yo ho ho and a bottle of rum. . .

So, I have been kind of obsessed with pirates lately. I went to the library and checked out some books to do my own research. I am absolutely fascinated!
Anyway, a friend of mine came over last night who thinks that he is a pirate. He showed me how to find my pirate name. I was pretty excited, so I just wanted to share. . .

My pirate name is:

Captain Anne Flint

Even though there's no legal rank on a pirate ship, everyone recognizes you're the one in charge. Like the rock flint, you're hard and sharp. But, also like flint, you're easily chipped, and sparky. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part

"Come. Follow Me."

Last night, Zoe told us that she has been thinking about getting baptized and wanted to pray to Jesus about it with her whole family. Zoe and I have had numerous conversations lately about being a follower of Jesus, being a sinner who needs a Savior, and about what it means to get baptized.
Last night, she asked us to explain everything again because she wanted to pray about it.
So we did. . .
"Zoe, what is sin? Do you sin? Jesus never did, and when he died on the cross, he took the punishment for everything bad that we have ever done or ever will do. Jesus wants to be your Savior. He wants for you to tell him that you are a sinner. He wants you to ask him to be your Savior. He wants for you to tell him that for your whole life, everyday, that you are going to follow Him and tell and show people about how much He loves them."
And she did. She prayed a sweet little five year old prayer.
I wrote the date in my Bible next to the place where her name was already written, with the verse that Robbie and I chose for her before she was born, and with the date when we dedicated her at church, and where I hope to write the date when she gets baptized and any other date significant to her walk with Jesus.
Last night, as I was lying in bed, I remembered the previous night when minutes before I fell asleep, I prayed for Zoe. I prayed very specifically that she would begin her relationship with her Savior very soon.
I can't explain what the realization of that answered prayer did to me. I have prayed so many times for my children, but the little prayer I uttered right before falling asleep was one of the most significant I will ever pray, and it was answered so quickly.
I realize that my prayer may have had nothing to do with the timing of Zoe's questions, but it reminded me how important the spiritual part of my job is. By no means is my job with Zoe done or even easier. In fact, last night was the beginning of her following Jesus, so it is the beginning of my job of making her a disciple.

Jesus, thank you for Zoe's desire to accept you as her Savior and be your follower. Guide me as I disciple her to become a woman of God. Give me wisdom as I teach and perseverance as I pray. Thank you for being my Savior and bidding me to "Come. Follow Me."

Jesus loves gay people . . . ami on gay marriage...(and being called a Christian?)

So. . . I was sitting on a park bench the other day with a dear older Christian lady, when she asked me "Did you see those men getting married on the news the other day? Isn't that just sickening?"
Before I could utter a response, my eyes met the eyes of the woman sitting on the other side of us. I immediately recognized an old acquaintance of mine whom I know to be a lesbian.
I wanted to melt, literally. I actually thought, "if I could just melt right now and drip through the slats on the seat of this park bench and just puddle on the ground underneath, well that would be fantastic."
So I have been thinking, a lot actually, how Christians can be so judgmental in the name of Jesus, am I that way, and how would Jesus respond to gay marriage???
Why do Christians think their job is to judge?
In reality, Jesus never intended us to judge anyone at all, but only to love.
My proof?
Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-38 when he was telling everyone that there are two commandments that are more important than anything else, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."
Jesus not only says here that we have to love our neighbors, but he basically says that if you aren't going to obey these two commandments there isn't really a need to worry about the rest.
When someone asked Jesus to define "neighbor," Jesus tells this story in the book of Luke about a Samaritan helping a Jew who was mugged. The Jews and the Samaritans hated each other. Jesus was telling them that the definition to neighbor is anyone and everyone.
In John 8, some Pharisees brought a woman to Jesus who had been caught in adultery. They were ready to stone her, as the Law said they should. Jesus walks through the crowd of these angry, Jewish, Godly men who thought that they were obeying the Law. He walked up to this naked, shivering, sinful woman looked into her eyes and turned to the crowd. He said, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her."
One by one, the men dropped their stones and left. He looked at the woman and said,"Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? . . .Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."
hmmmmmmmmm. . .
Christians have got to remember that until a person accepts the Bible as truth for their life, they can not be expected to live the way the Bible says to live.
Sometimes I am embarrassed that I am a Christian. Sometimes, when I meet someone new, it is one of the last things I tell them instead of the first. Sometimes, I don't tell them at all, I wait until it slips out.
Why is that?
(Why is it that in any movie or TV show, Christians are portrayed as idiots, assholes, or nutcases?)
It is not at all because I am embarrassed of my faith or my morals or of Jesus himself. I am in love with Jesus. He is my Savior.
I have also found that most people are okay with Jesus just not okay with Christians. I have also found that sometimes, a lot of times, I feel the same way.
My conclusion. . .
I don't want to be known as a Christian anymore because somehow, in our culture, most of the time, Christian has come to mean something that I am not.
What am I?
In John 13: 34-35, Jesus says, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
That is what I want to be, what I am. . . I am a lover of Jesus and a lover of my "neighbor," of "all people."

