Thought for the day.

Quote from our sermon yesterday:

"Oh, the beauty of the gospel that invites us in."

another digest.

I can't figure out what is the matter with me. I used to be a "thinker," and be able to pour out pithy blog posts pretty darned often. Of course, starting school last semester was sure to put a crimp in that. But here I am, in the third (and final) week of my break, and still no Astounding Thoughts for you to gather in to your bosom...just. another. digest. of. stuff. going. on.

(not in any particular order...)

On New Year's Day, Charming was feeling puny (and I had just recovered from my own 48-hr. bug), so we decided not to mass-infect our church family, and stayed home. While my offspring were still asleep, we read together Genesis 1&2, Matthew 1, and John 1. Though those chapters are oh-so-familiar, we tried to read them with fresher eyes. How astonishing that Almighty God would choose to share His story with us! We noticed with the creation story that it doesn't really matter if the "days" are literal 24-hour days, or "ages" or "eons" of time. What is clear is that our world (and us) did not just "happen." A Creator far bigger and wiser than we can imagine thoughtfully and deliberately created the world, in a specific order, for a specific reason. Then He hand-created Man (not just spoke us into being), and Himself breathed life into us.

Matthew 1 (and the companion Luke 1) give genealogies of the Christ, from His earthly father back to Abraham (and then from His mother back to Adam!). I find it fascinating that our Father thinks it is important for us to know the lineage, and places that lineage in time (fourteen generations from Abraham to the captivity, fourteen generations from the captivity to David, fourteen generations from David to Christ...) hey, ancestry.com can't do better than that!

John 1. What to say about arguably the most-loved book in the Bible? "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." "The world was created by Him, and without Him there was not anything made that was made." "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us..." An unbelievable story, but believe it!

We also read all the historical notes in my Bible. Most interesting of those was about the four rivers mentioned in the Garden of Eden: Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates. The note said that photos taken from space show two dry river beds near the Tigris and Euphrates. And we talked about how the Garden of Eden was not destroyed--it's still there, somewhere, guarded by those angels with flaming swords. Fascinating stuff, and you can never get to the end of it!

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I can't think of a New Year's resolution. Last year, I chose No Barbie Bashing, because I am really good at that. My naturally negative disposition can get me in a downward spiral quickly. But I have learned over the years that negative self-talk does no one any good, and does me pretty bad. So I determined to stop it, and did generally Very Well noticing it and stopping it in its tracks. I'd give me a solid B for the year.

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The 48-hr. bug. That nasty ol' thing. Blackeyed Susan got it first--Wednesday the 28th at 3am. I got it Friday at 3am (making it a 48-hr. incubation, as well). Was I surprised when, 72 hrs. later (also at 3 am!) I. Got. It. Again. Mama was not happy. That was Monday, so I cancelled my trip to see my friend Kaybeautiful on Tuesday. We rescheduled for Friday. She said, "so in case you get it a third time, you'll be over it." ha. ha. ha.

Kaybeautiful lives 100 miles away, so we meet in the middle in a town that has a Goodwill and a quilt store. She always has 50% off Goodwill coupons for me. We usually hit the Pizza Hut buffet for lunch, and this time, I have a 10-punch buffet card that is full--free lunch for moi! She is also bringing my Christmas surprise from Violet (she and Violet live in the same town). Violet bought me a new winter coat! It was a $250-original-price-down-to-$99. I have never had a $250 coat! I'm so excited!! The little irony of it is that it has been in the teens this week, but will be 50 degrees on Friday. I never wear more than a sweater in that weather. Oh, well, guess I'll be roastin' this time...perspirin' but stylin'!

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Per my tradition of starting a new quilt after Christmas, I pulled out one I've been wanting to do for several years. I waited, because I planned to piece it by hand, something I do like, because I can do it while waiting for kids, or if I'm fifteen minutes early for Bible study. The pattern is dove-in-the-window, and if you remember, Mary Ingalls made one in the stories. I looked for three years for the "right" color pink that I pictured it in, and then found it on the $2 table at Wal-mart! In fact, I found mirror prints--the same pink on a white ground, and then white-on-pink. I bought blue on white and white on blue of the same print, so I may make it a blue and pink quilt.

I made one square, and wasn't too happy with it. It didn't lay very flat, and is very complicated (56 diamonds per square). So I don't know if it is something I want to deal with during school. I may pick it up in the summer, or I may continue it now--that completed square looks just like I pictured it, even if it isn't too flat. Everything "quilts out," you know!

Which brings me to another thing--my camera is not working. If I can get Susan to take a photo of my square, I'll be sure to post it.

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Back to school next week. My in-person classses are only on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and Tuesday nights. I also have one online class. Hopefully, because I have that first semester out of the way, I can more keep up with housework and other things I love.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Hastily...

