Merry Christmas from Toula the Boston Puppy!

Merry Christmas from Toula the spoiled puppy! She loves the gas fireplace!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!  MERRY CHRISTMAS!  MERRY CHRISTMAS!
 
I wish you a Merry Christmas as a statement of blessing and a sincere
wish of joy for you and your family.
 
If you are reading this and Christmas is not part of your family
traditions or beliefs, I hope that you aren't offended.
 
I wouldn't be offended if you wished me a Happy Hanukkah or Happy
Kwanzaa or Happy Winter Solstice - as long as you meant it with good
will.
 
With all the news about trying to remove Christmas from the public
square, these things come to mind:
 
-  Christmas to Christians is about celebrating that God became man and
humbled Himself to be born as a helpless baby - in an animal stable. 
The true meaning of Christmas is mind-blowing.  The all-powerful,
all-knowing, ever-present, eternal God submitted Himself to the confines
of time, human weakness, and suffering to allow us to have a
relationship with Him.  Jesus didn't come as a ruler and all powerful
king - a force to be feared and subjected to (to which I would probably
be offended and object!).  He came as a babe only to live a perfect life
and suffer a brutal death for me.  Christmas is all about celebrating
the humble Servant God in Jesus!
 
-  The first amendment to the Constitution of our great country says,
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to
assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."  
Separation of Church and State was framed by the writers of the
Constitution to mean that the state could NOT start and maintain its own
church and force the citizens of the United States to participate. 
Separation of Church and State does not mean that religion
should be excluded from the public square.  There is nothing wrong with
Christmas displays, Hanukkah displays, etc!  Let's celebrate the things
that we hold dear.  Let's pass on our traditions of faith to our
children.  And let's not cower from expressing our faith and joy.
 
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! 
 
 

Boo's 9th Birthday

Boo is now 9 years old. My baby is 9 years old. He is getting so big and is such a good kid. Of course I'm extremely biased - and I'm supposed to be.

Boo with his birthday cake:


Boo sporting his new Bible Man outfit with his buddy Ryan:

Duct Tape or Nails

My sister in love sent this to me - and I decided that it should be on
my blog:

Duct Tape or some Nails

A man dies and goes to heaven.

Of course, St. Peter meets him at the Pearly Gates.

St. Peter says, "Here's how it works.
You need 100 points to make it into heaven.
You tell me all the good things you've done,
and I give you a certain number of points for each item,
depending on how good it was.
When you reach 100 points, you get in."

"Okay," the man says, "I was married to the same
woman for 50 years and never cheated on her,
even in my heart."

"That's wonderful," says St. Peter,
"that's worth three points!"

"Three points?" he says. "Well, I attended church
all my life and supported its ministry
with my tithe and service."

"Terrific!" says St. Peter.
"That's certainly worth a point."

"One point!?!!"

"I started a soup kitchen in my city and worked in a
shelter for homeless veterans."

"Fantastic, that's good for two more
points," he says.

"Two points!?!! "Exasperated, the man cries.

"At this rate the only way I'll get into heaven is by the grace of God."

"Bingo, 100 points! Come on in!"

We often try to fix problems with WD-40 and duct tape.

God did it with some nails.

AMEN!!

Halloween 2005

Annual Halloween Adventures!

Boo - Darth Vader.



Boo - Darth Vader Unmasked!



Peanut - the 50s Grease Lightning Poodle Skirt Young Lady.



Our nephew, Sir Twainalot!



And my cousin, Sunny, her husband, Shaye, and their kids!

Operation Christmas Child 2005

Timothy, Peanut, Boo, and I went to Target on Saturday evening and purchased items for this year's Operation Christmas Child gift boxes.

For the past 8 years or so, we have filled 2 boxes - one for a girl Peanut's age, and one for a boy Boo's age. It's a fun thing to do. But it was just a holiday exercise until this past summer while we were in Peru.

One afternoon during our trip, Operation Christmas Child gift boxes were handed out to special needs kids from all over Lima. Seeing them open these boxes made it much more real and personal to me.



If you have a chance to fill a shoe box with gifts for kids, know that they are much appreciated.

There's more information on Samaritan's Purse website

LIVEPLASMA

Check out LivePlasma

Type in a music group - like Beatles - or Point of Grace, etc. and see
all of the relationships by genre and time period.

This technology is really cool.

