Accomplishments of a Rainy Day

The rain and nasty leg cramps have prevented me from being quite as active as I would like. James and I had planned to go play tennis tomorrow, but with the big rain storms coming through, that seems like a long shot. Perhaps in a few days, I will be able to go out swimming. Pilates and dance at least can be done inside.

Today was a nice but productive day. Ghengis and Attila got to play in their sandbox for about an hour. I scooped them up by hand this time, no gloves. At first, they frightened me because they both squeaked as if they were afraid. But they did not bite me, and they immediately started playing in the sand. They took their treats, ran up to sniff my hand, and dug their little tunnels. The funny thing with them is that they protest so loudly when I move them to go and play, then they play and have a wonderful time, and the protest when it's time to go back to their home. How like children!

While they played in the sandbox, I cleaned out their bedding using the half and half method. Removing half of the bedding, adding in fresh, and mixing it all together. This way the new bedding smells familiar, but it is cleaner. Fortunately, gerbils are clean little creatures, and they produce very little smell.

After the boys were put back into their little home, Ghengis enjoyed a raisin and Attila enjoyed a sunflower. They were so cute, sitting on either side of the screen, nibbling on their snacks. Their individual personalities are coming through.

I prepared a lovely batch of buffalo chicken quesadillas. It's very simple. Just some boiled chicken breasts with onions, shredded finely, topped with light ranch and hot sauce. Then served hot on heated corn tortillas. My husband enjoys them, although I prefer them either on plain lettuce or on a sandwich.

Of course, the Journal and all of its duties are taking up a great deal of time, and I still need to finish the study guide for the World History course. It's a challenge to reduce all of world history into 25 pages, maximum. Sometimes the shorter works take longer because of how concise the writing must be. I did not get as much done on it as I needed to because of all the time I spent with the boys.

Later on in the day, James and I went to church (our church hosts a Saturday night service as well as a Sunday morning service). Afterwards, we went out to get a small blizzard. We had planned to go on a moonlit walk as well. Sadly, the rain prevented that. I had to wear my heels just to keep out of the puddles. Perhaps tomorrow will be drier.

How to Help the Haitian Survivors When You're Short on Time and Money

After what’s happened in Haiti, I’ve been considering what someone like me can do to help. Obviously, I can’t fly down to Haiti, but just because that’s not an option doesn’t mean I should sit up here briefing cases. With that in mind, I have done a little research to see what people who are a little short on cash and time can do to help with relief efforts.

1. Check out www.freerice.org It’s a great place for a study break and quite educational. Currently, they are donating the money raised to Haiti under the UN World Food Program. They also have a texting number where you can donate $5 for relief work.

2. Go to www.greatergood.com . They have a free to click link specifically for helping to end hunger: http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=1&link=ctg_ths_home_from_ggc_home_sitenav .The other aspect of this site that I appreciate is that it gives the people who lives in these areas a venue for their goods. To the best of my knowledge, they legitimately do sell goods which these men and women make and then pay them for it, enabling these people to make a living. On the front page right now or at least the last time I checked, they were featuring some of the Haitian goods, which can potentially help these people continue to make a living in these desperate times. Also the items purchased under this area of the site are matched with the equivalent food donation. After all of the rubble is cleared away and the survivors are treated, these men and women will have to find a way to make a living again.

3. Donate what you can to www.worldvision.com or www.compassion.com or www.redcross.com . Every little bit counts. For those of you who are members of the Christian Legal Society, they will match and double your donation until January 29, 2010. You have to log into the website though: www.clsnet.com

4. Send letters of encouragement and reminders of prayer and consolation to those people you know. Many people in Haiti have family and friends who also live here, people you may know and people who may not be able to get down to Haiti to be with their families in these difficult times. Don’t forget about them. In the long run, a letter may not do much to save a life, but it may do a great deal to encourage and strengthen someone.

5. Check in with your church to see if they are going to be sending packages down to Haiti. I do not know that this is happening yet, but I have heard rumors at least around here that in the near future they will be sending stuff down. If I find out about any churches that are doing this around here or back home, I will certainly post it. Also check in with missionaries and people you know down in Haiti.

6. Pray. Never underestimate the power of prayer and its ability to change lives, and I do not say it lightly. These men and women and children have far deeper needs than any of us could ever satisfy and needs that will not end with the passing of a day or the healing of a wound.

Thanks for reading. God bless you! Be dangerous.

