Those P:31 Girls

10 Who can find a virtuous and capable wife?
She is more precious than rubies.
11 Her husband can trust her, --not to cheat at Monopoly
and she will greatly enrich his life.
12 She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life. --Except that one day she accidentally shot a nail gun at his foot which was probably his fault anyway for standing so close...

13 She finds wool and flax
and busily spins it.
14 She is like a merchant’s ship, --wait, is he calling her fat??
bringing her food from afar. --oh...
15 She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household
and plan the day’s work for her servant girls. --Ahh, so that's the secret. God, if you want me to be a virtuous wife I'm going to need some servant girls, pronto. This is probably why we don't see any mention of the virtuous wife cleaning her house.

16 She goes to inspect a field and buys it;
with her earnings she plants a vineyard. --This girl is big on investments! When was the last time you bought something that could generate more income for you? Does a Mac and Adobe Suite count??
17 She is energetic and strong,
a hard worker. --"Energetic." Proof that the virtuous wife drinks coffee.
18 She makes sure her dealings are profitable;
her lamp burns late into the night. --Cutting coupons, no doubt.

19 Her hands are busy spinning thread,
her fingers twisting fiber. --crafty lady!
20 She extends a helping hand to the poor
and opens her arms to the needy.
21 She has no fear of winter for her household,
for everyone has warm clothes.

22 She makes her own bedspreads. --Note to self: make a bedspread.
She dresses in fine linen and purple gowns. --Proof that God wants me to go shopping and buy pretty things! (It doesn't SAY that she spun & dyed the thread before hand-stitching the gown herself... she could've bought it!)
23 Her husband is well known at the city gates,
where he sits with the other civic leaders. --Is an awesome husband required to be a virtuous wife? I suppose she was first a virtuous girl with many offers of marriage who made a discerning decision. She don't want no scrubs.
24 She makes belted linen garments
and sashes to sell to the merchants. --Obviously a professional in her field. Probably sells on Etsy, too.

25 She is clothed with strength and dignity, --Where has all the dignity gone?
and she laughs without fear of the future. --Laughter required. Worrying banned.
26 When she speaks, her words are wise,
and she gives instructions with kindness. --With kindness, not shouts, rolling eyes, and exasperated sighs.
27 She carefully watches everything in her household
and suffers nothing from laziness. --Which reminds me of a project I need to finish...

28 Her children stand and bless her. --Do nieces/nephews count? Because those Borkert kids think I'm pretty cool.
Her husband praises her: --Bryan, are you getting this??
29 “There are many virtuous and capable women in the world,
but you surpass them all!”

30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; --and plastic surgery looks fake;
but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised.
31 Reward her for all she has done.
Let her deeds publicly declare her praise. --Reward her? Ok, Bryan, I like gift cards, shopping sprees, date nights, flowers, Bliss cupcakes...

Don't Follow the Rabbit Trails

A phrase I love: There, but for the grace of God, go I. What an awesome, humbling statement to remember when looking on those who are lost, struggling, or less fortunate.

I saw an older mother/daughter couple in a clothing store the other day debating which top looked better. The green one or the tunic? And it made me hope that someday I'll have a daughter who loves shopping as much as me. We can furrow our brows in the fitting room together trying to decide which top has the better cuteness/value ratio...

I don't care what anybody says about technology making us less social. I am a MUCH more social person since I joined facebook six years ago. All those little status updates are an outlet for my wonderful one-liners (at least I think they're wonderful), and I get the luxury of writing a first draft, editing, and rewriting every comment before it is "out there"--a gift not given in verbal communication. On facebook I can be brave when otherwise I would be silent. Bryan said that channel 40/29 did a special on how technology harms relationships, and by their standards I have "a problem." Well... 40/29 anchors can't read a teleprompter (have you ever watched the morning news???) so I'm not going to let them judge my technology involvement. Facebook made me a better person.

So who's going to see The Social Network now that it won the Golden Globe for best picture? Put me on that list. Maybe. It's so hard to set aside time to watch movies. But hey, look at that, American Idol is on tonight. Maybe I'll tune in to see their strategy for jumping off the borderline of cancellation.

And who knew the Syfy channel could provide an evening of guilty entertainment? Oh, it must be SO HARD living as a vampire/werewolf/ghost in this modern society! I feel your pain and it makes me giggle...

