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Showing posts from February, 2009

I've sat down, and I can't get back up

I've kind of survived moving my parents so far... We started packing up the truck with the lift to move furniture last night. I got home at 10:30 last night, and didn't sleep all that wonderfully. I got up this morning, went over and packed up all of my car, Dad's truck and the rest of a trailer. The lady they were buying the house from had some problems with her movers this morning, so we didn't get to start moving stuff into the house until after 3:00 today. But, we had a big truck, Dad's back seat and bed of his truck, a trailer, my car and Mom's car packed and ready to go by then. Jenny helped us for as long as she could once we finally got over there. But between last night and this morning, by the time we really got going, I was tired. I thought one of the pieces of the sectional was going to kill me because we could not get it into the house. The refrigerator wasn't a load of fun either. A lot of work for the four of us. Now, it hurts to move the mous

In all seriousness...

For the past two weeks, I've made light about the situation over at my parents house. Well, things were bound to turn ugly at some point, and unfortunately they did. Today was my attitude adjustment day (have I ever mentioned how I love attitude adjustment days?). It was quite the positive experience, and I'd like to give referrals to some people that need their attitude royally adjusted in more ways than one. My parents have their house back to themselves for the last day and a half before they move. Mom cannot wait to be able to get into the house, but I just wish the last few days in their house could have been more peaceful and joyous than they have been. Now, it's time for me to become deep and reflective. There comes a point and time in life, when an adult needs to grow up and become a responsible adult with respect for those around them. There comes a point and time when an adult needs to realized that the decisions that he/she makes create a ripple effect, and somet

Just what is a ligature, you ask?

Wow! The most comments I have received in two weeks on an entry has to do with the status message I left posted on my blog regarding a press release I was reading. Now you will be sorry that you asked. OK readers, before I continue on, you have to keep in mind that I started out as a communication (graphic) design major and had a whole semester of typography. A ligature is a typography term used to describe when two letters should basically be merged together for visual appeal. Typesetters have functionality in their computer programs to fix this, but I don't think that you can do it in your everyday version of Microsoft Word. Any word, for example, that has an fi or fl will actually connect those letters together so that their is not a dot above the i. Take a quick look at Wikipedia to see what I mean. I promise that you have seen this before as you were reading, but you just didn't notice. Now you will notice for the next four days. However anal-retentive I might be, I normal

Ligature alert

I just read a press release that need 4 f-i and 2 f-l ligatures. How did I pick up on that and why did I notice it today of all days? My typography teacher would be proud.

ABC announces their 2009 Conference

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Association of Biblical Counselors Invites You on a Quest for More 2009 conference features first-ever meeting of the minds Dallas/ Ft. Worth, TX—We live in a broken world. The evidence is everywhere—broken marriages, broken families, broken hearts, broken people. In response, more and more people in the Christian community are exploring biblical counseling. Yet this growing interest brings new questions and fresh discussions about what biblical counseling really looks like. The landscape of biblical counseling is changing, thanks in part to the work of organizations like the Association of Biblical Counselors (ABC). For anyone interested in these exciting new developments, ABC is pleased to announce the 2009 conference to be held May 14-16 in Fort Worth, Texas. The theme of this year’s event is “A Quest for More,” based on the book by keynote speaker Paul Tripp, one of the most dynamic speakers in biblical counseling today. “I am overwhelmed with excitement over this year’s conferenc

Jason Berggren's 10 Things I Hate About Christianity

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When Faith Fails to Deliver Discovering the cause of Christian disillusionment For both church insiders and those who are only now beginning a conscious pursuit of Christ, the journey of faith is sometimes marked by moments of disillusionment and anger. This comes as a surprise to many of us who have either been taught or have sought a very different version of faith—one that brings the happy ending, the resolution of conflict, the warm fuzzies. According to author Jason T. Berggren, the emotional valleys of faith are often completely unrelated to anything God has or has not done; instead, they are a direct result of our own wrong expectations. In 10 Things I Hate About Christianity: Working Through the Frustrations of Faith, Berggren explores many of the wrong expectations that have caused absolute frustration in his life and his own journey of faith and shares some good news: this sense of overwhelming dissatisfaction can actually serve as a catalyst for personal growth. Berggren fir

