Sunday, November 30, 2008

November is Closing

Wow. Only 31 days left in the year 2008. Just wow.

I could probably do a blog post about 2008 things that have changed in my life in 2008, but that would probably get a bit old around, oh I don't know, number 13 or so. :)

Some pictures to end the month --



Friday, November 28, 2008

HAPPY THANKSGIVING


Menu

1 huge deep fried turkey
2 large turkey breasts
1 large ham
big ole crock pot of mashed potatoes
huge bowl of peas
ginormous bowl of corn
coleslaw
2 large cans of cranberry sauce
4 pans of rolls
2 pumpkin pies
1 large cheesecake
1 large pan of brownies
1 large chocolate cake
1 apple cake
1 large bowl of orange jello

People served = 19

Leftovers --

1 small bowl of turkey
1 pumpkin pie
part of the apple cake
jello

Hate it when that happens. No turkey sandwiches for the Shuford household. Though, I must say, we did manage to get some leftovers at Bernard's parents' house. :) Yes, the menu above was for the Valentine family's get together. I come from a talented family, but dang, we can eat!!

I hope Thanksgiving gave you an opportunity to slow down, look around and say, "Thank you, Jesus, for your blessings on me!"

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Monday, November 24, 2008

Just a Bit o' Fun

Ran across this on my voyage through cyberspace:

The Gender Analyzer

It's simple -- simply insert the address for your blog and click "analyze."

Then, see if the results are correct.

This blog??

We guess http://www.karmashuford.blogspot.com is written by a man (56%), however it's quite gender neutral.

>karmat makes a few checks< I believe they missed this one!

However, I checked several others, and they were correct.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Pre-Season Cheer

The music is a "blast from the past," but the main cats are definitely contemporaries!!


Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Just Wondering

I have an online acquaintance. For "identity" purposes, I call him JJ.

JJ seems to be a nice enough guy. He is fairly intelligent, and is very good at his craft/hobby, though I'm not sure what he does professionally. He is also as far left as almost anyone could possibly be. He puts the "L" in liberal. He is also gay, and and atheist.

None of these, honestly, bother me.

However, simply put, JJ hates anything religious. To be fair, not just Christianity, but any kind of religion. He believes it is full of lies, misguidance, and for the weak of mind. He also blames it for all that is wrong in the world. He even goes as far to say that the world would be better off without ANY kind of religion, and "preaches" that message to whomever will listen.

In other words, he is the exact polar opposite of me. With the exception of a few insignificant commonalities (for indeed a commonality that you share with the entire human race while significant in "size" does not account for a whole lot), we have nothing in common.

Yet, he is nice to me, and seems to treat me with respect. He hates everything that I believe and stand for, yet he seems to separate that from "me."

So, when he does something nice for me, and goes out of his way to do it, why am I paranoid? Why can I not just accept a token of friendship.

I realized the answer tonight, ironically enough, during a MAF presentation at church. (MAF is a mission organization that supports missionaries and workers around the world through the use of aircraft, etc. More info can be found at Their Website)

I have gone on several short term mission projects. In my early 20's I felt the call to missions though the doors have never opened for me to pursue that. I have wiped babies' noses, waded through mud and muck, let a little child with TB sit in my lap, handed out food, toys, clothing, etc to those less fortunate with one goal -- showing Christ's love.

I've also felt, here at home, that we must meet people's short term physical needs in order to build a relationship with them so that I can ultimately share Christ with them. (And in Christianese, that translates "getting saved.")

If you are a Christian, you are quite possibly not seeing anything wrong with that philosophy.

I do, now.

Perhaps that is what JJ is doing to me. Building a relationship with me so that he can introduce me to his godless way and have one less "religious" adherent in the world.

I realized, tonight, that I must share God's love with people that may never accept it simply because I love them. I must be willing to give them a glass of water, and laugh and love with them, even if they never, ever accept Christ.

My job is NOT to get them to accept Christ.

My job is to love them as Christ loved them.

Christ loved the two thieves that were killed beside him. One of them never accepted Him.

So, when I serve those in the community, when I take food to someone who needs it, when I ask an elderly shut in if there is anything I can do, when I reach out to my gay/atheist/religious-hating friend, am I doing it because I truly care when he is hurting, or do I have the ulterior motive?

I truly believe Christ doesn't want us to have the ulterior motives. Yes, Christ wants them to be saved. Yes, Christ wants us to share with them.

But, I don't think the wham-bam-hit-and-run visitation program is going to do it. It may have worked 40 years ago, or even 10, but the world has changed. Significantly, even, just since I got out of college 14 years ago.

The world wants REALness, sincerity, and transparency, three things that are lacking in most of society today.

In short, we must truly love people, and through this love, people will begin to know the true character of Christ.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Quote

You must not think me necessarily foolish because I am facetious, nor will I consider you necessarily wise because you are grave.
Sydney Smith
English essayist (1771 - 1845)

Sunday's Photo

I take A LOT of pictures of my children. As a result, even my 3 yo knows how to "pose." The good thing is that it is easy for me to get the facial expression I want with little or no prompting.


Unfortunately, it also means that those sheer, unrestrained moments of joy are difficult to capture. I got one today, though. My nephews and my children decided to build a pile of leaves and jump in it. My mom has two huge trees in her front yard, and she doesn't rake the leaves until every last, single one has blown off. They started with a small pile, and the more they picked up, the bigger they decided to make it. At one point, it was so high, Kristi couldn't put leaves on top of it.

The yard looked pretty good when they finished. :)

Then, they took turns jumping in it. My nephews even let me take their picture, and they are very reluctant to do that, on normal occasions. My kids also let me grab a few shots. I really like this one because you can see Trav's dimple in his right cheek, and Kristi's face is, well, just happy. :)

Sunday, November 09, 2008

Thought of the Day

Accepting Christ as my personal Lord and Savior does not automatically grant me moral superiority.

Football

Friday, November 07, 2008

Focus Object

No, I'm not pregnant, and I don't need a "focus object" for labor. (Didn't use the one I had anyway. Focused on the fire alarm/sprinkler because it looked like a pig with a flashing red nose. But, I digress.)

Over the past two weeks or so, I have done five shoots. That has translated to almost 2000 pictures to go through, "process," and upload.

My laptop is an appendage now.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Oh yea!

Chocolate ice cream is my favorite -- there is no doubt or argument about that.

However, since I was a little girl, there is another flavor that is a close second. It rarely gets mentioned, though, because it isn't really common. There is a place near Boone, NC that sells it (or used to), and around Christmas, two or three companies market it. I found some tonight . . . .


Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Passing Through

PaD 11/3

This blog originally began when I committed to taking a picture a day and posting it. I'm wanting to try to do that again.

So today's --

Monday, November 03, 2008

Thoughts on Election Day Eve

But not my thoughts. Well, they are "my thoughts" but Mr. Piper delivers them much more clearly, succinctly, and eloquently than I ever could.




To me, while who wins tomorrow is important in the temporal sense, God is God. One election in the US history is not going to dethrone Him, shock Him, perplex Him, or confuse Him. Heck, it won't even slow Him down.