London is bursting at the seams...

We saw "The Holiday" yesterday at the theater, and since half of it was set in London, I was reminded of our trip thereearlier this year and thought I'd post the pictures from that trip (six months later)! The thing is - London looks in the movies JUST like it does in real life. I think that we should have to live there at some point in the future...

London Photos

Dear God. Please let Granny live. Amen.

My Granny (my mom's mom) is in the hospital, very sick. The thing she is sick with - the doctor's told her last time she had it that the NEXT time she were to get sick with it, she wouldn't make it; that her heart and lungs had undergone too much damage from it too many times. That "next time" is this time.

Granny can't die yet.

"Please and Amen."

Christmas Lights, Pt. 2

We went to see the Christmas lights mentioned in the post below, (turns out they were really close to my apartment), and it also turns out, they were JUST as FANTASTIC as they look in the video! It was great!

No, Aunt Bethany, those are the Christmas lights.

You know how you see video of crazy guys who sync up their house's Christmas lights to music? Well, one of THOSE guys goes to our church and the resulting light show is FANTASTIC! Take a look for yourself!

Roman's Christmas Video One


Roman's Christmas Video Two

Like the Spokes On a Wheel

Detoxing From Church

The link above will continue the excerpt below, so be sure to click on it, because you NEED to read it...I stumbled on it today and liked it. You know that GOING to church is not where it's at. We are the church and there's something a lot bigger in being the church than going to church, right? This article speaks to that.

I need to worship. So I go to my local church, which, if it’s cutting-edge, has a worship pastor on staff that prepares an inspiring "worship experience" for me on a weekly basis. One local church I know advertises its worship services on its marquee, "We worship five times, three ways, one God." (Hello! Is it me or does that just sound wrong?)

I also need to fellowship with my fellow Christians. So I go to my local church to attend a programmed version of community that provides a surface-level contact with people around some form of activity at my convenience. If I need more fellowship, I go to a small group, usually focused on the dynamic personality of the small group leader or on the subject matter I feel I need to better my life. But again, this is at my convenience and fairly optional if my schedule becomes too demanding.

I need discipleship and Christian growth. So I go to my local church to attend Sunday services, Bible studies and small groups where someone opens the Bible and tells me what it says and how it should apply to my life. I also have the option of learning "practical" topics such as how to be a good spouse, parent, employee, leader, steward, etc.

I need to serve. So I go to my local church and participate in a program where I use my time and skills in a fairly convenient manner to help others. For the most part, it’s fairly safe. And if I'm a volunteer, my participation is completely based on my schedule.

I need to be engaged in mission. So I go to my local church to connect to their evangelistic ministry and their missions program. Every so often I might volunteer to hand out sodas or serve coffee in a convenient and semi-relational form of "reaching people" for Christ. I might also give money to local missionaries the church supports and maybe participate in a weekend mission trip.

I need a children's program to educate my kids. So I go to my local church to place my children in the care of Sunday school teachers and youth pastors who will provide the spiritual and moral foundation for their Christian growth via an age-relevant program.

I need purpose for my life. So I go to my local church, hoping to find a leader with a vision big enough to inspire me. Then I sacrifice my time, energy, and money to become involved in the leader’s vision so I can build something big for God with him. New programs. New buildings. New projects. New groups. New services. New converts. New church plants. New missions. More and more and more vision to give my life a reason to exist.

Now strip all of that away. Imagine what you would have left after you remove from your life everything connected with the organizational church. I mean everything. I’ve discovered the hard way that living most of my adult life in cultural Christianity has formed my entire identity as a Christian. And when everything in my life connected with the church is gone, including sixteen years of professional ministry, I’m confronted with the true raw status my personal faith.

Click here to read the rest.

Carols + Candles + Stamps!

Last night at Carols and Candles, we had just started singing the merry tunes of Christmas when Brandi slipped me two ROLLS of stamps! A great lady who has known gone on many mission trips with Robert (and pulled many a prank on those trips ;-), and known me for two years, has joined the stamp crusade! Thank you Stamp Lady (you know who you are!)

Instant Deco Art

This crazy lady I know is taking a poll on her blog about the adhesive properties of spaghetti cooked "just right". Get the whole story and get in on the action here!

Christmas Carol Hunt, Meeker Style

So, Bob and I went for a walk the other day (since it's been so spring-like lately), and decided to play a little game along the way: Find as many pictures which represent Christmas Carols as we can. It didn't take any supplies, just my cell phone's camera. Here are a few of the pictures we found along the way (there were others, but you couldn't tell what the pictures were). Hey - maybe you and your family or friends can go for a walk in your neighborhood sometime soon and find some Christmas Carols and share those, too?! We used this list to help us know what to look for. Any ideas on what these five were? (if you click on the pictures, they get bigger).

