I was just blessed with a "new" computer (yay!!) which is of a different ilk than the previous, and my photos (and everything else) are still on the other computer. So I guess that'll have to wait.
Tonight was fun. We (being about 25 members of NW Church) got together for a read-thru of what will be this year's Christmas program. It was fabulous! (Kudos, Jeff!) Very fun music - lots of toe-tappers. The story is one that many will relate to. For me, it says something about how the True Christmas really gets lost in all the trappings and glitz and glimmer, the shallow and hollow promises that commercialism offers. Christmas is found when all of that is gone and you realize He has been there, quietly, all along, you just failed to recognize (or remember) Him.
Anyway, the story speaks of a boy's search for Christmas after it has come up missing. It is a charming story and I hope you will all be there (at the performance) to find out what happens. It's a very interesting and worthwhile journey.
Well, that's all for now. I gots to get to bed.
Later!
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Monday, July 23, 2007
What do you treasure?
I started reading a book just before leaving for Mexico, titled, "Revolution in World Missions" by KP Yohannan. I haven't finished it yet, but it's been an interesting and thought-provoking read. In it he quotes "Economist Robert Heilbroner [who] describes the luxuries a typical American family would have to surrender if they lived among the 1 billion hungry people in the Two-Thirds World".
As you read this I challenge you to see yourself in this position and consider what it is you truly value; what do you treasure?
"We begin by invading the house of our imaginary American family to strip it of its furniture. Everything goes: beds, chairs, tables, television sets, lamps. We will leave the family with a few old blankets, a kitchen table, a wooden chair. Along with the bureaus go the clothes. Each member of the family may keep in his wardrobe his oldest suit or dress, a shirt or blouse. We will permit a pair of shoes for the head of the family, but none for the wife or children.
We move to the kitchen. The appliances have already been taken out, so we turn to the cupboards....The box of matches may stay, a small bag of flour, some sugar and salt. A few moldy potatoes, already in the garbage can, must be rescued, for they will provide much of tonight's meal. We will leave a handful of onions and a dish of dried beans. All the rest we take away: the meat, the fresh vegetables, the canned goods, the crackers, the candy.
Now we have stripped the house: the bathroom has been dismantled, the running water shut off, the electric wires taken out. Next we take away the house. The family can move to the tool shed....Communications must go next. No more newspapers, magazines, books-not that they are missed, since we must take away our family's literacy as well. Instead, in our shantytown we will allow one radio....
Now government services must go next. No more postmen, no more firemen. There is a school, but it is three miles away and consists of two classrooms....There are, of course, no hospitals or doctors nearby. The nearest clinic is ten miles away and is tended by a midwife. It can be reached by bicycle, provided the family has a bicycle, which is unlikely....
Finally, money. We will allow our family a cash hoard of five dollars. This will prevent our breadwinner from experiencing the tragedy of an Iranian peasant who went blind because he could not raise the $3.94 which he mistakenly thought he needed to receive admission to a hospital where he could have been cured."
The spin I'm putting on this is somewhat different than the author's intention, but I couldn't help think about it as I read this quote. After all this is gone: the stuff, the trappings, the things (or people) we all feel are "needs"- after it's all gone, what do you have left? Anything?
Something to think about, isn't it?
As you read this I challenge you to see yourself in this position and consider what it is you truly value; what do you treasure?
"We begin by invading the house of our imaginary American family to strip it of its furniture. Everything goes: beds, chairs, tables, television sets, lamps. We will leave the family with a few old blankets, a kitchen table, a wooden chair. Along with the bureaus go the clothes. Each member of the family may keep in his wardrobe his oldest suit or dress, a shirt or blouse. We will permit a pair of shoes for the head of the family, but none for the wife or children.
We move to the kitchen. The appliances have already been taken out, so we turn to the cupboards....The box of matches may stay, a small bag of flour, some sugar and salt. A few moldy potatoes, already in the garbage can, must be rescued, for they will provide much of tonight's meal. We will leave a handful of onions and a dish of dried beans. All the rest we take away: the meat, the fresh vegetables, the canned goods, the crackers, the candy.
Now we have stripped the house: the bathroom has been dismantled, the running water shut off, the electric wires taken out. Next we take away the house. The family can move to the tool shed....Communications must go next. No more newspapers, magazines, books-not that they are missed, since we must take away our family's literacy as well. Instead, in our shantytown we will allow one radio....
