Here's a quote for parents during those inevitable times when we feel like failures because our efforts to raise perfect children somehow came up short: "And what if we could have been the perfect parents? The creation story brings a fascinating dimension to this. Adam and Eve had the perfect father and lived in the perfect environment, but they chose a way their father didn't want them to go." - Rob Parsons in Bringing Home the Prodigals
Sure, we make mistakes as parents and we must take responsibility for them and try to parent better. That's tough enough without the weight of false guilt. Sometimes we must recognize that our children have free will, too, and sometimes they make poor choices. When that happens, can we love them like God loves us?
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Java Junk
I don't understand coffee. Well, I understand that it comes from this bean that's ground up and the used to flavor hot water and bring the near-dead to near-life. But it's the mixing of the water and the grind that always gets me. I never know how much water to mix with how much ground up bean. So I wing it. And since no two cups of coffee ever taste the same anyway, it usually works out OK.
I noticed this morning that the directions on a new bag of coffee explained the complicated formula, and this made me happy. But I also noticed that it told me how much coffee to use for "6 ounces" of water. Now, I don't know about you, but I usually drink my coffee by the cup(s). So now I had to do math, which is hard enough when I'm near-life and darn-near impossible when I'm near-dead. On the positive side, I had a measuring device for the coffee that actually told me it held "1 tbsp" (as opposed to the ones we have that just say "coffee scoop"). Still, I stood semi-frozen by the math. So, of course, I winged it. I dumped about 10 scoops of coffee into the filter, poured in enough water to make me two or three cups of coffee and turned on the machine. Magically, it worked out OK. Since no one else was drinking my brew on this particular morning, I didn't have to worry about pleasing anyone but myself. And within 30 minutes I was near-life and ready to start the day.
I noticed this morning that the directions on a new bag of coffee explained the complicated formula, and this made me happy. But I also noticed that it told me how much coffee to use for "6 ounces" of water. Now, I don't know about you, but I usually drink my coffee by the cup(s). So now I had to do math, which is hard enough when I'm near-life and darn-near impossible when I'm near-dead. On the positive side, I had a measuring device for the coffee that actually told me it held "1 tbsp" (as opposed to the ones we have that just say "coffee scoop"). Still, I stood semi-frozen by the math. So, of course, I winged it. I dumped about 10 scoops of coffee into the filter, poured in enough water to make me two or three cups of coffee and turned on the machine. Magically, it worked out OK. Since no one else was drinking my brew on this particular morning, I didn't have to worry about pleasing anyone but myself. And within 30 minutes I was near-life and ready to start the day.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Mental Olympics
Random thoughts about The Games ...
+ If you walk in the house and your son-in-law is watching water polo on television, you know the Olympics are going on.
+ Why do men's beach volleyball players dress somewhat like athletes and women's beach volleyball players dress like they're prepping for an Sports Illustrated swimsuit photo shoot?
+ Have the Olympics gotten you all worked up about the plight of Tibet? Check out www.admg.net and www.truetibetan.com.
+ Don't know about you, but I pumped my fist when the American relay team beat the smack-talking French by a finger in the 400 meter freestyle.
+ If you walk in the house and your son-in-law is watching water polo on television, you know the Olympics are going on.
+ Why do men's beach volleyball players dress somewhat like athletes and women's beach volleyball players dress like they're prepping for an Sports Illustrated swimsuit photo shoot?
+ Have the Olympics gotten you all worked up about the plight of Tibet? Check out www.admg.net and www.truetibetan.com.
+ Don't know about you, but I pumped my fist when the American relay team beat the smack-talking French by a finger in the 400 meter freestyle.
Monday, August 04, 2008
Pet Peeves
I try to keep my pet peeves on a short leash. Most of them aren’t housebroken, and they don’t always play well with others.
Peeve: Meaning something that is particularly irritating or annoying. It comes from the 14th Century word “peevish,” meaning “ornery or ill-tempered.”
You can see why they don’t make great pets.
Mine often involve the English language, which probably makes no sense considering how often I mistreat that fine lady.
Regardless, here are two that stand at the front door and bark all day: 1.) People who write/say unconscious when they mean subconscious. 2.) People who put their sentence-ending punctuation marks on the outside of their quotation marks. And, while I’m at it, Microsoft Word when it tells me to use “that” or “whom” when the appropriate word to use is “who.”
Whom knows what lurked in the unconscious minds of the designers when they created the program defining the usage of “who”.
Peeve: Meaning something that is particularly irritating or annoying. It comes from the 14th Century word “peevish,” meaning “ornery or ill-tempered.”
You can see why they don’t make great pets.
Mine often involve the English language, which probably makes no sense considering how often I mistreat that fine lady.
Regardless, here are two that stand at the front door and bark all day: 1.) People who write/say unconscious when they mean subconscious. 2.) People who put their sentence-ending punctuation marks on the outside of their quotation marks. And, while I’m at it, Microsoft Word when it tells me to use “that” or “whom” when the appropriate word to use is “who.”
Whom knows what lurked in the unconscious minds of the designers when they created the program defining the usage of “who”.
Friday, August 01, 2008
Rice girl
My oldest sister almost made me cry. Well, surely she made me cry during our wayback growing up days. But she almost made me cry this week. She's coming upon her 25th wedding anniversary, so she took that occasion to have her wedding photos saved to a disc. In the process, she came across some photos of the little girl who couldn't get enough of handing out rice bags to guests. No matter how many rice bags you had, she'd gladly give you another just so long as you would take it. The little rice girl's all grown up -- almost 27, but still her daddy's little girl.
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