Congratulations

...to the latest of my friends who have gotten hitched. Hurrah! I'd be totally lying if I tried to say something like "who knew?" or "I never thought you'd be married before me..." because, truth is, we ALL knew you'd be married SOMEDAY. Maybe ESPECIALLY me. I didn't know it so much recently, but I definitely knew it before. Let's just say, the reason we lost touch in recent years is because I decided to trust you to your own devices...and...you were taking care of each other...and all...you know...that. I'm so clever.
I'm so sad I wasn't able to go, because I didn't want to infect your loved-ones with my sniffles. But I just KNOW you thought of me.
I've always thought you were the luckiest pair in the world. God bless you guys, and I hope you get fresh from the Canadian air.
Congratulations to Joseph and Charissa Pritchard!!
(And congratulations to the genius youngster who took the most amazing wedding photos ever!! Guess who?)

These days...

That said, thank You Jesus.

Flag-raising

Happy Birthday, Family. And I say this with a tiny tingling of something that feels like it has just begun in the toes and has a long way to go until it reaches my fingers, but is surely on its way.
I have never been so excited about the Family and my involvement in it than during this feast. It really is amazing. I'm not just riding along anymore, I have to get out and pull. It's not about me barely staying on top anymore, it's about having the faith that I AM OKAY, and going out and saving others. I still feel like a mole boring a hole into the ground sometimes, but I'm going to get me some of that courage that can face the sun and let it shine a searchlight through the massive hole that is me. And you! And us! And we!
It always takes a while for the Word to soak in when I'm just reading it and taking it in to myself. But when I start letting it pass through, when I'm witnessing or reading word with the young teens, or thanking the Lord for it, I get it so much quicker, and I get so excited about it; like opening both windows to let the wind through.
I just KNOW you are as excited as I am. And I am so happy to know that there are bunches of others that feel the same way that I do.

Blog Frog

This might seem like sort of a boring topic for a blog post to some. And...agreed, but it's giving me something to think about right now. It's sort of like these next few minutes of typing COULD actually bring me to an answer that I can buy myself off with, so haul along.
Someone recently asked me what "category" my blog fell under. Of course, I didn't understand the question either until he said something like, "You know, some blogs are kiddy/parent blogs, some are food blogs, music blogs, witnessing blogs, every-day-life-in-the-family blogs, hobby blogs..." And like you, I got the picture.
I WONDER. I never tried to pigeon-hole the blog before.
It feels more just like a representation of myself than a column, first of all. Like a window that I can stand at and wave and say "hi"; I didn't really feel like the blog needed a theme any more than my life did, really. But then he asked me, "Is it kind of a writing exercise?" and I scrunched up my nose. I don't know if it looked very scrunched, but it felt scrunched, on the inside.
Maybe it is a writing exercise. I don't know how much I have actual conscious thoughts of trying to make my "writing skills" BETTER, really. I don't intend to write a book or anything anytime soon... And my songs...well, I don't think they're gonna get much better than they are at this point...it's usually just some kind of hit-and-miss with the melodies and lyrics, nothing I've ever been very good at grunting out.
So, no, not a writing exercise. A bit of writing PLAY, maybe. My own private little sandbox! For making mud pies of the mind!! There are sometimes things that come into my head that feel like they'd make more sense on paper (or, in this case, on cute little white blog interface). Some things that I would sometimes refer to in my head because of how much more sense they made when I managed to fit them like too much luggage into a suitcase.
SO THERE. That's what it is. THAT is the conclusion that this retarded brain took (scrolling up to count...) 5 paragraphs to get to. Weep for me, I really am handicapped.
Only slightly related tangent: In a matter of about 5 or so posts, this blog will have hit its 500 posts mark. How nut-nuts is that?

Remember the old "Joy of Painting" videos?

Mark just showed me this. I laughed so hard. Youtube videos usually take a few seconds to kick into the hilarity, but this one was funny right from the very beginning. And it has a message!! Hahahaha.

