Church stuff

Goodness, life has gotten so busy again! Sometimes it's hard finding a few minutes to blog.

Erick suspended Wednesday night services at church in order to devote his time to Tuesday night youth group. We have about ten kids that come regularly to youth now, plus some more that show up occasionally. Some of the newer ones are actually from the town our church is in instead of being friends that our kids take with them. The first week of February we're going to have a 50s night and so we've been making big Styrofoam cutouts of a '57 Chevy Bel Air, a jukebox, and more.

We've also had a new family coming on Sunday mornings. They were back today, too. Over the past couple of years since we've been at this church we've had people come and stay for awhile and then leave, but we haven't had any sustained growth. We are really praying for a spiritual breakthrough. A long time ago our church went through a split, and we feel that the reason we aren't growing may be tied back to that time period. We have good worship and great teaching, and there's no reason for it not to grow except for a spiritual block. I don't feel like I can share everything here, but please be in prayer for our church. This year is going to be a turning point.

In the meantime, we have been attending some services when we can at a church that is in revival. It is led by one of the presbyters in the Assemblies of God and his church has regular outpouring services. We went last Friday and we're going again tonight. God is moving and we want to catch that fire.

One other thing we're doing at our church is a drama class for homeschoolers. This is something I've wanted to do for a long time, and so I offered it free for Jr. and Sr. High aged homeschoolers in our community. I had our first class last Friday and I had a great turnout--there were seventeen students there, not including Rachel and Timothy who participated anyway. We made Greek masques out of paper mache and they all had fun. I'll have to take some pictures of our class next week when we paint them.

Rollback?

"Hey, Ma, look. Them there Maxi pads are on sale. Y'wanna get some?"

"Sure, Pa. Looks like them there's a great deal. I love Walmart. They got some good Rollbacks now."

Or is that a Rollforward?

Playing with Babel Fish

Sometimes just for fun I like to play with Yahoo's Babel Fish translator. First I write something into the box, and then translate it into another language, and then another language, and then another, etc., and then finally back to English. It usually comes up with something completely different.

Today I'm going to use a small piece from a children's book called "Pooh Sleepytime Stories" that I've had since I was a little girl.

Here it is in English:

Pooh gave his last jar of honey to Kanga, and Kanga went off through the forest with Roo. Pooh began to smooth his bed where Roo had jumped on it.

Then there came another knock at the door.

 "No!" cried Pooh. "Go away! I want to go to bed. And I don't have any more honey!"

"You don't?" Christopher Robin came in. "What happened to the three jars I gave you this afternoon?" he asked.

"Oh, Christopher Robin! It's you!" cried Pooh.

Pooh told Christopher Robin about the gophers. He told him about Rabbit and his relations and Kanga and her cake.

"What a kind bear you are, Pooh," said Christopher Robin.

Now I'll paste it in the translator and turn it into Spanish.

Pooh dio su tarro pasado de miel a Kanga, y Kanga se apagó a través del bosque con Roo. Pooh comenzó a alisar su cama adonde Roo había saltado en él. Entonces vino otro golpe en la puerta. " ¡No! " gritado Pooh. " ¡Salga! Quiero irme a la cama. E I don' ¡t tiene más miel! " " Usted don' ¿t? " El petirrojo de Christopher vino adentro. " ¿Qué sucedió a los tres tarros que le di esta tarde? " él pidió. " ¡Oh, petirrojo de Christopher! It' ¡s usted! " gritado Pooh. Pooh dijo el petirrojo de Christopher sobre los Gopher. Él le dijo sobre conejo y sus relaciones y Kanga y su torta. " Un qué oso bueno usted es, Pooh, " petirrojo dicho de Christopher.

Now from Spanish to French.

