Category Archives: Family Times

May 8, 2012 · 4:59 pm

Jungle Jim’s

Now, if you are like me…the first thing that comes to mind when someone says “Jungle gyms” is a playground. 🙂 In a different context: Yesterday my sister, her friend and I went to Cincinnati. To Jungle Jim’s!!!! It is a huge international grocery store! What a great time!!!

When you first walk in, you enter the olives and cheese section. It was actually my favorite section! Next time I go, I am going to dedicate more time trying samples of all these cheeses from around the world! Very cool!!!

Melissa…this is for you! 🙂

I thought this cheese section was neat, mostly because my first job was milking sheep. Yep…three summers in high school and that was my job! It was stinky, disgusting and a good time all together!

We decided to check out the restrooms. After all, they seemed world famous!

 

HAHA!!

After that…you walk around and see just about everything! Different nuts, coffees and teas, fruits, veggies, candies, meats, shelf items…all these things from different cultures and areas of the world.

Above: Celery root.

I forgot to write this one down. Reminded me of the fish, Bloat, on Finding Nemo. 🙂

Red bananas and sugar cane.

I am not sure what these were either.

Dried squid.

Lobsters.

I had a short visit back to Greece. 🙂

I bought the Swedish cookies. Delicious!

The Asian food section.

Wooden shoes in the Holland section. Then my camera battery died. 😦

———————————————————-

We had a good time! If you plan a trip, reserve a few hours. There is so much to see! We did not even go out to the garden section where they had all sorts of different plants and flowers.  Next time I hope to see that as well.

While we were walking around, my mom text me and told me the results of my MRI scans for the brain and neck. They are stable!!!!! 😀 Another big praise!!! Thank you for your prayers!

Off to enjoy a beautiful evening!

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April 27, 2012 · 9:38 am

Morning routines.

Yesterday, I had a hair appointment. Agenda: Turn curly into straight and trim. I think I had excellent results. I am excited to finally reuse my hair dryer and curling iron for a tad curl at the bottom. I like to curl my hair out using a big 1 inch iron. I have a history with curling irons. Growing up, I liked to curl my bangs with this, then add tons of hair spray:

In junior high, I decided braces needed a cooler hairstyle, so I let my hair grow really long and curled it in spirals at the bottom every morning. Ah, yes, those were the days of self-discipline to be in bed early and rise early without any help from a cup of coffee in the morning. 🙂 I still had my long hair in high school but found myself rushed for time in the mornings, so most often it was just long and wet when I arrived to school. I got my first perm my senior year of high school. I loved it. I loved not having to spend time in the morning drying my mass loads of hair when I could just put in a little mousse and be on my way! Since then, I have gone from long curly, to long straight; short straight, to no hair, to puffy hair growing in, back to short straight hair, curly and now straight. Grass always seems greener on the other side when I change from one style to the other. I decided that I am thankful for my hair, no matter how thin with random bald spots that it may have.

As kids, we liked to watch Little Women (1994), a movie based off the Louisa May Alcott’s novel.

It is a wonderful story of a family with four girls. Their father is fighting in the war (Civil War) and they are all becoming different ladies with their own styles, interests and dreams. They are not a rich family, but learn to bless others who are in need. One Christmas, they share their meal with another family, singing “Ding Dong Merrily On High” at the top of their lungs on the walk to their destination. The rich old neighbor has a grandson, whom they come to call “Laurie”; he becomes like family and in the end he does (along with his tutor, named John.) 🙂 Their stories of growing up together with sister times of tears and laughs, to finding love and starting their own families all in one piece is a joy to watch. I really like the story. We always joked about the movie, because growing up…the personalities of the four girls matched to my sisters and I almost exact. Which one of the March sisters do you think I am??

