Fall 2008

Well the tree has dumped all it's leaves. We have played, and played, and played some more in them and now it is about that time to bag them up and send them out. My tree will soon be barren and that makes me quite sad but at least I feel I enjoyed all the colors while they lasted.

Re-visiting some old truths

I have recently decided to pick up the book, Love Acceptance and Forgiveness, by Jerry Cook again. In reading the first few pages I was again struck by how hard his words in this book are to do.  Here are some of the quotes that have thus far struck a chord with me ;

"Because we are accepted  in the Beloved, we must be accepting of the beloved. I can't give up on you till God does, and He won't! We're safe with God, and we've got to be safe with one another."

"Love means accepting people the way they are for Jesus' sake. Jesus hung around with sinners and if we're too holy to allow people to blow smoke in our faces, then we're holier than Jesus was. He didn't isolate himself in the synagogue. In fact, He mixed with sinners so much that the self-righteous got upset about it." (I love this about Jesus. Truly this is something about Him that attracts me to Him over and over. He was close friends with some that the church of his time wouldn't and didn't approve of )

"Remember you are not the Lord. None of us is to function as Lord in anybody's life, ever, under any circumstances. There's only one Lord, and that's Jesus Christ."

These were just from the first chapter. I am again reaffirmed and convicted at the same time. What a great book. Thanks for being ego centric enough to publish your own book Jerry :)

I think I will share my highlights or favorite quotes from each chapter just for fun and if you haven't read this book yet, you really need to.

Some more Random Thoughts

I think I am finally getting the hang of this family, working, school thing and getting into some what of a groove. I keep reminding myself that it is only for a few more weeks that I will constantly have the feeling of an ulcer forming in my stomach, feel guilty for blogging or any other Internet thing I do other than school and homework, and  in the back of my head always have  my grades that are looming.

It will get better and I will pass all of these classes and be one step closer to getting the hell out of the school system, at least in this way.

Tonight my baseball team gave it up to Tampa Bay. I have to say that I was so proud of them the other night when they came back from the dead and tonight...well.....I will admit I knew from the start that Tampa Bay wanted it real bad this season. SO now on to the playoffs which aren't nearly as fun without my team but I will be rooting for the Phillie's. Not sure exactly why that is except for that I can't exactly root for the team that beat my boys. It was a great season for the Bo Sox's anyways and as long as we have the Yankees beat we are good as far as I am concerned.

I experienced the most embarrassing moment of my parenting career this week. It was so embarrassing that I am not sure I want to share it here with you all except to say that can you guess who was the culprit??

We took the family into Scheels today and if you haven't gone into this Mega mini mall of a store yet I suggest you make the trip. It is well worth it. I thought for sure it would be boring , what could I possibly find entertaining in a sporting goods store but it is so much more. If just for the scenery make the trip over there. It is pretty cool, Farris wheel and all.

Well, I hope you all had a great weekend. I will be thinking of a topic soon to actually blog about other than my thoughts that are oh so random.

Some of my thoughts

Here are some of my thoughts for this Thursday afternoon-

-My love/hate relationship with my dogs is one that I have been pondering lately. They are the cutest dogs I have ever owned they are also the most destructive annoying dogs. I am not sure why I have allowed as much as I have with their shenanigans!! I am not sure why I agreed and even sought out this scenario in my life again. They do bring me some small piece of joy or I am sure I wouldn't keep them. However, this morning when they had eaten a whole pack of new bubble gum I was considering doing alot of things to these 4 legged creatures and these things were not nice.

-My thoughts on all writers being egocentric - I had this thought the other day. All writers have to have a certain sense of ego in order to think that their ideas are first of all good enough to be published in a book and second of all great enough ideas that people should pay money to read them. This thought had me a bit perplexed once again about my aspirations of becoming a published author and even why I have a blog. 

