San Diego

This past weekend I went to San Diego with some people I love! Here is a smattering of pictures I took. I could't stop, it was so beautiful there. Lately I have been obsessed with Alicia Bock's photography. Her pictures have a vintage feel. From what I can tell she likes to use a polaroid. Or else she gives her photos a polaroid feel. Either way I love the light, pastel colors in her photos and I must admit they influenced my editing of these shots.
The weekend was so nice and relaxing! A perfect chance to get away, think on God's power by watching and swimming in His mighty waves and to look at His dazzingly beautiful creation! He is so awesome and I long to see the Creator face to face!

Surfer Em

I LOVE my cool sister!

Dany and Thomas

As I have said in the past, I am by no means a great photographer, but I have always loved photography and enjoy any opportunity to practice. So I was extremely excited when Thomas agreed to Dany's plan for me to take their engagement pictures.
Dany is from Germany and I first got to know her eight years ago when she came here to live with us my senior year of high school. Dany wanted to live with a Christian family with daughters that went to a public school. So, our family was a perfect fit. I was devastated when Dany went back home because I felt that she had become a sister to Emily and me. Thankfully, God provided for her to come to Master's two or three years later. She would stay with us over summer breaks and she has been living with us again since she started the teaching credential program. She now teaches German to Kindergarteners!
Dany and Thomas met at Master's and started dating over two years ago. Thomas is from Zimbabwe and they plan on going there after he finishes seminary at TMS. They are getting married in December, most likely in Germany. I'm still attempting to make it there, but we'll see.
Dany and Thomas are both very kind and humble people. I learn so much from their gentle spirits and I am SO GLAD that God has brought them together and has allowed them to get married!
Here are the pictures. I promise this is not becoming a photography blog. I feel ridiculously pretentious enough posting these. :)

Direction

I recently noticed that my frequency in blog posting has significantly decreased within the last few months. There are various reasons why this is the case, but one of them is the fact that there is not much direction or point to this ol' blog. Not that every blog has to have a main focus, but still, as I was reminded today at church, we are to do ALL to the glory of God, and this little blog is no exception.
So, I was doing some thinking. I don't think I ever explained the title of my blog. I guess it's pretty self explanatory, but for those of you who may not know, a "red letter day" is one to celebrate. As believers, every day is one of celebration because we have been saved! Christ has risen and is ALIVE and is preparing a place for us. No matter the trial, no matter the circumstance, we have much reason to celebrate.
So from here on out, I plan to have this blog be a reminder to myself and to you that we have much reason to rejoice. I'm going to start out with listing a minimum of three things I am thankful for each time I post. Whether it be major or minor. We have much to be thankful for.

Today in particular, I thank God that/for:

1) He has blessed Becky and me with a relatively obedient group of kids this year. These Kindergarteners seem excited about school, they are sweet and of course, funnny. The older brother of one of the boys in our class came up and tapped me at night church to say hi and I was reminded of how much I enjoy them.

2) A chance to encourage a high schooler with some verses and some ways that God has provided for my mom and my sister and me. 1 Corinthians talks about comforting others with the comfort that we have from God and that verse was made more clear to me today.

3) A wonderful lunch at Egg Plantation with Megan, Jessica and Ashleigh. Jessica and Ashleigh are sophomores in high school. They bring much joy to my life with their quirky, fun humor and desire to grow to be more like Jesus! And who doesn't like a delicious Strawberry Cream cheese stuffed french toast! MMm MMM...!

Lately

I miss my dad. It's strange how life goes on and in one sense things get easier because I'm "getting used to it" and yet at the same time things get more difficult because its been a longer time that my dad has been gone and so I miss him more. I don't have the panic feeling because I know God is loving and sovereign. I hope that last statement doesn't go ignored just because it's something many Christians say all the time and it's a known fact. It's not just a familiar truth...it's INCREDIBLY true! So, knowing that, there is GREAT hope in all of this. That said...it's sinking in.
But if you want to know how to pray for me and my family, well, for me, please pray that I would joyfully serve my mom and demonstrate not just a service kind of love to her, but an affectionate love. The kind of love that will comfort her. I fail at this a lot.
Today is just one of those "sad" days as Emily calls them. Tomorrow is Sunday...a time to be surrounded by our large family, the church, which inevitably results in a "happy" day.
...boy...I'm sure starting to use quotation marks a lot...

