We Are Spirits In A Material World September 27, 2006

Ahhh, Spiritual Direction Group.  It’s like a group where they direct me where to go spiritualy. 

I love this new thing in my life.  Tonight’s topic:  Road Blocks to Spirituality.  I always learn so much about myself at these things.  It reminds me of key life goals I have had and still want to have.  One road block we talked about is materialism.  I am such a “wanter.”  One day in class, a kid asked me why we have so much food here and why poeple are starving other places.  They asked why we couldn’t just send these people some food.  My only answer was, “It’s more complicated then that.”  But why does it have to be?  It seems like when God leads me on a path that isn’t very easy but the outcome is going to be good, I look for the solution that is easiest which just ends up complicating things later.  I wish we could simplify by working harder now.  A small example are things like recycling and public transportation.  We know these things can be time consuming or inconvienient now but in the long run, they make things better.  Or how about finding the good things in someone you think you can’t stand.  There’s probably a lesson somewhere in there and there’s probably something we can give them if we’d just get over ourselves long enough to see it. 

We talked about living naturaly.  We shared stories from when we had experiences living without technology and what we learned.  The answers were always the same, “We felt closer to God and happier.” 

Simple is better.  You have to unclutter your mind in order to let anything good and light come in.  We have to remove our wants and get rid of our baggage to allow spirit, true spirit, to enter.  Easier said then done but as long as I remind myself of this every day at some point, maybe eventually it will sink in.

Two Husbands Please September 25, 2006

I see nothing wrong with two husbands.  Crazy white dudes do it all the time with wives.  It would be cool if, and only if, one: it was okay with Wil and two: if John Mayer proposed.  I don’t see why Wil would have an issue since John Mayer is so flippin hot.  I saw John Mayer in concert, when I actually went to see the Counting Crows open for him.  I didn’t understand his hotness then and ended up leaving the concert way, way too early.  John Mayer has started his own blog and when I read it, it makes me feel all funny inside.  Kinda like the way I did in middle school when I was just so terribly in love with Adam Blake but he didn’t know I exhisted.

So, I have, on my blog roll, made a link to John Mayer’s blog.  The link is entitled: no, YOUR body is a wonderland Mr. Mayer.  Enjoy the hottness.

                                

              I can’t make this any bigger even

        though now, he is convienetly pocket sized.

Rain is the Pits September 25, 2006

It rained all weekend long.  Rain always gets me down but it also gets me thinking.  First off, I thought about this 5th grader I know.  I think it is sad that I know more 5th graders then I do 20 something year olds.  Anywho, she was all laughy in class on friday and when I gave her the “I wish I was in your brain” look she says, “I take prozac and it makes me really happy.”  This disturbs me on multiple levels.  I think the most disturbing part is what does a 10 year old need with prozac?  If you are already that sad, the teenage years are gonna be brutal. 

Second, I thought about pits.  Not Brad or peach but arm.  Every time I see a celebrity photo where they just happen to flash a pit, it always looks so nice and baby softish.  My armpits do not look this way.  The only way to even closely achieve the look is to let the hair grow out quite a bit and then shave with super expensive shaving lotion.  I do this if I know to plan, if not, I do the best I can.  ( I’m such a poet and don’t I know it!)

Also on my mind was my old neighbor Kenji Lunsford.  I found his myspace account and dropped him a note which he responded to.  He sounded great and it got me reminiscing.  Kenji used to sweat alot.  He rode my bus and it never failed:  by the time we got to his house, he was dripping.  He also would eat anything anyone dared him to.  For some reason it was cool to mix a bunch of stuff in the cafeteria and then dare Kenji to eat it.  The truth is, it’s all going to the same place but at the time, it seemed disgusting.  I guess the biggest Fear Factor connection was the old candy on the gym floor.  Oh yeah, Kenji ate it.

And last but not least: I am addicted to the show “Americas Next Top Model.”  I just love it.  I always pick my favorite and root for her until she gets kicked off the show.  I’ve yet to pick a winner.  All this is trivial compared to the upcoming season premiere of LOST.   No other show compares to my wednesday night addiction.

Hope ya’ll had a sunnier weekend then I did but if not, what did you think about?

                                   Nope, not this Peach Pit.

                                        

                       Not to sure about Andrea’s pits either.

Camp Director Keith September 17, 2006

I am having a hard time enjoying my saturday.  There is this one little thought that keeps creeping into my head.  Oh, oh, here it comes:  what was I thinking when I agreed to plan and run a day camp in two weeks?  Plan AND run.  Why?  why?

I have, like, a days worth of activies that I think a group of 2nd through 5th graders would like and that’s only if it doesn’t rain.  I wish it was easy to entertain kids these days.  What happened to giving them a stick and some aluminum foil and then hours of make believe fun?  Now, I have to have non-stop activites.  What adds insult to injury is that I have never worked with these age groups so I have no idea what they are capable of.  Will it be too easy for them or too difficult?  I might just lose my mind.  If ya’ll don’t hear from me in like, I don’t know, 15 days, assume the worst:  the campers have chewed me up and spit me out and and their parents have tried to feed me to them again while throwing cheetos on my face. (whatever that means)

