All posts by CadyLy

What **does** Jenn need?

Meme

This is one of those games from Facebook. You go to Google and type in “[Your name] needs” and list off the first 10 things that pop up. Here are my first 11:

1. Theological studies: what Jenn needs Amen!
2. Jenn needs to find a self-righteous, conspicuous “I’m better than you” charitable position so she can keep charming the sheep into thinking she matters. Just keep charming those sheep, Jennby!
3. Jenn needs a smack daddy. Hahahaha!
4. Jenn needs a new boyfriend. I do?
5. Jenn needs a hot rod…and a good insurance policy. Good thing they tossed in that bit about insurance there for me….
6. Jenn needs healing thoughts and prayers. True.
7. Jenn needs a vacation. See below! 🙂
8. Jenn needs a glass of wine. Also, amen!
9. Jenn needs help!
10. Jenn needs $$$. See below! 🙂
11. Jenn needs to go battle demons. Now, that’s just awesome! 🙂

Doctor’s Cave Beach

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Doctor’s Cave Beach

Originally uploaded by jamdowner

WE ARE GOING TO JAMAICA!!!!!!!

Bought the tickets this evening to Montego Bay!

I am so excited! We will be staying on this beach for 4 days and 3 nights at the end of March. I am so sick of all the cold weather here with the snow and the ice and the more snow and the lack of sun. I first started thinking about running away to somewhere warm when I saw tickets to Jamaica selling for $108 round-trip. That’s not something to pass up! But, I didn’t end up getting those tickets. 😦 We DID get a pretty sweet deal anyway.

I am so looking forward to planting myself on the beach with a good book and wiping away all traces of scurvy with tons of sunshine and lots of yummy fruit. Of course, our hotel is right in the middle of the so-called “Hip” district, so we’ll probably see tons of the nightlife, too! 🙂

And, of course, this will be during Lent…so we will just have to give up cold weather as our penance! 🙂 Okay, not really, but it is fun to say.

Yippee!

Daytime Prayer – A Short Reflection

Liturgy of the Hours/Christian Prayer

Today, during Daytime Prayer (assuming I’m not screwing it all up, not having my official training until the end of the month and all…), I was reading Psalm 13. There was this one line in it:

Give light to my eyes lest I fall asleep in death,

which I thought was rather significant. Christ being our light, our truth and our way; by giving us “light to our eyes,” He is showing us the way home to the Father — the path which we must all walk, “lest I fall asleep in death,” which of course is not mere death, but eternal estrangement from God.

We were just talking yesterday in Bible study how it is much better to pray for wisdom and “sight,” than for material possessions or money. Money and ease of financial concerns can affect some aspects of this life, but not those parts which truly matter. Why should I be so concerned about comfort here, when I should be concerned with the state of my eternity. Why concern myself with the type, quality and quantity of things which I possess. I would rather count myself rich in the people I had an opportunity to love.

Such a Good Prayer for a Monday

Liturgy of the Hours/Christian Prayer

God our Father,
work is your gift to us,
a call to reach new heights
by using our talents for the good of all.
Guide us as we work and teach us to live
in the spirit that has made us your sons and daughters,
in the love that has made us brothers and sisters.
Grant this through Christ our Lord.
Amen!

Because You are All Dying to See What I Looked Like in College…

Photography

…here you are!

Courtney, Jennie and Jason's Brother

This photo was taken Freshman year, at a Winter Dance at Stockwell Hall at the University of Michigan. I’m the one in red — the center of attention, as always. 🙂 Courtney Donahue lived just down the hall from me. The boy is the brother of Jason, who was dating our friend and co-hallmate, Marianne.

Speaking of dances, I LOVE to dance. Love, love, love it! Just thought I would toss that out there. 🙂

