Beautiful Criminal

Check out my friends band, Beautiful Criminal. Nate has been working so hard for YEARS to become big. If you listen to their songs, you can see that they really are already big!








http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=173553179

Please watch this! It's so funny!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsWrY77o77o



Anjelah Johnson-Nail Salon

Relax

Because it's STILL SUMMER. OK? OK.

A book is like a garden carried in the pocket. ~Chinese Proverb

A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it, or explore an explosive idea without fear it will go off in your face. It is one of the few havens remaining where a man's mind can get both provocation and privacy. ~Edward P. Morgan

I have been in a book club for quite a while now. Some (OK, well, Jaci) might even say it’s the longest book club of all time ;) It’s been really fun getting to know a few girls I wouldn’t have known before and getting to know better a few girls I already knew. We are brought together by something as simple as writing on a page, yet as complex as the opening of our souls. I really love and appreciate these girls and truly hope we’ll continue with the club even though one of our members is moving 3 hours away :( We each take a turn picking a book, we usually read it for about a month, then we get together and discuss it. It has been formal, informal, funny and intense. Sometimes we talk less about the books than we do about what is going on in our lives. But I’d say if a book can’t bring you together to catch up, what can?! Here are the books we’ve read so far:

This round we’re doing classics. Starting with The Pictures of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. Feel free to join us!

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read. ~Groucho Marx

The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them. ~Mark Twain, attributed

Books let us into their souls and lay open to us the secrets of our own. ~William Hazlitt

It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it. ~Oscar Wilde

Update on "Enough is Enough?"

Just wanted to update you on the below post. I saw the banner again today and memorized the website! I went to the site and really wasn't able to figure out exactly what is going on or what the whole issue is, but wanted to be fair and post the link here in case you are interested. Whether the site is true, exaggerated, false or silly, is still not the focus of the below post. So read away!

http://www.stopworkerabuse.org/

Enough is Enough? (note: potentially contraversial material--not meant to offend)

In Postville, Iowa, people protested
Working conditions at a kosher meatpacking
Plant that was raided in May by
Immigration authorities.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/28/us/28immig.html?ref=business

In the world we live in it’s difficult not to notice injustice on every corner. In this case, literally. My office is located across the way from a major ministry organization. If you asked 100 people about this org I would assume about 99 would praise it for all the good works it does around the world. It has a great reputation and I believe it has changed millions of lives. Last week each time I left my office for a lunch break there were a few people on the corner holding a huge banner that read “SHAME ON (INSERT ORG NAME HERE)” and then listed a website for labor abuse of some sort. Now I admit I never memorized the website and have since googled the organization and possible issues regarding the banner, but I haven’t found anything. So I’m speaking here without have any actual facts. The point of this rant, however, isn’t the facts of this particular issue. It’s what a coworker said as we drove past the corner yesterday.

“Did you see the people on the corner here last week?” She asked. Yes, but I never really figured out what it was about.” She replied, “Me neither because I would never look at them because I didn’t want them to think I believed what they were saying because I like “insert org name here.”

Hmmmm. That really got me to thinking. Doesn’t it seem strange to decide to ignore a potentially valid problem with something or someone because you like them? Is it even ethical to turn a blind eye when a person, organization, political group, church, etc, is doing something wrong-perhaps something small in the grand scope of all the good they do-because you want to continue to believe they are wholly good? And how often do we do this? What stores do we continue to shop at when we have a sinking suspicion they get some of their products from sweat shops? What political figures to we continue to promote or vote for when we know they condone killing of innocent people in the name of war? What industries do we drive by each day knowing that they are polluting the very air we breathe? What products do we purchase from conglomerates who use heavy handed or violent tactics on their workers? What foods do we consume even though they were produced by people who were abused or not paid a living wage? What houses do we worship at knowing they spend $95 million on renovations that include waterfalls rather than a shelter for the homeless or some other practical addition? (OK, so no one I know actually worships at this church, but you know what I mean.) What national events are we watching every night this week on a network that spent $900 million that could have gone to help so many poor, sick, dying people around the world? And how, in this world we live in, with injustice on every corner, do we even find the courage to leave the house, knowing we’ll encounter perhaps all of this and maybe more in one day?

Is that why we just don’t look at the “banners” we drive by? Because there are just so many? And can we pick just one thing and take a stand for that without taking a stand for everything else? And then, how do we even take a stand? Is only buying local produce really doing enough? Is taking the literature from the people on the corner enough? Do we need to write letters to congress? Do we need to donate money? Do we need to quit our jobs and give our lives to some issue somehow? What is enough? I think the more important question might be what isn’t enough? I don’t know. I’m sure it’s quite different for everyone. Plus, it's OK and even good to recongnize the good that many if not all of the things/people/orgs I mentioned above do. But is mostly good enough to outweigh some bad? Please understand I’m struggling with this, I’m not pointing fingers. I wish I could be more like the person I wish I was. Get it? These are just my thoughts. And lucky you, you get to read about them :)

Here are some cool related websites:

http://www.globalexchange.org/getInvolved/corporateHRviolators.html
http://www.hrw.org/
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

Breathe in the Summer

Jeff has an amazing talent for MANY things including (but not limited to) painting, woodworking, music, math, language, cooking and gardening! Let me show you a glimpse of the beauty that surrounds us because of his skills.



This purple plant reminds me of lavender, but of course I don't know what it really is.


Well, these grapes are actually from our neighbor, Miss Daniel's, yard, but aren't they delish looking?! I can't wait to eat them.


Strawberry patch. We've only had a small amount of strawberries, but even then, how cool is that?!


A monster zucchini Jeff picked yesterday to make bread with.


This is the view above my head when I'm laying on the hammock. Ahhhhhhh. Jeff built the Pergola, too.


A bush with gorgeous purple blossoms.


Pretty white flowers in the garden.



Tiny purple flowers.


Yellow columbines.




Peppers!


Sugar snaps.


Look at how tall those hollyhocks are!




Planters. The Geranium is named Dr. Gerry. We bought it because some of the proceeds went toward breast cancer and we know a sweet woman who is going through it. The Dr. reminds us to pray for her and send out good thoughts.


Another planter full of pretty flowers.


We even have life inside the house! This is Phil, I contributed her :)


Here we have another philodendron, a cactus and a tree that I don't know the name. (the sunflowers, I'm afraid to admit, are fake.)


An herb that I don't remember and my 5 year old African Violet!


That's not everything, but aren't those pretty little reminders to take a deep breath and enjoy life?!