IHOP Girl: January 2011

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Indian Summer in January?

Dear Father Winter,

Has Mother Nature wrapped you around her pinkie? What is the temperature doing in the 60s when February is a week away? Not that I mind or anything, it's just that I'd rather have the snow back. Thank you!

Sincerely,

Earthling

*****

On a totally separate note. This is Torque's new cart!! It is almost finished, and will be fun to use. He can't start pulling it until this summer when he is 18mo, and his bones have finished growing. I'm hoping to get some pictures of him standing with it soon.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Making Ourselves Known

Obedience class went mostly well. After his tail knocked over a whole section of ring divider (it's a short wooden expandable x fencing), he jumped on a little husky dog to play while I was fixing the fence earning a nasty glare from the owner, and decided to pitch a little but loud barking argument while the instructor was welcoming us (at least that got a couple of chuckles and a "any questions" comment).

Then he mostly settled down. It didn't help that it had rained all day, so I didn't get him good and worn out before class. Anyways, we're definitely the biggest dog in the class, with a Doberman in close second. Which is always hard because people don't understand that he's still a puppy, so he really should get a little le-way. The assistant to the class was cracking up when she brought Torque back from the "out of sight" part, because he had spent the entire 3 minutes away from me trying to play with her (they aren't allowed to do more than pet their head for the CGC test). He is a nut.

It will be interesting to see if I survive the class - haha, we may be repeating it. Actually I think he'll do well, it will be a great learning opportunity for him and me! More updates later!!

Mmm, on a quick side note - if you never went to check out the Atlanta IHOP podcast on the Glory of Marriage I would encourage it. It's great weather or not you're married, it's not the normal sermon on marriage. Check it out! http://ihop-atlanta.com

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Oh snow, where art thou!

Now that all our snow has melted I thought that I'd take a walk down memory lane. I was thinking about singing a dirge relating to my sorrow at the loss of our snow, but that did seem slightly over kill. Alas.

Our first level 2 obedience dog class is tonight. I'm sure I'll make a posting about how we were the most disobedient pair there. More will come on this.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Marriage isn't just for the married

This the first part to a marriage series by Billy Humphrey at the Atlanta House of Prayer. It's great!! I recommend it - and if it won't play on here than go to http://ihop-atlanta.com/

Enjoy!

Monday, January 10, 2011

Snow Day!

I think one of my favorite things about getting snow in the South is watching how people act in it and about it. That and because it shuts everything down it is like a holiday!! The dogs are loving it! Torque and Daisy play some, Torque is still obsessed which can be annoying, but it's a good training opportunity.

Hearing some chaos outside the house I went to look out the window, and both my neighbors and I got to watch a man in a big truck slide sideways down the hill in front of the house. I think he was trying to go up the hill, and hit some ice. Stupid people - if they tried not to spin their wheels they would do better; but instead they spin ice patches into the snow covered streets...thanks...a lot.

I wish that we did have plows, because I would love to go with Julia and go hiking with the dogs at the farm, but since there are so many hills by us it could be a bad idea...I don't really feel like getting stranded. I'll try to post more!!!

Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Something To Save My Sanity

And Then There Were Two...

More appropriately titled; And Then She Lost Her Mind.

This is Daisy. Torque thinks Daisy is a new toy that runs, hides, plays, and smells AMAZING. Yes, Daisy is spayed. Yes, Torque is a butt head.

I have a blister on my hand now. Why? Might you ask. By the way, thanks for asking...a mother's pain just needs to be recognized now and then *pause for emotional crying moment*. Oh. Right. Blister. Torque spent all after noon bouncing, and jumping, and generally trying to get to Daisy. While I spent all afternoon holding Torque's leash. Use your imagination.

Torque loves other dogs, I'm starting to think to much. I'm going to brainstorm with Julia tomorrow when we go hiking in the morning before Yoga. I neeeeeeed yoga. Torque makes me need yoga. WOT says I sound like a mother. I think that I agreed with her when I threatened to ground the dog. I am starting to think that I really do need to just get married and have a bunch of kids to yell at, I will feel more legitimized then.

