http://online.worldmag.com/2012/04/12/40-days-of-pro-evil-prayer/. This article is about a group of people praying in favor of the abortion industry, "copying" 40 Days for Life, which has had success in closing down abortion clinics in the name of Jesus through their prayer vigils. Really, people?
Ugh. Queasy just thinking about it.
I guess the comfort is that God WILL NOT be answering these prayers. I think I can safely say that. I'm not sure which god they think they're praying to, to be honest. Not the God of the Bible, that's for sure.
May they be confronted with the evil they are promoting, may those who participated in 40 Days for Life continue to intercede for the unborn, may those caught up in the abortion lies and industry repent and find hope in Christ, and may these mislead, blind people praying that babies will continue to be killed in the womb repent and turn to God, who is wholeheartedly the God of LIFE.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Kinda Sorta Spring Maybe Not Really
I realize I have not updated on life in awhile, mostly because there hasn't been anything major to update on since I last wrote, but here it goes anyway.
I'm still working at my job, still doing the same thing, still somewhat bored most of the time but grateful I have a job with steady income and insurance, and I'm ever keeping my eyes open for advisor positions, which maybe one day I'll actually get. Cooper is still working his hospital bed delivery job, though it might be more accurate to say he is still on payroll because he rarely gets any extra hours apart from his monthly stipend. So he applied and got a security position at a golf resort/private ritzy neighborhood in town that has required him to work night shifts, which has been an adjustment but not quite as difficult an adjustment as I anticipated, so praise the Lord for that. He's almost working full-time with that, so it has been good to have extra income in that sense as well. He is considering going back to school in the fall to see about pursuing a computer science degree, but that has yet to be decided on fully. We will see!
Our new apartment/townhouse is great and I feel like I could actually stay in this place for a longer period of time. It's really feeling homey now, and having a cat is lovely. God really gave us a sweet kitty, and she's been a source of joy and entertainment and warm furry-ness for both of us.
We are both anticipating spring, but our town seems to not want to decide on a season, and when it does, it seems to like winter better. We are supposed to get a large snowstorm this weekend, and I'm praying it's the last of the season, because I'm really sick of winter. But I'm not holding my breath. We managed to take a short weekend trip south for a friend's wedding, and that was a nice change into warm scenery. I was also able to attend a book festival with the friend we stayed with and sit in on some author-led workshops about writing. That was helpful and enjoyable.
In two weekends we are planning a girls' trip to Phoenix and a night on a town, which I'm really looking forward to. In May, Cooper has planned a surprise early anniversary trip somewhere, I'm not sure where! I have some guesses, but I am trying not to think too much about it so I don't ruin the surprise! I am really looking forward to it though. We haven't had an actual vacation in a long time. The rest of the summer will probably consist of working for both of us, me auditioning for another musical (I really had fun with that last summer and would love to do it again) maybe some weekend jaunts here and there, and the arrival of two nephews in June (which will likely involve visits from out-of-town family). That will be good too.
As far as the God-walk, it has been going better. I've been reading my Bible more regularly. I have returned to Facebook because it's the way I keep in contact with so many people, but I've resolved to not start or engage in Facebook moral/political debates. I'm struggling a bit with loneliness and not feeling like I fit in anywhere at church, and dealing, at this very moment in fact, with some hurt feelings (mine) and trying to figure out what I need to apologize for and who I need to confront, if at all, and whether or not to remove myself from the situation entirely from here on out. We will see. I don't want to say more than that, but prayers are appreciated, if you think of it. Oh, and I'm writing again! Actually writing! I will probably not show anybody the draft (a general fiction novel) until it's completed (though I've already broken that rule with Cooper, but he can be the exception), but once it's done, I will show it to a select, gentle few, and then make it more available for feedback after that. But I'm excited to be writing something I'm passionate about again. It feels good.
Blessings to all of you!
