2006 Repost

Today is the last Sunday of the year!  I'm off to church in about 25 minutes.

I happened across a post from 2006 that still cracks me up in 2013.  It's from a woman who clearly has some issues.

http://alittlegrace.blogspot.com/2006/12/new-years-post-from-person-with-issues.html

I'm on a reading binge.  I'm reading "Pilgrim's Progress" and it's very good.  A friend of mine said she didn't care for it at all but I definitely like it.  It's a Christian classic.  My pastor mentioned it and so I decided to check it out. The Slough of Despond!  Look for the steps!  They're there but while were in the slough we fail to see them.

And "The Daniel Diet" which I'm 1/3 way through.  [Oops, I meant "The Daniel Plan."]  I like it too although I'm no fan of Rick Warren.  I want to buy a vegetarian cookbook now, but went to Amazon.com and was overwhelmed with choices.  So I still haven't picked one.

"Addiction & Grace" by Gerald G. May, M.D. - Only on page 22 and about 75% reads like pablum to me with a few grains of absolute truth.  For example, because of our addictions we simply cannot, on our own, keep the great commandments.  We try.  We want to keep them.  It's our deepest desire.  But we fail.  Has about 100 reviews on Amazon.

"Forgotten God" - Haven't started it yet but it has 485 reviews.  The title alone appeals to me more than "Addiction & Grace."

And I found a fabulous set of sermons on the Book of Nehemiah.  They're downloadable at Nehemiah: Rebuilding the Walls.  I've listened to two others by Ray C. Stedman, but this Nehemiah one is the best.  Such a nice sense of humor he has.  "Now let's turn to the Book of Nehemiah.  I'll give you about five minutes to get there."  Haha!

Couple hair pics from today before churchity-church.  I got new boots.

Well, my husband had a little heart attack in October.  He's doing really well now and hates all the pills he has to take now.  I was super scared for a couple days.  I became a Southern Baptist and am gonna get baptized soon.  Zumba is going really well.  Best winter ever.  I've had 10 to 20 students lately.  Last year at this time I had four to eight.  It's such a blessing.  Let's see there was one other thing...forgot it now I guess.

Blogging.  Well, I don't enjoy as much.  I loved when blogging first began and everything was so anonymous.  Nothing is really anonymous anymore.  Easy to get IP addresses and physical locations now.  The newspapers can cherry pick your statements and print anything out of context they want and make you sound like a horrid, horrid creature.  Kind of takes the wildness and the joy out of it.

I miss the old days.

But I love music and dancing and God and my husband.  I love studying the Bible and talking about it with people.  Who could ever take a crucifixion and turn it into something good?  Who?  God.  God could do that and He did.  He took a crucifixion and turned it into resurrection.  I love those mountains in front of us every morning.  I love our son but it doesn't feel like he loves me.  I love our other son.  Glad he's 35 and not 16.  Haha!

How beautiful are the feet that carry the Gospel.  My friends went to Juarez today and I'm so proud of them.  They took food and Christmas presents, Bibles and Good News.  I can't wait to see the pictures.  I sent a winter jacket for my girl; an 11-year-old named Anjelica.

Just give Blogger.com my mobile number and they'll make sure to call me if there's any unusual activity on my blog account.  Yeah right.  That's a real worry.  Not.  And I don't have a mobile phone either.

Zumba is going so well.  The chickadees from another class have stopped coming for now and I do hope they return.  I really enjoyed having them.  Class is going well is spite of their absence and for that I'm grateful.  I bought two cute Zumba light-up LED decals from the shop; one that I'll keep for my own car and one to raffle.  I hope whoever wins it will like it!

We've had blessed rain for two days.  It's been a magnificent monsoon season.  I've enjoyed it so much.  I was thinking I ought to find one single spot and take a photo from the same vantage point and see how the light and clouds and sky changes.

Today I gave eight hours of my paid time off to an employee at work.  Her dad had a stroke and she's taken time off work to care for him and is all out of vacation and personal time.  She's such a good daughter.  She's a super nice woman too.  I like her very much. 

My boss didn't get selected for a promotion.  They didn't even call him for an interview.  They interviewed one person to my knowledge and hired him.  Politics.  My boss would have been very good in that position.  Very good.  So, I shall continue as a part-timer which I'm content with.  Perhaps I'll start a Wednesday eve Zumba class.

We had a lovely rainbow out front yesterday.

I have Monday off!  Here comes a three day holiday w/e!

Tomorrow I will do some more housework.  Yay!

Might go to the chile festival this week-end.  Hatch, New Mexico, is the chile capital of the world.  For reals.

I have the sweetest kitty cat in the world resting in my lap.  I have to reach over her to type.  She doesn't mind.

It's possible that my manager may be invited for an interview for assistant controller where I work.  If he does, and if he was to get the job then I'd have an opportunity to go full time.  I really like part time.  But, I suppose if the opportunity presented itself then I would take it.  It might be hard to do my Zumba and work full time though.  Could I do it?  Even four hours a days wears me out sometimes!  I will put it in God's hands.

We want to put a 20' x 30' cement pad in the back.  I wanted cement as it would be nice to park on and wash the vehicles, but I didn't expect he'd want such a big one.  It will sure be nice though.  We'll be able to park the car and truck side by side.  We need a cover too, for shade.

