Children & Chocolate and Other Paths to God

I heard a piece of this hymn the other day, and I forgot just how much I love it, for two reasons 1) when sung at the top of your lungs, it is incredibly powerful and can bring you to your knees, and 2) I have vivid memories of my father singing this as a cantor in our church when I was a kid. (and reason number 2 is why I can’t sing it in public since I am quickly reduced to tears, even 20 years later…)

And if you really want a treat, you should listen to the Elvis Presley version. Just thought I’d share-

How Great Thou Art

O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed:

(Chorus:)
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee
How great Thou art! How great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee
How great Thou art! How great Thou art!

When through the woods and forest glades I wander
and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur
And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze:

(Chorus)

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing,
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin:

(Chorus)

When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow in humble adoration,
And there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art!

Sorry I’ve been gone so long - between school/activities starting, the market collapsing and a death in the family, the last few weeks haven’t allowed me to focus enough to stop by here. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, however, and I look forward to a clearer head this week.

Even amist all of the chaos lately, however, I somehow stumbled upon Facebook again. And now I’m hooked.

I was invited to join last January, but didn’t really see the point. I knew maybe two people on it, and I wrote the whole thing off thinking that I was too old. It appears that in the last 9 months, however, that all of the old fogeys have now joined Facebook. (we’re just a little slower, see?)

It’s been great fun to see what some old friends and acquaintences are up to. And it totally satifies the voyeur in me that just wants to be nosy (and, admit it, don’t we all on occassion?). 

So now I have one more thing to do besides laundry.

Happy Sunday everyone. Have a great day!

I’ve had several years to think about this, and I still don’t know how to explain it to my children.

When my daughter was 3 last year, and I was watching the memorial service on tv, and she asked me “why you crying mommy?” I didn’t know where to begin. I didn’t know anyone directly who died, but my heart still grieves for those who did. It still falls into the category of “top 5 saddest days of my life.”

And it was all played out in slow motion on CNN, one painful frame at a time. For me, and countless others, it was too much to comprehend until days later.

I think about the children who lost parents, and the parents who lost children. And those brave firefighters and emergency workers. And the hundreds of volunteers (both human and canine) who worked tirelessly in the weeks and months after. And the military who lost their lives in the wars that followed.

The fact that this day was never even mentioned at the DNC speaks volumes to me, but I won’t get on a political tear here.

No, today is about prayer and giving thanks. Pray for those that died, both voluntarily and involuntarily, and for the survivors who still miss them. Pray for our leaders, that God guides their minds and hearts in the right direction. Pray for our children, that they may learn from the day that changed our country. And then give thanks, for those that continue to fight against evil, and for the privilege of living in this great nation!

I’ve seem to have lost my motivation to exercise lately, has anyone seen it?

I did a 5K over two weeks ago, and haven’t done a whole lot since. The first few days I was a bit sore, then I had a very minor health issue to deal with, and then I started letting myself indulge in certain comfort foods because of this health issue, and now, well, it’s just getting out of control.

And to be honest, I feel pretty lousy since I stopped.

So, no more excuses. Tomorrow it’s supposed to be nice and cool (the way I like it), so, Mrs. F, I’m going to be knocking on your door at 6:30am!

Okay, you may think I’m talking about football here, but I’m really just talking trash.

Three weeks ago the garbage men came, and left my two large cans on the sidewalk like they usually do, but the wheels were gone on one of them. I’m not sure where they went, but as the can already had some cracks in it, I didn’t really care much if we had to toss it. So the following week I put a big note on the lid “Please take this can”, and they did.

What’s interesting to me is that I didn’t replace the can right away, and I didn’t really need to. Knowing that I had a limited amount of space for trash forced me to be much more vigilent about my recycling efforts. For me this means not only remembering to put the paper, plastic and glass in the proper place, but remembering to put the recyling out on the right night. (and these guys come very early, so there’s little chance of running out in your jammies in the morning…)They alternate every week, so if you miss the Friday for paper, it’s another two weeks before you can get rid of it.

So now my family of four has practically cut it’s trash in half. Pretty remarkable, I think. I rather like knowing we’re not taking up as much landfill space as we used to. So, the question is, can you do the same?

Here’s something I never thought I’d say:

“Last night I had my Fantasy Football draft and I’m peeved I didn’t get the quarterback I wanted…”

Yep. I’ve joined the ranks of millions of Americans who don’t get enough of the real teams on TV, we have to make up our own and play them too.

Our league is all-women, though we did permit one husband (our commissioner) to remain in the room. It was our first time, after all, and to say that we’re a bit clueless is an understatement. To his credit, he offered advice only when asked, and was a great guide. I am surprised his tongue didn’t fall out, however, because I know he was biting it with every pick we made.

So we drank beer, burped, told lewd jokes, and picked our teams. Not like we always knew who we were picking. Every one of us had a “cheat sheet” downloaded from some website that picked out the players for you. By the end of two hours you do start to get a little punchy and begin picking players that have the funniest sounding names (c’mon Jericho Cotchery sounds funny, even if you haven’t had a few beers, right?).

Overall it was great fun, and I’m sure it will make the whole season a bit more exciting. (As one mom pointed out, now her husband won’t be the only one rushing home from Sunday mass to catch the first game…) Season starts Thursday. Wish us luck!