Now government services must go next. No more postmen, no more firemen. There is a school, but it is three miles away and consists of two classrooms....There are, of course, no hospitals or doctors nearby. The nearest clinic is ten miles away and is tended by a midwife. It can be reached by bicycle, provided the family has a bicycle, which is unlikely....
Finally, money. We will allow our family a cash hoard of five dollars. This will prevent our breadwinner from experiencing the tragedy of an Iranian peasant who went blind because he could not raise the $3.94 which he mistakenly thought he needed to receive admission to a hospital where he could have been cured."
The spin I'm putting on this is somewhat different than the author's intention, but I couldn't help think about it as I read this quote. After all this is gone: the stuff, the trappings, the things (or people) we all feel are "needs"- after it's all gone, what do you have left? Anything?
Something to think about, isn't it?
Friday, July 20, 2007
I'll look up the daily schedule later.
I'm tired. I did put up a couple more pic's tho. I've started using an editing program and have had fun playing around with some of the pictures. Still trying to get the pic's of the San Diego architecture I told you about. I can't get to all of them from my blog (the ones I most want to show you, of course)! When I figure it out I'll post them for ya!
Till then - good night!
Till then - good night!
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Well, it's finally "tomorrow"...
So where did I leave off? Oh yes, the shopping.
Every year, most of the coordinators fly down to San Diego a day early. We meet up for lunch at Olive Garden and then divide and conquer. A couple of people hit Home Depot while the rest of us invade the local Costco. It always amuses me to see the check-out people's eyes bug out when we line up our 8 or so carts and flatbeds (piled high!). By now we have the shopping & check-out procedure down to a fine art so it usually goes fairly smoothly. We haul it out to the parking lot and divide it pretty evenly amongst the one cargo van and 3-4 minivans. Then we head to the border.
We don't usually have a problem getting in. We're honest about what we haul. Our little caravan stops at the border while George, aka "Tango", goes in and talks to the guards to tell them what we're all about. He's down there a lot so he's become quite a familiar face at the Tecate crossing.
The "Tango" is a military reference. Each of the Club Rust vehicles is labeled for easy identification (Alpha, Charlie, Delta, Juliet, Tango, XRay - the buses have become simply "Bus 1", "Bus 2", etc rather than "Bravo"). One year, the rental company messed up our order and we ended up with more 7 passenger vans than we were supposed to (they were supposed to be 15 passengers) We went all the way up to "Lima" that year. That was a sight coming down the road!
After we get everything settled in at the ranch (Rancho la Paloma), we head in to Tecate for dinner at our favorite restaurant, Pollo Feliz. The best chicken you have ever had! If you're ever near the border, I highly recommend stopping in for a bite! Yum!
While eating we dole out the chores for the next day. Most of the group go back to San Diego to pick up & register the "campers". A few of us stay back to make sure everything's ready at the ranch and to boil eggs. Lots of eggs. LOTS of eggs. BIG pots. Very Hot. (Thank you, Maureen!) Zak, of course, spends the day in the pool. His favorite place. Now if only he could swim....(BTW, in case you are concerned, he is not left unattended in the pool).
The group usually arrives at the ranch around 7pm, depending on how the border crossing went. They come in very excited and raring to go. It's hard for everyone to get to sleep - the first night. After that, sleep comes pretty easily. I'll give you a general run-down of the schedule tomorrow.
Now, I'm off to sleep too!
Every year, most of the coordinators fly down to San Diego a day early. We meet up for lunch at Olive Garden and then divide and conquer. A couple of people hit Home Depot while the rest of us invade the local Costco. It always amuses me to see the check-out people's eyes bug out when we line up our 8 or so carts and flatbeds (piled high!). By now we have the shopping & check-out procedure down to a fine art so it usually goes fairly smoothly. We haul it out to the parking lot and divide it pretty evenly amongst the one cargo van and 3-4 minivans. Then we head to the border.
We don't usually have a problem getting in. We're honest about what we haul. Our little caravan stops at the border while George, aka "Tango", goes in and talks to the guards to tell them what we're all about. He's down there a lot so he's become quite a familiar face at the Tecate crossing.