It's all about relationships. And brings to mind the 6 degrees of
separation concept.

Check out Wikipedia's Entry for Six Degree of Separation

I'm only 3 degrees away from President George W Bush:

1. I know my cousin's husband, Shaye.
2. Shaye worked for Dennis Hastert, the Speaker of the US House of
   Representatives.
3. Dennis Hastert works with President George W. Bush.

Wow!

Dear Friends

A friend of mine at work is moving to Texas.

The husband of another dear friend is changing jobs - and God knows
where this change will lead.

A friend that I met in Peru is in the US.

I'm not seeing my golf friends now as it's getting cooler here in
Minneapolis and golf season is over until next spring.

Life boils down to relationships. Many people are important to me, but
I struggle to keep up with all of them. Some weeks I play phone tag ad
nauseam with dear friends - and it's discouraging.

If you're reading this, and thinking true, I haven't talked to Krista in
a while - drop me a note. I'll attempt to do the same.

Point of Grace Concert!

It was an absolute privilege to sit in the front row - with my daughter -
and worship the Lord Jesus with Point of Grace in my own church!!

Peanut and I had a great time last night - we sang right along with
every song and we danced - even if no one else was dancing!

I'm been a Point of Grace groupie since I first heard the song, "Circle
of Friends", in 1995. I've seen them in concert at least 5 times. I
own all of their CDs.

I appreciate their talent and their faith in Jesus! And I like that
they work to be "cool" for teen-age girls and their Girls of Grace
conferences. The message of modesty, faith, and purity in the face of
peer, society, school, and family pressures is much needed and
appreciated by moms like me!

Peanut and I waited in a line to get their autographs following the
concert - and they recognized us - thanking us for our obvious and energetic
enjoyment of the concert! I told Denise, Heather, Shelly and Leigh that
I feel like I know them as I've followed their careers (and lives:
marriages for each, babies, etc. ) for the past 10 years!

God is very good and it's nice to know that I am part of His Circle of
Friends! Thanks, Point of Grace, for being a part of His Circle too!

If you're interested, here's their web site. Point of Grace

Toula the WonderBoston

I haven't written in my blog about Sammie's death back in April (the 13th to be exact). We got Sam for my 30th birthday. She was a black lab mix. We got her from the humane society and she was about 2 years old.

She was my best puppy for almost 5 years. And unfortunately, she died of a cancerous tumor - that we didn't even know that she had. We got up on April 13th and she just collapsed. I took her to the vet... but there wasn't anything they could do. She died within 20 minutes of her attack.

It was very hard on me to have Sammie die so unexpectedly. She wasn't even 7 years old. It was hard on the kids and Timothy too. The vacuum that her death caused just needed to be filled.

Here's a picture of Sam.




So only 8 days after Sam passed away, we went to the airport to pick up Miss Toula Lee Larsen. She came to us from a breeder in Illinois and was only 11 weeks old weighing in at just under 4 pounds.

Baby Toula:







And she is just awesome. Toula is now 7 months old and she has merged into our family life and melted our hearts with her love.



I know that animals aren't eternal beings like us humans. They don't have free will. But I'm sure glad that God in His infinite wisdom created dogs!

Thank you, Father, for both Sammie and Toula!

What a Pain!

Last night Mom and I attended the fall banquet for our golf league. We
arrived at the golf course at 6:30PM. We had a nice dinner and award
ceremony.

After we were done, I went out to the parking lot to retrieve the car at
8PM only to find that the front passenger window of my car was smashed
and my mom's purse (which we stupidly left on the floor in front of the
passenger seat with all of the doors locked) was gone. I should have
put the purse in my trunk. When we got there, Mom pulled out $20 and
left the rest so that she didn't have to carry it - and keep track of
it.

And we weren't the only victims in the parking lot, a second car had the
back driver side window smashed and a briefcase stolen. We awaited the
police and filed a report.

Then, Mom and I spent a couple of hours last night - and she's spending
time today - canceling her bank card (which had already been suspended
by her bank as they noticed suspicious activity on the card before we
even called last night) - her Visa (from which the robbers had attempted
to retrieve cash - but didn't know the pin number), replacing her
drivers license, her keys, the locks for her home, etc.

My car window will be replaced tomorrow - we have full glass coverage so
it won't cost us....

What a pain in the rear end!

