Friday, June 24

Friday Photo


Winter Wheat

Reminding us all of cooler times. Of course, it has nothing to do with my procrastination in developing my film...

Thursday, June 23

Comments during "Cold Mountain." If you haven't watched it - Spoiler warning.

-commence the chase scene
Me:"Don't die, don't die, don't die..."
-fight scene continues. Jude Law and Freaky Evil Albino Guy shoot it out. Jude Law is still standing.
Me: "HE DIIIEEESS! NOOOO!" Mom and LSG start laughing at me.
-Jude Law spits blood, thereby confirming the worst, as though the director could really have pulled the wool over our eyes.
"I hate this movie."

The Madre: "Ok, and the one guy gets shot, is in the snow forever, bleeds all over the place, and he lives, but the hot guy?"
(Madre, me and LSG) "The hot guy DIES."

I did like this quote: "They call this war a cloud over the land. But they made the weather and then they stand in the rain and say 'S***, it's raining!'"
Ruby's crying made it more poignant. Of course, she gets the guy, and her dad doesn't die, so...yeah.

I have no idea how accurate this is.

I got hooked pushing the "Next blog" button last night. Ran accross this on another blog. (I guess I probably should have saved the site to give proper credit, but oops, I had already closed the window.)


A cockroach will live nine days without its head, before it starves to death.

A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.

A snail can sleep for three years.

All Polar bears are left-handed.

American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first-class.

Americans on average eat 18 acres of pizza every day.

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.

Butterflies taste with their feet.

Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, dogs only have about ten.

China has more English speakers than the United States.

Donald Duck comics were banned in Finland because he doesn't wear pants.

Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.

Elephants are the only animals that can't jump.

Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie.

February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.

If the population of China walked past you in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.

If you fart consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb.

If you keep a goldfish in a dark room, it will eventually turn white.

In ancient Egypt, priests plucked EVERY hair from their bodies, including their eyebrows and eyelashes.

It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

Marilyn Monroe had six toes.

Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.

More people are killed by donkeys annually than are killed in plane crashes.

Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.

On average, people fear spiders more than they do death.

One of the reasons marijuana is illegal today is because cotton growers in the '30s lobbied against hemp farmers, they saw it as competition.

Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.

starfish haven't got brains.

The ant always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.

The most common name in the world is Mohammed.

There are two credit cards for every person in the United States.

TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters on only one row of the keyboard.

Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

You are more likely to be killed by a Champagne cork than by a poisonous spider.

You can't kill yourself by holding your breath.

You share your birthday with at least nine million other people in the world.

Wednesday, June 22

One of these players is not like the others... (sing it with me!)


Marat Safin

Layton Hewitt

Roger Federer

Based on perceived exertion, who looks most likely to win Wimbledon? ;) That picture is just par for the course when it comes to Federer - everyone else is grinding out a win, and he's lookin' like he's breezin' through.
Which is why our family is always so stunned when we watch him play. He makes it look SO easy.

Tuesday, June 21

Greatest American vote

Ever since my sixth grade teacher daily wrote Abe Lincoln quotes on the chalkboard, I've been a fan. So, basically for that reason alone, I voted for him.

Since 1991

My current "woo-hoo!" file contains this Read Through the Bible for Shirkers and Slackers." (via Megan via Anne) Yes, I not-so-proudly state that I am, indeed, a Bible reading shirker and slacker. I'm your typical "Start in Genesis and read through about Cain and Abel and then get distracted by some other thing and forget that I even tried to start reading through it" person.

On a really sad, pathetic note: the Monument (or "gravestone") to one of my first attempts still resides in my first Bible. At the beginning of each book of the Bible, they split it into easy-to-get-through sections with little check boxes. Oh, that wonderful sense of accomplishment! Within your very grasp - simply check the box off when you've finished it! (heh. right.)

Well, I think I started in 2nd Corinthians. I KNOW I got through Chapter 3, checking off the boxes with perfect little checkmarks. The reason I know I got through Chapter three? All those little empty boxes I didn't check off stare at me, forlorn. Unchecked. Since 1991.

So, I'm quite proud of myself that I've made it through a week of this present Read Through the Bible schedule. Yes, I almost fell asleep during Romans (Saturday night, reading right around 11:30 PM) But I've made it through all of them this week, so far.

