Bourne Again

Yep, we saw the third Bourne movie Saturday. I really liked it-- almost as much as I liked the first one. I don't think I liked #2 as much, and I'm basing this belief on the fact that I don't really remember it.

So here's my chief complaint about Ultimatum: the entire darned movie was filmed with jiggly cam. I had motion sickness by halfway through the film. I thought about going out into the lobby for some water and non-moving scenery, but I didn't want to miss anything! It took an hour of lying down once I got home to convince my body that we weren't really going anywhere.

Good thing I never saw The Blair Witch Project. The previews for that movie alone were enough to make me ill.

Did you notice the Bejing Olympics are less than a year away?

That has nothing to do with my post. I just wondered if anyone else noticed.

So, Chad and I braved sales tax holiday last weekend to get new stuff. For me, that was a couple pairs of running shoes and a swimsuit. For Chad, it was a lot more complex; people don't give him their old clothes, for some reason, so he has a lot less than me. (I'm not kidding-- I haven't bought new jeans since I was an aim student.)

So he had to have jeans. And shorts. And running shoes. (And I am now praying that the Lord sends us sons who will be short, with small feet, after seeing the prices on men's shoes.) And a shirt. But the upside is, now our friends at church will be spared seeing him in the same awful outfit he was wearing every week. :)

And the crowds weren't too bad, since we went out in the morning. It was actually a pretty fun day, although we were exhausted by the time we gave it up and came home.

Don't Be Alarmed

So the fire alarm went off at work today, so we all jumped up and... No, wait. We didn't jump up. We didn't even move. We all sat there, not bothering to get patients out of the building or anything, until someone came round to tell us that a patient had hit the fire alarm by mistake.

Afterwards the doctor (not Doctor Who) came round to say that in the future, we should really always act as though there is a fire when the alarm goes off.

And finally

One perusing my blog might think that I am quite verbose today, since this is my fourth post! And I would agree, except that I think I am verbose every day. :)

This is more in the nature of my final thought. With school already started for some, and imminent for others, this is the time of year when the thoughts of many turn to new beginnings. Being currently free from the encumbrance of educational calendars, I tend to think about new beginnings once every few weeks, but I have found myself caught up in the prevailing thought patterns lately.

We are drawing nearer to autumn, and everyone knows that Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year follow with alarming rapidity. This year has less than 4 1/2 months left.

So my question is, How can I finish 2007 well? What can I do with my 4 1/2 months to make this a good year?

I will answer those questions. Soon.

Serving

So thanks to Charlie's hard work and dedication, I am able to read the lessons given by the five men who preach in Castlemilk. The place I would be calling home, if not for immigration laws.

So I was reading along a couple of weeks ago and thinking to myself that these gentlemen, even in secondhand written-down form, are still quite distinctive. I think anyone who has heard them could pinpoint which lesson was whose even without Charlie very helpfully telling us. And no sooner did the thought occur to me than I read the first paragraph of Mark's lesson and thought, Oh, yes, definately Mark. :)

The lesson was on serving, but I don't want to blantly plagarise what he said. So instead I'll plagarise James: what good is it to claim to follow Jesus, turn up on a Sunday morning looking well-pressed, wearing one's Sunday smile and all, saying all the nice Sunday words, but never act on that claim otherwise? It's very easy, at 11:00 AM every Sunday, to love one another. How easy is it come 12:01 PM when Sister Slowpoke and Brother Boring want to talk for an hour about this ache or that pain? Or even more so, when said brother and sister ask if you can come with them to move large and heavy things around their house?

In a large congregation such as the one we attend, the opportunities to serve are limitless. However, finding them can be a challenge. I'm not kidding. I spent the first 21 years of my life in small congregations, where everyone knew within 10 minutes if someone had a need. At South Plains, I consider myself lucky if I hear about something early enough to still send a card, because usually the time for physically being there is past.

So, what can I do? This one, fortunately, has a simple solution; keep my eyes and ears open. The opportunities will come if I am looking for them. But if I'm not looking, I may as well stock up on cards and stamps. I'll be needing them.

Friends

The other day Chad and I were talking about friends, and I told him that I don't know how to be a friend. I don't. I've had about 4 friends in my life. I have plenty of pals (for whom I am very grateful), and dozens of acquaintances, but very few friends.



So I shared this at prayer group this morning, to the agreement of the other woman there. Why, we wondered, is it so hard to be a friend? It's our culture, it's our society, it's our time... yada yada yada. Not that those things are in any way untrue, but they are also excuses. What is stopping me from being a friend?

I have my suspicions. If I work it out, I will let you know.

Found

I just finished re-reading Finding Peggy. I couldn't possibly tell you how many times I've read it now. This much I can say for certain: When I bought it from the charity shop, it was like new; now the binding is worn, the corners are curled and the pages in the middle have started falling out.

So the book is a memoir of sorts of Meg's young life in Glasgow. The fact that it was about Glasgow is what interested me in it in the first place, and it has really filled some gaps for me in terms of the culture and life in that city. I wish everyone I know (every Glaswegian, that is) would write a book like it.

Anyway, Meg's favourite aunt (Peggy of the title) died when Meg was 11, very suddenly and tragically. Her childhood and life as she knew it were brought to an abrupt end. The story of how she managed to carry on is an amazing, albeit sad, one. The eventual facing of Peggy's death and Meg's making peace with her past is so very well worth reading.

So I googled Meg Henderson, just to see what I could find. Turns out she's quite a prolific writer; but I already knew that. I think I may try to see what else of hers I can get my hands on.

4 miles!

So we ran 4 miles without stopping today, which is a first for me. (Normally we take one-minute walk breaks at what are becoming increasingly wider intervals; this week, it's every 10 minutes.) We have less than four weeks until our 10K, and if I could get up to running 6 miles without stopping before then, I would be delighted. But I am willing to take walk breaks in the race, if need be.

Manual Labour

Yeah, I did some of that today. Not as much as Chad, though.

A group of about a dozen from church, plus a few others, went to help a woman get her house into order for the home insurance people, who threatened to cancel her policy if she didn't fix a couple of things. Apparently what we did was about a $6000 job if she had to hire someone, so as I told our fearless leader, "It's a good thing she has us!"

Unfortunately, I did not get to use any power tools. But I did get to drive the lawnmower.

The long way round

Okay, we didn't really take the long way round, but an 18-hour drive is going to feel like the long way round no matter what.

I would love to extoll my newly-deceased grandfather's virtues, or regale you with tales of his very lovely funeral service-- but I'm afraid I'm not able to do so at this time. Suffice to say, he was a great man and will be missed by many.

Also, all that great stuff I was going to share about Harry Potter will have to wait for another time.

So instead I am going to warn you about the shortage of McDonald's restaurants. There are signs as you leave various states telling motorists, "Last McDonalds until (insert next state here)." I'm afraid I'm a bit concerned about this now; I can only conclude that state lines are woefully short on fast food. Should we start a petition?

Saying Goodbye

My grandpa died early this morning. We'll be headed to Indiana for the funeral soon. Prayers for a safe journey would be appreciated.

Harry Potter: Were you right?

Yeah. If you haven't read The Deathly Hallows yet, stop reading this. Now. You might consider reading the book instead.

Okay, so this is not going to be a review because, seriously, every book reviewer around the world has already done it. Better that I. And they got paid to do it.

Instead, I am going to list, as best as I can, what I got right and wrong (and somewhere in between) in the final book.


RIGHT:

1. I knew a Weasley would die. I was a bit surprised that it was Fred, actually; I thought J.K. was going to pile on the agony and take Ron or Ginny away from us.


2. I knew there was no way Harry was getting all the way through the book with Ron and Hermione; this is why I thought we might lose Ron, actually. Instead, he just acted like a prat. (Or, as Hermione put it, a complete arse. Hey, she said it, not me.)

3. I knew Percy would come round. That was a great scene, and one reason I wish J.K. had given us a few more chapters. How much does it suck to be Percy, when Fred is the first one to offer forgiveness and then is dead a couple of hours later? Good thing you came back when you did, nimrod.

4. I knew Dumbledore was really dead. I was not convinced by all the speculation and "evidence" that he was still alive.

5. I knew that Professor McGonagall totally rocked. I mean, she was amazing. When I grow up, I want to be like her. (Pity she and Dumbledore never married, really.)

6. I knew that J.K. wouldn't kill Harry and leave Voldemort alive. Which leads us too...


WRONG:

1. I thought Harry and Voldemort would both be dead in the end. I was informed on Sunday what a silly conclusion that was, because of the prophecy. But, hey, even Dumbledore said not to put too much stock in the prophecy.

2. I thought the dynamic trio might reconsider their decision to drop out of Hogwarts. (Of course, they didn't plan on living through the search for the Horcruxes, so I suppose exam results didn't matter.)

3. I thought that, had they gone back, Hermione and Ron would be Head Girl and Boy. (I even made myself a head girl badge at the Barnes & Noble release party, I was so sure.)

