A mind once stretched by a new idea
never regains its original dimension.

~Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

Ezekiel 16:49 - no matter how you translate it...

It's not all about homosexuality. And it should be a warning to us all.....

"Here is the sin your sister Sodom committed. She and her daughters were proud. They ate too much. They were not concerned about others. They did not help those who were poor and in need. "

(New International Reader's Version)

"Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. "

(King James Version)

" 'Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. "

(New International Version)

"The sin of your sister Sodom was this: She lived with her daughters in the lap of luxury—proud, gluttonous, and lazy. They ignored the oppressed and the poor."

(The Message)

"Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. "

(New American Standard Bible)

"Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy."

(New King James Version)

It's not only about sexual sins as we have always been taught. It just isn't. It's much broader; it's about justice and just living.....

What does God require of us?

He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8

Wow.

Home is the traveler, home from the....hills

OK - I'm back - and exhausted and have some serious thinking to do along a couple fronts. But the trip was fun, chaotic, and HOT with many plan B's and unexpected happenings. Beautiful scenery, wonderful people, southern cooking and 1500 miles in 81 hours. I hope to get some pictures up tonight or tomorrow; not getting home until 12:30 last night (or this morning) and literally falling into bed made it impossible to get them up.

Jen, I'm gonna send you an email - so make sure you check for it.

We gotta get out of this place........

Counting down the minutes to our road trip! WooHoo - just three hours and fifteen minutes left. Then Dana and I (or Thelma and Louise as a friend so kindly put it) are outta here! Off to visit roadside kitsch and hole-in-the-wall eateries with to-die-for food - mostly in Kentucky. Trust me, Dana's been planning this for weeks - we won't miss a good meal. Or the giant pink Martini holding elephant. We'll be on a search for Ale-8-One soda, Gethsemani farms, (an abbey of trappist monks that make bourbon fudge,) giant grocery boys (they're called Muffler Men- or Big Johns - who knew?) and the like. Best of all, we have reservations in a wigwam motel. (more info.)
I hear it's supposed to be in the 90's all weekend in Kentucky. Wonder if the wigwam has AC??
Guess we could always head to Hazard where the shorts are shorter, or Cave City for a cool retreat.
Did you know Johnny Depp was from Kentucky??
I'll let you know what we did when I get back on Monday.

God always provides what we need,
but we must be ready to open our eyes and see it.

The Midrash

What a day for a day dream.....

Well, the temperature is perfect - 75. Tthe sun is shining brightly and there is a gentle breeze blowing. What an ideal day to spend outdoors taking a walk - with the dog, or alone. It's days like these that frustrate me beyond belief that I have to be inside a hot stuffy computer lab with antsy, non listening kids. Please God, let the weekend be just as perfect!

You Belong in Dublin

Friendly and down to earth, you want to enjoy Europe without snobbery or pretensions. You're the perfect person to go wild on a pub crawl... or enjoy a quiet bike ride through the old part of town.

What European City Do You Belong In?

Question of the day.....

So, do we align our priorities with our life - or our life with our priorities?

Meet me in the schoolyard........

OK - I'm ready for a fight. A good one. Doesn't matter what it's about. I could care less. I just want to yell and be mean, hurt people like I've been hurt, be the enforcer instead of the one who understands and compromises - get all this crap outta my system. I'm looking for any excuse - so be careful what you say. Right now I am perfectly capable of turning the most innocent comment into an insult - and a battle. I'm tired of doing the right thing. What I want and what is right are two entirely different things right now. I'm tired of everything being so HARD. I'm just tired.
Any questions????



And yes, I realize this is the polar opposite of my September 19th post......

BTW - I don't know if I could ever become a total vegetarian. I love bacon too much. Seriously. And for just about the best bacon you'll ever eat - try Niman Ranch's Bacon. You can buy it at Trader Joe's. It's pricey, but so worth it. Come on, you don't have to eat bacon that often - right? So splurge a little when you do. :)
Check it out!!!! Yummo.


And no - I don't work for either Trader Joe's or Niman Ranch.

THIS is why I eat at Chipotle... :)

