poker

since when did poker become a sport? in searching the tv listings looking for soccer games they list soccer, baseball, golf, tennis, car racing, hockey, football, basketball. i can understand these but to say that poker is a sport. c'mon. sports are defined as an activity involving physical exertion. mind you i have seen guys break a sweat when they've gambled away their christmas paycheques playing poker and they have nothing left to take home to their wives and children.

it seems when there was a hockey strike on last year (unbeknownst to me) that poker took over the airwaves. it's bad enough that so many people squander their earnings on lottery tickets, hoping for that big win. now gambling is dubbed a sport??? i was having fun playing fish with my grandchildren when they wanted to change the game - texas hold'em. they had to change the rules for me because i didn't have a clue what a blind was, big or little.

i know someone who has squandered away her life's earnings playing bingo, lottery tickets, pull tabs. always hoping for that big win. each week playing more and more thinking this time she's gonna have a winner. over her lifetime we figure it may have amounted to in excess of $250,000.

now i see people who used to watch hockey games playing poker with higher and higher stakes. it's scary to think there is another popular, powerful addiction out there sucking the life blood out of people.

Jesus Christ superstar

went to see a wonderful play tonight. the dancers were awesome! course the fact that my 14 year old granddaughter, who in stage makeup looked a lot older, was one of the dancers had nothing to do with it. this is her first year taking dance and she was asked to perform along with other girls who have been taking dance anywhere from 5 to 13 years. and she was awesome!

soccer commentating

just watched the uefa semi-final between barcelona and milan. barcelona is my favourite team outside of costa rica so it was great to see them win. the commentating though was so boring, so unemotional. the commentating in costa rica was so exciting, so emotional. even if the game was a bit slow they could make it come alive just by their passionate commentary. sure miss it.

guatemala

going to guatemala was awesome. it's always such a blessing to be able to do for or give to others. to be physically active was great but the best part was the people. they have nothing but they are always so happy, warm and friendly. their basic needs of clean water, food, clothing and education are what we take for granted here. we brought a soccer ball and watching the boys play soccer i felt i had come home again. except they were playing in a dusty gravel pit of a soccer field.

classmates

after my little trip down memory lane this weekend i got out my old annual and had a good laugh reading all the quotes people had written in my book. and checking out the hairstyles. yuck! the school website lists some of the alumni. i was surprised to see that one classmate had become an ordained rabbi. definitely not something i imagined he would have aspired to. i wonder how many people actually achieved their goals. mine was just getting through life. my life is not how i imagined it but i guess i can deem it successful. i am getting through it. :o)

vancouver

went to vancouver this weekend. i was born and raised there and have maintained that you couldn't pay me to live there again. lived in the west end for 1 1/2 years when i was 14 / 15. wow has downtown & the west end ever changed. it was beautiful, i couldn't believe it. the trees are huge. incredible development. i wouldn't want to raise a family down there but i've talked to a few singles who love it. it brought back good memories but it was good to come back to the valley. less traffic, no crowds, wide open spaces.

desire

reading journey of desire. as the author talked about peoples desire for this or that i wondered what mine were. well i knew God is first and foremost. i couldn't think of anything else that really stirred my emotions and thought wow what a boring person i must be. then as i was just sending an email to a friend telling him a bit about my trip to guatemala i was getting so psyched. i could feel the excitement in every part of me. as i was reading the book i hadn't thought about what stirs my soul but just writing about my trip brought every nerve ending alive.

the minute i read about the trip to guatemala i knew i wanted to go. the desire was there, it filled my heart. and like psalm 37:4 says God gives us the desires of our heart.

despair

you can't just tell someone you want to commit suicide and expect that they are going to forget all about it.

your confession has burdened my heart so you're stuck with me and my rants. and after reading journey of desire and seeing you on almost every page there are lots. and lucky you i'm not even a third of the way through it yet.

