Skinny Guy

Hey! Who's that skinny young kid? See that map over his shoulder? That's the state of Illinois, with his hometown pinned. Considering the place he was in when this picture was taken, I know that that home town was the one place he really wanted to be, small and provinical that it may have been! Hard to believe that picture was taken 40 years ago. It was a long time ago in a war far away. The memories don't fade for those who were there, though. Ron went over December 21 of 1967 and came home in February of 1969. 1968, the one whole year that he spent there, by all accounts, was the year that saw the worst of the fighting. And his mother sent him off just before Christmas. I have often imagined how that must have felt for her. I can't imagine having to take your oldest son to the airport and leave him to the U.S. military in an already very unpopular war. I have always been thankful that I didn't meet him until a late summer day in 1969, well after he got back. As a side note here, Ron had hundreds of slides (an old fashioned technology whereby pictures were projected onto a wall, sheet, screen etc. Very ungainly) of his time in Viet Nam and his R and R in Australia. Only a handful of them survived the 40 years in our basement including this one. Such a shame.

Obsessions

I have been busy with most important tasks at the computer these past couple of days. I have been downloading music into my MP3 player. It holds 80 GB (YIKES!) and right now I have like, 250 MB into it. So I've been scouting nooks and crannies and even downloading from ITunes. (wow does that work slick. Be careful, there girl) All that to tell you that I have been listening to a lot of music. Well, actually I've only been listening to two songs. Over and over and over. They are so beautiful and compelling I can't get them out of my mind and I seem to have this complusion to listen to them only. I think my brain has short circuted here or something. Why I think I need 80 GB is beyond me, when I seem to be perfectly content with these two songs. "You were There" by Avalon and "Glory in the Highest" by Chris Tomlin. The first song especially, helped me work through my last meltdown (major doubts) over Haiti. "I wonder how it must have felt when David stood to face Goliath on a hill. I imagine that he shook with all his might until you took his hand and held on tight. Cause you were there...You were there in the midst of the unclear, you were always there.... you are the strength when we had none..." Words to sink deep into my heart for the coming days.

Home front

Hey it's a night at home and I can read, or blog (nothing on tv so forget that) or talk on the phone, or catch up with some studying I've been doing, I can even do some web surfing. Wow, such luxury! If it were a warm summer night I'd consider a walk, but with the slippery streets and walks at this time of night, that's out. I sometimes think this busyiness in my life takes away from the real relationships that I could and should be building. I forget about the 'people factor' and concentrate too much on the things going on. But there are people all over who need to be cared for and I don't have the time. Really not good.

More on Haiti

Ok So yesterday (Sunday) wasn't a very good day. I had lots of time to think about this upcoming trip to Haiti and all of a sudden I realized that I am nuts. While I love to camp (i.e. be in the great outdoors without a lot of modern conveniences) I don't necessarily like to do it in a foreign language. Oh yes, friends, they speak a foreign language in Haiti. And what's more they eat goat meat. Truth be told, I am still thinking that Ron would be better at this since his talents and skills (i.e. carpentry, plumbing, electric work, hard physical labor, blah blah, blah) would be much more practical than any of mine (i.e. photography, storytelling, computer blathering) This has truly put me to the test in the courage department. So to review my thoughts on that..."Be of good courage...and I will be with you..." I think the word 'fearless' came up at some point. And the thought that perhaps I should just sit back and actually see what God might use me for. But above all, now that I've talked my friend into going, I shouldn't chicken out, as it were. So. I have to be more careful about these feelings of mine. They just get in the way for the most part. But you can pray for me anyway.

Random Cool Pics

What could be more beautiful than a mom and her baby? And this one's a cuddler, too!

Then, it is winter after all.

The Republican Caucuses

So we went politicking last night. Off to the caucuses. I had to drag Ron screaming and Kicking all the way. He really didn't want to go, but I insisted. I figured, with the millions of dollars the candidates spent, the least we could do was give them a piece of our minds! As it turned out, I wasn't the only one who felt that way apparently because there was a huge crowd. And the feel for this one was much different from other ones I've attended. Perhaps because OC is a much larger place than Monona or Webb. OC was divided into 2 rooms. Those of us from the east side of town met in one room, and those from the West side met in the other room. (plus people from the country and Maurice were there too) Needless to say, it was standing room only. We didn't get started at the appointed time as we waited for those standing in line to finish signing in. This is how it worked: They appointed a chairman to run the meeting and a sectretary to record. Anyone who wanted could speak for a particular candidate. They went through them alphabetically starting at Fred Thompson. Someone spoke up for him in about a 2 minute prepared paper. Pretty generalized. Then someone read a letter from the good Mitt Romney. Another 2 or 3 minutes gone. No one for Ron Paul. (or Duncan Hunter or Alan Keyes) Senator John Thune of SD was there to speak on behalf of John McCain. I enjoyed listening to him and 'almost he persuaded me'.... When it was Mike Huckabee's turn there was no advocate. That was a surprise. Someone finally stepped forward and told a weird story that he'd heard at one of his campaign events. Well, at least I didn't get it. What was that about? I wondered when he'd finished. Oh well. Another short speech for Rudi G. and we were ready to vote. We had to have an X on our hands to get the voting slip. Then while the votes were being counted we discussed the County 'platform' a bit. There wasn't much to that which surprised me,because at other caucuses that has taken up enormous amounts of time. Come to find out, they did that later after almost everyone had gone home. Darn. Anyway, Mike Huckabee took about 150 votes, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Rudi all had a few under 50. (That was just in our room. All the rest of the rooms voted about the same as ours). So, We happily sent all the candidates on to New Hampshire. Hope they're enjoying the same ads and nastiness that we did.

My January Word

I thought breaking down the year into 12 bite size pieces (one a month) might be interesting. I thought I would do that with a one word summary of what I want my whole year to be like...12 x over. A sort of resolution only with a focus on a general characteristic that needs to grow in me. While I can work on this I suppose, I am not very good about keeping my resolutions anyway. So I thought maybe by looking at how God can work from my inside out I might get somewhere. Or maybe it will just be an interesting word study. Anyway! My January focus:

Courage.

The dictionary defines it: strength of mind to carry on in spite of danger It is bravery, courageousness, daring, dauntlessness, doughtiness, fearlessness, gallantry, greatheartedness, guts, hardihood, heart, heroism, intrepidity, intrepidness, nerve, stoutness, valor

All of that just to look at how God can well up courage in me when I would run the other way. He tells me 'have courage.' 'Be courageous' 'Be of good courage', 'take courage', 'with full courage' But it comes from putting trust in the right places (HIM), despite outward circumstances, after waiting the full measure of time, with support from those of like mind, despite my feelings.

"Be Strong and Courageous"(Josh 1:7,18,23:6,)

"Whether the land is rich or poor and whether there are trees in it or not, be of good courage and bring some fruit of the land" (Num. 13:20)

"Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you." (Duet 31:6,7,23. Moses to Joshua)

"For we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage..." (2 Cor 5:7-8)

I need courage to:

Do things out of my comfort zone.

to wait

to be open

To change

To share my faith

To grow old

To face an evil world and my doubts.

So walk with me this month in courage. Tell me your stories.