Spring Break

I went to visit an old friend of mine from college over spring break. 800 mile drive one way to southern Nevada, but it was worth it for the beautiful weather and time to catch up with a dear friend and her family. When B. said he couldn't come with me (too much work) we had to divide up the kids, no way I could make that trip trying to manage all four of them! I decided to bring Blaze so she could see her friend Coraly, and then we debated which twin I should take... Serious is grumpier, but Starlet gets into more trouble - which would be easier for me to handle on the road, and for B. to handle at home? In the end I took Starlet, because Starlet is very attached to Blaze.

Blaze and Starlet handled the long drive really well (thank goodness for DVDs, and motel swimming pools). Also we stopped at a few pretty places along the way.

Here's a picture of Blaze at the beautiful red rock canyons at Colorado National Monument:
Blaze and Starlet at a resort in Nevada where we stopped for a picnic lunch:


Blaze at the base of Bridal Veil falls, Utah (yeah, I found another waterfall! Every place I go travel, I always look for waterfalls)
Now we are all back trying get into the daily routine again. For my writing progress, I am currently struggling with editing Chapter 3 - since I re-wrote chapter 2, it now appears as though I'll have to re-write a lot of chapter 3, too. But after this it should get easier - I hope!

My next verse to memorize for Beth Moore's scripture memory challenge is one that I chose specifically to pray daily for my friend D.W.

Isaiah 61:1
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.

Beth Moore always seems to have something insightful on her blog, here's an encouraging little tidbit she shared to keep us motivated with memorizing:

Did you know that memorization is one of the best ways on earth to keep our brains sharp? Yep. And I also heard a few days ago that all the multi-tasking we're doing does not work the part of our brain that requires stimulation to tap into our brilliance. (Every single one of us has brilliance.) That part of our brain requires tremendous focus on one thing for extended periods of time, pushing our thoughts a solitary direction that stretches and works it beyond its normal exercise. That's part of what Scripture memory does!

Keeping up on my Bible read-through. And I have now lost 5 pounds, slow but steady progress. I have also been so blessed by three books I have been reading lately. I have so many good quotes to share from these... will have to wait for my next blog post, though.

Oh but one thing I do want to share right now though is this amazing Biblical resource: www.gty.org (Grace To You). I downloaded several sermons by John MacArthur before heading off on my long trip, and it was very refreshing to listen to powerful Biblical teaching to make the miles pass by (Seeing God's Purpose in Your Trials; Who is Jesus, and Why Should I Care). Years ago, I used to participate in Grace to You's tape library, where you'd pick 4 tapes and they'd send them to you, and you'd get four more once you sent the first bunch back. Now, they have all of MacArthur's sermons and studies on-line, most of them transcripted or available for download to listen to. I know there are many other good preachers out there (I'd like to check out John Piper, too), but my husband also loves listening to MacArthur when we go on road trips, so I keep going back to this familiar source.

25 random things about me

Writing progress to report: Or rather, editing process. By now I would have liked to report that I have chapters 3 and 4 edited now. But instead, I went back to Chapter 2 and completely re-wrote it. I think I like it better now. But I have to STOP completely re-writing things if I'm ever going to get to the point where I can submit something for publication. There is such a thing as re-writing to death.

Still, I'm glad I did it. Now, don't lose momentum...

I'm keeping up with my Bible read-through in one year, though I'm skipping around a lot. I'm in May already... ah, wouldn't it be nice if the weather outside was skipping ahead to May, too!

Keeping up with Beth Moore's scripture memory challenge too. So far I have memorized Galations 2:20, Matt 9:12,13, Romans 11:33-36, and now I am working on:

Hebrews 10:35-36
So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly reward. You need to perserve so that when you ahve done the will of God, you will recieve what He has promised.

Which leads directly to my forth commitment I made this year, which I like to delicately refer to as TTLW (Try To Lose Weight). I decided to memorize this verse (which was Beth's selected verse for March, for reasons entirely different than my own, I'm sure), because it seemed to speak to me about this particular challenge. I AM confident that if I keep asking God for help (even if it 5, 6, 7 or even 15 times a day), He can help me overcome the desire to overeat. But this verse reminds that I also need to PERSEVERE.