Breakthrough by Tom Doyle

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Can Anything Good Come Out of the Middle East? How God’s love is combating terrorism and militant Islam Every night on the evening news, we see images from the Middle East of war, terrorism, bold threats, and a hatred that has been smoldering for centuries. The lead news story of the day often emanates from this volatile region—and rightfully so, because of its instability. The Middle East is the place where history, religion, and politics collide head-on. The future of the region appears hopeless…until you discover that there is more to the story. “Jesus is reaching out to the people of the Middle East in a powerful way, and the people are responding in record numbers. Millions have given their lives to Jesus Christ in the last ten years. That’s right—millions!” author and Middle East expert Tom Doyle points out. “This story is more important than the latest suicide bombing or the latest threat of war. And Christians need to hear it.” In his new book, Breakthrough , author Tom Doyle

Short and Sweet

OK , not much time to blog tonight. Paige and Peyton are over here and it is late. And I promised Paige she could play a game on the computer as soon as I finished this entry. Boring Saturday, grocery store, got my oil changed, refused the extra things that "needed" to be done to my car, washed my car (not well), packed boxes for my mom. That's about it. Kind of have a funny story, but it will have to wait.

A grand achievement

I achieved something today that I am not sure that I have accomplished since the birth of my brother 29 years ago. It is pretty safe to say that today, I was my parents' favorite child. The "great invasion" has not done a lot for my mom's sanity, ability to sleep, stress level or patience. My dad even got a bit peeved at my brother last night, my mother informs me. I took her out to lunch today to talk. And since I paid, my mom considered it a real treat. I replied back, "well, I am your good child." I figured she needed a treat. It's a good thing my parents live at the dead end of the street. Mom's car is always in the driveway, then three cars can fit wide from one side of the street to the other. There's the trailer with stuff stored in it for the move, my dad's truck, Brian's farm/work (whatever he actually does these days) truck, Brian's other truck and Julie's car. When I drove up tonight and pulled in behind my mom in the d

Why I will never be a reality TV superstar

There is one thing I don't have to worry about being in life, and that is a reality TV superstar. I love Survivor and have watched it since sometime in the second season (can you say Colby?), and then watch what I missed before that on some out there cable channel that showed repeats. But, one thing's for sure. You wouldn't catch me out running around in my underwear, sleeping with the rats, living in muck and camping out for 39 days. Not to mention, I'd get on everyone's nerves on day 1 and my tribe would throw the challenge to vote me off at the first tribal council. I'm an on again off again watcher of The Amazing Race . I'd love to take a trip all over the world on someone else's dime, but I'd be wanting to take pictures and do the tourist thing. Plus, it never fails, there's a challenge where you have to bungee jump off a building or do something extreme that I wouldn't or couldn't do if my life depended on it. I'm afraid not

Can I make an appointment?

That is actually a question that I asked my mom tonight. "Can I make an appointment to talk to you?" Tonight marks night 7 of "The Great Invasion" over at my parents house. I haven't really, truly had a chance to talk to my mom since Saturday, and for most of the time I was with her that day, my grandmother was around. Not exactly the opportune time to talk. I had something on my mind that I wanted to talk to her about, and we usually get a chance when we ride to church together on Wednesday nights, but all three girls were in tow tonight. I tried talking to her on the phone one night, but Dad answered the phone and was kind of keeping guard or something. Until 8 people started living there, I never realized how small my parents' house was. Of course, it probably seems even smaller to the 8 of them than it does to me. Without all of their toys around, the two younger girls run around like crazy, bumping into Layton's activity seat things (what are those

