Why aren't we in our 20s considered "adults" in anything but government....?

I was reading a demographic description of a church today and I saw something that made me so very mad. It said that their congregation has 5 children under 10 years old; 10 teenagers and 20s; and an even mixture of people in their 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s.

Do you see anything wrong with this??? I do, and I am becoming increasing frustrated with our society. People say that we are the "future" and they need to listen to us, but when it comes time to actually listen or count, we get pushed aside and put into the "to young to know any better" category.

I was told once by a boss that I didn't know anything because I was too young to know. She said that she was my age once and thought she knew everything and that I am the same way. I think I know everything. (Well, when she is 50 and doesn't know how to run the internet and I obviously do, I think I know something.)

Anyway, religious institutions frustrate me also. They say that they are fading away and the only way they can stay alive is to bring in younger people. Well, when it comes time for those younger people to become a part of that religious institution they don't listen to them and they push them aside telling them that they don't know anything! No wonder churches cannot hold on to their young people.

When they are pushed out and told that until they are 40 years old they don't matter, the church shouldn't count on them being there till they are 40 years old. By then, however, those people will be stuck in their ways and won't go back to church. Therefore, the church, or religious institution, will cease to exist!

Oh, I am just sooo frustrated. How can religious people be sooooo dense? Don't they remember when they were that age? Well, they might, but they weren't allowed to have any control either. So once they finally did get some control, they are hanging on to it and just doing the same thing their elders did to them!

As my husband has said about this same thing "You can either bang your head against the wall and drive yourself crazy...or you can quite caring and only look out for yourself and say who cares about anyone or anything else. Why do you think our generation has turned out the way we are? When people comment that our generation is a bunch of selfish people that only care about themselves...this is exactly why!"

Why do you think a lot of the people in our generation like the mega church. So they can walk in, sit down, not connect with anyone, and not have to worry about being told they don't matter. Mega churches are florishing because the younger generations don't have to care and don't have to worry about their ideas being shot down every time they present one because they are "too young to know any better."

I better stop now. I am just frustrated.... Any thoughts would be welcome....

Recent pictures of Jet

Jet was being such a poser the other day. Here are some of the shots we got. :-)

Abolish the Fat Tax!

If you do anything today, I think you should go read this. It is about being fat, and obeisty, and all the stuff that goes along with it. I have to say that I agree with this article.
http://www.slate.com/id/2184475/pagenum/all/#page_start

I really need to get back on track

I dreaded stepping on the scale this morning. I didn't follow the WW this weekend and I paid for it dearly. Plus I haven't been able to work out since last Monday. I'll explain that later. But anyway, the scale said 255. I haven't been that high for a long time now. This is agrivating me, but I haven't been following WW very closely since Christmas and now I realize I need to.

Well, I went onto my WW website and put in my points for the week and I was over 50 points! That is over and above my weekly allowance of 35 points too. Now I know why I gained 3 pounds! Oh that sounds so bad saying it like that.

As for the working out. I was called in to work on Friday because my co-workers Dad was put in the hospital. Then we went to my parent's house for the weekend and I skipped working out any, and ate a lot. Then, when I was supposed to go in and workout on Monday, we were driving home from my parents' because we had been snowed in. Then I had to work yesterday.

But!!!!...... I did work out some last night (Tuesday night). I was going to go to the gym but I couldn't find my membership card. So, I took 15 minutes and walked up and down our flight of stairs. (Each time I went up I took something that had to go upstairs with me so I was multi-tasking!) But then, when Biggest Loser came on at 7:00 I ran in place, did crunches, and push-ups for 1/2 hour. I should have done it through the entire show, but I got lazy. I don't know why but I am having motivation issues right now.

Well, it is back to the grind. I am going to try and be better this week and really keep track of my points and work out (except I can't Friday cause I am going to have to work). I'll do some this weekend then.

Weight Watchers Update

Well, I have been procrastinating putting my weight watchers stuff back up on here because I gained quite a bit over the Christmas holiday and haven't been able to get it back off.

