Bebo Norman

Denis and I went to a concert last night. Bebo was playing at a local church in a concert that benefited the youth group missions trips to Africa. It was a great concert. It was just Bebo and two of his friends (one from the Gold Coast of Australia) and they played an acoustic set. It was all pretty informal with quite a bit of joking around. But great music and thought-provoking music. Towards the end of the evening, he was more serious as he talked about what God has been teaching him about the internal ache that we all have from time to time. It is an ache for God's presence, which cannot be fully satisfied by any other thing in this life. Here are the words to one of my favorite Bebo Norman songs. It is from his album Ten Thousand Days.

Walk Down This Mountain

It's a better place standing high upon this mountain
I've seen your face full of the light that only this height can show
A blistered hand is what you've given
But you've been given all you'll ever need to know.

So walk down this mountain with your heart held high
Follow in the footsteps of your Maker
And with this love that's gone before you and these people at your side
if you offer up your broken cup
You will taste the meaning of this life.

It's a common ground and I see we're all still standing
Just look around and you'll find the very face of God
He's walking down into the distance
He's walking down to where the masses are

So walk down this mountain with your heart held high
Follow in the footsteps of your Maker
And with this love that's gone before you and these people at your side
if you offer up your broken cup
You will taste the meaning of this life.

We're standing in a place of peace
But this is how the world should be

A little of this, a little of that.

I bought some new cheeses to taste last week. I am always fascinated by the selection of cheeses in the specialty foods section of the grocery, but never sure what I will like. This time I bought three for experimentation:

1. Vlaskaas aged gouda - tangy yet smooth
2. Iberico (from spain) - kind of an "american" taste
3. raw milk aged cheddar - very sharp and crumbly texture.

What are some of your favorite snacking cheeses and how would you describe the flavor?

I went to a scrapbooking workshop on Friday night and got a lot done on my current scrapbook. I'm trying to think of friends who would like to go to parties with me. If I go consistently, I can get a lot done that I have been wanting to for a long time.

I cleaned out my car this evening. Woo hoot! This is a huge accomplishment for me... The inspiration was the possibility that a friend may call me to help with driving her son around Monday or Tuesday because her husband is having surgery.

Workout

My blogging friend Nixter inspired me to dig out my old gym membership card and head on down there to see if it is still active. I haven't been for at least a year, but I originally got a good deal by paying for 3 years' membership in advance. Well, it was still good, so I spent 30 minutes on the treadmill and did some crunches on the ab machine. There is a class tomorrow morning at 9:15 that I plan to check out. I have been pretty consistent with attending an exercise class in the past, so maybe that will work again...

Snow Day

Well, It's snowing again here. Very strange weather we are having around here these last few weeks. So far, I'd say it's been coming down for about an hour and there's 2-3 inches accumulated. I had two things on my agenda for today and they both have been cancelled. I'm having a hard time getting that sunk into my brain, though and still feel like I need to be preparing for kid's club or the meeting tonight. It is even questionable whether I will be going into work tomorrow. Our secretary called to tell me that our offices will definitely be closed for the morning and I am supposed to wait to get a phone call telling me when and where to go tomorrow afternoon. So I guess I'm having a little surprise vacation! What to do.... This will be a great chance to get some reading done for work-related articles and books. I had some errands to run, but I guess those will wait too.

New profile pic

I had Denis take my picture the other day because my hair was behaving well. :o) I think I finally have a good profile picture and you can actually see my face.

A Slow Day

Denis is sick. He came home early from work on Thursday night coming down with a stomach flu and he's still not feeling very well, poor thing. So I've been "taking care of him" which really only involves getting him more water to drink and keeping him company on the couch. It's been a good excuse to watch a bunch of TV and be lazy. But today, about 1:30 PM, I decided to try to be a little productive.

I cleaned our master bathroom rather thoroughly, washed the dishes, did some laundry and took out the garbage. Now, I'm making some chicken noodle soup, even though Denis only feels like eating rice (which is also cooking at the moment). We'll see if he changes his mind at some point, but I will definitely enjoy it and I can always give some to my mom.

I hope you are having a more exciting weekend than we are here. What are you up to?

Where does the time go?

I can't believe that it is already January 11th!! It's a bit late to write a post about the new year, but oh well. Did you make any New Year's resolutions? I don't really make any. I once made a resolution to read through the Bible in a year when I was in college. And I actually was keeping it all the way till June. I was using the One Year Bible, which was kind of new at the time. Now it is available in so many different translations and they even have a really small version that is amazing. Anyway, when I went home for the summer, I misplaced my One Year Bible and couldn't find it. When I found it in September again, I was so far behind that I couldn't stay on track. It's very hard to stay motivated when you are reading the wrong date's reading. So I just waited until the following June and picked up where I left off. So I kept my resolution in a matter of two years' time...

Currently, I have a lot of resolutions, but they are year-round resolutions. Not really anything new for the New Year. I would like to be more consistent in reading my Bible and praying, keep up with the reading that I should do to stay up to date with my job, make more effort to develop meaningful relationships with people around me. I think those are the biggest three. How about you?

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