My friend Gina (discomommy) writes posts that are her rambling thoughts. I think I might take a page from her playbook... I have so much on my mind and no way to put it into a nice little neat blog...so I'm going to just let it come out as it will...
Where to start...
I am tired. I have had a weird cold since Sunday. I sound like I have emphysema. I tried talking to two different people today at two different stores who looked at me like I was Alien. Haley keeps telling me to "cough"...but it doesn't make it any better. About every 32 minutes, it cycles to where I sound like I have been smoking 3 packs a day for 14 years. I think it's just this weird weather. We're going from 89 degrees to apparently 52 tomorrow.
What is the deal with that? It is so strange. And Haley's bday party is at a park on Saturday when it is supposed to be rainy and "wintery" again. So that could be sketchy.
Tonight, I had dinner with my friend Rachel in the LBC (that's for Dionne who appreciates my soul). We ate at a Lebanese restaurant called Open Sesame. It was delightful. She ordered some yummy salad. And I decided to order Baba Ghannouj. I asked the lady for the BABY Ghannouj. That was embarrasing. It was described as: Fire roasted eggplant, delicately mixed with garlic, lemon juice and tahini sauce. I was picturing a slice of eggplant with all the other stuff on top. But no. It was a dip...like hummus. Very good. Just not what I was expecting. I looked at Rachel and said, "Um...I think they forgot the eggplant." But we made do. Tasty stuff. At the end of dinner I got a "Turkish Coffee" ...cause hey...when in Lebanon...do as the Lebanese do, right? PLEASE NOTE: TURKISH COFFEE NOT SO GOOD. No. NOT SO GOOD AT ALL. But I did love the tiny spoon it came with.
Rachel and I sat and chatted for a couple of hours. She is an amazing girl. If you don't know her, you should. She's got such a heart for people...and caring for the poor, the hurting, those in need...you know, all the stuff we "Christians" are supposed to do. We talked alot about how RICH we are. And how God requires so much more of us who have been blessed like we have. God has really been using a book called "IRRESISTIBLE REVOLUTION" to ROCK my world and change my whole outlook on life, stuff, & money. I think he has started to pull away the stuff from me that at one time seemed to really matter. It's as if that stuff was getting in the way of what he was trying to show me. Finger by finger he is releasing my grip on those things. Day by day He is challenging me to think differently...more boldly....more out of the box. I fully expect God to change me in a big way in the next few years - I just don't know what that looks like. But I want to be ready.
On to other stuff that is messing with my head. When I lived in Vegas, I became close friends with a girl who used to go to my church but then decided to become LDS because they "met her needs" better. I really started studying the Mormon religion. What they believed. Who they were. I went to several different Wards. Had tough conversations. It was so devastating to me to see someone be deceived by a group that claims to be "Christians" but believe so differently. I believe that Mormonism is deceptive and it weighs heavy on my heart. My neighbors are Mormon and so once again, it is something I think about every day. So I've been reading a LOT about their culture, beliefs, theology. My testimony is so different from a person of Mormon faith, because my belief is not in the One True Church...but in the One and only God (both in this life and the afterlife) and his son Jesus who saves me by grace not works. It is in that grace that I live. It is in HIS grace that I need. Day after day after day.
Man.....this is long. And deep. With no pictures. If you are still reading...wow. I am impressed.
So yesterday I woke up and watched Martin Luther King JR. speak through my tear-filled eyes. For as long as I can remember, I have never understood how ANYONE would look at a black person as anything other than a person. I never understood how ANYONE could treat another person the way our brothers and sisters were treated. I have always hoped that if I had lived in the 50's, I would have been a part of the NAACP...a part of the Freedom Rides....I would be a white woman standing up for my black neighbors. I would hope that I would have been brave enough to go against the tide and march for their freedom. I would hope that I would have been in the crowd sharing the same dream of MLK so many years ago.
A dream that started to come true today....
I was moved to tears so many times this morning. I probably would have cried more if my kids weren't yelling about their underpants, going poop, needing breakfast, and various other early morning conversations. What a fascinating, historical day. I do hope that President Obama will be the President we need. I hope that those living in fear of his presidency will choose hope instead...and when feelings of fear start to show themselves they might pray for their new leader and find comfort in the knowledge that Presidents are earthly leaders. We need them to be the best possible leaders, but they are still earthly leaders. We have a Heavenly Father who is our Eternal King. I hope people can find hope in that.
While on the topic of Obama...His family is stunning. And I want to EAT SASHA UP! She reminds me of Haley. Just a little spitfire, you can tell! I was watching the Inauguration and wondering what Michelle bribed her with to sit still. I KNOW SHE DID. All mothers do. And did you see her run through the capitol building after it was over? I love that the White House has little kids in it again. It will be fun to watch them grow up. I hope they find happiness there!
In other news....I love my husband. He's laying next to me now and just told me that tomorrow is our anniversary. I guess technically he is correct since it is 12:30... our Anniversary is on Thursday, the 22nd. I can't believe it has been 9 years. I'm getting old, huh?
Speaking of old...I should probably get some sleep. I hope I didn't bore you to tears. But it feels good just to get it all out.
Before I leave you, may I just remind you to always carry PURELL in your car. Do you ever pump gas? Think about how many hands touch that pump each day. And where those hands have been. Purell people... Purell.
That concludes my public service announcement & the world's LONGEST BLOG.
Hello world!
3 years ago
8 comments:
Love your rambling mind.
I love your thoughts. I love your heart.
here it is 6:37 am and i read the whole thing. I get to see dr. Koperek this morning, so I am letting emily sleep in a little longer before making the trip out there....
Anyway, i enjoy long blogs sometimes....your blog was worth the read!
I love your Purell.
Just had to keep the parallellism going in your comments!
Beautiful post, Kristi.
Sadly, if you'd been alive in the 50s, much of what position you would have held toward "colored people" would have depended on how you were raised. As Oscar Hammerstein said in SOUTH PACIFIC, "You have to be carefully taught." While my parents carried the baggage of their own long-established prejudices, they were Christ-like enough to refrain from filling my mind with ugliness. In fact, I was able to rise above the attitudes of people around me because of their "neutral" approach. (Remember, I was there to witness first-hand the "Coloreds-only" water fountain, designated entrances at the movie theatre, etc. I saw the Selma riots on the evening news.) If my parents had been relentless in their haranguing and aggressively vocal about racial differences, things might have been different in my own thinking. I thank God that I wasn't poisoned. And I'm REALLY happy that you never had a trace of prejudice as you grew up!
While your post-Civil Rights Movement generation is fully on-board with racial equality, the miracle of the Obama nomination/election/inauguration is that the PRE-CRM generation was ALSO an active part of the process. It really is a new day for our country. For all generations of Americans.
I don't think I can ever pump gas AGAIN without having purell
On another note....I love the inside of your mind....there is always good stuff there
I grew up in a house where my dad, a fine Christian man, would watch the Friday night fights and complain how the "darkie ba*****s" were too lazy to be good fighters. In college, I would go to the movies and if we saw a black man with a white woman we'd say, "Let's go get our gun." Yesterday, I fought back tears of joy in our attendance office at school watching the oath of office and the inaugural address. God can redeem anything, including a prejudiced heart. My wallpaper now is the cartoon I posted on facebook, MLK looking at the Obama whitehouse, saying, "I have been to the mountaintop...and I peeked over." Haven't seen this much hope since 1960, and I was really too young to understand it then.
I got the book title I was thinking of for you.
It's Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer.
I AM totally random aren't I???? Thanks for the "shout out". I rock. Or do I?????
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