We put our name on the mailbox yesterday.  Quite exciting to be sure!  My husband scraped the letters off and I stuck on the new ones.  The previous owner had only the husband's name on the mailbox.  I thought it odd to put only the man's name.  We put "The so-and-so's."  Well, not actually "so-and-so" but our last name as a family.  I think it's much warmer.  And I placed it diagonally on the box.  No one else has theirs diagonal!

Soon I must take a photo of my Madora comb for the hair board.  Five teeth have fallen off of it now and here I thought it was a quality comb when I bought it.  It's not quality at all.  The last tooth fell off right on my counter.  I didn't drop it or anything.  I picked up my comb and simply saw that yet another tooth fell off.  And I had hoped to save this comb for posterity.  Sheesh.  I have to find a new good comb now.  I use it every day.

I'm doing a new routine for Zumba tomorrow.  I really need to practice before I go to bed.  Last night I had 15 in class.  That's a cool $75 bucks.  It makes me so happy to have such a full class.  I take time to talk with them after class and it's such a blessing.  Last night one student gave me a handmade macrame rosary that she made and another gave me some crushed seashells to use in my organizer in my bathroom.  She loves to organize and she gave me the idea to set my mascara and small items in the seashell filler.  Similar to putting hairsticks in a bowl of rice to hold them in place.

My husband is working all week-end for the holiday.  No time off till next week.  I wonder if I get Monday off for Labor Day?  No one has said anything.

Wrrd is, they're talkin' about me at church cause I've missed three weeks in a row.  No wonder my ears were burning.  No one has chastised me though.  Heck, I'd be chastising all over the place if my friends missed three weeks.

Boss asked me today about what church I go to and about rumors he'd heard.  I told him they're not rumors.  He listened intently.  He seemed, hmmm, sympathetic, I think.

My very good friend walked through the sanctuary Monday and saw left over juice and wafers from communion just laying on the floor.  She was very upset.  I know it's symbolic but it's wrong to leave it out like that.  What's worse than that?  Leaving people's prayer requests spread out.  She said the new pastor and the youth pastor saw them and did nothing.  Tuesday, the leftover communion cups and wafers had been picked up... but the prayer requests were still there.  That's sacrilegious.  Just thinking of it makes me want to cry.  What's wrong with people?  As long as they are there and the same board remains at that church, I will not go there.  It's not right.

My current favorite song, "If We Are The Body" by Casting Crowns.
  

I saw an article tonight that began "Marriage is a lot of work."

Maybe we're well matched or maybe I'm just very lucky.  Work is work.  Housecleaning is work.  Raising children is work.  My marriage makes everything easier. I love him so much.  I can't think of anything 'work' about it.  Not in all these almost 30 years has it ever been work.  He's made me mad a couple times, but that's not work.  I've made him mad much worse.  I love him so much. 

Did a bunch of housework yesterday.  Got a sore back because of it but I just couldn't stop.  The fixtures in the kitchen are so shiny.  My husband replaced them for me.  Everything I do, I see some other little thing I need to do.  Dirt in the narrow runner of the window.  Stains in the carpet that I didn't notice at first.  Dried glue on the edge of the counter that I thought was egg yolk but turns out it was a sloppy repair job.  Well, it's not like buying a brand new house.  When we bought a brand new house it cost like $150 just to buy light bulbs for all the sockets.  Here, there are light bulbs and toilet paper already.  I like brand new, but I like this too.

I want to take out all the screens in the windows so we can see out better. 

A guy at church gave me his phone number on a piece of gum and asked me to call him.  He's kind of handsome and married and drives a Harley.  I nodded and smiled but I haven't gone to church for three weeks.  I wish my husband came sometimes.  I must go next week.  My friend texted me this morn and said, "God is looking for you."  Haha!  I shoulda told her he found me at Lowe's.  Well, I gotta go to church next week no matter what.

This evening when I sat outside for a bit I heard an owl hoot nearby.

I wake up every morning happy to open my eyes.  And I go to sleep every night thankful to have our very own place.  There's so much sky.  I can see the clouds forever.  We love it here.

Yesterday I ordered some Lush products.  A woman in my class gave me the littlest bar of Lush soap as a gift.  It made my skin so soft that I decided to go to the website and order some.  I got carried away and spent $70.00.  Lush is located in Vancouver, Canada.  The products are handmade and biodegradable.  Everything in the ingredients I am able to pronounce.

King of Skin $13.95 Body Butter (Cocoa butter)
Smooth onto wet skin just out of the shower, towel off – and you’re left with royally soft skin.  Good for after you shave your legs.

It sounds nice and easy and faster than applying lotion all over.

Sultana of Soap $6.40 Reviews say it smells nice, lathers well and moisturizes.  I dunno.  We'll see.

Ro's Argan Body Conditioner $32.95  Scoops of cocoa butter, cupuacu butter, almond oil and Argan oils, and the fragrant scent of fresh rose petals, this is the most luxurious body softener that ever was (if we don't say so ourselves!). After washing up, slather yourself all over with this new invention. Rinse, pat dry and revel in supremely soft, rose-scented skin.