I'm still working at my job, still doing the same thing, still somewhat bored most of the time but grateful I have a job with steady income and insurance, and I'm ever keeping my eyes open for advisor positions, which maybe one day I'll actually get. Cooper is still working his hospital bed delivery job, though it might be more accurate to say he is still on payroll because he rarely gets any extra hours apart from his monthly stipend. So he applied and got a security position at a golf resort/private ritzy neighborhood in town that has required him to work night shifts, which has been an adjustment but not quite as difficult an adjustment as I anticipated, so praise the Lord for that. He's almost working full-time with that, so it has been good to have extra income in that sense as well. He is considering going back to school in the fall to see about pursuing a computer science degree, but that has yet to be decided on fully. We will see!
Our new apartment/townhouse is great and I feel like I could actually stay in this place for a longer period of time. It's really feeling homey now, and having a cat is lovely. God really gave us a sweet kitty, and she's been a source of joy and entertainment and warm furry-ness for both of us.
We are both anticipating spring, but our town seems to not want to decide on a season, and when it does, it seems to like winter better. We are supposed to get a large snowstorm this weekend, and I'm praying it's the last of the season, because I'm really sick of winter. But I'm not holding my breath. We managed to take a short weekend trip south for a friend's wedding, and that was a nice change into warm scenery. I was also able to attend a book festival with the friend we stayed with and sit in on some author-led workshops about writing. That was helpful and enjoyable.
In two weekends we are planning a girls' trip to Phoenix and a night on a town, which I'm really looking forward to. In May, Cooper has planned a surprise early anniversary trip somewhere, I'm not sure where! I have some guesses, but I am trying not to think too much about it so I don't ruin the surprise! I am really looking forward to it though. We haven't had an actual vacation in a long time. The rest of the summer will probably consist of working for both of us, me auditioning for another musical (I really had fun with that last summer and would love to do it again) maybe some weekend jaunts here and there, and the arrival of two nephews in June (which will likely involve visits from out-of-town family). That will be good too.
As far as the God-walk, it has been going better. I've been reading my Bible more regularly. I have returned to Facebook because it's the way I keep in contact with so many people, but I've resolved to not start or engage in Facebook moral/political debates. I'm struggling a bit with loneliness and not feeling like I fit in anywhere at church, and dealing, at this very moment in fact, with some hurt feelings (mine) and trying to figure out what I need to apologize for and who I need to confront, if at all, and whether or not to remove myself from the situation entirely from here on out. We will see. I don't want to say more than that, but prayers are appreciated, if you think of it. Oh, and I'm writing again! Actually writing! I will probably not show anybody the draft (a general fiction novel) until it's completed (though I've already broken that rule with Cooper, but he can be the exception), but once it's done, I will show it to a select, gentle few, and then make it more available for feedback after that. But I'm excited to be writing something I'm passionate about again. It feels good.
Blessings to all of you!
Friday, January 20, 2012
Great New Housekeeping/Marriage/Jesus Walk Blog
I just discovered this lovely lady's blog on Crosswalk, and I want to meet her in person and be friends. Except I think she lives in another state. Seems awesome though. I just read a post where she was talking about keeping house (specifically, meal planning), and she admitted that worksheet meal planning didn't work for her. THANK YOU! And then she said something along the lines of, "You find what works for you and stop comparing yourself to other people."
I needed to hear that! I'm surrounded all the time by people who I think have it all together and I can't seem to ever measure up, and then she says that, and I think, "Well, of course we all do things differently and are in different places."
Sigh of relief. Sometimes we just need those reminders.
Anyway, here's her blog, if you want to check it out. :-)
http://lifeblessons.blogspot.com/
I needed to hear that! I'm surrounded all the time by people who I think have it all together and I can't seem to ever measure up, and then she says that, and I think, "Well, of course we all do things differently and are in different places."
Sigh of relief. Sometimes we just need those reminders.
Anyway, here's her blog, if you want to check it out. :-)
http://lifeblessons.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Holiday Happenings
It's been awhile since I've blogged; the holiday season sort of bulldozed us with moving to a new place, family and friend commitments, and other busy fun. It was a good month and a half, but I'm glad to be able to take life a little slower now. I would include pictures with my rambling, but our internet has been down with no real hope from the company (they are really starting to annoy me), so pictures will have to wait. I hope you bear with me though!