The "Tango" is a military reference. Each of the Club Rust vehicles is labeled for easy identification (Alpha, Charlie, Delta, Juliet, Tango, XRay - the buses have become simply "Bus 1", "Bus 2", etc rather than "Bravo"). One year, the rental company messed up our order and we ended up with more 7 passenger vans than we were supposed to (they were supposed to be 15 passengers) We went all the way up to "Lima" that year. That was a sight coming down the road!
After we get everything settled in at the ranch (Rancho la Paloma), we head in to Tecate for dinner at our favorite restaurant, Pollo Feliz. The best chicken you have ever had! If you're ever near the border, I highly recommend stopping in for a bite! Yum!
While eating we dole out the chores for the next day. Most of the group go back to San Diego to pick up & register the "campers". A few of us stay back to make sure everything's ready at the ranch and to boil eggs. Lots of eggs. LOTS of eggs. BIG pots. Very Hot. (Thank you, Maureen!) Zak, of course, spends the day in the pool. His favorite place. Now if only he could swim....(BTW, in case you are concerned, he is not left unattended in the pool).
The group usually arrives at the ranch around 7pm, depending on how the border crossing went. They come in very excited and raring to go. It's hard for everyone to get to sleep - the first night. After that, sleep comes pretty easily. I'll give you a general run-down of the schedule tomorrow.
Now, I'm off to sleep too!
Monday, July 16, 2007
A little about our trip...
We flew out Saturday, June 30. Our flight was supposed to leave around 7:30pm, however, update after update and we finally boarded about 10:20pm (We did get free mileage and $6 food vouchers - each- which we used to buy bagels for breakfast the next day. We also got some hurkin' big fruit smoothies to while away the time at the airport. That reminds me, a mom and her adult son sat across from us at the gate. Very nice people- we made pleasant conversation (she was eying my CBD catalog). He did several slight-of-hand tricks for Zak. Pretty fun).
Anyway, after finally boarding, we still ended up sitting on the tarmac for another 30 minutes or so because they had to drain water out of something on the plane. One of the pumps wasn't working right or they put the water in the wrong compartment or something. Thankfully, we had already called the hotel to tell them we were running late so they wouldn't give our room away.
We arrived at the Omni, San Diego at around 2:30 am. They were waiting for us. The Omni is a cool place to stay. It's one of the nicer hotels and is located "spittin' distance" from the Gaslamp Quarter. When we arrived, they had a really nice gift bag for Zak. They really cater to families. The gift bag itself was a high-quality sturdy paper complete with velcro closure and straps so it could be worn as a backpack. Inside the bag was a nice hard plastic cup with lid and reusable straw (and a certificate for unlimited free refills at the hotel restaurant), a slinky, a rubber bracelet, a superball with rubber jacks, and I forget what else. There was also a certificate for free milk and cookie. Good cookie, too! Mmmmm! And big!
Outside the hotel is a fountain of sorts. It's really just a square area with water jets underneath that shoot up water at varying intervals & patterns. Zak had great fun running around in there! We had fun watching. It was positively hysterical at times!
We spent nearly all day, Sunday, walking around the Gaslamp Quarter. Just walking. It was very relaxing- no phones, no time tables, no agendas.... peaceful. I did take my camera and took way more pictures than I had intended. Every few steps or so, Zak, who apparently has an eye for interesting architecture, would beg me to take a picture of this or that lamp or fence or building. There actually is some very interesting architecture in this area. I'll post a couple of the pic's for you. There were some especially interesting features at a mall we went too.
The next day, Monday, we checked out and joined more of the Club Rust coordinators for lunch and shopping for the Club Rust group which would be arriving Tuesday.
More on that tomorrow...
Anyway, after finally boarding, we still ended up sitting on the tarmac for another 30 minutes or so because they had to drain water out of something on the plane. One of the pumps wasn't working right or they put the water in the wrong compartment or something. Thankfully, we had already called the hotel to tell them we were running late so they wouldn't give our room away.
We arrived at the Omni, San Diego at around 2:30 am. They were waiting for us. The Omni is a cool place to stay. It's one of the nicer hotels and is located "spittin' distance" from the Gaslamp Quarter. When we arrived, they had a really nice gift bag for Zak. They really cater to families. The gift bag itself was a high-quality sturdy paper complete with velcro closure and straps so it could be worn as a backpack. Inside the bag was a nice hard plastic cup with lid and reusable straw (and a certificate for unlimited free refills at the hotel restaurant), a slinky, a rubber bracelet, a superball with rubber jacks, and I forget what else. There was also a certificate for free milk and cookie. Good cookie, too! Mmmmm! And big!
