My Girls

MelodyJoy got invited to a birthday party at the mall for one of Jeannette's students. The little girl's mother posted a bunch of photos of the kids eating and opening gifts and riding on the merry-go-round but, frankly, this was the only picture I particularly cared about. :-)

Things That Make You Go "Hmmmm"

I Had a Dream

I just had a dream that I was at a big NACAC business meeting where my friend, Sheldon Nord, NACAC's new president, was doing a Q&A about the new member-to-member portal. I was waiting for him to get hammered over a question that I knew Steve McGrath was going to ask about the portal but I was standing near the back of the room because I was a little embarrassed to be wearing a sleeveless Disney World t-shirt, so I kept my arms crossed over my chest so that maybe it would look like I had biceps. In the next scene of this dream, I was driving down the road and I saw the people from Church Art Works cleaning up after their big company garage sale. I saw Nelson Zarfas on the hillside there, so I got out of my Scion and lifted it off the street and onto the grass before walking over to say hi to him. When I got there, I was confused because there were three guys who looked like Nelson but none of them recognized me, then I realized they were just all high school students who just happened to look like Nelson did back in 1976. Dave Adamson and Mike Bartlett, wearing a full beard, came out carrying an old couch, which they set next to another one on the lawn. They then proceeded to set the couches, which hadn't sold in the garage sale, on fire to dispose of them. This really got all the volunteer firefighters in the station on the next block worked up. As the sky filled with smoke, I went to get into my car, which was now a 1930s vintage grey convertable Mercedes Benz someone was loaning me. I was going to drive back to my apartment here on campus, which evidently is located somewhere in Southern Oregon in this dream, but I was concerned about where I would park it since I don't have a garage.

I love dreams.

I'm going back to bed and hoping to have some more.

Growing Strong

At church today, we were looking at Ephesians chapter 3, including Paul's prayer in verse 16 that God "will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit" and "your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong" (NLT).

I'm not sure who made the comments that sparked the following thoughts for me--in other words, what follows isn't entirely original--but I realized that the only area of my life where I can hope to grow stronger throughout the entirety of my life is in my spiritual life. I could start faithfully working out daily right now and still never get back to where I was at age 18 or 28. My 50th birthday serves as a reminder that my body is deteriorating. (I like the old Ashleigh Brilliant quote, “This is serious: some things supposed to last the rest of my life are already wearing out.”)

I can't even count on continuing to grow stronger in my intellectual capacity or professional capabilities, though I hope that I have many years of development in these areas. I know I have a lot to learn and more experience to gain and should be a smarter, more competent person in the years to come, but eventually, if I live long enough, even these parts of my life will begin to decline.

But there is one area where I can be growing now and can realistically hope to grow until the day I die, and that's in my faith, my walk with Christ, my spiritual understanding. I said the following words at my dad's memorial service in August:

"Lately, I’ve mostly been feeling kind of old, too, like I should have accomplished more in life by the time I’ve reached this age and like my course has been set. But then I realize that Dad came to Salem 34 years ago at this same stage of life and I see in the pages of Facebook and the faces in this sanctuary the impact that he had from that point forward. And I guess I wanted to say today to myself and everyone else here who isn’t quite sure if they’re young or old or who feels like their course has already been set that it is not too late to make a real investment in the lives of those around us, just as Dad did."

As I sat in church today and thought about this, I realized that I need to challenge myself and be more proactive in setting the stage for God to empower me "with inner strength through his Spirit." It may be too late for me to become a weightlifter or sprinter, or to aspire to be a nationally known admissions expert or a college president, but I still have lots of time left to learn and grow in my relationship with God, and it's possible for me to continue to grow stronger in my faith every day for the rest of my life.

MelodyJoy's Orphanage

I was just looking at some videos on YouTube and decided to search on Maonan. I found the following video and I believe that the first part of it shows pictures from the orphanage from which our Melody was adopted. It's hard to tell, but I'm guessing the pictures and video were shot around the same time that Melody was there.

Pants on the Ground

Facing 50

• Turning 50 means getting invited to join AARP.
• Turning 50 means a lot of your friends are grandparents.
• Turning 50 means you need reading glasses to see the lyrics that came with your new CD. And turning 50 means you still buy CDs.
• Turning 50 means you sleep best while there’s a football game on.
• Turning 50 means it really hurts to sit on the bleachers through an entire basketball game.
• Turning 50 means realizing that you should have been putting more money into that IRA.
• Turning 50 means trying to decide if you should keep using Just For Men or just give it up.
• Turning 50 means discovering people you thought were kind of old are actually younger than you.
• Turning 50 means really appreciating pants that have those stretchy waistbands.
• Turning 50 means feeling your belly bounce when you drive over railroad tracks.
• Turning 50 means wondering if your favorite really cool hoodie makes it look like you’re trying desperately to hold onto your youth.
• Turning 50 means you think socks actually are a good birthday gift to receive.
• Turning 50 means wondering if you had learned the lessons you should have when you were younger if you’d still be where you are today.
• Turning 50 means taking out the 40 watt light bulb in the reading lamp by your bed and replacing it with a 60 watt bulb.
• Turning 50 means never having to “Shampoo, Rinse, Repeat” again.
• Turning 50 means that all the athletes on TV are half your age. Unless you count golfers and bowlers.
• Turning 50 means bowling can tire you out.
• Turning 50 means craning your neck back in order to read the newspaper.
• Turning 50 means never having to worry about whether the girl in the next car is checking you out.
• Turning 50 means never knowing if wrestling with your kids will lead to a Vicodin prescription and the weekend in bed.
• Turning 50 means you’re older than the President of the United States. And what exactly have you done with your life?
• Turning 50 makes you more tolerant. And more intolerant.

Whether the Weather Will be Awful

This morning, I was listening to the weather report on the radio as I got dressed. A warming trend is underway here in the Midwest and so I was contemplating which clothes I could wear after a week or so of trying to always put on the warmest, heaviest clothing in my closet.

Then I heard the announcer say, "A winter weather advisory is in effect" and "Today's high will be 8 with a windchill of -2 degrees." I ran to the window. What had I missed in earlier forecasts?! Could it really be that nasty today? Then the radio went dead for five or ten seconds.

When the broadcast came back on, the same announcer told us that today's high would be in the 30's and there's a chance of snow flurries tomorrow. Whew! They had just plugged in the wrong prerecorded weather report! It's a balmy 36 degrees out right now.

The View from my Back Door in Lincoln

Disney Updates California Adventure

Okay, I apologize for being a shill,but I just watched this new Disney promo video for changes coming to California Adventure a couple years from now. I've never been to California Adventure and it's been a number of years since I visited Disneyland, and now I'm all the more eager to hit SoCal again someday. I'm an Orlando fan all the way but I'm intrigued by what I see in this video.

Cousins at Christmas