Mixed Emotions

My half-sister passed away a little over a week ago. I didn't even know she was doing poorly. On the other hand, it's to be expected. She and I were not close. Geography (NY and sunny SD) and a nearly 40 year age difference can do that to people.

Here's what I remember about Penny the few times I saw her. She was vibrant, and vivid. She truly embraced life and was not afraid to embark on adventures. She taught me that redheads could and perhaps should wear purple.

She made me feel special when she visited and took my sister and I to the amusement park, and bought us sunglasses and sunhats to protect us from the sun. She listened. She had style that to this day, I still try to emulate.

So... I sorrow for my half-brother because he truly knew her, and for myself for the opportunity lost. Rest in peace, Penny.

Minor Wrist Surgery

IMG00076-20090916-2118.jpg
Originally uploaded by bgill_78

Ouch! Here's a picture of my cast, and me... sans shower, makeup etc. But you can see that my kids love me cuz they wrote helpful messages on the bandage/cast thingie.

The pain meds make me nauseous so my drug of choice is ibuprofen and at night, if it's bad... I take benadryl. LOL. Funny, huh??

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Day 1 London/Dublin Vacay- Agony!

We traveled this summer. We went from Sioux Falls to Chicago and then to Dublin, Ireland via Aer Lingus. Our flight left Chicago at about 6:00 p.m. After six hours on board, we arrived at Dublin Airport. It was 7:00 a.m.

We didn't sleep much on the flight, although we tried!! We were seated near the bathrooms and every time we'd begin to drift off to sleep... someone would come by and we'd hear the door creak. So... we were a little bit tired to say the least.

We went through Irish Immigration which was pretty easy to navigate and got our passports stamped. Then we headed for the hotel, thinking that as we were so early our room would not be ready and we'd be in agony. The Carleton, however, had our room ready for us so we took a brief nap of about 3 hours, and then headed out.

We had lunch in the Temple Bar district, and picked up a few groceries for supper that night. The boy and the girl are badly jetlagged in this photo. The girl is sipping complimentary tea, and the boy is standing there after showering. Dh and I were on the balcony.

It was romantic, and wonderful. Yet at that moment, we'd have given just about anything for a bit more sleep. However, we knew we had to acclimate to the new time zone so we stayed up til it was about 8 p.m. Impressive, huh??

A book I'm reading...

This is quite possibly one of the most inspirational and heartwarming books I've begun in a while. Three Cups of Tea challenges all of us to do more and be more. The story, if you're not familiar, involves Greg Mortenson's failed attempt to climb Kilimanjaro. He is helped by the people of the region and in turn promises to come back and build a school.

I'm inspired by it, and so is my entire church. You see, we have a large congregation of Sudanese immigrants. Many of them are Lost Boys... one in particular, Moses, wants to give back to his village. And so, the project began... one school at a time.

This is part of what we're called to do. To give to those who have little. To build grain mills so that the girls can have time from the back breaking work of preparing food to go to school. To provide wells for water... and, of course, to pray without ceasing for those building now and those who will be learning later.

If you're inclined to join your prayers with mine... please do so!

Frugal Friday!

Just a reminder to those of you with Saver's in your neighborhoods... Labor Day 50% off storewide sale is right around the corner. You definitely don't want to miss that! It's a tradition for my daughter and I. We hit the sale early, and then... Red Lobster for lunch.

Sometimes being frugal, though, means spending some money up front. For example, dental care! It is much cheaper to buy good toothbrushes, floss, and mouthwash with antigingivitis properties than it is to care for periodontal disease. Another recent example from my home... running shoes.

It is cheaper to buy an expensive pair of running shoes than it is to find yourself at the orthopod getting told that you should probably bike instead of run. And now an unsolicited plug... Asics.

Yes...they are spendy. I eeped at the price. But... since I can now run without horrible ankle pain -- obviously worth it. Asics Gel Nimbus 11 for the win. And I mean it. My feet do not hurt and that makes them a bargain. Cuz, I'll let you in on a secret... I don't intend to stop running anytime soon. :)

Wordless Wednesday!

The Imperial War Museum... an actual chunk of the Berlin Wall...

We CAN change our lives and the world... with God's help!

Bad Blogger, Bad!

I've been a bad blogger lately. I'm not sure why it is so hard to keep up with a blog for me, but it is.

So... here's the plan! I'm going to make it a goal to post Monday Wednesday and Friday. Those are the days I run, so it should trigger the need to do that. In the meantime... check out this vacation picture!

It's part of the Elgin marbles on display at the British Museum. I'll post more pictures of the trip over the next few days...

Have a great day friends!

Dual Faith? Episceran? Luthalian?

I love Christ, but I hate religion... why do you think that is??

Seriously, right now we are going through some tough stuff with our church. I really love so much about it. It's hard because it is as though we've fallen out of relationship there.

There's a capital campaign going on, and much of the information that is coming from that is so one-sided, and in my opinion just plain wrong that it is downright offensive. Urging people to consider a home equity loan in order to support the capital campaign?!?! And, yes, we have Financial Peace at this church. UGH!

Add to that bad feelings about the entire confirmation process which can only be described as pharisiatical (sp?) at best, and we are in a quandry. Issues that our son has with some of the other boys, and well, ick. It would be easy if that were all that was present, but...

