Happy Birthday!!!!

Today is the 34th birthday of the Terrible Swede, a.k.a. my husband. So, visit him at his blog and give him a big birthday greeting. (And feel free to harass him a little, too.) :D

Happy Birthday!!!!

By the way, we're both feeling better now, too.

Being sick is no fun.

Several of you know from reading my hubby's blog that we've both been under the weather for several days. He, at least, was proven to have influenza B. While I was not tested, I'm sure that I caught that from him, on top of the ear infection I'm still trying to recover from.

I've not spent too much time on the computer at any one time because I've been dizzy due to the ear infection. I am feeling better than I was, but I'm still not back to 100 percent yet. My hubby is still coughing and taking cough medicine prescribed by the doctor, but seems to be feeling a lot better, too.

Thank you to all who have been concerned and have prayed for us.

I'll save you!

You scored as Sir Lancelot. CHARGE!!! You are Sir Lancelot, bravely cutting down all who stand in your way, whether guards, or kings, or brides... Sir Lancelot 70% Sir Galahad 60% Sir Bedevere 55% Knight Who Says "Ni" 55% The Black Knight 55% Sir Robin 50% King Arthur 25% Which Monty Python Knight Are You? created with QuizFarm.com

Watch out! Dick Cheney has a gun!

My favorite radio station posted this song parody to the tune of "Janie's Got a Gun." You've gotta hear it!

When a pastor's wife dies...

Today, I went to the funeral of someone I really wish I could have gotten to know better. She was the wife of a pastor to whom I am close. Our church has never been so crowded as long as I've been there. It was so crowded, in fact, that the sanctuary ran out of hymnals, and I had to help a visiting pastor find more.

She didn't look her age, but she was about 61 years old. She was famous for her loving personality, her faithfulness to God and to family, and her recent love for quilting. She and her husband have three surviving children and several grandchildren. She died suddenly Saturday of a massive heart attack. Fortunately, she probably never knew what happened: she probably would have likened it to going from our world one second to Heaven at the blink of an eye.

I will miss her. My only regret is that I (and so many others) never got to say goodbye.

"I'm gonna stick with you forever!"

For the love of my life, the man who's been at my side for 5 1/2 years, 3 1/2 of which has been in marriage. To him, I dedicate the lyrics to a song that speaks to my great love for him:

Stick Wit U by PussyCat Dolls

I don't want to go another day
So I'm telling you exactly what is on my mind
Seems like everybody is breaking up
Throwing their love away
I know I got a good thing right here
That's why I say (Hey)

Nobody's going to love me better
I'm going to stick with you
Forever
Nobody's going to take me higher
I'm going to stick with you
You know how to appreciate me
I'm going to stick with you
My baby
Nobody ever made me feel this way
I'm going to stick with you

I don't want to go another day
So I'm telling you exactly what is on my mind
See the way we ride
In our private lives
Ain't nobody getting in between
I want you to know that you're the only one for me
And I say

Nobody's going to love me better
I'm going to stick with you
Forever
Nobody's going to take me higher
I'm going to stick with you
You know how to appreciate me
I'm going to stick with you
My baby
Nobody ever made me feel this way
I'm going to stick with you

And now
Ain't nothing else I can need
And now
I'm singing 'cause you're so, so into me
I got you
We'll be making love endlessly
I'm with you
Baby, you're with me

So don't you worry about
People hanging around
They ain't bringing us down
I know you and you know me
And that's all that counts
So don't you worry about
People hanging around
They ain't bringing us down
I know you and you know me
And that's why I say

Nobody's going to love me better
I'm going to stick with you
Forever
Nobody's going to take me higher
I'm going to stick with you
You know how to appreciate me
I'm going to stick with you
My baby
Nobody ever made me feel this way
I'm going to stick with you

Nobody's going to love me better
I'm going to stick with you
Forever
Nobody's going to take me higher
I'm going to stick with you
You know how to appreciate me
I'm going to stick with you
My baby
Nobody ever made me feel this way
I'm going to stick with you

Happy Valentine's Day!

"Please help me figure this out!"

Yesterday was quite a challenge for me, but my problem started well before yesterday.

My husband and I live in an apartment complex in which the manager resists doing anything for anyone, so I knew from the get-go that this was going to be a challenge.

Tuesday morning, I went next door to the manager's office (yes, he's one door over), and told him that my refrigerator was not working and that I needed to get it fixed before my food started going bad. He told me he would call the owner to see what he wanted to do. I gave him all day and never heard anything.

