Looking Back

Just for fun, I decided to go back through my blog postings and reread everything that I’d posted since I started this blog just about 2 years ago.  Boy has it been a busy 2 years. 

1) There were the births of the babies in Aug/Sept of 2007.  Now the babies are toddlers, walking, talking and developing great personalities. 

2) My pseudo Brother Ben was deployed to Iraq with his unit and they served our country and the world honorably and returned to their families safely. 

3) I wrote 2 novels through the National Novel Writing Month.  I spent my “vacations” in 2008 and 2009 at Sturdy Memorial Hospital, but have made a resolution NOT to continue that trend!

4) I’ve been in my home for two and a half years now.  WOW!  Over the past weeks I even decided to invest in my back deck, so I bought some planters, and I’m now trying to grow tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant and parsley.  (Plus I hung the Topsey Turvey Tomato Plant grower up, and filled it with dirt, so those tomatoes can be donated to the local food pantry.

5) We had another family wedding, which is leading to another birth (a boy), which could happen any day now.

6) The United States went through an election, unlike any other, which in the end gave us President Barack Obama, and California being in the middle of the battle for gay marriage rights.  (And yes, Jason and Chris’ marriage is legal according to the court in CA!)

and finally

7) The kids are getting bigger.  Addie is 9 and her family is expecting a baby brother for Addie in August.  Varnai is 6 1/2 and just finished first grade.  I went to her end of the year dance recital.  She was too cute up on the stage dressed as a can-can dancer.  Seth is 7 and also finished first grade.  He is a total Star Wars fanatic.  He can’t grasp that Karen Marie was around when episode 4 first came out in the movie theater.  (He thinks they were made in order 1-6.)  But he is highly impressed that I can name Luke’s friend Lando.  And Bella is one of those babies born in September of 2007.  Every time she sees me, she says “kay ree, chip eeezz”  which means, “Karen Marie, chips please.”  Too cute.

So hopefully life will be good enough to allow me to write about more things for another couple of years.  Thanks to all of you for coming back to read what I’m writing.

love you all lots

karen marie

Lutheran Humor is back!

I haven’t done any Lutheran humor in a while, and I found this little ditty about Martin Luther.  It makes me think about those first readers that I read after I learned my first words, where the sentences build on the first words you learn.  But beware of the puns.

A Lutheran Primer

by Les “Gutenberg” Stahlke
In the Lutheran Comedy Classic: “Martin Luther’s Last Surviving Classmate”

Look!
Look and see!
See Luther run!
Run, Luther, run!
Luther ran!
Oh, oh!
It is raining!
It is pouring!
See the lightning!
Hear the thunder!
See Luther get scared!
See Luther hide under that big tree!
See Luther pray to St. Anne.
“If you save me,” prayed Luther, “I will become a monk, okay?”
“That’s okay with me,” said St. Anne, “but if you don’t get out from under
that tree, you will be a friar!”

Oh, oh!
See the lightning hit the tree!
See the tree get rent asunder!
“Ach! Yammer!” said Luther.
See Luther clearly define Law and Gospel.
See Luther go to a monastery.
See Luther learn that indulgences are wrong.
“Wholly unnecessary, Batman,” said Luther.
See Luther write 95 Theses.
See Luther nail the Theses to the church door.
See Luther bang his hammer.
Bang your hammer, Luther, bang your hammer.
See Luther bang the wrong nail. “Uff dah!” said Luther.

Oh, oh!
Now the Pope is mad.
See the Pope send Luther an angry letter.
It is a Papal Bull.
“That is a lot of bull,” said Luther.
See Luther barbecue the Pope’s Bull.
“You burned my Bull,” said the Pope.
Now you will have to go to a Diet of Worms.
(A Diet is a long synodical convention with no meals.)

Oh, oh!
See King Charles tell Luther to shut up.
“I can’t,” said Luther.
“Then recant,” said King Charles.
“I can’t recant,” said Luther.
“Then go start the Missouri Synod!” said King Charles.
“Oh, goody,” said Luther, “now I can get married.”
See Luther look for a wife.
See Luther find nun.
See Luther and Kitty get married.
See Kitty get morning sickness.
“What does this mean?” said Luther.
“We shall have a little Lutheran soon,” said Kitty.
“Is this true,” said Luther, “or are you just ribbing me?”
Kitty said, “This is most certainly true.”

What makes a parent-a penquin’s perspective

I love this news story.  It shows that parents aren’t necessarily defined by biology.

GERMAN ZOO: GAY PENGUIN PAIR RAISING CHICK — BERLIN — A German zoo says a pair of gay male penguins are raising a chick from an egg abandoned by its parents.

Bremerhaven zoo veterinarian Joachim Schoene says the egg was placed in the male penguins’ nest after its parents rejected it in late April. The males incubated it for some 30 days before it hatched and have continued to care for it. The chick’s gender is not yet known.