There. Now I've said too much.

Joy to the World! (Sometimes)

Some people are ALWAYS cheerful.

I'm not one of those people, but I wish I was.

I wish I had that power to be happy and bouncy no matter the situation or company. I wish my smile was as quick as sunlight and lit up a room like the fourth of July. I'm not saying that I don't have my moments of spreading laughter and good cheer; I do. I just also have my moments of moping, brooding, sulking, and indifference. Joy is just not the core of my personality like it is for some lucky people.

I didn't really have a plan when I started typing this blog entry, and right now I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to put a positive spin on it or create a spiritual lesson out of it.

I'm stumped.

The perpetually cheerful and their premature laughing wrinkles will always have my envy. But at least I know this: God created and used a lot of people who weren't so optimistic. Some were skeptical, some were burdened, and some were downright downers. So if I'm not ALWAYS cheerful, at least I'm in good company. High five, Job.

Did you catch that? I managed to turn it around and find a positive spin after all. I could have a future in writing sit-coms.

Peppermint Latte with an Extra Shot of God

I once heard someone say that God is in everything that makes you happy.

It makes sense that we should find our Creator in all that bring us joy. The Bible says that there is "strength and joy in His dwelling place" (a). So the rush of joy we get from playing with puppies or riding a roller coaster is just a small taste of being in God's presence.

I also like what Nehemiah said to the masses: "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." (b) Isn't that great? The people are told to go have a big party with delicious food and special drinks--and THAT is called the joy of the Lord!

It's easy to forget that our Creator is in ALL our joys; not just the ones that happen in church. For me these joys include (but are not limited to):

Sitting on our patio in perfect weather.
Long walks with Bryan. (or anything else with Bryan!)
Doodling pretty little flourishes.
Coffee.
Shopping. (Yes, God is in shopping! Maybe that will be my next blog.)
Making people laugh. (It's not my forte, so I love it when it happens!)
Pastries.
Family get-togethers.

God is in all these things! I wish non-believers could understand this concept of God being the Creator and Inhabitant of joys. It hurts to hear them talk about heaven and hell based on the centuries-old stereotypes. Many non-believers think the Christian heaven is just an eternal, boring church service and that the Christian hell has all the debauchery and edginess they know and love on earth. I pray that they will realize the truth beyond those lies. Our Creator and his dwelling place are the ultimate good time: complete ecstatic joy!

(a) 1 Chron 16:27
(b) Nehemiah 8:10

Sleeting Outside and in My Head

I am resigned to the fact that I will have five girls. Mostly because I want the experience of raising both a son AND a daughter, and I doubt I'll be that lucky. Although I'm pessimistic about my chances to score both female and male offspring, I do think it's really cool in this age of knowledge, technology, and custom-anything that we still cannot choose the gender of our children. You get what the Lord gives you!

Bryan doesn't understand watching the same girly movies again and again. Sometimes I wish my college roommates still lived with me so we could giggle over the Mormon Pride & Prejudice late at night. At least my future five daughters will watch chick flicks with me.

I like that Gwyneth Paltrow has a long neck and makes it look good. I have a long neck too, but I blame mine on the neck-brace I had to wear after being in a car wreck in 6th grade. I'm pretty sure it stretched it out.

I am so glad I went to public schools instead of a private or home school. I'm convinced I'd be completely dysfunctional outside my church and home were it not for the secular exposure provided by public schools. For this reason I kinda feel sorry for home school kids. Then I remember the crazy scholarships they get for being so smart and my pity is gone. Why is dysfunctional spelled with a y? I suppose its spelling should be a little off.

I'm watching the old Emma now (which explains some previous statements). "I love John! ... I hate John!" The last bit of this movie absolutely transfixes me. "Marry me, my wonderful, darling friend!" Excuse me while I go give Bryan a kiss...

I assume nobody really cares to read this blog post. I figure you must be very bored to have read this far, and you must be glad for the reminder of why you don't share your own pointless thoughts with others. But I like writing. Not that I'm very good at prose, but I really can't stay away from it for too long. One of my favorite things at work is to compose emails.

I've been thinking about pulling out my old journals and blogging the quotes of my fourteen-year-old self. I'm convinced they would be very entertaining and almost equally embarrassing. But perhaps the distance of 12 years is enough to make me laugh instead of cringe. We'll see.

