notinKansasanymore

Happy Anniversary to Words and Works and Mr. W&W, and all of the other 9th Corps Wedding couples!!!

Thanks to Mr.W&W for remembering that; it was not on my radar at all.

Wow - 28 years since we were unleashed upon the unsuspecting world? Weren't most of us younger than that then? We were such sweet babies.

And now, we're such sweet . . . grownups!!

Happy Graduation and Anniversary, everybody! You are some of the finest folks that it will ever be my privilege to know.

It was one hundred and four degrees here today, and this was a pretty typical day for us, lately.

Maaa-aan. If it doesn't move, I'm watering it.

Tomatoes love the heat, though, and they're getting big and red.

Happy Summer, everybody!!

Praying.

Praying, sweet ones. Love, niKa.

I am so very sorry to hear of this, and will pray for David and her sons, her parents, the rest of her family, and other loved ones. This is hard, but remember that there will come a time when we shall all be together once more.

OOOOOOOohhhhh! It's PRETTY!! Thank you very much.

Excie, good topic. Twinky, that was a nice description when you said "a knowing."

The still, small voice of God, which is suddenly there, where it wasn't before; which doesn't overbear, doesn't force, and is always right.

Sometimes, I just quietly know something that I didn't know the moment before. Over the years, I've learned to (usually? I wish!) recognize it for what it is, and have also learned that I need to pay attention to it.

My Dad could listen to it, and it saved his life several times during WWII. My Mom could, too. My sister also, and she once told me that she thought my attention was too taken up by "little things" to be able to listen clearly. Funny how someone who never "took the class" hit it right on the nose.

love, niKa

He was a very sweet-hearted man. Thank you for letting us know of his passing. I am praying for Laraine and his family.

niKa

Lifted: OH. I didn't know what gender you were, because I don't know who you are! If you want, you can send me a private message to spill your identity.

Here's a little story called . . . THE FLYING FIRKIN. This is absolutely true, and happened three days ago.

We were hiking along a narrow trail that had been cut into a steep mountainside. The mountainside was slippery shale in places, and ankle-high brown grass in other places. Suddenly, about thirty yards above me, up on the slope, there was a commotion. I looked up just in time to see a striped groundsquirrel (Firkin) bounding down the steep slope (wait - is he bounding, or is he out of control?). He was descending in a straight line, headed for the bottom (waaaaay down below) at a very fast rate, seeming to fly through the air at about six inches above the ground; every three feet or so, he'd touch down to steady himself. He crossed the path about a yard in front of me, and made it to some taller grass that was growing around the base of an aspen tree, maybe twenty yards below me. He somersaulted in a tiny, Firkin-sized perfect circle before crashing into the soft grass, therefore halting his manic descent. That was Evel Knievel Firkin, for sure.

His crossing so closely in front of me leads me to believe that he was out of control, and making the best of a bad situation. If so, he handled gravity with quite a bit of Firkin Finesse.

Love, niKa

Lifted, by the way: Contratulations on being a . . . Grandpa! I'll bet you'll be a great one!

God rest his soul. Sounds like we need more like him! Peace to you.

Thanks, Excie!! Thanks, Lifted!!

Woo-HOOO, Lifted!! A Grandma? You're getting into the big times, there. You mentioned a "minor obvious change," dare we pry? You are so lucky to be a nearlyGrandma!!! Please let us know when your title is official.

WW and Ham and the rest have made some excellent points.

I think it was about control. When control-freaks start to loose domination, they grasp at anything that can prove (at least to themselves) that they still have control. They used our fear of loss of "the family of God" against us, as well as our pride (who wants to admit that the ministry was a major life mistake, when we spent our twenties defending it to our natural families?) The loyalty letters, which demanded people to choose between Craig and Chris, were a symptom of this. Another was the purging of gays, which was the only means of controlling them; genetics can't be "healed," so we'd better not have them around. Women getting to be too good at what they do? Stop ordaining them. Pull some "present truth" out of your ear and watch the people dance to your tune. Diminishing numbers of people, to be sure, but the more they see others getting kicked out, the harder they dance to try to stay in. Control is achieved.

Control must be very reassuring to a leader whose organization is imploding.

Godspeed, Garden.

love, niKa

Hey, Lifted Up! Sorry that I got the name wrong in the last post. Rocky had to PM me and clue me in that I'd replied to the wrong person. Ooooops.

Happy day, niKa

Rocky: no, I'm just "Mrs." And "Mom," which is enough.

Thanks for asking; it used to be important to me, but it isn't anymore.

Happy Birthday, Rascal! You are a delight to share the planet with. I hope that your day was wonderful, and that your year absoutely rocks.

Love, niKa

Thanks, Words!! Happy Spring / early Summer to you!!!

I turned in grades last Tuesday. Wooo-HOOOOOO!

Now, I'm . . . folding laundry for the entire summer. Or making curtains, or cleaning out the attic, or taking kids to camp, or . . . getting ready for my NEW JOB which will begin in the Fall. I've switched to another university, for a tenure-track job.

Even though I dropped out of college for twelve years to go and save the world, and therefore, by the time I FINALLY met my husband, did not have the years of life left to do BOTH a Ph.D and children (I had our youngest children at 40 and 42, respectively!), God has provided a tenure-track job. Master's degree tenure positions are probably more rare than hen's teeth. Near as I can tell, there was only one in my whole greater metro area this year, and competition was fierce. I'm dancing in the kitchen, and in the dining room, and out in the street. This is a big deal for me, and for my family. It's also a job where I will be able to make a genuine difference in people's lives. I'm really very, very excited about it.

I just had to share it with you guys, because you are also my family.

I love you, niKa

Love you back, Excie. Happy Mothers Day to all of you Mammas out there!

Where have all the Flowers Gone? Oh, wait - I mean the 9th Corps. How busy ARE we, anyway?

I'm smack in the middle of the end-of-semester crazies. Piles of work, all due yesterday.

One of my students just e-mailed that she has a doctor's note for missing class last week. She reports that she has a horrible case of the flu.

I really, really hope that it's not that flu.

We don't have any confirmed cases in Oklahoma yet, and I surely don't want this kid to end up being the first.

I hope that you are all well and happy.

Love, niKa

Happy Anniversary, Pawtucket!!

You have been a very important help in the healing of many people. Thank you, thank you.

Vickie

Paw,

I am so, so happy for you! It took a lot of courage to make those decisions and follow through with them, and a lot of big-heartedness to share your story here. You are helping a lot of people by your example. Thank you very, very much.

Love, niKa

I only got to meet him once, decades ago, and thought that he was a precious soul. He'd come into the office at HQ where I was working, and his sweet fiancee was with him. They were a very cute couple.

I was proud to buy my young son his very first D&D starter set about three weeks ago, knowing that anything Dave Arneson had been involved with would never hurt my boy to play. He really loves it, and so does my daughter, and so does the neighbor kid, and on and on it goes. I think that a legacy of fun, and thinking fun, at that, is a very nice legacy, indeed.

God rest his sweet heart.

I love it that these kids have done so well. Sam Bradford is coming back to play for the Sooners for another year; we expect Blake Griffin to go pro.

After Griffin won the Naismith on Sunday night, our coach, Jeff Capel, said of him: "He is a better person than he is a basketball player."

Now, THAT'S what I like to hear.

Congratulations to the Tarheels!