Pragmatic Compendium

inpsiring the pragmatic practice of intimacy with Christ

7 Quick Takes: 06.01.09

Kristen emailed me to make sure I was okay and I realized I hadn’t blogged in over a week!

Over a week! What have I been doing?

I missed 7 Quick Takes Friday last week, but it just seems like a good way to catch up on a few things . . .

1. Still healing. Feeling pretty good. Still slow, but getting faster. FirstHusband and I went to Sam’s Club and Walmart together on Saturday and he said I wasn’t annoyingly slow, just a little slow. I leaned on pushed the basket a lot. I get really tired by the end of the day if I’m too active during the day. So. I’m still a bit of a wimp. Thankfully, I’m allowed in my dry sauna now, so that is a WONDERFUL THING. I LOVE my dry sauna.

I wish I could stretch. I mean REEAALLY stretch. Like a cat. When our cats stretch I want to throw things at them to make them stop. It’s not nice that they do that in front of me.

I wish I could sleep comfortably. I mean like I did before the surgery. Hunker down and sleep HARD comfortable, you know?

I wish could get a massage, but I’m still too afraid to lay on my stomach or let anyone even come close to touching my new scar. My back hurts all the time from wearing the compression binder all day. Four weeks down, two more weeks to go.

2. I’ve been reading C.S. Lewis. Really for the first time. I’ve read The Screwtape Letters, but that was over a decade ago and that was fiction. I’ve read excerpts and quotes, but this is the first time I’ve read an entire book by C.S. Lewis. My first pick? “The Problem of Pain.” I’m still working out my thoughts on the paradox of evil and suffering vs. a loving, all-powerful God. Learning a LOT. Making many handwritten notes. And a list of words I need to look up in the dictionary. Like “filial.”

3. Spending a lot of time writing in my prayer journal. About everything. Reading my Bible. Spending time sitting still and shutting up after writing/praying. Listening. Learning. Thinking.

4. Still praying and struggling with what to do about the praise team at my church. Thursday night at 7pm, I went to my first rehearsal since my surgery. The interim leader/director who originally asked me to sing with the group was out of town.

The sound was . . . significantly less than optimal. In the end, I said I wasn’t ready to sing with the group on Sunday. Everyone assumed that I wasn’t feeling up to singing quite yet. True. In a way. I attended the traditional service on Sunday morning instead of the contemporary service, so people wouldn’t wonder why I was sitting out.

I’ll admit, I’m discouraged and confused about the direction of this service and what role, if any God wants me to take. Everything is still in transition. I’m taking it a week at a time. Today, I prayed that God would make it VERY CLEAR whether I should sing with the group this week.

5. Summer has begun and we are actually on track for the daily summer plan. The kids are reading a minimum of 30 minutes every day and they are both physically active every day (they are in the pool right now). FavoriteSon has been practicing the guitar nearly every day and PinkGirl had her most productive piano practice today. (I can’t play, but I do remember my scales, so that’s what I’m teaching her.) She hasn’t been consistent with her daily math, but I’m working on it. We’ve been pretty consistent with a 20 minute rotation of playing/working during the day. My oven timer is getting a serious work out.

6. The kids and I have all gone to the dentist for cleanings in the last week and (unfortunately) PinkGirl had her first filling today. She did GREAT. We go to a pediatric dentist and LOVE him.

7. We got a Wii! FavoriteSon, the family money hoarder has been saving his money for months and decided that he wanted to have a boy/girl birthday party in a few weeks and he wanted Wii to be one of the main activities. So he bought himself an early birthday present. Our family was ready for a Wii. My dad came over on Sunday afternoon after church and he even played. Just one more way to get the kids to be active during the day.

7_quick_takes_sm
Join in with your own 7 Quick Take Friday post at Conversion Diary hosted by Jennifer!

June 1, 2009 Posted by | books, christian living, cool words, intentional living, poor me some whine, pragmatic parenting, suffering | , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

cool word: bifurcate.

So, I’m reading Women, Faith, And Work How Ten Successful Professionals Blend Belief. Specifically, I’m reading the chapter on Goldie Rotenberg: Real-Estate Attorney. The author, in describing Goldie’s life as a Hebrew Christian, mentions her involvement with “a mission devoted to evangelism among Jewish people” and how it

“has helped maintain her sanity in her bifurcated world.”

bifurcated.

Never used this word. I am compelled to look it up. I could be using this word. It could be just the word I need someday when discussing something that is bifurcated. Things could be bifurcated and I wouldn’t even know it.

“Adjective: bifurcate ‘bI-fur`keyt

1. Resembling a fork; divided or separated into two branches
“the bifurcate appendages of an arthropod”
- biramous, branched, forked, fork-like, forficate, pronged, prongy

Verb: bifurcate ‘bI-fur`keyt

1. Split or divide into two

2. Divide into two branches
“The road bifurcated”

Derived forms: bifurcated, bifurcating, bifurcates

cool word.

And the examples are great. My favorite is: “the bifurcate appendages of an arthropod”

So, let’s see. How can incorporate the use of this word in my daily life? The next time I have to describe a particular road leading to my house, I can use the example given above:

“When you turn onto McStreet, the road immediately bifurcates. Stay to the right.”

THAT will make the directions so much clearer. What else, what else? Hmmm.

“Honey, will you hang the new bird feeder up right where the branch bifurcates?”

What? He’s my husband. I can mess with him if I want to. Besides, the geek probably know what it means. He used to read the dictionary for fun, for crying out loud.

And how about:

“We all put on our bifurcated clothing one leg at a time.”

or

“Let’s bifurcate the work so we can finish more quickly.”

and one that sure to be understood around here:

“FavoriteSon? Bifurcate that piece of chocolate cake and share it with your sister.”

I’m open to more suggestions. Anyone?

This post, “cool word: bifurcate” also appears on my Pragmatic Communication blog, which is solely dedicated to communication: talking, writing, reading and listening.

March 6, 2009 Posted by | cool words, laugh! | , , , | 2 Comments

   

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