Uninvited guest

This morning, I woke up slowly... it's Saturday and there was no rush. I warmed up some pancakes I made and froze a few days ago, and I went out to the driveway in my PJs to get the newspaper. So, I was sitting in my room, talking on the phone and doing stuff online. As soon as I hung up, I looked over my shoulder and there was a guy standing there, practically in my bedroom. A guy I have never seen before and had no clue as to who he was. My first thought was that maybe he was a friend of my roommate, who was in her room about 10 feet away, but probably not. I also thought maybe he was looking for our landlord, whose residence is attached to ours. Extremely confused, i asked if I could help him. He looked a little confused too, and said he was looking for the front door, and that we was with Masterpiece Kitchens. He definitely didn't look like he was on business, though, cause he was wearing a shorts and a t-shirt, and a red Nationals baseball cap on backwards. I told him he definitely had not found the front door, and quickly escorted him out, pointing toward our landlord's front door.

Weird.

A few minutes later I opened our door to see him knocking on our landlord's side door - still not the front. I asked him if he had an appointment with them (I was pretty sure they weren't home) and he said no.

Stranger still.

So, Diana and I were a little weirded out by the whole thing so we called the police. They were here in about 2 minutes and asked us for info. Then the guy had us get in the police car, and drove us all around the area looking for him. The two coolest parts are when he asked us to walk through the farmer's market looking for him (ha! I felt like I was on NYPD blue or something) and then when we drove in the cop car down the bike path!!! lol Hilarious.

So, that's pretty much it. We never found him. I wasn't scared, because he didn't seem aggressive, and he didn't seem high (but maybe he was). It was just weird. My best guess is that he was casing the place for what kind of stuff we have here. I don't get it.

Very strange beginning to the day!! Now on to packing, laundry, and 10 million other things that should be done by tonight. Yeah right.

Fun American

Is this for real? I really like Donald Trump. I must say. He is greedy and conceited and all of that, sure, but he is such a fun American. In a strange and twisted way, he makes me proud to be American. He's just so direct, say-it-as-it-is, innovative, hard working, unpredictable, yada yada. There's something distinctively American about being that independent-minded... though, yeah, it can definitely get annoying too.

Anyway, the article:
Trump says he'll renovate the UN quicker, cheaper

Cookie thought

What if snickerdoodles were called gigglescribbles?

Hah.

Definitely Friday.

False signals

This is what I have!

Vertigo/labrynthitis:
http://my.webmd.com/hw/balance_disorders/hw88500.asp?pagenumber=4

Is that crazy or what? False signals to the brain... I have to hold onto things and try to convince myself I'm not moving, but my brain tells me otherwise. It's so crazy. I took some medicine that I think MAY be helping - at least I didn't feel like I was going to die when I woke up this morning - but the bad part is it's making me soooo sleepy.

Laziness // being easy on yourself

There's really a time for being easy on yourself, which at other times may be termed laziness, but at the appropriate time, is just called sensibility, or being good to yourself. The difficulty is knowing when those times are. I guess what I'm mostly referring to are the many goals and little things we hold ourselves to... I'm going to run tonight. I'm gonna do this project or that homework assignment before tomorrow. I'm going to eat healthy, or write a letter to someone, or finally do the dishes or laundry. There's a time when you should finally just do it, but what I really hate is the nagging thought that you should when really, if you just resign yourself to doing it the next day and get over it, it's such a relief to stop thinking about it. It's a relief to let yourself off the hook. Unless you're just being lazy, in which case you feel even worse because not only did you not do the task at hand, but you also lacked strength or resolve. Argh!

So, yes, I am a perfectionist I guess. I don't know. I'm so not - I let my room get so messy, I make hazardous decisions just because I want to do something, I procrastinate to no end, on and on. But I've also been called a perfectionist by my boss, and I guess that's kind of true too. Part of it is a mental game (as previously discussed) that you play with yourself, and if you're really hung up, that you play with others too.

It's really hard to label or pin down a person's characteristics like that, even your own, I think. Maybe I just don't know myself very well (yet). But then again it's kind of nice being un-pin-downable because you get to defy categories.

Then there's always the story of the girl who thought too much...

The main thing, in my opinion, is that whatever you do, just live with it. Do not languish in regret or complain about the consequences. If you are going to say screw work or homework or whatever life is calling you to do, then really forget about it for awhile and enjoy that. You will have to own up to it sooner or later, and that's just the way it is, but at least you got some freedom. At least you got to be human by making a choice.