4. I thought Neville would be killed. (See "half-and-half" for more on Neville.)

5. I never thought Tonks or Mad-Eye would be killed. (Lupin I wasn't sure about.)

6. I certainly didn't expect Kreacher to come round. (Kreacher totally rocked, by the way. Too bad for Sirius that he didn't realise what a bit of kindness would do for him.)

7. I didn't think Molly Weasley would be the one to kill Bellatrix, although it made perfect sense when I read it. I really didn't expect her to start swearing at her, though.

8. The Malfoys were the last people I expected to see sense. And while they didn't see a lot of it, at least they were on their way. Actually I think Narcissa just kept up appearances because she didn't want Draco to be killed; otherwise, I think she would have just left the Death Eaters and not have fought back when they killed her.

9. I didn't expect the book to be so darned short.

10. I didn't expect Snape to be killed. At least not by Voldemort. And so we go to...

HALF-AND-HALF:

1. Snape. I thought he was playing both sides, so he would be on the winning team no matter what. So I count myself as half right on that one, since he was entirely a good guy. Turns out Dumbledore put a lot more trust in him than we realised (although my respect for Snape went up by bounds at the end of Goblet of Fire, only to crash back down again in Order of the Phoenix.) And hasn't it been hinted at before that he was in love with Lily? That didn't surprise me at all.

2. Neville. I thought he would go down in a blaze of glory, probably face-to-face with Voldemort. He did all those things except the "go down" bit. Perhaps all he needed was for Harry and Ron to get out of his way all these years so he could prove himself a true Gryffindor, which he certainly did. And him being named Herbology professor was no suprise at all. (Do you suppose he was also Head of House? He absolutely earned it.)


WHAT I STILL WANT TO KNOW:

1. What did they do to Umbridge? If I had it my way, she would have her wand snapped and be sent to live as a Muggle. After all, technically all she did was obey orders: however, she showed entirely too much delight in the suffering of others the whole time we knew her. I bet she was the most-hated character in the series, even more than Snape or Malfoy. (Or Voldemort, who was really just a scary name for most of the time.) Don't send her to Azkaban, I say; send her out in the world without a wand. Put the Trace on her, even. Make sure she has no reason to feel superior to anyone again.

2. Will Percy ever be Minister for Magic? The fact that he was talking about broomstick regulations makes me think he carried on at the ministry, and why not? Pertsnickity people with sense are the ones most suited to government, anyway.

3. Did George carry on with Weasley's Wizard Wheezes? I can't imagine him doing anything else, of course.

4. What are Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione doing besides reproducing? Surely at least one of them has a job.

5. Where do Harry & Ginny live? Did they go back to Grimmald Place (presumably with Kreacher)? Did they go back to Godric's Hollow? Did they build their own four-storey, magical house in Ottery St. Catchpole? Or really decide to pay back the Dursleys for 16 years of torment, and find a nice house in Privet Drive? Hee-- I think that's what I'd choose.

6. Luna? Seamus? Dean? Other members of Dumbledore's Army? What are they up to, nineteen years later?

7. Was it really a Crumple-horned Snorkack horn? Or an Erumpet horn? Or are they the same thing?

8. Was Hagrid having a mind lapse when he said James and Lily were Head Boy and Girl at Hogwarts? We know now James was never a prefect.

9. And finally... How long do half-giants live, anyway? Not that I'm at all sad to hear that Hagrid is still at Hogwarts.


I have enough Harry-related speculation to fill another blog post, so I'll save it for later.

Oh, Harry, what will we do without you?

So I've been a bit absorbed over the past couple of weeks (as you may have guessed if you had a look at my "Reading:" list), because two weeks ago, I suddenly realised that I had only one week left until Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released and I hadn't started re-reading anything. This has been my tradition, for the past three books, to re-read from the beginning in preparation for the new one. So I started with The Philosopher's Stone on Tuesday evening almost two weeks ago, and finished The Half-Blood Prince this past Thursday. (And if anyone is keeping score, I read almost the entirely of Order of the Phoenix on Sunday afternoon.)

Now I could do this without driving myself crazy because I order the British version, from the UK Amazon, so I didn't actually get my book until Wednesday. It stayed in its box until I was ready to open it Friday evening, and even then I put off actually starting it for a few minutes (to get a cup of tea and all that). I felt the same way I felt about The Return of the King: while it was exciting and I couldn't wait to get into it, there was a certain sadness in knowing this was the last one.

No more new Harry books to look forward to. No more release parties. Although we do have the joy of anticipating two more movies. Personally, I can't wait to see The Deathly Hallows on the big screen. But I'm sure that moment, too, will be filled with sadness.

But at least I'll be able to tell the Weasley twins apart in the final movie.

Finished!

My latest crocheted creation, which is now on its was to California.

And my faithful wee bear, who is still in my living room where he belongs.

Last night

I've skipped Wednesday evening services at church for the past few weeks because... insert your own reason here. It will probably be as valid as any other excuse I can come up with.

But last night Chad was committed to set up for VBS, so I went to church and went on to class by myself. And I am SO glad that I did. It was amazing.

So I came on here to tell my faithful blog readers, I thank God for you. And not just because you read my blog. :)

Monday, Monday

I'm working on a baby blanket that will NEVER be finished, and I'm a bit disgruntled because I'm not watching the Tour.

So let's talk about something else. For everyone who didn't like Pirates 3, well, that's sad for you. I did not find it to be a disappointment; I did quite enjoy it. And like Pirates 2, I didn't notice how much time had gone by because I was drawn into the story. I'd heard the battle sequences were too long, but I thought it was perfect. So there you go. Also I'd heard that it wasn't worth staying for the post-credits scene (from a friend our age), as well as hearing that I MUST stay for the post-credits scene (from two teenage girls). We stayed, just because we would have driven ourselves mental wondering what happened had we not done. And all I have to say is: Meh. And also, that must have been a pretty good day.

So here's hoping the rain will stop before tomorrow morning, because I'm really sad when I don't get to cycle to work.

Huzzah!

I don't even know how you spell "huzzah". That may or may not be right.

Anyway, so Roger Federer won his fifth Wimbledon title in a row today, and as a result I am in a particularly celebratory mood. Anyone up for confetti? Balloons? Perhaps some party favours?

It was a brilliant match between Federer and Nadal, and I was so glad I got to see it. Now if only I could watch the Tour de France, my sporting joy would be complete.

Little bit of everything

A few weeks ago, I had this conversation with the 9-year-old daugher of some friends:

I: (putting on mini-messenger bag)
Aspen: Why do you take that everywhere?
I: (stared at her feeling confused, and hoping she would clarify)
Aspen: Is it your purse?
I: Yes! (happy that she clarified and all is now clear)
Aspen: It doesn't look like a purse.
I: Thank you.
Aspen: (now is the one confused)

It's not her fault, all the other women in her life are extremely girly, and here she is faced with a grown-up who is not only not girly, but also not like anyone else she knows. Poor girl.
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So I got a new seat for my bike, one with a blinking light in back so drivers can see me from both directions. (I already had a headlight). But first, let's have a moment of silence for the old seat.



The padded cover was a couple of years old and, as you can plainly see, well-worn. So that was pretty much my clue that it was time for a new one.

***************************************************************************

In other news, we ran six miles this morning. It's now been about 4 hours, and my body is still angry with me. I hope I recover in time to go running Monday morning.
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Last night I went to Hastings to pick up a DVD to watch while Chad was at work. I forgot my bike chain, though, so I had to leave the bike sitting outside, available to anyone who might be passing by and needed a new bike. So I stuck it in an out-of-the-way corner in between shops, directly in front of a door that looked like it only opened from the inside. Then I spent the whole time in the shop worrying that I would come out and find that not only had my bike not been stolen, but that I had been ticketed for blocking a fire exit.


Anyway, so I was looking in the TV section, because having the attention span of your average teenager, I prefer four episodes of one of my favourite shows to one long movie. Curiously enough, Hastings has seasons 1 and 3 of The West Wing. That's it. They seem to apply this same odd logic in DVD purchases to just about every other show as well. I do not understand.

So I was poking around, trying to decide between TWW, Smallville, CSI, Doctor Who, and Scrubs, when I saw one DVD with no companions, quietly sitting in alphabetical order: The Muppet Show.


Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a winner.

It's not that hard to say.

I have heard so many wacky and weird pronunciations of "Glasgow" in the last three days that yesterday evening, I snapped. I e-mailed our local news networks to explain to them that "Glasgow" does not rhyme with cow. I didn't even bother with the subtleties of the first syllable; it's more like "Glaz" and less like "Glass", but not quite either one. I thought that was best left to an in-person discussion when I get really agitated and start storming the studios. With alliteration, apparently.

Well, I'm on top of the world looking down on creation...

So I had two really good runs last week, 5 miles on Sunday and 3 miles on Tuesday, followed by a fantastic bike ride on Tuesday (2.6 miles each direction). I was feeling wonderful, glad that my muscles seemed to be finally cooperating, my lungs were operational, and my heart was ticking away doing its job.