Schoene said the male birds, named Z and Vielpunkt, are one of three same-sex pairs among the zoo’s 20 Humboldt penguins that have attempted to mate.

Homosexual behavior has been documented in many animal species.

The zoo said in a statement on its Web site Thursday that “sex and coupling in our world don’t always have something to do with reproduction.”

(And as a post script, I was surfing one of the German news sites, which I often do to get my international news, I found the original video-in German about the penguins, so if you are interested in seeing the love that these male penguins have for each other, please be sure to watch this video.)

Recycling

We’re finally getting bins to put our recycling in, and I’m SOOOOO excited!  We’ve had to use our own small buckets to put the recycling out every other week in.  I recycle as much as is allowed and most times I have at least 2 big buckets full of plastic, paper and cans to be recycled.  Now we’ll have a push cart with a lid for our trash (same as we do now) and a push cart with a different color lid to throw all our recyclables in.  We were forwarded this really neat video about how they actually recycle things.  I want to share this, because I think it’s important that we ALL recycle as much as possible.   http://www.tbovideo.com/wmavon.htm

Future Ms. Justice?

Today’s been a hot bed of news for this nation.  Our President has nominated federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor to become the nation’s first Hispanic Supreme Court justice.  This is sooooo cool.  Finally to have the possibility of two women again serving on the nation’s highest court (getting us closer to having women fill high positions.)  And the fact that she’s Hispanic is also really cool.  Her background of coming from poverty in Harlem to a federal appeals judge is what we’re taught is the American Dream.  Hopefully her nomination will fly through without many problems.  (And hopefully she’ll turn out to be a much more empathetic justice than some of the ones we have now!)

What to do with California?

I’m watching CNN live, and the courts have upheld Prop.8, which bans same sex marriage.  If there is any light in the tunnel, the 18,000 marriages that did take place last fall in California are still legal.  I’m thrilled for my friends Jason and Chris that their marriage is still valid ! 

I just want to say that I am very sad!  I think this is no longer an issue of whether or not same sex marriages are Biblically correct, but that they are a civil rights issue.  I believe that everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, gay, straight, able, disabled, of every race, color, creed, and religion (I think that just about covers it !) should have the same rights, opportunities and laws to support them in their legal and equal right to get married.  And I am proud to say that I live in the great Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which recognizes that this is an equal rights issue, and was one of the first states to legalize same sex marriages.  Maybe living in Massachusetts gives me a different perspective, I don’t know, but it still saddens me about California.

A little “light” reading :)

Given the reading habits of some, I had to laugh at the following news story.

“TOKYO — In a country where ghosts are traditionally believed to hide in the loo, a Japanese company is advertising a new literary experience — a horror story printed on toilet paper.

Each roll carries several copies of a new nine-chapter novella written by Koji Suzuki, the Japanese author of the horror story “Ring,” which has been made into movies in both Japan and Hollywood.

“Drop,” set in a public restroom, takes up about three feet (90 centimeters) of a roll and can be read in just a few minutes, according to the manufacturer, Hayashi Paper.

The company promotes the toilet paper, which will sell for 210 yen ($2.20) a roll, as “a horror experience in the toilet.”

Toilets in Japan were traditionally tucked away in a dark corner of the house due to religious beliefs. Parents would tease children that a hairy hand might pull them down into the dark pool below.”

Hysterical.  This is the best idea I’ve heard in ages.  Just think about how we could get our kids to read the classics. 

 ” “The Complete Works of Jane Austen” sold on one ply in a multi-pack at your local Walmart.”  I love it.

Memorial Day

As Memorial Day approaches, I’d like to thank all those service people, past and present for serving this nation!  Memorial Day is about putting politics aside and honoring all those who put their life on the line every day and in so many different ways.  Thank you!

July 8, 2009 (07/08/09)

At five minutes and six seconds after 4 AM on the 8th of JULY this year, the time and date will be 04:05:06 07/08/09. This will never happen again !!!

(unless you use the European way of using the calendar, then it will happen again on August 7th- 07th day of the 08th month!)

St. Theresa’s Prayer (and a bit of family history on the side)

A long time ago in a galax….

Wait, wrong story.  A long time ago, part of my family was NOT Lutheran (I know, a shocker.)  But Catholic.  (I know, you’re gasping at this.)  Anyway, my great aunt Julia was baptized Catholic, and when she was born, she was given the St. Theresa medal.  Somehow, I inherited this necklace, which is really quite beautiful.  I came across this prayer which is attributed to St. Theresa.  I think the prayer is so calming and wonderful that I’d like to share it here.  (And by the way, I have nothing against Catholics, it’s just that I’ve posted so much Lutheran humor, that I thought you might find it amusing that my family was Catholic at one time.  Oh, and somehow my family became Lutheran during the time in between the birth of my great Aunt and my Grandmother, because my Grandmother was baptized Lutheran- go figure!)

May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received,
and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content knowing you are a child of God.
Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing,
dance, praise and love.
It is there for each and every one of us.