The benefit of having to ask for so much help is two fold: I've lost 4 pounds in the past 2 weeks. That's a start. But even better, coming to him many times a day to ask for help has been such a blessing in many other ways, too. The more time I spend talking to God and thinking about Him, the happier I am, and it prepared me to face a really TOUGH trial this week. (Which may be the subject of another blog post some time. key word to remind myself: KOA).

I am also including something fun that's been going around on Facebook.

25 random things

The rules: If you are tagged, you are supposed to post a note with 25 random facts about yourself and tag 25 other people. (It's fun; I'm actually learning new things about my friends!)

1. I only ever planned to have 2 kids, but I love having 4 and a stepdaughter

2. When I moved to Wyoming my secret plan was to marry a cowboy and live on a ranch

3. I grew up in New York but wanted to live in Wyoming since I was 10 years old and read "My Friend Flicka"

4. I don't drink coffee, only tea, and only with cream and sugar in it, and I'm a beast in the morning until I get my first cup

5. My absolute favorite thing to do is ride horses with my family in the mountains. I can't wait till the rest of my kids are old enough to go.... but can we afford that many horses? :)

6. My second favorite thing to do is curl up with a good book near a fireplace (with a cup of tea, of course)

7. I can read a 700 page book in 7 hours if it's good enough

8. I am a terrible driver. Keep an eye out for my van (the back of it is all caved in) and STAY AWAY from it

9. I got saved when I was 23 when a friend challenged me to read the Bible and I read the whole book of Job in one night and couldn't believe God would let such terrible things happen to someone who loved Him but then I read Job 38:1-8 and oh, wow. Wow. I still get the shivers.

10. I have named every car I have owned, and most of my Christmas trees (my cars: the Beast, Shade, Flicka, Snow Flicka, Cindy)

11. I collect nutcrackers and quotes

12. I have to watch movies with subtitles, because my kids interrupt all the time

13. I am terrified to share my faith with others unless they specifically ask me questions about it

14. I like to play practical jokes on my husband (anyone have any good ideas?)

15. I like to read blogs and lists like this one

16. I have been planning a trip to Alaska for 14 years now. (Maybe this will be the year?)

17. I expected to published before I was 30. Now I'm aiming for 50

18. I love road trips

19. I am a geography geek - I look up locations in my atlas that I hear about on the news or on nature shows

20. I hate materialism but I get suckered into wanting things all the time

21. I was a terrible shoplifter my senior year in high school but I haven't done anything illegal since

22. I can't believe I just wrote that!

23. I'm going to end this list now before I admit anything else incriminating

A few weeks later a friend from church (T.S.) posted her random 25 things, and I thought so many of her answers were so thoughtful - like what I might have written if I had given more thought t what I was writing - that I've pasted in some of them here, with my own comments

2. I am a thinker. I like to question, reason, and consider both sides of an argument.

3. I think that one of the most quintessential questions that one must ask is this: Is Jesus who he said he was? There’s no gray area---either he was telling the truth--died for our sins, was resurrected, appeared to many witnesses, and is the only way to heaven….or, he was the most egomaniacal, self-deluded liar that ever existed.

4. I believe the former……Jesus told the truth and he is who he says he is. This is good news!....and I’m not ashamed to share it. [AMEN!]

5. If you disagree, I will love you anyway. [and I will enjoy respectful debates with you]

6. I had a wonderful childhood. [I did too, absolutely... my stepdaughter thinks this is because I was an only child, but I know it was because my parents cherished me and gave me lots of opportunities, and a lot of freedom]


7. I absolutely adore my family…..every single one of them. They are precious to me. [Not only my own family, but I am extremely blessed to be able the same thing about my husband's family too.]


16. I care about political issues, but I simply cannot identify myself with a political party. Until I find a party that actually stands for what they claim to stand for, not to mention what I believe in, I will remain a Liberpendipublicrat. [I love the name of this new party! I'm signing up!]