Meg

Jo

Beth

Amy

You can read here for descriptions in the first paragraph of the plot if you are not sure of their characters. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Women_(1994_film). You will note that it talks about the way they called their mother, “Marmee”. We adopted that into our family and still sometimes call our mom by that term. Very affectionate indeed. 🙂 Speaking of which, my mom did this artwork with stencils. It hangs in my room. I like looking at it every morning, of course, my hair is not always done that nice in buns or braids, but I do have a hat sort of that style just not with ribbon attached. 🙂

Sisters. I love my sisters. Sure, we have had our fair share of quarrels, but they are my sisters and always will be. We used to do our hair together in the upstairs bathroom. We talked to each other in the reflection of the mirror instead of turning our heads. No wonder I got so good at lip-reading. 🙂 I am sure we had some funny quotes about our hair, but since I cannot think of one, I will tell you my favorite off Little Women. The March family gets word that their Father is wounded and Marmee needs to travel to help him. They have little money, so Marmee sends Jo to ask Great-Aunt March (who has plenty) if she could spare some for the journey. Jo does not have the heart to ask for money, so she sells her hair. Jo takes off her hat coming into the room and Amy says, “Jo, how could you? Your one beauty.” HAHA. If my one beauty were based on hair, then I would be in quite a pickle. I am so glad God does not see it that way either. He sees the heart (I Samuel 16:7).

As I go get ready for the day, I will remember (1) God knows the exact number of hairs that are left on my head, so there is no need to obsess over my bald spots (Luke 12:7); (2) I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14); and (3) God will provide, so I do not have to worry (Matthew 6:25-33). That already makes getting ready in the morning quite a pleasant experience. Add a cup of coffee and sunshine…it is going to be a good day!

Enjoy your Friday. More to come…

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April 25, 2012 · 12:13 am

Unscripted.

Usually my blog posts have a theme. I think of different things and put them together in a blog, blending nicely into each other through transition verbs and sentence. In itself, that sort of represents my train of thought, which I have mentioned before, and how I go about being productive in a day. Today’s productivity was running errands after work and scheduling upcoming appointments. I go from schedule to schedule…everything in a timely manner and train of thought. Not tonight. I decided tonight I am not going to have any plans. No train of thoughts. No historical evidence or fun facts (well, I shall refrain). Just me. Unscripted.

The past few months, I have been struggling with finding my passion again. In Denver, I was so involved. I was dedicated to work and surrounded by college friends and roommates, volunteered every week to a street church downtown with kids–which was pretty much my joy of living life each week–and when I was in need of some adventure or time alone, I would go to the mountains just ten minutes down the road. You get to the top of the first hill and see out like a 360 view of the city. I spent a lot of time doing that, especially the last full summer I was there. In the moments of chaos during those months…just seeing the view from on top a mountain made me forget the valleys and shadows of life beneath. Not that here is not beautiful, but there are no mountain tops to see around. Maybe that is sort of significant to my passion. I left it on the mountain top as I started into the valleys. See my problem does not lie with the health related issues being the “valleys and shadows”. They are my mountain tops. How frustrating it is for me to know this! It is so backwards, but in the backwards of the thought…it makes sense. When I have health related things come up…the biggies like chemo, surgery or the blood clot…I have nothing to depend upon but God’s timing, provisions and strength. When I become stable, I find that my focus shifts…I find my own strength to depend on, “I can do it”, like proving I can on my own; getting back to work, I find my own provisions; and I take over my schedule of “things to get done”. It is a habit. It is a bad habit. Why should my life be at the mountain top only in my physical sufferings? Why can’t I remain at the mountain top…or at least the upward climb towards that place even on the normal days? I believe that is why God has convicted my heart to get more in the Word and prayer as of late, because I am entering my valleys again. I should be praising God even on my boring, normal days just like I do when I am in pain. Such different advice apart from the other endless bestsellers on these subjects saying it the other way around. But that is me. Unscripted.

Summit Venture

You know what was great about today though? Blue sky! It is most often a rare sight to see here. Blue skies, green grass. My favorite part is walking or driving through the “tunnels” of trees. They clump together and shade over so it feels like a green tunnel. I think it is so beautiful! Reminds me of a song by Rich Mullins called “The Color Green.” I just have to give you this link of his music video. I watch it when I feel like I am living in black and white. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88Lx1D0gbTo.