There will be more pictures and stories later I'm sure. Daisy is here for a week. Heaven save us all....

P.S. This is not a perminant eddition - I'm dog sitting.

Movie Night In...I love a good movie!

Mega Mind
Taking Chance (Will make you cry like a baby)
Charlotte Grey (A bit of a different take on Nazi Germany)
Series - Merlin (I LOVE BBC)
Robin Hood (Okay, a love Russell Crowe, you'll have to understand that about me...)
Kingdom of Heaven (Chuck full of acting power with an epic tale)
Miss Potter (Such a great film! Story of the creator of Peter Rabbit)
How to Train your Dragon (Possibly my favorite animated movie ever...I'm like a little kid, I watch it over and over)
Buck (Sundance winner, Biography of Horse Trainer, heart touching)
Lost in Austin (Modern day spin on Pride and Prej.)

Life as a nurse...

Great words by Reb Jeff: Vayishlach: Facing Death

"Rachel died. She was buried on the road to Ephrat — now called Bethlehem. Jacob set up a pillar above her grave. It is the pillar at Rachel’s grave to this day."–Genesis 35:19-20

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidui http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiva_(Judaism), and preparing the notifications to the community, feel like little fragments of the sacred. I have been entrusted with the care and tending of the most powerful, complex and difficult emotions that a person can experience in life. I have been made, in some small part, a guardian of the memory of a departed soul — a life that touches upon many other lives.After dropping off my older daughter at her high school this morning, I made a stop at Treasure Coast Hospice http://www.tchospice.org/, a remarkable organization that sets a very high standard for the loving and respectful care of the dying. There, I visited a lovely man whom I have seen a few times in his hospice room. I sat by his bedside and listened to him (in full possession of his faculties) as he told me about his worries about his family, the support of his wife after he is gone, and the future of his children and grandchildren. I was deeply moved by the way he put any concern for himself — even while facing death — in a distant backseat to his concerns for his family. When my own time comes, I can only hope to have his awareness of the way that one life can touch so many others.Also at hospice, I visited a woman I have known for the past two years — a dear soul who is a former Jewish religious school director. I sat with her, too, singing psalms to her as I listened to her heavy and labored breathing. I have no medical training, but I have come to know the sound of a person who is close to death. The body begins to fight for each breath as it slowly looses it grasp on life. As I held her hand and sang, I realized that being a rabbi is no protection against becoming one of the people caught in the web of connection. I, too, am changed by the loss of a life that has touched mine.Later in the day, I met with a couple from our congregation. She had just learned that her brother died yesterday in a car crash. Coming to terms with the loss is made more difficult for her by the fact that she and her brother had not seen each other or spoken in five years. Sometimes, people think it is easier to mourn the death of someone who has moved out of your life. In my experience, though, it's harder. Grief is magnified by wounded love and regret. I have no magic words to say to ease the pain of mourning. All I can do is listen, become a vessel in which people place their stories, and offer compassion.Actually, there is one more thing I can do. I can have faith that "all I can do" is all that I need to do. It is enough.In this week's Torah portion (Vayishlach) Jacob watched Rachel, the love of his life, die in childbirth. He was overcome by grief. Jacob had worked for his cruel uncle Laban for fourteen years to earn the right to marry Rachel. Now she was gone. Because she died while they were traveling, Jacob had to bury her by the side of the road. He built a pillar of stones on the spot to mark the place as sacred.This is what we all do, in one way or another, when death enters our lives. We grieve and our hearts break. We wish that we could continue to walk along the path of life with our loved ones forever, but the dead cannot fully join us. We have to leave something behind in order to resume our own journey. So, what do we do? We mark the moment as sacred. We erect monuments — both in cemeteries and in our hearts. The stones we place on top of stones remind us that a life may end, but its sanctity is forever.The Torah says that the monument Jacob built for his beloved continues to stand until this day. A life that touches the lives of others never ceases to send living reverberations throughout the web that binds us all.