A favorite of mine... THE SECOND COMING by William Butler Yeats Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand. The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand; A shape with lion body and the head of a man, A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds. The darkness drops again but now I know That twenty centuries of stony sleep Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

No library for me here either. It is tough and I spend way too much money on kindle books but I am ever so grateful that ebooks exist!

My dd was born on Dec. 26 which is why we named her Natalie. You are the first person to pick up on that meaning!

If you like spicy, this is another favorite of ours. In a bowl mix equal parts Tabasco sauce, melted butter and blue cheese dressing (how much depends on how much chicken you are making). Pour over chicken and bake. YUM

In a bowl mix: 1 pack of cream cheese, softened 1 can of cream of chicken soup Chopped onions Chopped garlic Italian seasoning Pour over chicken breasts Bake Serve with rice My kids LOVE this dish!

Well, we have a very active Girl Scouts troop here and we are not in the US so you are welcome to "think" about us on that day! :)

My dd's middle name is Sarah.

I think "passionate" is a dicey word. I love my job. I work hard and I do a good job and I get paid. Would I do it if I wasn't getting paid? Heck no! I'd get a job that did pay a salary! If I wasn't getting paid then how would we eat? Or do you mean would I do it if I were independently wealthy and didn't NEED the money? Then the answer is I'm not sure. I have never had the luxury in my entire life to think about being wealthy enough that I could choose to spend every day any way I please. If I did have that kind of money, I would do all sorts of different things. Does that mean I am not "passionate" enough about my career? I have the desire, the skill, the qualifications, the liberty, and the character to do my job. I enjoy doing it and I get paid. Isn't that enough? Tagging "passionate" onto it makes me feel like if I am not willing to do it for free then I don't "really" love what I do. I think that is hogwash.

Ds-14yo is in the middle of building "Helm's Deep" and it looks fantastic already. Yep, those video games sure are evil.

I read at night after everyone else is asleep. It is my favorite time of the day!

My dd is Natalie. :)

I am on Penang Island in the Indian Ocean and it is 90 degrees with 90% humidity... every single day of the year. No exceptions... Well, sometimes it rains.

We add chopped red and green chilis. We like it SPICY. :)

I am definitely afraid of bridges (I would never drive over one myself... my dh always drives when we have to go to the mainland) but not heights in general and definitely not flying. Weird, I know. My dh has a horrible fear of heights but is not at all afraid of flying. I don't think the two are necessarily related.

Started Reading: The Next Story: Life and Faith After the Digital Explosion by Tim Challies The God Who is There: Finding Your Place in God's Story by D.A. Carson Finished: 2. Pride and Prejudice 1. The Dark Monk: A Hangman's Daughter Tale

But that is the British government sinning... If you think high taxes are sinful... Not the government forcing the colonists to sin.

Me too. I am actually not the "long response to everything" type but yesterday I did type out several long, detailed responses to threads and now they are all gone... which now makes me not want to put effort into responding to anything. In fact, I think I've typed too much. First time I have said this: I miss the old boards. They were far more reliable.

Ugh. That is annoying. There were some really great comments made that I wanted to share with my ds when he woke up.

Yeah, they ARE missing including one of my own responses. Why is that? I don't recall anyone saying anything out of line?? Did something happen over night while I was sleeping??? Sometimes being in a different time zone is a pain. I miss everything!

As a mom of a peanut-allergy kid, the mere idea of this makes me woozy. I am so sorry this happened to you.

So my oldest ds is studying early American history this year. He has studied colonial times and the revolutionary war in depth. Yesterday he asked me this question: Him: Mom, according to the bible, we are to obey those in authority over us including the government unless the government directs us to do something sinful, right? Me: yes, that's correct Him: so then the colonialists rebelling against the British was unbiblical since the British were in authority over them and they weren't asking them to do anything sinful, right? Me: ummmmm...... Anyone care to give a response from a CHRISTIAN worldview (if you don't believe the bible you are, of course, welcome to respond but this is entirely based on believing the bible's statement about the authority of the government). CLARIFICATION: Were the 13 colonies legally under British rule before the revolution? Did Britain demand that the 13 colonies do something unbiblical?

I just finished Legend by Marie Lu ( dystopian lit) and I really enjoyed it.

All 3 Lord of the Rings movies!

Just wanted to address these two comments. I often cannot wait to get home and read a book. It is a very solitary activity. But most people are OK with reading. In fact, many times my whole family will be in the same room, all reading, not interacting with each other at all really, and we love it. It is family time for us. Is that ok since it is books and not video games? Also, I do see what you mention about kids having screens of some sort wherever they go. In fact, at our high school ALL students have an iPad ... It is required. What you will see on our campus is kids sitting in groups with their iPads but playing games together, showing each other what they are doing, working collaboratively on something, etc. They are never sitting in silence ignoring each other. If your ds is being excluded because you won't let him touch a DS, and it upsets you, then maybe you should consider letting him? Deciding to be counter-cultural is a parenting decision and that is fine. But it comes with a price. We live in a screen-oriented culture and you can choose to not be a part of it but it DOES mean that you or your kids will not fit in. It's the price you pay. Only you can decide if it is worth it.

I big, fat, puffy heart this post!