Currently Listening Not to Us By Chris Tomlin see related

Changes

Well, I certainly haven't updated this site in awhile. It's firewalled at work and home, so access to it is rare for me. For those of you who are interested in keeping up with me via internet, I'm on Facebook most of the time. Big news: I'm engaged to Adam Deeter. And today I am at the beach on vacation - long time coming!!

Song of the Day: Where Justice Rolls Down

Where justice rolls down like the mighty waters

And righteousness grows like the ever-flowing stream

And mercy resounds like the waves of an ocean

Let praises ring high on the song of the redeemed.

There is a river that streams from the temple

Begins as a trickle and ends in the sea

As it grows, healing it will give

Where it flows, everything will live.

Wade in the waters and feel the strong current

Remember the stagnance of stale life before

God is here, leave the past behind

In these clear waters you will find.

Wish List

Don't think I'm fishing, or anything.  It's just that someone asked me to create a list of the 5 things I want most -talking gifts and not world peace.  This list a bit longer than that but includes various items that cannot be categorized monitarily as well as standard items.  But if any of you hears my parents wondering what to get me for Christmas or my birthday, well, you know what to tell them.  And if you need more details (because you all know how specific I get ask about those too.  Here they are, in no particular order (except for the 1st two).... 

trip to Changchun before 06/2008
records & cassettes --> digitalized/CD/MP3
laptop computer
iPod/MP3 player
dancing lessons & partner for duration of the class
a night out on the town
green silk shirt tailored
Firefly & Serenity on DVD
"DeMilitarized Zone" book in Spanish
bicycle paint job & mirrors
book-reading party (actors to dramatize and record a story digitally)
scrapbook-ing party (don't forget, Danielle!!!)
qipao mended
painting/decorating my room
guitar lessons
bonzai tree

Song of the Day: "You Are On Our Side" by Bethany Dillon

The orphan clings to Your hand Singing the song of how he was found
The widow rejoices For her oppressors are silenced now

You sit at the table with the wounded and the poor
You laugh and share stories with the thief and the whore
When You could just be silent and leave us here to die
Still, You sent Your Son for us You are on our side

The runaway falls at Your feet You are what he has searched for
The rich man is broken When he stands beneath a sky full of stars

You sit at the table with the wounded and the poor
You laugh and share stories with the thief and the whore
When You could just be silent and leave us here to die
Still, You sent Your Son for us You are on our side

Currently Reading A Theological Miscellany: 176 Pages of Odd, Merry, Essentially Inessential Facts, Figures, and Tidbits about Christianity By T.J. McTavish see related

How much fun can one person possibly take?!

Hmmm, 5 minutes doesn't really leave me much time to go in depth about anything meaningful.  I feel like I should make more of an effort.  But I'm about sick of computers by now, and won't recover until Christmas break. So, I'd rather write about how much fun one person can have in 2 months, most of it stuff I missed while living abroad....

Leetonia's Celtic Festival with a full military pipers marching band, fake caber toss & hagis fling (way to go Sam!), and plenty of yummy pasties
Greenford's Firemen's Festival
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on the big screen -- in English!
Swimming at Firestone Pool in Columbiana
2 tractor/truck pulls in Goshen - talk about culture shock!
a couple of visits to hear Mr. Begg preach at Parkside Church
Eli & Danielle's baptism
watching Cameron run in her 1st track meet
lots and lots of bonfires
an all-expenses waived, too-much-fun to imagine weekend with the kids including: sleeping on the trampoline, getting woken up by coyotes, slumber party in the cabin, pillow fights and wrestling matches, target shooting with the 22, eating breakfast at Heggy's, getting into the Country Club legally, and a whole bunch of super secret fun only Murphys are able to have
the Canfield Fair
Philosopher's Anonymous
camping trip with the small group at Nelson's Ledges/Punderson St. Park
Labor Day party at the Devine's place in PA including swimming in a resevoir all to myself and hearing the echos of music bounce around the holler
singing with County Mayo, singing with the Girard Jam Session, and being asked to come back soon!
Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot
the Upper Room's 36th Anniversary reunion
Stargate Atlantis season premiere
and some other good stuff....

On a serious note, though, last night's med call was horrible.  We managed to get the gentleman to the hospital alive, but were not confident he would make it through the night.  I went back out to the ambulance after we had transferred care, expecting just to pick up some paper trash in the back, restock a few items, and sink into a seat after working him for 3 hours.  I was shocked to look down and find myself spattered with blood and the inside of the ambulance suggesting a horror movie had been filmed in there.  All I can remember now is at the very beginning of the call feeling a slight bit of confusion as he started bleeding, and the rest is just a dream.  I know during the entire ordeal - except for those initial 30 seconds - I didn't feel a thing emotionally.  Not pity nor worry nor fear nor pride nor compassion - not anything.  And I still don't.  This is a bit unusual for me, as I generally empathize or sympathize with people very strongly.  While cleaning up I even came to, realizing I was singing "Finnigan's Wake", which is not exactly the respectful/mournful/prayerful song I would sing if I were in my right mind.  Hmmmm....