I Am My Mother's Daughter? :)

I've heard a lot recently that I look like my Mom, especially after people saw pictures of her when she was younger at my Dad's memorial service. So, in being the nerd that I am, I experimented. Here are the pictures of her that I put in the slideshow and some recent ones of me. I don't know, you tell me.

The Wells

At my dad's memorial service I read a poem that he wrote long before he was ill with Valley Fever, about four years before he was married. I think it might have been before or right around the time he came to Grace.

A couple people requested that I post it somewhere, so here it is. It wasn't titled, so I gave it one. :)


The Wells

My soul is troubled, I do not see them!
My heart is full, but there is no release.

The end of my journey is near,
But my legs are weary from striving.
I would crawl if I could
But my hands burn on the dust of the ground.

My eyes are caked with dust and sweat.
Faith is my only hope.
Hands of the masters have ripped my clothes,
The sun scorches my skin.

The birds of the dead circle in the sky,
But still I seek for the living water.
But the heat of the world is so oppressive
That I long to return to its dust.

My body collapsed, my soul cried out,
“I can’t go on, I have to stop!”
My senses are numbed, my sight destroyed,
And I despair for all is lost.

The tears of my heart washed clean my eyes
And I beheld the wells at my side!
For I received the promise in ages past
That when all was lost, the wells I would find.
They were overflowing with the water I sought.
I had trusted in God, and He was sight.

Mike Taylor
April 21, 1979

Remembered

After my dad died, I remembered reading this a few years ago. It stuck out to me at the time when I read it and was the main section of the book that I learned from. Our memories definitely play an important role in our lives.

"A pleasure is full grown only when it is remembered. You are speaking, Hman, as if the pleasure were one thing and the memory another. It is all one thing. The seroni could say it better than I say it now. Not better than I could say it in a poem. What you call remembering is the last part of the pleasure, as the crah is the last part of a poem. When you and I met, the meeting was over very shortly, it was nothing. Now it is growing something as we remember it. But still we know very little about it. What it will be when I remember it as I lie down to die, what it makes in me all my days till then - that is the real meeting. The other is only the beginning of it. You say you have poets in your world. Do they not teach you this?"
"Perhaps some of them do," said Ransom. "But even in a poem does a hross never long to hear one splendid line over again?"
...
"the poem is a good example. For the most splendid line becomes fully splendid only by means of all the lines after it; if you went back to it you would find it less splendid than you thought. You would kill it. I mean in a good poem."
...
"Undoubtedly," he said. "Maleldil made us so. How could there ever be enough to eat if everyone had twenty young? And how could we endure to live and let time pass if we were always crying for one day or one year to come back - if we did not know that every day in a life fills the whole life with expectation and memory and that these are that day?"

- C.S. Lewis Out of the Silent Planet

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, and ten thousand beside!

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

On Friday night at the hospital a group of us sang some hymns while my dad was in ICU. Someone chose to sing Great is Thy Faithfulness and I remembered that this is my Dad's favorite hymn. This was just one of the many little ways that God has showed His faithfulness to us in my Dad's death. And because of Christ we can say, "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?"

A few weeks back I had noticed that God has been surrounding me with multiple friends who had lost one of their parents at a young age, a few were very recent. I started to wonder why this was the case. I believe it was just one of the ways God was preparing me for what was to come. What was to come in His perfect timing. My Dad had complications with the medicine he was on for Valley Fever and so it would be easy to question, "What if he had never entered the hospital?" and so on. But it was another blessing that God allowed Rick Holland (along with many others) to be there with us. He encouraged us on Friday night not to ask the what if's or why's, not to even allow our minds to go there, but to trust in God's perfect will. This helped me a lot while lying on the waiting room floor praying that God might let him live, but knowing it might be his time to go home. We didn't know that much about Valley Fever and we have no idea how hard it would have been for my Dad if he had kept on living.

