I read East of Eden years ago when i was in highschool and i loved it then. but, after recently re-reading it, i felt that i got so much more... found so much more, i almost wished that i was still in school and had to write an essay about it!

the wisdom of old samuel hamilton contrasted with the evil of cathy seems to make one seem more 'good' and the other more 'evil'.

ephraim hates his auntie russell. i know, i know, how can a three month old actually hate someone? well, he either hates her or is terrified of her. i'm not sure who to feel worse for, leechie or auntie russell!!

last night, auntie russell was holding ephraim and then she laughed... boisterously... in his ear.... sigh. he did the classic scared baby, arms flailing, big eyes, and then crying. and after that, he wanted nothing to do with auntie russell!! she couldn't even talk to him while his daddy held him!!

maybe we'll have to enroll them in some therapy to work out their issues....

my beautiful, gorgeous, wonderful son slept from 9 last night until 6 this morning! wow!

Next time you have a bad day at work, think of this guy. Bob is a commercial saturation diver for Global Divers in Louisiana. He performs underwater repairs on offshore drilling rigs. Below is an E-mail he sent to his sister. She then sent it to a radio station who was sponsoring a worst job experience contest. Needless to say, she won.

Hi Sue,

Just another note from your bottom-dwelling brother. Last week I had a bad day at the office. I know you've been feeling down lately at work, so I thought I would share my dilemma with you to make you realize it's not so bad after all. Before I can tell you what happened to me, I first must bore you with a few technicalities of my job. As you know, my office lies at the bottom of the sea. I wear a suit to the office. It's a wetsuit.

This time of year the water is quite cool. So what we do to keep warm is this: We have a diesel powered industrial water heater. This $20,000 piece of equipment sucks the water out of the sea. It heats it to a delightful temperature. It then pumps it down to the diver through a garden hose, which is taped to the air hose. Now this sounds like a darn good plan, and I've used it several times with no complaints.

What I do , when I get to the bottom and start working, is take the hose and stuff it down the back of my wetsuit. This floods my whole suit warm water. It's like working in a Jacuzzi.

Everything was going well until all of a sudden, my butt started to itch. So, of course, I scratched it. This only made things worse. Within a few seconds my butt started to burn.

I pulled the hose out from my back, but the damage was done. In sgony I realized what had happened. The hot water machine had sucked up a jellyfish and pumped it into my suit. Now, since I don't have any hair on my back, the jellyfish couldn't stick to it. However, the crack of my butt was not as fortunate. When I scratched what I thought was an itch, I was actually grinding the jellyfish into the crack of my butt.

I informed the dive supervisor of my dilemma over the communicator. His instructions were unclear due to the fact that he, along with five other divers, were all laughing hysterically.

Needless to say I aborted the dive.

I was instructed to make three agonizing in-water decompression stops, totaling thirty-five minutes before I could reach the surface to begin my chamber dry decompression.

When I arrived at the surface, I was wearing nothing but by brass helmet.

As I climbed out of the water, the medic, with tears of laughter running down his face, handed me a tube of cream and told me to rub it on my butt as soon as I got in the chamber.

The cream put the fire out, but I couldn't poop for two days because my butt was swollen shut.

So, next time you're having a bad day at work, think about how much worse it would be if you had a jellyfish shoved up your butt. Now repeat to yourself, "I love my job, I love my job."

this show always gives me the "i wants"!!!

i received this from a message board that i'm a part of. i thought it was well worth sharing with all of you!

Hey gals! I just wanted to share something with you. My girlfriend and I started an email ministry to encourage our fellow sisters at our church. It's gone beyond our church, Praise God! It's been a wonderful blessing for us and others.
I'm including this week's CHOSEN (Challenging His Own Spiritually E-mail Network). My girlfriend Heidi wrote it. I pray it encourages you as it has me.
In Christ's Love,
Cathy

11/19/03


He Has Plans for You—Good Plans!