If the human brain were so simple that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we couldn't. (Emerson M. Pugh)

I went to see my friend the doctor Friday. :-) We haven't visited for about six months, and he seemed almost excited to see me! I can't imagine why!? I had the opportunity to introduce him to Robert for the first time, which was great, because Robert got to tell him his version of what it's like when I have a seizure. I thought Robert might actually SHOW him, but he restrained himself and just told him. (Showing him can be sort of FUNNY, but I guess the Doc's office is not the time for fun and games).

After chatting it up for about 20 minutes, and after I confessed that I am still having the "small" seizures, but no "big" seizures, Doc had lots to say. He explained to me (using the brain model sitting next to his chair) that these small seizures happen "here" in the brain and it's only the Topamax that I'm taking that keep them from spreading (as he makes sparkly spirit fingers to the rest of the brain model) and becoming "big" seizure (otherwise known as grand mal seizures).

Hmmm...So. If I wasn't taking this medicine, everytime I have one my "small" seizures I'd be having a "big" seizure? OOOOOHHHH. Those "big" seizures hurt. These small ones are just embarrassing and inconvenient and somewhat dangerous. The big ones are all of those AND they hurt AND they're MORE dangerous. YIKES. I'm having the small once about once or twice a month! Good thing the medicine is at least controlling the big ones!

So Doc goes on to say we have to do something with the medicine I'm on. He said we can't just up the med I'm on because it's not completely working and the side effects are not acceptable the way they are. So the one he wanted to add at my last appointment, we're adding. He said that hopefully, this new one will control the SMALL seizures completely, AND the big seizures. The idea is to have me on both for a while, then take me off the med I'm currently on, and see if the new med will control both the BIG seizures and the SMALL seizures. But we won't know until we try.

The new medicine has some interesting possible effects. Among the usual side effects are nausea, dizziness, fatigue, possible confusion, etc... but the fun one is something called Hyponatremia, or not having enough salt in your blood. The first time Doc mentioned this med to me, he said, "Yeah, so you'll just have to be sure to eat a lot of salty foods while you're on this med because it really zaps all the sodium out of your blood, and it can put you in the hospital really quickly because of that. He'll do blood tests in two weeks to check that level. Sounds like fun, eh?!

OH! And! it's REALLY expensive, too. For a one month supply, it's $293.00. I buy my medicine from Canada, and so it's only going to be $190.00. I found some coolness on the manufacturer's website and got a free trial for the first six weeks (YEAH!), so by the end of the day when I had the prescription filled, the freeness of it made up for the fact that I was being put on it in the first place.

That happiness will wear off when I start taking it Sunday night. :-(

Doey!

The Part of Man Sitting On the Train...

The Cincy Vineyard pulls it out again! Check out this non-promo video for their Christmas play, Mass Transit. The video shows why they hired professionals rather than using their homegrown actors...The audition is complete with the HeatMiser, a Sean Connery wanna-be, a Snakes on a Train freakout, and a I'm a Little TeaPot girl trying to make the play, among others. Good stuff!

The Meeker's Christmas Party!

You're invited to join us after Carols and Candles for dinner at our apartment (if you're not an ax-murderer that is)! We’ll have a 20 pound turkey to share (courtesy of Brandi, she bought one a few weeks ago just hoping that she's have an opportunity to make it one day, so we thought this was a great time! We are fixin' up some of the fixins', and if you’ll do your best to bring some of your favorites to share, or something to drink, we'll have ourselves a new Christmas tradition: Tinsel and Turkey after Carols and Candles! You know you always go out to eat afterwards anyway - just come over here instead! Robert will get the background Christmas music rolling, we'll have some Christmas movies playing for the kids (or even the big kids, if you're one of THOSE) and maybe, just maybe...we'll even take in a good Charlie Brown-eseque reading of Luke 2?! Who knows what will happen...we just know that it won't be the same without you.

If you think that you’re coming, let us know so we can make sure to have enough cookies (and chairs!) for everyone and if you need directions, shoot us an email!

See you at Carols and Candles!

Gather Round the Tree - Let's Sing!

Each of these represent a Christmas carol or well known Christmas song. Can you guess the song?