Oh, the many WEEKS since I have blogged!! I have missed it. The problem is that I couldn't put together the time to *really* say what I wanted to say about things going on in my life. But, since I can't stand it any longer, I'll give you a little "digest:"

Charming's mother, my dear "Queen Darl," passed away early in November. We thought she was going to leave us in July, but the Lord spared her for a few months to us. We had a wonderful week with family, saying goodbye.

I finished my semester today! Looks like all A's for me. Next time: Anatomy & Physiology II, (medical) Office Admin. II, Basic (medical) Insurance Coding, and Interpersonal Communications. Spring Semester begins January 9, so I've gotta blog, blog, blog on break!!

Christmas. Decorating, except for the Tree. Charming works retail, so it's about all he can do to work, work, work. I'm 'bout to get a tree without him. Let's everybody stop shopping for about a week, so he can spend some time at home, okay? ; )

Today my sweet Forget-me-not turns 30! That makes five of my children in their thirties, one in their 20s, and two still-teens.

My daughter was named after a James Taylor song. I couldn't find a YouTube of J.T. singing it, but here is a good version:



Maybe I can get her Daddy to sing it to her, the next time he sees her...

I'm sure there are tons more things happening in my life, but my kitchen counters are piled with dishes (casualties of Finals Week), and I need to tend to them. I *promise* I'll be back soon!

Getting off the Wheel.

Here I am, finishing my ninth week of a sixteen-week semester. It is Kickin'. My. Behind.

Oh, I'm doing well--I have an A in every subject so far. This past week I had four tests, three of which I have grades for: 92, 92, and 92. (I'm in a rut, but a *good* rut!) But I can't seem to get the hang of doing school and doing home along with it. I can do dishes and laundry. And supper about twice a week. But forget dusting and bathrooms. I do have two teenagers, but they are working alot, and I don't see them--I think we need a family meeting or something!

I've heard this is normal for non-traditional students. After all, it's been a long time since we've been the ones studying this hard. I expect next semester to go a little more smoothly. One of my profs says we are looking toward the goal, keeping our eyes on the prize: December, when we have three weeks off. That's when we can go to coffee with a friend, fold laundry, whatever. That made me feel so much better--others are in the same boat as I am!

Still, I feel as if I was on a giant hamster-wheel. I really needed *something.* And yesterday one of my friends on facebook posted this Bible verse:

"Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days." Ps. 90:14

Man. It doesn't take much to get me right back on track. I really need to "sing for joy" and be "satisfied with His love." And it is there for me, for the taking. Do we really realize that? I think I want to say that again:

I can have that (being satisfied). Just for the taking.

I am "singing for joy" today.

A Birth, A Wedding, and a Death...

"'When I was a child I heard an old minister say that a house was not a real home until it had been consecrated by a birth, a wedding, and a death . . . . "

--L.M. Montgomery, Anne's House of Dreams

Anna shared this today over at Pleasant View Schoolhouse, and it made me think about the home I grew up in. My first thought was that it might be difficult to find many "homes," with the way our culture makes families move over and over, through the years. Charming and I had ten homes by the time we had been married ten years. Now it is up to twelve, but next month we will *celebrate* twenty years in this house!

My parents lived in their last home for 42 years. There were two births (one a stillbirth), two deaths, and five weddings from that home, as well as four First Communions and Confirmations. Toward the end, there was a grand 50th anniversary celebration.

Remember the old poem? "It takes a heap o' livin' in a house to make it home?" by Edgar Guest?
The poem sounds kinda corny nowadays, but the sentiment is good. It seems that today "home" is a place to change your clothes on your way from here to there. Even homeschoolers joke that they are "car-schoolers," going from one enrichment activity to another.

We have had two births and two weddings in this home of ours. Thankfully, no deaths, unless you count my parents. But we did most of the raising of six, and all of the raising of our last two, here. I have several neighbors that have been here longer than I. I am a blessed woman.

Will share more on this later. Gotta run for now...

Enzymes, and other Oddities.

So, are you getting tired of me talking of scientific things? There was the paregoric/heroin thing, followed by the ionic/covalent bonding thing. But I have been in love with biology, and especially human biology, since I discovered it. And now I'm taking Anatomy and Physiology--well, you can put up with me, or ignore me till I *recover.*

I'm still in Chapter 2 of the book, the one about body chemistry. Good GRIEF, the chapter goes over so many things--matter, atoms, molecules, elements, and compounds; ionic, covalent, and hydrogen bonding; acids, bases, and pH; sugars, complex carbohydrates, proteins, lipids; enzymes and ATP...all, absolutely all, fascinating, and makes you in awe of the One who created us and the world in which we live. But let me share two more things from this chapter--on molecular chaperones and one on enzymes.