On the other hand, dd has GRACE liturgical dance, she has friends, and I like the doctrine of the church. I am also tied there. I pointed out to dh that, well, frankly in order to fall out of relationship that means there's some failing on all part to work it out.

Upshot: We're now dual faith. Daughter will be confirmed at our current church, and we'll attend half time at our current church. Ds will not be confirmed... it's likely that he'll join another church as an adult, or go through their confirmation process... and we'll attend half time there.

It is rotten. It is miserable. And no one is completely happy... which prolly means it is the right decision. At least for now...

Sometimes the right answer is No.

It's odd really. I have little problem saying no to so many things. I can say no to my daughter's request to go to the mall, no to my son's wish for a new video game, no to a second helping (although that is a recent development) sometimes no is easy.

I have noticed, though, that sometimes no is harder to say. When a friend asks if I can do a favor, when my son wants to stay later to work on debate, when my daughter asks if I can bake some cookies or cupcakes for school... it is so easy to say yes. Sometimes, though, yes is not the right answer. The right answer is no.

I've done it so many times. I've overloaded my schedule creating stress for myself, my family and damaging those things that are really important. Honestly. It's been a real problem for me.

Now, I know, especially in the wake of our new President's call to service my focus on faith and family, etc., and unwillingness to bite off more than I can chew may seem downright selfish. Perhaps it is. On the other hand, though, Jesus tells us that our highest commitment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind and soul. (Matthew 22:37) He also reminds us that we must remain in Him. He tells us, basically, I am the vine and you are the branches, cut off from me, you can do nothing. (John 15:5)

I have to keep first things first. In keeping the main thing the main thing, there are many temptations. It's also important to remember our passions. We all have things that energize us and make us feel alive. God made us this way! For me, it's running and fitness. I need to have time to pursue that on a regular basis.

I am fortunate, and also a bit politically incorrect, because I've learned the Lord has given me an ally. My husband. I've found that he, more than I, is better able to combat the feelings of condemnation and guilt I feel when I say no to what appears to be a worthy cause. He helps make me sure that I choose what is best... and avoid Martha's mistake.

After all, if I spend 40 hours at work, and 20 hours volunteering for good causes, but my family doesn't have dinner, and my teens need the support of outside mentors... I've not accomplished anything. If I don't have connection with Him, all my work will come to nothing. If I've not allowed time to do the things I am passionate about... I'll lose my passion.

So... I'm not saying not to answer the new President's call... I'm saying to prayerfully consider how you can best serve, and to remember that keeping the first commandment is still the most important. :)

Feelings

I've been pondering this for quite some time. Obviously, we were created with emotions and these are gifts from God. However, I also know that these emotions can cause us problems in our walk with Him.

There are times when we may feel exceptionally close to Him. We have the sense that He is with us, and surrounds us with his loving presence. Those are wonderful times in a Christian's walk. The fact is there is no feeling that is better.

At other times, though, we may feel abandoned. We have the sense that He is gone and has withdrawn from us. These are painful and hard times in a Christian's walk. The fact is that there is no feeling that is more hurtful.

However, the reality is that we cannot trust our feelings about our closeness to Him. Paul says, for we walk by faith and not by sight. He might just as well have said, we walk by faith and not by feelings. Our feelings can be wrong, and inaccurate.

Our sight can be off. We've had blizzards here in sunny but freezing SoDakota, and I must tell you those blizzards...are really something. You can be driving along and think you know where the road is, but a sudden gust of howling wind, and blowing snow, whites out the road right in front of you. Sight... is not such a good guide in times like these. :)

Ever taken offense at a comment that was meant innocently? Ever assumed something about someone that was incorrect because of a feeling that you had? These are just examples of how we can be misled.

The good news, though, is that the Lord knows how He made us. He's given us His word to follow. If we trust in that and walk by faith in the word when those doubts and feelings of abandonment set in, we'll know that He is always with us... He promised He would be.

So today, I'm going to work on walking more by faith and less by sight. More by faith, and less by feelings.

Be Blessed!

Time

Sometimes there are not enough hours in the day. So much that I want to get done and accomplished.

It's times like these that I have to be watchful and wary. It's so easy to say, oh well, I'll do my devotion later in the day... and then that particular time never arrives. I'm learning a bit about my spiritual muscles as I learned last year about my physical self. I am the sort of person who really shouldn't put these most important things off.

I used to put off exercise until later in the day and would make the excuse that there just isn't time. There was time, though. I just hadn't made using it for exercise a priority. Now, I'm not saying that to beat up on anyone... I'm saying it because I now recognize it as a truth for myself.

I realize that what I did with exercise I've done with my time with Him. I've said that I have no time. When, in reality, I haven't used the time for and with Him. A simple change of focus, and suddenly... it's easier.

I'd rather spend time exercising, and sitting at His feet instead of watching another mindless show, or something else. It really reminds me of the story where a professor is discussing time management with students. He takes a jar and fills it with sand then tries to put larger rocks in and everything doesn't fit. However, when he puts the rocks in first, the sand fills in around the rocks and everything fits.

So... what are your rocks? What things are so important that you'll fill your jar of time with? For me, those rocks are God, exercise, work, family, church. Although, not necessarily in exactly that order. The sand... is important too. But if the rocks are first... the sand will fit.