Outside the hotel is a fountain of sorts. It's really just a square area with water jets underneath that shoot up water at varying intervals & patterns. Zak had great fun running around in there! We had fun watching. It was positively hysterical at times!
We spent nearly all day, Sunday, walking around the Gaslamp Quarter. Just walking. It was very relaxing- no phones, no time tables, no agendas.... peaceful. I did take my camera and took way more pictures than I had intended. Every few steps or so, Zak, who apparently has an eye for interesting architecture, would beg me to take a picture of this or that lamp or fence or building. There actually is some very interesting architecture in this area. I'll post a couple of the pic's for you. There were some especially interesting features at a mall we went too.
The next day, Monday, we checked out and joined more of the Club Rust coordinators for lunch and shopping for the Club Rust group which would be arriving Tuesday.
More on that tomorrow...
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Happy Birthday to Me!!!
Okay. I did it. I made it to another decade...and I'm still coming to grips with that fact!
How do these years fly by so fast? I've said it for years and I'll say it again - I'm convinced that God is gradually speeding up time (and the clocks, etc). Everyone I talk to seems to feel that the older you get the faster time goes. Well, maybe it really is going faster. :)
Or maybe we've just got so much we're trying to cram into what time we have, that we feel time is faster because we just don't get it all done. Maybe if we slowed down time would too?
Just a thought....
How do these years fly by so fast? I've said it for years and I'll say it again - I'm convinced that God is gradually speeding up time (and the clocks, etc). Everyone I talk to seems to feel that the older you get the faster time goes. Well, maybe it really is going faster. :)
Or maybe we've just got so much we're trying to cram into what time we have, that we feel time is faster because we just don't get it all done. Maybe if we slowed down time would too?
Just a thought....
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Spiral
Okay, so this is something I wrote which was inspired by the yellow rose on the right.
softly spiraling
swirling inward then out
inward, a journey
deeply illuminating
finding The Way
discovery of Life
outward, a destiny
a searching, an imparting
of Wisdom discovered
along The Way
come follow Me
share in True Beauty
delight in the artistry
which is you
Cassie Landrum
copyright June 2007
softly spiraling
swirling inward then out
inward, a journey
deeply illuminating
finding The Way
discovery of Life
outward, a destiny
a searching, an imparting
of Wisdom discovered
along The Way
come follow Me
share in True Beauty
delight in the artistry
which is you
Cassie Landrum
copyright June 2007
Friday, July 13, 2007
Hello! Hello!
I'm back! The trip was fabulous (except for one incident which I may or may not relate to you later). I am in the process of learning how to put photos on my web page. Soon as I get that figured out, I'll have bunches of pictures to show you.
In the meantime, I hope you're having a wonderful summer, just as we are. I am getting started on a children's story (something along the lines of Magic Treehouse meets Magic Schoolbus). I have also been inspired to see things thru the eye of a lens (camera, that is) and have some interesting angles to show you (once I figure out how). I am also working on finishing up last year's school yearbook/scrapbook for Zak, and preparing the coming year's book.
Oh, and check out my new link "Zakary Online". The dear boy has his own web page now, complements of "Dad". He looks forward to adding stories and pictures as he is able (and as parents are available to help.) Way cool!
That's all for now. I'll get back to the Spain saga soon, but I bet you'd like to hear about my most recent adventures first (San Diego, Mexico, LA).
I look forward to being back with you all!
In the meantime, I hope you're having a wonderful summer, just as we are. I am getting started on a children's story (something along the lines of Magic Treehouse meets Magic Schoolbus). I have also been inspired to see things thru the eye of a lens (camera, that is) and have some interesting angles to show you (once I figure out how). I am also working on finishing up last year's school yearbook/scrapbook for Zak, and preparing the coming year's book.
Oh, and check out my new link "Zakary Online". The dear boy has his own web page now, complements of "Dad". He looks forward to adding stories and pictures as he is able (and as parents are available to help.) Way cool!
That's all for now. I'll get back to the Spain saga soon, but I bet you'd like to hear about my most recent adventures first (San Diego, Mexico, LA).
I look forward to being back with you all!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