Thanksgiving was spent in the San Diego area with Cooper's parents and family. We had a really nice time while we were there, enjoying the mild weather. California really has that going for it. We attended a church service with Cooper's parents on Thanksgiving day, and then had a mid-afternoon meal with them and his brother Chad and his wife, Sarah. We spent the next day touring around the beautiful beach areas with Chad and Sarah, having good sandwiches at a little place right near the coast and then walking around on the piers. I was particularly fascinated by the old ship that was docked there and took far too many pictures. I just like old stuff, I guess. We also walked around on the beach where there were some tide pools, just slow hang-out time that we don't get much of. Another blessing we got was the opportunity to spend a couple of hours with our friends Ross and Jessica, who moved to the L.A. area this past fall and we have missed our regular game/dinner nights with them. They met us at Dana Point and we had a nice catch-up chat over frozen yogurt (by the way, I'm officially a fan of these self-serve frozen yogurt places that are popping up. You get to pick your flavor and toppings and give yourself just the portion you want, which means I spend maybe $2 on the treat. Right on!) We also made a thrift store run (California thrift stores are better than ours), landed some nice lamps to replace the cheap garage sale ones that were quickly going downhill that we had before, but the trip turned into a car break down the day before we left. Praise the Lord, we found a mechanic that happened to be open on a Saturday on a holiday weekend, and we were set to leave on schedule as planned. Cooper's Dad helped us out a lot in getting us a tow and paying for the repair. We are certainly blessed with the family we have!
The weekend before Christmas, we moved out of our old tiny cramped apartment into a new not-so-cramped-with-lots-of-storage townhouse! I'm so happy with our new place! The move went off without a hitch; my parents helped, as well as our friends Blake, John, Alia, and Cooper's brother Caleb, so everything went really fast. The boys lifted all the heavy stuff, Alia got the rest, Caleb used his engineering skills to pack the truck just right, and my Mom and I were freed up to clean the apartment as everything got moved out. We were done by four in the afternoon! The one and only downside of our new place is that it is not close to the direct bus line to campus, so Cooper is now driving me to work (I'm boycotting NAU's ridiculous permit prices and lack of parking). But otherwise, I'm loving it and looking forward to getting everything organized. We even have a washer and drier inside the new place which wasn't something we were expecting. Praise the Lord!
Christmas Adam was spent with the Young/Vaughan/Lanting clan at the Kachina house. We had a nice dinner, read the Christmas story, sang carols, opened a couple gifts, and generally enjoyed each other's company. Kale'a took me for a lengthy walk around the house (me bent at the waist, holding her hands, while she toddled happily along; I'm crazy about my niece!), Peter beat me solidly at chess, and Anne had fun looking at Cooper's fancy touch phone. I was not brave enough to try eggnog and I don't imagine I ever will be (sorry Grace!). Christmas Eve we spent attempting to organize our apartment and running last minute errands, and then went to a Christmas Eve service at Christ Church of Flagstaff, where my brother and his wife attend. We then went to my sister-in-law's sister's house for dinner and visiting, and were entertained by the antics of her young nieces, Olivia and Claire. Christmas day we went to church (low turn-out, which was sad), then went to my parents' house, were we lounged around, opened gifts, tried to keep the dogs from getting into too much trouble, and ate a yummy dinner provided by my amazing Mommy.
On the 27th, we got up at the crack of dawn and headed to Phoenix to fly out to Baltimore with my parents to see my extended family. We barely caught the flight on time, which made the airport kind of stressful. Airports stress me out to begin with, and being rushed didn't help. Flying was smooth from there though, and I officially appreciate the flight attendants on Southwest; they made all sorts of jokes during their safety lecture, like, "If you would like to smoke, we have a smoking section the wings, where we will also show the feature film, 'Gone with the Wind'" and "If the cabin pressure drops, stop screaming, let go of the passenger next to you, and pull down on the oxygen masks...". Good times. The trip was generally a lot of driving around to get to various people and sitting around talking to various people, but highlights included a visit to Fort McHenry, where a battle was fought that inspired Francis Scott Key to write The Star Spangled Banner, lunch with my cousin Erin who is four years younger than me and her new husband, Ben (they are both professional musicians and love Jesus so it was delightful to sit and chat with them), a walk around my childhood favorite, Rehoboth Beach on New Years, a New Years party family get-together, and thanking God my sick Grandma made it to one more year and seeing her with my mom's step-siblings. All in all, I love my family, am grateful for them, and always leave wishing we lived closer.