Randal Rauser's Finding God in the Shack

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It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book! You never know when I might play a wild card on you! Today's Wild Card author is: Randal Rauser and the book: Finding God in the Shack Authentic (February 3, 2009) ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Randal Rauser is associate professor of historical theology at Taylor Seminary, Edmonton, Canada and was granted Taylor’s first annual teaching award for Outstanding Service to Students in 2005. Dr. Rauser’s career as both professor and author has been shaped by his passion for developing a biblically sound apologetic theology that meets

He's Just Not That Into You

In Saturday night's entry, I talked about going to see He's Just Not That Into You . However, as one reader pointed out, I didn't give my opinion of the movie. Overall, I liked it, but the more I think about it, maybe I didn't. I spent the first I don't know how long of the movie trying to keep up with how all the characters were connected. They were a little 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon- ish . What woman hasn't had one of those "he's not into you" moments? I know guys that do things that would make you think he was into you, but he's really not into you. It really drives me nuts. Should we say, "hey, you're being a real jerk because that could be considered flirting"? Sort of like Alex and Gigi before he finally figured out he did like her. I really felt for the Gigi character. She just wanted a guy to pay her some attention and be interested in her. I've probably been as obsessed as her before, but just not as obvious to the ge

Awww... there is only 10 more minutes of weekend left

I got to doing something else online and almost forgot to blog tonight. There are only 10 minutes more of weekend left. I need to go to bed, so you aren't going to get a long blog post tonight. Is anyone other than my parents off tomorrow? The question is: Are you celebrating President's Day?

The scene that spoke a million words

This evening, I met up with Jenny to meet up with one of her friends, Ashley, to meet up with one of her friends, Sarah. We went to go see the movie "He's Just Not That Into You." As we were waiting to get into the movie, on this stupid day of the year (one of my four least favorite days of the year) when everyone was at the movie on dates, four single women between the ages of 27-32 stand under the sign to the movie saying, "He's Not That Into You." One of our group (not sure which one) said, "the four of us standing under this sign says oh so much." Yes, yes it did. What woman doesn't have a "he's not that into you" moment? The four of us certainly had an assortment of tales to tell. Now, I'm not sitting her throwing a pity party, I'm just telling a funny story. I have to add that my grandmother made an unnecessary comment today. My mom and I were talking about someone or some situation, and Grandmother says, "see A

A new appreciation for living alone

First of all, I apologize for being a woman of few words this week. That is very unlike me. I believe yesterday is the first day that I posted absolutely nothing at all since I first started my blog. Life has been going on, and I didn't get back into town until around 8:00 last night from Arlington, Euless, Bedford or whatever mid-city that technically was. I know I went through Dallas going up and Arlington coming back. With my attitude greatly adjusted, I am now better prepared to blog non-sense. I just didn't come straight home when I got into town last night (I'll get to that part in a minute), so I didn't turn on my computer to blog since I wanted to watch Grey's Anatomy, which by the way should have been renamed "Shepherd's Anatomy." ADD moment here. I read the Grey's message board on ABC.com, and everyone was complaining about "Addie's Anatomy," but I'm still going to put it off on Derek. I love McDreamy, but c'mon, I w

John's Quest by Cecelia Dowdy

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This is actually the first book that I requested after I set up my blog - the other FIRST tours I have posted are on books that I've been working on. I just started reading John's Quest , so I will post my review when I post the tour for Milk Money next month. It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book! You never know when I might play a wild card on you! Today's Wild Card author is: Cecelia Dowdy and the book: John's Quest (Maryland Wedding Series #1) Barbour Publishing, Inc (2008) ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Cecelia Do

Christopher Wright's The God I Don't Understand

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It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book! You never know when I might play a wild card on you! Today's Wild Card author is: Dr. Chris Wright and the book: The God i Don’t Understand Zondervan (January 1, 2009) ABOUT THE AUTHOR: As the successor to John Stott, Dr. Chris Wright is the current international director of the Langham Partnership International. John Stott Ministries is the constituent member of LPI in the United States. Dr. Wright, as the youngest of four children born to missionary parents, learned early that, “All our mission should be grounded