~JK
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
EVIE!!!!!!!
Okay, its official, I'm smitten. I have a new love in my life and her name is Evie. My new niece was born on Sunday morning and she is absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, I wont be able to see her for another three weeks!!! ARGH!!!! Well for now my sister has tortured me with only three pictures. so here they are.
~JK
~JK
Sunday, June 05, 2005
Storm Chasing!!!
I am now an official tornado chaser. As I was on my way to Snyder to pick up my cousin Tyler, I was following this storm. On the horizon I watched as funnel clouds made their way to the ground and then back up into the clouds. To my dismay, the storm seemed to settle right about where I was meeting my grandma to pick up Tyler. Did I mention I hate tornado's. They terrify me. You can ask Krista, I am the biggest weenie. One time she came home from work and I was in the bath tub covered with blankets because the city alarm was going off. I made the mistake of sharing this with my punk cousin and he had no sympathy for me. Can you believe it? Luckily on the way back to Abilene, the tornados were on our backside and we had nothing to worry about. Now we are safe and sound back in Abilene at my house with a storm shelter, battery powered radio, candles, flashlights, bottles water and granola bars. Tornados ought to fear this overprepared, doppler watching.....sissy.
~JK
~JK
Saturday, June 04, 2005
Ahhh...Saturdays
Ahhh......Saturday's. There are two things Saturday's were made for. Garage-sailing and house projects. Unfortunately I was only able to do one of these today. I had several house projects to do today but on all of my three trips to Home Depot today (yeah...three....it was a good day) I saw the signs everywhere for garage sales, estate sales, yard sales. It was almost too much to bear. I had to pass up the garage sales because any man on a mission to Home Depot has one thing on his mind...his project. I happened to have this on my mind on all three trips.
For the last two days there's been this smell coming from our laundry room and since it has been several months since my dog chewed up the dryer vent hood, I was convinced that a critter had crawled into the dryer and Krista had fried it the last time she did a load of laundry. My task was to replace the formerly plastic vent hood with a metal one that would prove indestrctible to my canines. After installing the new, metal vent hood, I had to fill the gaps with "great stuff." Its this expandable foam which doubles in size after you squirt it into the gaps. The only problem is, as I found out after the fact, you arent supposed to get it on your hands. (I am amazed I can type with the burning sensation in my fingers.
I over squirted the not-so-great-stuff and could not reinstal the dryer vent hose until the foam dried. So while it was drying I decided to paint the trim in the laundry room. It was painted this peach/pinkish color which interior design type people might call "salmon." (I was told that peach and pink are no longer colors and that all colors are now named after fish and berries)
After the paint had dried (the new color is denim- not blue, denim) the foam was also ready to be cleaned up so my next task was to crawl back behind the dryer to reinstall the vent hose. Let it be known that I now hate dryer vent hoses. First, the space behind the dryer is only beg enough for a kindergartner, I am about the size of six kindergartners. Second, I take up a bigger space than the dryer vent hose allowed for me to attach it to both the wall and the dryer at the same time. Third, the dryer has an overhang making it impossible to see the place to attach the hose so you have to screw the pipe clamp on without seeing it. Fourth, once you actually attach the dryer vent hose to the wall and the dryer you have to inch the dryer closer to the wall thus making less space for the man pinned between the wall and the dryer. Fifth, there's an immovable shelf above the man pinned between the wall and the dryer. Don't you wish you could have watched me trying to get out from behind the dryer. At one point I had my feet against the wall behind the dryer and my hands on floor in front of the dryer...figure that one out. But I got it done, the dryer vent hose is venting. The denim colored trim looks great. My dogs have one less part of my house to chew on. This is what Saturday's are made for but next week I think I will go garage-sailing.
~JK
For the last two days there's been this smell coming from our laundry room and since it has been several months since my dog chewed up the dryer vent hood, I was convinced that a critter had crawled into the dryer and Krista had fried it the last time she did a load of laundry. My task was to replace the formerly plastic vent hood with a metal one that would prove indestrctible to my canines. After installing the new, metal vent hood, I had to fill the gaps with "great stuff." Its this expandable foam which doubles in size after you squirt it into the gaps. The only problem is, as I found out after the fact, you arent supposed to get it on your hands. (I am amazed I can type with the burning sensation in my fingers.
