05.31.09
Book Review: The Shack, Part II
So I finished reading The Shack today. The book certainly gives you quite a bit to think about, so I’m sure that the full impact, if any, from this book may be yet to come as I continue to mull it over. Like the person who loaned to me said, I struggle with whether or not to recommend this book and if so to who? The book requires great open-mindedness and the ability to stretch your imagination and see “the point” without being distracted by the presentation. You will not get as much out of it if you just surface read and don’t really think about what you’re reading.
Now, that being said, I don’t want to give the impression that the book is so thought-heavy or overly religious that it wasn’t an enjoyable read, because it was. The tale of Mack, “the Great Sadness,” and his return to the shack where the Great Sadness occurred, is a quite a compelling story to follow, all the way to the end.
Two of my favorite lines:
[God]: “… that you can’t grasp the wonder of my nature is rather a good thing. Who wants to worship a God who can be fully comprehended, eh?”
[God]: “Unless people speak the truth about what they have done and change their mind and behavior, a relationship of trust is not possible. When you forgive someone you certainly release them from judgment, but without true change, no real relationship can be established.”
Let Them Be Little
They played this song at Finn’s preschool graduation last year but I had pretty much forgotten about it until a friend referenced it on her blog last week. If you’re a mom whose children are growing up too quickly, get the tissues handy before you watch/listen. I fight the tears back pretty good until about the 2 1/2 minute mark, when a boy about the age of Finn is walking away from his mom and the image fades into the image of a grown son. I lose it there every time because someday all too soon it will be that day for me. If I listened to this song everyday I just might do things a little different — expect less from them, enjoy them more and just let them by little.
Vomit Comet
I think I’ve mentioned in passing in at least a couple of posts about a work trip that is coming up. Well, it’s here, or rather it will be on Wednesday. I’m going to Johnson Space Center in Houston, which in itself is not that big a deal. I’ve been to Johnson twice for work trips in the last 3 years, and for NASA folks to travel between NASA centers is fairly common. But two BIG things make this trip different. One, is the reason I am going. If the title of this post wasn’t clue enough or if you’ve never heard that phrase before, I am going to Houston to fly in an aircraft nicknamed ‘Vomit Comet.’ A nicer sounding name is the ‘Weightless Wonder.’ It’s an aircraft which NASA uses to simulate microgravity so they can do research. The plane flies in a roller coaster pattern, and just like during a big drop in a roller coaster when you come out of your seat in freefall and get that floaty, lost-your-stomach feeling — when the plane noses over in a freefall you float just like the astronauts do in space. It lasts less than 30 seconds. But then the plane does it over and over again about 30 times on the flight I’ll be on.
Why on earth am I doing this you might ask? Well, NASA does it all the time, as I said for research. And one of the cool things NASA does is let students submit research ideas and then fly their experiments. I’m not a student and I didn’t submit a research idea, but since I write about such things for work (and have written at least a half or dozen stories about these flights), my team is sending me to fly with one of the student teams and write and blog about it for work (not blog here but on the NASA web site).
So the main purpose of the trip being to freefall from the sky already sets the trip apart from previous trips. Yet the second thing that makes this trip different is I’m going alone. As I mentioned, I’ve been to Houston twice before. The first time was just 2 weeks after I started at NASA. I traveled with the other writer on our team who had been to Johnson before and knew the area, the restaurants, how to find Target — all the important things, you know. The second time was for a conference, and I was with two other members of our team. This time, it’s just me. I’m not scared, per se, just perhaps have a heightened awareness. I end up doing pretty well in such situations but it can still make me nervous. I’m looking forward, too, to a good friend flying over from Dallas and spending the weekend with me since the training and the flight covers part of two weeks but I have the weekend free.
Honestly, I am excited and nervous about every part of this trip: being away from home and my boys for 7 days; holding my own in the work I’ll be doing and representing my team well; training and preparing for the flight; The Flight; blogging officially; deciding all on my own what and where to eat dinner; whether or not I’ll look horrible in the flightsuit; looking horrible in the flightsuit but having to put photos and videos of myself on my work blog anyway; The Flight (did I say that one already?).
I’m really not as panicked as it sounds. Stay tuned ….
Kindergarten is over
Wow, kindergarten flew by waaayy too fast. Finn “graduated” kindergarten the week before last and I just can’t believe it’s over. I say “graduated” because while they had an awards ceremony, they didn’t wear little caps and gowns like I did at kindergarten graduation, so I hesitate to call it a graduation. However, they had an awards ceremony structured a lot like a graduation, and at the end presented to all of us proud parents the kindergarten Class of 2009 and the high school class of 2021.
They sent home a folder with the title “Look How Much I’ve Grown” and in addition to comparing a photo of him from the first week of kindergarten with a photo from the last week and seeing how much he has changed physically, the pages showed the progression of both his handwriting and his knowledge of words and sentences. When school started, he wrote his name in large, clunky, capital letters. Now, he writes it correctly with a capital ‘F’ and lower case ‘inn’ neatly after. A writing page for each month showed his progression from simple words in the fall to simple sentences in spring.
When my sister-in-law, who is a teacher, told me that by the end of the kindergarten he would be reading, I was skeptical. Not in his ability to learn necessarily, but just couldn’t comprehend how that could happen. But it did, and if I hadn’t witnessed it I may not have believed it. He came home the first full week of school and could read all of his color words, and as he added more and more sight words he was reading short sentences, then sounding out three letter words, then blending consonants, and reading beginner books. He loves to show off his writing and write words and simple sentences, and it’s just so thrilling for me to observe. I hope all the grades don’t go by this fast ….
With This Ring
With this ring I said, I will marry you.
With this ring I said, I do.
With this ring we marked 10 years.
05.30.09
His and Her Travel
Hubby’s going in a trip in the morning and hasn’t packed a thing. I’m going on a trip Wednesday and have been planning for weeks what clothes I can’t wear now so that they are sure to be clean for the trip.
Fun Clips!
Staples has this awesome build-your-own office supply bucket station that is so00o me! I don’t think that is its official name, but that’s what it is. Basically, it’s this large display of different paper clips and binder clips of all different colors and styles, and you stuff all you can fit in either a medium or large bucket. A store at Downtown Disney does the exact same thing with Mr. Potato Head pieces. You get a box and you stuff as many pieces — eyes, lips, ears and fun Disney-themed hats and accessories — as you can, into a box, for one price.
I’ve been wanting to do the Staples thing for a while now and finally last weekend made it happen. I love fun paper clips and so glad that Hubby allowed me this indulgence and even helped me pick out things I might like.
05.29.09
New Camera Bag
I’ve had my new camera for going on six months now and been putting off getting a new camera bag. I’ve been able to make do with the old camera bag from my 35mm but it’s not large enough to hold both lenses so I knew I’d have to get one sooner later.
Well, lo and behold, today, on Bakerella I see the most awesome, trendy camera bag ever from Tracy Joy.
You purchase the basic bag (actually choose from three different sizes in black or brown) and then choose your flap in a variety of patterns — floral, paisley, stripes, etc. Tracy Joy is actually discontinuing their bags right now so all their bags are on sale. They’re going to continue making their flaps so as long as you order your bag now, you can continue to customize your bag with new flaps.
I ordered mine tonight — the Joey bag — with two flaps — the Fleur Tattoo and the Paisley Green. I only wish they’d come in before my work trip Wednesday, but I’m sure that’s wishful thinking ….
Fleur Tattoo
Paisley Green