Putting the Pieces Together September 13, 2006

Tonight I went to Spiritual Direction, a gathering of just seminary spouses where we reflect on all the stuff that’s happening in our lives.  The group leader proposed a question for us to meditate on:  What are your earliest memories of church and God?  I had never ever thought about it before.  My parents were raised in different denominations but as my parents, they never took me “religiously.”  My mom tried taking me to First Baptist in downtown Asheville but we didn’t like it and I ended up going to a presbyterian church with a friend for a few months and I even tried Unitarian but that was it for church.  So I thought even further back.  When I was little and visiting my nana, we would always go to church on Sundays. I remember songs like “Jesus Loves Me”  and “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” but I didn’t know the words at the time.  We would have communion but I couldn’t join because I hadn’t been baptized. I didn’t understand the bible verses or even know where to look for them.  I felt like I had been invited to a secret society that I just didn’t fit into and no one was really showing me how.  In the midst of this memeory, I thought about my Nana’s neighbor, Ms. Cotheran.  She was very old and creeped me out a little but somehow I always ended up on her porch with my cousins.  When she died, I remember they were selling some of her belongings at a yard sale and I went over and looked around.  On her mantel was a statue from a nativity scene, the Virgin Mary.  I bought it for 35 cents.  It was so beautiful and lonely and didn’t really have a place to fit in since the other pieces were missing.  It was my connection to God. 

Although my beginnings at the church were rocky and confusing, I have really started to understand what is meant by all the lingo and rituals.  I have a long way to go but I’m finally joining the “club” that had always wanted me as a member.  I realized that if my path leads me to be a preist’s wife, then I will have come full circle.  To this day, I still have my Virgin Mary statue and she reminds me that even though we may feel out of place, we fit into a bigger picture.

The Virgin She’s better in person 

Road Buddy September 11, 2006

Another weird law, or lack there of, from Tennessee.  Apparently, you can drink alcoholic beverages in a car while it is in motion as long as you are not the driver.  In Colorado, we called these “road buddies”  but I think it was illegal there…..I could be wrong.  Benefits of this new lack of law:  I can get drunk on the 45 minute drive to nearest movie theater.  Downfall:  drinking and driving is way not cool and people might try to fuzz the law and drink while driving.  Not cool.  I will keep you updated on more crazy Tennessee lawlessness.

Wil and I went a hikin’ this past saturday and it was mucho fun.  We saw Amish people, and rock climbers and overheard a rangers walkie talkie say, “John, you gotta come see the size of this rattler.”  Check out the sidebar for pictures of our hiking destination point:  The Stone Door.  Apparently a passage way for Indians making their way up the mountain side.  Very nifty.

Wil and I went to an evening church service today that is called “Growing in Grace.”  Mostly college kids go but Wil is playing music for the service.  It was way cool but there’s this one point where we all stood around the alter and passed the bread and wine to each other.  Well, it started heading towards me and of course my mind drew a blank for what I should say.  I had never been the one saying it before, just receiving the body and blood.  The girl next to me handed me the plate of bread and it was like the words came out of nowhere:  The Body of Christ, The Bread of heaven.  Then the chalice:  The Blood of Chirst, the cup of salvation.  I probably looked like a lunatic though since my eyes were all, “Oh- my- gawd, what am I doing?”  but my mind was all, “Thanks God for bailing me out of this one!”

Hope your Sunday was good!

Who do you think you are? September 5, 2006

At my after-school program, Eli (a fiesty 6th grader) and I were discussing the miracle of oreos.  I love ‘em, he hates ‘em.  I actually started salivating as we talked about their chocolatey goodness.  The oreo has always been one of my favorite cookies.  I like oatmeal raisin and lemon with the white sugar on the outside and brussels by Petridge Farms, and fudge and soft batch but the oreo is one that I can’t stop eating once I’ve gotten started. (Okay, who am I kidding, I can’t stop eating any of them once I’ve started)  That’s probably the reason why I haven’t bought them in years.  As Eli and I were talking I had a flashback to my younger days when they had developed the “Oreo Big Stuf”.  What a stroke of genius that was except for one hard fact- they couldn’t be easily dipped in milk.  This got me thinking of other inventions that once were and are no longer. I remembered this jello pudding that would seperate into three layers after you put it in the fridge:  rich chocolate, milky chocolate and a whipped chocolate.  My brain stops working there.  What other yumminess have they stopped making that they need to bring back?  Help me out with your longings from the past.

                             

I want to ride my bicycle September 5, 2006

Happy Birthday to my number one guy!  Wil turns 28 today.  His mom came to visit and now his bestest bud Austin is here.  We threw a kick ass party for him with lots of music and people dancing around a fire pit.  Well, maybe just me dancing around the fire pit but that seemed to make lots of people happy.  Then, after the party peoples left, we rode around campus on our bikes trying to get into some birthday trouble but instead I just got a bruise from trying to squeeze through some bars on a set of stairs leading to a roof.  I have it on good authority that my home is great for guests and we have a cushy bed for company.  So, when (not if) you come visit, bring a dry set of clothes (it rained a lot today) and your bike and I’ll start the fire and we’ll see what kind of shenanigans we can get into.

I would like to take this moment to thank Wil’s mom for birthing Wil 28 years ago.  He is the best thing in my life and the sweetest of the sweeties.  I love him so much and if it wasn’t for a little late night hanky panky between Wil’s mom and dad (ew) he wouldn’t be here so I raise my glass of milk and leftover b-day cake to you Wil’s mom.  You rule!