Wonderments

• That God created us with eyes. Bats don’t use their eyes to see and they get around just fine! Technically speaking, God didn’t have to create us with eyes but yet we have them. It is amazing that God cared enough about our relationships with one another and God’s creation that we were given eyes. I think I take them for granted. And I'm slightly fearful to look into them.

• Humor. Why do we find things funny? Why do we laugh? Why is it so healthy to laugh? This puzzles me and yet I shall continue to laugh until I can laugh no more or all the funny people and things in life die off. Even then I shall continue to laugh at myself… so I guess I’ll laugh forever! (Surely God must have laughter in heaven.)

• Four Mysteries from Proverbs 30:18-19 (New Living Translation)
  “18There are three things amaze me, no, four things I don’t understand: 19how an eagle glides through the sky, how a snake slithers on a rock, how a ship navigates the ocean, how a man loves a woman.”

• Stocks, bonds, and Roth IRAs. Thank goodness Josh set up my Roth but it’ll be years from now before the S&K 500 and I ever form a lasting friendship.

• Beauty. It amazes me that certain things can appeal so perfectly to our senses. In that same line, that certain things can repel me so.

• Imagination. One of the things (along with beauty) for which I needed no instruction.

• Friendship. How is that people who have had the most polar upbringings may form a lasting friendship and that some friendships may find themselves bound by kindred spirits. Along with that, emotional bonds. I’m frequently amazed that two people may form an emotional bond and after their relationship has ended that bond will continue until it is healed.

• Babies. Anything baby. Why is it that any living baby, be it human or animal, or even ideas, seems so wonderful and cuddly and delightful while still very young? Animals certainly cannot find any attraction in their young, I mean, look at the mates they pick! (I know, I know, it’s all about survival, but still!) There is no purpose for their young to be so darling! In that same strain, how is it that human babies can be such terrors! A little infant can reduce a grown man to tears and fear in less than 2 seconds. Why are they so precious?!

• My car engine. Just today it started making a new terrific noise. I think though that it’s a ploy to harass me and be a daily reminder that although I can pretend to know what I’m talking about, I’ll never understand what the manifold gasket does. And yes, I've been shown a million times and just recently a good friend of mine sat me down and we watched movies and diagrams about it and he gets it but I haven't the slightest idea anymore.

• Geniuses. The French guy who first made movies and Ford (or whoever developed the first steam vehicle) render me speechless and forever in awe. How do they do that? And how in the world do people write symphonies? How?! I tried to "channel" some Mozart while in Salzburg and I just could not conjure up anything! Not even a short little ditty.

• The fact that I was ashamed to wear make-up. I strongly desire to walk around au naturel but good gracious! just let me step foot in the cosmetics aisle and I'm a sucker for a new mascara or blush or lip gloss! I'm reading a book called Travelling Mercies and in it the author describes using cosmetics as (and a I grievously paraphrase) "to enhance the beauty that is there, not cover it up." I felt as though a great burden has dropped off my shoulders because I was literally ashamed to be cosmetically inclined! Thank you so much Travelling Mercies authoress!

I'll be adding to this list often so do check back if you so desire.

P.S The snow has been falling off and on over the weekend and my little cheery lamplight and tree-friends are just absolutely delighted. They told me so. They also encouraged me to gaze out on the swirling snow in the lamplight and to take notice of the saplings' and pine tree's new attire..... as often as I so desired. I think they are all quite dashing and resplendent and shall take them up on their offer.

Warm, bright, cheery light.

After much deliberation, it has been determined by the powers in charge (ahem, me) that while the hiatus in posting was necessary and a most deliberate decision, there happens to be certain occasions that arise and deem an untimely post necessary. I shall continue my hiatus/sabbatical after this post, as I am never one to take joy in going against my word. Ergo I shall break this draught of posting to bring you all some very important news.

Snow has arrived to Ohio and it is now officially winter!
When I say snow, I do not mean a dusting and I do not mean flurries. I mean three inches and counting and no roads plowed. I mean driving to church and wondering if it is cancelled and then fishtailing twice (the one time was with mother after church and as she is my witness, we were going sideways down the road and I pulled us out of it with nary a bat of the eye). When I say snow, I say BY JOVE IT HAS SNOWED!

