The New Circle of Life?

I don't always get the Bizarro comic by Dan Piraro, but today's I got loud and clear! Maybe we should call this the new circle of life....

Taken from http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/fun/bizarro.asp and Piraro's webpage can be found at: bizarro.com.

The Merry Moments of Christmas Celebrations

-The laughter of my nephews.
-The flicker hogging the bird feeder in the backyard.
-Peppermint flavored coffee with visiting friends.
-Baking cookies and singing carols at the local mission.
-Christmas Eve services.
-Smiles on my parents faces.
-Dinner at the Chinese restaurant and the opening of fortune cookies.
-Waking up on Christmas with no presents under the tree for me and being happy about it.
-Hearing my eldest nephew's happiness at the shirts I bought him and hearing the words out of his mouth that they were great because "he needed them."
-My sister's melt-in-your-mouth sugar cookies.
-Helping mom pick out wool sweaters requested by my brother.
-Christmas day phone calls from my siblings.
-Being stuffed with Indian food at the house of one of my high school friends.
-Having my best friend in town for the week.
-Realizing that she and I have kept in touch enough that we are still up to date with each other even though she lives on the opposite coast of our nation.
-Taking my sister and her sons out to the light display on the coast.
-Having my nephew make a wish in the wishing well for snow on Christmas and having it come true-the first time snow has fallen in the major valley cities of Oregon on Christmas since the 1930s.
-Holding the baby of my best friend's younger sister.
-Laughter with Granny in the kitchen as we worked on meal time preparations.
-Running down the streets in our neighborhood with my younger nephews.
-Feeling the softness of the rain fall on our heads last night as I hugged my good friend good bye.
-Reading next to the glow of the Christmas tree.
-Watching old Christmas movies on TV. Bah humbug!
-Fires by coffee ground recycled logs.
-Working on applications for new beginnings: school, scholarships, and jobs.
-Large cups of tea, fuzzy slippers, and big blankets to keep warm.

Hope you all celebrated a delightfully merry christmas!

Hope

The concept of HOPE seems to be a recurring theme as of late. However it is something that I feel that we must have in order to proceed forward. On Christmas Eve we went to the Eve Service at our church and tears sprang to my eyes. Somewhere in the midst of the two or three hymn that we were singing, my eyes settled upon the choir and upon two individuals in particular.

For years there was a vivacious, full-of-spirit woman who was a member of our church. She was a deacon, she led quilting groups, she was involved in Bible study, and vacation Bible school for the little kids. She worked in the front office of her husband's medical practice and always had a sparkling word and smile for everyone. She was a wife, a mother to a quiet son, and an incredible woman all around. She was full of faith, hope, and spirit, and about two years ago she lost her battle with breast cancer. Thus it was when my eyes landed on her husband singing in the choir, and on her only child sitting quietly behind the choir, that I couldn't help but recognize how sad at times the holidays must be for some individuals. And it was right after that moment that my eyes landed on the banner hanging in front of the church with the word HOPE.

The son and the father feel it. The homeless individuals at the shelter singing Christmas carols last week, they felt it. And in the moment when I looked at my father sitting beside me in the pew, himself a cancer survivor-I felt it too. And this is what the entire holiday season is about-the word of HOPE. For Christians, it is hope in the love and life of Jesus Christ. For others, it may be the hope that family and friends bring. And the New Year, brings hope for another year full of love, grace, happiness, health, and opportunities to bless the lives of others. It is my wish that each of you is feeling the HOPE of the holiday season, and believe in the capacity of healing. Continued Happy Holidays! May you receive the fullness of your heart in 2008!

The New Retail "Therapy"

Since they just don't make things to last anymore, here's how to put your cute, cheap shoes through therapy in order to make them last longer.

1. Buy the cute, cheap shoe.
2. Wear the cute, cheap shoe everywhere to reduce the CPU (cost per usage).
3. After several wearings, recognize that eventually your toes could poke through.
4. To curb pokage, cut a 3" piece of duct tape and apply to inside top part of shoes, making sure to cover where toes and their nails actually hit in the shoe.
5. Continue to wear shoe for months to come.
6. Replace tape as needed.
7. Eventually if shoe begins to slightly separate, carefully (so as not to adhere yourself to well...yourself) clean and super glue shoe back together.
8. Continue to wear shoe for months to come.
9. Repeat steps 4 through 9 until all efforts are futile to extend the life of the said cute shoe.

The above pictured shoes have made it through rain storms, miles upon miles walked, playgrounds with children, football throwing, dog walking, and many other spectacular events. However my mother was appalled to walk into the kitchen this morning and find me super gluing and duct taping them in "therapy." Something she's sure has become genetically passed down from my poppa to my father and now to me. However with cute shoes, no one is the wiser based on external viewing of the internal precautions of my duct tape! :-)

Doing Something

There's always a lot of debate about the validity of global warming and whether or not any of our current environmental problems are really something worth changing our lives over. However, whether one is right wing, left wing, or somewhere in the middle, I can't help but wonder: does it really matter if the idea behind global warming is correct or not?