Then the wheels quite predictably came off the wagon.

I woke up on Wednesday with a smashing backache that precluded me either running or riding my bike. And it only got worse as the day went on, so that by the time I went home after work, it hurt to talk, breathe, eat, lie down, walk, stand, sit, or basically be alive. So I took the sensible course recommended by one of our very kind nurses at the Wound Care Centre: ibuprofen, a hot bath, and a heating pad. And rest for said spasmy muscles.

It all worked beautifully, by Friday I was feeling up to cycling to work again, and I had a good 6-mile run on Saturday. So what I'm trying to say is, if I had just been sensible in the first place instead of trying to "tough it out", I probably would have been feeling better by Thursday.

Goodnight, June.

My favourite month and it's already over. Now I have to wait 335 days for it to come round again.

No, wait, next year is a leap year. 336 days, then.

I am pleased to report that I spent quite a bit of my month outdoors, mainly on a bicycle or running. So it wasn't totally wasted.

July, here we come!

I give up

I have tried, since I was about 10 or 11, to be an informed citizen. I listened in on adult conversations. I watched the news. I read the paper. I check the internet. I try to evaluate what I hear and take it with a grain of salt.

Well, no more!! The local news is always depressing, and I am sick of turning on CNN (or whatever) to watch well-educated, well-dressed people shout at each other. I DON'T CARE. There are very, very few instances of any argument in which one side is completely right and the other is completely wrong. I'm not a Republican, I'm not a Democrat, I'm a moderate. And I'm about to become a hermit.

I think in future elections, I will vote using the close-my-eyes-and-point method. Or draw numbers out of a hat. Or vote for the one from whose name I can make the most words. (I don't see Barak Obama doing well in that one.). I can't not vote, though, because my junior high social studies teachers taught me that if I don't vote, I have not right to complain. And I'm not about to give that up.

Besides, I do have this picking-the-loser streak going. And I'm talking, all elections on all levels, not just the president. So I'd be willing to negotiate if anyone has a candidate they'd like me to vote for.

What do they keep in areas 1 through 50?

Seriously. Has anyone ever heard about "Area 24?" I think it's time we start asking questions like that.

In the meantime, here's something else to think about. Hollywood makes senility look so funny. The old people in TV or movies who don't know what's going on prove excellent comic relief. Except, they don't. Being confused isn't funny. Losing your self-identity isn't funny. Not knowing at any given moment either what is happening now, nor what will happen next, is not funny.

Yet another thing Hollywood gets wrong.

And do you know what time we had to get up?

I read at runnersworld.com a couple of weeks ago that chocolate milk has the same electrolyte-restoring properties as Gatorade. And all I have to say to that is-- Halelujah!

So we ran 5 miles today in 1:05. Not a great time, but for me, it is fantastic. :)

Everything I Need to Know I Learned on The West Wing

The good people at Euston Station knew what they were doing when they put up this sign.

So I've been gleaning insight into my life by watching Season One of The West Wing. The first insight is: I watch too much TV. But I kept pausing "Let Bartlet be Bartlet" earlier to write down what I was thinking. Perhaps if I can read my notes later, I will share.

I did get this much out of it: Let Jesus be Jesus. In me.

This is why I like Leviticus

Leviticus 3:16-- "All fat is the Lord's."

Now I'm sure someone will come up with an explanation that this verse is really about burnt offerings, but clearly what it means is the fatter I am, the more I belong to God.

Do they make SPF 300?

I slathered myself with a ridiculous amount of sunscreen today, twice, in preparation for a lot of bike riding. Any guesses as to what colour my shoulders are?

Also, I went to Wal-Mart to get a bike seat I've had my eye on... and forgot my debit card. Heehee... they didn't get any of my money today.

Maybe tomorrow, alas!

I scream, You scream

I was chased by the ice cream man the other day. Sort of.

He came up behind me while I was riding home, and I heard his goofy tune for the next half-mile. I presume he was going up and down streets that I was just passing by. Anyway, he finally went by me. I was glad, because that meant I could hear my iPod again instead of "The Entertainer".

I loathe Wal-Mart.

My title has nothing to do with the rest of my post, it's just something I feel compelled to express from time to time.

So I went to said object of my loathing this evening in search of some decaf tea bags, and I rode my bike. (Chad had the car; gas prices ridiculous; need more exercise anyway.) Chad phoned me just as I had pulled into the parking lot, so I stopped near a convenient cart corral to answer. After I hung up, I realised what a funny picture that must have been; iPod in one ear, phone in another, riding a bike. In west Texas.

Well, so I'm only partly into the 21st century. :)

Finally

I have been wanting to post for aaaaages, but life keeps getting in my way. (In fact, I have plenty to do right now, but here we are, me and my iPod. Blogging.) So here is the important stuff, to be expanded upon in subsequent posts. I'll try to keep this one on top. :)

Grandpa: My grandpa gave us all a serious fright last week when the docs said he had acute sepsis and wouldn't last the night. He's still with us, although he has a Staph infection now.

Mobile phones: Yeah, we finally got them. So much for being different.

Denver City: Some kids I've know for a while have graduated.

California: We took a trip to CA to see Chad's family and watch his stepbrother graduate. Congratulations, Alex!

Cline Paden: Cline went to be with the Lord while we were gone, but I was able to go to his funeral when we got back.

Chick-fil-A: The owner of CFA in Lubbock (my former employer), also passed away while we were gone. I missed her funeral and so far haven't managed to talk to anyone at CFA to find out what happened.

Running: Eeek.

Cycling: Not getting any better.

Adoption: Still in the works.

South Plains: Still loving it. Bible bowl banquet, sleepover, new friends, and two summer series that we will probably really get into.

Exodus: Heard something really interesting when listening to it on my iPod one day this week.

There you go! If you want to hear more about any of the above, scroll down and read about it. I've now posted more in one day in June than I did for the entire month of May!

Grandpa

So after I left Indiana, Grandpa improved to the point that he could leave the ICU and in fact leave the hospital altogether and move to a nursing home. That step forward was short-lived.

We came back from CA just in time to get a depressing call from my brother (Billy) that a nursing home nurse found Grandpa having trouble breathing and some other life-threatening stuff. They raced him to the emergency room, where they got him onto life support and a ventilator and other important things. This was Tuesday (29th May). All day Wednesday (including at the funeral, after being asked to turn the cell phones off-- I refused to acquiese to that particular request) I was expecting a phone call to say things had gone one way or another.

Wednesday evening Billy called to say the docs said Grandpa had acute sepsis and wouldn't last the night. So, another day of jumping whenever the phone rang ensued. Billy finally called me Thursday afternoon to tell me Grandpa was doing better. Now, I'm no doctor, but you do pick up some things working as a billing person in the medical field. One does not usually "get better" from acute sepsis. However, I did spend a lot of time praying for a miracle-- so a miracle is what we got. :)

Friday Grandpa had to have his feeding tube fixed again-- they put a new one in, I think. The time frame they gave us on Thursday was "between 7 and 5". At 3:30 I finally couldn't stand it any longer and called my sister (Denise) who said they had just started the procedure. This was 4:30 Eastern time, so they certainly waited until the very limit of their time frame.

On Saturday the official word was "we think it's pneumonia he has now, we're waiting on blood work." By Monday, we had gotten round to a Staph infection. Since I work in wound care, those are words that strike fear into my heart. Not that I was surprised; I don't think you can spend two months in a hospital and not contract some nice infection. It's kind of like a parting gift.

So Grandpa was transferred to a long-term care hospital in Indianapolis one day this week (I think it was Wednesday), and he has done so well there that is is out of ICU and into regular care. This is the best news I've heard since mid-April, when he was doing so well in rehab they thought they would be able to send him home.

The down side is, he won't be home for a while. The upsides (and there are several) are: he is getting very good care, they have wound care staff on site (which is quite necessary due to his quantity of pressure sores), and getting Grandma out there and back on a daily basis hasn't been too hard, so far. Please pray that he can get well enough to come home!

Joining the rest of you

Yes, we gave in and got cell phones. I've already felt the incessant urge to have it with me every waking moment. Oh, and the sleeping moments, too. Now, this is partly due to the fact that I've had to wait for updates on Grandpa.

Seriously, I have never been one for talking on the phone. I make and receive so few calls we might be as well discontinue our home phone service. And yet, we decided we needed a way to keep in touch with everyone we know wherever we are.

So, we've stepped into the 21st century for real. Yikes.

Denver City Graduation

Since we went to California to see one graduation, we missed several others happening around here. One of those was in Denver City, where some kids I've known for almost eleven years (that sounds soooo long!) graduated. So we went to the graduation party at the church in DC, since we had to miss the ceremony.

I have to say that these are an ambitious bunch of newly-minted adults! Among them are a future doctor, a future pharmacist, a future member of the armed forces (I forget which branch, but I think the air force), and my pal Shannen is going to AIM.

