Uphill idealist

Image found at Hayward Library website. This Thursday Middle and High school youth will be visiting Lutheran Social Services residents from 6:30-8:30pm and holding a costume parade followed with group time in the Chapel. (Please wear friendly costumes that would be fun for the residents as well as youth.) This activity is coordinated with SLYM: Shared Lutheran Youth Ministry. If you need more info on SLYM, click on the following link: SLYM. This Friday (October 28th) First Lutheran Church's Member support and outreach committee will be hosting a community Halloween Party from 3:30-5pm. This party is geared for kids 12 and under, but if you are older you are welcome to attend or help. We will be having games, snacks and a parade of costumes. Happy Halloween - it's going to be a beary fun time!For more information call 969-3950.

Pictures have a way of showing how much, and how quickly children can grow, don't they? Did you know that calendar's can shout - "This week is important?" This week, my calendar is bursting with a outpouring and fusion of special days. How about you? 1., 2., 3. Labor Day with a family picnic and grad party for Heather who begins college on Friday, 4., 5. the first day of school for Nigel as a high-school freshman and my Mom's 71st birthday on Tuesday, 6., 7., 8. several weddings on Saturday of friends and previous youth group members who are now all grown up as well as a major fundraiser for Infinity Performing Arts and 9., 10. going back to the fall church schedule with Sunday's Rally day in the works and remembering the folks influenced by the actions of September 11th 2001 through this week's remembrance of that day. Movement and change are always a part of our days, but some days a weeks seem to be brimming with it. It's always interesting to hear ...

It's a brand new year. It's a totally new day. The number for this new year 2010, reminds me of many science fiction movies filled with exciting plots and never-ending opportunities. I'm not suggesting that this year will be one filled with flying cars and robots, although that might be cool, but I have this gut feeling that 2010 is a year for forward looking and brave step taking. While I write this note on the Eve of the new year, I find myself in the gear of looking back to what 2009 was. I keep thinking those thoughts like: what if I did this, that or the other thing? Would this last year have turned out different? If permitted to, I suppose I could spend all this upcoming year fussing over what could have been in 2009, but spending my time in this way would not be wise in light of the hope and newness of the year to come. Isaiah 43: 16,18,19 says, "This is what the Lord says, ‘Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it...

Image created by the blogger Lauren's Life. How do you do Sleeping with Bread? Sleeping with Bread is a Monday meme that is hosted by my friend Mary Lue and I at the blog location Sleeping with Bread . You can participate in one of two ways: 1) Pick one of the examen question sets and answer it in the comments section of my SWB post; or, 2) Create your own Sleeping with Bread post. You are welcome to right click on the Sleeping with Bread button and save it to your own computer before uploading into your post. Then, make sure you come back and put the link to your post in the automated Mr. Linky form at the end of the current SWB post. We hope you will join in with the fellow bakers as we Sleep with Bread on Mondays! After a very busy October into November, I feel as if I'm running full steam into the Thanksgiving holiday this week. Thankfulness is something that I try to think about on a daily basis. It is good to look back at every day and trace the lines of grace and bless...

I celebrated Guy Fawkes Day once because a friend from England was a part of the church community where we lived and we wanted to make him feel more at home here in the states. I stuffed a Guy Fawkes dummy for my front patio, made homemade scones and clotted cream and we had our own little party. There was no bon-fire or perpetual torture. Just good friends, a nice tea, and my kids asking why I was making a scary dummy on the porch since Halloween was already past. It 's all in the perspective I suppose, and a day for clotted cream and fresh scones is one I'd celebrate any day! Although Bonfire Night is an ancient ritual, Guy Fawkes Day emerged as a nationalistic reaction to “The Gunpowder Plot” of 1605. The leader of the conspiracy, Guy Fawkes, was an ardent Catholic who attempted to blow up King James I and the Houses of Parliament with the hopes of challenging the Protestant control of the country. The failure of Fawkes’s plot brought about an immediate surge in English Na...

After a sun-filled, activity filled holiday weekend I came home and plopped myself down on the sofa in our living room. Within a few minutes I was out cold and snoring away. It's not very often that I find myself waking up on the sofa, to find it to be the morning after. Usually I can get comfy for a cat nap, but this time around I was totally surprised to find myself still wrapped up in a blanket hearing the morning birds chirping away. Uncharacteristically dozing off on the sofa reminded me of the beginnings of the idea of "sleeping with bread". Bread was given to displaced children during WW2 to help them to sleep knowing, "Today I have bread, and I will have bread tomorrow." Last night I think I better understood the contentment of these war ravaged children, as all weekend long I made great attempts to live in the now - not looking back to the past or forward to the future, but living and soaking up all the present offered me. I'm working on being inten...