Color is: Laughter, being creative, reading in a coffee shop while slowly sipping my cup of tea or chatting with a friend, walking with my mom in the evenings, playing Quicksand with my older sister and brother-in-law or chess with my little sister. Family nights watching “Shaun the Sheep”. Blending paints on a white canvas and coming up with a masterpiece in the end. Petting Muffy when he sits in my lap, brushing my teeth, writing my grandparents, creating new outfits out of old ones, suprise dinners with Dad, looking at old pictures, or seeing new places. Better yet, finding old postcards of places we have been to over the years. 🙂 Today I smiled when I waved to an old man crossing the road, seeing a friend at work, watching the ladies in front of me at the line in Michael’s chat with each other, mailing letters, getting a text from my sister about Lord of the Rings and eating marshmallows for dessert. Today I found myself being thankful for butterfly wings. They are so pretty. I saw a bunch of butterflies yesterday when my mom, sister and I were at a conservatory for plants and butterflies, birds and a mouse. Yes, a cute little mouse. 🙂

And that is me at the moment. Unscripted–in the beauty of stillness, a blend of colorful thoughts, and surrounded with love. Like this new butterfly…ready to spread my wings and fly.

“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is  the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:28-31

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April 2, 2012 · 10:16 pm

“A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down…in the most delightful way!”

Sorry to disappoint you if you thought that I was going to discuss Mary Poppins. But that movie makes me laugh. Which leads me to my question of the day: HAVE YOU LAUGHED TODAY??

“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.” ~Proverbs 17:22

I just had a good laugh. I reread an email that my friend sent me a few days ago. She was telling me about her new puppy and his cute but funny habits. I did not find it as funny when I read it the first time. Maybe I find it funny now, because I am drained of energy from lack of a good night’s sleep, but regardless: I laughed. After last week’s tears, I laughed a lot this past weekend…got to love Shaun the Sheep!

I am not very good at telling jokes. The only time I have funny stories is when something happens to me: reenactment of a fall (which believe me, most often are funny afterwards!), mispronunciation of words, or stories of things we did growing up. Of course, these stories are better in person, because I can’t show my arm or facial expressions. 🙂 I could make quite a post of funny things. Here are a few:

The best story of falling is when I was on the steroid pills in college (If you are wondering why I was on these, read my “What is NF2?’ page for clarification). It was already after 11pm and I was SO HUNGRY!!! My roommate and I set out for Arby’s to get me something to eat. It had just snowed a few days before, so now things were a bit icy. Good thing my roommate was holding the food, because when we parked and I got out of the car, my feet found the ice! It happened so fast! My roommate saw my head, then didn’t. HAHA. It would have been a great movie stunt! Best part was that I landed sitting with my legs crossed like I just wanted to sit on the ice casually. 😀 I did not realize until we got to the stairwell that my ankle had a huge gash in it…my dad told me later that I should have probably had stitches. So now I just have this cool huge scar on the top of my right ankle.

I also just thought of another one that was pretty funny but not at the time it happened. In college, we lived in a stairwell unit–at least freshman year. They had cool names and you had brother dorms, etc. My stairwell only had five rooms, instead of the typical six–two rooms with three floors–because the bottom right room was a computer lab. I sometimes just wanted to get out of my room to study or write a paper so I would go downstairs to the lab. Worked great, because if I had to use the restroom or was hungry…I could just run up to my room. Genius! One night, I made mac and cheese. Now on a college diet, this is a big deal! I was headed down to the lab with my bowl of mac and cheese (still warm I might add), when I tripped on the stairs and out flew the bowl of mac and cheese from my hands. I made such a noise falling, most people probably only saw the mac and cheese in the air, because I had already hit the ground. It was so embarrassing! Like I said, I could pull amazing movie stunts. 😀 The girls of my dorm never let me forget that one!! Or the time that I baked banana bread but forgot the sugar. It was like termite hills. My roommates laughed so hard that one had to hold onto the counter top for support to keep from falling over.