Distractions

So, yeah, I was making good progress on all these different things I need to do to get my small business off the ground, and okay... there are no good excuses... for I started looking through Yahoo personals for the Arlington area. lol AHhhhhh. It's funny and fascinating. One observation I just have to make is there are a LOT of non-whites on there... what is the PC term? I don't think minority is the right term anymore, but in any case, you get what I'm saying.

I put in a search for women with the same age group here just to see my competition. Lots of scary girls on there, my chances would be pretty good if I signed up... hahah.

Back to entrepreneurship stuff. Okay, over the last week, I have been encouraged about ten different times to continue in what I'm doing, so that's been really cool. You start to wonder about taking a risk like this, you start to doubt... so I love to hear encouragement. My mom said a lot of really sweet things to me about having a gift with words. I had totally started doubting that so I was like awww thanks Mom. Also I met this guy at a cook-out who has his own international business consulting company. He was extremely friendly and helpful and gave me tons of good tips. In a month or two, I'd like to set up a meeting with him and ask some specific questions. Diana also is going to connect me with this freelance writer that works with her organization. Sweeeet.

I guess the things I am most avoiding right now are setting up the website (because it involves making money-related decisions, even if they're not huge costs, it does mean making final decisions) and putting together a portfolio because it seems too nebulous a concept and involves searching for worthy examples. I need to get over those two hurdles. I also am going to work on this a lot when I'm visiting a friend in Florida next month. Okay, so September is the month of action! I'll be working up until then but come September, I am definitely launching with no more excuses. And I mean the beginning of September, not the end.

Here's my adorable cousin

Isn't she cute? Do you think 'adorable' is a condescending word? Patronizing? NO! It is not. It is a term of endearment... I love her and she is here with me now. May it be so forever. Amen.

Saving daylight

I just think this is really fascinating...

Lawmakers move to extend daylight savings time

I always thought DST was based on something scientific, not political or economic! Or social. I still don't totally get how it saves oil.

Things break down, people fall apart

I found out last night that my dog Tommy is not doing well at all. :( He has really been going downhill, and my parents said when they saw him upon coming home from vacation, their hearts broke. He has no energy and can barely walk. He has to go down the stairs of our back deck to go to the bathroom, and apparently they have to carry him down there now. My mom even cried, which is crazy, because she is always the one who never liked him that much. (Well, she did, she loves him, but she at least pretended like she wasn't crazy about having our hyper little puppy around.) And she said it's really hard on my Dad... that he is considering if Tommy should be put to sleep, and really struggling with all of that. And today's my Dad's birthday too...

What's strange is I feel kind of numb about it all, and I'm not sure why. A month or two ago when he wasn't doing well, the thought made me cry and I could barely stand to listen to anyone say he wasn't doing well. I love my dog so much. :( But now, hearing all this, I'm just like ahhh, he is old. It could be that I've gotten used to the idea. I don't know. But the thought that when I go home for my brother's wedding in a month, he may not be there...? It is such a sad thought.

In other news my great aunt is in the hospital not doing well at all (giving up on life, it sounds like... she is 96 i believe so she's had a long life!) and my friend's step-father is considering suicide. It's a strange week.

I love this place!!

Panera is awwwwwwwesome. I cannot believe it... I'm sitting here working from Panera today, and I did have something to eat but that was an hour or two ago, so I just had my empty cup.. and this lady came up and asked what I was drinking. I thought it was her way of somehow getting me out of here, but no, in fact, she was offering to refill my drink for me! What the heck! That has never happened to me before. It was really nice cause I'm on the phone too, on hold with AT&T errrrrrr, so I couldn't really get up. WOW! I'm just amazed. Then she came back to tell me they were out of iced tea, and did I want green tea instead which, isn't that more expensive? Anyway it's really good and I'm really content.

NO! Just... no.

People of the world, take note!! Specifically people of my office building. It does NOT help to either repeatedly press or hold down the "close door" button on the elevator. Nor does it help to hold down or repeatedly press the buttons for the floors, whether you are on the elevator or waiting for the elevator. Therefore it also is stupid and to no avail for you to press the "close doors" button... when the doors are already in the process of CLOSING! Oh... my... G O S H ! ! ! ! ! Are this many of you really that compulsive? It never ceases to amaze me.

