Sunday, August 28, 2005 AD A One-Word Confession of Faith The last couple Sundays (at least I don't remember it before then, but I may have been in la-la land for the past year and a half) Eric has been having us say "Amen" to the assurance of pardon after the confession of sins. This is not an easy thing for the Queen of the Gypsy Doubters to do. But it's as if Jesus is getting right up in my face and demanding, "Hey! Do you trust Me?" and what else am I gonna say? That amen is packed with the Gospel -- the acknowledgment of His holiness, my uncleanness, and the efficacy of His purifying salvation. Yes, Jesus, I trust you. Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/28/2005 11:28:00 PM
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Links to This Post I Know It's Shallow to Choose a Candidate Just on the Basis of Looks... ...but I'd vote for this cute guy! Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/28/2005 07:48:00 PM
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Thursday, August 25, 2005 AD Befitting I'm just finishing writing out my handouts for a brief calligraphy class I'm teaching tomorrow (later today, really). Since I'm ending with the last letter of the alphabet, I'm writing a line that says zzzzzzzzz. At this hour of the morning, I must say that's one deeply heartfelt, profoundly expressive bit of lettering! Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/25/2005 02:21:00 AM
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Wednesday, August 24, 2005 AD Since Betsy Won't Blog, I'll Blog for Her She sent me this link to something so wonderful I don't know how I've lived this long without seeing it: slug sex! Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/24/2005 10:49:00 PM
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Links to This Post My Blogger Comments Campaign If you use Blogger comments, how 'bout setting your timestamp format to show the date as well as the time? In your Blogger control panel, click Settings > Comments, and select a more informative option. I've persuaded several folks to change so far. (If only I were as effective an evangelist for the Gospel...!) Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/24/2005 12:52:00 AM
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Tuesday, August 23, 2005 AD A Firefox Question How do I get Firefox to stop reusing windows? I'm so tired of clicking on a link in an e-mail and having a post I'm writing or a game I'm playing obliterated because the link opens in an already open window. Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/23/2005 09:46:00 PM
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Links to This Post Love Note from a Colleague I just got this in response to an all-agency e-mail I sent out:
You are truly .......can’t even think of the words!!!!! Insane, creative, deranged, enlightened and extremely funny!!
Thanks for the comic relief. You should write a column.
I didn't tell her about my blog. ;-)
Then I got a note from another colleague re the same e-mail:
Monday, August 22, 2005 AD Replenishing the § Supply The number of my expectant blogroll members has plummeted alarmingly of late, so congrats to Paul and Lenise for doing their part to reverse the trend. Yay! Babies! Yay! Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/22/2005 12:25:00 PM
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Sunday, August 21, 2005 AD Friends from Faith A fellow from my former church recently took some photos at their church picnic. It was good to see some faces (and a few backs) of some folks who are dear to me:
And others, too. No regrets about leaving, but still lots of affection for those left! Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/21/2005 06:43:00 PM
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Links to This Post Slow on the Uptake It's taken me quite a while to realize that I have both Tim Bailey and Tim Bayly on my blogroll. Anyone know a Tim Baleigh or a Tim Baylee I should add? ;-) Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/21/2005 06:35:00 PM
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Links to This Post Gotcha! Faith Alethea Bailey is now with her mama! Congrats to Tim and Kristin, and Yay! Babies! Yay!
Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/21/2005 06:20:00 PM
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Saturday, August 20, 2005 AD CREC Finally Has Another (Grownup) Blogger About half a dozen of the young guys in the congregation have online journals in various stages of activity or disuse, but heretofore, I've been the only blogger over the legal drinking age. I am pleased to announce that Mrs. Angie Brennan has now joined the fray with "The Gamut." Angie has one of the most subtly quirky or quirkily subtle senses of humor I've ever encoutered. And she's a native Texan who used to have a concealed carry permit when she lived there, so treat her nice! Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/20/2005 02:44:00 PM
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Friday, August 19, 2005 AD Blogger Publishing Troubles I recently attempted to change my blog settings to allow for single-post archive pages. Unfortunately, my blog absolutely refuses to publish with that setting. It will republish my home page, and my archives as far back as October 2004, but nothing farther back, and no single-post pages. The error message says, "Broken pipe," but I suspect it has nothing to do with plumbers. Anyone have any ideas? Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/19/2005 08:12:00 PM
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Links to This Post Quotable "All this talk about worldview this and worldview that and here's a guy sticking his arms in toilets, having the joy of the Lord on his face all (or most of) the day." (See the sixth comment on this post. Eleanor, be sure to click on that commenter's URL.) Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/19/2005 05:47:00 PM
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Links to This Post Yay! Babies! Yay! Welcome, Justice Daniel Ben-Ezra, and congrats to Seth and Crystal! Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/19/2005 08:30:00 AM
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Links to This Post Something's Missing Doug Wilson here posts a Communion invitation he used in his congregation. In it he says, "I invite every baptized believer here, who has not been lawfully excommunicated, to come to the Table." There is something missing here. The "lawfully excommunicated" speaks to the authority of the Church. You and I as individuals may not go about willy-nilly denying one another (or ourselves) the sacraments. But isn't there, or oughtn't there be, a flip side, to wit, that the baptized individual be lawfully communicated -- covenantally connected to Christ's body? Else baptized people get the benefits of fellowship without the responsibilities or the accountability...sort of like (dare I say it?) sex outside the bounds of matrimony.