Pooh a donné son tarro passé de miel à Kanga, et Kanga a été éteint à travers la forêt avec Roo. Pooh a commencé à lisser son lit où Roo avait sauté en lui. Est alors venu un autre coup dans la porte. " ; Non ! " ; crié Pooh. " ; Sortez ! Je veux aller mo'au lit. ET I don' ; t a davantage de miel ! " ; " ; Vous don' ; t ? " ; Le petirrojo de Christopher est à l'intérieur venu. " ; Qu'est-ce qu'a arrivé à aux trois tarros qu'ai-je données cet après-midi ? " ; il a demandé. " ; Oh, petirrojo de Christopher ! It' ; s vous ! " ; crié Pooh. Pooh a dit le petirrojo de Christopher sur les Gopher. Il l'a dit sur le lapin et ses relations et Kanga et sa galette. " ; Un quel ours bonne vous êtes, Pooh, " ; petirrojo propos de Christopher.

Now from French to German.

Pooh hat sein tarro Honigvergangenheit an Kanga gegeben, und Kanga ist durch den Wald mit Roo gelöscht worden. Pooh hat begonnen, sein Bett zu glätten, wo Roo in ihn gesprungen war. Dann kam ein anderer Hieb in der Tür. " ; Nicht! " ; geschrieen Pooh. " ; Kommen Sie heraus! Ich will gehen mo' am Bett. UND I don' ; t hat mehr Honig! " ; " ; Sie don' ; t? " ; Das petirrojo von Christopher ist an l' gekommenes Inneres. " ; Qu' ist es qu' in in den drei angekommen ist qu'tarros; habe ich diesen Nachmittag gegeben? " ; er hat verlangt. " ; Oh, petirrojo von Christopher! It' ; s Sie! " ; geschrieen Pooh. Pooh hat das petirrojo von Christopher auf Gopher gesagt. Er l' auf dem Kaninchen und seinen Beziehungen und Kanga und seinem Fladen gesagt hat. " ; Welcher Bär gut Sie sind, Pooh, " ; petirrojo Absicht von Christopher.

And now from German back to English:

Pooh gave its tarro honey past at Kanga, and Kanga was deleted by the forest with Roo. Pooh began to smooth its bed where Roo had jumped into it. Then another blow came in the door. " ; Not! " ; cried Pooh. " ; Come out! I want to go to mo' at the bed. AND I don' ; t has more honey! " ; " ; It don' ; t? " ; Petirrojo from Christian OF is at l' come inside. " ; Qu' it is qu' in the three qu' arrived; tarros; did I give this afternoon? " ; it required. " ; Oh, petirrojo of Christian OF! It' ; s it! " ; cried Pooh. Pooh said petirrojo of Christian OF on Gopher. It l' on the rabbit and its relations and Kanga and its Fladen said. " ; Which bear you are good, Pooh, " ; petirrojo intention of Christian OF.

Hmmmm, something seems to have gotten lost in the translation!

Creative Writing

This week my classes start up again. All of my classes are online again this semester. So far in my entire school career I've only had to take two classes on campus--last spring when I took Algebra I because I forgot everything I'd learned in high school and IvyTech didn't offer that online, and this summer when I took Chemistry because I thought it sounded like fun. (Ha!)

Since I transferred to IU East this last fall, I will only have one more class that I will be taking on campus. The main reason is that IUEast's campus is three hours away, so it's a little far to drive. The one class that I have to take on campus I will be taking at IvyTech again and transferring it in. I'd rather not have to, but IU East doesn't offer Spanish II online and I need it for my degree. I've already got more credits at IvyTech than I can transfer, but it's got to be done. It will just have to replace a different class that I transferred.

Since I have to take Spanish II at IvyTech anway, I'm going to take it at campus. Language is a really difficult class to take online. They had audio and video clips to listen to, but I would do better getting a chance to actually practice speaking and listening to others in a group setting. I'm hoping to do that this next fall. In the meantime, I'm trying to brush up on what I've already learned before I forget it all.

This semester I'm taking four classes, as usual. It'll take me a little longer to graduate that way, but that's about all I can handle with working and homeschooling and church and everything. I'll be taking a class called New Media, which I have no idea what it's about, Propaganda and Persuasion, Cross-Cultural Communication, and my favorite--Creative Writing. I'm really excited about the last one.