-Friends and some disappointments that I have finally come to realize in that area of life are this; some of my friends that have left stronger imprints than others still influence me today even though I haven't seen or heard from them in a while. One friend I have used to love to write with a plain old Bic pen , still to this day I like to write with a Bic pen because of her and when school supply shopping time comes around that is one item that is always on my list. Other friends I wonder was it just that we went to the same church that even barely classified us as friends. I am excited that Louie is blogging about this topic because it's something that I have been thinking alot about lately. Also, I am quickly learning in my 30's that every person who wants to be my friend maybe I don't want to be theirs and how to navigate through that one has been interesting. There are circles of friendships. The inner circle for me consists of my family first which right there makes it a big circle, then a middle circle of friends that are like family to me and that I share everything with, and finally an outer surface circle or what I would like to say is the acquaintance circle of friends.

-Music, why have I been given so many songs and what should I do with them. Why are we given certain gifts without the time to really pursue them. Will I ever move these songs out from the notebook and on to a recording. Dunno. I am however looking forward to going back to my Uncle's recording studio and getting some songs that my Grandmother wrote recorded. 

-The current political thoughts, honestly isn't this over already? But in reality I told Mo the other night that I think either of these guys are crazy for signing up for this job. You could not pay me enough money... no way would I ever take this job. Not on your life!! Also to the shock and awe of those of you who think I am an Obama groupie I will have you know that I do believe both of these gentlemen would do a fine enough job and I don't really care at this point. By that I mean, I won't be moving to Canada if Mc Cain does win. But he won't!! Last debate sure was interesting.

-Motivation, where it comes from , why it's lacking for me right now, and What can I do about that?

-Deja Vu's - This is my topic of research currently in my Psych class, lots of thoughts there. What are they really? Why do some have more than others and some none at all?

-School , I am so over it. Really, what's the point that I am going through all these hoops and for what? To get paid a measly teacher's salary. Sorry but I am just thinking it might not be worth it anymore. Although if Obama gets in, he has mention ECE several times in all his speeches and has some good plans for those of us pursuing that degree, hint hint Jessica :)

Those are them folks, hope you enjoyed the journey inside my brain for this week.

The "Fall" has begun

The leaves have begun to fall in our backyard. We have three gianormous trees on our property. These are trees that made the value of this house go up for me by about 10,000 dollars. That's how much I love trees surrounding my house. I distinctly remember telling my husband that part of why I didn't want to buy the brand new house we were looking at in North Valleys was because there are no trees in new neighborhoods. There is something about trees and the foilage they bring every fall that just makes my heart happy.

So I am sitting here in my living room, looking out my living room window right at the big tree whose colors are changing right before my eyes. Okay maybe not that quick but it seems with the crazy weather lately that they are changing quick. Something I tell my kids every fall is to pay attention to the trees everyday because before you know it the leaves will all be gone and so will all the colors.

I have described the autumn season before as God's natural fireworks. The colors explode in every tree and every year it's different. If you don't think we serve a creative God then you are sadly mistaken. 

Isaiah was so excited to see the leaves falling in the backyard that he first said, "Mom it's snowing" then he ran to the front of the house saying, "I am going to jump in the pile of leaves mom" but alas, the leaves on the tree in front have yet to fall. Weird. I told him that soon the leaves on the front tree would be falling but we have to wait until most have fallen off so we can make a huge pile to jump in.

I think I will jump in them this year!!

On turning into Ellen

My daughter has a boy from class over. 

Not sure how I feel about this and how different she is acting. She assures me that he is only a friend and I do believe she is telling me the truth because we talk about these things all the time and I happen to know who her real crush is on. So there!!

Anyhew, this boy was best friends with the boy Alex who died tragically last spring. I blogged a bit about that one and sorry if you missed it cause I don't know how to do the fancy thing where it will bring you to that blog so if you are interested you will just have to look. 

Emma was telling me that ever since Alex died this boy Kevin has been really sad and that she had overheard him telling one of his buddies the other day that he eats dinner alone most nights. His mom and dad work and older sister who is like 19 is never home. This really just broke my heart. I know God has strategically placed us in this neighborhood for a reason, more reasons than one, and there have been many reasons already revealed but this was like one loud gong going off inside my heart.

At the dinner table last night when Emma was telling her dad the same story he replied, "Well did you say, Good for you , bummer you eat alone every night. Stay warm and well-fed and then walk away" To which she cocked her head to his sarcasm, and said "What?" He then explained.

