Giving vs. Taking and Opportunities

Today is Halloween / Reformation Day
and it's one night where people don't mind as much if you knock on their doors...
which means it's a great witnessing / evangelistic opportunity!
Anybody else going door-to-door GIVING instead of taking candy?

Speaking of neat ways to witness... here's a cool magic card trick!!

Mizzoria~

You have to at least try...

Don Juan in Carlos Castaneda's A Separate Reality - 
The difference between a warrior and an ordinary man is that a warrior sees everything as a challenge, while an ordinary man sees everything as either a blessing or a curse.

Teddy Roosevelt -
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, 
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, 
who strives valiantly, 
who errs and comes up short again and again, 
because there is no effort 
without error or shortcoming . . . 
who knows the great enthusiasms, 
the great devotions; 
who spends himself in a worthy cause; 
who at the best knows in the end 
the triumph of high achievement; 
and who at the worst, 
if he fails, 
at least fails while daring greatly, 
so that his place shall never be 
with those cold and timid souls 
who know neither victory 
nor defeat.

Mizzoria~

Funnysms

Asis, Jsis, and I discuss a disagreeable topic.
Jsis: Let's not ... what's the word??? ... lodge too much on this topic.  It's not good.
Good long pause as Asis and I try to decipher her meaning.
Simultaneously Asis and Me: OOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Me: You mean dwell on the topic?!
All three: Bahahahaha!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My Asis after I had helped her write a delicate email to a student's mother: I thank thee, dearest sister of mine, in succoring me in my time of need. I have sent the electronic epistle to the mother of [student name] under your especial, wise, and excellent guidance and advisement.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jsis: Are you wearing TWO t-shirts?!  Why don't you just wear a long-sleeve?
Me: Because I want my arms to be FREE! *flaps arms everywhere*

Another fashion quirk of mine that irritates my father (not on a modesty level) is wearing a long-sleeve, under a t-shirt, under a fleece vest.
Kinda like this, but with a vest on top
and no flowery designs
and no Madonna underneath...
Whatever, you get the point -

http://collegecandy.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/madonna-blue-long-sleeve.jpg
I can't believe Google doesn't have more images of GIRLS wearing this style... there were plenty of guys  sporting this style though.
But seriously, only Madonna?!
Maybe I typed the wrong search words.

Again, the reason being so that my arms can be FREE!

Mizzoria~

Canine Love

Hey - it's Friday, which means you all can spend 15 minutes to watch a touching Youtube video on a couple canines, several felines, an ursine, leporidine, and phasianidine, right?  Yeah, I made up those last 2 words but they relate to the taxonomy of rabbits and pheasants...



And that is why I like dogs better than I do cats...

Anybody else get annoyed that the mother/father (I can't tell) didn't so much as nod her/his head at Benji as a sign of gratitude!?  Frustrating and saddening that Benji had made so many sacrifices for those kits and then had to just leave like that.  I'm positive one of those little guys started tearing up when that happened.

Mizzoria~

Special Seat

While I'm not the avid reader I used to be nor am I as desperate for reading as I know some to be... this type of furniture is still appealing to me...

Whaddaya think?

Mizzoria~

Rocks + Water = Splashes

Back in May, our family had a roadtrip up to Maine and while visiting the Acadia National Park, we stopped at some cove on a chilly, cloudy day to throw rocks into the water.  And of course with the chunky rocks of Maine, we got some great splashes.

Here's a link to some photos I took: [Rock + Water Maine Album]

And here are a few:

This is a pre-splash shot.

Mizzoria~

Bright Start

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSe1iISpvOD6Ugp4NLkB12P_akENMWrjQSZFumfBuXn3TaFS0xl

Don't you just love it when little kids or anybody 

makes the mistake of greeting you with a cheery:

"Good Morning!"

When it's already 6pm in the evening?  

It might be a habit 

when they meet someone for the first time that day

or they just got up from a nap.

Regardless,

it just brightens the rest of your day 

and makes you ready to start anew 

at whatever task lies ahead of.

Their beautiful smile,

twinkling eyes,

and light step...

make you want to stretch out your arms,

maybe sing or dance a little happy jig,

and jump right into your work.

Is it just me?

Happy Tuesday!