This last one delights me to no end, if for no other reason than she will be in Lubbock for a few months! Shannen is a delightful young woman, and the Lord will surely use her in mighty ways. Her dad said she struggled with the decision, which I totally understand. It's hard to go a different direction than your friends-- especially a direction which may take you halfway around the world.

California

We took another trip to the... I don't know California's nickname, and I'm too lazy to look it up. The Golden State, maybe? Anyway, that's where we went.

Alex, Chad's stepbrother, has graduated from high school. He looked quite grown-up in his cap and gown-- which I suppose is appropriate, since he is quite grown-up now. I was worried that a graduation ceremony with 400 students would last forever, but it wasn't so bad. We arrived at 5 to get seats for a ceremony that started at 7 (seriously!) and I think it was 10 before we left. It may have been even later than that. Honestly, though, the time went by quickly, and we didn't feel like it was dragging on.

Anyway, the trip was very nice, even if it was short. We saw Chad's family, but didn't have time this time around to go see my California relatives. Our plan is to go out again after we have children, so it won't be long before we see them again.

Funerals

Cline Paden passed away a few weeks ago. This was in no way a surprise to anyone; he has been failing for a few months now. His gain is our loss-- he will be missed.

His funeral was long but very nice. Really, as much as he accomplished in life (or rather, as much as the Lord used him to accomplish His work), there was just no way the funeral could be any shorter. In fact, it could have been much longer! He was eulogised by family members, friends, and co-workers. And I came away wishing I could have known him better.

Another funeral took place recently that I missed: my employer at Chick-fil-A died quite suddenly (and very unexpectedly) two weeks ago. We were in California on the day of her funeral, so I missed it, and only heard of her passing when we got back.

Life is short! As trite as it sounds, it is appropriate to live each day as if it were one's last, because we are not guaranteed another moment.

Cycling and Running

Yep, I decided to combine the exercise posts.

So, despite much time spent cycling over the past two years, I really don't feel like I'm getting any better at it. I tell myself at least once a day that it only gets easier if you do it, which is true, but so far I have no proof of that! :) It's still a good way of getting around, that uses no petrol at all. Quite a consideration while the prices continue to escalate.

Running.. ugh. I still hate it. :) I love the feeling I have about 30 minutes afterward, but unfortunately I have to actually go out and do it to get the good feeling. :( This frustration comes partly from doing no running at all for two weeks, then having to pick it up again this week. Also, we had to postpone two runs (Wednesday and today) from morning to evening, which made them all the more miserable. I've certainly learned the merits of getting up at 5:30 to run-- it beats running in 80+-degree weather.

I was working with a woman in her garden today, and we discussed exercise in the course of our conversations. After hearing that I regularly cycle, walk, and run, she said, "You exercise more than anyone I've heard of!" Unfortunately, this time and effort is not paying off in terms of weight loss. I've joined SparkPeople, and online weight-loss site, which I am liking so far. I weigh in on Monday morning; we'll see if we are getting anywhere. (And if you choose to go to SparkPeople, please tell them that cheekysu sent you!)

Adoption

It feels like we aren't getting anywhere, and we didn't really make any strides forward in May. But, one of our goals is to pay off credit card debt (and some medical debt as well!) before we have children placed with us, so in that way we are moving forward. Also, it seems we are going to be moving into a larger house before we get children, so we'd have to have our home study, if nothing else, redone if it were done before we moved. So we'll check into our options and keep you posted.

South Plains

We started two new series last week at church.

In Bible class, we are beginning a study of some of the minor prophets. I haven't yet memorised the list of prophets we are studying, but we are starting with Amos. I haven't studied Amos since I was in Scotland, so this should be a good study. To start off with, the teacher (Matt; Ken has moved on to calmer pastures. Presumably.) read the first two chapters of Amos from the message, which was pretty cool. Oddly enough, it does not read a lot differently than the NAS. I don't know if this is because it is the Old Testament, or because it is prophecy, or if it is just coincidence.

Sunday evenings for the summer are titled, "Holy Conversations." I don't know where exactly we will go with it, but the first week was good-- Matt (same one from Sunday morning) started by talking about everyone being on a spiritual journey. There is a blog that he is keeping about the class-- look for "Holy Conversations" in the sidebar to join the conversation.

The son of a friend of ours is spending his summer in New York/New Jersey doing some musical outreach-- see his blog in the sidebar as well ("Worldwide Witness").

We had our final Bible bowl sleepover last Friday, and the season officially ended with the banquet on Sunday. I really thought that the smaller group we've had the last few years would be a bad thing, but I have totally changed my mind. Smaller group= Better relationships. And now Chad is talking about getting involved next year. He changes his mind about things so frequently, I need a journal just to keep up with him. :) So we'll see what happens. Next year: 1 Samuel!

When I said "New friends", well, they aren't that new. But we are getting to be much better friends with Joe and Kathy, and we thank God for them regularly!

I read in Beau's blog earlier that he and Krissi have placed membership in a church that they are really enjoying. There is just no substitute to a great church family.

Exodus

So the Egyptian army is chasing the Israelites and they are all panicking. As you do, when the most powerful army in the world is after you, and the chances of you defending yourself on your own are worse than your chances of winning the record-setting jackpot in the lottery. So Moses says, "Hey, Lord? Kinda need your help, here." And the Lord answers, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on."

I can only suppose that Moses already had these orders, since God asks him what he thinks he's doing, instead of assuring him that everything was under control. So they move on, and you know the rest of the story.

Now I'm not one to violently drag modern-day application out of a story that happened long before I arrived in the world. But when I heard this, I really started thinking about all the times in my life when I just sit around and wait for divine inspiration to strike (as it were) instead of just doing the things I already know to do. That's a bit like watching my neighbour's house burn down while I stand in my yard, hose in hand, thinking, "I wonder if I should use this?" I want to be someone who acts, not someone who spends my time wringing my hands and asking, "Where are you, God? What should I do?"

Thanks, Moses.

Let's Start Walking

Coming soon...


Good reason to buy a smaller car...

Another good idea...

Picture of my father...

And, finally...

These have been around, of course, so you may have seen them. But now they're around here. :)

Making my life better

So while I was running this evening, the song "If You Buy This Record Your Life Will Be Better" came up on my iPod. Now I realise that this song has some dodgy lyrics somewhere around the second verse, but it is the chorus that I like:

If you buy this record your life will be better
Your life will be better
Your life will be better
If you buy this record your life will be better
If you buy
If you buy
If you buy

I don't know what the songwriter's point was, but it makes me smile every time I hear it. This is so the point of all advertising. Sadly, I think we are all far too convinced and pulled in by advertising. So in that way, this song makes me more aware of the tact.

So after this song came on, it made me think of the line in Ten Things I Hate about You, when Kat is lamenting the "meaningless, consumer-driven lives" of her peers. Now while Kat is hardly someone I would choose for an ideal role model, her attitude toward the "everybody's doing it" mindset is great.

Now of course Kat comes round to some extent before the end of the movie, although not quite in the same way as Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew. Chad and I saw that as a "Shakespeare in the Park" production a few years ago, and during Kate's speech at the end, Chad poked me and asked, "Are you listening to this?"

Anyway, my life is not better for having bought whatever record it was the song was on. I haven't quite hit the level of hostility of Kat or Kate. I don't go running out and buy everything I see on TV. So I don't really know what that all says about me.

Hurray for Lynne Truss!

The author of Eats, Shoots and Leaves and Talk to the Hand has confirmed, once again, my preference for British writers. Sorry, American and Canadian writers, I know many of you are wonderful as well, and with any luck I will someday join your ranks, but British writers are absolutely unbeatable.

So if you haven't read these books by Lynne Truss, by all means please do so. If you can read the entirety of either one without laughing out loud, then I'm afraid there is really no hope for you.

More on my mother

Karla, here you go... is this anything like what you imagined?

Yeah, Mother in McDonald's was priceless. I had tried to get her attention as she walked past the counter (I was about to order), then told the cashier by way of explanation for my bizarre behaviour, "That's my mother." The cashier, having never met me, was a bit surprised at this, and turned to ask my mother how many children she has. My mother turned, looked at me, and screamed in a way I imagine she would do if suddenly faced with a gun-wielding madman. Then she started to cry, tried to explain her own bizarre behaviour to her coworkers, and ended up just shooing me into the "Employees Only" area. I don't think I'll be doing that again, just because I do not wish to be responsible for my mother's cardiac arrest.

On the upside, if it happened at work, at least she'd be eligible for worker's compensation benefits.

Grace and Madeleine

We've had a visitor from the UK in our clinic the past couple of weeks. Grace is a Churchill Fellow of 2007 and is travelling around the world looking into the use of bacteriophage. Since we (word used loosely-- I am not personally involved) are currently conducting clinical trials on phages at the Wound Care Center, Grace elected to pay us a short visit. She is quite a delightful person and I am so glad to have met her! Please visit her blog to read about her trip to Lubbock and what she has seen/learned while she has been here.


