Today

Today I listened to a really neat CD from a group called "Eden's Bridge". You can sample some of their music here (http://www.worshipmusic.com/swd0197.html). I love Celtic music and theirs is some of the best Christ-focused Celtic music I've heard :-)

Today I'm doing laundry . . . or rather, the washer and dryer are "doing" the laundry - I just help the machines along a bit with clothes, soap and quarters :-P Makes me glad for the machines though. The stream and the rock just don't sound like fun to me . . . maybe I'm just lazy?

Today I caught up on reading my friends Blogs :-)

Today I finished one major project at work and came really close to completing another :-)

Today I made plans with friends to go to a play on Saturday :-) :-) We're gonna see "Catch Me If You Can sandwiched between Quiznos for lunch and something for dinner afterwards :-) We're also gonna go see some movie on Sunday afternoon. I forget which one.

Which reminds me . . . "Happy Feet" comes out on my birthday and with it - - - - the trailer for the next Harry Potter movie!!!! I'll go to the movie just for the trailer! :-)

The Kerry Tragedy

The last few days have seen me experiencing a lot of anger. Righteous anger, I believe, at the coarse, calloused, thoughtless and slanderous words of Senator John Kerry. But his stupid "joke" (yeah, like I buy that!) is not the worst of it.

Kerry "apologized" - or so they say. But his apology was just another slam. He's sorry that we, the American people, are so stupid that we "misinterpreted" his comments! Adding insult to injury. Now it's not just the US Military that Kerry insults, it's the American people as a whole.

But that's not the worst of it.

I think the greatest insult is that Bush and the rest of the polical leadership - democrat & republican alike - ACCEPTED Kerry's "apology"!!!! WHAT????? Mind you, I'm a staunch Republican and I've always supported Bush. However, in not demanding that Kerry take full responsibility for his error (and that's putting it *very* nicely), the leaders of our political system, including Bush, have given legitimacy to his presumption that we're all pretty stupid.

The job of my elected leader is to protect me - as an American citizen and as an individual. That these leaders would let this (enter choice word here) get away with such a lame excuse for an apology is outrageous and I'm more offended by their acceptance of Kerry's apology than I am by Kerry's initial foolish comments. How the rest of the world must view this - and me by default - is humiliating.

But then . . .

Maybe they realized, as I do, that this sorry excuse for an "apology" is about the best we'll ever get out of this sorry excuse for a "man". He's NEVER apologized for calling good men like my dad - a Vietnam Vet - baby killers and rapists and a number of other far more terrible things. He has no respect for anyone in our military. I'd be hard-pressed to believe he has respect for anyone. The man is arrogant, self-righteous and flat-out evil.

One question I have - and if anyone out there can answer me, I'd sure love to hear it - is why anybody in the military - past or present - or anyone with a friend or loved one in the military - past or present - would support this guy? Veterans came out to support him in pretty good numbers in the last presidential run. WHY??? He thinks you're stupid!! He thinks you're baby-killers and rapists!! Why on earth would you lend your support to a creature like him??

More Blessings than I know what to do with!!

So, to top it all off, my brother and his family will be moving to Arizona this month!! He's taken the position of Senior Worship Ministries Pastor at a church out there. (I don't know if that's the exact title, but it's probably a good substitute anyway).

The really huge benefit is that they'll only be a day drive away from me. This means MANY more opportunities for me to visit them and get to know my wonderful, sweet sister-in-law and my precious nephews better!! Not to mention seeing my best friend in the whole world a bit more often :-)

I'm so excited!!

I should be on my treadmill . . .

But it's been so long since I wrote anything, I figured this was more needful at the moment :-) Besides, it's a great excuse to procrastinate :-)

Well, I've been absent because I've been moving. It was quite the experience. Of course I realize I'm not alone in this - nearly everyone has a tale or two about the challenges of moving - and most, I'm sure, are far more harrowing than mine. But this is my Blog and so I'm telling my story :-) Feel free to respond with your own anecdotes :-)

Long-whiney-story-short: All my planning was for naught. A full month ahead of time I set up everything - the address change, the phone, the basic cable (just the local channels), the internet, the volunteers, the truck, the day off to clean the new place so it would be ready to move into . . . I really thought it through and planned ahead every detail - researched the best prices and scheduled all the deliveries/installs, etc.

Without going into every boring detail, suffice to say that not one of these things happened as "I" planned for them to. And therein is the key . . . "I" planned. Now, I'm not saying I shouldn't have planned - that would be really dumb. I did what I needed and should have done. None of my efforts was in vain as they were the right thing to do at the time. No, the problem was not in the planning, the problem was in trusting the planning and allowing no room for God to do something different. So, I got to go to "God changes things" school :-)

In retrospect, I am so grateful God took me through that time. I came out of it a bit more humbled and really strenghthened in some relationships as I was *lovingly* chastised by some folks who cared enough to challenge my pity-party when it was all falling apart. And, in the end, every need has been taken care of. It wasn't even a really tough trial, but it was really beneficial!

One of the things I was soundly reminded of in this process is to stop and count my blessings. I thought I'd share a few (these are specifically move-related):

1. A treadmill - a really nice, decked out treadmill for about 1/2 of what it would normally cost - and because things didn't work out as I planned, I saved $75 in delivery fees!

2. Two beautiful kitty kats :-) I don't have to come home to an empty house anymore!!

3. Space! Lot's of it. It's not really usable yet as I've still got boxes occupying the living room, but I can see it all working out beautifully in the end :-)

4. A dining room table and chairs. A nice set too - solid oak wood with a removable leaf to size it down. It's in really nice condition and it only cost $100 AND it was delivered for free! This was the key piece of furniture as it was the primary reason I wanted to move up into a larger place. The studio suited my basic needs but did not allow enough room to host more than a couple of folks at a time - and I do so love to play the hostess! This new place will open doors to have friends over for lunch or dinner, Bible Studies, Game Nights or any number of other "several folks involved" events :-)

5. A sofa bed. This will allow me to house students looking into the Master's College or my brother when he comes to the Shepherd's Conference (unless he comes with his wife who is highly allergic to cats. . . ) or my parents if they decide to come down for a visit or any number of other possible overnight visitors. It opens the door to even more opportunities to excercise my love for hospitality.

6. A matching set of armchairs - free from a guy at work. He and his wife are buying new furniture. The set is in wonderful condition and the upholstery reflects the warm Victorian look I want to have.

7. A couple of wonderful lady friends who have a great eye for organizing and decorating!!! And they're both excited to help me put my home together and make it a warm, welcoming place!

Lastly - the $$ to do everything I really needed and most all of the things I really wanted to do in this move. God provided additional, unexpected funds to more than cover all the expenses involved in the move - including the unexpected ones arising out of the planning-gone-awry! And I can still afford to go home for Christmas :-)

Well, that's it for this post. I'll do a little more catching up in the next one and try to do better at keeping up from now on :-) Thanks for reading - I hope you are encouraged by the goodness of our Sovereign Lord and Savior - Jesus Christ. All praise, honor and glory to Him alone!