Jury duty

It's July 7th, and this is my seventh entry in July... still on track.

Jury duty is one of those obligations we may be called to serve if we are a registered voter in our county. I don't know how the process is handled in other states or counties, but in my county, we receive a summons by mail. There's a date that we must report by. A citizen can apply for an exemption, or a postponement (a letter in writing is all that is needed explaining the hardship) of the jury date.

In times past, I've been summoned several times. Each time I had looked forward to doing my duty, excited to participate in the legal process. Alas, I've never actually been through the selection process, called voir dire, which is old French meaning to speak the truth. That's the examination by the judge and attorneys to find out whether they want to keep you on the panel of jurors or not. You've probably watched this process in movies and tv shows. I've never actually sat through that process.

I had a jury summons back in September, but it was to be on the same day as my NCCAT workshop, so I asked for a postponement (you must do this at least ten days prior to your jury date). I was given a July date in place of the September summons date. Back in September I thought July was a great date for jury duty. I'd be home, no conflicts of interest. I wanted to be a juror just to see what it was like, so I could have something to tell my students from a personal point of view.

Then about four weeks ago my sister reminded me that she was going to be in Florida for one week in July. She has a condo, with plenty of room for all her kids and grandkids. And even an extra room for another couple. Would I like to come? She'd love to have us come down if we could. Misty had just passed away. My son had moved to Baltimore. I was off from school until August, and VBS doesn't start until August 10. With nothing keeping me home, I said I'd love to go.

Except there's that obligation I may have to take care of first, I told her. The jury duty. For the past two weeksI've fretted about it, thinking that this would be the one time they selected me, and not only that, in my imagination, it would be a serious criminal case, and it would take several days to a week to go through all the testimonies and deliberations. Worst case scenario nightmare.

Hmmm, jury duty versus a rare family vacation in Orlando.... let me think about it first. Just kidding.

My sister and I have never been on vacation together since we were kids living under the same roof. That's about 35 years. Her kids are all grown, and the grandkids... I have not seen some of them in over five years. How could I give all that up?

I had to wait until after 6:00 pm this evening to call the number listed on the summons card. As soon as I got home from the gym (yeah, it was abs workout night... ugh!), I called the number, holding my breath. Was my vacation going to get cancelled? Would I have to report for jury duty at 8:00 in the morning to be part of the selection process?

The female voice on the other end of the line said: "all jurors who were summoned to report for jury duty on Tuesday, July 8th, do NOT have to report. You're services are not required. I repeat, do not report, you're services are not required."

YEAY!!

I whooped out loud, and nearly jumped for Joy.... literally. My sister's name is Joy.

 

 

Tags: jury duty

Yoking

Once again it's deadline time. It's nearing midnight, and what I really want to do is go lay in bed and read for awhile. But I made that commitment to do one entry a day.

The subject is Sunday School. I love Sunday School. Even on the days when the lesson I planned seems to get pushed aside because of something the kids say or do, or because something unexpected happens... even on those days, especially on those days, I love Sunday School.

Today wasn't unexpected... just not the ordinary. Ordinarily, I teach the third through fifth graders. I was asked to take the younger kids as well while the other Sunday School teacher visited her grandbaby. My church is a small country church. My Sunday School class may top off at five or be as few as one.

Today I had only three kids (in the summer, the attendance drops). Two are first graders. One is a new fourth grader.

The word I wanted them to learn today was yoke, and what it means in the Biblical sense. Mairie at Word in the Hand wrote an entry earlier this week about what it means to be yoked to Christ. She writes a very good description of why a farmer yokes his oxen, and how it helps the two animals work together. She imagines what it was like those first few times the younger ox was first yoked, how it fought and resisted what the farmer wanted it to do. Only when the farmer yoked the animal to an older more mature ox does it learn what is expected of it. I hope you'll click on the link I provided and read the entire entry.

It was this same analogy I wanted to bring to my students, whose only understanding of yoke was for it's homonym. I wrote both words on the board for them to see the difference in spelling, and then drew a picture of a yolk and ayoke. I explained how farmers yoke the animals to pull the plow. Still, none of them had seen one, and their understanding of the concept of being yoked with another was a bit weak.