Also, if you have missed the news about the young British girl who was abducted while on holiday in Portugal, Lynn of the Daily Photo blogs has pictures of Madeleine and links to the story of her disappearance, as well as updates on the search. Please go and have a look-- this little girl could be anywhere by now. And also take some time to be praying for her and her family.

Greenfield

So I went to Indiana this weekend, to see my grandfather (he's in the hospital), surprise my family, and generally spread cheer and goodwill to all around me. Sort of.

My mother screamed in McDonalds when she saw me. My sister stepped on my foot. My father thought I was an insurance salesman. My grandfather just smiled and told me he was "Wunnerful" when I asked. (Not all at once.)

I have some photos and a couple of amusing videos that I will probably share, once I get them off my camera and on to my computer.

New Toy

I got my birthday gift a couple of days early-- a shiny blue iPod Shuffle, with Cheeky Su beautifully engraved on the back. Isn't my husband the greatest?

Can't manage a pic that's not blurry. Will try again later.

Denver City

So I went to Denver City last weekend and it was absolutely brilliant, as ever. I never grow tired of seeing those friendly faces. And since I rarely get to go there, I never grow tired of seeing that town, either.

There was some disagreement on the drive out as to where we should turn, and the driver ignored my advice. But I told him how to get to the church once we got to town, anyway.

Anyway, much laughter was shared, much chitchatting took place, and goofiness reigned in the land. One of the teens (who I've now known for almost 11 years) is going to aim this fall, news which delighted me to no end. And I got to spend an hour or so with a delightful elderly woman (I hope she isn't reading this) who I hadn't seen in ages.

Also, I think there may have been a Bible bowl meet taking place while all this was going on.

Tabitha (again)

I know I've posted about her before, but I would again like to express my fondness for this godly woman.

So the next time I'm asked one of those internet-survey-friendly "If you could meet anyone, who would it be?" questions, my answer is Tabitha. I want to chat with her over tea. I want to show her my sewing machine. I want to take her to Hobby Lobby and let her see all the fabrics we have available now-- things she did without. I want to buy some fabric, bring her back to my house, and let her teach me how to make useful things. Maybe I'll teach her how to crochet.

And I'd like to know what she was doing when she wasn't starring in Acts 9.

They don't OWN it!!

This is the least important of the promised posts kicking around in my head, so it goes first!

The other day, our office was all in a dither over the need for a clock that has "military time" on it. Apparently, times must be recorded in the 24-hour clock for our studies. Wait, did you see what I did there? I called it the 24-hour clock, instead of "military time". Why, one might ask, would I do such a thing? Because that is what it is called!! Believe it or not, the military does not own the 24-hour clock. In some countries, everyone uses the 24-hour clock. Even civilians! Amazing!

What is more amazing to me about this little scenario is that we do not attribute everything the military uses to the military. For instance, while people often wear camouflaged clothing, I do not believe I have ever heard an adult refer to them as "military clothes", even though the military wears such things. Medals are given as prizes at various academic, athletic, or scouting events, yet never does the announcer say, "And now for the military awards ceremony!" Why? Because the military does not own all medals! They have no copyright over them!! People go to gun shows, not military weapon shows. The military uses computers, yet I never ask my husband to turn off the piece of military technology. And so on.

Now while I proudly claim my title of "stickler" (thank you, Lynne Truss), I am not usually this anal about things. But this one bugged me.

And the time now is? 19:25!

Celebrate Competent and Know Stuff Day!!

Doesn't matter when you celebrate it, or even how, because we haven't worked out those minor details yet. But if you are unsure of what I am talking about, hop on over to Kar's blog and find out.

Watch this space

I have a great post-- actually, a couple-- running around in my head, and I hope they don't leak out my ears before I have a chance to get them down. But right now I don't have time for getting them down, I'm afraid.

On the upside, I got final Jeopardy! right on Monday.

Running on earth, because space is out of the question

Some of the Earth Day specials last week were amazing. How anyone can see some of the world's most beautiful places and not see God is beyond me. If you missed the broadcasts, you missed out.

My sister was astounded to hear that I wore a dress to the funeral last week. Hey, even I have standards.

I wish I had done something exciting last week that would be worth blogging. In fact, I wish I could remember anything at all that I did last week. It's all gone completely. I did recruit (well, dragooned is a better word) a new running partner, who I dragged from bed at 6 AM on Saturday to run 4 miles. He didn't seem to mind too much, since he talked the entire time. He says he is trying to get me to talk, to make sure I'm not working too hard. I told him the only way I could be both running and not working too hard is to walk instead. Fortunately, he is willing to acquiesce when I request his silence so I can concentrate on getting one foot in front of the other.

I did go to a spa-themed Ladies' Day on Saturday, and amused the other women by my non-touchiness when we tried to give one another massages. I'd really rather go around stiff and tense than have someone (other than Chad, that is) give me a massage. At least they didn't try to hug me.

No, wait, someone did. But I got away.

Something new

Okay, I really hope to make this my last post for the day! So I added a link to "Reverend Fun" to my sidebar, and idea which I stole from Sparquay. Some days are... um... less funny than others, just by way of warning. But go on over and have a look.

I admit it, I copied off of Flee

So I've been singing this song to myself for a few weeks:

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light my strength my song
This Cornerstone, this solid Ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This Gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
Till on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
Till he returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand!

I even tried to learn all the words while working a few weeks ago-- still can't remember all of them. But this song (like so many others) not only points me to Jesus, but also to the church family that I love. The last time we sang this on Sunday morning, I had gone to church without Chad and was sitting with people who I barely know (though I did know who they were). And every time I've thought of this song in the past few weeks, I've been back in that moment, worshipping alongside a brother and sister with whom I have an eternal bond. It hardly matters that our earthly bond is merely "acquaintance".

Thanks, Joe and Linda.

Spring is here

And I would not bother announcing that, except we are certainly getting the spring weather.

I've been reading in the paper lately that we are getting a wetter year than usual because it has been an El Nino year. Apparently, we will (at some point) be coming out of El Nino and into La Nina, which will give us a hot and dry summer. (Causing me to wonder, do we have La Nina every year?)

So, blah blah blah weathercakes, we are under a tornado watch. Again. So I have the window open to watch for the tornado. And if it does make an appearance on my street, I am fully prepared to dive under my bed. Because while I don't mind being the last one to see the tornado, I do mind the tornado being the last thing I see.

Gone, but not forgotten

I went to a very lovely funeral yesterday. This is really a sentence I never imagined I'd type. The funeral was not for someone I knew, although I met him a couple of times. He was the father of a friend. During the course of the eulogy, I thought it is a fitting testimony to what a wonderful man he must have been that everything they said could also be said about his son (our friend). He may be gone, but he will live on in the example he set for the subsequent generations of his family.

Also I hugged people while at the service. I'd hate for that to catch on.

I would be delighted at this sermon...

Bible Bowl: Part 2

I would say that we woke up nice and early on Saturday morning, but some of our group never really went to sleep, and in my hotel room, the awakening was neither nice nor early. Trains went by across the street at 30-minute intervals, which was sufficient to keep a lot of us from getting a good night's sleep, I'm afraid.

We had to load up to go to McDonald's for breakfast, because the hotel did not serve breakfast. Although it is fair to say that none of us really wanted to stick around there any longer than we had to, anyway, still it was an additional snag in our weekend. (By "snag" I mean "unplanned expense".)

So after loading up on fats and carbs, we headed for the church where the competition was held. Someone lost her glasses, quite a few children had early-morning grumpiness, and a couple of the girls apparently had their brains reprogrammed overnight so that all they could say was "Stop it!" to one another in really high-pitched, whiny voices. (Another side note here to say, this is probably the worst-behaved I've ever seen this group of children act, so it's not like I have much to complain about.) After a last-minute behaviour pep talk, we sent the children in to their holding area whilst the coaches went to a meeting. When I was a kid at these things, I used to wonder what it was the adults were all talking about. Now I know: Nothing. Although this meeting did give us a funny moment for the weekend. The man running the meeting prayed for us to all have "safe passage" home, so at the end of the prayer, I turned to Rebecca to ask, "Are we going home by ship?"

And the rest of the day went pretty smoothly. So far as I know the lost glasses were never found, one of the spectators took a phone call during the competition (really annoying the moderator, not to mention everyone else), and our scorekeeper thinks Lubbock is spelt "Lubic". We came home with a few ribbons and trophies.

And for some bizarre reason, they let me choose where to eat supper. I haven't worked that one out yet.

Bible Bowl Weekend: Part 1

I don't know if you'd call this weekend a comedy of errors, or perhaps the lighter bits of a tragedy, or maybe just what happens when a group of people get together and do things.