Surely I'm not the only one who thinks it's weird when couples say they're "trying to get pregnant". That phrase makes me uncomfortable. As it should.

And this is one reason (among others) why I have a strict personal policy against facebook friending people I work with. My blog posts link to my facebook Notes. This nonsense is not the kind of thing you want your coworkers reading. Hopefully none of them Googled me and found my blogspot and are reading this right now. If so... grrr. Not cool.

Vicariously Me

Sometimes instead of actually going outside to read my Bible, I just draw a picture of myself doing it. (with one continuous line)

Thoughts on Romans 14

"Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him."

I like this scripture. I understand that it is referring to God's New Testament blessing of eating animals that were once thought unclean, but I think the lesson from these verses has a broader range of application. It makes me think of people who identify themselves as Christians yet also smoke, cuss, drink, etc. In my opinion, those are also "disputable matters" that should not be judged. And on the flip side, those whose faith allows them to do such things should not "look down on" those with weaker (more traditional?) faith who might be wrongly judgmental about the issues. Christians need to understand that there are varying degrees of faith, but they are ALL faith. Let's not get trapped into thinking that the church has to agree on all disputable matters. Your opinion and/or participation in these matters should be based solely on your own measure of faith:

"But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin."

Finish Another Blog Post About Finishing Things: Check!

Continuing my theme of completing things I set out to do, I've decided to make a list of some short-term goals. This is mainly for my own benefit, but if I get one or two comments on this post then it's worth sharing. :)

Finish the baby doll quilt. I bought the fabric, cut the pieces, even sewed it together, but after sewing the completed top together with the batting and back fabric I realized my immediate need for a fairy godmother to undo my mistakes and give me a clean slate. My fairy godmother came in the form of a $2 seam ripper from Michael's. Now I just need to actually use it and start another round of sewing. Have I mentioned that I have no instructions on how to make a quilt? I have an idea of how it should work, and that seemed good enough to start the project.

Finish out the golfer illustration and get it selling on iStock. I owe it to Tru (the model) to get this done before he leaves Cherry Point next month!

Finish Don Quixote. I've spent about 9 months trying to get through de Cervantes' masterpiece. It is a very very very long book and the last quarter of it is proving to be my most difficult hurdle. I've been slacking off lately and haven't read a chapter in a few months, but yesterday I had a brilliant idea of something that will motivate me to finish the last bit of that book. The beach! Yes, I've decided that this summer I will take regular trips to the beach for reading time to finish Don Quixote. (But don't expect this to mean that I will come home this fall with a tan—it is physically impossible to alter my fair complexion.)

Finish the canvas paintings. Well I have this big empty space on the wall above the landing in our staircase and Michael's had their blank canvases 40% off last week, so I put two and two together and knew it was a sign from God calling me to create some original art for the empty space in my home. So now I have three canvases, two paint colors, and a few pencil-drawn thumbnails. I'm thinking something along the lines of a series of organic silhouette images in neutral colors. But I do tend to think a lot and do very little. :\

Hopefully this public admission of my intentions will keep me accountable to actually getting these things done!

Bryan came home and our faces morphed together

Bryan came home Monday night!! And we got our first reunited kiss pictured in the paper:


"The Lord rewards every man for his faithfulness. The Lord delivered you into my hands today…" I Sam 26:23 :o)

Xanga: Dec 5, 2005: Personal Quirks

I've been Xanga-tagged so now I have to create a list of my personal quirks. Here goes:

1) I'm scared of ocean waves.

2) I had braces but never wanted them. When I was in junior high I bluntly told my dentist that God made my teeth crooked and if he wanted them straight then he could do it without braces.

3) Almost a year ago I decided I should be ambidextrous. I began taking notes in class and at work with my left hand. Now I can easily write with both hands, though my right is still more fluid. Side effect: slight dyslexia.

4) I get the urge to use the undo key command in life (control/command + z). Like if I set down a paper in the wrong place my mind tells my fingers to click the undo sequence.

5) My thumbs are double-jointed. I can make them move funny.

6) I have a gift for always choosing the wrong line to get in. If there's a line that's destined to move slower than all others—I'll find it.

7) There are only two books that I have read more than once: Pride & Prejudice and A Horse Called Lightning.

8) Sometimes I get hot chocolate at work just because I like the sound that the machine makes.