So I pulled out a skein of yarn, and took a twelve inch length of yarn and unraveled it. Then I tied the single strand around a chair rail. When they pulled on the thread, it broke quickly. We repeated the experiment with another length of yarn intact. It held a bit longer before it finally snapped from the weight of the chair. Finally, I showed them how to twist two strands of yarn together, then fold it in half. They watched the yarn wrap upon itself, doubling it's thickness as well as its strength. We tied this double-twisted yarn to the chair, and lifted it up off the floor, and it didn't break.

They wanted to try it with each other sitting in the chair, and dragging the chair around, but still it did not break.

When they were done trying to pick up heavy things with their newly strengthened double-wrapped yarn, I asked the boy, a first grader, "What can we learn from twisting two strands of yarn together and picking up a chair?"

"The yarn didn't break." he said.

"Why didn't it break?" I asked.

"Because it was stronger when we twisted it together."

"That's right! Now, remember what I told you about farmers who yoked their oxen to pull the plow? How does the yarn rope you just made remind you of the yoke story?"

The girl said, "Because one strand alone broke when we lifted the chair, but the one we twisted and wrapped together didn't break. It was stronger."

"And how does that have anything to do with being yoked with Jesus?"

She thought a moment. "When we are yoked to Jesus, we are stronger. We can work harder and it will be easier."

And the boy said, "Yeah, and we won't break like that one string did. We can pull the plow."

To further illustrate how much lighter a load feels when they work together, I had them take turns trying to pick up the table by themselves, which they could not do, then all four of us working together to lift it and move it. They wanted to move it all over the room, but thank goodness the buzzer rang signaling that Sunday School was over.

I chuckled at what the little boy had said about us not breaking and being able to pull the plow.... it was so true. The mouth of babes.

Later, during the worship service, one of the students sat beside me, the future 4th grader. I could tell she was listening to scripture readings. Our Pastor read the same Bible passage, then preached a sermon on it.

He read verses 29 and 30, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." I saw her head turn to me suddenly. She had heard the words. I looked sideways at her, and her smile grew... She took her twisted yarn from her Bible, where she had placed it for a bookmark, then she whispered, "I'm keeping this to remind me of being yoked to Jesus."

For days such as this, I live.

 

 

Tags: Yoke, Matthew 11:28-30, Sunday School,

Prince Caspian and Faith

I am a Christian... my regular readers already know this. I worship weekly with other seekers of Christ, and I attempt to follow the teachings of Jesus. I am not a model Christian, and on a scale of 1-10, ten being perfect, I would probably fall somewhere between one tenth and one. I make mistakes as a practicing Christian, I have doubts, I have questions. I'm sure many people who know me wonder if I'm really a Christian, or just say that I am.

Sometimes I am riding on the wings of joy, and other times I fall prey to despair. I long for something that no one can give me in this world, and I forget what it was like when I danced with the Lord.

Some days I seem to have a grasp of what and who God would have me be, and the right words come out at the right time. Such days I feel like God has used me to give a message to someone in need. Other days I feel like I am standing in the darkness, dumb and sightless... completely helpless with caustic doubt, unable to say anything intelligent regarding my faith, too weak to hold out my own hand to another.

I think many Christians have similar feelings from time to time. I have no doubt that things I do or don't do can either take me further away from Christ, or bring me closer to Him. Thoughts I think can do the same. Sometimes other people influence me, whether they are aware of it or not, calling me from my focus on Christ. But this is more about me and not about them. I am the one who chooses to whom I will listen. It is my own awareness that needs a fine tuning.

Which brings me to something I heard tonight. It was a line spoken in a movie. Prince Caspian (of the Chronicles of Narnia) was the movie I watched tonight. I enjoyed the movie very much... special effects surpassed the first movie from the series. I wasn't ignorant of the symbolism in this story (although I haven't read the book), and was pleased to discover satisfying bits of images, actions, and words that pointed to the story of Christ, and our struggles with being Christian.

