Duhhhhh……

Here are a few thoughts from the Argus Leader on how to avoid hitting a deer. Apparently here in SD we are the seventh most likely in the country to hit a deer.

Some of these gems are too good to pass up, so if you don’t have time to read the article, I’ll post them here. But do take a look at the article so you can guess what the deer is thinking of the guy interviewed for the story.

“As it gets cooler, the breeding season begins. The rut is going to push deer more frequently across the road. During the peak of the rut, they will be moving almost constantly, so even in broad daylight, you may see one on the road. They are quite focused on other matters and may not think to look both ways before they cross.” Thank heaven that when deer aren’t in rut they remember to look both ways before crossing the road.

“The Department of Transportation evaluates the number of collisions that occur in certain areas, and after a request, or after a high volume of accidents, they will put a deer-crossing sign up. The deer don’t necessarily read signs, either, and because crops change from year to year, the deer may move. The crossing points may move with it. But the signs are a good guide.” WHAT!??! You have got to be kidding me that the deer aren’t always reading the signs. What on earth are we wasting tax payer money for if the the stupid deer don’t even read the signs!

Did some editor at the Argus Leader not even read the story before it was published?

Need a laugh?

So here’s a great laugh from the makers of the sleep aid Ambien. They’ve got a series of commercials out called, “Silence Your Rooster”. Use this link to watch the commercial; my favorite is the one with the vacuum. Then play the game where you throw pillows at the rooster.

I needed an out-loud chuckle today. Thanks Ambien!

Odds and Ends

Here’s three quick thoughts while I am on my hiatus:

#1 – 75% of bathrooms on our trip did not have a hook for the purse in the bathroom stall. Strike #1 on the purse. And this particular purse with the drawstring top and the awkward to close snap does not make it easy to find keys in the bottom of said purse. Strike #2 for the purse. (This life change experiment is not going well.)

#2 – Dropped Caleb off. It was a little emotional, but we survived. This morning I read his blog and thought that if I had learned what he learned yesterday (at the age of 18 ) instead of getting to maybe 38 before I learned it, that a lot of pain and wasted effort would have been eliminated from my life. Read his blog here.

#3 Here are my results from the “personality” test. I am a contemplative, ascetic. Which I think is funny, because this sounds a lot like a person who joins a convent, and I told my dad that he could count on two things in my life. #1 I would never join the army and #2 that I would never join a convent. Now I just sit around and think, “Why won’t everyone just leave me alone, so I can go pray?”

Contemplative - Loving God through Adoration:
These Christians seek to love God with the purest, deepest, and brightest love imaginable. They want nothing more than some privacy and quiet to gaze upon the face of their heavenly Lover and give all of themselves to God.

Ascetic – Loving God in Solitude and Simplicity:
Ascetics want nothing more than to be left alone in prayer. Let there be nothing to distract them–no pictures, no loud music–and leave them alone to pray in silence and simplicity.

Life Change

I have decided to shake things up in my life. This monumental decision will contradict everything I have done in the past 44 years.

I am going to try to carry a purse.

I hate purses. My stance has been they are bulky awkward and a pain in the neck (sometimes literally) to carry around. Besides they are just way too girly for me. (Did you know that there are 494 videos on YouTube called “What’s in my purse?” and the vast majority are over 8 minutes long! Ladies, you just don’t need that much stuff!) Even the diaper bag pushed it a bit. I would look at the kid and try to decide how long my errands would take compared to the holding power of the diaper that he or she was currently wearing.

My keys, driver’s license and money used to all fit neatly into a little “wallet” and I was off. But now I’ve got the cell phone and the key fobs for the car doors. And somehow my pockets don’t seem to be as big as they used to, which has nothing to do with the fact that I also seem to be growing out of my pants. (Strange, I thought all that ended with puberty. Anybody want a brownie or peach pie while we try to figure out that one?)

So I’m headed home now. UPS was scheduled to deliver it to my house today. Sounds like a good place to enter some scripture passage about the earth trembling and mountains shaking, but the LORD is steadfast and firm.

We’ll see how long this lasts or if I just need bigger pockets

Sorry!