The best part is knowing that if you miss a day, you're not really behind. In fact, you don't ever really have to "catch up." I recommend you read the article Margie wrote to go with the schedule ("Still Winter, 2002"). It's really humorous, and it might even inspire you to read through the Bible, too.

Tuesday Quote on....TUESDAY!

Concurrence is when two actions occur simultaneously, or concurrently. It means that God is good and absolutely sovereign over all things, yet at the same time, we are not puppets or robots but have real choices and willingly exercise our wills. Furthermore, we are responsible for our actions and suffer real consequences for them. The Bible teaches all of these ideas repeatedly, emphatically, and concurrently. The challenge for us is to avoid choosing one truth over another, and instead hold them all simultaneously.
~Carolyn Custis James, When Life and Beliefs Collide

Monday, June 20

File under: Enjoying the simple things

Cleaning my room, thereby positively affecting my entire "can do" mood for the weekend/this week.

Finally getting MS Money and Outlook back on my iPaq, after it had crashed and my USB cord died 4 months ago. Yea! Order in my world again!

The look on Sports-Trivia-Guru GPB's face (playing "20 Questions" Board Game) when LSG discarded "Lou Gehrig" as his bonus round card, because she didn't know who he was. "Lou Gehrig? you discarded LOU GEHRIG? I woulda gotten that one!"

Laughing at LSG's excited and TOTALLY OUT OF PLAYING ORDER guess of "Ground Beef!" To the clue of "I sometimes come with tacos or burritos." Laughing even harder when she dejectedly stated, "I shoulda guessed beans," STILL out of playing order, RIGHT before it was her turn. Laughing really hard when I informed her it was now her turn, and the clue was "I can also come come crushed or frozen," and GPB said, "Maybe it is beans..?" (It was "A Margarita.")

Good Times. And by the way, the four of us got worked by the Madre at this game.

Friday, June 17

Friday Photo



The Antique Table
My cousin and I found a sweet little antique shop in Bozeman, and I had a great time snapping photos and talking to the little girl who decided to follow us through the store.
This photo of a dollhouse kitchen set is my favorite [in other words, it only goes downhill from here ;)].

Thursday, June 16

Tuesday Quote on Thursday

It was God’s good pleasure to join you to himself in such a way that his name is at stake in your destiny… in such a way that what becomes of you reflects upon his name.

~Carolyn Custis James, When Life and Beliefs Collide

Kurt and Wesley Meet Chocma


I thought I would post this for my Friday Photo, but it's likely that I'll have a photo to post tomorrow.
This is the artistry of one of "My Kids," drawn last night.

Wednesday, June 15

The Best Sound in the World


Silence....




but only when you realize it's because 10 kids are so engrossed in the story that they've even forgotten to draw pictures.


Does a heart good.

Tuesday, June 14

Actually, I'm probably an A-





You Have A Type B+ Personality



B+





You're a pro at going with the flow
You love to kick back and take in everything life has to offer
A total joy to be around, people crave your stability.

While you're totally laid back, you can have bouts of hyperactivity.
Get into a project you love, and you won't stop until it's done
You're passionate - just selective about your passions


Everything you wanted to know about me and books

Delighted to be tagged by Anne:

(1) Number of books I own - Oh, gosh. probably in the hundreds. Right now they're split between 1) Packed in the back of The Gracious Landlord's office storage area, 2) in my room on the one bookshelf I fit in there, and 3) childhood books that I left at Mom and Dads. I've never gotten rid of any books I've bought, except to sell textbooks back, and I still have most of my Communication textbooks.

(2) Last book I bought - Obviously, Valley of Vision. Before that, The Great Divorce - CS Lewis (The Madre's reading it) and Pierced by the Word - John Piper.

I also have a $30 gift cert to our local Bible Book Store, and I asked Anne what I ought to buy with it. Anne! Mom already has a lot of them! :D So, I'm still trying to figure out what to buy. I'm looking seriously at "Here I Stand (bio of Martin Luther)" and Sketches of Church History. If y'all have recommendations, POST THEM IN THE COMMENTS! I like good (cough-easy-cough) biographies and encouraging, practical books, in the vein of "Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands," "When People are Big and God is small," etc.