I'm not going into a deep commentary on the movie here, and this isn't a movie review. There are plenty of those already out there. You can Google search it and find whatever angle you want to read about. I just wanted to point out the words I heard in one of the lines between two of the main characters.

It was in the scene (this may be a spoiler if you haven't seen it yet) where the young Lucy has finally found Aslan (a large lion, he is the Christ figure in this story). 

Lucy had caught a glimpse of Aslan earlier, but a deep, impassable chasm separated him from where they stood at the edge of a cliff. However, two of her siblings who looked but did not see Aslan did not believe her when she told them she had seen Aslan. Only Edmund, the younger boy, confessed quietly (for her ears only) that believed her.

Instead of seeking Aslan's counsel out right away, the four children become involved in Prince Caspian's call to reclaim his birthright as the next king of Telmarine. Throughout the first hour and a half, the children are fighting for their lives and the lives of the Narnians. Finally, Lucy sets out to find Aslan, to ask him to intervene because they cannot defeat the Telmarines, and Narnians will perish without him.

When he stands before her, she rushes to Aslan and hugs him. He is glad to see her. Lucy says to Aslan, "I told them I saw you but they didn't believe me."

Aslan responds, "Why did you let that stop you from coming to me?"

How often do we let the unbelief of those closest to us keep us from going to Christ?

Lucy's faith brought Aslan to her brothers' and sister's side, and to the aid of all the Narnians. (The battle was over with a most spectacular water action scene.)

Yes, it was all fictional, but the struggle with their faith that C.S. Lewis portrays in this story is real. The Telmarines don't believe the Narnians ever existed because they've never seen one. The doubt that Peter andSusan show when Lucy explains she saw Aslan "over there!" reflects the struggle people had with their faith in Lewis' lifetime, and in ours today.

It certainly well illustrated how I've felt recently. I'm asking myself, "What took me so long? Must I wait for another personal tragedy to fall on my knees and call upon Him?"

The answer is "No!" Don't wait for tragedy, don't wait for despair, don't wait for depression and darkness, nor a mountain that is too high to climb, a river too deep to cross... don't wait until you can barely stand on your own two feet in your spiritual walk with Christ to reach for Him. He isn't there only in the pain and suffering of our lives, nor only in the joyfulness of living ... He is with us in the common movements and relationships of everyday living... we can look for Him anytime and He'll be there.

BTW, it's a great movie for the big screen. If you saw the first of the series, you'll want to see this one. I found out that the second movie was filmed immediately after the first one so that the children wouldn't appear too much older... a year has past since they left Narnia (in their time, but 1300 years have passed in Narnia time). The transition from war time England to Narnia is magical and surreal. Costumes are Medeival, sword fighting scenes are exciting, and the Narnian creatures are so well blended (a mix of live actors with digital reworking?) one could actually believe the producers of this movie found them living on some British Fantasy Island.

Tags: Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, faith, Christians

What do Leopard slugs do late at night?

Two years ago I discovered some rather largish Leopard slugs crawling around the damp and leafy floor of the wooded path beyond our yard. I didn't know what they were until I came in and did a Search. Then I wrote an entry and added some pictures.

I was out a few weeks ago, walking along the same path, and lo, there they were again. Likely not the same characters I observed two years ago. But possibly offspring.

I saw four of them, the longest at least four inches, which isn't even as long as they can get when they stretch out. The one pictured below is surrounded by what I've always called Roly-polies (long o in both words), named for the characteristic way they roll into a ball when disturbed or threatened. Also known as pill bugs, they look like miniature armadillos.

Apparently slugs and pill bugs like to eat the same kinds of foods, mainly decaying vegetation. They like wet or damp areas. 

                     

Two years ago I didn't know how to add video, so I couldn't add the BBC video footage in my original entry!! Someone has put it on YouTube, so here is the YouTube version showing you a most fascinating mating ritual between slugs... very interesting, and unsluggishly beautiful. 

   

During the summer, when I walk outside through our wooded yard late at night, I look up into the trees hoping to see this magnificent event, but haven't had the privilege to witness it for myself. 

FYI... just in case you were to walk in your yard, unsuspecting one summer night, and come upon this unusual activity. 

