A Special Evening ..... (?)

I can see it now: Jo(h)n - in his cuff links and bow tie - and Liz - in her evening gown and pearls - at Binky Burger. A little out of place perhaps, but special none the less. After all, isn't that the kind of thing memories are made of? :-)

Nonsense

I like nonsense - it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living. It's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope - and that enables you to laugh at all of life's realities.
- theodor geisel (dr. seuss)

Boys

"I'm plannin' on gettin' muddy!"
- Ben

Something Beautiful

I wanna start it over
I wanna start again
There's a new beginning
One without any end
I feel it inside
Calling out to me

It's a voice that whispers my name
It's a kiss without any shame
Something beautiful
Like a song that stirs in my head
Singing love will take us where
Something's beautiful

I've heard it in the silence
Seen it on a face
I've felt it in a long hour
Like a sweet embrace
I know this is true

It's calling out to me

It's a voice that whispers my name
It's a kiss without any shame
Something beautiful
Like a song that stirs in my head
Singing love will take us where
Something's beautiful

It's the child on her wedding day
It's the daddy that gives her away--Father
Something beautiful
When we laugh so hard we cry
It's the love between you and I
Something beautiful

- the newsboys

Life is beautiful.

Think about that for a minute or two. Ponder it and let it sink into your heart. Beautiful.

Why? Because God is. He is, always was, always will be, and He is beautiful.

If that is not enough for you, He created us to crave beauty, to crave Him.
Beauty was His idea (any wonder that we find it so captivating?). And when we find it, we are awestruck. The beauty in life can make my heart ache and bring tears to my eyes - it can also make me laugh to the point of breathless tears, so hard that it hurts.
Seeing beauty, letting it seep into me, brings deep satisfaction as well as a desire for more.
This desire pushes and pulls us toward the only One who is truly beautiful.
This desire reminds me that this world is not our home, we were made for one of perfection. It is beautiful.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights, Who does not change like shifting shadows."
- James 1:17

Something beautiful.

Even when we are inclined to differ with this, when we see the ugliness and evil that the world holds, it does not change the fact that God is.
Genocide is a fact. But God is.
People rape and murder, but God is.
Cancer happens, but God is.
Nations war against each other, killing the bright flower of youth and innocence, but God is.
The earth groans, but God is.

And He is beautiful.

Why does He allow the world to suffer? I do not know, I do not understand, but I can trust Him. Because He is, and He is good.

masculine & feminine - vive la diffèrence!

So God created man in His own Image, in the Image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
-Genesis 1:27

And the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet ..." ... Adam gave names to all the cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam, there was not found a help meet for him.
- Genesis 2:18, 20

And Adam said, " ... she shall be called woman ..." Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh.
- Genesis 2:23, 24

In the Image of God He created them, different, wonderfully different.
He created men and women, not some neutral gender with tendencies one way or the other, and their roles were meant to be distinct.
One to fight for, and one to be fought for, heroes and heroines together. One to lead, the other to follow. One to provide for, the other to care for. To be mighty, beautiful, courageous and alluring. Each to be strong where the other is weak, spurring each other on and lifting each other up. One to love, the other to respect, both to cherish.
Vive la diffèrence.

And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. ...
- Genesis 1:31

The place where God calls you is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.

- frederick buechner

Now He Is Eight . . . .

“Ben, how does it feel to be eight?” “I don’t know!”

“Since it’s my birthday, can I lick my plate?”

“Do I have to do my school work today?”

We had a pancake breakfast (with 8 candles) for Ben

Presents? Oh goody!

- A birthday phone call from Gramma -

Dad took Daniel, Julia and Ben to the Zoo this afternoon, at Ben's request. His favorite animals were the prairie dogs. Why? "Cause they pop up an' down an' dance around an' sing."

Thank You, Lord, for eight wonderful years with our little guy.

Quote of the Day

"That's you, baby."
-ben

The Second Week

The second week of school is over. I finally have all of my textbooks, and the stack is pretty heavy - not to mention expensive. Whew!

The classes I am taking this semester are:

• Math 101 (2 books, must bring 1, sometimes 2)
• Physical Fitness (no text book)
• Public Speaking (1 book, must bring)
• Sociology (1 book, should read . . . )
• Spanish (3 books, must bring 2, sometimes 3)

= 14 units

All that, in hopes of what? That I'll be smarter? Hah! One thing is sure, I will be using more of my brain (as well as other muscles that I didn't know I had, thanks to Mr. Keysaw :-) ).
These book, for better or worse (hopefully better) are to reside at my hip (in my bag) every Tuesday and Thursday, from now until the end of May. The end of May seems so f a r a w a a a y y . . . .

Ben was looking for a pair of jeans to wear, as his drawer was empty. Mom told him to look in the dryer, and he came back with his Wrangler “slim fit” jeans.

"Mom, are these the 'stranglers'?

Sunrise

Sunrise Over the Mojave, i, originally uploaded by Lizi Beth.