We sure did some fun and funny things growing up! If we were not out throwing rocks in fresh cow patties (sort of like our own version of a “shot put” competition), then we were listening to Adventures in Odyssey while coloring, stamping or making creatures out of milkweed seed pockets. We also liked to ride in a tube down the irrigation ditch or take the row-boat in the pond out back. Pictures of me rowing that thing is hilarious enough! Those were also the days of “tape recorders.” Oh yeah! Just saying that makes me feel really old (my apologies to my elder readers for the phrase). No serious, the days of cassette tapes and Walkman! I sort of miss those! Once, my sisters and I recorded this whole cassette tape for our friends; we sang songs and did funny little “skits”. Pure joy and imagination.

The days of imagination! I think as I grow older, I imagine less. At least imagining on my own–of course painting stimulates the brain, but I consider that more “crafty” than imagination. Reading also creates imagination in a way I suppose. You have to imagine the character as the author describes–but like C.S. Lewis’ Narnia…when I read the books now, I see the movie characters–that is why it is best to read the books first! Though I admit, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy was super hard for me to read, so I just enjoyed the movies. 🙂 (We did reenactments of the movies, but you know–story for a later blog post! Still not quite ready for the world to see those pictures. But what can I say…we were pretty much obsessed!)

Have you laughed yet? I hope so! I just wanted to post something on a day like today where I just needed a laugh. I got my laugh and thought that I would share a laugh. 😀

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March 22, 2012 · 6:39 pm

“THIS IS SO EXCITING!”

If I had cable, I would only want it for two things: football and ABC’s The Middle. If you have not seen The Middle, I suggest you rent season 1 from Best Buy and start at the beginning. Season 1 is hilarious! The show is about an ordinary family in Indiana–hence “the middle of nowhere”. 😀 Mike and Frankie Heck have three kids: Axl, who would rather play sports than study; Sue, extremely optimistic and tries out for everything but never makes any teams due to some funny issue or lack of talent (until cross-country made the team a “no cut” team); and Brick, six-year-old bookworm with extreme knowledge who whispers to himself. Every episode presents the family in a real life situation…but ends as a family sticking together.

Some of the best quotes come from Sue. She is quite the character!

Sue sees a possibility in every situation. Most often–although her family tries to tell her simple truths she is missing–Sue’s naive and energetic personality does not get the message. For example: Leap Year. Sue’s birthday is on Leap Year and she is ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED that she is going to have a surprise birthday party, even though the family tells her that she is not. At one scene, Sue comes in the kitchen where Axl is eating a bowl of cereal. She starts asking Axl if he knows any details of the surprise party. Getting annoyed, Axl takes Sue by the arm and leads her to the basement, telling her to wait there and not to come out–Sue’s not understanding he is playing a big joke, thinks it is real. Axl leaves and there is no one in the house. All you see is an empty kitchen and then Sue says from the basement…”This is so exciting!!! 😀 HA! Best part–they DID forget her birthday and woke her up at 4am singing happy birthday. Thus, she was surprised and thought they were planning it that way the whole time. Her family let her assume so. 😀

I have a surprise for you..no joke! 😉 Tomorrow is a big day; a “THIS IS SO EXCITING!” sort of day!! 😀

I AM GETTING NEW HEARING AIDS!!!!!!!!!!!! 😀

The hearing aids I have now are 7 years and 3 months old and let me tell you–that is like dog years in comparison to human years…these things are OLD! Every new audiologist that I meet is shocked at the model of my hearing aids, let alone the fact that they work so well. My hearing aids have been maxed out (meaning the highest possible they can go) since spring of 2008 when my right ear collapsed at a chapel. Before that, we had discussed the possibility of getting new hearing aids, but we were not sure how long my hearing would remain after that incident. To be honest, I thought I would be completely Deaf by now. God had other plans as I still have a little hearing left.

