The iPhone

Will it live up to the hype?
I think so.
It comes out today at 6pm
Here in Dayton there is a 66 yr old lady who is first in line....I love that:^)
I can't wait to actually see one.
I just need that price to come down ALOT!!

Where is my voice :(

I still had my voice this morning...but it is gone tonight. You don't realize how much you use your voice until it's gone.
I did pray that I wouldn't lose my voice before this morning....I had a 45 min powerpoint presentation for the nurse externs. I still had my voice until about noon..and then I could tell it was fading...by 4:30 after 3 hrs of teaching...it was gone.
I'm sitting here watching Jeopardy trying to mouth my answer...it just doesn't seem the same.

I love bargains :)

This is my new bargain :) The reason it's a bargain is because I got it for free!
I've been trying to increase my exercise and decrease my calories because as I've gotten older I have noticed that the fat just slowly adds up...esp. the middle area.
So..this morning I decided that Pumpkin (my dachshund) and I needed a walk...she has fat adding up too :) As we strolled on our little route, a neighbor on the connecting street waved me into his garage. He was taking some things to Goodwill to get ready for his move to Phoenix and he wanted me to see if I wanted anything...no cost. There was the ab lounger ...hardly used(according to his wife) and in perfect condition. I already have a routine with my weights and exercise ball so this will just be a nice addition...at no cost!

Cleveland....then home

Well this is the last day of the baseball trip. Zach and Darrell spent alot of time yesterday driving from Boston to Batavia,NY. They stopped in Cooperstown for about 3 1/2 hours to go to the Baseball Hall of Fame and then eat. They spent the night in Batavia and left about 11:00 this morning after Darrell spent some time on the computer checking out the stocks :) They are going to the Cleveland Indians game tonight and then the long trip home..and we'll be glad to see them :)

When you are hurt...a reminder

"We live on a broken planet where we are wounded and wound others. Forgiveness is God's gift to us to live in such a place. Not one of us is enough, and that is why God sent Jesus."

Sheila Walsh "God Has A Dream For Your Life"

They're in Boston!!

Zach and Darrell got to Boston yesterday afternoon after getting lost and Darrell "blowing a gasket" as Zach put it but they made it in time for the game. Boston is Zach's favorite team. The park is very old and their seats were a little far away but the atmosphere was incredible. They said it would be hard to go back to Cincinnati after this :) They went back to their hotel after the game and went to eat at an area called "Little Italy" The area is all outdoor and full of restaurants. They spent Father's Day afternoon at another Boston Red Sox game vs. San Francisco. I guess there is a tradition that they sing the Neil Diamond song "Sweet Caroline" at the 8th inning so Darrell called and we put it on speaker phone so we could hear the entire park singing "Sweet Caroline" ..very cool.
Tomorrow they go to the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. We have actually been there 2 times because it was only 30 min from my sister's house when she lived in Little Falls,NY. It is one of the nicest small towns I've ever been to...beautiful older houses and just a very happy atmosphere.

Kristen and I spent the afternoon visiting my mom and stepdad and then doing her favorite thing..mall shopping. We saw her best friend from elementary school which was nice. We are hanging out at home tonight eating talapia and chicken and oreo pie and watching a movie .

Zach and Darrell's baseball adventure

Zach and Darrell are on the move :)
Yesterday was the Philadelphia baseball park. They said that it was beautiful and blew Pittsburgh's park away. They took the "public transportation"...a train and then the subway to get there. They went to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Zach wanted to run up the "Rocky" stairs but they were about 20 blocks away so they passed. They've had some interesting "adventures" on their drive. Darrell has a tendency to get lost so they've met some "interesting" people in their stops for directions. When they were in Philadelphia they asked someone if they go downtown much and the person said "Not after dark,there's probably been about 130 murders down there."
So now they are on the highway in New Jersey headed for Boston and Fenway Park. They will spend 2 days and go to 2 games there, today and tomorrow. Boston is Zach's favorite team so he's excited!
Kristen and I are just hanging out enjoying the weather. We ate at BD's Mongolian Grille at The Greene last night. I don't like Chinese or Asian food so I was a little wary but it's very similar to eating at a Japanese Steakhouse.
We're just going to hang out in the sun today :)

Trust

"God wants to love you..all of you: the parts you show and the parts you hide. For that to happen, you have to be willing to trust." Sheila Walsh

The Baseball trip

Darrell and Zach left this afternoon for their father/son baseball park trip. They went to Pittsburgh today. I have never been to Pittsburgh but they said it's a beautiful city and a nice place to watch baseball ...even if Pittsburgh lost :( They have to stay about 30 miles outside of Pittsburgh because of The U.S. Open golf tournament. Tomorrow it's Philadelphia and then on to the highlight of their trip..Boston!