Words to confused Family members

My friends, it's time to grab the bull by the horns. If there are no horns--you're grabbing a cow, STOP IT!!

"V for Ventriloquist"

It's Valentine's day. Remember what it stands for? Love, love...sweet, warm, whispering, stirring, fingertip, timeless, magical love. Yes folks, as dorky as "magical" sounds, what else can change the worst possible day into the best possible day just by taking your hand and walking with you? What carries us, holds us, sustains us, fills us... not boyfriends, not husbands, not girlfriends or wives--Love.
I'm sort of irked by these things that people say about disliking Valentine's because they're alone, or because it's a slap in the face to people who "don't have love" or "don't have anything to celebrate." It seriously makes me wonder what missionary group they're in. If you're in the Family, you've got love--whoever you are, however "alone" you feel. Heck, even I probably love you! And if a silly little kid like me can love you, how much more love do you have in Jesus, who is definitely the boyfriend that deserves a little recognition on Valentine's day.
And even if all the rest of this stampeded out of your life, if there was no Family backdrop and no props like friends and family, and you were alone on an empty stage...you'd still have the only love that's really worth celebrating. And even though being alone with Jesus usually is more tears and unworthiness than "celebratory" feelings, celebrate while you cry and celebrate while you grovel at His feet, because you have Jesus in your life, and you have Love, authentic and pure. Who needs carbon copies when you've got the Original.
Happy Valentine's Day. Jesus and I love you.

My little bit of duty to the world

Triple posting! I just love rest-nights.

Here is something that you must READ:

And then:

Google phrases like "Ass on fire," "You can do it," "Do it, already," etc, for more motivational images.

"My Home" part 1

Tonight, I will double-post. Because I am in the mood and I do not care that it throws off my nice "one post every three or so days" thing I've got going.
This post has been a long time in coming. Actually, if we're being honest (which, to be honest, we aren't always. Honestly.) this post has been a long time in decidedly not coming and then only just today I have decided to let it come and let the chips fall where they may. As much as some of my home members probably won't take to the idea of being on the "Internets," I am going to do this because of how much I love my them. Hey, if Mama and Peter can do it...(also, all those smiley people in India.)

Allow me to introduce to you the smiling and happy people that are the PC home. Forget trying to figure out who is married to who and whose kids are whose, because, as someone pointed out, we are all sitting sort of in and within each other and no one is standing with the "right" people. Which is quite beautiful, actually. Oh ho ho check this out...look at the people who are sitting with each other and imagine them as a couple. It's quite funny. Hahahahahaha...okay I'll stop laughing.
The only person missing from this photo is David Stine (usually reffered to as "McLovin" or "Schtein", God knows why). I wish he was in this picture, it would make everything that much sweeter if we got to see his sweet smile.

...His sweet eyeballs, I guess, are just as good. (You're welcome, Ambie.)
So here is some trivial information about my home. We have a massive TV (I don't know why that's the first thing that came to mind) and a pretty big dining room that also doubles as a living room...pretty much just the central "aorta" of the house. One annoying thing about it is that the house is quite old (was all fixed up on the inside by some shady workmen who did a sloppy job a few years back) and the main room is the result of the knocking down of some old paper doors and things, so there are large square poles/beams/columns in various sporadic places. Quite pesty. Our house is very much too small, too old, and too ugly for all of us lots of pretty people, and so we are looking for a new house. Like, seriously. Mostly because we (being a service home) are going to move in with another service home to create one large service home (check it out, little bits of math in action!) and we'll need space for like 40 some people. Exciting things!
Most of us like to play various kinds of sports, which is something that is sort of new for me, but I am starting to get into. Mostly basketball, although there are some hardcore soccer players (and VERY few baseball players, thank God) among us. Today we played basketball at an outside court, and Gabe (the monstrocity that is my brother) came to play with us and make our skillz seem pale in comparison to his. It actually was snowing for a bit, but we warmed right up.
Another hobby that most everyone seems to have in common is Age of Empires, otherwise known as AOE, which they sometimes play as a recreational "bonding" activity, with everyone's computers all hooked up to play multiplayer. It is very interesting, but not interesting enough for me to want to get involved (mostly because I suck at computer games. Or anything that involves strategy, for that matter. My brain is sort of, shall we say, nuts.)
I have not finished talking about my home yet.