I will miss my Dad terribly. Everyone keeps talking about his big, booming laugh. Definitely true. It embarrassed my Mom at the movies and Em and I used it as a means to find my parents at church after the service got out. I loved my Dad's sense of humor. Ever so often a bit cheesy...but he could handle teasing well. And Em and I teased him as he did us. He teased my Mom a lot too. Thinking of that brought me to tears the other day when my Mom said something that he would have totally teased her about. He loved sports and movies and road trips and spent a ton of time with us. I never ever felt neglected by my Dad. He was SUPER organized, he loved making lists and itineraries. Something that has helped us since he's been gone. He wasn't the most patient man but now he is! He's sinless now! And seeing my Savior's face!

Three things stuck out to me recently about how my Dad encouraged me spiritually. When my Grandma died he had me read 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 in the car while we were parked outside someone's house. On Sunday, the day after he died, John Rourke read this passage in church.

I remember we were in the "Sewing Room" (really the Den) in our house when he taught me about election. I don't know how it came up, but he explained how God loves everyone but He has chosen to love and save particular people.

When I doubted my salvation in high school he went over Hebrews 11 with me pointing out that we live by faith. We trust God and obey Him just like countless others did in that passage.

My Dad was a saved sinner. A wonderful father. I love him and rejoice that I will see him again someday, because my heavenly Father is most loving of all.

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
"For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?"
"Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?"

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

My Dad

Well, I promised a blog update on Facebook for those who don't know what's going on with my dad. I don't know how many people actually read this thing...but here goes.
As some of you may know, about three years ago my dad picked up some nice little spores in the air (yes, Secret Garden fans, Colin did have something to worry about after all) that resulted in Valley Fever. I don't know much about the illness other than it effects people differently. He started getting terrible headaches while we were on our Christmas vacation in Oregon that year, so terrible that he we had to leave a tad early and he couldn't drive us home. The spores produced a disease (I hope I'm getting this somewhat right) called coxy. The coxy traveled to his brain and he ended up with meningitis. The doctors gave him medicine instructing him that he would be on it for the rest of his life, and that was that. The headaches went away and it seemed that all was well.
Well, a year or so later my dad started having back problems. He went to a few chiropractors but nothing seemed to be working. I had a suspicion that it might be related to the Valley Fever, but there was no evidence of this.
To make a long story short, the backaches eventually morphed into loss of feeling in my dad's legs and now he can barely walk. After many many months of doctor's visits, referrals and the like; the doctor's discovered that the backaches and the loss of feeling are all related to the coxy from the Valley Fever. The coxy moved to an area where no one expected, my dad's spine. Something, we found out, so rare that the doctors didn't even think of that as an option. And apparently, the medicine currently available does not reach the spine.
My mom asked the doctors if the coxy could possibly move up the spine and effect his arms. They don't know.
On Monday, my dad was admitted to the hospital for a week to ten days where he will be receiving medicine pretty much continually through an I.V. in an effort to stop...kill...do something to the coxy. We are praying for the best, but know the reality that it may not work and my dad may wind up in a wheelchair.
Let me tell ya, I don't feel too old. I did just turn a quarter of a century but I often, whether it's a good thing or not, feel like a kid. I don't FEEL like either of my parents are old enough to be experiencing something like this. My dad's not even 60 yet. Don't let the gray hair fool you! :0)
But age has never been a determining factor in trials.
If you're reading this and you don't know the Savior, I want to let you know that we're not questioning God's goodness. My sister and I were privileged to attend the Resolved Conference a couple of days ago and wow! God's timing is superb! We were able to hear wonderful messages from John Piper on the sovereignty of God; particularly over sin and it's effects. Already I've seen TREMENDOUS growth in my mom's trust in the Lord. I've been encouraged to see my dad's lack of complaint, especially since he's been in the hospital and found out he may wind up in a wheelchair. My dad has always been an active, hearty, loud-laughing man. It's WEIRD to think of him in a wheelchair, but he doesn't appear scared. We've already had the opportunity to tell my grandma, who does not understand why God is allowing this to happen to her "good" son, that GOD is good, and He is allowing this to happen for a very good reason(s). God has revealed my own sin to me and shown me much grace...my sister too.
We may have to move to a one story house, if I get married someday, my dad may be rolling me down the aisle, "The Office" style. :0) BUT, this place is not our home. We are all hopeful in our precious, infinitely loving Savior!
Thanks for praying!