1. The apartment of 2 psychiatrists.
2. The lad is a diminutive percussionist.
3. Decorate the entry-ways .
4. Sir Lancelot with laryngitis.
5. A B C D E F G H I J K M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z.
6. Present me naught but dual incisors for this festive Yuletide.
7. The smog-less bewitching hour arrived.
8. Exuberation to this orb.
9. 288 Yuletide hours.
10. Do you perceive the same longitudinal pressure which stimulates my auditory sense organs.
11. The red-suited pa is due in this burg.
12. Stepping on the pad cover.
13. Uncouth dolt has his beezer in the booze and thinks he is a Dark Cloud's boyfriend.
14. Far back in a hay bin.
15. Leave and do an elevated broadcast.
16. That exiguous hamlet south of the holy city.
17. Behold! I envisioned a trio of nautical vessels.
18. Listen, the winged heavenly messengers are proclaiming tunefully.
19. A joyful song relative to hollow metallic vessels which vibrate and bring forth a ringing sound when struck.
20. As the guardians of little woolly animal's protected their charges in the shadows of the earth.
21. Frozen precipitation commence
22. Monarchial triad
23. Oh, member of the round table with missing areas
24. Boulder of the tinkling metal spheres
25. Vehicular homicide was committed on Dad's mom by a precipitous darling
26. Wanted in December: top forward incisors
27. We are Kong, Lear, and Nat Cole
28. Cup-shaped instruments fashioned of a whitish metallic element
29. Oh small Israel urban center
30. Our fervent hope is that you thoroughly enjoy your yuletide season
31. Parent was observed osculating a red-coated unshaven teamster
32. May the Deity bestow an absence of fatigue to mild male humans
33. Natal celebration devoid of color, rather albino, as a hallucinatory phenomenon for me.
34. Obese personification fabricated of compressed mounds of minute crystals.
35. Tranquiltiy upon the terrestrial sphere.
36. Have hitherward the entire assembly of those who are loyal in their belief.

Who knew that the next Ralph Lauren poster boy would be found in MY family? I mean, look at this boy! You don't get much more classically/stereotypically American looking than that, do you? Brian's a cute one...I wish I had digital images of his dad (my brother Joe) to show you just how much he looks like Joe did at his age, though you can definitely see how much Nat added to the mix! (Thanks for overriding the awful Osborne ears, Nat! and giving Brian some good ones!)

And, it other picture news, here's one that never made it to the blog before. A few others will be added to the rolls soon. Enjoy!

She's BAAAACK!

My mom was taking an extended break from the Blogosphere, but she's back now! Pop over to her spot sometime and leave her a comment to let her feel some Land of Oz love! She's writing a book, you know? Maybe she'll start writing some of the chapters on her blog so we can get a preview...??

Call Off the Search

I was reading by online Bible this morning and then went to read Relevant Magazine, when I saw this banner ad for Frontiers at the top of their site. And not just Frontiers, but for our particular work. Cool, huh? Hopefully that will bring some "relevant" workers our way. Onto other thoughts. James thoughts:

14-17Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, "Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?

18I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, "Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I'll handle the works department."

Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.

19-20Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That's just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?

21-24Wasn't our ancestor Abraham "made right with God by works" when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar? Isn't it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are "works of faith"? The full meaning of "believe" in the Scripture sentence, "Abraham believed God and was set right with God," includes his action. It's that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named "God's friend." Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works?

25-26The same with Rahab, the Jericho harlot. Wasn't her action in hiding God's spies and helping them escape—that seamless unity of believing and doing—what counted with God? The very moment you separate body and spirit, you
end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse.

When was the last time you were seriously reminded that your ACTIONS should line up with what you say you believe? Last night I was writing a letter to the church I went to when I first became a Christian asking if we could come present there. I doubt that they'll have us over (mostly because I heard that the Senior Pastor just resigned, and he was the last person on staff still there from when I worked there), but I DIGRESS. Writing them sure puts the past 15 years in perspective! Wow...I remember sitting in their pews just soaking up every word that would drip from their mad-ranting pastor's mouth! He was so passionate about the truth, and such a good teacher. All he wanted was for his church to know God, and to change the world. And I look at our crew of students, and so many of us have gone on to do crazy things for the Lord (whether it's in full time ministry or not). It's just that somewhere along the way, our Pastors said to us, "Hey, your actions should match what you believe," and we sort of believed them. And no, we by no means get it right all the time (GOD NO!), but the past 15 years of saying to the Lord, "I believe in YOU, and because of that, I'll live for you..."

It's good, eh?

I am going to learn to make bread tomorrow. (Emily Dickinson)

I am going to learn to make bread tomorrow. So you may imagine me with my sleeves rolled up, mixing flour, milk, saleratus, etc., with a deal of grace. I advise you if you don't know how to make the staff of life to learn with dispatch. (Emily Dickinson)

This is my loaf of bread. I made it today, believe it or not. I used to make bread in the bread maker, but no more. This bread is too pretty to use the bread machine any more. Now, I have no real idea how this bread taste since I have yet to slice into it, but it looks nice, doesn't it? It's the same recipe I've used before in the breadmaker, and I suspected that bread would taste better if made in the oven where it had more room to breathe. Our bread maker's pan is small and stout, so last week I bought an actual loaf pan, and today I let the bread make do the first round of kneading, and then took the dough out, did round two myself, let it rise in the loaf pan one last time and THEN put it in oven to bake. WE'LL see. It sure looks and feels better so far then it used to in the machine!