17. I like to play silly little word games with friends. Cereal you might not want to eat?.....Frosted Flukes….Count Botula.…Trixinosis. [I have got to ask her about more of her word games. Excellent character tag]


18. I really dislike the phrase “woman driver, no survivor”. The last time I really gave it much thought I backed into a car while the gentleman that I had just started dating laughed at me from my passenger seat. [I can relate to this all too well]


19. I love irony. [I like to call it "what goes around, comes around"]


22. I care about the environment, but I strongly believe we have to find solutions that are practical, fair, and sustainable. I find radical environmental groups that destroy industries with false propaganda (NRDC) as deplorable as self-serving, polluting mining companies. [as we get older... and hopefully, wiser, we have a harder time taking sides; or perhaps it's just that we can more readily see both sides of the situation]

23. I like being challenged…..mentally, spiritually, and physically. I enjoy a respectful debate, but dislike arguing. [I love being challenged too... respectfully. Arguing makes me want to cry]


25. I walk by faith and believe in things not yet seen, holding on to a glorious hope and future. [I believe the same, that we are actually only visitors here in this life, awaiting the day when we can go to our true home]


A late addition: here are a few more random things from another friend, H.L., that I wanted to keep (because I'm nostalgic, and also because some of these are wise)

7. I love chocolate. [I do, too, I think it is one of the greatest panaceas of life...one of many reasons why H.L. and I relate so well with each other!]

10. I accepted Jesus Christ as my savior after our daughter was stillborn in 2003. Even though I thought I was one of the smartest, most capable people I know, I realized I am not the one in control of my life or my eternity and I turned it over to the One who is. [so well said]


11. It is and always will be the best decision I've made. [AMEN!]

12. Second-best decision, marrying my husband, he's made my life better than I thought it could be. [my list said I like to play practical jokes on my husband. I am ashamed that I did not also mention that he is the most wonderful person I know, and I still can't believe I found the love of my life... and got to keep him]

18. I love to travel. [this should have been on my list, too. Oh wait, I did say that I love road trips]

19. My most appreciated daily luxury is a long, hot shower.

20. Some of you might have thought I would say reading, but in my world, reading is a necessity, not a luxury. [I agree with the necessity part for reading. For me, my daily luxury would be computer time - whether it's having fun on Facebook, writing/reading emails or blogs, journaling, or writing stories.]

22. I became a vet because I like animals better than people, but I've finally grown up enough to value people more than animals. [I like this humble admission]

the character of horses and humans

Last weekend I got to go to a horse training clinic presented by Clinton Anderson, an Australian trainer who has gained quite a following here in the US. So far in my blog I've talked about most of my major passions in life: my faith, my writing, my family... but I haven't mentioned yet my fascination with horses.

I have been riding horses since I was 10 years old, have owned a horse since I was 22, took a semster long course on horses when I was at Cornell, read the Horse Whisperer when it first came out and Monty Roberts' books (and many, many other horse books, pretty much every one, fiction or non fiction, I could get my hands on...) and yet surprisingly I have only started to really understand them in the past year.

Thanks to Clinton Anderson's training DVDs, and now this clinic, I'm starting to see some "magic" working with my own horses. He teaches all the same techniques I've heard of before; there are many trainers who are able to understand the actions of a horse, but this guy has the unique gift of being to break down, step-by-step, exactly how we humans can interact with a horse to get the horse to UNDERSTAND US.

The clinic started with Clinton working with his own horse in the arena. Without any halter, without touching the horse, he was able to get her to do all sorts of amazing things - side-passing and pirouetting, bowing, even laying down (the performance I saw was even more polished than this older on YouTube).

It was beautiful to see how the horse completely trusted him and seemed to truly enjoy peforming for him. Then he spent 12 hours, over two days, working with green or spoiled horses showing us the steps to take to develop this type of relationship and response.

So, what is the key to this amazing working relationship with a horse? Basically, if a horse respects you and trusts you, he'll do anything for you.

So very very simple, and yet so very, very hard, because isn't that the bottom line in relationships with humans, too? Respect and trust. The basis of a strong marriage, a strong family, as well as a friendship - if the friendship is more than just the casual one. It's also the basis of the ONLY kind of real relationship you can have with God (sorry, all of my blogs come back to either one of two things: writing, or faith).

How do you gain respect and trust? With horses, you don't let them trample all over you. You make them pay attention to you and respond to your cues. The trust comes when they do respond to you correctly, you immediately reward them by "taking the pressure off" and letting them relax.

If only it worked the same way in human relationships! I've learned with my husband that I don't earn his respect by bossing him around and applying pressure! Actually, I earn his repsect by letting him go his own way. The more freedom I give him, the more he is drawn back to me. And that seems to build trust, too, both ways.