Fears and Frights

This was on Dad's desktop. I clicked it immediately. As scrupulous and fat-with-morals as I am, I could not stop the involuntary arm-and-finger-jerk that just took me right into it. Turns out, when the title unraveled all the way it was called "50 Reasons to oppose Flouridation." False alarm. Disaster averted.
I am so afraid that one day I will wake up and find that NO one likes me.

Goings-on

I would give kisses (if I could) to all the maximizing breakfast cooks around the world who actually bother to set out something more than boiled eggs for their tired schlepping home members. (Schlepp is the combined sounds of slippers and long pajama pants being slowly dragged over the floor.) This morning I woke up and there were these buns in abundance that had sort of a rugged Ingalls taste and texture about them. I was so happy to eat them with my delicious fried egg and bacon and tea that I actually stayed perky all throughout devotions. My day, having thus disembarked, fast became better and better with the discovery that my MP3 player had decided to work after a several-month hiatus, and also an invigorating prayer morning that I was able to lead and thus managed to stay awake and alive during. (It's not that these are boring activities, friends. I'm just extremely sleepy these days!)
I went out to Cocos with my dear farewelling roommate and had a parfait and tons and tons of coffees. Which was also hugely fun and not something I do all the time. I actually took strange and artistic photos with my phone. But they are mostly food photos, and you've probably seen better photos of the same food on a Cocos menu.
I took a bunch of photos of Ko-kun (our own Down's syndrome boy) because I was amazed at how occupied it kept him during my afternoon childcare slot. We also read lots of MLKs and HLs in Japanese which was fun for me.
The evening definitely took the cake though (neck-and-neck with the breakfast buns), because we all scurried out to the gym right after dinner to play some basketball. Being as I have played basketball a total of 2 times in my life, I was thrilled to notice that I was not altogether dysfunctional and my capabilities to hurl the ball in the right direction have greatly improved since the last time I attempted it. I am now actually pretending to be engaged in full-fledged games with other people who play basketball, and am enjoying immensely trying not to think about how I am doing nothing but getting in others' way.
And my day went down like so, and I am very full of feelings of love. I wonder what's for breakfast tomorrow.

Just don't go

You know about those people you love so much, that you sort of pedestalize (not a real word), who do the inevitable bad and human thing that, 5 seconds ago, you would have been so sure you disapproved of? And now they've got you really seriously reasoning in circles to tell yourself why you don't actually disapprove of it, why your initial disapproval was just self-righteous and hypocritical and you really have no right to continue to disapprove of it, and why it's not pathetic to say "I don't disapprove, because I love you!", and that "he is sorry" and "he couldn't help it" and "he was real messed up at the time," when you know full well he never even used those words to excuse himself, and you just wish he did.
It's hard to find a way to show disapproval without feeling like your anger is uncalled for. Like you're showing an "emo" side that you don't have. You tell yourself that you should remain stable and calm about it all because that's the kind of person you are.
It's hard to show disapproval because you feel like it's none of your business and you wish you could actually believe that and be okay with it. But what you end up doing is saying "it's none my business, I guess" and persuading absolutely no one. And you may as well have lost your right arm because you feel so handicapped at loving him now, because now you'll never be able to feel as much a part of him, or as entitled to his emotions as you used to, because he's "none of your business" anymore.
I guess the only way to go on loving someone is to honestly disapprove. Without removing your eyes from theirs, without removing your hand, without taking a few steps away. Everyone can handle a little disapproval, and everyone needs it now and then--the only thing that really hurts is being left alone. So disapprove, but move in closer.