Molecular chaperones are a class of globular proteins contained in all cells, which help proteins achieve their three-dimensional structure. Here's a quote from the book:

"Apparently, molecular chaperones have numerous protein-related roles to play. For example, specific molecular chaperones:

1) prevent accidental, premature, or incorrect folding of poly-peptide chains or their association with other poly-peptides
2) Aid the desired folding and association process
3) Help to translocate proteins and certain metal ions (copper, iron, zinc) across cell membranes
4) Promote the breakdown of damaged or denatured proteins
5) Interact with other cells to trigger the immune response to diseased cells in the body"

Human Anatomy and Physiology, Marieb and Hoehn, ninth ed., p. 51.

And, about enzymes...

Enzymes are proteins that act as biological catalysts, substances that regulate and accelerate the rate of chemical reactions, but are not used up in the process. For instance, you can accelerate the rate of a chemical reaction using heat: the more heat, the faster it will go. However, the human body runs on a delicate balance, heat-wise. If your temp. goes up too high, cells (and you) die. That strategy won't work for the chemical reactions that go on inside us. But, without enzymes, biochemical reactions would happen so slowly that for all practical purposes, they would not happen at all.

"Each enzyme is chemically specific. Some enzymes control only a single chemical reaction....the presence of specific enzymes determines not only which reactions will be speeded up, but which reactions will occur--no enzyme, no reaction. This also means that unwanted or unnecessary reactions will not occur...Some enzymes are produced in an inactive form and must be activated in some way before they can function [such as a change in pH]. For example, enzymes produced in the pancreas are activated in the small intestine, where they actually do their work. If they were produced in active form, the pancreas would digest itself." and, finally,

"Because enzymes are unchanged by their catalytic role and can act again and again, cells need only small amounts of each enzyme. Most enzymes can catalyze millions of reactions per minute."

Marieb and Hoehn, pp. 52-53.

Now, probably the language is a little tough for you to follow. That's okay, it is for me, too! But what I wanted to point out, and what I am sure you *can* understand, is how incredibly ungrasp-able our Creator God is. The more you learn about how the body works, the more you understand how ridiculous the notion of "creating life" in a laboratory would be. My textbook says over and over, "still we don't know the exact function" of this or that thing. Or "exactly how it does its function."

My favorite definition of science is "discovering what God has already done." We will never get to the end of it, I'm sure. The minute you learn one thing, the next is already upon you, and it is a mystery. I have heard many, many times that "one cannot be both a scientist and religious." Baby, I don't know how you can be a scientist and *not* be a believer.

Marriage as Chemistry.

I am back in school, after a 37-year hiatus. This is Week Two. I'm behind-er than I want to be with my homework (READING), but if I look at it objectively, I think I'm doing Just. Fine.

I was reading in my Anatomy and Physiology book about the chemistry of the human body, and came across something I have learned several times in my life (high school chem, college chem, homeschool chem, you get the picture...) but which always fills me with awe at the incredible Creator God that we serve.

God can take a silvery-white metal (sodium) and bond it with a poisonous green gas (chlorine) to make a white, crystalline substance that has healing properties, preserves food, and makes food taste better, as well.

A. Mazing.

Two completely unrelated things, and one of them poisonous to humans, to boot. (tho' does pretty well at bleaching your white things...) He designed their outer valent shells (think back, your chemistry is still in your brain somewhere!) to "desire" to have the full allotment of eight electrons. Sodium has one electron in its outer shell; chlorine has seven. Sounds like a "match made in heaven," right?

Exactly.

"Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." --Gen. 2:24a

When sodium and chloride get together, that's called bonding (ionic bonding, to be specific). There's another type of chemical bonding called covalent bonding. This is where the two elements share electrons. An example of this is two hydrogens sharing with one oxygen to make water. Since we are 60% water ourselves, we have a lot of covalent bonding going on already. But that "two become one" thing--always difficult to grasp, though with a marriage of almost 36 years (so far), I can "apprehend" it. God takes two different things, putting them together to make something strong and beautiful. Somewhat different from the original parts (tho' a marriage is not as drastic a change as sodium chloride, right?) but better, stronger, and with a shared purpose.

"Ye are the salt of the earth." --Matt. 5:13. Salt has so many beautiful properties. It is healing. It preserves things. It tastes good! My pastor says that we should work to make our marriages the very best they can be, because Christian Marriage is the best picture God has, to show Himself to the world. So I can say the same thing about marriage: it is healing. It preserves things. It tastes good!

I suspect that marriage is an example of covalent bonding--the "shared electron" thing. My textbook says that "the shared electrons orbit and "belong to" the whole molecule, ensuring the stability of each atom." Isn't that beautiful?

Whew. I'm glad we're not ionic bonding. Then one of us would have to be the "silvery white metal," and the other would have to be the "poisonous green gas." And I'd be a little afraid to ask God which one I am...

Textbook quote taken from Human Anatomy and Physiology, Marieb and Hoehn, ninth ed., p. 34.