To celebrate said snowfall I took a three hour nap at the rents and then went sledding and sledding and snowball-fighting. Tried hooking up the Great Dane to see if she'd pull me along while on the sled but she just pulled me along, sans sled. Can I just say this, and I don't know if I've ever mentioned it before, but I love snow. I really really really love snow. I love driving in it, I love sledding in it, I love skiing in it, I love walking in it, and I certainly don't mind shovelling it. Snow is magical.

Right now I am sitting at my window in Columbus. There, right outside my window, is a most beautiful scene. A big pond stretches out before me and right in front of my window there is a lamppost. Next to this lamppost are a couple of saplings and a darling little pine and I like to think that they are a very happy group. There is no reason for this lamppost to be in such an illogical spot so I just know that it is there just for me. The tree limbs are covered in snow now and the pine tree looks romantic as a snow-covered pine tree should. The lamppost gives off such a warm golden glow that covers its friends and seems to be an invitation to admire the scene. Of course I am more than happy to oblige. It's my lamppost in Narnia.

Without this wonderful picture before me, I don't know that I could ever have returned to the city without despairing that I would miss out on this most marvelous snowfall. I have been giving a small present, a souvenir one might call it, and I am most blessed. The Lord knows just how to meet the small unspoken needs in my heart and takes great joy in filling them as a bridegroom should. Doesn't that speak volumes about the bride He is pursuing and His love for her?

Oh Dad.

Ok, I lied. I couldn't wait to post this forward that my father sent me so NOW I'm starting my two week sabbatical from posting. (this is just to prove that Bri's father is not the only one who sends out crazy forwards) See you in two weeks.

Subject: THE DONKEY

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do.

Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey. He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well.

At first, the donkey didn’t realize what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing.He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up. Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

Free your heart from hatred - Forgive.
Free your mind from worries - Most never happen.
Live simply and appreciate what you have.
Give more.
Expect less


NOW ............Enough of that crap........The donkey later came back, and bit the farmer who had tried to bury him. The gash from the bite got infected and the farmer eventually died in agony from septic shock.

MORAL FROM TODAY'S LESSON: When you do something wrong, and try to cover your ass, it always comes back to bite you.

Nota Bene

Unfortunately, due to unforseen (and I mean, completely unforseen) circumstances, I will be taking a two week sabbatical from posting commencing yesterday. Posting will continue when there no longer lies within me the desperate urge to crawl into a hole and cry myself out of existance.

In Memoriam donations may be sent to:

The Ohio State University
C/O PTSD Committee for the Health of Ardent OSU Alumni NCAA Football Fanatics.
Columbus, OH 43210.

Linen shirts and leather boots.

So it’s 11:59p on Saturday night as I start this entry. Right, wait a bit…. and now it’s 12a on 1/07/2007. Buona mattina tutti!

Now I know most of the rest of the world paid attention in history class (as I most certainly did) but I think I failed to realize just the extent to which Great Britain involved herself with Northern Africa. In the last week, in 3 completely unpremeditated and unrelated instances, I’ve read and watched examples of such. Just this week alone I read The Four Feathers and Sharpe’s Tiger, and today because it was the last movie in our pile that we have yet to see, Lindsey and I watched “The English Patient.”

All three books (we’ll include “The English Patient” as a book because it started out as such and will make this entry incredibly easier to write, so I’ll thank you not to make a big to do about what the book was like and how it’s probably not at all like the movie and how the book is so much better than the movie and blah blah blah. Hush. Besides, I don’t want your opinion whoever you are that wasted the time to read that sex-driven novel, as a matter of fact, I do believe that if you did read that book you should be in a state of penitence at the moment. Trash and no plot. It was a big affair that should have stopped but no, Katherine just couldn’t resist the adoring eyes of another man. Rotten behavior by most and I don’t know what he was thinking when he left her in that cave. I mean, please, start the credits rolling then because you KNOW what’s going to happen! If he loved her, he would have carried her or rigged up one of those Native American things that they pulled behind dogs and horses. Chavois? What the crap is that called? Right, hold on. (Commence grumbling about it being 12:30 and no idea what the heck that thing is called; they always talk about it in the books. Wakefield, come on!). GOT IT! A Travois! Now those Native Americans, they really know their stuff. If someone’s injured and there’s no water transportation available, THEY DON’T LEAVE THE YOUNG AND HELPLESS. GOT IT Cmte. Ralph Fiennes from Hungary? Idiot. There’s a war going on and he’s got some name that’s Hungarian but the Americans/Canadians/Brits don’t really care at this point because they’ve been getting the crap kicked outta them for years and now it’s revenge baby. Tough crap ol’ chap. You should have known. Plus you left her to die all by her lonesome and now she’s writing poetry about it!(p.s. she probably died hating your guts) Here’s what you do my good man, you rip off the rest of the wing that was shattered in the plane crash and use it as a sled, rig up a mast with the wing supports, then you tie all the rest of the parachute silk to it and presto! You’re windsurfing on the sand and you’re taking the love of your life (cheaters that you are) with you so that she won’t be left behind when you get mistaken for a German count and have to travel far far away then jump off a train and nearly break your ankle in the process. And you wouldn’t have to betray your country to fly back to her to get her AFTER she died and then crash and then burn your face up and then die) [1] deal with lots of desert and fighting and the Brits.