I know a fellow who has never, in the 20+ years since his conversion and baptism, made a membership commitment to a local body. Therefore he cannot possibly be lawfully excommunicated. But despite the lack of de jure excommunication, surely has de facto excommunicated himself. Yet I know he eats and drinks as he pleases at whatever church he happens to be visiting at the time. What makes this especially egregious is that, if he were a member of a congregation that practiced biblical discipline, he likely would have been formally excommunicated years ago.
If this fellow walked into my church on a Sunday morning, I might have a real struggle over whether or not I would partake of the Supper that day knowing he would do so. I would probably finally decide to go to the Table, because I have no authority to make the call whether either he or I should be there, but it would be to me a bitter meal, I fear.
Now I can go back to bed. I just didn't want to go to sleep and lose that thought. Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/19/2005 12:10:00 AM
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Tuesday, August 16, 2005 AD Me Brudder's eBay Store Since my brother was let go from the Baltimore City police force a few weeks ago (for non-job-related disability issues), he's been going gangbusters trying to rake in some bucks on eBay sales. You can visit his store here for tons of postcards, postal covers, sports memorabilia, ephemera and other nifty collectible stuff like this 1873 arithmetic textbook. You'll note that D.J.! likes! to! go! overboard! with! exclamation! points!, too!!! Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/16/2005 12:30:00 PM
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Links to This Post Praise Him With Dancing! Are these not the most precious photos you've seen in a long time? Linda's pictures of her kids are always such a delight. She writes of having had a difficult year...well, you couldn't tell it from the ever-joyful faces she shows us of her little ones. I strongly suspect their parents provide a good example of "rejoicing in all things." Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/16/2005 02:09:00 AM
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Links to This Post I Prolly Won't Win It... ...but I've wanted one of these for a long time. And that one's just about perfect: beautiful shape, Arabic numerals, chimes the quarter hour, doesn't need to be wound. I heard a story ages and ages ago about a woman who had a chiming clock, and she used the chimes as a reminder to draw her attention back to God. The idea has stuck with me over a decade, so I thought I'd start keeping my eye out for a clock I liked. Knowing me, I'll probably get one and it'll keep me awake at night and make me cranky, but I'd like to at least give it a shot. Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/16/2005 01:19:00 AM
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Links to This Post A FABulous Announcement Welcome, Baby Bailey! And come home quickly. Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/16/2005 12:16:00 AM
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Monday, August 15, 2005 AD The Jane Austen Novel Quiz (Link via Carmon.)
I am "The Mansfield Park type: Another under-represented and misunderstood type, these people are serious-minded and not afraid to stand up for their principles. They admire others who do the same. Possessing a bit of a protective streak, they are ever-ready to defend their unfortunately oft-abused heroine, and have inexplicably never had the urge to hit Edmund over the head with a 2 x 4 (okay, maybe that's just me...:-D). 6 other people got this result! This quiz hs been taken 87 times. 7% of people had this result." Take the quiz.
I cannot post the image that was offered with this result, because it was taken from That Hideous Travesty against which I am evidently not afraid to stand up for my principles. I'm surprised I got this result, though, my answers did not seem specific to MP. Still, "under-represented and misunderstood" works for me...quite melodramatic, don't you think? Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/15/2005 05:52:00 AM
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Sunday, August 14, 2005 AD The Highlight of My Day I got to change a diaper. Yeah, I know, I know...it wouldn't be so thrilling if I'd had to do it dozens of times a day for years on end. But the wearer of the last diaper I changed will be starting her senior year of high school in a few weeks, so I figure it's been about 15 years. I also got to hold a wee little 3-week-old. Had to guilt Myra into handing her over, though. (Note: the 3-week-old wasn't Myra's; the changee was.) Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/14/2005 10:18:00 PM
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Saturday, August 13, 2005 AD Strange Little Thoughts That Pop Into My Strange Little Head About 20 minutes ago, as I was trying to figure out how to fit the two jars of curry I bought earlier this evening into the spice rack (it's not really a rack, it's more like a 2-shelf lazy susan), I decided just to rearrange the whole thing. But that wasn't a strange thought. This was a quite successful exercise as I found a couple duplicates that could be combined, and a couple more that could be stored elsewhere 'til needed, and in the end I thought everything fit quite nicely. But that wasn't a strange thought, either. And then I thought, "Maybe at 11 o'clock on a Saturday evening, I should be getting to bed, or doing something to prepare my heart for worship tomorrow." Nope, still not a particularly strange thought. And then I considered whether any spiritual illustration might be drawn from my current acctivity...spices...tithing...little piles of dill and cummin (I don't have any mint), parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme in the offering basket. You got it...that was the strange thought. And not so strangely, I think it's time to go to sleep now! Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/13/2005 11:34:00 PM
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Links to This Post I've Got Some Reservations My first reservation is at the Bountiful Badger Bed and Breakfast. I will travel thither on the afternoon or evening of Thursday, August 25. I hope to return with a functional computer and a few more notches on my "people I have taught to crochet" belt.
