I serve a risen Savior, He's in the world today;
I know that He is living whatever men may say;

I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer,

And just the time I need Him, He's always near.

Chorus

He lives, He lives,Christ Jesus lives today!

He walks with me and talks with me

Along life's narrow way.

He lives, He lives,Salvation to impart!

You ask me how I know He lives?

He lives within my heart.

In all the world around me I see His loving care,

And tho' my heart grows weary I never will despair;

I know that He is leading thro' all the stormy blast,

The day of His appearing will come at last.

Chorus

Rejoice, rejoice, O Christian, lift up your voice and sing

Eternal hallelujahs to Jesus Christ the King!

The hope of all who seek Him, the help of all who find,

None other is so loving, so good and kind.

Chorus

Words and Music by Alfred H. Ackley

© 1933 Homer A. Rodeheaver

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Will work for carrot cake!

Last night TT played at Borders El Cajon with Kim Divine. They didn't have very nice PA equipment there, but they played the gig well and they sounded decent enough. At that particular Borders, they not only give musicians free coffee & tea, but I got a carrot cake for free too! I gave the barista my Borders gift card to debit, and she wouldn't accept it.

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Projects

It's spring and the flowers are blooming. After mom passed away we helped Dad replace the old broken blinds on a couple of windows. The old broken blinds could not be opened so you couldn't see into the backyard. With the new blinds, Dad could open the blinds and see the beautiful and colorful flowers he planted in the backyard. It is refreshing to the soul.

These last few weeks Dad has been organizing the house quite a bit. I think it has been therapeutic for him. The house is nearly all organized now, and it is as he likes it. I brought a bunch of mom's clothes and costume jewelry home for keepsake.

Which leads me to grandiose organizing plans for myself. If my stuff were ever organized all at once, I might faint! From all the stuff I have, you can tell I live a full life. There's sporting goods, old school books and notes, cards and keepsakes from everyone important in my life, photographs, negatives, all my hobby things (knitting, soapmaking, jewelry making, scrapbooking, just to name a few). I just read an article in Real Simple magazine that keeping too much clutter in your house is like having emotional baggage. You should only surround yourself with stuff you love.

My Ambitious Organizing Plans:

1. My desk in the home office.
2. My bookshelves in the home office.
3. My CD collection. There's music that I never listen to anymore. I should either have a garage sale, sell them on eBay, or give them away
4. My photography stuff: cameras, tripods, flash memory cards, batteries, product manuals. ALL my photographs, photo books, negatives, etc.
5. My books: how-to's, cookbooks, writing books, knitting books
6. Magazines. Ugh, so many to throw away. Ever try to throw away magazines, only to be lured in by the headlines and before you know it, you think you need to keep every useful article in them, "just in case you visit the Florida Keys some day", or "just in case you want to visit that restaurant later"? UGH!
7. Media supplies: envelopes, folders, notebooks, hanging file folders, printer paper, vellum, printer photo papers, etc. Wow.
8. Toys & Games: you'd think adults with no children don't have much games, but we do.
9. Clothes in the "other" closets.
10. Extra pillows and bedding. Guests can only use so much. Pillows and bedding take up a LOT of space!
11. All my sundries. I'm a sucker for nice-smelling lotions, body butters, sprays, etc.
12. Gift-wrap papers, gift bags, gift tags, gift boxes.
13. Scrapbooking stuff. I converted to digital scrapbooking about a year ago. I still have tons of paper scrapping supplies. They're nice to look at and to make cards with, but I doubt I'll ever use it all.
14. Soapmaking supplies: pot, stirrer, scents, oils...
15. Knitting & crocheting supplies: yarns, needles, yarns yarns and more yarns. Project books. Finished scarves, hats, other projects.
16. Drawing supplies, finished drawings, pencils, charcoal, huge clipboard, coloring pencils, crayons, coloring books. I love them all but they take up room.
17. Beads, string, clamps, etc for jewelry making.
18. Cross stitching stuff: floss, fabric, designs.
19. Stuffed animals.
20. My purses. Don't ask.
21. Candles. I used to love them and people kept giving me candles for every occasion as gifts. Now I have too many.

There's more, but this list is enough. Why do I have so much stuff you ask? Because I have many hobbies. But also because they're all symbols of "possibilities". That's what makes me happy and give me hope. I COULD play with all this stuff and create something beautiful and useful. It's like the joy of window-shopping too. You can imagine the possibilities of what you want to buy, and get joy out of it without actually buying it.

Listgirl is tired from making this massive list. She's off to take a nap now...

But, before I go, I'll share with you this layout that I had started last June before my mom got sick... I finally finished it this week.

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With Hope

I went running this morning, and put my iPod Nano on "shuffle". Out of like thousands of songs, this one came on.... "With Hope" by Steven Curtis Chapman, from the album "Speechless" This is not at all how We thought it was supposed to be We had so many plans for you We had so many dreams And now you've gone away And left us with the memories of your smile And nothing we can say And nothing we can do Can take away the pain The pain of losing you, but ... We can cry with hope We can say goodbye with hope 'Cause we know our goodbye is not the end, oh no And we can grieve with hope 'Cause we believe with hope (There's a place by God's grace) There's a place where we'll see your face again We'll see your face again And never have I known Anything so hard to understand And never have I questioned more The wisdom of God's plan But through the cloud of tears I see the Father's smile and say well done And I imagine you Where you wanted most to be Seeing all your dreams come true 'Cause now you're home And now you're free, and ... We have this hope as an anchor 'Cause we believe that everything God promised us is true, so ... We wait with hope And we ache with hope We hold on with hope We let go with hope I had totally forgotten I had this song. It seemed totally new to me. I used to love Steven Curtis Chapman. I listened to the song and cried all the way home. But at the same time believe that it was a special comfort from God to me as well.

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I ate a hot dog to spite healthy eating.

I went to Target today, and I ate a hot dog on purpose, to spite healthy eating. What's the point of eating healthy and exercising, if you're going to get cancer anyways? My mom's suffering from cancer now, and there is little hope for her to recover. A good friend of mine from church has breast cancer, and she's only 31. She has 3 kids ages 4, 2, and a newborn. I've turned cynical about eating healthy now. What's the point, might as well enjoy myself. I haven't turned my back on exercising though, because the endorphins still feel good. I still feel good after a 3-5 mile run. So for now, the exercising will continue. I've been exercising since May 1997, almost 10 years of regular exercising now. It's a part of me. I'm sure I'll grow tired of eating all the hot dogs, hamburgers, cheese, chocolate, cheetos, and whatever else bad-for-me foods that I'll get my hands on to spite healthy eating. But for now, I don't care.

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