Postings have been non-existent this past two weeks – sorry. I could have squeezed things in somewhere between
1) getting caught up after being gone to KC for 4 days,
2) fourth of July holiday,
3) driving back and forth to driver’s ed on the other side of town every day
(32 mile round trip once a day for 10 days and twice a day for 2 days) or
4) moving into the newly remodeled offices here at church (woo-hoo! we are enjoying all the gorgeous new space!)

But I decided that actually I’d sleep and spend time with the kiddos since the oldest heads off to college in just 22 short days. (I am not this old!)

For the next few days, I’ll just post some thought provoking snippets from the conference.

Pilgrimage

So the word in my head is pilgrimage. Which brings Psalm 84:5 to mind.

Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their heart on pilgrimage.

Hmm…pilgrimage. Dictionary.com tells me that a pilgrimage is a journey (usually a long journey) undertaken as an act of religious devotion. Another definition says that it is a journey to a place or religious affections or tender associations. The Christian tour company calls pilgrimage “faith based travel”. So if I say to the LORD, “you have put this word in my heart today, what do you want me to do with it? What will my faith lead me to discover?”

I leave on Thursday to go to IHOP to help take a group of high school students to the Fascinate 08 conference. In all sincerity, I did not have that trip on my mind this morning when I woke up with this word on my mind. But here it is, and here I am in this weird place this summer, and IHOP is surely a place of tender affections.

So LORD, I’m off on a pilgrimage. I would ask for an opportunity to see your face. And like Psalm 84 tells me perhaps I will see your grace and glory or go to a new level of strength and you will not with hold good things from me.

Strange summer schedule

What an odd couple of weeks.

Blogging has been down as I’ve had my focus on different areas. Two weeks ago I was in a flurry to get everything ready for Steve’s trip to Atlanta and to send two of our kids to IHOP for two week intensives. Then last week, I caught up on life and then went to the rez for a few days.

I feel sort of lost on several fronts and the temporary office location is probably contributing to that. Though I am really enjoying sharing an “office” with Kathy. Got that sinking feeling in my gut about 3/4 of the way through the sermon last weekend, when I realized that I forgot to turn off the ringer on my phone. (Sorry if you were distracted by that!)

That and only having one child instead of three is weird. Caleb is lamenting his siblings absence since he is “the only one my mom and dad have to do all the work”.

Normal is looking good, but far off these days.

Graduation Weekend

We survived the rush of graduation activities, and have moved into the easy days of summer. For a great detailed account connect to Steve’s blog here and for pictures here.

What is it about Pomp and Circumstance? They could play it at an obedience school graduation and I’d get choked up.

Way to go Caleeb!!! We are proud of you! Study up on Proverbs 2. (Yes, the whole chapter.)

Turkeys are…

totally not my favorite anymore. I am very disgusted with these two, because of a bullying incident that may have murder charges filed pending investigation.

I came into the coop on Thursday night out of the cold rain and discovered the turkeys in with the chicks. (Score card for those of you not up to speed: Rooster – 1, Medium sized chickens – 2, Turkeys – 2, Baby Chicks – 117) And the turkeys were in with the chicks; as I watched one turkey was pecking at this one very small chick who was hideously battered. (Important details: everyone who is in on the chicken project was not at home, so that left me and Tom to deal with the crisis)

We scooped up the turkeys and took them to the barn. But as we were trying to settle them in we got passed by wild cats who were freaked out by our presence. So even though I was really mad, I couldn’t leave the turkeys in with the resident evil ones. But I was REALLY, REALLY mad at the turkeys, so Tom and I penned them into total darkness in the spare garage. Talk about being cast into the outer darkness – but wrath had risen up in me.

We went back to the coop and took the baby into the house. Where we wrapped it in warmed cloths and forced electrolyte fluid into it. After about an hour, the baby had stopped shaking and was perking up a bit. So we took it back to the coop for the night. Friday morning, nobody was dead, so I think we saved its life.

The turkeys on the other hand are not off the black list. I am finding it very easy to think of cooking them now. Chickacidal (feathered form of homicidal) monsters.

Turkeys are …

… the cutest ugly little things I have ever seen.

… actually very responsive. Whenever I go to the door of the coop and call them they come right over to visit. While the scaredy cat chickens run for cover.

Hmmm…are they trying to make it hard for me to eat them? Maybe they aren’t as dumb as they are supposed to be.