On Sunday the 28th the nine Mustelidae and I will all travel back to Annapolis for worship and fellowship at the Wells Welcome Wagon. The Badgers will head back to Virginia that evening, while I will once again be snug in my own den for the night.
On Monday the 29th, I have reservations to hop a northbound train. A certain Dear Lady will pick me up at the station in Bellows Falls, Vt., and we will head to Joy Wah for my birthday dinner. Afterward we will cross the state line and head back to the Motel Mommy, where this picture was taken a couple years ago:
I will return home Friday, September 2, have Saturday to catch up on some housekeeping, and be back at CREC on Sunday (because I just can't stand to be anywhere else).
And that's about the best vacation I can think of taking this year.
Are you taking a vacation this year? Or did you already take one? Where? Where would you most like to go? Gimme some comment luv! Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/13/2005 04:01:00 PM
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Links to This Post Following Barb's Lead Evidently, posting old photos of oneself is The Thing To Do these days. I was saving this one for a long-promised "guess who it is" photo contest on a forum I frequent, but I'm giving up waiting on certain people to make that happen. So here's my high school yearbook photo, taken in the spring of 1983 when I was a 15-year-old junior:
Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/13/2005 12:34:00 PM
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Links to This Post A Typical Valerie Moment So I decide I want to make snickerdoodles for the fellowship dinner tomorrow, only I can't put my hands on my mom's recipe. I tried calling, but she's out. (It always amuses me to leave a message at my mom's, since she had me record her outgoing message for her. It's like I'm talking to myself!) Next course of action: check online. Of course there are somewhere in the vicinity of a kajillion and forty-three snickerdoodle recipes out there. Not only did I spend too much time looking through too many of them, I spent at least as much time copying and pasting a few into a Word document, and getting that formatted in a way that did not offend my princess-and-the-pea sensibilities, as I would have spent actually making the cookies. All that, and I don't even have a printer hooked up, so I'm going to have to copy out a recipe by hand, anyway, to be able to have it in the kitchen where I need it. Yes, I am a very silly girl! Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/13/2005 11:46:00 AM
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Wednesday, August 10, 2005 AD 'Honorably Leaving a Church' Good stuff from Mr. Phillips. Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/10/2005 02:45:00 PM
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Links to This Post *Bonk!* I think the baby birds in the neighborhood have all recently begun to venture forth from their nests. Unfortunately, they have not yet learned the fine art of discerning the presence of plate glass. So at least a couple times a day I hear a *bonk!* as one flies into a window. Poor things...they must get their little bird brains rather stunned! Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/10/2005 08:57:00 AM
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Saturday, August 06, 2005 AD Ugh. Looking over my last three posts, I see I've fallen into too-many-exclamation-points mode. Really...not everything I say is all that exciting. I repent in sackcloth and semicolons, and will endeavor henceforth to curb my enthusiasm. Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/06/2005 11:19:00 PM
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Links to This Post Finally! My former lawn guy, who is a plumber in real life, replaced my basement toilet somewhere around the first of the year. Today...more than eight months later...he finally came to take the old one away. He says he's been coming by every Sunday for months, but of course I'm never home on Sundays. Evidently his telephone, on which I have left dozens of messages, doesn't work for outgoing calls, and his arms are both broken, so he couldn't leave a note. Earlier this week I called for the umpty-third time, and this time I was not sweet and gentle and patient. So not only finally did he come pick up the old toilet, finally my nasty temper actually got results where being nice didn't! Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/06/2005 03:28:00 PM
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Links to This Post She's Back! And even better, she's now living only a couple hours away from me! Later this month, Lord willing, Kelly will finally gain full non-gnostic acquaintanceship status on my blogroll. Happy, happy, joy, joy! Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/06/2005 08:20:00 AM
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Links to This Post Hi, Betsy! Just checking to see if you actually visited. ;-) Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/06/2005 08:01:00 AM
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Thursday, August 04, 2005 AD Flip Side of the Last Post Doug Wilson's ongoing "Marriage As Manifest Glory" sermon series has been excellent. The latest installment, "What Headship Is Not," is no exception. You can hear it online here -- it should be available for a couple months, and after that can still be ordered from Canon Press. This series has been blow-me-away blessingful for me as a single person, so I imagine it would be even moreso for married folks. Canon has the first three volumes available; the last sermon in volume 4 was preached two Sundays ago, so it's probably in the works; and "What Headship Is Not" is the first sermon in volume five, so there's more good stuff to come.
