Simple Beings …

who become …

Complicated Productions.

(This is a game from the Good Girl Lit blog. So fun.)

1) I am hopelessly addicted to Mountain Dew. This is an embarrassing addiction, not a cool one like being addicted to coffee or something. Seriously, it stems from junior high! Please do NOT lecture me about this; I am fully aware that I am polluting my body. But I can’t help it!

2) One of my prized possessions is a postcard from President Ronald Reagan. He was shot when I was in lower elementary school and it is the first thing I remember watching on TV and understanding that it was important to the whole world. I sent him a hand-made get-well card and he sent me the sweetest bulk-rate, rubber-stamped post card you have ever seen. I felt so connected to the universe.

3) Someday I want a horse. I am not an outdoorsy person naturally, but this is one girlhood obsession I can’t get over. My daughter Claire does some horseback riding as therapy and I’m the one who has all the fun!

I’m a quasi-feminist. Don’t worry, even I don’t even know exactly what that means. I know this: God designed women to be different from men but equal in worth. I know some feminists who are mean and ugly. I also know some feminists who are beautiful and kind. We could spend our lifetimes trying to figure out exactly what feminism means to God, and then it won’t matter anymore!

But this week I read a little about Sojourner Truth, a pioneer in women’s rights. Her legend may be bigger than her reality, but she certainly ranks as someone I wish I had known in the flesh. Here’s a little tidbit of what she had to say to a minister who had claimed that a woman was excluded from some rights because she was not the same gender as Jesus. Here is her response as recorded by Frances D. Gage:

“Den dat little man in black dar, he say women can’t have as much rights as men, ’cause Christ wan’t a woman! Whar did your Christ come from?…From God and a woman! Man had nothin’ to do wid Him.”

Or how about this:

“If de fust woman God ever made was strong enough to turn de world upside down all alone, dese women togedder … ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again!”

What fun she must have been! As Rare Rocks we need to see the truth in feminism as well as the fallacies, but at the very least, we need to stay in the coversation.

Our daughter Claire was born premature at 25 weeks and weighing less than 2 pounds! Today she turns 5!

We are so proud of her. She is a TREASURE!

Dan is in Brazil this week working at The University of Life in Fortaleza. This is an outreach program that focuses on education as a way out of poverty. We are thrilled that Daddy is helping them, but, WOW, do we miss that man!

Dan isn’t a typical see-you-after-work kind of dad. He is the definition of hands-on. He is better at getting Macy to sleep than I am…and I’m her sole source of nutrition! Some kids are lucky enough to have an excellent father figure – I was one of those kids, and my kids are too. Sure, someday they’ll have to work it all out for themselves, but for today Dan is about the best example of Father that I know.

Ada is three and she reminded me tonight of how we should all act during this season when, as the parable says, the Father is away. We were watching Dan on his daily YouTube video journal (see what I mean? He’s amazing!), and while he was talking about the mosquito netting over his bed, Ada leaned into the computer and smiled, “Oh, Dad, you’re so good to us!” It was so sweet and heartfelt.

That is the heart of a grateful daughter, one who doesn’t always need her father’s physical presence to be reminded of how good he really is. So until He returns, let’s remember to be thankful for who He is to us and to the world. “Oh, Dad, You’re so good to us!”

…I would dress up like this. I watched The Queen this weekend, and I loved it.

I am known in my family for calling myself the Queen of the World. This is because I am bossy and have fabulous ideas – always. After watching The Queen, I may change my mind about wanting this role for myself. This “based on true events” story is the kind of speculative non-fiction I really enjoy. I know it might be totally untrue, but the fact that it might be a little true – or even possibly true – is enough for me. This movie gives an inside peek at what might have been going on in the secret emotions of Her Royal Highness (that’s HRH to you!) Queen Elizabeth II. Subtle, funny, and touching. Again, I loved it.

The Queen highlights one of my favorite qualities: compassion for those who are different from ourselves. Our world is so segmented, fragmented even. We distance ourselves from each other because we don’t understand each other. This happens to Queen Elizabeth after Princess Diana’s unexpected death. The country moves into this wild public sorow, and the Queen does not know how to handle it. She says (my paraphrase), “In this country, we have always mourned privately.” We see her as a very real person (my favorite is when she drives her old SUV all over the gorgeous English countryside) who comes to terms with her own failure. I felt sorry for her but also saw her strength. It really was beautiful.

So, this is the costume I would wear and I would wear it with humbleness. For tonight, you may call me HRH Queen Elizabeth…We’ll go back to Queen of the World tomorrow!

This article on Radiantmag.com is so great! You know how I love a good analogy. This one relates one man’s fight aganst the raging California fires to our need to be vigilant over our own spiritual lives. Loved it.

The other reason today is Facebook. I’ve had my doubts about the reliablitly of online social networks. I mean, are they a truly reliable form of authentic relationship? But today when my inbox said I had a message from an old friend in Sweden, I was giddy with excitement! I heart Facebook today!