Be Kind to Your Web Footed Friends

On Saturday we saw something I've only ever seen in pictures. A mama duck was crossing the road with her little ducklings all in tow. It was a busy street, where cars zoom by, and poor mama and babies might not have stood a chance. Except there was a sweet man, whose name I don't know, who decided to do something to help. He was in a white van and he pulled his vehicle across two lanes and got out stopping trafic until the ducks had passed. My only regret was that I didn't get the camera out of my purse in time to snap a picture. But it was a cute little procession, and admirable of the man who stopped to help them out.

We've been watching alot of the Animal Planet lately, and we see so much ugliness that's done to innocent animals. Sometimes it's just neglect, sometimes the owners are poor or elderly and either can't take care of their pets or just don't realize what's really happening. But then there are cases that just make you want to strangle people. Why be cruel to an animal? But seeing this man practically put his own life in danger to help a procession of ducks--wild animals, not even pets--get across the road gave me a little hope that there is still goodness left in the world of today.

Would that our society would care as much about the baby humans, especially the unborn baby humans. But that's a theme for a different blog altogether. :)

I've started to pack, so while I'm going to try to get back on track with my blog, my posts might still be sporadic. I'm ready for this phase to be over. As much as I don't want to go to Florida, especially with spring finally happening here (the flowering trees are just beautiful!) I'm still ready to get past the "temporary" stage of things.

Anyway, enough of that. It's SPRING! Have a great week. :)

Digression and More Randomness

I had a little digression this week. I apologize. There was just so much going on around here that I didn't get around to posting. But I'm back for today and hope to be back again on Monday.

Tomorrow I get to meet up with a bunch of other authors. Woo-hoo! A group of about 10 or so writers in the area are getting together at a restaurant to just chat writing and see what we can do to help each other. I'm really looking forward to it. It's not often I get the chance to meet with other odd balls writers. So I should have plenty to blog about after that.

Last night was opening night for my DD1's musical. It's an old musical that was put out in movie form in 1966. We rented the movie, and found it to be rather inappropriate for high school kids to put on. So we went not expecting much, but going to support our daughter. But what fun! We laughed so hard. It's amazing the talent some of these young kids have. I won't be surprised if some day we see some of them on Broadway or then on tv.

Did I mention that I've packed my first two boxes? I figure there are things I don't use often, and probably won't use within the next two months. So since I had two empty boxes, I figured I'd fill them with some of that stuff. It felt odd.

I keep going back and forth in my feelings about going to Florida. I'm ready to go because I hate to sit around waiting. But southern Florida still frightens me on mulitple levels. And the more I think of it, it's not just the heat that scares me. But I won't go into all that now. :)

We're supposed to get snow, but it's bright and sunny out right now and I'm hoping (praying, really) that it stays that way. We chose April 12 for our author get together because everyone figured the weather would be NICE by then. Ah well. God is letting it stay cool for me. lol. Giving me a break before sweltering down in Florida for the rest of my life.

Ok...off to clean house. Got company coming for the weekend.

Have a great weekend, and here's wishing everyone some SPRING!

Random Stuff

Congratulate me. It's my 18th wedding anniversary! :) Oh, well maybe you should congratulate my DH. Or give him your condolences. Poor guy. He's put up with alot over the years.

The move to Florida is 99% a sure thing. I say 99% because the contract hasn't actually been signed, and ya never know what could happen. And you know what? I'm ok with it. I'm glad this whole process is over. Now we begin to think of the transition and moving. Now I find my gypsie blood beginning to stir, anxious to get moving since the decision has been made.

So I won't say a whole lot today. I've got work to do around the house and for the new proposal I'm working to get together. Have a great week. I wish you sunshine and blue skies. Especially to Marianne, who's had way too much snow this winter.

The Plot Thickens...

Ok, I confess. Nothing mysterious here today, I just thought that title might be a grabber. *G* But I do want to chat about plotting today. For many years I proudly proclaimed myself a SOTP writer. (SOTP = Seat Of The Pants). I would get the germ of a story and sit and write and see where the story and characters would take me. Ah...writing was fun and carefree. I couldn't wait to get back into the story to find out what was going to happen. Odd, maybe, since I was creating it. But that's how it was for me. It was almost like reading a book, except that I didn't even have the option of looking at the end to see what would happen. (No, I don't do that. But with a book it's always an option.)

I really miss those days of carefree writing, and I realize back then, my writing was mostly for my own enjoyment. I guess it could almost have been classified as a hobby. I didn't see it that way, but I also didn't know the rules of writing. Now I do. I'm seeking to learn more and more every day. And I've also learned that I'm not really a SOTP writer. *GASP!* What a shocker.

For some years I've thought I was somewhere in between. You know, a little pre-plotting to get a general idea, then just writing where the story leads. Yesterday I started some serious plotting for a new story I'm working on. I spent almost all day long plotting out this thing and looking up some general historical information to make sure I was on the right track with my plot. Good thing I did, because at the end of the day I ran into a serious problem. Had I SOTPed my way through, I would have had to go back and make alot of changes to the story, and maybe even go back to square one in research and, well, plot. I also discovered yesterday that I WANT to have a neat little packaged story synopsis ahead of time. Who'd'a thunk it! I wouldn't have.