I just celebrated my birthday yesterday (26...what a boring age to turn). It was a lovely day, filled with not working (I took the day off), watching Pride and Prejudice (I did this before Cooper woke up so he wouldn't make fun of me too much), having a nice slow cup of morning coffee, and then we drove out to go buy a kitty! We ended up getting her from the Humane Society. Yes, we now have a new addition to our family of the feline variety. She came with the name Tuna but we thought that was horribly generic and boring so after some deliberation we renamed her Narnia. She's kind of tortoise shell in color with a black face, and she's very lovey dovey, which is exactly the kind of cat I wanted. For additional birthday celebrations, we went to my favorite restaurant, Oreganos, and then we went to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie, which was really good. So it was a fantastic day, especially spending it with the bestest hubby in the world. :-)
I'm excited to see what God will do with us in the year to come. It's never dull.
Thanksgiving was spent in the San Diego area with Cooper's parents and family. We had a really nice time while we were there, enjoying the mild weather. California really has that going for it. We attended a church service with Cooper's parents on Thanksgiving day, and then had a mid-afternoon meal with them and his brother Chad and his wife, Sarah. We spent the next day touring around the beautiful beach areas with Chad and Sarah, having good sandwiches at a little place right near the coast and then walking around on the piers. I was particularly fascinated by the old ship that was docked there and took far too many pictures. I just like old stuff, I guess. We also walked around on the beach where there were some tide pools, just slow hang-out time that we don't get much of. Another blessing we got was the opportunity to spend a couple of hours with our friends Ross and Jessica, who moved to the L.A. area this past fall and we have missed our regular game/dinner nights with them. They met us at Dana Point and we had a nice catch-up chat over frozen yogurt (by the way, I'm officially a fan of these self-serve frozen yogurt places that are popping up. You get to pick your flavor and toppings and give yourself just the portion you want, which means I spend maybe $2 on the treat. Right on!) We also made a thrift store run (California thrift stores are better than ours), landed some nice lamps to replace the cheap garage sale ones that were quickly going downhill that we had before, but the trip turned into a car break down the day before we left. Praise the Lord, we found a mechanic that happened to be open on a Saturday on a holiday weekend, and we were set to leave on schedule as planned. Cooper's Dad helped us out a lot in getting us a tow and paying for the repair. We are certainly blessed with the family we have!
The weekend before Christmas, we moved out of our old tiny cramped apartment into a new not-so-cramped-with-lots-of-storage townhouse! I'm so happy with our new place! The move went off without a hitch; my parents helped, as well as our friends Blake, John, Alia, and Cooper's brother Caleb, so everything went really fast. The boys lifted all the heavy stuff, Alia got the rest, Caleb used his engineering skills to pack the truck just right, and my Mom and I were freed up to clean the apartment as everything got moved out. We were done by four in the afternoon! The one and only downside of our new place is that it is not close to the direct bus line to campus, so Cooper is now driving me to work (I'm boycotting NAU's ridiculous permit prices and lack of parking). But otherwise, I'm loving it and looking forward to getting everything organized. We even have a washer and drier inside the new place which wasn't something we were expecting. Praise the Lord!
Christmas Adam was spent with the Young/Vaughan/Lanting clan at the Kachina house. We had a nice dinner, read the Christmas story, sang carols, opened a couple gifts, and generally enjoyed each other's company. Kale'a took me for a lengthy walk around the house (me bent at the waist, holding her hands, while she toddled happily along; I'm crazy about my niece!), Peter beat me solidly at chess, and Anne had fun looking at Cooper's fancy touch phone. I was not brave enough to try eggnog and I don't imagine I ever will be (sorry Grace!). Christmas Eve we spent attempting to organize our apartment and running last minute errands, and then went to a Christmas Eve service at Christ Church of Flagstaff, where my brother and his wife attend. We then went to my sister-in-law's sister's house for dinner and visiting, and were entertained by the antics of her young nieces, Olivia and Claire. Christmas day we went to church (low turn-out, which was sad), then went to my parents' house, were we lounged around, opened gifts, tried to keep the dogs from getting into too much trouble, and ate a yummy dinner provided by my amazing Mommy.
