friends....

I just got back from Albany, OR, where I was visiting my friends Dana and Alan.
Can I just say that Albany is the cutest town!
The people there were so nice and friendly!
What's up with that?
How can a single community be generally nicer that other areas?????
They were.
Anyway, we hit tons of thrift stores and drank coffee at little sidewalk cafes....we perused the antique stores.....went to the Great Harvest bread store.....sat and listened to some live jazz at this cool restaurant over looking the Willamette river......toured the countryside while listenin' to cool tunes.....it was grand!
I love my friends......they love me, too....which is what I love best about them.
These are the people in my life that I can be quiet with.....it's the knowledge that I am completely loved and accepted and they know that they have my love and devotion.....yummy.
Sometimes, actually, most times, the simple things of life are the best.

jerks and basketball......

Our girls BB team got killed......again, and I was so mad!
The other team had 4 girls and still killed us.
Why?
Because they are ex-varsity somethin-er-other and they were fantastic atheletes.
So, what are they playing church-ball for? building up their confidence? OK, you're good....feel better?
Really, the score was not the problem, but how they played the game.
Those 4 girls laughed at our girls the whole time and at every single play and they played dirty, dirty, dirty, and that's what made me so mad!
At one point I actually told Destiny to "punch them back!", which, if you know me at all, that is not me!
Everyone was frustrated.
My girls came home totally defeated, inside and out, and my lame platitudes weren't convincing them, or me, to shake it off.
It just really bothered all of us that our girls go out and play a totally different game than most other teams, then, after practice, on Friday, the coach hit it on the head when she said this:
"I guarantee you those girls do NOT know the Lord and it showed in how they play. You Do know the Lord and we don't play dirty, ever! We stand for Christ and that comes first! When we win a game we will show them how we are good winners, too. We are on the winning team and, someday, you might have a chance to introduce Jesus to those girls and she will know you speak truth because of your conduct. That is the most important thing....your conduct, not if you win or lose."
You know, I appreciate Scott and Renee for their ethics and for teaching the girls what is important to God.
For Lacey and Nevada: Welcome to the real world and remember, God loves jerks, too.

24, cool news and life lessons.....

24 was great, of course.....now we have to wait a whole week to see it again!uuuuhhhhhh.......
Here's some cool news:
Red Cross has donated to our Association a Mobile Kitchen Unit to be used for disasters!
Isn't that awesome?
Say what you will about the Red Cross, but, they come through, every time and I appreciate them for it.
I had an epiphany this week that I will share with you, my readers, and it's funny, cuz I've heard this before but, apparently, I wasn't ready to receive it.
I have been struggling with how to teach my daughters about the wondrous gift of God's grace.
Truly, I learned it through the many, many times that I screwed up and made bad choices and God loved me and blessed me, despite me.
His grace is sufficient......His love is true in spite of my actions.....I want my girls to understand that without going through what I went through.
Maybe, this is a disservice for them and they need to experience that grace on their own, probably.
Anyway, in the meantime, I read an article about a father who is trying to teach this very same thing, I'm intrigued......
He explains that there are 3 types of discipline in their home:
1. Sometimes the natural consequences of his children's actions is enough to
teach the lesson.
2. Sometimes, the children choose the consequences of their behavior in order to
deter the same behavior again.
3. Sometimes he takes them to ice-cream!
Takes them to ice-cream?
Get it?
That's grace!
Did that child deserve the ice-cream?
No way!
Do we deserve God's grace?
No way, but, we still get it.
And, now I do......
In a way, I'm sorta excited to watch my daughters blow it so I can take them to ice-cream.
Ah, the simple pleasures of life....don't ya love it?

Jack's back!

I know that I shouldn't be so excited about a TV show....but I can't help it!
The 4 hr. season premier of 24 starts tonight and we are having a party and I can't think of anything lately that I have been so excited about( except for my knitting party I had on Friday).
Isn't that so sad?
I know.......oh well.
We got enough pizza for lunch and dinner so I don't have to cook after church....brilliant, then we can settle in for an evening of 24......oh, it better be good.
What am I saying?
It's always good....Jack's always good.....I love Jack.
He makes this a world a better, safer place for us to live in and I appreciate his tenacity and his commitment to his job as a counter-terrorists dude.
No greater love hath a man than one where he would lay down his life for his brother....and he does!
Every week!
Thanks, Jack.
Do you see what I mean?
I'm not well.......somebody help me...but not tonight or tomorrow night cuz, ya know....24's on.

Munich...

Con and I went and saw "Munich" last night.
It affected me....
We all know the old story of the age-old conflict between the Arabs(sons of Ishmael,) and the Jews(the sons of the Promised One), right?
Maybe not.....
This conflict began 5,000 years ago, call it ancient-sibling-rivalry, and will never end because both sides feel justified in their offense and they justify their toil of revenge by the very scriptures that they live by!
Does this stuff interest you?
It fascinates me to no end and I have been reading this great book about this very thing.
It's full of intrigue into the supernatural, it's full of everyday heroes who do amazing things through a power not of their own, it speaks of One greater than ourselves that has a plan for our lives and it lays out the very things that are happening in our world today and, yet, it was written thousands of years ago.....
Sound cool?
It's awesome.
It has 66 chapters written by over 40 authors.....it's the Holy Bible!
You should read it cuz it will change your life!
Do I recomment this movie?
Absolutely!
This movie protrays the plight of God's chosen people and we need to embrace this truth because the world, as we speak, is setting the stage for the final conflict between God and Satan which will occur in Jerusalem and the Middle East. God's judgement will be poured out onto those who persecuted His people and unbelievers.
Look it up.....
It's all in Revelation, the last book of the Bible.