So on Friday morning Chad and I went to pick up the rental vans for the trip, only to find out (much to our horror) that we were the "only authorised drivers" of the vans. Chad and I were not planning to drive to Abilene. Turns out, though, that was a problem easily fixed.

So before we even left, one sponsor dropped out of the trip, one of the drivers came late (and had to be rushed to the car rental place to hand over his driver's license before we could go), and several of the girls started off their first round of bickering. So we left late, inciting Rebecca to panic (since she was in charge of all the arrangements). Then we ran into some zero-visibility blowing dust. All that and we still arrived in Abilene on time to get to the gymnastic sports centre.

I would like to take this opportunity to say, if you are ever bored in Abilene, go by the Gymnastic Sports Centre. It is fantastic.

After an enjoyable couple of hours of playing, we went to our (somewhat disappointing) hotel to check in and unload, and then on to Gatti's for the children to stuff themselves with pizza and finish running themselves ragged before heading back. Also while at Gatti's, I was dancing along to "YMCA", causing one of the other adults to remark, "I would say she is re-living her youth, but she is too young for that."

Whatever. Someday my grandchildren will be dancing along to "YMCA".

Safely home

Just returned from an eventful Bible Bowl weekend, about which I am anxious to blog, but for now I would prefer to go to bed!

This morning

This morning we are going to be fingerprinted for a background check for our adoption, and then I am leaving for a Bible bowl trip to Abilene. But first, I'm going to go run two miles.

We spent quite a bit of time with Angie (and some other people) last night. It was nice to see her after so long!

Tenebrae

The much-awaited description of the Tenebrae service:

I admit I had never heard of this until about two weeks ago (although I believe Maria Trapp makes reference to it in her book, The Sound of Music), so I had a very fresh slate with which to participate on Friday. It is a service of darkness, beginning in a dimly-lit room and ending in a completely darkened one, which symbolises the darkness over the earth when Jesus was on the cross.

Each of the seven statements of Jesus from the cross was read in turn. After each reading, the congregation read aloud a "confessionary prayer", which was followed by a hymn. After each hymn, one of the candles on the stage was extinguished. At the same time, a light switch in the room was turned off, so that the room was darkened a little at a time. At the end, all candles were out, all lights were off, and we all exited the room silently. (We had been asked to exit the building as silently as possible as well, but there was quite a bit of whispered fellowship going on in the foyer.)

That brief description does not really do the evening justice, but I don't really know how to go into more detail. As I said before, I strongly encourage anyone who has the chance to take part in such a service next year-- it is well worth it.

Jogging on Monday

I really don't want my blog to turn into a running journal. But that is, unfortunately, what is on my mind just now...

So last week did not go so well. I ran on Monday and Tuesday (and was very distressed on Tuesday to find it was a 3-mile day, not a 2-mile day like I had thought), Wednesday is a normal rest day, and after that the wheels came off the wagon. Thursday night was Bunko, Friday night I went to Tenebrae, and Saturday and Sunday saw me with a severe case of too-cold-itis. So I had to get back into it this evening or risk, as I said to Chad, turning into a lump. (Especially since this is chocolate-eating week.)

I puttered around the house as long as I could this evening, but I finally had to just go out and do it. And it turns out that five days of rest has done me at least some good-- I enjoyed the run without feeling like I was about to die. This week also marks me upping my run/walk ratio from 2:1 to 3:1. So at the end, I finished my two miles in 23:50, which may be a sad time to most, but for me it was brilliant.

Perhaps running three miles tomorrow won't be so bad, after all.

As Lent draws to a close

I went to a Tenebrae service (service of darkness) yesterday evening with a friend from church. I think it would be hard to describe to those who haven't been to one, but it was a very nice service and I strongly encourage everyone to try it next year.

On a much more superficial level, I am so looking forward to a Cadbury egg tomorrow.

I hate running.

I mean it. I hate it, hate it, hate it. And I cannot, for the life of me, work out why I do it. This has been an off-and-on hobby of mine since I was 12, for crying out loud! And yet I hate it.

When I rounded the corner leading to my "home stretch" on Saturday morning, I also hit the beginning of a walking minute. There was quite a queue of cars lined up at the stop sign, and I was very thankful that none of them could see that my stopwatch read "32:00". To stop and walk at that juncture is a bit embarassing.

Turns out I am going on a Bible bowl trip after all!

Sort of running

So Lubbock Daily Photo this morning was arduous; I composed my post yesterday and saved it as a draft, so all I had to do this morning was push the button. Well, that's not what happened. Thirty minutes and some HTML messing-with later, and we're all set now, so I suppose it wasn't that arduous.

Speaking of arduous, I ran three miles for the first time yesterday! Even calling it that much I feel like I'm truth-stretching. I am starting back into running regularly, a hobby which I have dabbled with off and on since I was 12. But in order not to get frustrated/burnt out/injured, I am going very gradually; I've taken an easy training schedule for a half-marathon and adapted it for my own needs, and I've started off running two minutes, then walking one (repeated as many times as necessary). And I run pretty slowly anyway. As I told Chad yesterday, I thought I would feel triumphant since I ran two miles and three miles in the same week (both of those things for the first time in years), but because of the walk breaks I don't really feel like I did it.

But that will change. In the meantime, I have next Saturday to look forward to: four miles!

Saturday afternoon it is...

And I should SO be doing something else!

Only a couple of girls showed up last night, but we did our best to have fun! I think they were pretty bored, though. (Actually, one of them informed me that she was bored every five minutes, so I'm taking it as a sure thing.)

Anyway... so the Tulsa workshop came and went last weekend, and the gathering of a bunch of ex-aim people as well. I've heard it was brilliant. I've heard I really missed out. I'm sure both of those things are true.

I'm amazed, however, that this is also true: I thought I would be sad on the day of the event. I wasn't. I thought I would be bummed at reading everyone's blogs about it. I'm not. (In fact, I was so convinced that I would be sad, I've avoided everyone's blogs this week.) I still wish we could have been there. It would have been brilliant to see all those people. (And honestly, just "seeing" probably would have been enough for me to go home with my cup of joy full; I don't think I would even have needed that many conversations to have enjoyed myself!)

But as I've realised the past few weeks, our family is at South Plains now. Our ministry is there. And if I had been at aim-a-pa-looza (how do you spell it?), I would have been thinking, "Man, I wish ___ were here." (Rebecca, Trisha, Kathy, Lisa, Tammy... I could go on and on. Oh, and their families, too.) Because for some odd reason, my brain works that way. And even more oddly, it takes events like these for me to realise how much I love our "family".

I'm so glad everyone had a good time. And I'm sorry I missed it. Maybe next year. (I am assuming that those concerned are planning to make this a regular event, yes?) Perhaps we will even have children to introduce to everyone.

But don't be surprised if I show up with a South Plains directory in hand.

Some nice things happened lately...

So we were watching Princess Diaries 2 during the slumber party, and at one point (I believe after the line, "I'm Lily. Official best friend. I don't like you.") one of the girls said, "Susan, Lily reminds me of you." I'm afraid I was quite flattered by this, and said, "Thank you so much! I really like her." Hehehe. If you haven't seen the movies and don't understand, well, perhaps you should.

So today at my lunch break I walked up the street to do the stairs at the hospital again. (Couldn't ride my bike today; had to get some high-intensity workout in.) There is a sign on the door to the stairwell which reads, "This door STAIRS." And some very clever person (not me) had added underneath, "@ U." I kind of wished I had thought of it myself, but since "stairs" is spelt correctly, I don't think it would have occurred to me. And obviously spelling is no object to the clever person who came by, pen in hand. Oh, well, it sounds the same if you say it out loud.

The sign on the other side of the door reads, "This way LOBBY" and there just isn't much that can be done with that. If the sign maker had put in a comma ("This way, Lobby") then I might be able to add, "I'll let her know when I see her," but that's about it. And I'm not much into vandalising signs, anyway.

This is why no one will sit next to me.