Wednesday morning, I went back to the office and asked the manager if he'd gotten in touch with the owner yet because my food was beginning to spoil. He said he'd tried to reach him and wasn't able to, but would keep trying. I didn't hear anything the rest of that day, either.

Thursday morning, just before 9 a.m., I decided to bypass the manager and called the owner at his workplace and told him that my refrigerator was not working, that I'd told the manager about it two days before and reminded him the day before, and that nothing had been done and I was doing what I could to keep my food from going bad. (I put most of it in bags in my truck because it was about 30 degrees outside.) He said, "I'll be there in about 10 or 15 minutes."

The owner showed up about 20 minutes later with the apartment manager, and told me that he had called an appliance repair shop and that they would have someone over that day sometime. At about 9:35 a.m., the repair shop van pulled in, and my fridge was fixed by 10:45 a.m. I waited a couple of hours and then put my food back in my fridge.

Then, sometime around 12:30 p.m., my Internet connection crashed on me. But it wasn't just the Internet I couldn't access. My husband and I got Vonage for our home phone service, and in order to use it, you have to have a broadband Internet connection, so when I lost that Internet connection, I had no phone. This was a serious problem.

I thought the problem was with my cable Internet provider, so I called. According to their readings, I had a secure connection. They told me that it could be a problem with my Vonage service: maybe since they share bandwidth, my router was overwhelmed. So I was told to call Vonage and see if there was something they could do and if the problem was on their end.

I was on the phone with a Vonage service tech who barely spoke English for almost an hour. He had me connecting and disconnecting, unplugging and plugging things back in. At one point, I got a dial tone on my phone, but I had no way to connect to the Internet from my computer. In the end, the Vonage rep told me the problem was not on their end, but maybe there was a problem with my Apple Airport Extreme (which serves as a wireless Internet router), and suggested I call Apple.

For about 20 minutes, I was on the phone with an Apple service tech. He had me switch a few wires around to no avail, and finally suggested I unplug and turn everything off for about five minutes. When I plugged everything back in and got them up and running, my Internet connection was back on and I had a dial tone on my phone.

I never did figure out what was wrong in the first place! I made my call to the cable company around 1:30 p.m., which is when I noticed the outtage, and didn't get the problem fixed until after 3 p.m. I still don't know what the problem was.

The good parts of yesterday were, though, that my sister decided she wants to rejoin Mary Kay and be my recruit, and I had a good session with my beginning ASL students at church last night.

And tonight, our church is hosting "A Night of Love and Laughter" to celebrate Valentine's Day, and a nice couple from our church bought tickets for us so we could go! So we're going! Yea! Maybe I'll tell you about it tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Baby drinks dog's milk

This is a story too strange and funny to believe without reading the story. Go to the link to read the whole story. What would you do if it was your baby?

In the wake of the Riotous Cartoons, keep in mind...

Talk is cheap. Free speech isn't.

As a journalist, I was taught much about First Amendment freedom, although I could have been taught more about ethics in journalism. But even I know that there are certain limits that must be placed on information that is published and broadcasted.

When I worked at our local paper putting engagement, wedding, birth, and anniversary announcements, among others in the Sunday paper, there were times when I had to have serious talks with those who had written their own announcements, because they had written something that we could not publish. (An example was information about family feuds.)

I know that other countries have different laws than we have in the U.S., and that poking fun at the decisions foreign leaders make can be very funny. I mean, geesh! We make fun of our own government all the time! But poking fun of those who have already terrorized and killed thousands of people might not be a good idea.

All I'm saying is this: Think before you publish. Free speech isn't always as free as you think.

Ahhh. . . Serenity. . .

. . . in the form of a giant comma!

Guess I'd better play along

My husband tagged me on Jan. 25, and I've been too distracted to notice until now. So, my dear, sweet hubby, here it is:

Four jobs I've had (in chronological order):

• Celebrations Coordinator
• Communities Reporter
• Copy Editor
• Reporter/Writer/Editor/Photojournalist

Four places I've lived (chronologically):

• Great Bend, KS
• Garden City, KS
  
• Lebanon, MO
• Wichita, KS

Four of my favorite foods:

• Pizza
• Grape leaves
• Reuben sandwiches
• Steak

TV shows I like to watch:

• "That 70s Show"
• "Days of Our Lives"
• "Judge Judy"
• "Veronica Mars" "(although I'm usually gone when it airs now)

Four movies I could watch over and over again:

• "Miss Congeneality" (the original and the sequel)
  
• "Patch Adams"
• "The Notebook"
• "Kill Bill" (both volumes)
  

Four places I'd rather be:

• In bed, with my husband next to me
• On the warm sands of the beach
• In a house of our own
• On vacation in a foreign country

Four websites I visit:

• www.marykay.com/eolson1
• www.alspro.com
• www.ctsfw.edu/events/citi/index.php
• Gamehouse games

Four people I'd like to tag:

• Mrs. K.
• Minister 2 B
• Dan the geologist
• Intolerant Elle

Okay, I'm done. Enjoy!