I would hope that regardless of where one stands on these issues that they would recognize that the environment is indeed changing and that we need to make changes as well. I would hope that fundamentally people would CARE. If people can't care about the environment, I hope they would care about others. If they can't care about others, I would think they could at least care about themselves. And that they would realize that so many of the choices that we make today have negative effects on the survival of the environment, others, and on ourselves-generally hitting us where it hurts the most-through our health.

Without the environment and others, we are nothing. Without the environment we cannot survive. I have been attempting to formulate some different posts based on environmental health issues that I think are of utmost importance. Instead I am going to attach some links to some pages that I think are vital to understanding the underlaying issues of what is happening in our country and in the greater world.

Dr. Donohoe has written an outstanding article in which he compiled a variety of statistics based on the current state of environmental global issues. The article, "Causes and consequences of environmental degradation and social injustices," can be found here, and makes a fabulous resource. The website it is taken from contains a variety of other articles and slide shows discussing many of the other issues that are going on.

I recently found the video entitled The Story of Stuff, which depicts what really happens in the production and distribution of our consumer goods. It takes about 20 minutes to view it but is well worth it. Important to note is that so many of our consumer goods are made of chemicals and toxic products which are not researched and investigated before being put on the market. This was a fact I discovered multiple times thoughout the last term through my own research (including government sources) and in resources given to us in class.

And thirdly is the issue of the cosmetics industry, which in this case cosmetics includes all hair products, soaps, and lotions-so yes this applies to men too. While the US only has banned about 9 products, the EU, which uses the precautionary principle and believes that industry needs to prove that a product is safe for human use before selling it, has banned over 1,000. The Cosmetic Database is a website that lists ingredients and potential negative health effects of a variety of products. Another fabulous resource on this topic is a book that just came out by Stacy Malkan, Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry.

While we might have diferent opinions on how we got to this point, and we might not all agree on what is really going on, I hope that we all can see that change is necessary. I hope that we all can care. I hope that we would believe in precaution rather than treating the problems. I hope we would believe in preservation of our resources, of our planet, of our faith, of ourselves, and of each other. I hope we would want to grant future generations with a healthy, safe, and beautiful planet. I hope we would want to stop the negative effects that have started and to keep bioaccumulation of toxic substances from impacting more of our future generations. I hope that we all would believe that change is truly possible and would begin to embrace what can be. I have hope in you and in me.

There's Hope...

Sometimes, after getting used to the ways of the city, it takes a bit of time to readjust to being back in my surroundings on the coast. The manners and mentality of the people are different and I sense myself noticing the differences. Although I have gotten used to being stared at while walking around town (as it's something that people just do not do here), recently I have had several instances of being pleasantly surprised by the members of my home community.

Yesterday was the first day I had been back in the high school to sub, and I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised. I taught mainly freshman and usually (and yes I know it's bad to make assumptions) freshman are all over the place behaviorally and tend to exude an air of immaturity. However the 100+ students I had yesterday, for the most part, behaved well, were respectful, and got their work done. They outshone the juniors and seniors that I usually teach. They were researching the upcoming political candidates and I was impressed by how they approached the topics and with how they processed the information. It left me feeling that there is hope for tomorrow after all.....

I also ran into several of my other students throughout the day yesterday. Coming from a "redneck" community, lots of students in this high school can be found wearing head-to-toe Carhartts and camo hats and have a "self" mentality based in rural Republicanism. However several of these students impressed me with the growth they had exhibited over the course of the last six months. Their ability to discuss more indepth subjects and to look at topics objectively was something that had been missing in months past. They also seemed more motivated and aware that their education was something that truly would be worthwhile for them in the future. Again I felt hopeful...

And then lastly....I had a conversation with a fellow teacher-one of my former teachers actually and the advisor to the KEY club. In the front hall of the school were at least 100 boxes containing food from the KEY club's canned food drive. (However since so much food had been donated, each grade had donation sites located in different school buildings.) And he described to me how most of the food that I was seeing in that hall had actually been donated by community members over the weekend while KEY club members sat outside one of our local grocery stores. We then talked about how it seems that ever so slowly society is in a period of change-one of consuming less and giving more, of thinking about self less and about others more. And again I felt hopeful...

Achieving Goals

I took the first bunch of scarves to my charity, Dinner & A Movie, about three weeks ago when we were in the midst of a major cold spell. Thanks to my sister and my mother, we produced about 20 scarves and mom purchased about 10 hats and 10 pairs of gloves. Many of the homeless shelters in the Portland area are already full and as I walk to campus, I walk past a shelter that daily has about 20 people standing outside of it (not to mention the many individuals I see sleeping in doorways with only a single blanket to keep them warm through the chilly winter nights). Thus the idea of these youth (as well as all the other individuals, regardless of any addictions they might have) chills me to the bone. In my car's trunk, I have two more bags of hats and scarves that were produced by my home church and a friend of my granny also has a drawer-full for me to pick up on my way back to Portland. I will continue to work on this project throughout the winter, as it's a simple way to hopefully bring a little physical warmth to others while also letting them know that people DO care.

