listen to what you say when countering in an argument.  Then, ask yourself “have I heard this (my) argument elsewhere before?”  If the answer is yes, honestly ask yourself if it’s truly your own thoughts and argument, or if you are just acting as an echo chamber.

I’m back!  I’m relatively sane as well, which always feels like a small miracle after a day of car rides, plane rides, and fast food (with two little bitty kids).

I find surprisingly little to write about the trip, probably because the majority of it was spent in my parent’s living room or chasing the kids around, and the latter thing has me still feeling pretty tired.

But I AM back, and today is my “catch up on the internets” day.  So hopefully I’ll post at some point. 

I really, really like organizing things.  Not just “like” like- if giving the choice between a long bath and a chance to putter around with reordering my craft space, I will choose the latter.  Want proof?

My mother hasn’t had time to unpack her sewing/craft room since their move.  So what do I do whilst on vacation?

Unpack it myself.  (With her blessing and thanks, of course.  I’m not a house elf.  I don’t reorganize overnight against people’s wishes just to see their confusion when they can’t find embroidery thread.  Although, now that I think about it…)

Back to the original line of thought.  Now, I look at mom’s craft room all tidy and organized, and I feel this immense satisfaction.

Ah…  nice!

I’m too lazy to go and select a bunch of links for everyone, so this vacation will be a link-free one.  Hm…  Maybe all my regulars could link to their favorite post of mine in the comments to give the newbies something to chew on?

Or you could look at my Etsy.  I worked my tiny little bottom off to get that store looking nice!

These things and much, much, much more are now available to the public through my Etsy store!  Aren’t they just pretty?  And shiny?  And perfect for someone you know?

Enough shameless commerce.  I also regret to inform you all that I’m going on another vacation and don’t know how much I’ll be around blogging wise.  But in the meantime, wouldn’t a handmade ragdoll make a good comfort object to fill the space I’ll leave behind?

(Don’t take this post seriously.  I don’t think or expect that anyone will buy from me.  I just thought, hey, I’ll give you the option, just in case…)

It’s 12:15, nighttime, it’s raining cats and dogs.  My son won’t sleep.

I’m really, really tired.

So why am I blogging?

Because for some reason the last week everything has been wearing on me.  The comments, the thoughts, the desire to somehow just reach through the ether and touch everyone.  I won’t go into detail, as the worst of it has to do with a specific person, and blogging about other bloggers is just not kosher.  All I can say is that I’ve been trying to pray and I’ve ended up in tears.  There is just all of this grief, all of this indescribable grief, and it’s not even my own.  It’s like I’ve become a surrogate for all of the tears that otherwise might not get cried.

And through it all I’ve found this amazing gem, this tiny ruby of trust in God I otherwise may have discarded.  But I need it now, because I so desperately HAVE to believe that God will pour out his love on the broken.

I just want to reach through the ether.  There are some of you I want to curl up with on the floor, to hug and kiss you like a sister, to tell you that you can let go and accept God’s love and be held by him, but I can’t.

Damn it, I can’t.

And it’s killing me.

This blog is now live at emphaticasterisk.com- the old URL will automatically redirect to this site as long as I remain on WordPress (probably forever and a day. WordPress rocks and makes me happy.)  Housewarming gifts can be sent to shush.lindsey@gmail.com. (That’s a joke.  JOKE.)

You’ll probably want to update your feed readers.

Just re-subscribe. It couldn’t be easier!

I cherish every one of my regular readers. Seriously. I’m so glad to have been found by you.

Apparently a great deal of my readers are avidly pro-life, which comes as no surprise to me.

So on my last post I received a lot of comments reading, simply put: Abortion is murder.

Let’s imagine that tomorrow Abortion becomes illegal. What, then, would be the penalty to the doctor who performs the abortion and the mother who requests one? Shall they be given a life sentence? A manslaughter charge of ten years? Negligent homicide (which hardly seems appropriate, as it’s not negligence), a misdemeanor charge? If it is truly murder, a mere fine seems insufficient.

What do you think?

I’ve decided to stop blogging as “Shush” on WordPress.

I’m also going to change this blog’s domain sometime in the next few days as well.

Just thought you all would like to know. 

I’m tired of attending church services on Sunday mornings.  This is something I’ve struggled with through my teen years and into my adult life.  The vast majority of sermons are a regurgitation of ideas I’ve already heard.  The bother of getting up and going and sitting and not doing all of the other things I’d rather do irritates me.  When I hear something that I flat out disagree with being preached from the pulpit I want to call out dissent.   I enjoy music and thus generally enjoy contemporary “worship” services, but there are several songs whose lyrics I can’t sing because I find them either disingenuous or based off of archaic principals that simply aren’t applicable today.

I often write little notes to my husband saying things like, “gag me buzzwords” or “again?  Really?  AGAIN?”

Which goes back to me banging an old drum.  Sunday mornings don’t aid in discipleship.  They are formatted for the ease of “new” believers and “seekers”.  They really hold little value for an older and committed member of the church.  The reason I go?  Because my friends do, my kids enjoy the children’s services, and it makes me feel like a part of a bigger whole.

I’m growing convinced that there needs to be a major change.  The community of believers needs to grow beyond Sunday services.  We need to minister to each other more fully.   We need to get out of the walls and into our larger communities, into the arts and entertainment and industry and life and involvement- beyond our own bubble of culture and out there.  In the real world.

The winds are changing for me.

I’m not sure what that means.