Stamps, Act 2.

(curtain rises as Angie is sitting on the couch, indian style with her trusty cell phone calculator, figuring out how much 400 color laser copies will cost at approx. $.23 cents per copy, per side, if it is a double sided piece, plus paper. Add in another document that is plain black and white, but also double sided, on heavier card stock paper. The battery is getting low on her phone and she realizes that she needs to plug it in soon or it will die. This heavy math will have to wait until later).

This was the scene the night before last as I tried to figure the cost of printing a full color brochure for our trip to Iraq, plus the response cards for the giving envelopes we'll send to our supporters. Yikes! It's SO expensive to raise money!

BUT, you know what I started thinking, right? Stamps.

I mean, it worked with the stamps! God rained downed stamps from heaven - why not printing?! So I plugged in my phone, and banged out some emails. First to some pastor friends in town (and some not so in town), and then to some Christian printers in town, asking if any of them would be up for spotting this print job. Then, I just sort of prayed, "God, could you get this one too?"

:-) And we got two takers! We will have enough brochures now to be able to send to all of our supporters, and to go to a church with our presentation as soon as we find a church who will have us! The pastor who said his church would print them - I don't even KNOW HIM really! We've passed each other online over the years, but he lives in another state for goodness sake! He just said, "I could use my less than half used copy budget for it. Send it my way."

And the printer here in town - he was all over it! In fact, he said, "I know just the paper to print it on," and started into this talk about a "dull gloss heavier weight paper, lightly colored to look like sand, which would really make our brohures colors pop and stand out (not boring like most churches or missionaries just use white)...and it would be great", he said, "because the light sand color would be reminiscent of the sands of Iraq." :-) And he said, "I know you said you needed 400, but we should probably print 500, in case you find you need more along the way. You never know who you're going to meet!"

My goodness! My God's Goodness.

Christmas is a time when you get homesick, even when you're home. (Carol Nelson)

I called Devan last week to ask her if we could drive over to Ludlow Falls sometime this Christmas season and visit this place I used to go to every year as a child (well, every year we were in Ohio anyway). She said, "if I can make that happen, sure!). Devan's from Dayton, and Ludlow Falls is a Dayton thing, so it only makes sense. Ludlow Falls is kind of amazing, kind of awful, I'm not sure which. It's this small gorge and waterfall that a local fire department decorates with tens of thousands of lights and decorations, and if you wait long enough into the season, the waterfall will freeze! It's meets two of my requirements for a fantastic evening out - sparkly lights and water. So they light it up usually around my birthday (just for me, I'm sure), and since that's next week, I thought I'd check that out online to find out the times and such.

Yeah. So the lights are out at Ludlow Falls. The Fire Department apparently called it quits. How sad! This was one of only two holiday traditions I even remember from my childhood. We so often were traveling from Virginia to Ohio, or vice versa, that traditions didn't really seem to have a place. We just had to GET where we were going, and then once we were there, get from one place to the othere. But Ludlow Falls! If we were in Ohio, we did that, and it was FANTASTIC! :-(

Oh well. There's always Clifton Mill, right? I tried to upload the pictures of Clifton Mill here, but Blogger's being stupid. Check it out here). Clifton Mill ain't nothing, as they say. It will never replace Ludlow Falls, but it's pretty cool nonetheless. I think I remember going there once in high school with some crazy friends. No. Literally. CRAZY.

But in happier holiday news, I found out today that the animated displays (pictures forthcoming) that used to be downtown at the Rike's Building are now on display at the Schuster Building! Wonderful! This obviously means nothing to those of you not from Dayton...but if you're ever swinging through! Now you know what to stop and see!

Vision speaks in 39 cent increments

Stamp Collecting dispels boredom, enlarges our vision, broadens our knowledge, makes us better citizens and in innumerable ways, enriches our lives.
(President Roosevelt)

That Roosevelt was one smart fella! Yesterday someone gave us money for stamps! Can you believe that!? I told you so!

A couple of books of stamps have never felt so NEAT in my hands, to use a perfectly sixth grade term. You know that feeling in sixth grade when you became fixated on some subject matter or sport and every next thing you learned about it was just the COOLEST? And every next thing that you could buy to add to your collection about that was the BEST? And you just wanted to show your stuff off to EVERYONE because they just HAD to learn about it too?! (Well, for me anyway). These stamps are NEAT, THE COOLEST, THE BEST and HEY LOOK AT OUR STAMPS!!!

14 When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, 15 the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. 16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. 21 Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.