"All humans realize they are loved when they witness the dawn: early morning is the triumph of good over evil. Absolved by light we decide to go on."
- rufus wainwright

I am not sure I agree with everything Mr. Wainwright said, but dawn is a special time. It is still, cold, and beautiful; it refreshes the soul.

The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. ... In them He has placed a tent for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber; It rejoices as a strong man to run his course. Its rising is from one end of the heavens, And its circuit to the other end of them; And there is nothing hidden from its heat.

-Psalm 19:1, 4b-6

"A good many people can make a speech, but saying something is more difficult."
-h. v. prochnow

taken in Chicago, June 16, 2006

It's cold!

I can't remember having weather this cold for this long - apparantly the last time it happened I was four.
CNN has an article that deals with what the farmers are facing as they try to cope with the unusual weather: https://www.cnn.com/2007/WEATHER/01/16/cold.citrus.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

We may lose our orange trees, and then again, we might not. Hopefully the latter!

"French" Muffins

This afternoon Ben wanted a snack - he asked for a "French" muffin.
We figured out that he really wanted an English muffin ............ slight difference!
And then later, he asked for a "French" muffin again. Those different countries can be so confusing!

Brrrrrrrrrrr!

Baby, it's COLD outside!
It was so cold this morning that the puddles didn't break when we drove over them. Really cold.
There are reasons why I like California, and being cold isn't one of them!
It's supposed to be 23 degrees tonight. I think it's time for another cup of coffee . . . :-)

Glorious Rainbows

Ezekiel chapter 1 tells of Ezekiel's vision of the LORD . . . what a picture of the glory of God! His radiance is likened to a rainbow, shining like molten metal, too glorious to look at. Ezekiel was prostrated by it, and then raised to his feet by the Spirit.

Hearts - what's been on mine

"But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his outward appearance or at his stature, because I have rejected him (i.e. "cute" doesn't cut it); for God does not see as man sees, for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.
-1 Samuel 16:7
God saw the heart of David's brother, and He was not pleased. We are not told why, merely that God rejected him. He chose David instead, a man famous in scripture for his love of God.

It is the heart that matters, all else is extraneous. Proverbs 4:23 says to guard it, for out of it flow the streams of life. If your heart is polluted, so is the rest of you. If your heart is self-focused, so will be everything else you do. Very simple, but it cannot be overstated, I/we tend to forget so easily.

Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
- Matthew 6:21
Is Christ my treasure? If He is, everything else falls into place, if not, well . . . . . . . that's idolatry , plain and simple (Exodus 20:3 "no other gods before Me", and Exodus 34:14 "you shall not worship any other god").
God demands first place in our hearts.
Nothing less will do.

But He is a God of grace and mercy (beautiful words!). In Ezekiel 11:19 He promises to "give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them"; He will "remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh."
Hearts that beat and pulsate with passion, empathy, joy, and sorrow. Hearts that are free to love, hearts that long to worship, hearts that are redeemed.

He will not leave us to to fight alone when it comes to our hearts, rather God promises that "the peace, which passes all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:7). This promise immediately precedes the oft quoted "guide" for purity, "Finally, bretheren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things."
He will help, but we must still be vigilant ("Is that movie really worthy of praise?").

God sees our hearts as no one else can. He knows our strengths, our weaknesses, our passions and our failings. And HE STILL LOVES US. Nothing can wreck that.
". . . neither death, not life, nor angels, nor demons, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
- Romans 8:38-39

Considering all this, "we love, because He first loved us."
- 1 John 4:19

The Imperial Sand Dunes, 2007

Honey, I'm ho-ome! Rather, we are home. Home from a wonderful and wearying vacation.
We spent about four days in the Algadones/Glamis Dunes, which are in the Imperial Valley, about 20 miles north of the California/Mexico border (there is even a town near there by the name of "Calexico").



Daniel's friend Matt went down with us, as well as Dad's brother Bernie. Grandpa and Grandma, as well as Bernie's wife, Lynn joined us over the next few days. So we had a nice little crew gathered by Saturday morning, when some of us (Dad, Mom, me, Julia, & Ben) left for home.

Ben, me, Matt, Daniel, Anna, & Julia

We all had a great time, and we all got really dirty! Ben learned how to ride a motorcycle - he even learned how to shift! Ben and Julia also enjoyed riding in a handle-less shovel as it was towed behind a quad.

Julia got pretty good on the 100, she even tooled around in the small sand hills a bit!

Even Mom joined in the fun! Daniel gave her a "refresher course" :)

There was an accident on the 10, with traffic at a standstill for over an hour - perfect time to experiment with the camera!

The Imperial Sand Dunes

2004 Imperial Sand DunesTrip

Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area, Southern California (Glamis) -

Jan 3, 2004

View Album

The family is preparing for another trip to Glamis (i.e. The Imperial Sand Dunes) and here is Mom's album of our last trip, three years ago. We try to go every year, but the operative word is try!