God's will

How do we even know what the will of God is anyway? Sure, we can feel a sense of peace. We can feel discontent. We can know for certain that some things are against God's will just because it contradicts commands that have been given in the Bible. But when people get involved, which we are most of the time, we screw up the will of God like crazy. We can feel a false sense of peace or a false discontent. As Phillip said, "People are wildcards." We pray for God's will to be done and then assume that it will be just because we prayed it. And then we assume that if something weird or flat out bad happens, it must have been God's will because that's what we prayed for. When all the while, the very people who are praying that God's will be done are the ones keeping it from being so. Can God ultimately do anything he wants to? Of course. But we have free will to make terrible and wacky decisions all day long and then turn around and claim the outcome was desired by God. I've done it. You've done it. Just the phrase, "It wasn't in God's will" really gets to me. Who are we to claim that we know the will of the Almighty God of this universe? The more I learn about God, the more I realize I can't figure Him out. How does He put up with us anyway?

Pete, are you a Mormon?

I am shopping for clothing for Pete (Jack's bear) for Christmas on the Build A Bear Website. And lo and behold I came across a Mormon outfit complete with the Book of Mormon. No, I am NOT joking. Here's a picture and the caption. Check it out. For a mere $12.00, we can turn Pete into a Mormon. Notice in the caption below, there is a play Book of Mormon. Doesn't that sound like such fun?


Outfit includes white oxford shirt with
attached black tie and name badge, black
pants and play The Book of Mormon.

The Zoo and Long-haired Rebels

I haven't written in quite a while. I just haven't had anything I felt was relevant enough to write about. Not that much of what I write is terribly relevant anyway. But if I'm going to bother having this blog I need to write more than once a week.

So anyway, we went to the Houston Zoo on Tuesday. The weather was pretty nice and we had a good time and spent too much money. We brought our stroller for Jackson and he looked ridiculous in it. He's huge. But it's a good thing we brought it because we had to strap his little rear in it a few times just to keep him from running off. I was standing next to some cow in the children's zoo area and the thing must have peed for a minute straight. It was crazy.

While we were there I think I might have accidentally offended a group of Pentecostal women. Or maybe I just offended one of them. I don't know. She said (rather loud and in my direction), "That woman better stop giving me dirty looks and shaking her head at me. We're about to have words." I don't recall shaking my head at her or giving her dirty looks. But who knows. I probably did look at them a little funny. Two of the women that were with them had the long pulled back hair but they were wearing jeans. And I was just a little confused. I was probably thinking, "Have they fallen astray? Are they rebels? Maybe they're part of a more contemporary sect." Maybe my confusion looked like contempt. Either way, I was probably being rude. Oh well, I could have taken her if I had to.

Well, here's some pictures from our day at the zoo. I didn't get any pictures of my Pentecostal friends.

Adoption Workshop Part 2

Ok, so some of you have asked if the workshop was good and what we thought about it and stuff. It was really good. We are both very glad that we went. We learned a lot of good information about the adoption process. We both left feeling like we just wanted to get several kids from various Countries. But we are trying to act on what God wants us to do rather than raw emotion.

We learned about funding an adoption. Adopting from Korea and China is a cost of about $15,000. But there are financial assistance options available. They told us to think of the money as a ransom rather than a cost or a price. I thought that was a great way to think about it. They also talked about how adoption is evalgalism at its core, which I had never thought about before. If these children are not brought into loving, Christian homes they may never hear the truth about Jesus Christ. Phillip wrote in his blog what he thought about the whole thing too if you want to read that.

We went hoping to gain information that we or someone else could use. We left with an overwhelming burden that there is a child or will be a child that needs us. It will be neat to see what happens over the next year or two in our lives. By the way, thanks for praying.

Adoption Workshop

Phillip and I are going to this workshop on Saturday. We are still kind of unsure of the direction that we need to go. We want to have high hopes for our future family but it is difficult for us to think positively. We hope to gain useful information at this workshop. We both think that adoption may be a very real part of our future some day. If you think about it, please pray for us and the other couples that will be there that day. Many people who consider adoption have had many years of pain that lead them to that decision. We will be in a room filled with pain and hope. Thanks.

Impeccable Taste

I pretty much trust Phillip's opinion when it comes to music. He has not steered me wrong yet. He has turned me on to such artists as Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Radiohead, Coldplay, Beck, Miles Davis, and many, many others. (You may sense that there is a BIG BUT coming.) But....he's gotten a few CDs lately that I'm seriously not too sure about. One of the CDs he gotten recently is some weirdo Icelandic, no-word, Enya sounding music. Really, I can't believe he likes it. I'm trying to give it a chance because, like I said, I trust his musical taste. But I'm wondering if he's slipping. I mean you can't have 100% impeccable taste in something, can you? I think he's trying to broaden his horizons or something. Maybe I'll end up liking it. Who knows. I have ended up liking The White Stripes and The Flaming Lips and they're pretty weird.

Nuns and Ponies...Told ya

On our little shopping trip this weekend, somehow the subject of miniature ponies came up. And I said something about a "nun farm" that raised miniature ponies. Mary Margaret did not believe that there is such a place. Well, Mary, here you go.

Monastery Miniature Horses

Here's a picture!

Shopping Trip

Friday morning I'll be going to San Marcos with Kristin Hederson, Mary Margaret Mitterling, and Kim Piland. We're going on a shopping trip to some huge outlet mall thing. I've never been there before but they tell me it's pretty cool. I'm not a pro shopper like they probably are. I'll probably be finding a bench to hang out on here and there. But it will be fun. I hope we find a couple of really good places to eat. We'll be coming back Saturday. I've never really gone away with "the girls" before. I need to find a cheasy Christmas present for Phillip. It should be fun. I could use a little time away.

Roots

Do not judge me by the color of my roots. Yes, my roots may be darker than the rest of my hair. And yes, I am aware that people may notice the color of my roots. I have made a decision not to further damage the integrity of my roots by telling them they need to be a lighter color. I will NOT be isolated, manipulated, degradated, annihilated, deprivated, or arbitrated because of my root color. My roots are beautiful.