 

Tags: Leopard slugs, leopard slugs mating, roly poly, pill bugs

Of Procrastination

This is Day Three of the self-imposed Daily Journal Entry in July Challenge. I thought I'd get started well before midnight tonight.

It is also Day Twenty of what most folks commonly refer to as summer vacation for students, teachers, and other school personnel. That means I've been off almost three weeks... tomorrow it will be three weeks.

I want to make good use of this period of time. I've gotten some rest, I've had a bit of a vacation trip (when we drove to Baltimore to visit our son. I miss my Max and Misty daily, but their pictures are scattered throughout the house.

For Christmas 2007, Steven and Vi had made us a framed collage of our pets using their Snapfish account, and pictures I had either sent them via email or those they found in my journal. The title held all the dogs' names in the order in which they came into our lives.

The photo below is one I took the night we brought Max's body home from the Emergency Vet. We laid him in his bed, and set it in front of the fireplace. It was late at night, and we wanted to wait for the next day to bury him. I had set out some candles near where he laid, and some of his favorite things. It was so hard to leave him there and go to bed. He was buried with his football. In life, when he wasn't chewing it, licking it, or fetching it, he would lay on it as though it were a pillow. In fact, in one of the photos, you can see him resting his face on the stuffed football. The three dogs in the lowest right photo are Brandy, Dusty, and Lucky... all preceded Max and Misty.

                          

At the time we received the gift, Max and Misty were very much alive and well. All the dogs we've ever owned since Steven was born are in this collage. I hung the framed collage up in the living room this week, and recalled thinking that three of the dogs pictured were long gone to doggy heaven, and three were still with us. Daisy is the third dog, and she belongs to Vi and Steven. Now Daisy is the only living dog pictured in the collage. Ah, me... family dynamics are changing by the month around here.

I mentioned yesterday that I had some highlights put in my otherwise greyish brown hair (which used to be radiant auburn until my mid-thirties). I still can't tell the difference when I look in the mirror... so I'm thinking I'll have to be bolder next time if I am wanting the highlights to be noticeable. I take my changes slowly... I transform gradually.

So I walked into the gym this afternoon (my third day of working out). It's a co-ed gym. June, July, and August, Gold's Gym in my town is having a special for teachers... three summer months free! (I don't know if this is an offer at other gyms around the state or country, but one could check into if they are interested. You can click here to find a Gold's Gymnear you.)

The expectation, of course, is that many of those who signed up for a free summer of exercise will want to continue through the remainder of the school year, and so will purchase a year's membership.

But I already am a teacher, and I already have a paid membership. I asked the manager if he could extend my membership for three months, free. He smiled and said sure!  

The problem with a year's membership is that one can have it and not use it, and if one doesn't use it, one has wasted a lot of money. I started my membership at the gym March 2007. I had to quit going in May 2007 when I had a toe-nail removed....followed by two weeks of being sick from pneumonia, which was then followed a few weeks later by a bladder infection. I know I could have started going after I was well again, but I had gotten out of the routine, and other things were claiming my time, and I had lost the momentum and the interest. I kept saying I'd go  back, that I needed to go back... but I kept putting it off. I am a procrastinator in some areas of my life.

Oh, wait, I have to go. "Hopkins" (TV show, ABC) just came on. I'll come back to finish this entry. Nah, I'll just wait and write another one.

 

Oops!

Oops! It's almost midnight, and I said I'd write a journal entry every day.

I almost forgot, and I don't know if I can get this in time to beat the deadline for one entry a day.

I spent some time with my friend and her daughter... we had a lovely lunch at Wholly Guacamole... all of us agreed that we had eaten too much. Neither of us could finish what we had ordered, although the food was great. Mostly, we were more interested in having some quality time with friends, so afterward there was some time spent browsing through the mall.

Amazingly, the teen-aged daughter (turned 13 this year) practiced a new discipline her wise mother had taught her recently: that when she (her daughter) had some money, and she knew she needed to save that money for something bigger down the road, she should walk out of the store where the clothes/jewelry/ whatever was calling out to her to "Buy Me!" Later on, she could return to the store, and if she still thought the item was something she had to have, she would have a chance to reconsider. The theory being that with time and space between her and the desired object, she would lose the urge to make a spontaneous purchase. "Just walk away," is the mother's sage advice.