But hey, I'm no expert. Too bad they don't have husband training clincis like they do for horses.

Val pals, cloud seeding, dread locks, a good book, and other random things

First of all, writing progress. I got the first two chapters edited. At this rate I will finish editing my book (40 chapters... it's dreadfully long), in 7 years. That puts it into a depressing perspective.

On the bright side though, I just finished reading Anne Lamott's "Plan B: Further Thoughts on Grace." Which is where the "dreadlocks" in the title comes in: here's Anne with her dreadlocks.

More on Plan B later, I have more random things I feel compelled to mention.

My 7 yr old daughter Blaze hand-made over 25 valentines for her classmates and a couple teachers, each painstakingly signed "Will you be my val pal?" That was just too sweet and cute not to share (even if I didn't get one).

Oh, and my four year old, Dreamer, is now requesting that everyone call her by new name, Princess Tinkerbell.

On a slightly less sweet note, I have a friend who went out to our church's Valentines banquet, which was the Friday right before Valentine's Day. Someone asked her and her date, "did you have a nice Valentine's?" and her acerbic reply was "oh, we're not celebrating Valentine's day, we're celebrating Friday the 13th."

And on a downright anti-sweet note, another friend discovered http://despair.com/bittersweets.html, a company that sells "Valentine candy for the rest of us" - little candy hearts that says things like "aging poorly", "I want half", "parole is up", "dog is cuter", "so, so alone", "dork magnet" and many other charmers.

Last night I heard of the most fascinating job I've yet encountered: a cloud seeder. Yes, really, you too could potentially be employed by a company that contracts with different state governments to seed their clouds so they get more precipitation. Cloud seeding can also be used to suppress hail or at least reduce it, and so insurance companies pay for this service. What are the clouds seeded with? A special type of smoke with silver iodide in it, which serves as cloud condensation or ice nuclei, altering the microphysical processes within the cloud (wikipedia).

I also learned last night (I was at a friend's baby shower), that if your two-year-old is throwing a temper tantrum, throwing his or herself to the floor kicking and screaming, one proven solution is to throw water in their face ("it doesn't hurt them", says an older mom). Hmmmn, I'll have to remember that one.

Another random skip. I have been having an amazing discussion with an old friend from high school who actually read my last blog (wow, I have a reader!) He believes in many Buddhist themes, but is also currently reading C.S. Lewis's "Mere Christianity" and we've accrued over 10 single spaced pages worth of email correspondence discussing various Buddhist and Christian themes. And that will be another whole blog post, at some later point.

Skip again. I am keeping up with my various challenges this year so far: my Bible read-through (I'm limping through Leviticus, and enjoying Mark) and Beth Moore's verse memorization challenge. This month I am working on a long one:

Romans 11:33-36
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? (check) Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
I also discovered from Beth Moore's blog another wonderful verse:

Malachi 3:16 - Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name.

Beth comments on this:

Try to grasp what that Scripture suggests. Every time we boast in the Lord with each other - face-to-face, on the phone, picking the kids up at school, in the women's restroom at church, over email, on the blog - He stops to "listen and hear."

Two different words are described for the attentiveness of His response. God listens. God HEARS. Scripture doesn't waste words. (John 21:25) If it uses several different descriptions to say the same general thing, we need to take notice because that intensity is meant to turn up the volume.

The next sentence indicates that a secretary in the Kingdom of Heaven literally records either the occasion or perhaps the conversation itself on something called "a scroll of remembrance." I don't know about you but over the course of my life time, I want to keep that secretary writing as fast as his hand can fly across that scroll. Even this moment, an historical record is being kept of our communication in His Name.
I had a friend once suggest trying to read all the "3:16" verses in the NT - the most famous of course is John 3:16, For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. I guess there are a lot of other great 3:16 verses, and not just in the NT!

Getting back to challenges... I'm not doing so hot on TrackDiet.com. But I haven't given up.

Finally, a few good quotes from Anne Lamott's "Plan B."

Well, first, Wikipedia fan that I am, I had to look up a little background on Annie:

Anne Lamott (born 10 April 1954, in San Francisco) is a progressive political activist and author of several novels and works of non-fiction. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, her non-fiction works are largely autobiographical, with strong doses of self-deprecating humor. Marked by their transparency, Lamott's writings covered such subjects as alcoholism, single motherhood, and Christianity.

