Notes for my sister

February 2021 was pretty cold in north Texas. All these months later, I'm finally taking a minute to write about it. In the great state of Texas, there are almost NO snow plows so people couldn't drive anywhere. Without transportation most stuff shut down. Norm was one of the exceptions, working for a business that has a 24/7 call center, so he never missed a day of work and was able to drive in safely each day. School was cancelled for five whole days, and we figured the kids would have some days added on to the end of the schoolyear, but since it was a "state of emergency" the days were forgiven. It wasn't all fun and games though. The rolling blackouts were initiated to keep the power grid from shutting down entirely. We have a newfound gratitude for electricity.  Pictured below is one night when we ate dinner in the dark. I'd just finished some kind of soup on the stovetop so it was hot.  There were many families who had no power at all, and others who had...

  Rethinking Sexuality, God's Design and Why it Matters , by Dr. Juli Slattery Stuff I underlined: "The quickest way to the heart is through a wound." John Piper "You and I have this same opportunity to make the gospel relevant and personal to those who are silently suffering around us." p26 "We have conceded the area of sexuality to the world's persuasive arguments and seductive philosophy." p31 "Two of the greatest challenges surrounding sexuality are convincing single Christians to abstain from sex and convincing married Christians to enjoy sex.  True sexual intimacy in marriage is not just about making your body available. It's about giving your whole self to your spouse. It requires enough trust to enter into passion." page 57 "Satan wants to convince us that God is not trustworthy." p 69 "The beauty of broken: Jesus most profoundly demonstrated the power and love of God when He ministered to hurting people...Those...

 Notes on Posture A while ago, my chiropractor in Lehi told me I had bad posture and my shoulders were sort of hunched forward. "How rude," I thought. A few years later my chiropractor in Flower Mound echoed that same thing. They were both trying to help me see something that I'd missed, in an effort to prevent problems later. So I appreciate the heads' up, even though at first I didn't like hearing it. They call it Tech Neck, or a Dowager's Hump. I noticed both of my grandmas had a rounded back, and my back was trending in that direction. Many teenagers have similar posture problems from always looking down at screens.  Dr. Blad  explains how to use a neck orthotic here. You get the idea. Every night before bed I set a timer and use my neck brick for 15 minutes.

When I was 14 my family moved to Las Vegas. My high school years were punctuated with soft porn on billboards and taxicabs, though we didn't go downtown very often. When we did walk The Strip, especially past The Mirage (remember it was the 90's and that was one of the biggest hotels in town), my parents cautioned us very directly, "Don't look down in the gutter and if somebody tries to hand you a piece of paper, don't take it! Don't even look at it." The streets of Las Vegas Boulevard were littered with papers, because people were paid to hand out smut. They didn't usually target little girls, but since we were curious and completely naive, my parents warned us and  especially my two brothers . This was before the internet. Back in the day, it was easier to caution kids not to look at stuff that would rot their brain. The Mirage hotel is a cool metaphor. The coppery shiny windows glittered from afar, easily seen from my neighborhood. Often we'd lo...

 January has lots of goals and good intentions. My weekly realization is voiced beautifully by  Sissel  in this stunning arrangement. It's called Slow Down. She sang it in July of 2019. Lyrics are by Chuck Girard, arranged by Sam Cardon and conducted by Mack Wilberg with the Tabernacle Choir. In the midst of my confusion In the time of desperate need When I am thinking not too clearly A gentle voice does intercede Slow down, slow down, be still Be still and wait, on the Spirit of the Lord Slow down and hear His voice And know that He is God In the time of tribulation When I'm feeling so unsure When things are pressing in about me Comes a gentle voice so still, so pure Slow down, slow down, be still Be still and wait, on the Spirit of the Lord Slow down and hear His voice And know that He is God And know that He is God Two things in the past week have made me realize that I'm doing too much. First was a simple accident involving an onion and my chef's knife. I wasn't...

I love the trees and plants in my neighborhood. Christmas is fading fast, and almost all the decorations are gone, but the berries on the holly bushes are lovely. We have holly bushes out front. One day last fall I decided to prune them myself. They were growing over the porch light and covering the number on the house. How hard can it be? Long story short, I didn't do so well. (In my defense, it was the week of the election and I was a bit stressed, so one sunny afternoon the combination of energy + pruning shears + little/no knowledge proved disastrous.) Next we called  12Tree to come fix my mess for me. They were awesome.   Let's talk for a minute about mistletoe. It's actually a very common parasite. During my first Texas winter, after all the leaves had fallen from the trees, I asked my good friend B about all the funny bird nests in the trees. Look closely, that's mistletoe.  Here it is again, up close. See that clump of green? Maybe next Christmas I'll get o...

Yesterday we took down the last of the Christmas decorations and put up red, white and blue. It looks like the 4th of July at my house. I wrote about my feelings during the election season over  here  and about our trip to  Washington DC  last year. But today I need to add my voice about how much I love my country.  A few years ago, my neighbor Grandma Terry taught me how to make bracelets. I didn't know anything about jewelry making or beads or whatnot, but she patiently took me under her wing and shared her skills and her time with me. I remember her when I put on certain earrings or see something she made. So today as I'm troubled (sad, shocked, disturbed, etc) by the unrest and protest and division in my country, I'm choosing to be patriotic in small and simple ways. I love that there are dozens of flags flying throughout my neighborhood on a daily basis, not just today or on holidays, but every single day.  Today we're listening to a lot of patriotic m...