I saw her walk out of several stores just because the temptation to buy something became so great. She walked away from shoes, clothing, and colognes. I admired the level of maturity she showed as she practiced this new self-discipline, well on her way to acquiring a good habit in money management. Actually, it influenced my shopping today, as well, and I walked away without spending as much as I could have on things I didn't need.

Thank you, Marlene! You were a good influence on me today.

I had some highlights put in my hair today but I really don't see that it looks much different than what I had before I had highlights put in my hair. I did ask for subtle highlights, though. I can't see the back of my head clearly enough to say for sure. My husband didn't notice the difference. He was pretty blunt about it. I'm going to ask my girlfriendtomorrow ... she'll give me good feedback, something I can work with.

I worked out at the gym twice this week... those ab crunches are gonna kill me. I'm trying to give myself a new look for the new school year. That's why the highlights in my hair today. It'll all come together in August.

It's almost midnight (whew, that was close!), so I'm going to end this entry now. Will try to have more substance tomorrow. Today was a rather lazy day for me... I did bake two peach cobblers this evening from scratch.  I'll probably freeze one. The other is to make my husband smile.

(Sigh)...there was a time when I didn't have to bake to make him smile.

<grin>

 

Things I want to do and things I want to learn how to do

I'm going to challenge myself to write every day during the month of July, with the exception of a few days that I plan to be away from the computer.

(I hear some of you groaning... every day? Is she kidding?)

This is a big bite for me, journaling every day. I think if I journal every day, I won't be able to comment as frequently in other journals. I can do one or the other, but not both. I could try to keep entries brief. That's the second challenge. <grin>

Many topics come to mind for the summer: life without my dogs (too quiet and not enough laughing), summer activities (quite a variety including working out at the gym), daily discoveries in and around my home and yard (I don't get out as much as I did when Max and Misty were with me), commentary on world events (would I really do that?), art project ideas I find for the coming school year (uh, hmm, sounds too much like school... give me another week off before I start planning again), family events and reflections (yes, there's a topic I plan to write a lot about), Vacation Bible School reflections and narrative (we're doing Group's PowerLab), learning how to transfer VCR video to my computer so I can make family-type 'funniest home videos' for my journal (note for Patrick: How did you do that?)

There it is...!

My topic for this evening: how to make home videos on my computer from my non-digital VCR tapes. I should say, my question for this evening. How do I make digital home videos from my video cassette tapes?

Back in August 2007, Patrick/ aka Daddyleer,  Greg/ aka Radar446 , and Donovan (a very much younger friend of mine who is in college) each responded to my journal question of the day...  how to take a movie from my digital camera and upload it to the internet. Each provided me with valuable information and steps that lead to my first video ever, the RedVelvet Ant video. 

I continue to say "Thank you all!" every time I make a new video.

Until that day, I had no idea that on my computer was a program called Windows Movie Maker, and that program would be the key to making my movies. If you don't have Windows Movie Maker, you can download it from here.

Yes, I'm ready to tackle a new skill because I have over 50 family home Video cassettes that I know have a combination of comedic, personal, and possibly educational value. I'd love to start making little five minute movies for my family and friends to enjoy.

And if I possibly do get involved in making movies from my VCR equipment... I am sure I will not be able to make journal entries every day. I can do one or the other, but not both. Time is the key. Technology eats time like termites on a plank of wood, chewing steadily, crunch, crunch, crunch...and before you know it, the wood is gone.

Whatever happened to the idea that technology would save us time? How does it save time? It takes so much time to learn something new, and just when you've learned it, just when you get into time-saving mode, along comes a new program, or a new piece of technology, making the one you have obsolete and ridiculously slow by comparison to the new Thing.

So you get the new technology, and what do you do? Spend a great deal of timelearning how to use it. It's an endless circle.

I think I'm having second thoughts about transferring movies from my VCR to my computer.

 

 

 

 

Tags: Transferring video cassette movies to the computer, making movies, making videos