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord.
Jeremiah 29:11-13

Did you know that God has a plan for each one of us? Do you want to know the plan He has for you? Have you ever wondered how to know for sure what His plan is for you? The above Bible verse from Jeremiah gives us promises from the Lord. Notice these promises from the Lord are not just simply said by the Lord, they are DECLARED by the Lord! What do we have to do to find the answers to our questions concerning His plan for us? The scripture says we must “call upon” Him, “come” to Him, and “pray” to Him. Then the scripture says to “seek” Him with our whole heart. Then we will find Him! If you have questions, keep seeking Him. Pray to Him for guidance before you begin searching His Word. Then, take time to be silent and listen. He will answer. Sometimes it takes but a moment to receive an answer or direction and sometimes it takes days, weeks, months, or years. Never stop seeking Him with your whole heart!

“And now, Lord God, keep forever the promise you have made concerning your servant and his house. Do as you promised, so that your name will be great forever. Then men will say, ‘The Lord Almighty is God over Israel!' And the house of your servant David will be established before you. O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, you have revealed this to your servant, saying, ‘I will build a house for you.’ So your servant has found courage to offer you this prayer. O Sovereign Lord, you are God! Your words are trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant. Now be pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight; for you, O Sovereign Lord, have spoken, and with your blessing the house of your servant will be blessed forever.”
2 Samuel 7:25-29

When the Lord reveals His plan and purpose for you, be ready to obey Him and have the boldness to follow Him wherever He may lead. The Lord is trustworthy and He makes good on His promises to you. He will not fail you—EVER!

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

Be joyful, pray continually, and thank Him in all things. Be humble and pure-hearted. Cling to the good. Run from evil. Most importantly remember, “The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.” (1 Thessalonians 5:24)

Challenge: If you have accepted the free gift of Jesus Christ and eternal life from the Lord and submitted your life to Him, He has a plan for you. Are you ready to seek Him with your whole heart and set the plan in motion?

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You for having a plan for each of us. Thank You for calling us to serve You. I know I am not worthy on my own, but only through the blood of Jesus. Reveal Your plan to me, so I may walk Your straight and narrow path. Use me, this weak and broken vessel, for Your good, pleasing, and perfect will. We love You. Give us each a renewed desire to study Your Word and seek You. With Love, Your Daughters

so.... had some walmart therapy with al today. i tell ya, if more people knew about this kind of therapy, then there wouldn't be nearly as much people seeing shrinks! grab a best bud, head to walmart, and don't come home for at least three hours.

ahhhh, such sweet renewal.

so, goodbye one armed doctor romano!! poor guy, i mean, how corny is it that a helicopter actually landed on his head?? that is nuts! i thought the ER writers would be beyond something so.... so.... corny? but i guess not. and, the worst part is, nobody even knows that he's dead!

i was kind of hoping that he would find love and completely reform... but such is not the case. goodbye dr. romano! we will miss your prejudicial nastiness that kept everyone on their toes!

wahoo!! gramma convinced me.... to make myself something! so, i decided to make myself a scarf. so far so good... it's coming along with as few mistakes as possible. the hard part is that you do knit, purl, knit, purl, for two rows, and then the opposite for the next two rows.... since i can't really tell what's a knit and what's purl, i'm having a hard time keeping track of where i am! i may have to start writing it down i think!

i'm using the bernat denim style in stone washed to go with my coat, and i'm going to put nice long tassles on the end. it's not too wide, 25 stitches on us #8 needles, and i edged it with four rows of straight knitting. it's going pretty quickly, hopefully i can be finished before it gets cold again!

my children are involved in a conspiracy. yes, i know, they are only 19 months and 2 months, in fact, you are probably thinking that the 2 month old can't even talk yet! how could they possibly be involved in a conspiracy??

personally, i think it started when ephraim was still in the womb. i think he and keyzia somehow figured out a way to communicate, and now, there's no way i can win. after all, there's only one of me, and there's two of them!

ephraim started sleeping for somewhere between 5 and 8 hours a night.... woohoo!! that's truly amazing! and, pretty much the same night, keyzia STOPPED sleeping through. so, no sleep for momma, that's what that means. sigh.

well, only about 20 more years, then maybe i can have a nap.