And, well, since I mentioned it above, I guess that is the song of the day.  Life goes on....
"Tim Finnigan's Wake"

Tim Finnegan lived in Walkin Street,  A gentle Irishman mighty odd
He had a brogue both rich and sweet,  An' to rise in the world he carried a hod
You see he'd a sort of a tipplers way  but for the love for the liquor poor Tim was born
To help him on his way each day,  he'd a drop of the craythur every morn

Whack fol the dah now dance to yer partner  round the flure yer trotters shake
Bend an ear to the truth they tell ye, we had lots of fun at Finnegan's Wake

One morning Tim got rather full,  his head felt heavy which made him shake
Fell from a ladder and he broke his skull, and they carried him home his corpse to wake
Rolled him up in a nice clean sheet,  and laid him out upon the bed
A bottle of whiskey at his feet  and a barrel of porter at his head

His friends assembled at the wake,  and Widow Finnegan called for lunch
First she brought in tay and cake,  then pipes, tobacco and whiskey punch
Biddy O'Brien began to cry,  "Such a nice clean corpse, did you ever see,
Tim, auvreem! O, why did you die?",  "Will ye hould your gob?" said Paddy McGee

Then Maggie O'Connor took up the cry,  "O Biddy" says she "you're wrong, I'm sure"
Biddy gave her a belt in the gob  and sent her sprawling on the floor
Then the war did soon engage, t'was woman to woman and man to man
Shillelagh law was all the rage  and a row and a ruction soon began

Mickey Maloney ducked his head  when a bucket of whiskey flew at him
It missed, and falling on the bed,  the liquor scattered over Tim
Now the spirits new life gave the corpse, my joy!  Tim jumped like a Trojan from the bed
Cryin will ye walup each girl and boy,  t'underin' Jaysus, do ye think I'm dead?"

Chords: KEY C
verse:
C Am F G7-C
chorus:
C Am F C-G7-C

Background: Dedicated, no doubt, to the Irishman's love of funerals and whiskey, Finnegans Wake supplied the theme for James Joyce's famous novel of the same name.

P.S. Anybody want to learn it too so they can play it with me at Jer's homecoming party?

Currently Watching M. Night Shyamalan Vista Series Collection (The Sixth Sense/Signs/Unbreakable) By M Night Shyamalan 3 Pak see related

Hello, my friends, hello

Ok.  This is to anyone out there who's still hanging with me though I only post once every couple of months.  Life really is too full to spend hanging on a computer. For those who didn't get the update, my mom is doing a lot better.  It's been 12 days since she got caught in that grass fire, and her 2nd & 3rd deg. burns have healed amazingly quickly.  The patches of new skin look really funky 'cause they're as white as I am and the rest of her is tan as usual.  The big frustration now is that she can't swim or sunbathe the rest of the summer.  But I'm hugely grateful that she's still with us, and that the treeline fire didn't spread, that the mower didn't catch fire, that the gas well didn't explode, that we still have a house, that someone was home to take her to the hospital, that I didn't have to sheepishly face the Perry 'fighters.... And speaking of emergencies, last week I went on my first call that involved losing a patient.  She was already in arrest before we were called, so it was a losing battle from the start.  But we worked her all the way to the hospital in the hope of somehow bringing her around.  I've heard crazy stories....  It was really hard on all of us, feeling like we failed her, although we did everything possible.  From a professional standpoint, it was good getting to work some things I'd only studied about, such as using an I-O.  In August my workload's going to increase some more.  I'm finally an independent contractor for C-Cap, and will be working in conjunction with the Yo. Hearing & Speech Ctr.  This fall I'll be servicing blind & deaf students at YSU.  Oh yeah, for those who don't know what this means, essentially I'll be a stenographer for class lectures. Hmmm, what else?  My step-brother Jeff married Julie.  My dad & stepmom are looking at houses closer to the college & church in East Liverpool.  Eli & Danielle are looking at houses too.  I've gotten rid of six more boxes of stuff - one day I'll be free and my pack-rat-ing days will be a thing of the past.  Don't waste your time on "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat."  Oh, and of course, I've read like another 23 books since I last posted.  And best of all, a little bird told me that one of my boys across the sea has become a brother!!!!!!!!!  Songs of the Day: "I Boast No More" by Isaac Watts and "Thy Mercy" by John Stocker, both recorded beautifully by Caedmon's Call on "In the Company of Angels" I Boast No More   V1: No More My God, I boast no more Of all the duties I have done I quit the hopes I held before, To trust the merits of They Son   CHORUS: No more my God No more my God No more my God I boast no more.   V2: Now, for the loss I bear his name, What was my gain I count my loss My former pride I call my shame And nail my glory to His cross   CHORUS   BRIDGE: Yes, and I must, I will esteem All things but loss for Jesus' sake O may my soul be found in Him And of His righteousness partake   V3: The best obedience of my hands Dares not appear before Thy throne But faith can answer Thy demands By pleading what my Lord has done   THY MERCY   VERSE 1: Thy mercy my God is the theme of my song The joy of my heart and the boast of my tongue Thy free grace alone from the first to the last Hath won my affection and bound my soul fast   VERSE 2: Without Thy sweet mercy I could not live here Sin would reduce me to utter despair But through Thy free goodness my spirits revive And He that first made me still keeps me alive   VERSE 3: Thy mercy is more than a match for my heart Which wonders to feel its own hardness depart Dissolved by Thy goodness I fall to the ground And weep for the praise of the mercy I've found   VERSE 4: Great Father of mercies, Thy goodness I own And the covenant love of Thy crucified Son All praise to the Spirit whose whisper divine Seals mercy and pardon and righteousness mine

07/07/07