(3) Last book I read - I just finished "Pierced by the Word" last night for my devotions. I'm presently reading Wild at Heart, but very sporadically (it's the equivalent to a kid having to eating brussel sprouts for me, but without the benefit of veggie goodness). I was going gung-ho on a biography of Stonewall Jackson, but I put it down for some reason, which likely will necessitate my re-reading half of it.

(4) Five books that mean a lot to me: (aside from the Bible!)

1. The Peacemaker by Ken Sande- I grew up with it's principles, and I believe my mom's insistence on true biblical peacemaking has directly affected our family, helping to make us what we are - close-knit, loving friends, able to stand together through suffering.

2. Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands - by Paul Tripp. I'm still making my way through this one, but Tripp is an amazing biblical counselor and writer, whom I've had the privilege of having lunch with, cracking a joke at which he laughed. (Not to put him up on a major pedistal - I know that Christian and Molly both had him/saw him regularly in school, and he's likely much more "real" to them.)


3. Let me be a Woman - By Elizabeth Elliott. I read this a long time ago (and it needs to be revisited), but I was left with such a sense of joy and satisfaction in who God had made me, as well as encouraged to be who God wants me to become.

3.5. Heh. I guess I can't keep it only to Five! I'd definitely say that "When Life and Beliefs Collide" by Carolyn Custis James absolutely increased my knowledge of God when going through the hard times. More importantly, it encouraged me to strongly advocate for women to know their Theology - Here's an excellent quote: "Good theology coexists with broken hearts, shattered lives, and unimaginable pain. It produces a reservoir of patience toward ourselves and others who hurt and cannot understand what is happening."

4 - A Godward Life by John Piper - In college, I read this as a devotional, and love, love, LOVE it!

5/5.5 Redeeming Love/A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers - I 'randomly' picked up a Voice in the Wind off of a "Recommended by our Staff" at a St. Paul library, the summer of my sophomore year in college. I absolutely didn't expect it to be a Christian book, and I certainly didn't expect fiction to challenge my spiritual life the way that it did, in the character of Hadassah.

Redeeming Love is a great book, with a bit more secular feel to it, because it was Rivers' first book after becoming a Christian. It does a wonderful job of reminding us of our true nature - we return to our sin because it is what we know, not recognizing that the Love of our Life has saved us from our spiritual prostitution, and is always pursuing us, loving us and calling us to love Him.

I'd tag a bunch of people, but my circle of known bloggers is small!

Monday, June 13

Meeting God

I bless Thee that great sin draws out great grace,
that, although the least sin
deserves infinite punishment
because done against an infinite God,
yet there is mercy for me,
for where guilt is most terrible
there thy mercy in Christ is most free and deep.

Strengthen me to give Thee no rest until Christ
shall reign supreme within me
in every thought, word, and deed,
In a faith that purifies the heart
overcomes the world,
works by love,
fastens me to thee,
and ever clings to the Cross

Excerpts from “Meeting God,” The Valley of Vision

Friday, June 10

Friday Photo Returns


Well, after letting my disciplined life go south for the last two weeks, I'm trying to pick it up again. And with that, I post a Friday Photo. That's the gracious landlord in front, The Bro next, with Ghetto Phone Boy driving (and blocked from sight by) Little Shoe Girl on the third 4-wheeler.

About this photo: it was taken last summer by DMM, not me.

Also, Most of my friends and readers also read Banty, who informed us of this blog, which I've added to the blogroll. If you haven't seen it, click through! I have to give it up to the Legal Bean. D, your photos are phenomenal.
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Thursday, June 9

To be so close...

Words of Faith - Billy Graham - MSNBC.com

No, all roads don't lead to God, but for someone to say they thirst, and not quite believe in Christ, it makes me hopeful and sad all at the same time.


But Billy Graham loved to preach, respected the form and used it to its fullest effect. He understood that preaching is essentially the presentation of a spiritual argument, which means that a sermon must be filled with ideas, not just feelings.