I over squirted the not-so-great-stuff and could not reinstal the dryer vent hose until the foam dried. So while it was drying I decided to paint the trim in the laundry room. It was painted this peach/pinkish color which interior design type people might call "salmon." (I was told that peach and pink are no longer colors and that all colors are now named after fish and berries)
After the paint had dried (the new color is denim- not blue, denim) the foam was also ready to be cleaned up so my next task was to crawl back behind the dryer to reinstall the vent hose. Let it be known that I now hate dryer vent hoses. First, the space behind the dryer is only beg enough for a kindergartner, I am about the size of six kindergartners. Second, I take up a bigger space than the dryer vent hose allowed for me to attach it to both the wall and the dryer at the same time. Third, the dryer has an overhang making it impossible to see the place to attach the hose so you have to screw the pipe clamp on without seeing it. Fourth, once you actually attach the dryer vent hose to the wall and the dryer you have to inch the dryer closer to the wall thus making less space for the man pinned between the wall and the dryer. Fifth, there's an immovable shelf above the man pinned between the wall and the dryer. Don't you wish you could have watched me trying to get out from behind the dryer. At one point I had my feet against the wall behind the dryer and my hands on floor in front of the dryer...figure that one out. But I got it done, the dryer vent hose is venting. The denim colored trim looks great. My dogs have one less part of my house to chew on. This is what Saturday's are made for but next week I think I will go garage-sailing.
~JK
Thursday, June 02, 2005
"Druggie" Past - "In Recovery" Future
As I listened to the arguments against the father, I began to realize that no matter how hard he tried, there were people that were not going to let him move beyond his past. Despite his efforts to do what everyone wanted of him, since he had a history with drugs and alcohol, he was no good. His references, most of which were also friends in recovery, were also discredited since they had at one time abused drugs. I got the impression that once you had these iniquities against you, there was no hope. No matter what this man did from here on out, he had a label tatooed on his forehead that said,"DRUGGIE." Even if there was one of those red circles with the line through it over the top which says, "IN RECOVERY." This man may still have things he needs to work out but the argmuments against him seemed to make it clear that despite his efforts to be freed from drugs and alcohol, he would remain a slave to it forever.
I don't know if this man was a Christian or not but I think that as a Christian, I am called to listen to what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, "So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." As a minister of reconciliation we see the potential of the person, not the past. We see the hope of a man, not his history.
~JK
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
If God Were Proved
I just finished reading a book, A Corner of the Veil, by Laurence Cosse. The premise of the book is that a priest receives in the mail undeniable proof that God exists. Anyone who reads this document cannot refute the fact that God exists. The rest of the story details the implications this would have on the world. It is a fictional story, obviously, yet it presents some interesting perspectives on what would happen to politics, economics, the church, world religions if the world received irrefutable proof that the God of the Christians existed.
What would the world really be like if there was absolute certainty that God existed? Would such proof make the world better or worse? What would happen to faith and belief if everyone read a document which proved that God existed. Would it be ok for there to be no faith if everyone knew that there was a God and couldn't deny it? Would it really change people? It seems as if in the old testament people knew that God existed and yet they still acted as if he didn't. In fact, I recall that God actually came down to earth and most people didn't even care, instead they hung him on a cross.
Maybe its just me but I feel somewhat safe knowing that God cannot be verified by any act of man! I think the moment we think we have god figured out the moment we will be zapped into crispy critters. A lot of people are uncomfortable with doubt and feel that doubt is the opposite of faith. Instead of thinking about my not-knowing as doubt, I prefer to think of it as wonder. I wonder a lot of things about God. Sometimes I even wonder if he exists, its this wonder which makes him so grandiose. Its the wonder which causes me to marvel at the fact that he has revealed himself. When the things of God I wonder about are revealed my wonder turns into amazement. If God were proved, where would the amazement be?
~JK
What would the world really be like if there was absolute certainty that God existed? Would such proof make the world better or worse? What would happen to faith and belief if everyone read a document which proved that God existed. Would it be ok for there to be no faith if everyone knew that there was a God and couldn't deny it? Would it really change people? It seems as if in the old testament people knew that God existed and yet they still acted as if he didn't. In fact, I recall that God actually came down to earth and most people didn't even care, instead they hung him on a cross.
Maybe its just me but I feel somewhat safe knowing that God cannot be verified by any act of man! I think the moment we think we have god figured out the moment we will be zapped into crispy critters. A lot of people are uncomfortable with doubt and feel that doubt is the opposite of faith. Instead of thinking about my not-knowing as doubt, I prefer to think of it as wonder. I wonder a lot of things about God. Sometimes I even wonder if he exists, its this wonder which makes him so grandiose. Its the wonder which causes me to marvel at the fact that he has revealed himself. When the things of God I wonder about are revealed my wonder turns into amazement. If God were proved, where would the amazement be?
~JK
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