A quote from her, from an interview: "I've heard someone say that our problems aren't the
problem; it's our solutions that are the problem. That tends to be one thing that goes wrong for me: my solutions. That's what I write about spiritually..."
She's also "reverent and irreverent" - it's fun to read her takes on life, but sometimes a little difficult to swallow Scripture and swear words on the same page. Still, here are a few gems that I just loved.

Anne attributes this to her pastor: "Peace is joy at rest, joy is peace on its feet"

A conversation with another Christian friend:

Tom: We remember that God is present whereever people suffer. God's here with us when we're miserable, and God is there in Iraq [war]. The suffering of innocent people draws God close to them. Kids hit by bombs are not abandoned by God.
Anne: Well it sure looks like they were. It sure looks that way to their parents.
Tom: It also looked like Christ had been abandoned on the cross. It looked like a win for the Romans.
Anne: How do we help? How do we not lose our minds?
Tom: You take care of the suffering.
Anne: I can't get to Iraq.
Tom: There are folks who are miserable here.
After we got off the phone, I ate a few birthday chocolates, and I asked God to help me helpful. It was the first time that day that I felt my prayers were sent, and then received, like e-mail. I tried to cooperate with grace.... the problem with God - or at any rate, one of the top five most annoying things about God - is that He or She rarely answers right away. It can take days, weeks. [years] Some people seem to understand this - that life and change take time. Chou En-Lai, when asked "What do you think of the French Revolution?" paused for a moment, then replied, "Too soon to tell."

Anne and I definitely share the belief that chocolate is one of the great comforts of life (God, of course, is the greatest comfort, but chocolate does help, too) More evidence:

The best thing I've heard lately is Christian writer Barbara Johnson's saying that we're Easter people living in a Good Friday world. I don't have the right personality for Good Friday, for the crucifixion: I'd like to skip ahead to the resurrection. In fact, I'd like to skip ahead to the resurrection vision of one of the kids in our Sunday school, who drew a picture of the Easter bunny outside the tomb: everlasting life, and a basket full of chocolates. Now you're talking.

When you pray, you are not starting a conversation from scratch, just remembering to plug back into a conversation that's always in progress.

When God is going to do something wonderful, He always starts with a hardship; when God is going to do something amazing, He always starts with an impossibility.

One secret of life is that the reason life works at all is that not everyone in your tribe is nuts on the same day. Another secret is that laughter is carbonated holiness.

If you want to feel close to Jesus, find the people who are suffering, or whom the world doesn't value.

There is a lovely Hasidic story of a rabbi who always told his people that if they studied the Torah, it would put Scripture on their hearts. One of them asked, "Why on our hearts, and not in them?" The rabbi answered, "Only God can put Scripture inside. But reading sacred text can put it on your hearts, and then when your hearts break, the holy words will fall inside."

You can either practice being right, or being kind.
Next blog: another great book - I've just started it, and already been deeply moved by it. "Having A Mary Heart in A Martha World"

thinking about how hard the Truth is

I found this quote from C.S. Lewis’s “Mere Christianity” than describes the difficulty of truth:

“The Christian religion is, in the long run, a thing of unspeakable comfort. But it doesn’t begin in comfort, it begins in the dismay that I’ve been describing [the problem of sin] and it’s just no good trying to go on to that comfort without first going through that dismay. In religion, as in war and in everything else, comfort is the one thing you can’t get by looking for it. If you’re looking for truth, you may find comfort in the end: if you’re looking for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth – only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with and, in the end, despair.”

Last week I had an amazing opportunity to share my faith with one of my co-workers (and friends) at work. He knows I’m a Christian but he never showed any interest the few times in the past that I mentioned my faith – but suddenly, out of the blue, he made this comment “we all have a God-sized void in our hearts that we are always trying to fill with something.” So I asked him what prompted him to say this, and he told me quite a bit about his past experiences and what he believes currently – that there is a God, but he’s not willing to label who God is (Christian or otherwise). And he also had the typical skepticism about church and churchy people. I agreed with him, the truth is not found in church or in any human institution; we are all too flawed, too prone to mistakes and bias. I asked him if he minded if I shared some of my past experiences that brought me to my beliefs? He said sure.