My new suggested slogan for our Moscow friends: "Douglas Wilson: With heretics like these, who needs orthodoxy?" Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/04/2005 01:28:00 PM
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Wednesday, August 03, 2005 AD Why I Think 'It's Not Submission Unless You Don't Agree' Isn't Necessarily True I've heard from various sources the notion that submission is only submission if you disagree with the thing you're being asked to submit to. According to this theory (if I'm understanding it correctly), if a husband were to tell his wife, "We're moving to Bora Bora," and the wife thinks it's a colossally stupid scheme, but she smiles and, with the sweetest, most cheerful-down-to-the-bone attitude you can imagine, starts packing, she's submitting. But if a husband were to tell his wife, "We're moving to Bora Bora," and she thinks it's the most brilliant idea since the wheel, and it happens to be exactly what she's always wanted to do, and, with the sweetest, most cheerful-down-to-the-bone attitude you can imagine, starts packing, she's not submitting.
To which I say, "Maybe, maybe not."
There are, I think, three keys to submitting: 1) actually, mechanically obeying whatever is being asked of you, 2) having a cheerful, willing attitude as you do it, and 3) doing it because the person in authority asked you. So if in the above scenario two, the wife starts merrily packing primarily because she wants to move to Bora Bora, then I agree that she's not submitting. But if she starts merrily packing primarily because she wants to be in step with her husband's initiative, then I say she is submitting.
Consider a couple who have been married 30 years. Suppose in that time, the wife has been consciencious about cultivating a submissive spirit. She's a lot quicker and more willing to obey now than she was when they'd been married two years. She's also gotten to know her husband a lot better -- to understand his tendencies, to anticipate his wishes -- and her own desires and goals have grown more and more into conformity with his. So whereas in the early days of her marriage, she had to work a lot harder to make herself obey, nowadays, nine times out of ten, she's right on track with him, already wanting to do what he asks, and compliance comes more easily. (Note that I'm not saying this is always the case, but certainly we can imagine such a situation, right?) Ergo, if submission is only submission if you don't want to do it, then this wife has become less submissive over the past 30 years! Not only that, but if submission is only submission if you don't agree, then in order to cultivate submission, you will necessarily have to cultivate disagreement. And that don't make no sense.
Of course this works in relationships other than marriage. I chose examples from marriage because I can opine away in relative safety, not having to actually practice what I preach. ;-) Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/03/2005 09:28:00 PM
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Links to This Post That Was Weird I've gotten my next-door-neighbor's misdirected mail before, but I've never gotten a phone call for him. I wonder if his number is similar to mine, or if it was just a freak coincidence sort of thing? Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/03/2005 03:09:00 PM
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Tuesday, August 02, 2005 AD I'm So Glad I've Got My CDs Back Today I needed a Gospel fix, so I've got Fred Hammond blasting, and it's having the desired effect of giving me an adrenaline boost. Sometimes you need "The Goostly Psalmes," and sometimes you need "The Spirit of David"! Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/02/2005 11:17:00 AM
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Monday, August 01, 2005 AD Providence Below is a 3-year-old picture of (from left to right) the lovely Lisa, who got married in April, the lovely Patty, who's getting ready to head off in a few weeks for a longish stint in India, and moi.
When I discovered the mildew problem with the stuff I had stored in Joan's basement, I also learned that Patty had been planning to store her stuff there while she was in India. Well, you can imagine what would have happened had it sat down there for a year or more (I'm not sure how long she's planning on being gone) -- it probably would all have been ruined. The Lord showed us kindness not only by allowing us to realize in the nick of time that Patty couldn't store her things there, but by causing my attic to be almost empty because we cleared it out last year in preparation for the move that didn't happen. Ergo, a perfect storage place for Patty's stuff! And if I hadn't been the one to find the mildew problem and have the empty attic, Patty might have been left scrambling to find someplace else to store things, which I'm sure she doesn't have time to be doing at the moment. A sweet little providence! Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 8/01/2005 06:49:00 PM
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