I just get so much pleasure out of reading a well-crafted sentence. Sometimes I'll stop in the middle of a story just to admire a good, descriptive sentence. For example, I just finished reading Lynn Austin's latest book called "Wonderland Creek." On page 152, she writes, "Lillie took both of my hands in hers, gripping them tightly as if trying to squeeze all the fear out of me like juice from an orange."

Isn't that wonderful? How do authors come up with such delightful ways of writing when I'm still using simple adjectives? I'll admit I'm slightly jealous of that talent.

I will confess I have a couple of good ones that I've stashed away in the corner of my brain in case I ever have an opportunity to use it. If my Creative Writing class calls for one, I'll at least know where to start, but I hope to learn how to pop them out of my head as easily as some people seem to do.

Erick's birthday

Today we celebrated Erick's 34th birthday, even though his birthday isn't actually until tomorrow. But we both ended up with the day off, so we decided today would work better for the purpose of celebration.

First we went together to town to have a little date. We went to the beauty school so I could get my hair fixed again. It had grown out a few inches since I'd cut it last, plus my roots were showing. After I got it dyed blonde last time I went back and added some brown foils so it would look a little more natural and blend better with my roots when they started growing back in. This time I had blonde highlights added to the roots so I would still have some brown. I really liked it, and the whole thing only cost me $24. The student that cut my hair was very confident and seemed to know what she was doing. I was glad I had her and not the one cutting the hair of the lady next to me. That poor girl was doing her first hair dye and looked scared to death.

Here are some pictures of my new 'do:

Front view

Back view

Side view

After that we went to Olive Garden and ate. I had lasagna and Erick had some kind of chicken thing stuffed with cheese and tomatoes and covered with mushroom sauce. They took kind of long with our food so the server gave him an extra scoop of mashed potatoes, although Erick doesn't even eat mashed pototoes anymore because he's given up carbs for his diet. He did eat some, as well as half a breadstick, but he regretted it by the time he was done. I think we both ate too much.

Then we went over to the Open Door which is a Christian book store and bought a few books. I got Lynn Austin's latest one. I'm excited because she's my favorite author.

Erick is sitting here next to me remarking about how it's his birthday and that I'm posting all about me. Oh well. :)

Anyway, while we were gone, the kids were decorating for his birthday (see Erick? It's not just about me!) and they hung squiggly balloons all over the livingroom. They hung them from the ceiling fan in a sort of box shape with lots of crepe paper dangling around as well.

They also baked an angel food cake for him with Splenda. Angel food cake doesn't have much flour, so it was a good choice for his diet. We bought some sugar-free ice cream to go with it, too.

When we got back we gave him the gifts we had bought him last night--a teensy little Bible on a keychain (it has Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Hebrews, James, 2nd John, and 3rd John). Now if he forgets his Bible he has something to preach out of, but he'll need a magnifying glass to read it. We also bought him a Three Stooges movie (in color, no less!) and an AlumaWallet. As Seen On TV. He was interested in it, and so I got it. Besides, he got me the As Seen On TV Eggies that I had been curious about for Christmas, so I figured I owed him one.

We watched the Three Stooges when we got home, and they were really stupid as usual, but I laughed anyway. I couldn't help it. It's like on America's Funniest Home Videos when they show everyone falling down on trampolines or getting hit in the crotch. It's not funny, not really, but for some reason everyone laughs. (Except for mature people.)

Then we waited to eat supper until we had digested our lunches, which the kids felt took far too long. I forgot to buy birthday candles for his cake. Sarah had dug out some leftover ones from the bottom of the utensils drawer, but they looked kind of gross so we didn't let her put them in the cake. Instead we lit the candle that my brother-in-law gave me for Christmas and Erick blew it out. Then we re-lit it and he blew it out again. We were going to make him do it 34 times but he got tired of it after only twice. I guess that means he's only two.

So far he's had a nice birthday, I think. I've enjoyed his birthday, anyway. :)