I hate fluorescent light bulbs. I know that hate is a strong word and that is why I chose to use it here. I hate them. They cause my brain to buzz like their obnoxious humming ballasts. They cause my eyes to twitch along with their garish, pulsating light. They make me curl my lip up in disgust like their--sorry there is nothing they do that looks like that. I really do hate them.
When we moved into our house here in Atwater, the kitchen had one of those huge, elementary school classroom, fluorescent light fixtures. It had to go. Why would I want that hideous thing lighting up my kitchen. When it got left on and I was sitting in our living room it would shoot it's ugly light directly into my eyes. I would have to go shut it off or have a seizure--either from the light or my own issues with the light. Sadly, almost four years later, it remains. And even more sad than that, almost every light, lamp, and fixture in my home has a compact fluore-yucky light bulb in it.
I told you I wanted to be green. Getting those compact fluore-yucky bulbs is a great first step. They dramatically save on energy and they last for eons--sounds like a great green solution. They are even getting cheaper and cheaper, that's a bonus. And the truth is they are coming out with more and more options for people like me who hate that freakish blue-white light and that vicious humming. Follow this link to find out a little more of the science behind these bulbs. Get to changing your bulbs, it will make a difference!
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=cfls.pr_cfls
Friday, August 15, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Adventures in "Going Green"
So, we have been trying to get "greener" as they say.
I grew up in Seattle where the green grows between your toes. That could be because of the rain or it could be because of the "tree huggers" that live there. If you lived there you would hug the trees too, so beautiful.
Atwater is brown. Brown in many ways really. We have been in a drought for over three years. Brown. This is really an arid place even though it is one of the highest agricultural centers in the nation--they pipe in the water. Brown. So we are literally brown. But there is also the figurative brown that comes with a small town that doesn't yet have a recycling program or other avenues for cleaning up our act. That doesn't mean these things won't happen, aren't happening or can't happen. Green is coming, whether we like it or not, and I happen to like that squishy green stuff between my toes and running through my veins.
For the next few weeks I will be sharing with you some of our "Adventures in Going Green." I have found that there are lots of little things we all can do that will make a difference and that there are also some big things that cost a lot that we can do if we are willing to sacrifice. I hope you enjoy this little travel log of our adventure. Maybe you too will have a little green between your toes before you know it.
I grew up in Seattle where the green grows between your toes. That could be because of the rain or it could be because of the "tree huggers" that live there. If you lived there you would hug the trees too, so beautiful.
Atwater is brown. Brown in many ways really. We have been in a drought for over three years. Brown. This is really an arid place even though it is one of the highest agricultural centers in the nation--they pipe in the water. Brown. So we are literally brown. But there is also the figurative brown that comes with a small town that doesn't yet have a recycling program or other avenues for cleaning up our act. That doesn't mean these things won't happen, aren't happening or can't happen. Green is coming, whether we like it or not, and I happen to like that squishy green stuff between my toes and running through my veins.
For the next few weeks I will be sharing with you some of our "Adventures in Going Green." I have found that there are lots of little things we all can do that will make a difference and that there are also some big things that cost a lot that we can do if we are willing to sacrifice. I hope you enjoy this little travel log of our adventure. Maybe you too will have a little green between your toes before you know it.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Kings...
I am reading 2 Kings right now, from the Bible, you know. It is all about the kings of Israel messing up and messing up and messing up. It is all about the kings of Judah messing up, sort of messing up and messing up again. Whenever one king is killed the new king likes to kill all of that king's family, advisers, priests, etc. Clean house so a new administration can start. The funny thing is that the new administration continues the work of the old administration. Now, things might be a little bit different, the health care plan might be more substantial, or this king might like reform on this issue. Yet, the pattern is the same. There might be changes but none of the changes get the people or the administration out of their rut of continual sinning. They may get rid of one bad policy but they replace it with another. They might make one good choice but in turn they make three bad ones.