waiting on the world to change. . .ami on politics

with the '08 election just around the corner (yeah right, we have another whole freaking year of campaign commercials) i find myself pondering who i will vote for. . .
do i have a crush on obama?
will i go hollywood?
am i part of the ron paul revolution?
do i go for making history, and make a former president the first man first lady?
do i vote for a man of considerably high morals but professes to be a part of a religion that is somewhat blasphemous to the faith i hold so dear? which by the way poses a very interesting question that could probably be a blog of its own. . .why do some christians have such a problem voting for a morman, but have no problem voting for a complete hypocrite who claims to have faith in Jesus and calls themselves a christian, but lacks any evidence that proves it, as along as they are a republican?

my conclusion. . .
i don't care. i don't care if i vote, and i don't care who wins. maybe that is horrible. maybe i am a terrible american. maybe i am not patriotic. i have a hard time caring about a political campaign that lasts get two years too long, that cost millions and millions of dollars that could be put to much better use, and that does nothing except prove who is the most popular, prettiest, richest liar.

"me and all my friends we're all misunderstood.
they say we stand for nothing. there's no way we every could.
we see everything that's going wrong, with the and those who lead it.
we feel like we don't have the means to rise above and beat it. . .
when you trust your television,
what you get is what you got,
'cause when you own the information
you can bend it all you want."

don't get me wrong. i am thankful that i have been born in a country of extreme privilege, where even our underprivileged are considered rich to those who are hungry and homeless in other countries.
i am appreciative to those who willingly give their lives to fight for this country, but could i or would i do the same? i don't know. i wish that i could say that i would, but i can't. i am not sure the fairy tale land who is a hero to the weak and a comfort to the immigrant that has been painted of america truly exists. i can respect troops who fight for a land that they believe in, but i can never support war that is simply to fight for the right to have the biggest weapons or the most oil. i can support defending those in need who can't defend themselves, but not a war that is simply to say "i am boss."

i feel like i pay my rent to live here by paying taxes, and yes because i live here i have freedoms. but the truth is, couldn't i have those same freedoms living somewhere else, also?

and then there is Jesus. . . i am not sure, but i don't think that Jesus would have wasted time on researching candiates or debating issues. Jesus cared about the souls of the people who he came in contact with. i don't think Jesus would have been a republican or a democrat. i am not sure he would have bothered.

i could be wrong. this is not an opinion at all set in stone. it could easily change by november of next year, or this year for that matter.

and this is the end to my political ramblings. . .

a little bit of heaven and a little bit of oh yeah

so, i went to bonner springs kansas on tuesday and had an incredibly fun time with my husband. i felt like i was twenty again. . .
and i didn't see little vw driving, fire dancer sticker displaying mom there anywhere!
i pulled in my driveway at 3:15 am the next morning, my husband crashed in the back seat, on a little concert loving high i have not quite come down from yet.
i woke up three and a half hours later to pack a tinkerbell lunch box with a peanut butter and honey sandwich, down some coffee, and get my kids to school on time.
guess what that makes me???
pretty freakin' cool if i do say so myself!
oh, and later that day, i ordered myself a fire dancer sticker online.

*mere, this was for you!