Time to Break the Inner Perfectionist (At Least Tame It)

I keep intending to blog, and yet I don't because I want to make sure that what I put out is precisely what I want to say. That is all well and good, of course. But, after rewriting Identity Revealed twelve times (and one more time to go at the least), I doubt I will ever satisfy myself that a piece is as perfect as I can make it. A time must come to let go, but I plan to do that in small steps. First step, actually write something and put it out there again. (I used to be a lot better at that.)

Anyway, I don't know if anyone caught the sunrise. I only saw a little bit of it when I was cleaning kitchen, but the clouds had turned periwinkle and lavender with hints of pink spiraling along the underside. Science may explain it all in very mathematical and precise terms, but for all their reasons, I cannot help but see that immense beauty and know that there's a bit of the divine in it. I don't know that God consciously creates each sunrise and sunset, but He put together the idea and allowed it to happen, and it's gorgeous.

Mornings have such a peacefulness about them. They are not a time for speaking except in the written word. The haziness of sleep wears off slower on some days than others, but after its shaken away, such a calm remains it makes the intial discomfort worth it. If it weren't for the fact that I must and should spend those hours studying law and researching cases, the time would be almost magical. At the least though, it is still special.

Missing My Home Church

It was to be expected of course. Homesickness is one of the many challenges which people face when they move far from home. I find myself missing Indiana more and more, not only because I am so far away but because Virginia is so different. I felt it most keenly as I sat in the church service this morning. I sat in an ocean of people, Christians eager to worship God. It comforts me to know that the same God they praised this morning is the same God my own home church was praying, but the differences made it hard for me to focus.

What’s so different you might ask? Nothing significant. I’m used to the small town familiarity of my home church. This church, though incredible, is enormous with a church population larger than the town high school. I found myself homesick for the off white walls and the odd peaked ceiling of my own home church in a room so small that no matter where you stand in it you can see just about everyone in the audience. I miss recognizing new faces and knowing the names of most everyone there. I miss “be friendly” time that consists of more than introductions. I also miss the distinct element of country that is a part of my own home church. Nothing really runs quite as smoothly as it should in my home church. There’s times when the service gets interrupted. The night service or prayer meeting might be stalled because a bat got loose in the vestry. There’s an element to my home church that isn’t here. Everything is worked out and planned to a certain degree, and that is understandable. When you are dealing with a congregation of over two thousand, you have to be planned or else you’ll lose control. Perhaps most importantly I miss the feeling of family. I think I might feel that most acutely because so many of my family members went to my home church it was almost like a family reunion. Of course people got frustrated and angry with each other at times, but it was impossible to disappear and there were good moments besides. Here I feel as if I could slip down beneath the chairs and no longer exist. Finding someone you know seems like an incredible challenge unless you have precise intention to find that other person. The foreignness will fade in time because I plan to keep going. Some of those faces that I see will become attached to stories as they become people I know. But there is also an element that will always be true: this church is its own church.

The city is truly an incredible place. There’s thousands of people here, all with their own lives, hopes, and dreams. Instead of having two groceries to choose from, I have literally hundreds. Any thing I might possible want to buy, I can probably find here. Anything I want to learn, I can probably discover here. People from all over the world live in this place. Incredible surprises and adventures wait throughout this city with curving roads and packed streets. But my heart is in the country. Indiana in particular. This is my first time living outside of that familiar little boot state, and I miss it. I miss the people who live in it most of all, but if I go into that any further, I know that I will end up with more than a bout of homesickness and a full fledged attack.

Beginning of a New Week

I have always loved beginnings, beginnings that come in any shape or size. For that reason, Monday is one of my favorite days of the week. It's the official starting line of the work week, complete with new challenges to master and goals to meet.

This last week I completed my first full week of law school at Regent University. It flew by, giving every indication that this is what most of the time here at Regent will be like. It's been an incredible experience, though not entirely what I expected. But when is life ever what we expect it to be? At least in my family, nothing goes as planned. If something unexpected can happen, it will...like the tire shredding on our way down from Indiana or a group of tourists mistaking the van we had rented for a tour bus. God has blessed me with a life that is never boring, and truly I am thankful for that.

As this new week unfolds, I have many hopes for it. I hope to become more accustomed to driving on these crazy car packed roads. I hope to become less clumsy in my IRACs. I hope to successfully balance all of the areas of my life like a professional plate spinner. I hope to hear God and recognize the reaffirmation of His love and plan for me. I hope for many other things. But even better than hoping is knowing that one day, perhaps not by the end of this week, all of those hopes will be realized in one way or another.