So now I guess I'm going to have to embrace the fact that yes, I am a plotter. At least when it really matters. That thought sends chills up my spine. Why? Well, it's kind of freaky to think that I may actually be embracing what I used to think of as a dirty word. Organization!

Maybe it's just my age showing. I'm finally growing up.

Nah!

Beyond The Middle

I just discovered my new favorite song. It's from Casting Crown's latest CD. I heard it for the first time yesterday when I was going to pick up my daughter from school. At first, I found it pretty. But then I listened more closely to the words and I knew it was for me. The words of that song really convicted me because they describe where I am right now. Somewhere in the Middle. And I want to move beyond the middle to the place God wants me to be. So I'm starting now, giving glory to God for all He has done for me.

God is so good. Well duh, you say. Of course He is. :) And I know He is, but sometimes He really goes overboard in showing us His goodness. He has blessed me so much recently, despite my ungratefulness. But yesterday He really came through in a bunch of small ways that, added together, equaled a big way. Funny thing, the song came after everything else.

As you know, if you've been reading along for awhile here, right now our future is a little uncertain. Both DH and I have been anxious, wishing God would show us clearly what He has in store for us. Ok, so I think He is being pretty obvious, but there are some details still needing to be worked out for everything to be final. And there's the little issue that no one wants to go to Florida. But in the devotional for yesterday's Our Daily Bread, He really hit me over the head with the truth that He is in control. The Bible passage was from Matthew 6:25-34, the one that talks about the birds of the air and the lillies of the field who neither toil nor spin. God takes care of them and since and we're more important to Him than birds or flowers, He'll take care of all our needs as well.

That devotional really hit home. God is so like that, isn't He? He gave just the word of comfort I needed at just the right moment. He could have sent me something else, like a rebuke for all my grumbling. But no, He chose to send me assurance and comfort.

Here's the song, Somewhere In The Middle by Casting Crowns.

Lying = Intelligence???

Today I'm going to put my "whining" aside for a bit to rant. Last night as we were flipping back and forth between Dancing with the Stars and American Idol, we saw an advertisement for a news report. Now I didn't actually see this news report, but just the blurb in the advertisement had the hackles up on everyone in my family. Well, except for the dog. But if he'd understood human talk, he would have had his hackles up too. The blurb was about a report of a doctor who claims that lying is a sign of intelligence.

Huh???

Granted, as I've already said, I didn't see the actual report so I don't know where this doctor was going with this. But frankly, I don't care. You tell someone that lying shows their intelligence, you're making lying into something good. One doesn't have to believe the Bible, as I do, to know that lying is wrong. Many people think that "a little white lie" doesn't hurt anyone (not me...I don't believe in the myth of "little white lies." A lie is a lie no matter how big or small.), but I think a majority of people believe/know that lying is just plain wrong.

This really concerns me. How far is society going to fall? In my humble opinion, it's just dangerous--and irresponsible--to tell someone that lying shows intelligence. No, it shows dishonesty!

On a positive note, I was VERY pleased to see the reaction of my kids. They were horrified. We've spent their lifetimes teaching them that lying is wrong and that no good can come of it. I guess our teaching paid off. I just hope it sticks for a very long time, despite what some "credentialed" idiots may say.

Sad

I admit, I'm trying very hard not to be, but I'm sad. I guess my relapse was worse than I thought. Or then I'm having another one today. I was ok about Florida yesterday, but now that it's a reality, I'm not so ok about it. They called yesterday and offered DH the job. On one hand, I'm glad. I would have been very upset if they turned him down after all this. It would have been a real blow to his self esteem had that happened. So this was a good thing. Of course, that put DH in a tailspin. He's still not thrilled with the idea of going to Florida. But in talking through all this, we came to the conclusion that it makes no sense for him to take a job doing something other than what he's sacrificed almost two years of his life to accomplish. We've had a hard two (well, almost 2) years here while he's been doing this chaplain residency. And to do something else, even youth pastoring, would be like throwing it all away. So nothing has been signed yet, but I think it's safe to say we'll be moving to Florida as soon as the girls are out of school.

My emotions are up and down. I'm ready to leave this place, mostly because I'm ready to feel more settled. We knew this was temporary and we've been living "temporary" for these years. And that's just tiring. We're not quite living out of our suitcases, but it's not far from that. So on the bright side, it's nice to know I'm going to be able to be a little more settled soon. I'll be able to find a house and make it cozy. This apartment we're living in has not been cozy. We didn't have the finances to make it so, for one, plus we didn't want to buy alot that we'd just have to pack up and move when this phase was over. But Florida???

Ah well. I see it this way. We're so used to moving around that, if we really don't like it there, we can always pack up and move. lol. Not that I'm looking forward to another move in a short period of time, but it's nice to know it's a possibility. And who knows? We just might end up liking it. The Keys are beautiful, and we won't be far from them. And there's always Disney. (Think positive, think positive!)