Mizzoria~

Charges

From 2nd Timothy 4 (HCSB) -

I solemnly charge you [...]: 
Proclaim the message, 
persist in it
whether convenient or not,
rebuke, correct, and encourage 
with great patience and teaching.

....... ....... ....... ....... .......

But as for you, 
be serious about everything,
endure hardship,
do the work of an evangelist,
fulfill your ministry.

I think that's pretty straightforward about what we as Christians should be living like.  He never said it was going to be easy.  In fact, people should know, it's going to be the hardest thing you ever have to go though. And if it isn't hard... then you're not doing it right.  Thoughts?

Mizzoria~

loooooooooooooooooooooooong emails

Long emails are the best ... and long snail mail, too... you know the ones, where someone takes the time to babble on and reply to every point you made in your previous email and goes on for pages and pages?  Yeah, those are awesome and I always appreciate and love my friends for doing that... and it's always so much fun to look back at old correspondence and remember the ridiculous inside jokes going on in the past.  You amazing people know who you are.

Hoorah for long emails and long-email-writer-friends!!

Mizzoria~

Taken For Granted

Why is it, I always forget what I have ...
until it's been taken away from me?

For example, my 99% painless life is such a gift
and I'm not thankful for it.
I only remember to thank God for the use of my 10 fingers,
when my left middle finger gets an infection underneath my fingernail
and I can't grip anything tightly with that hand,
or when I accidentally and clumsily get wintermelon under my thumbnail so that it bleeds
and it also gets infected
because I decided to wash dishes without a glove or a water proof band-aid.
But seriously, how do you put a band-aid under your thumbnail?
And of course, it hurts to pressure that thumb
and I've been washing things with my thumb sticking out
like an awkward baby princess who gets mixed up with her pinky and thumb.

I also forget what a blessing it is to have the use of my 10 fingers and 2 hands
and the ability to play piano,
until I watch something like this:

And my heart starts clogging up my throat and my eyes sting.

I'm sure that's not all I've taken for granted.

What have you taken for granted these past few days, weeks, months, years even?

Mizzoria~

Inception... for Procrastination

A punch in the face for me because I've been doing this for blogging and some other aspects of my life...
No, not really that violent, but it has some great tips on how to avoid this nagging epidemic.

Mizzoria~

DC and Driving

So - last week Tuesday, we went on a day-trip to D.C. after deciding to do so on Monday.  We are quite the extemporary family ...

Anyways, DC is about a 4 hour drive from our home (it took us about 5 hours, due to notorious traffic) so the day start at 5:30am getting up and prepping for the trip to leave at 6:30am.

Here are some pics from the day:

Pretty waterfalls at the Roosevelt Memorial

A quote by Roosevelt that I really like.

More pretty waterfalls...

Some neat etchings on a column

Another great quote...

Stone etchings on a wall

This one is amazingly done.  The original bronze sculpting was probably the size of my fist.

More waterfall...

This one is so true!  And it doesn't apply to only human resources but also any natural resources.

Sorry for the bad quality of this one, but it's another great quote.

This one was at the Martin Luther Memorial.

Abraham Lincoln Memorial

The Reflecting Pool which they finally remodeled!  Sadly, there was still construction fluff at the bottom.

As you can see, it was a very cloudy day, but we were just thankful that it wasn't pouring.

There were these ridiculous ducks constantly "ducking" into the water head first.

That would be me and my Dad in the lower left.

More duck...

I think my Jsis took this.

Sooooo many Canadian Geese.  I believe there were about 100 geese there.

Some fancy sword at the Aerospace Museum (weird place to display it, right?)

Capitol Hill

Prettiful flowers at the Botanical Garden

These flowers are so long and thick.

No clue what that is.

CACAO BEANS!!!!!

A neat setup in front of the Botanical Gardens.  What I really wanted to take a picture will be later zoomed in.

CAMARO!!!!!!

Pineapple

Papaya

We ended up leaving at 6:30pm and coming home at about 11pm. I got to drive the 9pm-11pm shift, which I pretty much begged for, since I get to drive the long highway section when there are almost no people and I get my quiet, introverted thinking time while everyone snoozes in the back in [*cough*almost*cough*] total silence.  One can either reminisce through the day's events or ponder the wonders of the God or just communicate with God asking Him questions and whatnot.

When do you like to drive and why?

Mizzoria~