Hello Again...

Whoa! Has it really been that long since my last post?! I have no excuses. Sure, we had a wonderful, whirlwind vacation. It took a few days to settle back in. The Greek economy is in crisis....

In reality, I've had plenty of opportunities to catch up on the blog. Unfortunately, I allowed my old acquaintance, Procrastination, to have a say in the scheduling.

Once again, the vacation was awesome. I got to spend some time bonding with the ones I love, made some new friends, and got to catch up with some old ones. I got to make a couple of those mountain meetings I love so much. I even got to share my favorite meeting in the world with Cupcake (it was open).

One of the things I miss from being back home is attending the Cornerstone Church services. I suppose YouTube is the next best thing.... Here's this week's sermon.

And here's the thought from Today's Gift...

Let the gentle bush dig its root deep and spread upward to split one boulder. —Carl Sandburg

There is a fable about the sun and wind having a contest to see who can get the old man to take his coat off first. The wind blows fiercely, but the old man just pulls his coat tighter around him. Finally, the wind gives up and the sun comes out. The sun shines a steady warm light down on the old man, who soon takes his coat off.

More and better things are accomplished in this world by kindness and gentleness than by force. When we find ourselves most frustrated, it is often because we are trying to force certain things to happen. Our own patient and steady desire to grow, fed by the love and kindness of others, will not be stopped by anything or anyone. Our own gentleness is a powerful force in our lives. It is like the gentle bush that grows through granite.

Time for bed and then another long day at work. Hope you have a great night and a blessed day tomorrow!

The Caterpillar and the Tunnel

If your life is ever going to get better, you'll have to take risks. There is simply no way you can grow without taking chances. —David Viscott

One sunny day a caterpillar who was afraid of the dark came to a tunnel, which lay squarely in its path. It had a choice of going back where it started, or summoning the courage to crawl into the darkness. "What shall I do?" wondered the caterpillar. "If I go back home, I won't get where I want to go, but I'm so afraid!"

Just then, a voice called out from the tunnel. "I can hear you, Mr. Caterpillar. I am Mr. Beetle. I am here in the tunnel and I can see the other end. If you come through, you won't lose your fear of the dark, but you will get where you want to go."

We are all like the caterpillar once in a while. But if we let our fear stop us from doing things, which are necessary to our growth, we will never realize what courage we really have.

Wow. I am really starting to dig the daily passages from Today's Gift-Family Meditations! Some are like little fables. All apply to almost everyone. I think I'll start sharing these more often. They're a little more uplifting than the other daily thought books... in my opinion.

Well. I got two days off, two more work days, then vacation! I'm praying for a nice, laid back time with Cupcake and my family (who I rarely get to see). Very excited about that! Plus some good ole fashioned mountain meetings... Woot!

That caterpillar story reminded me of a Cure song. Not incredibly related to one another. Just made me think of it.

Good night and God Bless!

The Cure - The Caterpillarfound onUncategorized

Cupcake, Seafood, and Barnabas Collins

Work went well, but the highlight of my day was definitely my date with Cupcake! I raced over to shower, we then went to Jaeger's Seafood for dinner. We sat and chatted over our salads, crabmeat au gratin, and gigantic freakin' seafood platter. I certainly wont have to worry about lunch tomorrow.

After that we went to Elmwood Theater to see Dark Shadows. A hilarious rethinking of the show that aired from 1966 to 1971 and the 70's theatrical versions. Johnny Depp certainly does the late Jonathan Frid justice as Barnabas Collins. His brilliant delivery of archaic jargon almost made the movie for me all by itself. No studio mikes hanging in camera view or wobbly sets either. Best of all though, Cupcake liked it and I got to hold her hand throughout!

Definitely wanna see it again. If for no other reason than to see which original cast cameos I missed.

Time to head to bed now, however. One more day of work and I'm free for a couple of days. And then a vacation right around the corner! :)

Goodnight....