Currently, my hearing loss in my left ear is considered severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss and my right ear is considered moderate to profound sensorineural hearing loss. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association defines sensorineural hearing loss:

Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) occurs when there is damage to the inner ear (cochlea), or to the nerve pathways from the inner ear to the brain. Most of the time, SNHL cannot be medically or surgically corrected. This is the most common type of permanent hearing loss.

(All Contents Copyright 1997-2011 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). All Rights Reserved. http://www.asha.org/public/hearing/sensorineural-hearing-loss/)

My hearing loss obviously comes from the tumors on the Auditory nerves. For the most part, the hearing loss has been gradual–except that spring of 2008. MRI results did not show any growth in the right tumor, so it was assumed that the tumor hardened on the inside. This is why doctor appointments can get frustrating, because I can have new physical symptoms but nothing shows on the scans. I have an MRI and hearing test every 3 months. I have been relatively stable since July 2010. A little prayer goes a long way. 🙂

The only time in these past ten years of NF2 that my hearing ever improved was when I was on the Tarceva chemotherapy pills. That was a happy hearing test!!! Ask my family, I am not a fan of hearing tests. I have to sit and punch the button when I hear the noise. I have such high pitch ringing in my ears that most often I just sit there knowing that I am supposed to be hearing things, but I have difficulty discerning the noises from the ever-present ringing. But most of all, I very much dislike the “word recognition” part of the test. I get asked often if I can hear. Yes, I can hear (with my hearing aids on); however, if I am not reading your lips then you sound Japanese. Words have no meaning if I cannot read your lips. Simple fact: I am fluent in English AND in lip-reading (also American Sign Language, but I lip read so well that I only use ASL and interpreters for church and doctor appointments..or if I chat with a Deaf individual that I meet at stores, etc.)

My current hearing aids have three different settings: Setting 1, I hear everything. Yes, everything. Maybe not quiet things, but there is a constant background murmur! I also hear everything in LOUD proportions. Setting 2 focuses on people who I am talking to and helps to minimize the background noise. Setting 3 is supposed to be for the phone, but when I do call people on http://www.sprintcaptel.com (like a free TTY service), I usually leave my right hearing aid on setting 2. I cannot hear well enough out of my left ear to carry a phone conversation.

If you are a hearing person, what things would you miss hearing the most if you had sudden hearing loss?? Just curious. I miss listening and following along with music; hearing frogs, crickets and birds–even Muffy’s meow!! There are other things: communication with little kids or just my family in general, especially in night car rides or star-gazing chats on the grass. Watching TV or movies with no captions; my grandparents calling me at 7am on Saturday mornings to chat about life and current events; listening to the radio (we grew up on Adventures in Odyssey!!) and hearing sirens, such as police cars, firefighters or smoke detectors. Thankfully, modern technology allows me to have an amazing alarm clock that uses a flashing light and vibrator to coordinate with fire alarms and door bells. I do not use the alarm sound anymore, but the vibrator and light work just fine for me! 😀 Here it is:

See the yellow button? There is a connection at the back for a lamp. So when you have the lamp plugged into the alarm, you turn the light on by pressing the yellow button. The volume and tune knobs are if you want the alarm sound adjusted. On the right side where there are words: the top is “outlets”, which allows you to choose your wake up preferences. I set the combo of vibrator and light. The bottom is for the vibrator. You can choose steady or pulse. My favorite is pulse, because otherwise it feels like a steady head massage. 😀

I will say one quick note on having hearing aides…whenever my ears get tired of hearing, I just take them out. Instant silence. I realize that I have come to a place in life where I actually enjoy a few hours of silence. In silence, I like observing; I like focusing without being distracted by other noises; I like singing songs in my head or have a conversation with God. Sometimes God seems silent. Like Elijah, I expect to see or hear God in big ways (Elijah looked for God in the wind, earthquake and fire); He came in “A still small voice” (I Kings 19:11-12.) God has done incredible things in my life right down to the little details. Even today, another specific prayer was answered. When I tune into God–not distracted by the noises of the world–even in my deafness, I can hear His still small voice–the voice of Truth–say, “This one’s mine.”