On the 27th, we got up at the crack of dawn and headed to Phoenix to fly out to Baltimore with my parents to see my extended family. We barely caught the flight on time, which made the airport kind of stressful. Airports stress me out to begin with, and being rushed didn't help. Flying was smooth from there though, and I officially appreciate the flight attendants on Southwest; they made all sorts of jokes during their safety lecture, like, "If you would like to smoke, we have a smoking section the wings, where we will also show the feature film, 'Gone with the Wind'" and "If the cabin pressure drops, stop screaming, let go of the passenger next to you, and pull down on the oxygen masks...". Good times. The trip was generally a lot of driving around to get to various people and sitting around talking to various people, but highlights included a visit to Fort McHenry, where a battle was fought that inspired Francis Scott Key to write The Star Spangled Banner, lunch with my cousin Erin who is four years younger than me and her new husband, Ben (they are both professional musicians and love Jesus so it was delightful to sit and chat with them), a walk around my childhood favorite, Rehoboth Beach on New Years, a New Years party family get-together, and thanking God my sick Grandma made it to one more year and seeing her with my mom's step-siblings. All in all, I love my family, am grateful for them, and always leave wishing we lived closer.
I just celebrated my birthday yesterday (26...what a boring age to turn). It was a lovely day, filled with not working (I took the day off), watching Pride and Prejudice (I did this before Cooper woke up so he wouldn't make fun of me too much), having a nice slow cup of morning coffee, and then we drove out to go buy a kitty! We ended up getting her from the Humane Society. Yes, we now have a new addition to our family of the feline variety. She came with the name Tuna but we thought that was horribly generic and boring so after some deliberation we renamed her Narnia. She's kind of tortoise shell in color with a black face, and she's very lovey dovey, which is exactly the kind of cat I wanted. For additional birthday celebrations, we went to my favorite restaurant, Oreganos, and then we went to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie, which was really good. So it was a fantastic day, especially spending it with the bestest hubby in the world. :-)
I'm excited to see what God will do with us in the year to come. It's never dull.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Merry Christmas!
"Humans have been shouting their question for millennia: Why in God's name won't you show up? They say it when the moment seems to demand a force to do good: If you are God, then do something. But to show up in those moments would be to come in your name, not Mine. My ways are not your ways. ... She was brave. Only Joseph by her side, a cramped place to give birth, noise everywhere. And more. As she screamed out in pain, the Deceiver stood ready to devour My Son. The heavens shook with war. Michael and his angels reeled. Mighty One, do something!
I AM."~John Blase, "Touching Wonder"
Merry Christmas, everyone.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Chilling Words
http://www.dennyburk.com/is-it-a-child-or-a-fetus/
This website confirmed an intention of mine that I'm already adamant about: if and when I ever become pregnant, I will not let a doctor or nurse call my baby a fetus. Baby, child, infant, whatever...those are fine. But not fetus. I will correct them until I am obnoxious about it. I know it medically IS a fetus, but in our culture, it's a word people use to dehumanize what is definitely human. It's amazing--and chilling--how language reflects and influences culture. We should be careful how we use it, particularly when innocent lives are at stake.
This website confirmed an intention of mine that I'm already adamant about: if and when I ever become pregnant, I will not let a doctor or nurse call my baby a fetus. Baby, child, infant, whatever...those are fine. But not fetus. I will correct them until I am obnoxious about it. I know it medically IS a fetus, but in our culture, it's a word people use to dehumanize what is definitely human. It's amazing--and chilling--how language reflects and influences culture. We should be careful how we use it, particularly when innocent lives are at stake.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Calvinism vs. Armenism
Nanowrimo update: 13,821 words. I'm not sure I'm going to make 50,000 by the end of the month!
And this article is fantastic. Short sweet, and answers a great question about Calvinism. http://www.whitehorseinn.org/blog/2011/11/16/does-calvinism-make-god-a-moral-monster/
And this article is fantastic. Short sweet, and answers a great question about Calvinism. http://www.whitehorseinn.org/blog/2011/11/16/does-calvinism-make-god-a-moral-monster/
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