Happenings

I am not ashamed at my own lack of posting as of late, but a little shocked. A lot has happened since I last posted. High school Bible study ended, the Payne's moved away, seminarians graduated, my Kindergarteners graduated ::tear::, and I had my 25th birthday. Yes, I am now, believe it or not, a quarter of a century.
Sadly, I did not take any pictures of my birthday. So I had to find some on google. Emily, Erin, Michelle and I ate at Aroma Cafe. To check out all the hype. :0) It was extremely cute and yummy. I have to give it a 9.75 out of 10 though because the garden area is home to a large gnome. Gross!



I love those girls! We had a very nice time. Erin gave me a book on restaurants in LA. I am so excited to try out the new eats! :0) Uh-oh. This birthday post has been all about food and it's about to continue!
For dinner, the fam and I (including Dany and my aunt, uncle and grandma) went to...The Melting Pot! I had never been there before, and since it was my 25th, my dad let us get the works! Oh my goodness. Eating has never been so much fun, or delicious! Some pics to get your mouth watering...





The Yin Yang is kinda funny, but it's dark and white chocolate mixed. Yum!
Needless to say it was a wonderful birthday! I'm just amazed at God's goodness and kindness to me over the last 25 years. I don't deserve His grace and yet He has lavishly bestowed it on me, again and again. He is so patient and loving. I'm excited to see what else He has in store for me!

Saturday

Dreamed that I had breakfast with Sarah but didn't talk about what we planned. Woke and realized I hadn't gone to breakfast yet. Went back to sleep. Woke right before alarm. Threw on a sweatshirt and nice, worn jeans. Got in my car and drove to pick up Sarah. Drove to Egg Plantation where I ordered Strawberry Creamcheese Stuffed French Toast. Talked with Sarah. Drove Sarah home. Went home and picked up "smart casual" clothes to wear to wedding reception. Drove over to the Payne's to watch Nathaniel. Played with Nathaniel and Tilly. Watched Tilly frustrate Nathaniel by licking his face. Watched Nathaniel frustrate Tilly by petting her too hard. Read a good book while Nathaniel napped. Observed Nathaniel attempting to walk. Chatted with Lindsey. Drove back home to change for wedding reception. Stopped to get gas. Backed up to a pummp that actually worked. Drove to Target to pick up present while trying to fix wind blown hair. Stood in line and talked with Target lady about Andrew and Vicky. Wrapped present in car until it got too hot. Realized I bought a faulty gift bag. Attempted to fix gift bag while driving. Wrote card while driving. Arrived at wedding reception. Chatted with Kristen, the Hayes' and Marietjie. Ate some red velvet cake and a gluten free cupcake. Got back in the car to drive to Megan's. Found wedding card that didn't make it into the bag. Arrived at Megan's. Hung up pictures. Watched some Gilmore Girls. Ate In-n-Out. Went shopping for curtains. Got curtains for free. Heard about Megan's first job that I never knew she had. Arrived back at apartment that has no parking. Hung up curtains. Walked to car bundled in a beach towel while holding two large paintings. Walked through some sprinklers. Thankful for towel. Hung up paintings. Started to write paper. Watched a movie while writing paper. Got annoyed by neighbors playing horseshoes after midnight. Finished paper around 2 o'clock. Decided procrastination is a bad idea. Slept soundly.

Don't Try This At Home

A few days ago I was reading a friend's blog and was reminded of an incident that happened to me my freshman year of college. It is a memory that I had successfully pushed to the back of my mind. Until the blog. But then I thought, maybe the story could bring comfort to another soul as, dare I say the word, stupid, as me. So without further ado, let me go on with the story.

It was a quiet Wednesday morning in the pink infested dorm of Waldock. The clock showed 6:45 or so. I knew two things: 1.) I wanted to drink some chai tea. 2.) I needed to do some sit-ups. The freshman 15 was already showing it's effects.
I just happened to have some chai tea mix and there was a microwave conveniently located near the stairs right outside our wing's hallway. I thought, "Perfect! I can heat up the water while I do my sit-ups!" So I preceded with my plan. After I completed my first set of sit-ups, I walked out the door, down the hall and opened the door to the stairway area. As soon as I opened the door a thick wall of smoke hit me. I looked toward the microwave and noticed that smoke was pouring out of the microwave vent!