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/castingcrowns/voiceoftruth.html 

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/mercyme/spokenfor.html

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March 17, 2012 · 12:45 am

Trees, trees, trees.

I just love trees!! The spring weather is in the air which means the tree buds and leaves are starting to peek out with new color. I took some pictures the other day of the pretty blossoms on these certain trees. I am not sure what kind of tree…our best idea was some sort of crabapple? None the less, they are beautiful!

Can you see the little hairs coming off the blossom? Almost reminds me of raspberries on a tree. 🙂 Have you ever read Shel Silverstein’s book, The Giving Tree? I think it is a neat story about giving of yourself to show love to others. I remember first reading that book in elementary school and crying at the end. (If you have not noticed by now–I am a very emotional person. 🙂 )

Silverstein’s book made me think…what do I like most about trees or need most from trees? To answer the first part of the question, I like the shade trees give on a sunny day; watching birds; standing near the trunk of the tree and looking upwards into the sky–the tree branches mingled with each other creating an artistic abstract of dark solid features against the sky; and their radiance when the sun shines on the leaves or seeing the treetops sway from the wind, yet their base is standing still. I think the obvious needs are oxygen and products I use every day, such as paper or sitting on wooden chairs at my wooden table. My need for the trees is small compared to animals like birds, squirrels, and bears to name a few (or in other places: monkeys, snakes, and jaguars 🙂 ) Interesting to think about from a different perspective.

I also like C.S. Lewis’ and J.R.R Tolkien’s view of trees. In both Narnia and the Lord of the Rings, trees are used as a living expression. In Narnia, the trees dance, send messages to each other and some spy for the White Witch. In Lord of the Rings, the “Ents” help destroy Isengard. I often wonder if these two scholars had any verses from the Bible in mind when they were creating the trees for their novels. Isaiah 55:12 says, “…all the trees of the field will clap their hands.” Neat! 🙂

I am still uncertain of how this verse came to my attention, but it is what I based this painting upon:

But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit. ~Jeremiah 17:7-8

Trees are beautiful anywhere you travel! Here are a 2 favorite pictures of trees from different places:

Washington D.C.–Cherry Blossoms. The trees literally made a little “cove” feeling that was shaded from the sun.

Book fair in Athens, Greece! Can you see the trees? The leaves are purple! They were lovely!

And now my embarrassing pictures. I love Fall–when the leaves are on the ground. Time for jumping in the leaves!

Sadness, I cannot jump and thus, pictures end up like this:

HA, HA, HA 😀 There you have it!

More to come…

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March 11, 2012 · 6:23 pm

“All I want is to be in the Light.”

Daylight Saving Time. Did you miss it? Don’t worry about raising your hand if you did, because I would not see it anyway. 🙂 Last night, I watched just a tad of National Treasure to relax. It was on TV, so I could tell where they cut lines out (not as cool as the real deal movie), so I did not watch anymore past the part where they go to Independence Hall for the “retro specs.” 🙂 In the movie, Riley tells Ben and Abigail about Daylight Saving Time. This made me curious, so I decided to look it up and see when it first started. Of course, National Treasure quotes that Benjamin Franklin was the first to propose Daylight Saving Time– and it’s true (I figured it would be, but just had to be certain.)