"When I opened the doors to the first Chipotle near the University of Denver in 1993, I didn't have a grandiose political statement in mind. Just the opposite, really.
What I wanted to do was simple: apply the techniques I had learned at the Culinary Institute of America and in professional kitchens into making great tasting burritos and tacos with the best ingredients I could find. Price them reasonably and serve them up in a hip, friendly, casual environment.
The concept seemed to me straight forward and altogether needed. Done well, it would let me show that food that was made fast didn't have to be like typical fast-food.
Of course it never occurred to me that someday we'd have hundreds of restaurants, and that each would strive to offer people something a little better.
One of the reasons I've always loved cooking is that it challenges me as much as it pleases me. I'm always looking for ways to improve upon what I've done.
For years, it bothered me that our carnitas didn't taste how I wanted them to. They weren't bad, but I knew they could be better. I tinkered with the recipe, but it still wasn't what I wanted.
One day I was reading acclaimed food writer Ed Behr's newsletter, The Art of Eating. In it he wrote about Niman Ranch and Paul Willis, a farmer in Thornton, Iowa who ran his hog farming program and raised pigs the old-fashioned way. The way it was done for many years before factory farms grew prominent in the 1960s and 70s.
The pigs Behr wrote about got to frolic in open pasture or root in deeply bedded barns. They weren't given antibiotics. The farmers who raised them truly cared about the welfare - and well-being - of the animals in their care.
In short, these farmers relied on care rather than chemicals, and practiced animal husbandry the way their parents and grandparents had, and their parents and grandparents before that.
Sometimes, moving forward means taking a few steps back.
After I read Behr's article, I knew that the trouble with our carnitas wasn't the recipe. It was the commodity pork we had been using.
The majority of pigs in this country are raised in extremely inhumane conditions. Often, thousands of pigs are crowded into a single confined facility, known as a CAFO or Confined Animal Feeding Operation.
Many of them spend their days in crates that don't allow them enough room to turn around. Some are housed together in group pens, but in quarters that are still so cramped they can't exhibit their normal tendencies. Animals are more prone to disease in confinement, so they are typically given antibiotics for most of their lives.
Learning about this dark side of modern agriculture made me want to find out how we could do things differently. So I got on a plane to Iowa to visit the Niman Ranch hog farms, including Paul Willis's. And that was where my own revelation took place. It was clear to me visiting Paul's farm that his way of raising pigs was a better way to do it. That's what I wanted for Chipotle.
In 2001, we began buying our pork from family farms like Paul's that raise pigs humanely and without antibiotics.
We call this return to old school animal husbandry naturally raised, and it's an essential part of our larger Food With Integrity mission to source the highest quality ingredients from the best sources. And, in the process, to help create a more sustainable food chain that emphasizes the welfare of people, animals, and the land.
Today, in addition to all of our pork, nearly 60 percent of our chicken and more than 40 percent of our beef is raised in this way. And someday soon, all of the meats we serve will be naturally raised.
It was very gratifying for me to read a recent interview with Ed Behr in which he said that the best thing to come from anything he had ever written had been the article on Niman Ranch and Paul Willis for how it influenced Chipotle to buy naturally raised pork. Indeed, Behr's article inspired us to use our size to fashion a more sustainable agriculture through Food With Integrity. And it led directly to Chipotle buying more naturally raised meat than any other restaurant in the country.
I never aimed to be an activist for family farms or sustainable agriculture, but I'm proud of the change we've helped to achieve. The vision I started out with at our first Chipotle has never dimmed. In fact, it has grown from meeting people like Paul Willis, whose own vision exemplifies the kind of change Food With Integrity is all about.
Food With Integrity is our mission, but we know that at the end of the day, we can't judge our own integrity. That's for our customers to decide. So all I can say is that we are still leading from what we believe is right, and constantly striving to improve the way we do things.:
Steve

For more information about specifics go here.


There you have it. A good reason to eat at and support Chipotle.....

Oh yeah, and the food is awesome too!

The shelter of friendship.....

Thank you to my three wonderful friends who have truly been sheltering trees - I think you know who you are.... :) Your wisdom and perspective have helped tremendously! I only hope I can be that sheltering tree for someone else!

Sheltering Tree

It's been said a friend is like a mighty sheltering tree
A place of refuge we can run when trouble comes for you and me
Someone we can count on through the thick and thin
When the storms of life are blowing, there's
Just nothing like a friend
(there's just nothing like a friend)

We all need sheltering trees
Friends in our lives who'll get down on their knees
And lift us up before the king of kings
We all need sheltering trees

There've been days that I was sure that I couldn't make it through
Clouds of doubt came rolling in and I didn't know what I would do
I would've given in and said I just can't go on
If it hadn't been for a friend that helped me to be strong
(helped me to be strong)

We all need sheltering trees
Friends in our lives who'll get down on their knees
And lift us up before the king of kings
We all need sheltering trees

You can face the highest mountain and
The climb won't feel so high
Or cross the darkest valley and it won't seem so wide
Nothing is impossible when a friend is by your side

We all need sheltering trees
Friends in our lives who'll get down on their knees
And lift us up before the king of kings
We all need sheltering trees

Newsong

God grant me serenity, courage and wisdom....

So, over all this school year is off to a much better start than most. Surprisingly. Less stress, more going with the flow. Hmmmm. What makes the difference? I'm not really sure. I'm trying to say "yes" unless I have a really good reason to say "no." I'm trying not to let people get under my skin. Trying to remember that they are people too, with joys and problems, and many, many questions. Yes, some are totally annoying. And it makes me want to put their requests on the back burner. But I am making an honest effort to treat each person, regardless of how I feel about them personally, the way I would want to be treated. I'm trying to be more available, yet maintain boundaries.