On the blending of Christianity with Islam

Thanks to an e-mail sent through the CAT41 group (Confess and Teach for Unity), I found this article about how some Africans are "meshing" Christianity with the false religion of Islam to form what they call "Chrislam." Here is a portion of what they do to combine these two religions into one:

"Yet worshipers at 'The True Message of God Mission' say it's entirely natural for Christianity and Islam to cexist, even overlap. They begin their worship by praying at the Jesus alcove and then 'running their deliverance' - sprinting laps around the mosque's mosaic-tiled courtyard, praying to the one God for forgiveness and help. They say it's akin to Israelites circling the walls of Jericho - and Muslims swirling around the Ka'ba shrine in Mecca. . ."

"'You in the West are satisfied with one hour of church on Sunday,' says Mr. Balogun. But for people in Africa, who he says need so many solutions, 'This is about a practical way of life,' about a willingness to combine Christianity or Islam with their own traditions to 'see if they can make something new' - something that will help. . ."

"The broader context here is Africa's dramatic shift in recent decades to Christianity and Islam. During the 20th century, fully 40 percent of Africa's population moved from traditional religions to 'different shades of Christianity,' says Philip Jenkins, a history and religion professor at the University of Pennsylvania. It is, he adds, 'the largest religious change that has ever occurred in history.' There are debates about whether Christianity or Islam is spreading faster in Africa, but clearly they're both on the rise - and sometimes are the source of tension.

"In Nigeria's religious city of Jos (short for 'Jesus Our Savior') the government says 50,000 people died between 1999 and 2004 in sectarian clashes. Until a peace deal last year, Sudan's northern Muslims and southern Christians were at war for two decades.

"Clearly, the religious revolution is still shaking out. 'People are converting rapidly, but they don't necessarily have instruction' in the details of their faiths, says Boston University's Professor Robert. Nor have they had 'time for their belief system to solidify.' It is, she says, 'still shifting.' She argues that eventually the faithful will choose one religion or another, and the hybrids will fade away."

These people actually think that they are all worshipping the same God, but they don't even have and have never had proper instruction about their respective religions, Christianity or Islam. Yeah, it's great that these religious groups are finally able to get along without warring and feuding, losing countless thousands of lives, but how long can that really last?

This may seem great on the outside, but let's take a look at the inside: Members of two different religious groups who worship two different dieties and subscribe to two different religious texts, and who differ on whether Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the saviour of all humanity, are saying that there aren't enough differences to keep them apart, and that there, in fact, are enough similarities that they can be complementary to each other. Does this make sense?

Matthew 6:24 (New International Version)

24"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

Now, I know that although that verse refers to money, but can't it also not apply to the serving of two gods?

The author of the article is already predicting that eventually, the faithful to each respective religion are going to separate out again, and when they do, it's going to be at least as bad as was before the two religions "merged."

Obviously, if you do much study into the religion of Islam, you will see that the faithful are commanded to war against all those who do not accept Islam. They are to either force people to submission or kill them, hence the word "jihad" or "holy war." If you want more information, go to this site. Although it may scare you, it gives a lot of detail about what their religion teaches all those who follow it faithfully.

My family has known very well for about 10 years a family who subscribes to Islam, but I doubt very highly that this mosque in town teaches the "true faith" of Islam. Because of the kind of friendship that my family has with the Muslim family we know, and from what I have learned about Islam, I know that this family is very liberal, and I believe their mosque is, too. For some reason, they are encouraged to have Christian friends, and treat them with kindness, love and respect. But this is very rare and a diversion from what their religion is supposed to teach.

Even the "liberal" Muslims could not worship with Christians, though. I know this because of my family's interactions with them. They were somewhat uncomfortable at our church when they were there for mine and my husband's wedding 3 1/2 years ago, but they were happy to be there for us. But, see, these are the exceptions, and I'm sure those who fully subscribe to the "true" religion of Islam would find these liberals just as much an abomination as they do Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists . . . you get the idea.

What do you think? Do you agree that Christians and Muslims do not worship the same God? If you do, do you then also agree that because of this, the two religions can never truly merge? How do you explain the merging of these two faiths, and where do you see "Chrislam" going, if it survives at all?