I found the official website for Daylight Saving Time: http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving. I started clicking around and found some information about Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was in Paris at the time–I assume most likely when he was serving as the U.S. ambassador. He was very sick and getting older in years, so much time was spent at his house. Franklin had attended a demonstration about a new oil lamp and went home thinking. Soon after, he noted the sun rising earlier (well, he had noted this for quite a while and had been writing it down in a record journal). Thus, he wrote an article, called An Economical Project, which was “a discourse on the thrift of natural versus artificial lighting,” (http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/franklin.html, 2008 by IDEA). I think that Benjamin Franklin was a very wise, practical, and resourceful man. Of course, Daylight Saving Time did not get put into full effect until WWI, but I think that Franklin’s intent on saving energy is no different from today. We do not use oil lamps, but we pay light and gas bills, so it is relatively the same context of using daylight hours to save energy and resources. I am no “early to bed, early to rise” person, so I cannot point any fingers at people wasting energy. 😀 Anyway, the whole history and topic is quite interesting! If you want some more great links from the website, I found these fascinating:

http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/c.html

http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/franklin.html 

http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/e.html

*MUST READ!! 😀 http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/franklin3.html

Aside from Daylight Saving Time, I must say that I do not like the dark. Nope. Not at all! Not so much that it scares me, more the fact that I have the worst balance in the dark and I cannot read people’s lips in the dark. Car rides are extremely frustrating for me when they are in the dark! My family turns on the small car light so I can read lips, or the favorite–using their cell phone to light up their face–but I still miss a lot of conversation.

My balance problems are a result of my hearing loss. Back when I was a kid, I struggled with weak ankles, but totally could play games like Kick the Can out in the dark with my sisters and friends. Have you ever played Kick the Can? What a game!!! We lived in the country, so no street lights were around our area which made the night a deep pitch-black dark. I liked this most in the moments on clear nights with no moon. We would take out blankets and gaze at the stars and talk. We could see part of the Milky Way from our yard…just being lost in the gaze of stars made me realize how small I really am compared to the universe.

Anyway, back to Kick the Can–you play in pitch darkness! You want to even wear black or dark clothes, because the whole point of the game is like Hide and Seek with a few twists. Someone is selected to be the “it” person (You know, “You’re it.”) 🙂 They count to say a hundred somewhere while everyone hides. The point of this game is to hide so that you cannot be found. If the “it” person finds you, they have to say, “Bang ______”. That blank is your name. If they say the correct name then that person goes to jail, but if the name is incorrect, they do not move until either the correct name is said or they just go on searching for others. If you get in jail, then you start yelling for people to come get you out. You do no want the “it” person to get everyone in jail, because then whoever was put first in jail is now the new “it” person. Make sense so far? Good. 😀

Now, the fun part begins when someone gets in jail. The can has already been placed in the yard at a specific spot where everyone knows, usually close to the set jail area (our jail was the back patio). When the person(s) in jail start yelling for help, you have the option to help them by attempting to literally kick the can without being caught. If the “Bang ____” is said before you kick the can, then you go to jail with the others. If not, then you yell out, “HOME FREE!!!!!” Thus, resulting in all jail inmates running back into hiding while the “it” person has to find the can and place it back into the designated spot in the yard. This is such a fun game!! We loved playing with friends or cousins when they came to visit.

One last thing before I close for the day–it is, of course, something related to music. 🙂 I grew up on oldies and I loved it!! Anyway, I am sure you have never heard of Charlie Peacock. If you have, applause to you!! Don’t feel guilty if you have not, but then maybe you have heard of dc Talk?? Ah yes!!! Classic times in the contemporary Christian music industry when they were a band! dc Talk sang a song, called “In the Light”, on their Jesus Freak album.

If you are wondering the connection between Charlie Peacock, dc Talk and “In the Light”, well, Charlie Peacock wrote it for his Love Life album (1991).

Yes this is extremely old, but serious, a really good cd!! (My Dad will be proud of me saying so). Anyway, dc Talk sings his song and it is my favorite version. The song is about God’s Light and the desire to be IN His Light and salvation. One of my favorite songs ever!!!

I found a YouTube video of dc Talk singing the song during a concert. I encourage you to listen to the song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWq1XYxtlRs

Enjoy an extra hour of sunshine!! More to come…

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