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Fun with Watercolors I’ve had fun painting with watercolors, one of Vivi’s
favorite past-times as well. Occasionally,
I have an opportunity to paint with her.
Over the weekend, I felt like painting with watercolors. Once the little pictures dried, I enhanced
them with details drawn with colored pencils.
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Uploaded Wednesday
Kevin brought pizza over to Carl and Jess’s for dinner, and we hung out with
Jess and the girls while Carl was at an interest meeting for volunteers. I finally remembered that I have about 600
some photos on my computer of the girls that I’ve been meeting to put on a
flash drive or something for them. I
uploaded the photos and videos onto a flash drive, so their parents can enjoy
them and pass them along to other members of the girls’ fan club.
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Overheard It
always makes me smile and sometimes laugh right out loud when I hear Vivi
singing a song or quoting a phrase from a favorite book, especially when it’s a
little off from what the actual lyrics are.
The quotes from books, of course her faves by Dr. Seuss, are completely
accurate.
Thursday, as she
ran around in a little circle in the living room she randomly came up with the
following lyrics to the tune of Jingle Bells: “Thank you wish, thank you wish,
thank you, Santa Claus.” I have no idea
what made her think of Santa or jingle bells, but the fact that thank you is in the
lyrics makes me very happy. I’m also
excited that she remembers to say: “May I please…” Also this week, she's been singing: Where is pumpkin? Where is pumpkin? to tune
of “Where Is Thumpkin?”
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Conversation for the Soul My friend Michele just found out that she'll be entering the Sisters by the Sea cloistered community in Carmel, California, August 6, 2013. She came over Tuesday afternoon so we could catch up. Five hours later, we'd covered quite a bit. We both enjoyed sharing our God-incidents and
experiences from our recent trips—neither of which went the way we envisioned. As usual, Michele had some amusing stories to
share about her retreat, which didn’t end up being much of a retreat. It was uplifting to hear the many instances in which God orchestrated things in ways Michele couldn’t have planned or even thought
to ask for that made for quite memorable blessings. One example, she was asked to perform her
play "Teresita" for the cloistered sisters in the community where she staying at a hermitage in Pennsylvania for her "retreat," and when
she finished, they sang to her the poem “In the Hands of God” on which her
piece was largely inspired. They’d set the poem to music for a special occasion the week before, a novice making her final
vows.
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Now what?!
One of my favorite quotes from our soul-spilling epic conversation
with my beloved sister in Christ Michele came in the form of a clarification on
the role of prayer and its affect on family relations: "I don't think that
if I pray enough my family's not gonna act stupid anymore.” Nothing’s impossible with God, but it’s
highly probable that members of the same family are going to rile each other
up (sometimes accidentally), have differences in opinion, and varying views on pretty much everything.
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Heaven-Sent by God "We
seldom realize fully that we are sent to fulfill God-given tasks. We act as if
we have to choose how, where, and with whom to live. We act as if we were
simply plopped down in creation and have to decide how to entertain ourselves
until we die. But we were sent into the world by God, just as Jesus was. Once
we start living our lives with that conviction, we will soon know what we were
sent to do." -Henri Nouwen I
receive daily reflections from the Henri Nouwen Society via e-mail. You
can check them out and do the same here.
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Kermit on
Trial No, I’m not suggesting that Jim Henson’s green, lovable
friend is on trial (that would actually get widespread news coverage and
genuine concern about the injustices in life).
I’m talking about the Kermit who no one wants to talk about because it
might look bad for the abortion industry to discuss how some abortionists have
been killing babies after delivering them from the womb. If you have any question about whether or not
our media is biased, check out the media
block-out of this trial.
Check out Jen Fulwiler’s tradition of 7
Quick Takes Friday at her tremendously popular blog Conversion Diary.