A couple of takeaways:

1. Don't leave items in your car - period. (I need to heed this....)

2. Keep a list of the contents of your purse/wallet - with account
contact information for canceling and/or reporting theft.

3. Don't carry items with you that you don't need regularly (don't
carry the HOM credit card that you opened for the discount and then
didn't use again).

4. Close accounts that you haven't used within 2 years just to limit
the number of cancellations you have to make (cleans up your credit
report in the process).

And I'm reminded of these quotes from Jesus:

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that
they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10)

"But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do
not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal." (Matt 6:20)

Accidental Spa

As you know (I'm assuming that if you are reading this, that you know
me), I have lots of hair and yet I lack hair styling skills. I solve my
hair dilemma by getting my hair cut in a short feminine manner often.

This morning I awoke to find that overnight my hair had gotten out of
control.... I was "wing" woman! I felt like a backup singer for Flock
of Seagulls (o.k. so way back - away from the microphones - you get the
idea).

Over lunch I decided to just get my hair cut. I headed to the mall
where I know there are at least 4 hair cutting shops.... I walked into
the first one I found: Salon 2000 - an Aveda spa. I asked if it were
possible to get a hair cut as a walk in. They happened to have an
appointment open. I had no idea what I had just agreed to. My stylist
Carolyn put oil into my hair and massaged it. She then gave me a
shoulder massage. She washed my hair and then gave me a hand massage
while conditioner was in my hair... I wasn't expecting any of this....
Finally, she had me put my hands into melted paraffin wax and put them
each into a clear plastic bag...

Eventually, she cut my hair. When she was done, she freed my hands from
the wax (it just rolled off) - the dried wax made my hands look like
Hans Solo's hands in Empire Strike Back frozen in carbonite. ;-)

I laughed all the way back to my car. God continues to amaze me with
His sense of humor. The cut cost the same as my usual salon.... and I
got a totally unexpected spa massage experience....

My hands are very soft now..... I'm not sure if I will go back....

Jesus Miracles

I have been reading through the New Testament. I've been paying
attention to the miracles of Jesus.

I love miracles. I love seeing tangible evidence that God can and does
intervene for us, His creatures.

But I've been noticing a few things:

1. Jesus performs miracles after He is asked. He's a gentleman and He
doesn't intervene in obvious miraculous ways unless requested.

2. In most cases, He requires action of faith of the requestor. He
took all of the food that the disciples had (5 loaves and 2 fish) to
feed the 5,000. Peter had to get out of the boat to walk on water with
Jesus. The coin for the tax was found in the mouth of the fish that
Peter caught.

Now I know that God isn't a great big vending machine -> waiting to do
whatever I ask... But He also doesn't just do whatever He wants to.
For some reason He has granted His children the privilege of asking Him
for things. And He considers our requests and does act on them
following His will.... This is a great mystery to me; one that I won't
understand until Heaven. But I rest in His eternal gentleness and
loving-kindness.

Father, help me to not miss any miracles that You want to do in my life
because I didn't ask for them.

State Fair 2005

We once again visited the State Fair! We mostly go for the food. Timothy has to have a few Pronto Pups. And I have to have some Tom Thumb mini donuts.



We visited the Red Wing Shoe exhibit... Here are Tim and the kids in front of the World's Largest Leather boot. The Red Wing Shoe company made this boot to celebrate 100 years of manufacturing boots in the US. They are the only shoe company left that make shoes completely in the US.



Timothy waited in line - with a bunch of 5 year olds to have this picture taken. Go Twins!



The people watching is also quite good. And I like going through the Grandstand and seeing all of the various shops. This year we stopped by a shop that I heard about on KTIS radio. It is a shop that offers jewelry made of guitar strings. Sounds kind of strange, right? But the jewelry is mostly Christian. Peanut bought a new necklace - a guitar string bent into the shape of a Ichthus fish.

We talked to the owner of the shop. His name is Peter. He makes all of the jewelry - with NEW guitar strings. His main products say GSUS SAVES. The GSUS is a G Sustained chord and he sells t-shirts, etc. sporting this chord!

His web site is GuitarStringJewelry.com

Check out the picture of me and Peter in front of his shop.

24 - the soap opera for action fans

Tim and I started watching 24 in January this year. We were told about it over the Christmas holiday. And we got hooked.

We've purchased the first 3 years on DVD and watched them through.... Can you say many, many nights of staying up way too late watching Jack Bauer get the bad guy and evade death once again? (And you were wondering what I was going to do with all of my free time once I finished grad school...)