To preach you must be smart, you must have faith and you must be able to simplify words without simplifying ideas. A preacher must then move beyond the logic of debate and into the world of personal peril and fear. A great sermon must be heard as if it was addressed only to you, the listener. It must first describe the storm in your life, and then it must offer you a compelling course to get through the storm and into quiet seas of love and hope. That hope must be simple and childlike but never childish. It must be a daring hope that inspires—not just deductively proves—the postulates of its argument, and that hope must be consonant with an ancient religion and not just a passing snapshot of what you decided to believe today.

A sermon must be worldly without being trendy, humorous without being irreverent and certain without being arrogant. Understood this way, almost nobody can give a great sermon, and if you attend services regularly, you will certainly confirm that fear. That is why I so admire Billy Graham. He could really preach.



If you love Billy Graham, you'll appreciate how this Rabbi honors him. His writing is convicting to me, as I am not a gracious person when faced with the beliefs that differ from my own.

{And as an aside, all of his requirements of a great preacher are also embodied in my Pastor. I'd guess that many Reformed preachers are good that way.}

Wednesday, June 8

Friendship

Thanks to Divine Miss M, who, on request, went down to my room, rummaged through my incredibly messy room to find my devotionals, then through my mess of paper in front of my TV, all for a gift certificate that I had no clue where it was - and then ultimately decided I didn't need- in order to get a copy of Valley of Vision from our church's book nook.

Many thanks again, to Divine Miss M, for picking me up for lunch, but first driving me to church to kype said copy of Valley of Vision, and not getting really irritated when we walked in to find the copy gone. And thanks again for listening to me talk (in detail) about how I was going to swipe a copy from work and replace it with a copy that I'd order from the church later, obsessing over something fairly easy to come by.

Oh, and I ended up buying the copy from work, as it was the last one, and no one knew why we had it.

So, DMM, you ran me around for very little, except to once again prove to me and everyone else in the blogsphere that you are a most patient person.

Love ya. Have a good time this weekend.

I can't think of a title.

From a quiz titled,"What's Hot":

Having good credit. But you may not want to get as much credit as Walter Cavanaugh of Santa Clara, CA. He has 1,397 individual, valid credit cards and has a total credit worth of more than $1.65 million. Imagine all the monthly statements!

Moreover, can you imagine the junk mail he gets??

Tuesday, June 7

Keeping it Simplistic.

I'm trying to get through "Wild at Heart." I have looked it up on Diet of Bookworms and a few other searches, so I'm thoroughly aware of the book, its popularity and the serious manipulation and misuse of scripture to back up John Eldridge's personal theories. I'm on the 3rd chapter. Made it through a chapter and a half last night in about 45 minutes. It's a REALLY hard read {roll eyes}.

I'm already bringing my own bias to the book: You see, it's my-ex-The-Artist's book. And, yes, I've been asked - Then why would I read it? You broke up, remember? Well, he thinks its a really great book, and I think it would be a good way to establish passport with him. He already told me that I confuse him because I'm both the most loving person he knows, but also the most critical. (Mweheheh - Welcome to reformed theology 101! Your first class is now over. Have your assignments to me by Friday.)

So, I'm trying to get through this book, because I know when I return it he'll ask if I've read it and brace himself for a scathing critique. And while I Ab.So.lutely disagree so far with this book on so many levels that I can't count them, I'm hoping that perhaps by reading it, giving it the proper due it deserves (TRYing not to chuckle sardonically) and then giving some general disagreements, he might actually THINK through the theology of this book.

So far, it's theology is: God is in heaven, waiting and watching guys and what they do, delighting when men go out and be Men (Definition supplied by Mr. Eldridge). He's a God that takes Risks (capital R) and because Mr. Eldridge prefers the idea that God is like him (so far in the book, Mr. Eldridge doesn't seem to care much about being like GOD, because all those different traits of God seem to confuse Mr. Eldridge. Gotta keep things simple, here), he doesn't want to wrestle like Jacob did with God - but this time over the age old question of "Is God more in control, or is Man?" Well, He defaults to the answer of "Man - mostly because others have thought about God's sovereignty, Man's responsibility and it's all very confusing. So, go hang out in the wilderness! Fun times."

