I am who I am and loved anyway. I hope we all feel that way. "Much more realistic and important to change something in ourselves than in our lives."

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Back from Camping...

Well for me it was a successful camping trip, even with rain, a mattress that kept deflating, and my non-stop headache. I got to catch up on some of my reading PLUS my youngest not only finished a book she has been trying to finish forever but read another entire book! My favorite moment of the camping trip was stopping to talk to Kristie in the car and having Sarah in the back seat ask us to quit talking because she can't read when we are talking and she is trying to read! The weather was so so - some hot days (we only went to the beach once), one canoe outing but we had lots of fun on it, some rain which meant we spent the next day drying out everything, worry that the van was broke (we had an interesting and loud noise erupted from it during the night but thankful it was nothing serious and we got home okay). took the dog for lots of walks so I got some exercise in along with my reading and a camp fire every night. Funny story is out canoeing and there is this person on a seadoo just tearing up the water, going around and around all alone. I was thinking how boring it must be to be out on it by yourself. As we got closer we realized it wasn't some young man goofying around but a grey haired elderly lady, who stopped and asked if we wanted some waves - of course the kids said yes and she gave us waves before she headed back in.

Books read:
The Da Vinci Code - Heather (completed Sunday night at 10:00 by flashlight in front of the camp fire because Kristie wanted me to hurry up and finish it so we could talk about it).
It's Not About Me by Max Lucado - Heather (good read and will most likely read it again)
Keeping Quiet - Sarah
Vampire Beach Bloodlust - Sarah
Can You Keep a Secret - Kristie, Heather (who burst out laughing on several occasions)
I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where's My Prince - Kristie
The Preachers Daughter - Heather
The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey - Kristie (finished on the way home)
Books attempted but gave up on:
Wuthering Heights - Kristie and Heather (we both thought it was too weird)
The Secret of the Stonehouse - Sarah (2 attempts at reading it both times said she didn't like it)
Books started but not finished:
Love Worth Giving by Max Lucado - Heather ( got to about chapter 6 - very interesting book)
Unstoppable Force - Daring to Become the Church God Had in Mind - Heather (into the last 1/4 of the book, another interesting though provoking book)

"The local church is to be God's expression of his radical commitment to change. God is about changing history, or perhaps better said, about making history. His ultimate goal for the church is not to follow cultural change, like a water skier behind a boat, but to be the dynamic, catalytic community that brings change in a world that is so desperately needs the God of change.

We must never forget that we serve the changeless God of change. God is not statisfied with the status quo. He is not trying to keep up with culture. His greatest ambition is not for the church to become a great imitator of generational trends. He is the God of creativity, the God of imagination, and the God that chose - through his Son - to ignite a revolution. " Unstoppable Force

1 comment:

Diana said...

HI, Heather! Glad you had a good trip, in spite of all. Glad to hear the kids are reading. When we were driving home from our holiday, Cait was reading Angels and demons and we got home, after long hours in car, we all get out and she is still sitting there reading! I hear that It is better than the DA Vinci code, so i will soon have to check them out. Da vinci has been on the hold list for over two years now, I have never seen a book do that before. I think it would have dwindled, but then they released the movie and that always generates more book interest so that was good timing on their part, I guess. I figure when it is off the hold list, I will get ahold of it and see for myself what all the fuss is.

Who wrote " Can You keep a secret"? sounds familiar...Is it a YA book? I have been reading a few of those lately...

the Fairy godmother one by one of my favorites, Mercedes Lackey, I read it a few years ago and enjoyed it, then today noticed it on our book display at work and then voila, here it is again! She has a series that are about historical times (eg. Edwardian England) but have magic in them, I quite enjoy those. also I think there are more fairy tale types. I am reading a book at work that someone left in the staff room, called the Goose Girl, dunno the author, but it is a fairy tale type (not for little kids, I think it might be YA or A, can't recall) I am not very far in it, but so far enjoying it. The mean queen has just decided to name her son as heir when her oldest daughter has been raised as crown princess. But she can talk to geese so the queen doesn't approve of her. Sounds like fun.

I am a big fan of fractured fairy tales. Today we finished our run of "Chickerella" which is a kids book, basically the story of Cinderella only with chickens and they don't want to get married, they set up a fashion design business together. Imagine chickens in birkenstocks, this book is a hoot. You should try to read it, even if the kids are too big. The same person has also written "Peeping Beauty" which I have not seen yet. I wrote the script (this is our annual puppet show) and of course we do all the production, set design, music, costumes, props, directing, heck, we are even the roadies. It is a pile of work and of course this was the first time for my co-worker. She had a blast, absolute blast. I knew we would have fun. We were pretty stressed out because we didn't ahve enough time to get it ready, but we managed in the end. ONly one big problem, and it was today in our last show, we had a cast member who flew the coop. We forgot the Chickerella puppet downtown this am. and didn't realize til it was time to put her on, during the show!!!! Quite a crazy thing, have never done THAT before! Had to improvise after calling an intermission and running to the car, where of course, she was not. We had no idea where she had gone. The one time you don't do a chicken check and there you go! The moral of the story: Always count your chickens!

Glad you and Kristie are at the stage of discussing books. I find this age to be so great--I adore have discussions and debates with the kids. They don't always enjoy it though. I just find the kids so amazing, what they think, how they discover things. My co-worker has a toddler and of course, I see many at work, and they are really amazing. Listening to all the little stories, brings back so many memories of my three. Maybe I am starting to understand how it is to reach Grandma age, because it seems a million years ago when my kids did those sweet baby things, and yet they are still pretty darn amazing. I think I am just grateful that I am 45 and can enjoy my teenagers most of the time. My co-worker will be 55 when her son is Bron's age! Mind you, I think she can retire then, so it might all work out for her too!

Supper ready, gotta go, glad you had a good holiday. Wish I had another one! D

I loved the story about the gray haired seedoo lady. Too funny!

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