Reviews indicate a lot of people use it as a lotion because they want to use every bit and not see any go down the drain.  Supposed to be super moisturizing.

 Ultrabland (that's not a typo) $16.95 Non-irritating beeswax cleanser.

A hugely popular cult product, Ultrabland is a thick, rich emulsion of essential oils, honey and beeswax to take off any make up or residue that has built up on your face throughout the day. Unlike most make up removers, Ultrabland leaves your skin feeling soft and nourished, thanks to soothing rosewater and iris flower extract. Suitable for all skin types.

The "suitable for all skin types" is key.  I will try each thing one at a time to make sure I'm not allergic.  I told the lady who gave me the soap in my class that I'll give her a little bit of these products to try, since she turned me on to Lush products.  I hope they work well for me.

My Zumba class is going well and so I have extra funds for these things which I do not need.  I've been making $70 a night.  Apparently something terrible is going on with one of the other instructors in town.  I feel very badly for her and her family.  I haven't seen her but I hear she's put on weight and is using drugs and alcohol, and I know she's been kicked out of her church.  She is in terrible distress.  I don't know what's going on, but God does, and so  I pray for her when I drive by her house to work in the mornings.  In the meantime, the hardcore Zumba devotees from her class have been coming to mine.  They are a real sweet group of girls.  It really makes the class fun when there are so many people.

Tomorrow is Saturday.  My husband has to work noon to 9pm which I don't like.  I will do housework.  I'm...looking forward to it.  I am!

Cumulonimbus cloud to the north of our house.

I wish running with bulls in Pamplona would be outlawed.  It's sickening to think of those magnificent creatures being forced to run with hundreds of human idiots looking for a high and the chance to brag and boast about themselves on Facebook.  Based on the cruelty of forcing the animals to run through the streets, I presume the poor creatures are then violently killed in the bull ring afterward.  Doesn't seem to me that after it has attacked someone they're going to let it live out its days living free in an open pasture. People are sick.

One photo this morning of a man being attacked by a bull shows people trying to distract the bull to stop it from further goring and possibly killing the stupid 31-year-old man.  The caption says "a man pulls its tail" to distract it from attacking, but my eyes clearly see a stick being stuck into the animal's anus.  What kind of person would do that to any animal.  A sick person.  And this Pamplona running with the bulls event is a whole lot of sick people getting together to participate and be entertained by such depravity.  Ugh.  Gross, gross, gross, and a testament to the character of Spain.

Dreaming

Today I spoke to Totsie at church and she said we will surely see quail and deer at our new place.  And she said the sunsets are beautiful; that we should sit outside and enjoy the sunsets.

Tonight I'm going to listen to the end of Romans chapter 3.  I also downloaded Romans 4:1-8, but I may likely be asleep when it starts.  I have to work 8-3:30 on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  Yuk, for the hours, yay, for the paycheck.

I am so happy.

At Walmart I bought six new white towels for dish drying.  I'm saving them till we move.  I brought home boxes and I tried to fill one.  Since I work in the stockroom I have access to GREAT boxes.  Ain't that sumpthin.  I decided I'd start some packing in advance.  I went through my nightstand, four drawers, and proceeded to throw some things in the trash and then relocated the rest to my dresser drawers.  That's a fail for packing so far.

Anthony said he will help us move.  And he said he will build the covers we need for the horses to have shade.  I'm so excited.  He does excellent work and I know we'll have the job done well and done right.  I am thankful tonight.

We had a bit of rain tonight too.  Praise God.  We need it so much.

Looks like this won't post without a title.  That's weird.  I've been going without titles for months.

We're moving about 15 minutes from here.  From the city, I say that tongue-in-cheek, to the county.  And alllll the land to the south of us is BLM land so no one will ever build in front of us.  Not that there's much building going on anyways.  It's a manufactured home built in 1998 and it's on 4.5 acres.  You enter into the living room and to the right is the hall to two small bedrooms and the bath and in front of you is the living room and to the left is the kitchen and dining room, then a short hallway to the laundry room and pantry, master bedroom at the end of the hall with its own bathroom and two walk-in closets.  The front view is all the way to the mountains on the other side and also you can see a little curve of the Rio Grande river. 

Technically, we're waiting to hear on our final loan approval Monday, so my husband just told me not to get overly excited, which, out of breath, I told him it's too late.  I'm excited!  And we already agreed that in our new place we will remove our shoes at the front door to keep the carpet nice like we used to do when we owned a home in California.  And it has a pantry!  Space.  Sigh.

It's 1200 square feet which is bigger than I wanted, but not too big.  It's has a dirt road about 1/8th or 1/4th of a mile to the front door from the old highway.  It's very bumpy which is fine for the truck, but in my little car I'll have to drive slow.  Best of all it has a well built corral for the girls (Bella the horse and Becca the mule) and a very nice covered area for hay.  It has a bomb shelter.  So, Kathryn, you can come to my house if you need protection from any bombs. 

I want to put some water out and see if we get any quail or birds out there.  I love bird watching.  We had a bird bath outside our dining room window in California. 

It has a private well and my boss at work spent a few long minutes Friday telling me horror stories about drought and people's wells going dry.  I can't walk in fear about that though.  A lot of people have wells.