Office of the Readings

Liturgy of the Hours/Christian Prayer

1 Thessalonians 4:1-18

Finally, brothers, we urge you and appeal to you in the Lord Jesus to make more and more progress in the kind of life that you are meant to live: the life that God wants, as you learnt from us, and as you are already living it. You have not forgotten the instructions we gave you on the authority of the Lord Jesus.
What God wants is for you all to be holy. He wants you to keep away from fornication, and each one of you to know how to use the body that belongs to him in a way that is holy and honourable, not giving way to selfish lust like the pagans who do not know God. He wants nobody at all ever to sin by taking advantage of a brother in these matters; the Lord always punishes sins of that sort, as we told you before and assured you. We have been called by God to be holy, not to be immoral; in other words, anyone who objects is not objecting to a human authority, but to God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.
As for loving our brothers, there is no need for anyone to write to you about that, since you have learnt from God yourselves to love one another, and in fact this is what you are doing with all the brothers throughout the whole of Macedonia. However, we do urge you, brothers, to go on making even greater progress and to make a point of living quietly, attending to your own business and earning your living, just as we told you to, so that you are seen to be respectable by those outside the Church, though you do not have to depend on them.
We want you to be quite certain, brothers, about those who have died, to make sure that you do not grieve about them, like the other people who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and that it will be the same for those who have died in Jesus: God will bring them with him. We can tell you this from the Lord’s own teaching, that any of us who are left alive until the Lord’s coming will not have any advantage over those who have died. At the trumpet of God, the voice of the archangel will call out the command and the Lord himself will come down from heaven; those who have died in Christ will be the first to rise, and then those of us who are still alive will be taken up in the clouds, together with them; to meet the Lord in the air. So we shall stay with the Lord for ever. With such thoughts as these you should comfort one another.

Dancing With God

Neat Things I Didn't Author

Thanks to Caryn for sharing!

ATT00001

When I meditated on the word “guidance,”
I kept seeing “dance” at the end of the word.
I remember reading that doing God’s will is a lot like dancing.
When two people try to lead, nothing feels right.
The movement doesn’t flow with the music,
And everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky.

When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead,
Both bodies begin to flow with the music.
One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back
Or by pressing lightly in one direction or another.
It’s as if two become one body, moving beautifully.

The dance takes surrender, willingness,
And attentiveness from one person
And gentle guidance and skill from the other.

My eyes drew back to the word “guidance.”
When I saw “G,” I thought of God, followed by “U” and “I.”
“God,” “U” and “I” dance.
God, you and I dance.

As I lowered my head, I became willing to trust
That I would get guidance about my life.
Once again, I became willing to let God lead.

My prayer for you today if that God’s blessings
And mercies are upon you this day and every day.
May you abide in God, as God abides in you.
Dance together with God, trusting God to lead
And to guide you through each season of your life.

(Kasia, isn’t this remarkably timely, given last night’s conversation? 🙂

Tale of Horror of the Day

Bioethics, Neat Things I Didn't Author

Courtesy of “The Clone Age: Adventures in the New World of Reproductive Technology” by Lori B. Andrews:

After Jonathan Slack cloned headless frogs, other researchers suggested cloning headless humans to serve as organ donors. They argued that, with no brain, such creatures would not be considered persons under the law.

I just had to stop eating my Cheerios after that. I mean, most of the book talks about human life being treated in a horribly callous way, but that…takes the cake right there. Even in the researchers’ argument, they are looking for ways to depersonalize and dehumanize…human people! The question is more like: “How can I make this not a person, so that I can do whatever I want to it and others will not object?” Well, a good start would be to call it a “creature.” Oh, wait. They already did that.

So disgusting.

Icicle Mansion, Part Deux

Photography

We have gotten even more snow and ice and stuff. Yuk. As a Floridian (heehee), I am repelled. However, I am also morbidly fascinated by the large icicles hanging off my house. I did at one point attempt to knock them down, but the evil little buggers just fell into a window. I was happy that the window did not break, but I do have a good size hole in the screen now. That ended (most of) my icicle-knocking-down fun. My pride and joy is the icicle which is only about 8 inches from touching the ground — FROM MY ROOF! That’s gotta win a medal or something! 🙂

And so, for your viewing pleasure, I bring you:
DSCN5912
And, yes, those are my Christmas lights. I was wondering if they might put out enough heat to start melting the icicles in the front of the house, since it looks like there is ice piling up on the roof a bit, and that can’t be good.
DSCN5915
And here is my front door…about 1/4 to 1/3 obscured by the Ice Picks of Doom — obviously, this is not the entrance that I use daily.
DSCN5917
Yeah, yeah, my porch light is still orange — from Halloween 2007. I love how there is a little corridor between the house and the Wall of Ice. And aren’t the Christmas lights all pretty and sparkly? 🙂
DSCN5920
And finally, my pride and joy, the Big Huge Icicle. I like how these ones in back are a little concave, probably from the wind while they were being formed. 🙂
DSCN5922