When I don't have a class in the computer lab I turn out the lights, and turn on some music and just relax and breathe. That in itself helps keep me calm and relaxed. Which makes helping people much easier.

I am trying to live in the moment this year. Be here and present. Not living in the past, wishing I could change it, or wishing I could re-live great times. Not wishing my life away in the future. Asking "what ifs" or worrying. Being patient with anticipation. Remembering today's problems are for today, I don't need to add tomorrow's or next month's. And that is helping too. That is not to say I don't make plans. But I am becoming more flexible and willing to work with conflicts as they arise.

I am also trying to be positive. Even if that means distancing myself from friends who are always negative. Obviously my being positive is not influencing them at all, and they tend to drag me down. Again, that doesn't mean I don't listen to them and love them, and help them if I can. I just don't have to be around them 24/7. Or even eat lunch with them.

Which has also helped. Pulling myself out of the complaint fest that lunch time has become I am choosing to take that time to regroup, read my email, listen to music - whatever enables me to start the afternoon on a positive note.

I'm trying not to be an enabler to chronic complainers while maintaining empathy and grace. Tall order. Not always easy. But a goal.

So, that's it. The start of my school year. And my goals of being kind, loving, grace-filled, positive and above all living in the moment. All of this demands a dependence on God, cuz I sure can't do this on my own. May I be a calm, warm, sane, safe, objective and loving presence in the lives of others around me this year.

Spiderman??

Your results:
You are Spider-Man

Spider-Man 75% Superman 65% Robin 62% Green Lantern 60% Hulk 45% Catwoman 45% Wonder Woman 40% Iron Man 35% Batman 35% Supergirl 30% The Flash 30%

You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

Food for thought......

"...Owing to synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, genetic modification, and a conversion of farming from a naturally based to a highly mechanized production system, the U.S. farmers now produce 3,900 calories per U.S. citizen, per day. That is twice what we need, and 700 calories a day more than they grew in 1980. Commodity farmers can only survive by producing their maximum yields, so they do. And here is the shocking plot twist: as farmers produced those extra calories, the food industry figured out how to get them into the bodies of people who didn't really want to eat 700 more calories a day. That is the well-oiled machine we call Late Capitalism." (emphasis mine)


from Animal Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

Alice: "Well, after this I should think nothing of falling down stairs.”

OK - so last Saturday after I took my turn in the Via Christus booth at Hometown Days in Yorkville I managed to step off the edge of the blacktop path. Turning my ankle I was not able to catch myself, and gracelessly sprawled half on/half off the path. Tore my jeans, tore my skin and hit the edge of the blacktop path, that was about a inch higher than the grass, with my leg just below my knee.
It hurt like heck, but I iced it good after I drove 40 minutes home. It didn't look too bad considering. Until two days later. This is the result.



I'm still icing it, taking ibuprofen around the clock and keeping off my feet - and it still looks horrible and hurts. Especially when I had to do some tech work on my knees in the computer lab the other day. And by today bruises showed up on my ankle. Guess I'm not off my feet as much as I need to be.



Well, it was a wonderful excuse to sit on the couch and watch a full season of Heroes!! :)

Think it can get me out of cleaning this weekend???

Thank you for your patience.....

OK - things have slowed down enough I think I can finally write again! The last three weeks have been a whirlwind of activity. And much of it spent sitting - in cars, airplanes, orientation meetings, meals and finally - back to work. Strange as it may sound, I am sore from head to toe from sitting!

Since I am at work, I don't have any La Vida pictures to post - if I think about it tonight I'll try to put some up. But suffice it to say that Carissa had a good, and exhausting, time at La Vida. 12 days in the Adirondack Mountains - 2 of them solo. She was assigned to the kayaking patrol. There were also a couple canoe patrols and also mountain patrols. Her group had 10 kids, including kids from Iowa, California, Georgia, New York - and ironically, three kids from the West Chicago area. Carissa met John in February - he is from Naperville. Carissa has known the other student, Jessica, since they were toddlers even tho their paths took different directions over the years. She is also from West Chicago. John and Jessica were both students at Wheaton Academy. As predicted, this group bonded. Really tightly. LOL. The other night after orientation stuff wore down they got together just to veg. And the next night Carissa said she had meetings to go to, and all she wanted to do was hang with Kayak One. Word is that La Vida patrols are pretty much bonded for life. I am beginning to see evidence of that even at this early stage.
Anyway, Kim and I flew to out Wenham, MA after LaVida and arrived at campus about a half hour before the kids returned. They got a major big welcome from orientation leaders (soph, jr and sr. students who came back early) - signs, posters, cheers; a great big welcome to Gordon College and a congratulations on surviving La Vida.
They were then able to move into their dorms - a day earlier than the general population. Which was nice. Carissa's roommate (Kaitlyn, see pic) was on a canoe patrol and also moved in Thursday night.
One of the girls from Carissa's kayak patrol lives directly across the hall from her.
Their dorm is the newest dorm on campus, Chase Hall. She is on the third floor right next to the kitchen and lounge. Also the stairs and elevator. The dorm even has front loader washers! Two rooms make up a suite and share a bathroom.