I pray the inspections all go smoothly and that we hear that we got the loan on Monday!   

"And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done."  Romans 1:28

I'm studying Romans and this verse is with me today.  Rome was in a bad way in the first century, and yet the Gospel thrived.  God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

I'm looking forward to moving.  I can't wait to see the morning sun rise there.  I've heard it's beautiful.

I want to go to Hobby Lobby.  They had several Bible verses for wall hanging.  I want one good one for the living room.  One good one.  How to pick!

I love my husband with all my heart. 

Taboola.com needs to be flushed down the toilet

This Sunday morning I'm reading the news.  I'm waiting a little while till I take husband out for Father's Day.  The article I'm reading on Huffington Post is "Dick Cheney: Edward Snowden Is A Traitor And Possibly A Chinese Spy".

I finish the article and at the bottom I see thumbnail pictures with in small grey text "You May Like".

What may I like?  May I like these articles they say I may like?  Because here are the headlines for the articles Taboola claims I may like:

"Coco Shows Booty Popping Progress in a String Bikini"

"MMA Fighter Breaks His Penis During Sex"

"Danny Brown Receives Oral Sex From Fan On Stage, Keep Rapping"

"See Just How Gorgeous Killzone: Shadow Fall Looks"

The last one, I have no idea what it's talking about and I'm not clicking.  The others are disgusting and foul.  I'm careful about where I surf.  Usually you get cookies and they know what you've been surfing and so you'll receive adverstisements, for example, based on what you've already looked it.  But I didn't look at anything that should send me such filthy recommendations.  How could I get such icky recommendations?

Last week I did google Kate Middleton's topless photo.  Could that be it?  I thought, how stupid could a princess be to be half naked anywhere in the world.  I thought they had to be super blurry.  Well, I found them and they're more in focus than I expected, but could Huffpo be tracking my searching?  It was the only questionable search I did.

Then I noticed the articles were brought to me by one Taboola.com.  Went to their site and it reads, "People like your content.  Some just don't know it yet."

Gross.

So I should stick to TheBlaze which doesn't use Taboola.  Here's a nice article from The Blaze:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/16/cute-video-alert-sea-lion-pup-jumps-onto-boat-cuddles-with-driver/

Phillipians 4:8
"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things."

Yesterday I baked a German chocolate cake for my boss for his birthday and he liked it a lot.  I was not sure what to make but he likes chocolate and my husband said make German chocolate for him.  It was a good call.  But it's time consuming and I didn't want to make it all Sunday long.  I took a nap.  Finally I got up because I could avoid it no longer and got in the kitchen and as soon as I started getting the ingredients together and mixing I was happy.  My husband always has the best ideas.

I downloaded a load of sermons on the book of Romans from Calvary Chapel.  Can't wait to start listening tonight.

Today my right femur ached all day during work.  I was slow thinking at my desk.  I felt annoyed with my boss because he flew speedily through the repetitive steps on the computer and I wondered if he was doing it purpose.  I on the other hand am slow as molasses.

Three times I was forgetful during Zumba.  My brand new routine that I was totally prepared for, I flubbed a little.  After dinner I suddenly was so angry at pastor for being a fake and a fraud.

Then I started my period tonight.  That's what was wrong.  Those darn hormones.  They can be  pesky!  My poor husband said that he knew something was wrong with me when we talked on the phone this morning.  I haven't the foggiest idea what he's talking about but he's known me long enough that I guess he knows if something's wrong with me.  Heh!

Maybe now it'll all even out and at least however my day is tomorrow I will know exactly what to attribute anything to.

I'm eating Haagen-Daz and am getting a headache.

I love my daughter-in-law very much.  She is beautiful and a good mother and wife.  I love her a lot.  I didn't tell her tonight, but I should have.  It's her birthday and she's 34.  A very good age.

The whole earth groans because of sin.

First day of Memorial Day week-end.  Our hay delivery day.  We're getting 150 bales.  It's a lot of hard, hot, itchy work moving 150 bales off the semi and into storage.  My husband is working 3-midnight today and he went with them.  He can take a nap later.  I hope he sleeps well for his nap.  Usually the day after hay delivery everyone is sore.  He's never had to work on the day we get our hay.  Son and he should be here in about an hour or less now.  I feel worried.

Jesus.  He isn't just partly human and partly divine.  He is completely human and completely divine at the same time.  The divine nature made it impossible for the him to err or sin in any way.  (From the commentary book I've ordered from Amazon.)  That's how he was able to live a perfect life.

Augustine said, "The New is in the Old concealed.  The Old is in the New revealed."  That so rocks.  Little ditties like that I can remember and then I can launch into why the OT is still relevant today.  One friend said to me, he doesn't like the angry, violent God of the OT.  Well, the God of the Old Testament is the same God as the New Testament.

And I read somewhere, can't remember where, it's a sad fact that leaders who chose a path of error or sin rarely turn back from it.  Where did I see that, and is it true.

unregenerate: Not reforming or showing repentance; obstinately wrong or bad.

Or in my words, bad fruit.