Again, not using my brain, I ran back to my room yelling my roommate's name, "Christine! Christine!" I don't even think I could get words out to explain what was wrong...but from the look of terror on my face and my crazy, flailing arms, she managed to decipher my desire for her to follow me, and, being the calm and collected person she is, she walked up to the microwave and turned it off. It was at this time that the fire alarms chose to go off. That's right my friends. The ENTIRE dorm...all 80 girls...had to evacuate. At around 7:05 in the morning. A chapel morning. Which meant that basically everyone but the slackers were awake and that pretty much ALL of the showers were occupied.

I blame it on my early morning state. When I first wake up, I can't even button my clothes correctly or untie a bow without making a knot, let alone muster enough brain cells to think not to put metal in the microwave. Yes, indeed, I had put my metal coffee thermos thing in the microwave. Something that Kindergarteners learn not to do. For awhile I entertained the idea that maybe we really wouldn't have to evacuate. I mean, after all, I knew it was just my coffee thermos. Nothing harmful about that...there was no serious fire. But then our R.D. came onto the hall and said that we all had to exit to the lawn in front of the dorm...the supposed...fire expert...man that came said that the fumes from the rubber exterior of the thermos may be toxic!

As I watched girl after girl filing out of the bathroom with shampoo in their hair and wet pajamas, the comments began to roll in. "Who was stupid enough to put metal in the microwave?" "I can't believe it! I was in the middle of a shower!" "Where's the moron?!!!" and other like retorts were spewed forth right and left. Terror and panic turned to utter humiliation.

After five minutes that felt like five days we were all out on the lawn...and the condescending fire man slowly exited the building holding my charred and melted coffee thermos with a tongs-like apparatus. He asked who it belonged to. I witnessed 158 eyes scanning the crowd. My two eyes were glued to what remained of my coffee thermos. The one my dad had bought me for my 18th birthday. My hand did not move an inch and my lips did not allow a single breath to escape. He went on to say that if I didn't claim it, he would trash it. What did the man think??? That I wanted a trophy of my idiocy resting on my dormroom desk??? Did he think I would actually use it again for its intended purpose??? Finally he got the hint and walked away with a reminder of one of the first rules our mothers teach us.

But the humiliation didn't end there. Those angry, soapy, shampooey Waldockians wanted answers! Who were they to blame for their ruined Wednesday morning? I refused to answer until one of my friends that I had since high school, HIGH SCHOOL, made some comment about her grandmother saying that my appalling action was one of the dumbest mistakes young people can make. It was something along those lines. I couldn't take it anymore. "I did it! Okay?!! It was me! So thanks for all your comments!" I said something like that. Then, since the toxic fumes had apparently evaporated and we were allowed back in the dorm, I ran up the stairs and into my room and I did what any normal mortified freshman girl would logically do; I cried. In walked one of the senior girls. She was just laughing and tried to sympathize a bit, but it didn't really work. She left and then my R.A. walked in. My R.A. was great. She was very good at showing freshmen the ropes. She gave me a hug and told me that one day I would laugh about it. I didn't believe her. I wasn't laughing when I went down to chapel and girls were still trying to find out who did it. I wasn't laughing when the girl who owned the demolished microwave said that I needed to pay up. But...she was right. I laugh now whenever a friend brings up that story..."remember when you..." and I laugh when someone tells me that they just told one of their relatives about "that time when I..." and, I must admit, I am thankful for a story I can tell the "grandkids" someday.

The Saugus Cafe

There is a little gem of an establishment in Santa Clarita known as The Saugus Cafe. This charming restaurant is heralded as the place where James Dean ate his last meal. (Although one of the waitresses once told me that the story is just an urban legend.) It has been around practically as long as Santa Clarita has been around, in fact, it "happens to be the oldest operating restaurant in Los Angeles County; it's been in business since 1887."