So anyway, where was I? Oh wait, one more point. If we as a people do not want to see naked people in public, what the heck makes you think we want close ups of naked people in movies for SEVERAL REALLY LONG SCENES? I avoid looking at naked people in public (Barcelona, Italy, Downtown Columbus), I certainly don’t want to have to sit through MULTIPLE scenes in a movie looking at a naked person. I know I choose to watch the movie but should I have to sacrifice a movie just because somewhere someone said naked people are supposed to be entertaining? And with that, what is with the sex scenes? What purpose do they serve? Don’t we all joke about shuddering at the thought of those old dorm days with your roomies and their mates (fyi, my roomies never did, they all were freaking fantastic)? If we don’t want to watch it in real life, then why is it in there when it doesn’t have to be? We get that they’re having an affair, we’re not daft, we don’t need you to spell it out for us! And I know I would lose this argument if ever confronted with opposition but I’m allowed to have my opinion here, whew. And don’t get me started on that whole “Yes, but this is art,” crap. I know art when I see it and there was nothing “Birth of Venus,” about this.

This is so not where this post was headed. I cannot even recall where I was going with this. Something about sand and Brits and lions and tigers. Oh right, Africa. This whole desert thing is starting to grow on me. I’ve always wanted to read T.E. Lawrence’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom (the T.E. Lawrence of “Lawrence of Arabia”, you know, Peter O’Toole, early 1900’s, desert) and I have read Kenneth Robert’s Lydia Bailey, and “The Last Crusade,” is one of my favorite movies, along with “The Black Stallion Returns,” “Hidalgo,” and any movie set in a desert for that matter (just as long as there are no scorpions involved, I absolutely hate scorpions.) So, I want to travel Northern Africa. That’s the point. I should have studied archaeology and headed down to Egypt or Tunisia or even Algeria, but no, I didn’t. History might help I do believe. (wink wink, maybe a little). I think I would like to see the endless miles of sand dunes. There’s something very adventurous about the desert and its mysteries. I want to see the stars at night out there, under an endless sky. I want to race the wind on an Arabian horse and laugh when we come to the end of our course. Realizing that there is more to the desert then riding horses and crossing sand dunes and staring at the sky (though what else there is I don’t know) I am fully prepared to prepare myself for all that comes with my dreams.

A point about the Brits and the desert is this: The Brits, a cold, wet, and dreary group, (whom I’ve always thought were contented to live as Englishmen due to the fact they all stemmed from the same Celtic/Anglo/Saxon/Jute backgrounds and obviously chose the British Isles because they liked them) managed to wrangle their way into a land that in no way resembled England and set up a thriving economy and (at some points) a government and many Englishmen actually stayed there! But it is understandable to me why the British would have been so keen on Northern Africa. Look at where they lived! England is like the size of a postage stamp! Everything is packed in nice and cozy to make room for everyone and out in the desert, there’s nothing but hundreds of miles of nothing! Who knew that a country that small would eventually become known as the empire upon which the sun never sets! It takes determination and an urgency inspired by the prospect of near-death to accomplish what they did. In no way am I condoning one nation taking over another nation but I must give credit where credit is due. (But if ya’ll ever head back to the States, remember this: you gave up once, do you really want that shame again? This young buck of a country is growing up and growing up quick…just thought I’d throw that out there, in case the tides ever changed)

Next time: Cowardice. Who has felt its stung, when does it most commonly attack, why does it attack, and how we can prevent it. (I have, when I'm skiing, because I got off the bunny hill and am now looking down a flippin' mountain, by staying in the lodge)

[1] Right, I know what you’re thinking, all that was in parentheses?