Friday, September 28, 2007

Happy Birthday to Me!

I had a nice dinner out with B Monday night and a good cookie/ cake thing with some friends tonight, so it was kinda a birthday week. That's the end of the celebrations, so now its official. I'm 32. Wow.

Friday, September 21, 2007

Are we more holy if we choose the suffering?

It was a loaded issue that ignited my internal debate, which I do not wish to make the subject of this post, so I won't. I will put it in these terms:

If something that is, in general, good, and that the Church reinforces as good and a blessing, causes an individual person struggle and strife, is that individual supposed to choose it despite the strife? Are we commanded to choose the suffering/ hardship for the sake of the refinement that will happen to us as a result?

Some suffering will come to us by circumstance, despite our choices. It is more or less outside of our control. No one chooses to be stricken with cancer, but if someone is injured while racing motorcycles, we might argue they chose to engage in activities that increased their risk for suffering. (I am NOT arguing that they therefore deserved it; just that their choices played a role in that instance/ experience of suffering.)

Suffering can be a vehicle of redemption. Christ is imaged as the suffering servant, as are many of the OT prophets. But in these instances, it is the suffering of one (Christ, prophets) that leads to the salvation of others (followers of Christ, people of Israel).

But are you saved by your own suffering? In the "working out of our salvation," are we commanded to choose the suffering because of it's redemptive potential? Or are we merely charged with embracing the suffering that comes to us, despite our best efforts to avoid it? Truly, I do not think I can bring myself to choose the suffering.

I'd be interested in your thoughts, via comment or email.

Where the Wild Things Are


Lest anyone (ok, really you, S, I think you are the only one who reads this...) think that I never have anything nice to say and stop reading, I wanted to post this picture of Mine (on the left) and her cousin Elizabeth (right) from B's animal dress-up b-day party. It was a lot of fun. Kudos to B for having the idea!


This is Crass...

but so am I.











Found this T-shirt design on line, here. http://www.onehorseshy.com/

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Today is Shit

Today is Shit and I am SO sick of poop and spit up and dirty laundry that is stained and doesn't come clean and dirty carpets and dirty sinks and dirty counters and dirty bathrooms. And layers of dust and grime. I feel like everything around me is filthy. I hate it.

I hate having no space and having to move 5 things just to do basic chores like sort/ fold laundry or load/ empty the dishwasher. (Thank you God for my dishwasher!! Note that I am not complaining about my dirty dishes.)

I want a house, a maid, a babysitter, a Mazda 3 and a JOB!!!!

Thursday, September 13, 2007

My Baby Has B.O.!!!

I didn't think it was possible, but, *sniff sniff* YUP! She stinks! (And not poopy smell emanating from the diaper region; no, this is ripe, sweaty smell from the upper body regions!) Bath Time for Bonzo!!!

Friday, September 7, 2007

Small Goals

I found this poem/ prose by a woman named Maya Stein posted on her blog,
"One Paragraph at a Time." She seems to have a blog full of prose,
but this was by far my favorite. Hope you enjoy.

Small Goals
by Maya Stein

a cup of tea with cream & sugar, quietly,
because it is just morning and no one
is demanding anything of you, and you don't
yet need to demand anything of yourself.

pillows behind your back, at the desk,
because it shouldn't be so hard to sit still.

pet the dog, put your cheek to his cheek, say hello
in a higher, sing-song register, because even this
brief touch brings you back to a place absent of toughness,
and because when he is being held close and cooed at,
the dog will lie at your feet for hours, calm and near-sleeping.

moisturize, have lunch, put on a clean shirt, empty
and refill the dishwasher, because you need to take care,
because the body needs to be restored,
because it is good to make time for tasks that force
an alignment with order, and because there is no easier purpose
than a clearing off of the dusty messes, the small eruptions of mail,
whatever gnatty distraction is in the way of getting somewhere else.

let go of the argument, its bruising remainder, its strangeness
and alarm, because when you keep it flattened to your chest
for too long you can't breathe, and because there is a whole
day outside just waiting to be plunged into,
ripe and forgiving and opulent with love.

ice water.
as little driving as possible.
the guitar for even five minutes.
sunscreen on that place on your shoulders you never get to.
a walk somewhere close. easy, even steps.
the smell of late summer. that hum of bees.
a view that stretches to another zip code.
close your eyes.
close your eyes.
close your eyes.
now open.

http://papayamaya.blogspot.com/

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Who's Your Daddy?!?!

Today (ok, actually yesterday because it is after midnight) was a really rough day for me. I have a cold and feel lousy... And so does baby! So she was happy for about 2 hours this morning (when I took those pics of her with toys) and after that, when she was awake, she was screaming her head off! She actually reached a new level in upset-ness; she made kind of a wheezing sound at the end of some of her wales, I think because she hadn't breathed and was running out of air. But anyway. when B came home, I handed over HIS baby and said, "You're turn!" He is so good with her that after about a half an hour, this is was the scene:

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

A Little Competition Never Hurt Anyone...

So yesterday B's sister came over with her mom and 3 of the 4 kids to go swimming. The baby of their family (named Elizabeth) is exactly 1 month and 2 days older than mine. I was impressed by all the "interesting" things that this 4 month old can do (that mine can't) such as roll over (back ---> front) and lay on her stomach, reach for toys, chew on them, etc. To date, mine has shown little to no interest in toys and cries whenever placed on her stomach. "No 'tummy time' for me," she says. I was asking when Elizabeth started doing this stuff, because I think it would make life with mine a lot more interesting. So today, I put her in her walker and put toys in front of her, like I did yesterday and the day before and the day before, but TODAY, she actually reached for them, and succeeded!


See...