We got one mouse!  Aw, he's so small.  I'm real sorry to kill him.  I was sitting here and I heard a pop!  I went to our son's room and told him I needed him.  So he got up, after some drama because he makes a small thing a big thing, and he got his little flashlight.  I said, what should we do with the little body?  He said, "Get a taxidermist?"  Yeah, always the comedian.  Anyway, we tiptoed to the cupboard, I don't know why we tiptoed, and he opened the cupboard very slowly.  And there he was.  Poor thing.

My son went outside and got the trash picker-upper.  He had to add more drama to my life which I could do without by climbing over the wood fence around the porch, what little fence there is I mean, and I could hear the wood creak.  If he fell several feet onto the concrete I would not be happy.  I told him not to do that and by the time I finished saying it he had the picker upper and was standing in front of me. That's very irritating. 

He used the picker-upper to pick up the trap and put it outside in the trash.  I wondered if we should keep the trap, ew, so I woke my husband up.  He doesn't have to go to work tomorrow so he wasn't mad.  Not that he ever gets mad when I wake him up anyways.  I wake him up a lot.  I ask him if he's awake till he's awake, then he says why did I ask him if he's awake if he didn't answer.  Then to make sure he was listening to me I shined my iPod in his face, only for half a second.  He was awake.  He asked me why I shined my iPod in his face.  To see if he was hearing me, I said!  Anywho...

He thinks there's only one mouse.  If true, then the second trap won't catch anything.  He said the traps are only ten cents apiece so just throw it away.

If I think of the disease on the mouse and think of it relieving itself in my cupboard it makes me a little sick.

Onwards and upwards.  I have to hit the hay now.  I was going to go to bed at nine, then I was going to bed at ten, and now it's 10:30pm.

I unfriended my church on my stupid FB page.  Tonight I think I will not attend there anymore.  I must find a new church home.  God will guide me if I ask him to.

Found some mouse poops in the cupboards.  We put traps there with cheese but those little meese must be smart.  They took the cheese and didn't set off the traps.  So tonight we put peanut butter on them.  We put out poison but I guess they didn't take it or it just didn't work. 

First we heard strange sounds in the wall by the washing machine.  I said, what is that?  My husband couldn't hear it so I got up from the table and found the sound and stood by it.  "That sound"!  Do you hear it?  Then he heard it.  Two days later teeny little poops under the bathroom cupboard.  Two more days later two little poops in the spice cupboard.  Yuk.  I don't hate mice.  I like mice, but not in the house. They're under the house I think and squeeze in through the tiniest little spaces.

I loved learning about God's angel army.  Tonight I'm going to listen to "Are Just a Few Being Saved"?

When I got home from work I thought Kathy was gonna come learn how to make pie pastry, but she made other plans.  So I put everything away and sat down and I was suddenly so tired.  I went to sleep.

My Word With Friends partners are all slow today.  I only had about four plays today.  I need to find a new partner or invite an old one or two to a game. 

I'm reading online articles.  I read that forgiveness is granted; trust is earned.  And that if you lose love, you lose everything.  Or maybe it said if you have not love you have nothing.  Something like that anyway.

Pastor and his wife left town permanently today.  Went back to Oklahoma where they were born and raised.  They came here a little over 30 years ago.  Built a church from the ground up and it ends like this.  I am left to wade through whatever this is going through my mind.  He didn't do it to me personally.  I know that.  It feels like he did though.

I think of the times I went up for alter call.  What a farce it must have been and God saw it all.  I'm really grossed out.  I don't want to go up for an alter call anywhere ever again.

And the DNA test came back.  The child from the affair of nine years ago is his.

Pastor's wife had bruises on her shoulders when she said her good-byes last Friday.  One of the husbands went to their house and was going to beat up Pastor.  My guess is she stood between to stop it and got moved out of the way.  I'd say, Pastor's just lucky the husband didn't take a gun.

The two women have not been seen anywhere in town.  It's been a full week.  Going on two now.  So far they're staying in their houses.  I don't know how the one who is a marriage and family counselor can keep her job going.  That seems like a farce too.  A mockery of marriage. I feel sad and sorry for the children and all the families. 

Every saint has a past.  Every sinner has a future.

 

Pentecost Sunday is May 19th this year.  Tomorrow.  It marks 50 days after Easter when the Holy Spirit arrived.  The apostles didn't stay inside the upper room and keep it to themselves.  They TUMBLED out of the upper room and into the streets!  And that was the beginning of the church as we know it. 

I believe with all my heart that the furnace of affliction in the family of God is always for refinement, never for destruction.   God didn't send his Son for the righteous.  He sent Jesus for the sinners.  And who would that be?  All of us or some of us? 

It's all of us.

Acts 2:1–4

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

I stayed home.  Mayela and Kathy went to Caballo but couldn't find the church.  So, they drove to Cruces (70 miles) to church!  And, the preacher was visiting from Oklahoma and he preached on missions.  Could it have been more perfect?  Kathy has a missionary's heart.  She's just bustin' to do mission work.  Last w/e she and Mayela went to Juarez.  They want me to go, but my husband says no.  Juarez is dangerous.  The drug cartels and murdering and raping and the news shows dead bodies that they sat in chairs on the side of the road with notes attached to their chests with ice picks, and bodies hanging from bridges.  It's horrifiying.