"the pharisees knew more about the bible and it hardened their hearts. knowledge just isn't what it's cracked up to be."

and i want 'once upon a time...' like ever after.

your soul is dying and i'm filled with the joy of living.

jod talks about the titanic as the lovers stand on the prow. romance, beauty, adventure. eden. is that eden? is that why i always feel i belong in eden? because i want romance, beauty, adventure.

now this cracked me up. the prodigal son.
me - the prodigal coming home (to God) afer living a life apart from Him for so long. the pouting, party pooper (the other son) who has lived his entire life from duty and obligation.

i know the joy of my homecoming. he's angry (the other son) saying he hasn't got a thing in return for his life of service and Dad says "all that is mine has always been yours" in other words - he never asked. the dutiful son stands aside at the prodigal's homecoming and does not experience the fathers embrace.

think of God as a beautiful woman. you want her, you desire her. she stirs your passion, you're hungry for her. you go to seek your hearts desire. she responds to your seeking because it touches her hearts desire to be longed for. you're nonchalant, passionless, indifferent. if your hearts not in it why should His be?

if you're as passionate about God as you would be a rock, if you don't hunger for Him, if He's not your hearts desire, it's no wonder you have no joy. if you're only lukewarm is He going to spit you out of His mouth, Rev. 3:16, if you check out early on your terms.

get fired up. psalm 37:4 delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. He has become the desire of my heart and i am filled with joy. do you not ache for Him? do you not hunger for Him? like a woman, does a desire for Him not burn in your soul? are you so dead inside that there is not the slightest stirrings of desire?

i feel like a child in my simplicity, in just loving and being loved. i am rich with unquenchable joy.

you are worse than a pauper. you have a great deal of book learning but what has that given you. you have knowledge yet you have no hope, no joy.

you want to end your life to be with God. i am with God and i want to live my life for Him.

what are your dreams? what were your dreams?

you have a heart. can you feel it beating? or is it so lifeless you feel nothing?

how do you ever expect to find someone full of life that's wildly passionate about you. if you care nothing about life how can you care about God or anyone else.

this is said in love. do with it what you will. get angry if you want. but don't give up.

life in a gravel pit

and more faces

more faces

faces of panimache

doing laundry

and we think we have it tough on laundry day.

panimache

a small village at the bottom of a narrow, very steep valley. hurricane stan wiped out their crops (corn) and some homes and last year a team went there and built 7 houses. there are very few patches of grass, it's mostly dry, dusty, gravel. a few days before we arrived the church that we connected with there had delivered 35,000 pounds of food.

they speak quiche but now the children are learning spanish in school. the men and some of the older children speak spanish.

we showed the Jesus film in spanish and afterwards the pastor talked to the people and someone translated everything into quiche. about 20 people asked to receive Jesus. very cool.

the government says they are in danger, that their valley is no longer stable so they are hoping to buy land to transport them to a safer location.

water filters

these are some of the water filters we made for the people of panimache, a very poor village of indigenous mayan people. it's dry season right now and their water is a dirty, smelly creek that runs through their village. we took the water filters to the village and showed them how to use them. each filter weighed several hundred pounds and it took about 8 men to carry one filter up a 6" wide goat trail.

we started out using a plywood mold and then borrowed a steel mold from someone that was making water filters for other locations in guatemala. the steel mold worked a lot better and we were able to buy 2 molds to leave at the orphanage for a couple of men to keep making more filters, for panimache, for the orphanage, and for their own homes and families.

orphanage - casa angelina

these are the kids that are there right now although more kids were arriving almost daily.

casa angelina is an orphanage that upon completion will house 500 kids. only one house is complete right now. each house costs $40,000 to build and will be staffed by house parents. i can think of one couple who would make awesome house parents.

the abuse these kids have suffered at the hands of their parents is atrocious. a 5 year old girl repeatedly held down by her mother while her father raped her. they need so much love and care.

almolonga, guatemala

one carrot would feed the whole family.

it took almost a full day to get here but it was well worth it. the market was closed when we arrived late but we spent the night in a neighbouring town and returned early the next morning.

we went to the calvary church and met with pastor mariano. there was a funeral that day for someone in their church so the pastor wasn't supposed to be there but the editor and photographer from a newspaper in guatemala city had come to interview him. we lucked out as we and the editor interviewed him about the transformation of almolonga. he said that 33% of the population were born again christians. other than that the rest of the story about the transformation of almolonga is true.

this was paradise

but this is home.

every time i visited my friend's paradise i couldn't wait to get home again.

i'm having trouble posting the comments to match the pictures but you can tell which one is paradise. for as much as our house isn't much it's home and still where my heart is.

everything is big in costa rica

i went to visit a friend - this was another one of her guests. when it landed on my pillow my pillow landed on the floor and spent the night there. i'm not afraid of moths but when they're this big and won't get off my pillow... my sister would so have freaked. my fear is spiders - hers is moths.

for sale

white gold, custom designed, diamond ring. $1500 firm.