Losing faith but not in God

This is exactly how I feel about the Church. Apparently I think like a black man - ha. :)

"No Place For Me: I Still Love God, But I've Lost Faith in the Black Church"
John W. Fountain, the Washington Post, 7-17-05

The challenge, the harder part for me... is not simply relating to this guy's pain, but rather avoiding despair by finding a true expression of Christ in this world. Hard to find but I don't think impossible...

College connections, global fla

Just spent the last 2 hours talking to my friend Jen, who is back in the US for a few weeks on her first break since joining the Peace Corps in Turkmenistan! Whoa!! That's next to Iran. (You can fly there if you download http://earth.google.com, special props to Kyle for the link!)

Anyways that was wildly fun and entertaining!! And then we conferenced in Elicia, our third friend from freshman year of college. And tiiiime, goes byyy.. so slowly... no wait! I was actually trying to think of a song that says life goes by so FAST! Oh yeah, here we go, Keith Urban - days go by! I can feel 'em flying like a hand out the window as the cars go by... it's all about living, so you better start living right now!

All right! I'm a little hyper! It's 12:30am! AHHH! Must go to bed.

It's just amazing to think how 3 people can be together in a room in a certain time in their lives, and form a friendship that's strong, and then they can be taken away and sent to totally opposite ends of the earth for months or years, but still come back together and talk like time hasn't passed that much. I don't know. The whole idea of that kind of blows me away.

Since I also had to pass multiple hours of time on acell phone talking because our electricity went out in a storm and I had no other human entertainment and am just that technology-dependent that I was predisposed to do so, means that I am now a good case study of the harmful effects of cell phone radiation. Ahhhhhh!

Crazy fun shoes

I love these shoes. Are they too weird? The truth is I can't bring myself to spend this much on shoes, but just thought I'd let you know i like these.

I'm actually looking for orange sandals to wear for my brother's wedding. The bridesmaid dresses are burnt orange... this is a very difficult thing to find, even online.

Peace.

Country music week continues

Everybody just wants to get high
Sit and watch a perfect world go by
We're all looking for love and meaning in our lives
We follow the roads that lead us... to drugs or Jesus

We're all looking for love and meaning in our lives
There's not much space in between us...
Drugs or Jesus

(tim mcgraw)

More bliss

Monday, hard to wake up... fill my coffee cup, I'm out the door
Yeah, the freeway's standing still today
It's gonna make me late, and that's for sure
I'm running out of gas and out of time
Never gonna make it there by nine...

There's gotta be something more, gotta be more than this
I need a little less hard time, I need a little more bliss
I'm gonna take my chances
Taking a chance I might
Find what I'm looking for
There's gotta be something more

Five years and there's no doubt
That I'm burnt out, I've had enough
So now boss man, here's my two weeks
I'll make it short and sweet, so listen up
I could work my life away, but why?
I got things to do before die

Some believe in destiny, and some believe in fate
I believe that happiness is something we create
You best believe that I'm not gonna wait, cause there's gotta be something more...

I get home 7:30 the house is dirty but it can wait
Yeah cause right now I need some downtime
To drink some red wine and celebrate
Armageddon could be knocking at my door
but I ain't gonna answer that's for sure.
There's gotta be something more...

This song is a way too accurate about my life. Well, except for the hard time thing. My job really isn't hard or close to being hard (though I've definitely had CRAZY stressful days/weeks...) But actually I'm just referring to the 9am and 7:30 stuff. ha! lol (the superficial stuff) as well as the love of freeeeeeeeeeetime!

This is a good song. I always thought it was by Sara Evans but I just found out, it's not. It's by Sugarland.

15 year old girl from southeast DC educates whitey

Last night Sharnice and I went to Starbucks on Capitol Hill to do homework, which yes I admit is unabashedly yuppie but there aren't many options like that around here. Anyway, we didn't end up doing any homework for summer school even though she had brought a few papers from biology about plant cells. Instead, she vented for a good hour or two about her summer school teacher who sounds horribly un-teacherlike and cruel. I kind of interviewed Sharnice and was writing down her answers... lol not for any good reason, I just thought that would help me focus and she seemed to be pleased that I was taking everything she said seriously enough to make note of it.