So Mayela and Kathy went to Juarez.  They walked over the bridge instead of driving.  Long story short, they gave beans and rice and clothes to a family.  The little girl cared not a whit about the clothes.  She liked the breakfast cereal.  She held onto the cereal box and would not let go of it.  Photos show her holding tightly to the cereal.  They ate it with water and were exceedingly happy.  Kathy cried and cried and Mayela has a photo of that too.

The little boy, about eight years old, liked the hand-me-down cowboy boots.  Kathy asked him why he didn't put them on.  He had placed them is a cubby with a fabric drape in front of it.  He told her he didn't want to use them up. 

The poverty there, so close to us, is heart rending.  They had no heat.  No electricity.  No running water.  They live like that every day.

Mayela and Kathy talked to the preacher after church.  He said he'll get them into a class to learn about missionary work.  Mayela, I'm so proud of how assertive and articulate she was, said they have no church right now and are kind of lost.  He said he knew of our church and that he and some other pastors have plans to talk with out pastor about resigning.  She said he didn't used the word "resign" but that's what she thought the word he used meant.  I'm so glad to hear some godly men will come to our rescue.  My church needs help.

I love my pastor.  I miss him.  I wake in the morning and think of he and his wife and family.  He has a gift, for sure.  A God-given gift for preaching and teaching and connecting people up to the Word. I'm a product of that church and he taught us to always look to scripture.  We are not to be like fledglings, opening our mouth and swallowing whatever is before us!  Our job is to check the scripture, and I know what 1Tim 3 and Titus 1 say. 

I just want everything fixed; to go back the way it was.

I don't want to go to church tomorrow. 

I got new wispies cut in to frame my face and my husband said he likes how it looks, so, BAM, that's good.

I'm hungry and I have to go to bed and I don't want to get up and go to a church tomorrow.  I can worship anywhere.  I have been worshipping anywhere and everywhere on Sundays.  Have gone to three churches now.  But it's a drag.  Total.  Drag. 

Technically, it's not that I don't like the churches, it's just that the people are all so old.  I guess when you get old and have no desire to commit the usual sins it's must be easier to live in faith, because, like, what are you going to do against God anyway?  It's all been done and all that's left is going to church on Sunday.

Husband started his seasonal job today so that's good.  We'll easily afford hay for the coming year.  Sal invited him to watch football at his house when football season arrives and Sal is nice and has a nice family.  It would be enjoyable for my husband I think.

We got rid of cable last week, so no more O'Reilly for us.  That, and McLaughlin are the only shows we'll miss.  We waited till the Bible show was over then cancelled.  Satan rules the cable tv networks anyway, so no great loss.

Got a massage today and it was very nice.  She did my hands and feet and neck.  I really enjoyed it.  I used the gift certificate that I bought a year ago for Ryan, but he never came back to town so figured I ought to go ahead and use it.  I've had some terrible massages in the past, but she did a good job.  She's not a clock watcher.  That's unusual.  She said she's coming to Zumba next week!  It's been over ten years since my last massage.

I don't want to go to church anymore.  I used to look forward all week to Sunday.  Now every week I dread it coming closer and closer. 

Someone put one of my hair photos on Pinterest and she said "pretty braid" and there were three repins.  I am happy.

I just realized that I can google "What time is it in (name a place)?" and Google will tell me what the time is there.  Very useful for when you're playing Words With Friends with people in other countries!

I got a new Ficcare today.  They are sure slow mailing their product out.  But the package was classed up.  They now have a dark chocolate brown box with the word "Ficcare" in script on top.  Inside, the clip is in a pretty little chocolate brown bag.  I really want the plain shiny silver Maximas clip.  It's online and in their printed info sheet, but you can't select it to buy it.  I emailed and asked if they'll have it soon and they said yes, and suggested I look at their other clips.  Now why would I write about one clip and ask them when it'll be available again unless that's the clip I want.  I don't want any other.  I don't want the Ficcarissimo matte silver.  I settled for another, a striped one, but it's wasn't my first choice.  The shiny silver is still not in stock.

Church was outstanding.  The visiting preacher is a young black man attending Oral Roberts University and he preached on David from the book of 1Samuel 30:1-9 and 30:16 -19.  The theme was "I'm recovering everything the enemy has stolen from me."  David encouraged himself in the Lord and we should do the same.  And God said..."Pursue!"  Very wonderful sermon.  It's wonderful to see young people on fire for God.  He must study the Word extensively every day.  It flowed out of him and filled my ears and my soul and my spirit.  Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but God delivers them.  And now is not the time to backslide.  Now is not the time to go to the things of the world.  God has not left us ill-equipped.  That's part of what I learned Sunday.  I went up for alter call and said my church family is in distress and I want prayer for that.

They left the gate open when they went to the mountains Sunday.  I was late to church because I was running up and down the neighborhood trying to catch Bella and Marmalade.  Thank heaven for Laurie Chavez.  I called her.  She helped me.  She's a good, good person.  Nine o'clock a.m. I'm running around in circles in the house because our horse and mule are loose up the street.  I thought to call animal control but couldn't find the phone book.  I went to the shed to get two harnesses, but I didn't know the combination.  So I thought who can I call.  Husband was at gun training class.  Son in the mountains.  I called Laurie.  She drove over here and must have come right away because she was here in ten minutes.  I owe her.  She got Marmalade and the she got Bella and we walked them home together.  She even walked with Marmalade and drove her vehicle - holding Marmalade's rope out the window at the same time!