Kristen and I plan to hang out do some shopping and suntanning :) I also plan to get some extra reading done. I'm reading a book called "God has a dream for your life" by Sheila Walsh. I'm also starting a book called "The Way We Were" about Princess Diana. Anyone who knows me , knows that I LOVED Princess Diana. When she was killed 10 years ago, I felt a loss even though I didn't know her personally. She is someone who I believe lived out her faith. I don't think it was coincidence that God took her and Mother Teresa to heaven within a week of each other.

Honesty in Worship

I read an article this morning that really gave a good perspective on those who write worship songs but also why we connect to certain worship songs. It has to do with telling a story whether it's from the Old Testament or from your life. It's putting those emotions to words. There are certain songs that connect with each one of us..we have "favorite worship bands" but it doesn't mean that one person is "more worshipful". It just means that they express their worship differently and what one person may identify with...another may not. I'm including parts of the article here. It's an interview by Eric Hurtgen with the worship artist, Jason Upton.


"It seems it's the everyday stuff of life that makes the artist, or the person. It's the personal relationships, the daily interactions with the people who are closest to us—is this the dirt that the art of songwriting grows in?

That's a great way to look at worship. My perspective on worship is maybe a little bit different than the average perspective on worship. I kind of see a lot of the singing and a lot of the songwriting in the Church as a hopeful expression about what we maybe believe or would like to believe. But worship, to me, is more an expression of the truth. To me, honesty is an incredible tool to lead us to the truth in worship. So one of the things I've been growing in during the last several years is just being honest in my songwriting. ....

During the recording of many of your albums, there are often unique spiritual things that happen. What was God doing during this project?
Every song I get from an experience—or something happens, and I write it. On Beautiful People, the musical flow is the experience. I write these songs, and then in the studio, they're being re-enacted—it's being played out again. So what you do is you pray, and you talk. Being in the studio requires honesty. [It] requires me getting in that place where I was when I first wrote the song......

So I don't really look at my songwriting as, This is a song that everybody's going to sing along with, and we're all going to get happy and have fun. I think of it more in terms of, What does this mean to me? Sometimes that expression is a prayer, and sometimes that expression is just an observation of something that is analogous to or can teach us something about the Kingdom.


The whole spectrum of human experience is in the Psalms. There's anger, joy, pride, love and humility. Do you think that we need a more broad expression of interaction with God in church?

Oh yeah, we need folkloric poetry and storytelling. Most of the Old Testament was passed down through storytelling. Then eventually it was copied down in an appropriate way. We wouldn't even have the Old Testament if it hadn't been for a community of people who continued to tell the story over and over again to each other and to their children. With that in mind, it's real problematic to me to say that someone like Don Moen is a better worshipper than Derek Webb—there's just no way to say that. How could we ever say that Sara Groves is less of a worshipper than Paul Baloche because she doesn't write corporate worship songs that we all sing along to? I think it's all worship and it's all beautiful, and I think that every one of them has something vital to say.

But the real question really is, How can I learn to follow Jesus more? And that hits in our most daily experiences. And in the past, sometimes those expressions unfortunately have had to come through secular artists (and that whole line of sacred-versus-secular is a whole other conversation, by the way). But unfortunately, until guys like Webb have come along, we haven't had a lot of that; we haven't had a lot of music that necessarily makes us think and ponder and reflect. The great form of music is often great for pondering, reflecting, thinking—it's for expressing ideas in places where saying it would just be an irritant. And those ideas are being expressed all the time in secular music, and that's why we love Bono and U2. We love that, because they're expressing these really great, deep ideas."

Ahhhhhh!!!!! Get me down from here!!!!!

An amusement park visitor took this picture of the X-Coaster at Magic Springs when the ride froze, leaving 12 riders hanging upside down.


It would be a loooooong time before I ever got on a roller coaster if this happened to me !!

Awesome Lost video...1,2,3,4,5.........

Encouragement

Last night at house church , we talked about encouragement. We shared with our quads(prayer groups) what encourages us and what to do to encourage others.
Chris gave us a Henri Nouwen quote that I really like so I'm sharing it


More and more, the desire grows in me simply to walk around, greet people, enter their homes,sit on their doorsteps, play ball, throw water, and be known as someone who wants to live with them. It is a privilege to have the time to practice this simple ministry of presence. Still, it is not as simple as it seems. My own desire to be useful, to do something significant, or to be part of some impressive project is so strong that soon my time is taken up by meetings, conferences, study groups, and workshops that prevent me from walking the streets. It is difficult not to have plans, not to organize people around an urgent cause, and not to feel that you are working directly for social progress. But I wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn't be to know people by name, to eat and drink with them, to listen to their stories and tell your own, and to let them know with words, handshakes, and hugs that you do not simply like them, but truly love them.

Henri Nouwen