The second major goal that I have achieved is that I finally read the entire Bible. I have been attempting to do so for several years with a reading schedule, but this is the first year that I have been able to completely read the whole thing. Throughout my entire Christian life, I have always felt a little guilty that I had never read it. While I still can't quote anything from memory, the New Testament continues to remind me of the gift of love and that the best gifts we can give are to glorify God through giving to others.


The next several months will include many new goals, but the theme of my goals always remains the same. Life is more bountiful and fulfilling when I am growing spiritually, living a balanced and simplistic life, and giving to others. Hope you all have been enjoying a wonderful day!

A Roar For Powerful Words

Patty, from Morning Ramble, gave me a new award this morning:


This award was started by the Shameless Lion Writing Circle and is "the chance to scream from the mountains the good news about the powerful posts that are produced every day in the blogosphere, despite what some mainstream columnists and journalists claim."
The recipients then do the same, passing it on to five other people, and accompany the image with three things they believe are necessary to write well and powerfully.

To me, good writing contains:
1) Personal honesty & insightfulness
2) Passion on the topic/experience
3) Knowledge/wisdom on the topic

However I'm not sure how well I follow my own definition then! I write more when I feel compelled to share knowledge than anything else. (Although w/o internet I haven't been able to share everything I would have liked to during the last few months!)

Anyway my nominees:
1) Chile Chews: She exerts passion, knowledge, and insightfulness all with lots of humor. I laugh everytime I read an account of what she's doing just because she describes it so gleefully!

2) The Healthy Cookie: She's personal and has loads of wisdom and passion on the topic of health/nutrition based on her own experiences and current studies. Her thoughts are always well-developed and her posts are incredibly insightful and researched.

3) Contemplating Change: I love the weekly glimpse of her life in England. She's caring, compassionate, dedicated, and insightful.

4) Pondering the Myriad Things: She's an advocate, and she believes in change. She's honest and she moves others toward action and fact finding. Plus she's Canadian!

I'm going to stop at 4. There are plenty of others that deserve an award, but to be honest, I've gotten sort of out of the loop as of late. These 4 are some that move me to think or action every time. Happy blogging! :-)

Dad and I took a quick trip up the coast today to check on any potential damage from last week's storm at the beach house. Luckily there was none, especially as the day was cold (not even 40 degrees) and would have been miserable to work in. Winterized and shut the house for winter.

Took these pictures from the cape and then while Dad was driving on the way back down the coast. Such a beautiful scene-makes me wonder how some people don't believe that there is something greater than us humans and why others don't want to protect the beauty through which God can communicate!

Not much was done but the day was full all the same and worthwhile due to the beauty observed and the time together!

Leading By Example

Lately I have felt myself being pulled away from my simplistic values by others while being in the city. Sometimes it feels hard to balance all of my different values, as they can enter into periods of contradiction fairly easily at times. It's ironic since I have so much time up there to really engage in simplicity. However the concept of leading by example has been filtering through my mind the last few days and it all started on Friday....

Learning from elders....my granny! On my way back down to the coast I stopped to spend a day/night with her and to visit with my favorite friends that live there also. Granny sends weekly notes to people and so usually has an on-slaught of stamps available. Last week she was out of traditional stamps and was so excited to give me a lesson on frugality. Over the years , she has received numerous letters from organizations asking for donations (she's a very charitable lady but can only give so much), and some of the return envelopes had stamps already applied to them. Stop here though and realize that these are 1, 3, 5, 10 cent stamps adding up to whatever postage was at the time. As she had two bills to go out, she demonstrated the proper stamp extraction, reapplying, and gluing process and then we spent the next half hour removing all the rest of the stamps so she would have them ready to use! That was lesson one in frugality.

Lesson two in frugality pertained to double checking statements, something I rarely do except to verify that I was billed online. She demonstrated how she saves receipts, checks to make sure she has a receipt for all the entries on her statement, and then double checks the amount to make sure it is correct. Over the years, she says she has found several mistakes. Lesson two in frugality. And I'm sure she will continue to teach me over the years-yet I am always so impressed in how she leads by example.

This concept came up in church yesterday as well. That as Christians we should be leading by example in terms of our faith in general, and in terms of our approach to the Christmas season. And it was something I thought of as I walked to and from church yesterday also-a measly mile one way and something that has become so standard due to walking everywhere in the city. I could have driven and I'm sure as I'm home I will drive more than naught, but by walking I feel that I am leading by example. As I walked by all the cars idling in the driveways, I realized I probably wasn't making that much of an environmental difference but at least I am walking my talk and hoping to encourage others to experience the benefits of walking as well. I hope we all lead by example and demonstrate to others our values through our actions-although I will be the first to admit that there are times when we all falter or get caught up in the midst of the storm.

P.S. I'm glad to be home, many more postings to follow! :-)