Does that sound at all familiar? Does that sound like our world? I think so. We continue to make the same choices--different administration, different policies, same pattern. Sin.
Throughout 2 Kings and in countless other passages of scripture the people are called on to kill one another. To destroy, to maim, to annihilate. Now, I have my opinions about all of that but I will save that for another post. The deal is when they do this killing it doesn't change anything. The people don't get better, they don't make right choices, just because they killed. Maybe that is something we should learn from.
The Israelites asked God for a king so they could be like everyone else. The king, God told them, would subject them to all kinds of kingly things--taxes, taking their daughters, enlisting their sons. The people didn't care. Give us our king, give us our king. And with a king comes killing because a king, after all, has a lot to protect. Protect our borders, our stockpiles, our people, our way of life says the king. When God was ruler there was a lot to protect too. Protect widows, the poor, the raped, the alien, protect them God said.
We need to let God be our ruler again. We need to operate in God's protective plan.
As of 2005--that's a long time ago, now--our nation had spent $160 billion on the war in Iraq. That is a lot of money. On the website "war by the numbers" you will find these statistics in regards to the kind of impact this spending could have on the world. With $160 billion we could pay for:
Appalling really. You are welcome to have whatever view you want politically. That is how it works. The issue is this, as a Christian I am not free to view things however I want, I am to view them through the eyes of God. What does God see? Hungry people, sick kids, families who need shelter, kids who need an education, the sick in need of medicine.
Maybe we should adopt a nation. One that is struggling. Instead of offering them democracy let's offer them health care. Instead of Western ideas let's get them some clean water. Instead of being their overbearing father, let's be their friend and share ideas, methods, plans, one with another. Instead of killing them, let's offer life. That would be different than the pattern of ancient Israel and our pattern too. I'm ready for something different, aren't you?
Does that sound at all familiar? Does that sound like our world? I think so. We continue to make the same choices--different administration, different policies, same pattern. Sin.
Throughout 2 Kings and in countless other passages of scripture the people are called on to kill one another. To destroy, to maim, to annihilate. Now, I have my opinions about all of that but I will save that for another post. The deal is when they do this killing it doesn't change anything. The people don't get better, they don't make right choices, just because they killed. Maybe that is something we should learn from.
The Israelites asked God for a king so they could be like everyone else. The king, God told them, would subject them to all kinds of kingly things--taxes, taking their daughters, enlisting their sons. The people didn't care. Give us our king, give us our king. And with a king comes killing because a king, after all, has a lot to protect. Protect our borders, our stockpiles, our people, our way of life says the king. When God was ruler there was a lot to protect too. Protect widows, the poor, the raped, the alien, protect them God said.
We need to let God be our ruler again. We need to operate in God's protective plan.
As of 2005--that's a long time ago, now--our nation had spent $160 billion on the war in Iraq. That is a lot of money. On the website "war by the numbers" you will find these statistics in regards to the kind of impact this spending could have on the world. With $160 billion we could pay for:
• 6 years of global anti-hunger programs
• 1,446,714 additional units of public housing in the USA
• basic immunization for every child in the world for 53 years
• paid for 21,281,000 kids in Head Start
• funded worldwide AIDS programs for 16 yearsAppalling really. You are welcome to have whatever view you want politically. That is how it works. The issue is this, as a Christian I am not free to view things however I want, I am to view them through the eyes of God. What does God see? Hungry people, sick kids, families who need shelter, kids who need an education, the sick in need of medicine.
Maybe we should adopt a nation. One that is struggling. Instead of offering them democracy let's offer them health care. Instead of Western ideas let's get them some clean water. Instead of being their overbearing father, let's be their friend and share ideas, methods, plans, one with another. Instead of killing them, let's offer life. That would be different than the pattern of ancient Israel and our pattern too. I'm ready for something different, aren't you?
Friday, August 1, 2008
I recognize her smell
As I told you my son Andrew is tenderhearted. It is interesting because this sensitivity to emotions seems to make him sensitive to his senses too. I wonder if there has been a study on such things.