Anyway, this teacher has done everything from call Sharnice slow (in front of everyone, of course), tell her to "sit her narrow behind back in the chair," let's see what else... the teacher's cell phone is on all day and rings a few times each day and she proceeds to talk on it, she leaves class frequently, oh yeah she also called Sharnice sloppy (on a day when, Sharnice said, "I looked very pretty that day") and also told her to quit talking and she "couldn't stand her squeaky voice." I mean this is totally out of control. Of course she's a kid and she could be exaggerating but I doubt it. I told her I'm going to her school tomorrow for an hour. Sharnice thinks the teacher will be as nasty as usual, but I told her that in my experience, if there is a visitor watching, teachers (or anyone) tend to be on their best behavior.

I'm a little scared to go to this school so I'm going to call a girl today who is basically like a mentor coordinator. DC schools, it might be safe to say, are some of the very worst schools in the entire nation. I wish I had enough space to tell you about that. Well I will find some appalling Wash Post articles and put them on here for you. Anyway, Sharnice has impressions of the DC Board of Education, and the mayor, and a lot of other decision-makers that it would suprise you that she knows enough to have formed these opinions, but she does.

Anyway, the most fascinating part of the conversation is when we started talking about gangs. I now know about 500% more about gangs then I did yesterday. She told me that if she had to estimate, she'd say probably 95% of the kids in her school are in gangs and only 5% aren't. She told me the names of the gangs that have approached her to ask her in. She told me the names of all the different ones, which ones are biggest, what they're known for. A few of them are made up of girls and gay boys ("we call them faggots," she said). Geesh. So, this explains why she didn't want me to take her to a movie at Union Station one Friday night. I thought she was being ridiculous, prejudiced, and even immature to suggest "that's where all the gays hang out on Friday night" but indeed, it turns out, she knew what she was talking about and these kids have been a real threat to her.

She kept saying she has "anger issues." I'm not sure what I can do about that... Hopefully just listening is a big step toward helping. I'm really hoping listening is a bigger part of being a mentor than talking, cause I really don't have much wisdom to offer her about these things.

One thing that was funny is she was saying a lot of people even in the Capitol Hill neighborhood she would recognize and know they're in gangs. (Basically they had migrated up the avenue from the worse areas to the wealthier areas.) In any case, so I was joking around and was like "really, anyone on the streets? Like that guy right there? Is he in a gang?" It was a well-dressed businessman. lol We had a good laugh about that. "No... not him."

First ever almost identity theft... whoaaaa

Man!! Online fraud people have gotten really good, I must say. I just got an email from PayPal saying that a $67 transaction had successfully gone through. I went to the website and logged in with my user name and password. Then, it was saying I had to verify my card by putting in the full number, expiration date, and ATM pin. Sommmmmething was not quite right about that so I called them. Anyway, long story short, it was a scam but it is unbelievable how real it looked! The URL of the site I was on literally said www.paypal.com/yadayada and I told the lady that and she said "they can copy our website" like I was an idiot. lol Anyways I had to reset the pw and hopefully all is well.

This is a PSA to let you know (because I didn't know) that PayPal will only address you by your first and last name!!!

Being real... and stuff

Okay I've just been told that I need to write this like nobody is reading... which is kind of funny and ridiculous because isn't the whole point of a blog that somebody is reading? Somebody you know, someone you're close to. It's just hard to get real honest because you know all these random people who have access to it, and it can create this false (painfully false) sense of intimacy, which in my opinion is worse than no intimacy. At least if you're going to be intimate with somebody, you should know that you're doing it! Geesh. But anyway, I will try and say stuff that is more reaaaaal.

The problem with that is then I get really negative. I have to censor myself. I don't know why exactly everything spirals into a cynical, complaining type thing but it does. I think because it's the end of the work day. And I really miss having windows. Why does Greg have a window? lol He is the intern and he has a great view!! No fair. Ahh! At least he is nice. Greg is a very interesting guy. He is random in way that it is really funny if you get him going. I realized the other day that I have been very anti-social towards everyone in the office lately, just not lingering and talking with anyone. Not exactly sure why that is except I'm really tired of the office environment here and I have been for over a year. I am so ready for a change. Diana thinks I'm unhappy because (or when/if I'm unhappy it's because...) I am bored at work. That could be the case except I actually usually do get to work on a wide variety of projects which is one thing to put in the why-I-love-my-job category. Anyways, all this thinking about myself is a little exhausting.

Tuesday morning rambling

So I got this $20 gift certificate for Barnes and Noble which is awesome, and I went there last night to go on a shopping spree. However, I quickly realized that B&N doesn't exactly sell at market value. Have they heard of half.com ?! Clearly not, or else they're pretending they haven't. Well, I realized that to the extent I was willing to delay my gratification a few days or a week, I could have the same CD or book for literally half the price - go figure! But that doesn't mean I don't appreciate the gift certificate... No, indeed, there are things that you really can't find marked down at half.com because they're still in demand. So I can use it, I just have to figure out for what. I could be making this too hard but now it's like a game to find out what I want that isn't available at half-price online.