Now I have shin splints and sore quads today.  Zumba tomorrow.  Not sure I can teach at my usual pace.  My shins do hurt so much.

Sow mercy. Sow grace. Sow kindness. Sow faith.

(From the song!)

I'm refreshed.  Renewed.  I listened all night to Andrew Wommack on grieving.  Four podcasts.  Okay, I listened to two.

Romans 8:18 - "For I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us and for and and conferred on us!" 

The chapter is about life in the Spirit.  We're empowered by the spirit of God to overcome sin.

And Paul was in far more dire straits than I.  My sadness is nothing compared to his.  He was in a dungeon so dark.  He was whipped.  His back laid open.  And he was chained.  He couldn't even sit comfortably.  And, he sang.

Everything will be all right.  I have to keep getting out on Sunday morn and not sit in the muck.  Must get out and be with the people of God.  Forsake not the assembling...

I lied.  On Sunday, I didn't really like the church that much.  I didn't dislike it, but I miss my church.  My church.  My church family.  Usually there's about 175 people at my church on an average Sunday.  Last week there were 80 I heard.  My church family is blown to bits.  Little pieces scattered all over.  And what's worse, most of them I never told them that I loved them.

I downloaded four Christian podcasts about dealing with grief.  Hope it helps.

Sometimes I'm mad.  Mostly I just feel like crying.  A big moaning cry that shakes my whole body.  Then it goes away. 

Pastor's been dilly dallying with a church member says Pastor's wife.  I don't know if she has absolute proof, but that's what she said.  She knows scripture, I know that for sure.  My friend says the divorce will be particularly ugly because they've both chosen lawyers in town.  Two lawyers in town who absolutely hate each other.  That's a fine scenario. 

Zumba was good.  Tuesday I had 11 peeps.  This month's Zumba DVD is a gold mine of cute choreography.  I've found five routines I like.  That's a record.  One of the songs is "Take On Me" by Aha from the '80s.  Really cute dance routine.  Love it. 

Went to a church this morning. It was good. The pastor mentioned a Hillsong song that the chorus just learned and I was looking forward to hearing and singing it. It was a hymn. Haha! Not what I expected. The title is "Holy is the Lamb" from Revelation. After church we (we three amigas) were singing it and singing it but we couldn't remember the right words so we made up our own. Funny how you get a song in your head then you're humming it the rest of the day.

The fields are white for harvest. Harvest is not the problem. It's the laborers who are few.

I found out tonight that two very important people have left our church. She is retired but used to be a magistrate. I have always liked her presence - I can't think of the right word - her gentle personality has always reminded me of my Aunt Helen. She has long, lovely, blonde hair and she's older than I am. She has led the Ladies Group for years.

And she and her husband were close to Pastor and his wife.

Well.  It's started.  Pastor's wife filed for divorce yesterday.

I'm told that he froze all their assets which prompted her to file.  

I'm told she asked for his cell phone records and her lawyer recommended against it. 

I'm told a young woman, one whom I like quite a bit, was asked to speak before the board.  They asked her if she knew anything about what was happening.  She said no and was quite upset.

My source is a reliable one.  

I'm thinking a lot of 2Cor 4:8,

"We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;  persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed."

The Holy Spirit will work it all out in his time.  I can only wait.  Pray and wait.  Wait and pray.

I felt I could keep attending till the Holy Spirit told me otherwise.  Or, I told myself, if he was mean to his wife I couldn't bear to be around him.

So.  I'm going to visit another church on Sunday.

I don't feel great about it, but something's wrong at my church.  Something has gone terribly wrong. Forty years of marriage comes to this?

There are two kinds of creative television Super Bowl commercials.  There's one kind of creative that makes GoDaddy commercials that made to repel, to be cruel to unattractive people, and put pretty people on a pedestal for the world to (supposedly) laugh at.  Not with.  At. 

And there are people who create commercials like the Budweiser Clydesdale one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=o2prAccclXs

I have a wee bit of a tummy ache.  Actually, not a tummy ache but lower than my stomach and I don't know what you call it.  I ate our spaghetti dinner okay.  I don't feel like I'm gonna toss my cookies or anything.  Hope it goes away before tomorrow.

Had a headache all day at work.  That means four hours since I work from 10 to 2.  I took Excedrin before work and it did nothing.  Took another at 2 and it worked.  Zumba was fun tonight!

Wore my hair in a plain pony and got a few compliments at work.  It's the second time I've worn it down to workity-work.  Head hurt too much for a bun.

Son is taking driver's ed.  Lord, help me.  He'll be getting his learner's permit.  I could never drive with our eldest when he was learning.  I was afraid to.  And when he got his permit when he was about 17 he walked out of the DMV all smiles, sauntered toward me and said, "I got it."  I said, WHAT?  You mean they GAVE you a driver's license?  He said, "Ma, don't you have any confidence in me"?  Well, it's not an issue of confidence but just pure unbelief that the baby I gave birth to would be allowed to legally drive the 60 freeway.  My goodness.