This amusing little interchange took place (of all times) during Bible class yesterday morning (Ken is the class teacher, there are three Bible bowl teachers (BBts) in our class, and two other former BBts besides myself and Chad):

Ken: So where do we first meet Barnabas?
I: (bit of a smart aleck) In Jerusalem. (Hey, somebody else said it, too!)
Ken: Okay, when in the Bible do we first hear about Barnabas?
I: Acts 4.
Ken: And what is he doing there?
I: He sold a field and brought the money to lay at the apostles' feet.
Ken: Right! (goes on to do some teaching that I do not hear, because...)
Bible Bowl teachers: (doing a lot of nudging one another and whispering, until one of them leans forward so that I can see her applauding me)
I: (turn brilliantly red and mutter) I'm so embarassed.
Ken: (Has the world's best hearing) What? What's going on?
I: (pointing at BBts) They are making faces at me so I'm kind of embarassed.
BBts: No, no! We are saying we should have known the answer.
Ken: (is confused)
I: (turn brighter red and try to hide behind my Bible)
Chad: (only just manages not to wet himself laughing at his wife)
Rest of class: (laughs a lot)
Ken: Okay, then, I'll give them the second half of the question. (Addresses BBts) What is Barnabas' other name?
I: (restrain myself from answering)
BBts: (look at each other)
Former BBt: Son of Encouragement.
Ken: Right! (tries to do some teaching, but the five of us are too far gone to come back right away)
BBt: Come on, Susan!
I: He said it was for you!
Another BBt: This is great, the two dropouts know the answers and we don't.
I: (turn red again)
Ken: I really didn't mean to start a Bible bowl war. Hey, guys, nobody is keeping score.
Former BBt's husband: Well, not this week, but for the next four weeks they will.
Class: (laughs)
I: Sorry!
Ken: (picks class back up and moves on)

In my own defence, most Sundays I am quite content to just sit there and let other people answer, but apparently I had my know-it-all shoes on yesterday. And, just for the record, the answer I restrained myself from giving is Joseph, since that was Barnabas' actual name, and "Son of Encouragement" is the translation of Barnabas. Good thing I didn't go there, I suppose. And in case there is any confusion, Bible bowl is studying Acts this year, hence the reason the BBts should have known the answer.

Actually, they have a good point. Now I'm kind of worried...

I survived!

The middle-school girls have come and gone, and my flat is still in one piece. Although I have found a couple of Snickers bars laying around. :)

All in all, we had a very good evening; junk food was consumed, Kool-Ade was spilt on my floor (the tile, fortunately, and not the carpet), movies were watched, and everyone got along. We really had a great group of girls here last night. AND, everyone got a hair wrap. So I think they all went home happy. Of course, we did have to have a plan in mind in case of bad weather, but it turned out the only person disturbed by the storm was me.

Next week: Fifth-grade girls! I'm going to need a LOT of prayer.

6 AM is a good time of day

We had our first women's prayer group this morning!

I don't remember if I've blogged about this, so here's the RD version: The men in our Bible class have had a prayer group for years, I got a bit jealous and said the women also needed one, someone said I should just start one then!, I started to explain that I have all the personality of dead grass and that me starting things usually does not work out, and the person sitting next to me (Kathy) said, "We'll do it!"

So, that was almost three weeks ago. This week I harassed everyone via e-mail (with more harassment to come... hehehe... I love this part), with the result that there were five of us gathered at 6 AM for fellowship and prayer. Now, this is more than double the two (Kathy and myself) that I thought we would have, so I was delighted. And the other women there were quite enthusiastic, so I have high hopes that we will go on, grow, and continue to meet for a long time.

And in other news... I need to get my house ready for the convergence of middle-school girls tomorrow evening. Can't wait.

Okaaaaay... where were we?

Camp Adventure! So, that was fun. We missed aim graduation for the first time (for me) in ten years. Well, I guess I also missed that one year that I was in Scotland. Anyway.

So we go to the evening events every year, have a good time, and go on our way encouraged. This year it was Chad, not me, who said, "Sometimes I wish we were more involved with aim." Sometimes I wish that, too, especially after being around them for a couple of days. But the only way that is going to happen is if South Plains becomes an area church. I also have some pictures from Wednesday at Camp Adventure.

Speaking of aim and South Plains, I really want to go to the gathering of ex-aimers happening in Tulsa on Friday. I said this aloud to Chad, who said, "Let's go!" And we probably could; we would have to take a couple of days off work, scrouge up some gas money, find a place to stay, etc. But just as I was going over all this in my head, I remembered that we are having a slumber party for the sixth-grade Bible bowl girls on Friday night. Bummer.

But not really; this is, after all, why I went to aim in the first place. (Yes, I do aim in lowercase. It's too much trouble to hit caps lock every time.) Now I admit that I was not sitting around ten years ago thinking, "Gee, I hope in ten years I am still living in Lubbock and giving slumber parties for girls who are only babies right now!" But it is the giving of my time and energy to other people, because of the Lord, that brought me to aim. And that brought Chad to LCU, and both of us to South Plains. And it is what keeps us doing what we are doing now.

And that's why we aren't more involved with aim. (Or going to Tulsa.)

Red Nose Day!

Well, this doesn't quite fit, does it? I'm trying to fix it. Until then, enjoy:

Perhaps I need a foghorn?

I have long suspected that there is a "bad driving" vibe, or aura, or something, that radiates out from Wal-Mart and extends to a mile in all directions. This vibe causes normal, sane people who ordinarily are not poor drivers to suddenly forget which parts of the car are which. But besides these four centres of death and destruction, there is one more in Lubbock: the intersection of 22nd Street and Nashville Avenue.

This intersection is in the heart of the Medical District, and is one I use regardless of which vehicle I am using. I have lost count of the number of times I have almost been hit by a careless motorist while cycling there (although I am sure it is in the double digits by now); this morning was one of those times. What is truly strange about this is: cyclists are not an uncommon sight in the Medical District. There are quite a few of us, actually.

So I don't know what the problem is.

I'm obsessive about my compulsiveness... or is it the other way round?

I had this conversation with a coworker today:

Coworker: Susana, what are you doing?
I: I'm going through the paper clip jar and taking out the ones I like.
Coworker: (laughs) Isn't that called obsessive-compulsive behaviour?
I: (brightly) Yes!
Coworker: (still laughing) Okay.

Singing-- or not-- in the rain

I thought going for a walk in the rain was a good idea.

It wasn't.

We've had more or less continual rain in Lubbock since sometime early Sunday morning, which delights me to no end. But today at lunch, I was a bit disgruntled because not only had the rain precluded my cycling to work this morning, but also my noon walk. So, I decided to walk up the street to the hospital and climb the stairs again. When I left the office, it was a light drizzle; but naturally, once I was a block or so away, it picked up to a regular downpour again. People stared at me once I arrived at the hospital.

Not that this discouraged me in any way; I went all the way up the stairs to the 10th floor. Then, because I really did have three days of sore muscles last week, I took the elevator back down. I've decided small steps are probably better. I was starting to dry out a bit (that's a relative term), so I had hope of not dripping all over the office once I got back.

A vain hope, indeed! The downpour was showing no signs of slacking as I walked home in it. It is times like these that I am indeed grateful that my co-workers are used to me. After all, these are the people who were horrified by my bike accident, and who laughed at my landing on my face at the company Christmas party, and so by the time I got round to sewing my finger, they barely even blinked. And the same holds true for me walking in the door with the contents of an entire raincloud on my person.

Balcony + Vertigo = Oh, dear

(This post has been inspired by a comment I made a few days ago on another blog.)

On Sunday mornings, we generally sit on the front row of the balcony, on the right-hand side. We do this to keep Chad away, as much as possible, from the perfume and cologne that apparently are required in large amounts when one goes to church. (I personally have never received this memo.) I enjoy sitting there, though, because I can see just about everyone, and I get to watch them worship. It is brilliant to see other people worshipping. Seriously.

Anyway, we do have one worry about this vantage point: I might fall over one of these days. The wall in the front is sufficiently high to protect normal people from toppling over the edge. Lucky them. I, however, am plagued with vertigo (not to mention the sense of balance and grace of your average one-year-old), and I have a recurring fear that one Sunday morning I will be suddenly struck with dizziness and will wake up in the emergency room with various broken bits.

Chad and I have kept this possibility between ourselves, for the very good reason that other people already have enough reasons to make fun of me. But I am afraid I have given myself away to some extent: I have been told by at least three different people that they always know when I am dizzy in church, because they see me sway and then grab the wall. So much for subtlety.

Let's save some daylight!

Another time change is upon us.

I grew up in Indiana, which was one of the three states (Arizona and Hawaii, I know someone was wondering) that did not observe daylight saving time. As a result, when I moved to Texas I spent many hours grumbling about the stupidity of messing around with the clocks twice a year. For me, the gaining of an hour in the autumn in no way compensated for the week's worth of stumbling about that ensued for me each spring. A six-hour time change hardly affects me at all; give me one hour of difference, and I spend a few days impersonating a drunk.

And in Indiana we had such lovely early mornings; I loved the sunrise at 5 AM; it was a small price to pay for a short evening. My parents live in a small house outside town that is surrounded by fields on all sides, and it was such a treat to wake up to the sound of farm machinery in the summer. We had no air conditioning, so we slept with the windows open (and, not infrequently, the curtains, too), which meant the fresh air, sunshine, and sounds of tractors could come right in. It was brilliant. This is why June has long been my favourite month. I realise I'm waxing nostalgic here; it was just as likely that we would wake up to rain, or the smell of freshly killed skunk, as the nicer things I've mentioned. However, with that kind of awakening all summer long, it is a small wonder that I was huffy about daylight saving time.

For someone, somewhere, decided that daylight should not be just for those of us who like fresh air at 5 AM. "We should save it for later in the day, when normal people are awake!" I'm sure they said. "Save it from being chopped to bits by farm equipment! Save it from bizarre Hoosier teenagers who don't know they are meant to sleep until noon!" And, the final convincing argument: "Think of all the money people would save if they didn't have to turn on their lights for another hour each evening!" So, what we have here is money saving time, not daylight saving. And, if all the statistics in the newspaper are to be believed, lives are also saved because people have more daylight in the evenings to drive in.