I now have a deep affection for The Saugus Cafe. All my life I have wanted that "small town" feel and experience. Almost impossible in Santa Clarita, but The Saugus Cafe has brought this long coveted experience to fruition. Emily and I have now made it a custom to eat there once a week and it is wonderful. The same people are there every week and it appears to be family owned because there are one of two servers there every week...a mother and daughter. We feel as if we are on a T.V. show everytime we go and we have given nicknames to all the "regulars" who always sit in the same spots. We always sit in the same booth on the same sides of the table and I think this adds to the sitcom feel.

First we have "The Men." They sit on the far end of the restaurant. There are about six of these men and when one leaves, there is always another to take his place. We are convinced that they are Vietnam war vets and so we were very excited one day when one got up to leave and we saw that he was wearing an Air Force jacket. Once when I got up to pay, one of them had just finished cussing and when I looked over at them, they appeared to look a tad guilty. :0)



Next we have "Fred." This is what Em and I called him before we found out his real name. Fred is very close and so I will leave it at that. He always sits at the counter closest to "The Men." I have to admit that he looks a bit like a homeless man, except that he looks less like one to me everytime that I see him. He always leaves before we do and says good-bye to Betty* or Sharon*. (*Names have been changed to protect the innocent.) Then he leaves and walks past our window. He always looks a little depressed. Last week when Sharon told him to have a good day, he said, "I'll try." Poor Fred. I always feel bad for him.

Next we have "Fernando." Fernando is a hispanic man that tends to sit on the opposite end of the counter as Fred. He doesn't talk much but he is a faithful patron.



Next we have "Captain Kangaroo." I don't think Em and I ever came to an agreement on his nickname but I like this one. He's not always there, but he wears a jacket that has the words Australia and Kangaroo on the back and there is a picture of a kangaroo. He sits at the counter too.

Next we have "The Outiders." There is a section of the Cafe that is closed during early hours and yet these two young couples don't find it necessary to abide by such petty rules. They sit together at one of these forbidden tables and have a fun time laughing it up every morning. Never mind that Betty has to walk all the way over there to serve them their coffee!

I have saved the best for last. Three weeks ago, a "new" regular came in. That is, he was new to Em and me but we found out he had definitely frequented the cafe before. The first morning he came in I heard him before I saw him. I often wear heels to work and The Saugus Cafe has very thin wooden floors. I hate clomping over to the bathroom because I feel like everyone watches me because it's so loud. Well my harmless steps sounded like whispers compared to this man's heavy footfalls. I was scared to turn around for fear of what my eyes would behold. I soon saw a shadow on the floor and finally a gargantuan man dressed from head to toe in camo appeared! I took one look at Emily and I had to bite my lip.....hard! He has been in ever since and he happens to have more than one camo hat and more than one camo jacket! But he always wears camo! We have dubbed him "The General." :0)



One last thing that I like about The Saugus Cafe is that Betty and Sharon know our order. They bring us our coffee when we arrive and they know that I like "a little" whipped cream and strawberries on my french toast and that Em likes "a little" whipped cream and blueberries on her Belgian waffle....that is when the Belgian waffle maker is working which they now ask the chef if it's working when Em comes in...even before they take her order.



Betty and Sharon are very friendly. They give hugs to the regulars and they always say thank you for coming in. MMMMMmmmm...Saugus Cafe. What more can I say?

"A Blanket with Sleeves..."

"...my life is changed forever."

Michelle, modeling the Snuggie for me and all it's wonderful qualities.