Anyway... I'd really like to get this freelance writing thing started. I reaaaaally would. It's just that when I have time, I am too tired of the internet (and tired generally) to take the next step which is getting a website. Anyone know of the best and cheapest place to host a site? Tell me because just the thought of checking out all the possibilities overwhelms me. I also think whoever took jfcreative.com should be shot or at least slapped silly because they are not even using that domain and yet it's taken. Not cool at all. It just takes so much time and effort to start a business (like I'm the expert - ha) when you have another full-time job... even if I slack a lot at the full-time job, and trust me, I do... it's still hard to set aside enough time to develop everything you need to launch. Well, I'm also reading that you should have saved enough money to live on for 6-12 months before you quit your job to pursue your own business full-time, so uhh.. let's see.. I have to save about 6x more than I have. Yikes. I'm a bad saver because I'm more of a seize-the-day kind of spender. I tell myself it is helping the American and global economies but really it's just that I want new clothes. lol So American... arrr...

Well, in the meantime it's Tuesday morning and things are in a pretty good rhythm. I'm eating zante currants which are tiny, tangy raisin-like things. I was trying to find a picture because I'm obsessed with blog photos now, but can't find one online. However in the process I did find a lot out about the european grapes that they come from in Corinth, which is in or on Zante, apparentely. See? More than you needed to know.

Sarah and Josh

I found that you can view full video (good video!) of any of the Live 8 performances. This is pretty cool and definitely a much better and more consistent view than we had.

http://music.channel.aol.com/live_8_concert/highlights/philadelphia.adp

I would especially like to recommend "Angel" under Sarah McLachlan. It will start her segment directly if you click here:

LIVE 8 Concert -- Philadelphia

The Best DUI Arrest Ever

Click here. I love this.

Hippie skirt

When Gina was visiting DC and interviewing for her current job, we went to Eastern Market - one of my favorite places in the city. At the flea market side of things, I somehow talked myself into buying one of those long, flowing hippie skirts. I know they are totally out of style but I believed - I truly believed! - I could bring it back. lol However after that day, I didn't actually have the guts to wear it. Last Sunday, for church and for the rest of the day, I finally did. And then again today, yes for work, I wore it. I mean it is unbelievably long and flowing and hippie patchwork through-and-through. I just took an upclose picture for you.

Would you believe I've gotten like 10 compliments on it today? Okay, wait, not 10. Heather, Ginnie, Greg, Charlee... okay 4! But that's practically the whole office. You usually are not thus rewarded for a fashion risk. I can appreciate the fact that they may be being nice. But it actually is starting to grow on me... I like it.

And I love the fact that it is Friday.

The moral of the story is wear your funky, colorful skirt... life is short.

Millions

Just found this on another blog. I'd love to find this movie... check out the trailer:

http://www2.foxsearchlight.com/millions/

“You need to see the movie Millions. It is a little art film but they have a reference on how important clean water is for ending poverty. It is a very sweet film about a boy who finds a large amount of money (English sterling). He wants to give away to the poor but other people have other ideas. The little boy regularly converses with saints like St. Peter and Francis of Assisi. May be difficult to find in theatres now, but look for it on dvd.”

Fire in their bellies

I love fireflies... lightning bugs... don't read this if you don't like them because you will soon realize I am very delighted with them.

The most recent magical experience came when I was with my running partner Rebecca like a week ago. We were running south along the GW Parkway in Virginia, which is beautiful, and there was this unbelievable scary and strong thunderstorm getting ready to break. I mean, the clouds were blue-purple-black and they were chasing us south... which was actually a good thing because we were headed back to our cars and there was no faster way to get there than to run! But anyway, I think the rumbling of thunder and the fast, forceful wind got the lightning bugs all riled up. It wasn't raining yet but they could sense something was coming. We were passing through a really green area with grass and trees and shrubs all around, and by this time it was quite dark (almost). I was looking ahead, and I saw the lightning bugs lighting up incessantly, like... oh I can't even explain it. There were probably 3,000 at a time lighting up within my view, and there was no moment or half-moment or split-second when they weren't lighting up. I literally said "this is magical." It was like a million glittering stars against a night sky.