So our second one will soon be driving.  He's had plenty of practice already.  Anthony and Laurie have let him drive their truck for small errands in the country and on side roads for a year or so.  My husband does too.  He sat next he dad all the time when we traveled all those years.  Since he passed the written and missed only two questions the driver ed instructor said he could get the learner's permit tomorrow.  Husband will take him to get it done.

One thing I like about our son is that he's not hung up on getting a pretty car.  He's utterly excited about getting an old beat up Ford truck that's like 20 years old.  I think that awful sweet.  He'd turn green if he knew I said he is sweet.

Words With Friends is currently down.  Supposedly they're working on it but I wish they'd work on it at 2am and not during my play hours.  My average score is 350 per game but I hear a better gauge of play level is average score per play.  I want to keep track of that sometime.  The best players average 20 to 30 points per play and a couple bingos per game.  I'm not that good, but I want to be someday.  I play once a week against a guy who played in Scrabble tournaments for 30 years.  He's awesome.

I'm working on tile counting.  I almost have the letter distributions memorized, I think.  Let's see.

A - 8 Oops, 9
B - 2
C - 2
D - Dunno [5]
E - 13
F - 2
G - 4 Wrong, it's 3
H - 4
I - 8
J - 1 Power letter, 10 points
K - 1 Power letter, 5 points
L - Dunno [Answer is 4]
M - 2
N - [5] Forgot my ABC's and left O and N out, but I'd have gotten them wrong anyway. 
O - 8 [But I didn't know]
P - 2
Q - 1 Power letter, 10 points
R - Hmmm, forgot [6]
S - Five Highly desirable
T - 5 [Wrong, it's 7]
U - 4 Not a fan of the U.
V - 2
W -2
X - 1 Power letter, 8 points
Y - 4 [Wrong, it's 2]
Z - 1 Power letter, 10 points
Blanks - 0 points, Highly desirable

Hmm, I need to still memorize nine out of 26 letters.  Okay.  I'll work on those.  Good thing I tested myself.

Glory to God.  I woke this morning with no sciatica in my leg.  God is great and greatly to be praised.

Uh oh.  Shaggy Dog Journal is gone.  Just about all my regular reads are gone now.  They keep disappearing.

I'm doing Zumba again four days a week.  Through December I just did one or two nights a week and it's just not enough.  One class put my back out and I was sore for a week.  I think it was the samba that did it.  Already I feel peppier at work.

The wind came up today and when I pulled the heavy outside door open to go in for lunch the wind pulled it and the door pushed me and I almost dropped my cup of tea.  I gathered myself together and was a little embarrassed  for two reasons.  One, because I'm the stock clerk and I go through that door dozens of times per day and two, the huge lunch bag my husband sent to work with me is lime green and it was fighting me getting through the doorway.  A man walking by said the wind was blowing in beautiful women.  Welp, that purty much made my year.

Zumba is going well.  Although, the other girl in town is having larger classes than I am because her price is $3 per class.  When my friend told me I felt real bad.  Real bad.  Then it went away and now I  am happy for the people God brings to my class.  I love the ladies who are in my class and they pay me a wee $5 per class and we have fun.  I tell myself that even though I have fewer students, they are the creme de la creme.  Well, every instructor has her own clientele.  I still have the best location in town which is large a spacious with a genuine wood floor and bare minimum overhead to pay for the space.  Her class is larger lately but I earn nearly as much as she and most the money I make is mine.  God is good.  I'm a tither.  First fruits go to the kingdom.  Gotta do it because if I don't, who will.  The bartender isn't gonna care about spreading the gospel.  Neither is the drug dealer.  The disciples need to do the tithing.

I'm working extra hours because my boss is out of town.  I still love, love my job and the men I work with.  My boss even gave me three presents for Christmas.  I thought it was so sweet.  He gave me a nice pocket knife that is mini size; just right for my hand.  He gave me some photo coasters and some delicious sweets leftover from when his wife made pecan something-or-other.  The thing is, he remembered I don't like nuts so he gave me the sweet without the nuts.  He has some kind of memory I tell ya.  And he can count a couple hundred AA batteries in about three seconds flat.

Pastor hurt my feelings a little bit last week.  In November he had asked me to come up with a concept for the 2013 year.  He has a theme for each year.  Last year was the year of Double Portion from the book of Kings.  This year is the year of Holy Fire.  But one night another guy said, hey look, here's our new image for the year.  I said it was beautiful but my heart stopped.  Why didn't pastor tell me he chose someone else to work on it?  Probably because he's busy and forgot and has bigger fish to fry.  So I didn't take offense, but I felt bad.  I sent him the two I had done and he says he wants to use them through the year.  I didn't feel much better though. And I believe they will not be able to enlarge the raster image to vinyl banner size that the other guy did.  Frankly, I don't think he made it from scratch.  I think it's from the packaged software of backgrounds the church has and he just put some text on it.  They haven't asked me for any assistance though so I suppose they are not interested in what I have to say.  You need vector graphics for big banners.  I think there are some raster images you can use but they have to be able to be enlarged 1:1 for say, a 3' x 8' banner.  The pic they're using will not enlarge well.  It'll be blurry and pixellated.

I gotta get in the shower.  I'm late.  I have to get up at the crack of 6:45am.  Yeesh.