When we moved to Atwater, CA the air was a little bit hard for us to get used to. In case you are in need of an olfactory experience just sniff dairies, feed lots and chicken farms. There is the occasional smell of roasting garlic and onion in the air when the wind blows the right way from that processing plant, but the other smells...oh my.
Drew has always been sensitive to smells. From the time he was tiny smells have attacked his little nostrils with a vengeance. He was two and a half when we pulled into town and every time he smelled the stinky air he would ask, "What is that?" We got used to telling him, "It's cow poopoo." Well, it is! For a while he would ask and we would give the same answer. It didn't take long until he would just say, all on his own, "Oh, cow poopoo" when the air was especially noxious.
His odor detecting ability has gotten sensitive to something else lately. There isn't any getting away from the stinky things but he is beginning to appreciate more and more the beautiful things.
This summer we partnered with our school district to serve food for families in need. It was a wonderful experience. Some of the people we had helping got really involved--they came almost everyday! Incredible. Lisa helped the kids with some crafts while others ate. Drew loved being near Lisa, helping her, learning from her and apparently smelling her. I will admit that she always smells very good. She is one of those people that has selected just the right fragrance--it isn't too strong but it is memorable. Drew leaned over to me in our kitchen one day and said, "I can recognize Lisa by her smell." I loved it.
But it wasn't just cute kid stuff it brought tears to my eyes. He never would have recognized Lisa's smell just from Sunday morning church. He had seen her many, many times before this summer and he never commented on this before. It took that day to day interaction with her for him to put a name, a person, a love with a certain fragrance. But as the summer went on that very thing happened.
I want to be the kind of person that people recognize by my smell. Now, I am not talking about the lotion I wear, but the scent of love coming from me. I don't want to be the kind of person that enters a room or a place and someone says, "Oh, cow poopoo." Instead I want to share life, be so close to people and to God, that people will say, "I can recognize Olivia by her smell and I can tell she has been with Jesus."
When we moved to Atwater, CA the air was a little bit hard for us to get used to. In case you are in need of an olfactory experience just sniff dairies, feed lots and chicken farms. There is the occasional smell of roasting garlic and onion in the air when the wind blows the right way from that processing plant, but the other smells...oh my.
Drew has always been sensitive to smells. From the time he was tiny smells have attacked his little nostrils with a vengeance. He was two and a half when we pulled into town and every time he smelled the stinky air he would ask, "What is that?" We got used to telling him, "It's cow poopoo." Well, it is! For a while he would ask and we would give the same answer. It didn't take long until he would just say, all on his own, "Oh, cow poopoo" when the air was especially noxious.
His odor detecting ability has gotten sensitive to something else lately. There isn't any getting away from the stinky things but he is beginning to appreciate more and more the beautiful things.
This summer we partnered with our school district to serve food for families in need. It was a wonderful experience. Some of the people we had helping got really involved--they came almost everyday! Incredible. Lisa helped the kids with some crafts while others ate. Drew loved being near Lisa, helping her, learning from her and apparently smelling her. I will admit that she always smells very good. She is one of those people that has selected just the right fragrance--it isn't too strong but it is memorable. Drew leaned over to me in our kitchen one day and said, "I can recognize Lisa by her smell." I loved it.
But it wasn't just cute kid stuff it brought tears to my eyes. He never would have recognized Lisa's smell just from Sunday morning church. He had seen her many, many times before this summer and he never commented on this before. It took that day to day interaction with her for him to put a name, a person, a love with a certain fragrance. But as the summer went on that very thing happened.
I want to be the kind of person that people recognize by my smell. Now, I am not talking about the lotion I wear, but the scent of love coming from me. I don't want to be the kind of person that enters a room or a place and someone says, "Oh, cow poopoo." Instead I want to share life, be so close to people and to God, that people will say, "I can recognize Olivia by her smell and I can tell she has been with Jesus."
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