I am now (as of yesterday morning) at 253. I have given up pop. Really, this time! I haven't had one since Tuesday Feb. 5! I feel like an alcoholic saying that I have been "sober" for a week and 2 days now! :)

Anyway, I was going to try and give up on "white" sugar, but with Valentine's day looming, I just couldn't. The chocolate was just calling my name! So, I am trying to be moderate with the sweets and really not eat too much of them.

As for the exercise, I have started something new. On my days off (not counting weekends) I go to the gym and walk/run on the treadmill for 30 minutes. Usually I burn around 250 calories. Then I do a little bit of weight lifting and then go home. I usually only do that on Mondays and Fridays.

On Tuesday nights, when I am watching "The Biggest Loser" I do an hour of different workouts in front of the TV. For example, this past Tuesday I ran in place for about 30 minutes, then I put two dining room chairs in front of me and did some step aerobics for about 5 minutes. (I about died!) I then did sidesteps for about 10 minutes. I did 30 pushups and then did probably 50 crunches, 20 side crunches (on each side), and then did some stretches. Then I did 30 minutes of "Shimmy."

Ok, so "Shimmy" is a really cool show on the Fit TV channel. It is a belly-dancing workout. I really like it. It isn't too hard, and it really is working my belly. It is getting flatter and fitter. Obviously not too much cause well, it's still there! :) But I really like doing the Shimmy workout. I try to do that on the weekends, but if James and I are doing other things around the house I don't usually get to. But thats ok, at least I am up moving around.

Well, I think that is all for now. I will try to keep up dating from now on.

My sister's babies! February 6, 2008

Here are a couple of pictures of Elizabeth and Dan's babies. Elizabeth said "the doctor said the kids we all a great size for their age. A-10 oz., B-9 oz. and C-11 oz. They didn't measure length but they should be around 6 inches from head to rump." I think they are at 18 weeks. I am not sure though. I'll get more information soon. She should be posting all of the pictures they have on her blog, which is http://nebelsicktriplets.blogspot.com somtime soon. So here are a few of the pics.


This picture is of the two boys. They are kind of huddled together. The one you can really see is Baby A. He was cooperating Elizabeth says.

This picture is of Baby B, the girl!!

The picture below is of Baby B (the girl) kissing Baby C's (a boy) head.

Honest to God

"We avoid Lent and Holy Week because it isn’t a happy and uplifting time—but to be honest, neither is most of life. Sometimes we come to church all scrubbed up, dressed nicely, with smiles on our faces, and when people ask how we are, we reply that everything is fine and we even boast how wonderful things are—but it is all a lie. Life is not always uplifting, or wonderful, or pleasant, or joyous—but we have been taught the lie that for spiritual people like us, it must be so. So we become play actors, hypocrites—telling ourselves that by lying, we are having faith, and that if we lie enough, the bad things will fade away, like a dream upon awakening." -Rev. Ken Collins

Read the rest of this essay at http://www.kencollins.com/hope-23.htm. It is very interesting!

Challenge for Lent

Scripture for this Ash Wednesday.

If you are to fast for these 40 (actually 49 till Easter) days, take head to what Matthew says at the end of this post.

Listen to the words of this hymn "Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days":

Lord, who throughout these forty days for us did fast and pray,
teach us with you to mourn out sins and close by you to stay.
As you did hunger and did thirst so teach us, gracious Lord,
to die to self, and so to live by your most holy Word.
And through these days of penitence, and through your Passiontide,
forevermore, in life and death, O Lord, with us abide.
Abide with us, that through this life of doubts and hope and pain,
an Easter of unending joy we may at last attain!

Words by Claudia F. Hernaman

"Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming; it is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations." Joel 2:1-2

"Yet even now," declares the LORD, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments." Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep and say, "Spare your people, O LORD, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'" Joel 2:12-17

"Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, "In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you." Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2

"Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. "Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." Matthew 6:1-6

"And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:16-21

Listen to the words of the hymn "Have Thine Own Way, Lord!":

Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!
Thou are the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and Make me after they will,
while I am waiting yeielded and still.
Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me, I pray!
Power--all power--surely is thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine!
Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!
Hold over my being absolute sway!
Fill with they Spirit till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me!

Words by Adelaide A Polland

"Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." Psalm 51