Carma

Have you ever heard of Ca-r-ma?

It's a group that will trap, fix and release stray cats and release them again. This keeps the cats from breeding in the wild, but also respects that they become wild animals and doesn't force them to be re-domesticated. At the same time, when they get kittens, they fix them and adopt them out once they've been socialized. To socialize the kittens they give them to foster families. It's a pretty good system.

So, right now, we've got 4 kittens. Two arrived a week ago yesterday, two more a week ago today, one two days ago, and one was adopted yesterday. It's been wonderful. They're very scared for the first few days, and a couple of them still hide when we try to play with them, but they've come a long way. It's a wonderful thing to do, plus we get to cuddle kittens, what could be better than that?

Here's our kitties:






sigh.

I'm going to miss them when they're gone


And here's a picture of my punk baby, just because she's so cute

Update

- We're online again!
- My laptop died about two months ago
- Last week I replaced it with a 1.83 ghz mac mini
- I'm very happy with the mini

There were a few adjustment issues at first for Hana, but that was to be expected. She spent a few nights screaming for a couple of hours in the middle of the night. It was hard on us, but we all made it through it. She's rolling all over the place now, waking once a night again, but it's better than 2-3 times a night.

Ben starts his job on Tuesday, but it has no benefits, so he's still looking for something else. Be praying that something comes along.

I'm going to see Cirque de Soleil on Saturday with family and am super excited.

Pictures will be updated within the next 24 hours.

Soon

We're getting high speed on Wednesday. That means posts, pictures and updates are all coming soon.

Still here

Not online (nearly) as much, but still around. We're very happy to be settled and Ben started his job today. It's more travel than we'd like though. Our options are to find a different place to live (closer to the Sussex area) or to find a job closer to the moncton area. I'd personally prefer the latter, but we'll see. Pray for us. The sooner we get that figured out, the sooner we can look at getting our own place, which is the main goal right now.

circumstance

As I was about to go to sleep an idea was going through my head, so instead of sleeping here I sit typing.

I was thinking about the unchanging God - how Christianity boldy declairs God to be the same yesterday, today and forever. This has proven to be difficult for some people because of the differences between the Old and New testaments. It's almost as if the God of the old testament is one of wrath and the God of the new testament is one of love.

How do we reconcile this, how do we make it fit?

In the Old Testament the "holy life" was governed by law. There were the laws written in the Torah (the Jewish holy book) and then there were the teachings of those who studied and interpreted the law. For example, the Torah would say not to work on the Sabbath. The teachings would define what work was (no more than x number of steps away from home for example), and when the Sabbath began and ended. So these two forms of "law" and a whole lot of time meant for a whole lot of rules. These rules were impolssible to follow all the time, and so sacrifices were set up to sort of "fill the gap". Depending on what law was broken a different offering or form of repentance was laid out to cover that.

Then there's the new testament where the sacrifices and the laws seem to go out the window. What happened? Did God change His mind? Did He give up on us and lower the standards?

No. We changed. Or rather, our circumstances changed.

Think of it this way - in the Old Testament there were different rules for those who were "clean" than for those who were "unclean". There was a general understanding that "unclean" was a temporary state and so none of those laws were lifelong.

Humanity was in a state of "unclean" without method of changing that state. The Laws given in the OT were laws given with the understanding that they would be temporary. There was a better way coming, they just had to wait.

That's why things like not wearing blended fabrics, or not eating certain foods, or staying outside of town for certain things aren't important anymore - they only applied temporarily, only until the final sacrifice of Christ.

So does that mean none of the laws apply?

Hebrews 10 is a wonderful chapter. Starting at verse 8
8First he said, "Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them" (although the law required them to be made). 9Then he said, "Here I am, I have come to do your will." He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.


The intent of the sacrifices (the requirements of the law) was to set our hearts on the will of God, not the will of man. It is God's will to save us, to woo us, to love us and for us to grow in that love and show it to all we know. When our will is focussed on God then none of the law is needed - it's purpose is already being fulfilled.

When one is fully focussed on God, on living a holy life (which first requires the belief that it is possible to live such a life) then the law becomes obsolete. It only exists because of the circumstance we find ourselves in.

So God never changes - His pourpose is eternal. We are the ones who change, through His power, so that we no longer need the law and are truly free to live our lives in Him. That isn't to say that nothing is a sin when a person is devoted to God - no one can "get away with murder" so to speak. It just means that a person totally devoted to God wouldn't do those things, and so it's not an issue.

9 months

My baby girl is 9 months old. Here are some of the things I love about her:

- kisses
- her new found ability to sleep through the night
- her smiles
- the way she shakes her head no no matter what you ask her
- her little "seal crawl"
- how curious she is
- how she lets us know when she needs to potty and uses less diapers in a day
- laughing
- the proud look she gets on her face when she rolls
- the cute smile when she gets tired of being on her belly and lays her head on her arms
- the "fishy", "old man" and "sad" faces
- how well she's handled the traveling, new places and new faces the past two weeks
- everything else that makes her, her

She's the most amazing baby I've ever known. So sweet, sensitive, understanding. Those are qualities I admire in her and know will make her a better person. Every day I'm more in love with her. I can't wait to get to know her thoughts, her dreams, her understanding of the world.

A few things

- Ben and our stuff made it accross Canada, yay!

- Hana has slept through the night 3 nights in a row, another yay!

- I'm so used to getting up I still don't get uninterupted sleep, but now it's my fault...

- We'll be landing in Moncton on Wednesday

- Ben's job starts on Monday (13th)

- Hana has almost learned to crawl. She's kinda doing a seal walk right now, pushing up on her hands and pulling her legs behind her. She's also rolling on her tummy to sleep.

- It's wonderful to be with family and friends.

- I get to go see Cirque de Soleil at the end of the month. Yay again.

Feminism

For years I tried to tell people (and myself) that I am not a feminist.

Sorry, I lied.

See, I'm not one of those "man hating" feminists, and I'm not even al for the equality thing either (because honestly, if I were in a burning building I'd be much more comfortable with a man coming in to save me than a woman). I do very strongly believe that women should not be paid less for the same work, or be denied any sort of position, advancement or salary because they decide to start a family.

I appriciate (and would hope I could expect) for a man to hold the door open for me, or to treat me with old fashoned respect.

But I am a feminist.

I believe in the power of women - that women have a perspective, an intuition, a wisdom that men don't have. I beleive that the power of women is ignored and minimalized in western society. That instead of those qualities being seen as assets for the business world, women are encourged to masculate themselves or promote their sexuality in order to advance.

That's just wrong.

There's this idea floating around that educated women who choose to leave the "working world" to raise a family are doing some sort of grand injustice to the world (and to the rest of the women in it). I am personally offended by this. I have a BA and plan on furthering my education at some point. I may go back into full time work before I'm finished raising my children, I may not.

I think I will do a much better service to the world raising my children than sitting in an office (even if that happens to be a church office). That's not to say anything against mothers who choose to work - I'm talking about myself and nothing more. Everyone has their own strengths, their own abilities, their own situation.

I can't understand why there is such alow view of the stay at home mom. I know I used to think it was crazy. I thought I'd go completely stir crazy being home with Hana. I even planned on going back to work when she was 6 months or so, just to get out of the house. Now, being a SAHM and knowing some of the wisest, smartest, most creative women in the world who have chosen to SAH, I'm amazed. There is so much to do, so much to teach, to learn, to share, to experience.

I have time for relationships. I have time to make a difference. I have desires, passions, dreams - and the courage to follow them. I have a plan to make the world a better place, and I see it coming to light in my family.