And so my life has changed too. Yes, Emily, at my request, bought me a Snuggie for Christmas.
Have you ever been lounging on your couch with a blanket and a good book and your arms suddenly started freezing? You couldn't do much because you had to continue holding your book. Have you ever had breakfast a few minutes after waking from a deep sleep and it was so cold that a blanket was a necessity? I bet your arms and upper body were chilly as you had to extend your arm outside of your warm shroud to lift the spoon to your mouth!
Well, kiss those freezing memories goodbye! If you buy a Snuggie, you'll never have ice cube arms again!
It was a close call. Emily chose to buy me a Snuggie after I sent her a spam email that I received. She purchased the Snuggie after checking off "no" to an extra Snuggie and two booklights. She was rather distraught to find, after she clicked on the "buy" button, that they had snuck on an extra 15 bucks for shipping and handling. She was even more distressed to find that the Snuggie did not arrive for Christmas. She was a little worried that it would never come. So another Christmas present and one New Year later, when she found that the forty dollar Snuggie was indeed coming, she decided that the Snuggie would be a family Snuggie! Now, I was the one feeling the tears welling.
However, to everyone's surprise, when Em opened the Snuggie box, behold, there were TWO Snuggies and TWO booklights! (Two booklights that don't work well.) Now there was a Snuggie for Emily and me!
There are many who mock Snuggies. This includes Robert Jensen along with most of the citizens of the United States. But according to an artilce on http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Snuggie, that's just because they secretly want one. I quote the site, "Snuggie is a product that you want, but you mock. Your denial that you really do want a Snuggie is just one of the things keeping you from being honest with yourself and successful in your life." It continues to say, "Admit that you watch the Snuggie infocommercial in wonder and with awe. It's a blanket; Snuggie keeps you warm. It has arms; Snuggie lets you do pleasurable things. Need to change the channel? Need to stroke your cat? The Snuggie lets you do these things, and all for the unbelievably low price of just $19.95 for two Snuggies (plus shipping and handling)."
Seriously, what's stopping you? The fact that from the back it looks like a hospital gown without the ties? Then don't walk around with it.

The fact that it's marketed with an extremely cheesy infomerical? So what. You're never cheesy sometimes? Please.
Swallow your pride and buy a Snuggie today!

Divorce

A few days ago I bought the book, The Great Divorce, by C.S. Lewis. I read most of it last night and finished it. I couldn't put it down. I don't know how he came up with the images he wrote about in general. Not just this book, but his science fiction series. The man was extremely creative.
What struck me about the book, which I'm assuming would strike anyone since it's what the book is about, are the various things that keep us from desiring God and real joy. It's amazing thinking about the things that we struggle to hold on to. He was making the point that we have to divorce ourselves from the world and all worldly desires COMPLETELY. It reminds me of Jim Elliot's quote, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." I'd recommend reading it. The book is very helpful.
It seems for a bit that Lewis believes in Purgatory but if you read further he seems to go away from that idea. In the preface to the book he says that he is in no way suggesting that what he writes describes what Heaven and Hell will truly be like. It's a man's dream.
Now usually I don't like to get too too personal on my blog. But I feel like the following might be a bit helpful to some people. (Not that most reading this haven't probably thought of this before.) C.S. Lewis brought up many things that we see as the ends in life instead of the means to what our true end should be. Things that may not be considered sinful things or sinful desires are sinful if they are the "end" to you. Our true end is Christ. "To live is Christ."
One of the things I desire most for my own future on earth is to be married and have a family. I have never been a huge career person. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I love Kindergarten, but I could still give it up tomorrow. Now this is not a bad desire in itself, but if I start viewing it as the end, the goal in life, it will be to my detriment. It will kill my affections for Christ. Marriage can be a wonderful means to our true end. Giving glory to God. Most Christians that I talk to that are married say it's one of the most sanctifying relationships on earth. I believe that a man and woman should only get married if they know that together they can help each other to love and serve God better than being apart. It just scared me to think that I could want anything else more than Christ. Something temporal, nonetheless. Anyway, just something I've been thinking about.

Tagged, I'm It (Not another post about Kindergarteners)

The rules are:


-Link to the person who tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.
-Share 7 random and or weird facts about yourself.
-Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
-Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

My friend Deidre tagged me, so here goes:

1. When I was five years old, my top front four permanent teeth grew in behind my baby teeth, so for a short while, I had two rows of four teeth! Apparently it's pretty rare.

2. I write left-handed but I do everything else with my right hand.

3. I took accordion lessons for a month or two in fourth grade with a rented accordion and I received an accordion trophy at the end of it. Sadly, I threw the trophy away. It would have made the PERFECT white elephant gift.

4. I hate bacon. Maybe hate is too strong of a word. I really do not care for bacon.

5. Emily was scheduled to be born on my birthday. This would have not been cool since we already get asked if we are twins.

6. I only have one first cousin and he has always lived only a mile away from me. So he's more like a brother.

7. My favorite songs are The Prodigal Son Suite by Keith Green and Dream On by Aerosmith...if you're going for one Christian and one secular.



I tag Hayley, Marietjie, Amber, Melissa, Nicole, Monica, and Cassia.