Chase Hall
Named in honor of Trustee Don Chase and his wife Barbara, Chase Hall has 162 beds and is organized as a series of suites with every two rooms sharing a shower and restroom. In addition to the double suites, Chase Hall also has a kitchen on each floor, three classrooms and a spacious lounge area that overlooks the campus quadrangle. Chase is also designed for energy efficiency in accordance with Gordon's broader aim to promote renewable energy and resources on campus.

Again, we were very impressed with the campus, the faculty and the philosophy of Gordon. It's too involved to write here, but if you want to know more just ask me! Carissa and Gordon seem tailor made for each other.
Kim and I spent time with Jessica's parents - going out for a lobster dinner in Gloucester on Friday night, and then we spent time with Kaitlyn's parents (Carissa's roommate) going out for a seafood/lobster dinner with them in Essex after we left campus Saturday night. (The first pic is Ned, up close and personal with his lobster. The second pic is Kaitlyn's parents, Sandy and Bill.)






It was a good weekend, but stressful. I was so tired of meeting new people. I could feel myself curling up a little inside and retreating with each new person I had to meet. All were nice, and I felt frustrated with my inability to get past my introverted self. Batteries were dead, no chance to recharge. Fortunately we met Kaitlyn's parents the first night, as well as reconnected with Ned and Linda, so they got in early before I began to check out.....
I could understand Carissa's sentiments that she just wanted to chill with her Kayak patrol, it was becoming too overwhelming.

And, then, Kim and I returned home and we each started the school year. And it has been crazy.
I choose not to vent here, but suffice it to say I was ready to quit after the second day. And so my stress level increases. My neck is in knots, my head is aching, and I basically hurt all over. I'm looking forward to coffee with my friend Betsy in about 2 hours. Enjoy the pix!

Carissa in her room.

Carissa's bed

The other side of her room

A section of the dining hall

Creed for the school year......

Live beneath your means.

Return everything you borrow.

Stop blaming other people.

Admit it when you make a mistake.

Give clothes not worn in three years to charity.

Do something nice and try not to get caught.

Listen more; talk less.

Every day take a 30-minute walk.

Strive for excellence, not perfection.

Be on time.

Don't make excuses.

Don't argue.

Get organized.

Be kind to kind people.

Be kind to unkind people.

Let someone cut ahead of you in line.

Take time to be alone.

Reread your favorite book.

Cultivate good manners.

Be humble.

Realize and accept that life isn't fair.

Know when to keep your mouth shut.

Go an entire day without criticizing anyone.

Learn from the past.

Plan for the future.

Live in the present.

Don't sweat the small stuff.

It's all small stuff.

-from a Quaker newsletter

Crazy busy.....

Sorry guys - I have been really, really busy lately. We were in Massachusetts over the weekend with Carissa - moving her into her dorm, and then yesterday the new school year began so I am back at work. When things calm down a little I'm sure I'll have plenty to say! Be back soon!

Finally! Vermont :)

So - a week ago we were in Massachusettes dropping Carissa off at Gordon College. Let me first say I wouldn't recommend driving 2500 miles in 4.5 days. Ever. But you gotta do what you gotta do. So, we rented a Kia Sedona and loaded it up. If her other two room mates bring that much stuff I have no clue where they will put it all....
We had to store her stuff for the 12 days she is on La Vida. Fortunately we could do that in a designated area on campus.



Then we headed home. By way of VERMONT! Not exactly on the way home, but it was the only state left of the continental United States that I had not been in, tho I have been around it many times. So we took a detour and did a short road trip.
We ate at the Blue Benn Diner in Bennington,
as well as visited some covered bridges and a monument. Nothing fancy, but good food and beautiful scenery......
Anyway, we are back home, very tired - still. And we leave again Thursday for MA - flying this time - for parent/student orientation and to move Carissa into her room.
BTW, I just checked the weather for the area of the Adirondacks she is in, and it is supposed to be in the lower 30's the next couple nights.....





A day after we returned home Jen left for Rio. So we lost 2 kids in less than a week. :( Before she left we took her to The Irish Oak which is in Wrigleyville a block from Wrigley Field.






Carissa and Jen, we miss you!