The second encounter, probably just a few days later, was in my room. I was going to bed, and I pulled down the covers, and there tucked underneath was a little lightning bug. Now, had it been any other bug - ANY other ant, spider, what-have-you - I would have freaked out. However, as previously mentioned, I love lightning bugs. He just looked so cute under there, resting on a yellow sheet. So I picked him up and took him outside... I don't know if he could fly cause I sure didn't see him fly off, but it was cute.

And the third and final encounter, tonight. I went to get into my car and who was resting on my door but lightning bug #3. I am pretty sure he wanted to get where he was going a little faster, so he hopped a ride on the car. So not only are they magical and snuggly, but they are also smart. What's not to love?

Actually it was so fun running tonight (I cannot believe I'm saying that). Rebecca lives in what most people consider ghetto or near-ghetto DC, but actually it's a really nice place that she's in and a very diverse community. We've gone twice there, and already I recognize people and everyone says hi. They're very polite, for the most part. The best thing ever was tonight when we were coming up on a group of about 10 kids of all different ages. They didn't exactly get off the sidewalk, but they did part the sea a little bit and three or four of them reached out their little hands to give us a high-five. lol Best thing ever.

Sparkle and Live 8

Random, but I love the diet coke sparkle commercial. lol It makes me so happy. I wish real life had sparkles like that, and that everyone was dancing on roller skates.

Here are a couple pictures I took yesterday. The first one shows Rob Thomas on the screen. So hot. Anyway. haha. The second one has Sarah McLachlan playing at the piano. In both, you see the Philadelphia Museum of Art waaaay in the distance. Yes, we were that far away. However, we were probably in front of, I don't know, a lot of people... so most people had a view like ours. We were advised by some kids on the train that staying near a screen was better than trying to get up to the stage. That would have been hopeless.

So, the funny thing was that we had no idea how popular Stevie Wonder is. We thought about leaving early because he was closing out the show, but when they introduced him the crowd went wild. Who knew? When they changed the stage between bands, they'd show footage from the other Live 8s in London, Tokyo, Berlin, J-berg, etc. Very cool. Have that many people been connected like that before? We drove back to DC from Philly and were fast asleep by 1am. Sweeeet. :)

Eight hundred thousand human beings, or so they say

This is a good shot of Live 8 Philly from yesterday. Diana and I went, but we didn't go until later in the morning so we got there at like 3pm. We sawwww... Jars of Clay, Rob Thomas, Keith Urban, Sarah McLachlan, Josh Groban (Sarah and Josh did "Arms of the Angels" together... so beautiful...), Keith Urban, Maroon5, Stevie Wonder, I think that's pretty much it. Pretty cool to experience all that for free, and just to experience that kind of solidarity for Africa. It's impressive to see some of the world's richest, most famous people speaking out for the world's poorest, most "unknown" people. I don't know, it was just neat.

Erin making it work creatively

We needed to roll out some dough. We only had beer. It worked. I messed up my beer pretty badly though. lol I mean you wouldn't want to open that thing anywhere but outside, let me tell ya.

One of my oldest friends

Okay! Why didn't anyone tell me that I can publish photos onto the blog directly? Here is my friend Erin and I took last week when we had lunch at Union Station. She is extremely high on the list of people who make me laugh uncontrollably... a very good thing.

In other news, what was I going to share with you? Oh yeah. So we (at work) were just all having pizza in the conference room. And we were talking about the Live 8 conference and aid to developing countries and of course that evolved into the proclamation of American generosity. Now, yes, Americans are generous. But why do we so, so, SO love discussing how generous we are as a nation? It is on the news, in magazines, newspapers, in daily conversations... anywhere and everywhere, people are eager to discuss their awe and pride at how generous Americans are in times of need. It is true but it makes me uneasy because I happen to believe there's more we could be doing. We do give more aid than any other country, but proportionate to our wealth? We rank dead last among industrialized nations. That means we aren't giving sacrificially. It means we are not doing all that we can. If that's the case, I feel very uneasy sitting around patting ourselves on the back.

It's like Dan Haseltine's article in the new Relevant. He said somehow the Church has found a way to look into the eyes of a starving child and say "we have done enough."

I'm not saying I've arrived at sacrificial giving and perfect love. But I would like to get a little closer in this life, if possible.

On a lighter note I was going to put another picture of Erin rolling out dough with a can of beer, but it won't let me place it where I want it to go. Hmmm.