So I shared a very short version of my testimony with him, about how I used to be agnostic and pretty disillusioned about religion, too, but after experiencing a severe depression, I realized how little control I had over my emotions – or over my own life, for that matter. I had been searching for the answers to those eternal questions –

Why am I here?
What is the purpose of my life?
How can I live a fulfilled and meaningful life?

While searching for these answers, I studied different religions. One of my friends challenged me that if I was studying other sacred writings I should also give the Bible I fair shot, too. I told my co-worker how amazing it was – how it still gives me chills – when I was reading the Bible one night and God spoke to me through it. He convinced me who He was and that the Bible was His Word, the Truth.

My friend told me he admired my faith, that he had several other friends who had recounted similar amazing experiences (though they were of different faiths), and he admired them, too. So therefore he wasn’t willing to believe that there was any one religion that has all the truth, or the only truth.

This is one of my areas of lingering weakness and doubt. There are people of other beliefs and faiths that feels as strongly about what they believe as I do; they too have had an amazing experience that changed their lives. They truly and sincerely believe, and try to live their life according to their beliefs with the same striving that I do. It is so HARD to come face to face with that sincerity and say – in what must seem a very arrogant and prejudiced way – “you’re wrong. My faith is the only true faith.”

So there is where I found myself backing off in this conversation with my co-worker. I wasn’t strong enough to firmly say, “Biblical Christianity is the only Truth. I challenge you to read the Bible and ask God to prove that to you,” – as my dear friend D.W. challenged me 15 years ago. I wish I had. I did challenge him to read the Bible, but I could have taken a stronger stand.

I keep thinking about why I failed to stand up for my Jesus, who said “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to Father but through me.” When I really take time to think about the Gospel, and its complete and utter difference from anything else any other religion has to offer, I am both awed, and ashamed by my inability to take a firm stand in front of others for the One and Only Truth. No other religion tells of a god who decided to become a man to experience the full range of human experience. He experienced firsthand how prone we are to jealousy and anger and selfishness. He experienced firsthand all that we suffer, both from how other people hurt us (scorn, rejection, etc), how we hurt ourselves, and the ultimate pain – seeing our loved ones suffer and die. He experienced all this, he experienced the full range of human cruelty, even to death, when he could have easily escaped it all. And why did he do this? Because he loved us. Because he wanted to redeem us from all the hurt and pain and suffering in this world. Because he wanted to be able to give each of us access to a heavenly realm where we will be free from all tears, from all suffering, forevermore.

Just in case someone might someday read this blog, and that someone is at this point wondering what the Gospel is, it’s these three basic points:

1) all men are sinners. If you believe that you are good person and not a sinner, then consider that you, like most people, believe that you should be treatd right and fair but you probably haven’t always treated others the way you wish to be treated yourself. Or stated another way: we all have something missing in us, we can’t quite find lasting fulfillment or purpose in this life; we’re somehow unable to ever achieve perfection, or even lasting satisfaction with ourselves. Sin is the ultimate cause of all of humanity’s problems. (I can share a theory, based on various verses from Romans chapters 1, 5 and 8, that sin is even the root of the viral pestilences that plague humanity).

2) The solution to both the universal and personal problem of sin is God providing complete forgiveness for sin through His Son Jesus, who died for us as the complete sacrifice for our sin, who was buried, and who rose again on the third day to prove that we, too, can rise again after death and live eternally with Him because He has conquered sin.

3) If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in Him will never be put to shame."

Nanowrimo explained

Nanowrimo stands for National Novel Writing Month, a wonderful, creative, neurotic month where we celebrate, we laugh, we cry, and we manically write until our brains melt out of our heads. We spend all night at the computer screen, and the next day trying to shut off an overactive imagination long enough to accomplish our responsibilities. We struggle with time and energy constraints, over caffeination, sleep deprivation, and sometimes the frustration of a blank space where our thoughts should be. It's the month of frenzied writing. It's the month where we type until our fingers are numb. It's the month we ignore the garish marks of the spell checker telling our inner critic to shout at us. It's the month we push forward with one goal in mind: 50,000 words in 30 days. Which breaks down to roughly 1,667 words a day give or take a few. NaNoWriMo was founded in 1999 as a way to encourage everyone who wants to write a book, to do that very thing.