And, sad to say, Indiana also caved a couple of years ago. Which created a whole new slate of problems for them: people who lived on the edges of the state had been time changing along with Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois and Michigan for years, to the point that Indiana has long been split into two time zones. (By the way, there was an amusing episode of The West Wing that factored in Indiana's strange relationship with time; told you there is a TWW episode for every aspect of my life.) I don't know how they finally resolved this; since I do not live there, I find it hard to care what, in the words of my grandmother, "this idiot new governor" is doing. And she is probably right; after all, you never saw Senator Bayh messing around with the time when he was governor. If he ever runs for president, I may vote for him based on that alone.

So the point of all this is, I have come round. I am happy that the time change is coming early this year, because I no longer wake up at 5 AM because of a tractor across the street. (On the contrary, I wake up at all hours of the night because of sirens all over the place.) I like the longer evenings. I am a bit distressed about going to work in the dark for a few weeks, but again, it is but a small price to pay. And if all the government says is true, I am looking forward to a lower electricity bill.

One final thought: It is dayling saving time, not savings. There is no sale on daylight. Sorry.

Hope triumphs once again!

I've agreed-- and this is one of those "moments of madness" that plague my life like so many, I don't know, gnats?-- to teach a children's Bible class on Wednesday nights.

Now, for someone who has taught many, many children's classes in her lifetime, quite a few of them right here at South Plains, you might not call this madness. And it isn't, actually; not to announce myself with trumpets or anything, but I have volunteered my services out of kindness. And also the triumph of hope over experience, so I have not always had the most smashing success with children's class.

In a couple of weeks, the Bible bowl class will finish the "teaching" portion of the class and move into "reviewing." Because of the way the children's classes are set up, the teachers would have to run the reviews with children who actually intend to participate in Bible bowl, as well as the other children who are there because their parents dragged them to church and sent them to class. And some other kids who are neither happy nor angry to be present. So I volunteered to take the children who do not intend to go to competitions into a separate class on Wednesday nights.

My plan for this class is to go over, by means of discussion, songs, crafts, and possibly push-ups if the children do not behave, things that (IMO) they ought to know by now. (It is possible that I am condemning myself to singing the books of the Old Testament on a weekly basis by taking this approach.) So far, the topics floating around in my head are: God Cares about You, Obey Your Parents, This Little Light of Mine is More than Just a Song, and Why We Have the Church. There are more in there, but they seem to be hiding behind some random neurons or something. My thoughts at the moment are consumed with how we will go over the first topic, that God cares about them. I admit that I was having my doubts about this topic, until a few minutes ago when I happened across a blog in which the writer mentioned that people have to be reminded-- a lot-- that God loves them. So be it, I thought; if adults have trouble with this, I'm betting their children do, too.

So if anyone has any suggestions on good topics for 4th & 5th graders, I would be overjoyed to hear them.

Getting to know you

So we just got back from church, and tonight was one of those special all-together-in-one-class evenings that we have from time to time. And I really enjoyed it. The topic of the evening was individualism v. community, and at one point the speaker mentioned that people often will push others away, even while trying to get closer to them. And I thought, Wow, did he know I was coming? I love being around other people, I love getting to know them, and yet there is something within me that stops short of actually getting to know people. What is it about me that causes this?


In a completely unrelated, and certainly less important, subject, yesterday I rode my bike to and from work, and during lunch I walked down the street to the hospital to "do the stairs". As a result, I now have sore, stiff, swollen calves. I really hope this little problem resolves itself by tomorrow. Going down stairs has been torture all day, to the point that I considered sliding down our banister to get to the car earlier-- but that might cause me to kill myself and would most certainly cause me to injure myself further.

Also this evening, we got a really nice note from someone at church, and not for the first time I wondered, Is it appropriate to send a thank-you note in response to a thank-you note?

What if I smile while not working out?

I was thinking about fasting today.

Not thinking about fasting in a "planning to fast, so I'm thinking about it" kind of way, just thinking about the whole idea. Jesus gave us instructions not to appear in public looking wan and peaked when fasting, just so everyone who sees you can think, "Wow, look how awful he looks! He must be fasting!", but instead to appear as you normally would. And so to avoid announcing my fasting before my coworkers, I usually manage to avoid (or downright dodge) questions about what I am doing for lunch, or what I ate, etc.

So here is where I ran into a snag in my thinking. I am physically active every day, even if that is limited to going for a walk at lunch. But I often ride my bike to/from work, or hop on the treadmill for a few minutes, or whatever I can fit into my day. On days that I fast, though, I do none of those things; my reason being, I don't want to burn off calories when I am not taking any in, and end up so hungry that at the end of the day I am focused on food, and not God. But now I'm wondering, is forgoing those things really going about my day as normal? Am I tipping off everyone around me by acting strangely on days that I fast? Am I over-thinking this?

I imagine that I am over-thinking it. But I do wonder. Any thoughts?

Hot Air

Well, I suppose I've reveled in my 100-post glory long enough. Time for 101, eh?

So, thanks to Lubbock Daily Photo I've gotten used to carrying my camera around with me, and stopping at strange moments to take pictures of strange things. On Sunday morning I reached for the camera before I left, then thought to myself, "I'm going to church, I'm not going to need my camera." And, therefore, on my way to church I saw two hot-air balloons sailing over Lubbock. Oops.

I had a very enjoyable Sunday. Most Sundays are good, of course, and I think I've expressed before that Sunday has been my favourite day of the week for many years, but yesterday was extra good. Can't really put my finger on why. I was sad, though, that my house group did not meet. I have gone from being skeptical about this group to absolutely loving it. It is possible that I annoy the other group members with my continual need to share-- I have a comment on just about every topic going-- but that's okay. I have to annoy someone, may as well be people who already like me.

100!

This is my 100th post! If only I had some confetti to throw into the air!

So I finished this blanket, for another new baby, to be delivered tomorrow. (The blanket, that is, not the baby. He arrived a couple of months ago.) This armchair, as it turns out, is an excellent place to drape blankets for photographing. And my wee teddy bear is getting very good at posing with blankets.

The mind wanders...

I am so tantalisingly close to having 100 posts on this thing...

My quilts from a few days ago have still not been delivered to their new owners. Why? Because the new owners refuse to answer my e-mails. Okay, not really, actually it is because they left church rather quickly on Wednesday whilst I dawdled about and did not try to catch them quickly enough! So I suppose I will deliver them tomorrow. :)

And in other crafting news, I have nearly finished a crocheted blanket for a two-month-old, which with some luck, will also be delivered tomorrow. Yes, that's me, Santa Su. Bringing joy to small children all over-- well, South Plains church of Christ. And also bringing laundry to their mothers. (Although I have yet to hear any mothers complain about this side effect.)

And I'd just like to take a few moments to extol the virtues of my bicycle. I'm very fond of it, possibly more fond of it than I am my car (possibly because my bicycle does not require insurance, petrol, or a monthly payment). Seriously, cycling is so liberating. I do not know why more people don't do it. The benefits in terms of health, money, and effect upon the environment are enormous-- and the time spent is but a small price to pay, to my way of thinking. I was listening to Dave Barry's book Dave Barry is not Taking This Sitting Down yesterday, and at one point he discusses how Americans like to spend time, money, and effort on exercise that has no point whatsoever. We'll drive to a gym to run on a treadmill, but we would never just run to the gym. Which I, naturally, thought was a good point. So why not invest that same time and effort into cycling, jogging, or something else outside, that does actually have some use and benefit? Plus, you get to keep the money you would have spent on the gym membership.

Okay, so I was actually talking about my bicycle. I rode it to the store yesterday, which is much faster than walking and (due to the close proximity of the store and the lack of space in the car park) about the same time commitment as driving. And while I was there, I took this photo of my nice bicycle taking a wee rest. This reminded me of one day last summer, when I had gone to the store on my bike and had to chain it to a tree (different supermarket). An elderly couple was sitting close by, enjoying a soda, and after I had secured the bicycle, the gentleman asked me, "Got your horse all tied up?" I laughed and told him I didn't want it running away while I was inside.

Speaking of good places to keep bicycles, Wal-Mart has installed a bike rack. I nearly fell over when I saw this a few weeks ago. I have frequently contemplated starting one of those grass-roots efforts to get more bike racks in more places (I am everlastingly tired of chaining my bike to a cart corral), but due to my own laziness and commitment to more important causes I have never bothered. But if Wal-Mart is doing it, I have hope for everyone else.

And I need to call my supervisor this morning to tell her about a mistake I made yesterday, thus allowing her to shout at me over the phone instead of waiting to hear it in person on Monday morning. When is the proper time to call one's supervisor on a Saturday, I wonder?