And we are faithfully recording and watching the current season.

The series, 24, is an action thriller soap opera.... you never know who is good and who is bad. All I've been able to trust is that Jack Bauer - the star of the show - is always good and always lives. Everything else is up for grabs - enough said (I don't want to ruin it for those of you who haven't seen the show by talking about the many story twists and turns).

Orvik Update

It's been an adventure getting Orvik back into driving shape. Here's a little piece of the fun we had with the warranty company this past week and a half.

Friday - Warranty company: "we'll have someone take a look at the car in a couple of days".

Wednesday - Warranty company: Rep comes and sees the car. He verifies that the "cracked head" problem wasn't caused by neglect.

Wednesday afternoon - Warranty company: "we're not covering the 'cracked head'"

Wednesday later - Timothy calls the warranty company and asks why they're not covering the problem. The rep says, "I don't know. I'll let you know."

Thursday morning - Saturn service rep calls Tim and asks if we've called a lawyer. The warranty company has changed its mind and is now agreeing to cover the repairs according to our contract. We didn't call a lawyer... God obviously fought for us.

Thursday afternoon - Warranty company: - "o.k. we'll cover everything except the tubes that need to be replaced... These tubes and other non-covered items leave us with a $350 bill.

Friday afternoon - repair is done and Tim brings Orvik to my office parking ramp.

Friday evening - I start the car and notice that the "check engine" light is on. I figure that it has something to do with the repair - but it seems to be running fine so I leave to have dinner with Renee.

Monday morning - I call the dealer and tell them about the light. I arrange to have it looked at on Tuesday morning.

Tuesday morning - The tech at the dealer confirms that the "check engine" light is on because crud was blown out of the engine that was there because of the cracked head. The oxygen sensor is coated and needs to be replaced. Of course the warranty company won't cover this little item either. The tech did wave the diagnostic fee - but I still got a bill for $135 to replace the oxygen sensor.

All told - $500. Orvik better behave for a while.

Have I mentioned how much I hate cars? They are just necessary, moneypits!

Cars - Can't Live Without Them - Pass the Beer Nuts.

That little coolant low light has been flickering in the dash of my Saturn. The car has been running well (as if I'd notice if it weren't). About a week ago, I put in more coolant - you should have seen me working at the hood to get it open. I had to read the owner's manual to finally find the lever that releases the hood. I am quite the mechanic.

Anyway, the light went away for a couple of days and then came back with a vengeance. I mentioned to Timothy that maybe the oil should be changed and the fluids investigated.... Timothy thought that maybe the car should go to the dealer to be examined.

So this morning I drove the big minivan to work and Timothy took my Saturn (which I call Orvik) to the dealer. Tim called within the hour of arriving telling me that some head was cracked and that it will cost $2.5k - $3k to fix. That's when my head cracked. Have I mentioned that I hate cars and see them only as necessary evil money pits??

From my google searches, I found that Saturn has a known problem of cracking heads - but supposedly not since the 96 models (Orvik is a '99). I don't need anything fancy to drive me from home to work each day - a big 7 miles each way. But the vehicle does need to work and this cracked head problem will lead to complete engine failure in about 1 month. Nice, huh?

Tim looked through our paper work and found that we had purchased an extended warranty when we bought Orvik back in 2001. And it's still Good! So it sounds like we'll have the car fixed with only paying the $100 deductible. Amazing!

So it sounds like we'll have Orvik for a while yet. I'm extremely pleased as Orvik is all paid for!

Feb - Wow!

How is it already Feb 18th? Time continues to fly by with amazing speed.

Peanut just left for a youth group retreat. She'll be gone until Sunday evening. So it's just Tim, Boo, and me for the weekend. I'll miss her - but it's also fun to just have 1 kid to love on.

Tomorrow I am going with Mom to Body Balance for golf/physique training. I now am a proud owner of an exercise ball. I haven't done anything with it yet. But I'm sure that it will collect dust and dog hair with excellence as does everything else in our home.

I also will go to our mother/daughter dance class tomorrow - sans Peanut. I need all of the help that I can get. I'm a little scared about this recital... I just don't want to embarrass Abby by falling on her. And June 12th will be here before you know it.

Mom and I leave for Phoenix in 4 weeks.... Golfing and warmth for 5 whole days. It will be fun.