Also, I just got to the part where women's strength is in their beauty and their seduction. I am SO happy that women don't need to be critical thinkers, be wise, be productive and efficient, or be loving toward their children, being so strong in their own faith as to assist their children and husbands in their faith. Gosh, and to think that I just wasted 27 years of my life trying to live a faith-filled life, now to find out that the trait of seduction that I ALREADY possess is all I need.

Ok, I'm done for now. I'm sure I'll continue to rant about this book online because then I won't to The Artist, and avoid destroying any possible friendship we might have. And No, he doesn't know my webpage address.

One thing I do have to give up to Eldridge is that he desires guys to be masculine, and I'm all for that. There are few things better than seeing a capable, strong man at work. Trust me, I live in Montana. We have them. I like men who aren't femmie. I just don't think that the Bible elevates that characteristic to the level that Eldridge has.

I do have to say that I went from reading W.A.H. to "Pierced by the Word," by John Piper. Talk about sweet and filling spiritual food! And WHAT a juxtaposition!

But you would be fed with the finest of wheat;
with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."
PS 81:16

That's what a complete view of God is. Finest wheat and sweet honey. Ultimate Satisfaction.

True 'dat.


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Monday, June 6

Over It

Well, I finally got the Cathartic Break Up CD made. I had about 4 songs too many to cram onto one cd, so I made Volumes 1 and 2 and titled it "Over It."
I'm really liking Volume two a lot, but I liked all of those songs before the breakup, so they don't have as strong of a connotation to The Artist as they could.

Vol. 1
Only hurts when I'm breathing - Shania Twain
Probably wouldn't be this way - LeAnn Rimes
Tonight I wanna cry - Keith Urban
Songs about Rain - Gary Allen
Everytime - Britney
Train in Vain - Annie Lennox
One - u2
The First Cut is the Deepest - Sheryl Crow
Somebody's Cryin' - Chris Isaak
All I want is you - U2
Do what you have to do - Sarah McLachlin
Dreamscape - Shelby Lynne

Vol. 2
See if I care - Gary Allen
You'll think of me - Keith Urban
Piece of my Heart - Janis Joplin
Anything but down - Sheryl Crow
Stupid - Sarah McLachlin
Behind these Hazel Eyes - Kelly Clarkson
My Happy Ending - Avril Lavigne
Stronger - Britney Spears
Where is the Love - Black Eyes Peas
How am I doin' - Dierks Bentley


Kinda reminds me of Whitney Houston's "Best of" 2-cd pack. The first was titled "Throw Down" and the second was 'Cool Down." I still have Cool Down, but I'm sure Throw Down is scratched to oblivion somwhere. I'm not the best caretaker of CDs, sometimes.

Ok, I'm revising - I really like Volume One, too! It's just a lot more laid back.

Oh, and P.S. - say what you will about Walmart, they're online customer service reps are INCREDIBLY helpful when you have problems downloading and sharing songs.

Mweh heh.

Woke up this morning thinking, "What have I COMMITTED TO?"

Panic in the streets of Ainsley's brain.

Sunday, June 5

The funniest possible thing said on TV at 11:45 PM

"The stampede of wild elephants through a pygmy village will thrill you!"

~the trailer of "Tarzan the Apeman" shown on TCM.

Yes, Yes, I'm sure it will.

Saturday, June 4

"Who are these people?" - Revisited

Hey, it's updated. Feel free to check it out :)

Sunday School Kids

For the last 2 weeks I've been thinking about doing something - one of those things that, when I'm sitting around enjoying the time I have off from one of my two jobs, I think "Are you crazy?"

I'm thinking of reading to my sunday school kids "The Tower of Geburah" by John White. The crazy part is that it's going to take at least a couple of months to get through the book (it's long, and I don't want to deal with 8-11 year olds for more than a few hours at a time). So, there goes my summer Thursday nights, in essence.

But even the downsides don't deter me. I've been mulling this over, taking polls of parents, and everyone thinks its a GREAT idea (well, of course parents think it's great - someone read to their kids? An Allegory? and talk about Christ? What's not to love? Ok, the driving, but besides that!)

But I'm even excited. I just don't know where I'll host it. The thing is, I don't have all the things figured out (the Event planner in me is going nutty) But I think I'm just going to jump in and do it.
With octaves of a mystic depth and height