My brothers and sisters would say that I am turning into to my mother, Ellen because of this gesture of inviting him over for dinner, to which I would say,  SO BE IT!! 

Motivation Bug

I am getting the bug , the motivation bug to finish up my books and send them out. As of the last email from the publishers I have done a whole lot of nothing with them and the email sits in my inbox haunting me. Reminding me of what a big sissy I am for not sending in my scripts. Last night I had a thought that really motivated me. I can 't really put into words what it was that clicked but today after finishing up some homework I am going to blow the dust off of my scripts, go to the post office, and mail this baby out.

It really has been a strange thing my reaction to this. As I have said in previous posts I really am afraid of the rejection and it has paused me for the last few months but I am motivated today. 

I will feel a huge sense of relief when they are out and no longer in my hands. When the move is in their courts then there will be nothing else I can do, but hope and pray that if this is meant to be it will be.

Oh how I hope it is meant to be!!

Solomon turned 7

Boston Red Sox....

...made it to the playoffs.

 This makes me happy.

The Yankees didn't.

This makes me even more happy.

Can't wait for Darrell to get traded so then I will feel absolutely no guilt in saying that.

www.ontheissues.org

This is a great website to check out anything and everything on politicians. I have found it to be a really helpful resource when there is so much out there flying around that is so off base. As far as the he said, she said game is concerned this site might help you decide for yourself.

Just thought I would say this is a site that even my professors are okay with so you know it's got to be good then.  :)

One Month and I am still standing by my man Obama

First about the debates last night if Sarah Palin winks one more time at me to try and get my vote I think Moses might actually start getting jealous.

That's pretty much all I have to say about that.  

The debate was interesting to say the least.  Biden just had the ultimate trump card on his hands which is that he has just been in this politicians game a bit longer. 

Okay enough about the VP's who really don't do a whole bunch anyways and so why all the fuss? Well because again when you know you can't win on your own pull in a woman !! Still think this was McCain's attempt to play chess and Sarah Palin is his pawn.

Ask me how I really feel?

Okay here's how I really feel-

Things I really like about Obama;

-First of all I just like him. I believe in him. I believe that he really is going to try to do these things that he is saying he will put his hand to. 

-I like that he himself makes fun of his name and has a good sense of humor about it all. I like that he is very aware of the times in which we live and knows that even in this day and age there will be those who will simply not vote for him because of his name. He is risking his life to be our next President, very much a risk for him and still is not afraid.

- I like the fact that after he graduated from Harvard Law and had jobs lined up and ready to be given to him on Wall Street that would have paid much more money, he turned this down to serve in a way that he knew would help the greater good. This is selfless. If he was after the big bucks and a career the choices he made right out of law school should prove to you that he was not concerned about his own pocket book as much as he was for that of his fellow man.

-He will not raise my taxes or anyone who is not making 250,000 or less a year.

-He will eliminate taxes for most Seniors that I know and probably that you know. These are people that we should be looking out for in this next election. By voting for a president that will put money back in the pockets of those that have gone before us is just one way I think I can help them in the last years. This is having  respect for my elders.

-He will give me a tax break of up to 1,ooo dollars right away when elected. I could use a break.

-He will start a fast track plan to resource energy here in America so that we are no longer so dependent on foreign oil. This will drastically change my life and yours because paying at the pump will go down quite bit.

Things you should reconsider -

- If you think or heard that he is a Muslim and believe this- HE IS NOT

- If you think his plan for medical reform will dump our health care industry on it's head- IT WILL NOT

- If you think he is 'the' most liberal democratic president elect we have had, HE IS NOT

- If you are afraid of him because he is so different- HE IS NOT 

-If you think he is unpatriotic because he didn't raise his hand to salute the flag- HE IS NOT

Things you should know for sure about him-

He could have chosen to many things in his young 40 something life.  For the next 8 years he could have been building his career in law and making much more money than what he would be making in the White House. He could be safe and sound untouched by the prejudice that still runs wild in this country. He could be in Chicago not allowing the world at large to criticise and scrutinize his nationality or his faith but instead he has chosen this moment now to serve. 

He will serve as true voice in Washington that has not been sold out or been bought out by lobbyist expecting favors in return. He is the real deal.