I first tried Nanowrimo in 2007, hoping it would motivate me to finish my first book. I managed to write 38,000 words, falling short of winning, but absolutely convinced that Nanowrimo was the best thing ever invented for motivating writers. I tried again in 2008 and succeeded, getting just over 50,000 words on my second novel and over half-way through it.

I plan to give Nanowrimo another go in 2009. The rest of the year I work on finishing and editing what I started during November. I have my first novel "complete" - as in, it's a complete story, but it's still not complete yet for publication, requiring a lot of rewriting to make it flow better and develop the characters more. I'm debating this upcoming November whether to continue my word count on the second novel, or start my third.

progress, a puppy, and pendragons

I have writing progress to report! This makes me so happy! Can I get a gold star?

I sat down last night and started editing the first chapter of my children's novel (It's complete, but not ready to go out yet. Still needs lots of cleaning up, cutting, and character voice). So my writing progress this time isn't how many words I wrote, it's how many words I cut. I worked on the first 2400 words and managed to cut it down by 282 words (which is slightly more than the recommended 10%). I also re-wrote some sections, including the first whole page. The dreaded FIRST PAGE! It must be perfect - most people browsing through a bookstore will only read the first page (or even just the first paragraph) of a book before deciding to put it back, or read more.

Topic #2: the puppy. I broke down and let B get a puppy. Now we haven't had very good luck with dogs so far in our marriage. We've tried a few - his sister "rescues" dogs at the vet clinic she works at and has tried to place several with us. We decided we weren't going to try any adult dogs anymore, they come with too many problems, and we have too many kids to have a problem dog on top of it. That was also my reasoning for not getting a puppy - as if we aren't overwhelmed already with 4 small children running around the house! But B heard about these black lab/rottweiler pupppies at the pound, that there were 9 of them that needed adopting. He brought home an application. He begged me, just go look at them. I said, no way. But then he did a smart thing. He left the application in my purse, and said "I'm leaving it up to you." I would have continued to fight him if he had tried to insist, but when he just gave up and let me decide... well then, awwww shucks... so, now we have a puppy. B, of course, is completely responsible for cleaning up ALL his messes. And 2 weeks now into this adventure, he's keeping his word.


His name is Remington (Remy). He really is heart-meltingly cute. I will report back in 6 months with whether or not I still have a soft spot for him - let's see how much of our house he chews up-

Topic #3 - Pendragons. I really don't have any reason to mention pendragons except that I've always thought it was a neat word and it seemed to go with the post title. What exactly is a pendragon? I envision a tiny dragon the size of a match, and if you try to write with it, it flames out. Personally, Ithink my definition is better than Wikipedia's: Pendragon or Pen Draig, meaning "head dragon" or "chief dragon" (a figurative title referring to status as a leader), is the name of several traditional Kings of the Britons.

In my last blog I had also mentioned parenting frustrations and foolish New Year's resolutions. I'll skip the parenting frustrations, for now (last week was bad, but this week has actually been great with the kids), and as far as resolutions, I've NEVER been able to keep any of them, EVER, for more than like 2 weeks, maybe, probably not even that. So this year I found this quote on one of my friend's Facebook posts and decided to adopt it as my new philosophy: "I think in terms of the day's resolutions, not the year's."

Nevertheless, I did commit to three things this year. One, I signed up for Beth Moore's scripture memory challenge - memorizing two verses a month. I've got Galations 2:20 memorized and now I am working on Matt 9:12-13. Here goes: Jesus said "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. (check) But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Then, I also decided to try to do a Bible read-through this year. I haven't tried this since 2005 (only got about 1/3 of it read), and I haven't actually completed a read through for 12 years now. The first month is always easy, because Genesis is fun to read. I wonder how motivated I'll be when I hit Leviticus. I think this time I'll try to jump around more, for variation.

Finally, I signed up on TrackDiet.com to try and keep myself motivated to lose weight. It's been two weeks now, and I haven't logged back in yet. Hmmmn...

I'm hoping that the first two challenges will help me on the spiritual side, so I can be more successful on the physical side. But really, it boils down to prayer. That's the only way I can fight the call to the pantry (or, right now, the vending machine...)