Things that we don't speak of

I had a wonderful conversation with some friends last night.  What was the topic?  Sex.  It was amazing!  Thinking about it now we are all at different points of our life.  I am married, one girl is getting married in 4 days, and the other is in a dating relationship.  Now for context we are all christians and went to BSSM together so we all have the same view of sex and marriage.

But we got to openly discuss sex, not in a awkward or perverted way but open and honest.  Expectations and Connection.  What the church and our families had told us about sex.  What our culture, generation and hollywood tells us (which for the most part is all wrong).  I won't go into the same discussions we had since I don't know where all of you are at, but here are some of the key points we hit.

The church doesn't talk about sex (for the most part, I know several have finally begun to talk about) except to tell us it's only for marriage, don't do it, it's bad.

Family (again not all) doesn't talk about sex, it's awkward.  Plus most of us don't want to admit our parents had sex except to conceive us.

So who does that leave to teach us and our children about sex?  When we(the church) don't take the wonderful opportunity to teach about sex guess who takes that opportunity!  Is it any wonder the our culture is so engrossed in sexuality?  How and when did you learn about sex?

The great thing was that all three of us agreed that we want to teach our children (when we have them) about sex, in a healthy way.  Not mystifying it or making it taboo.  But explaining the wonderful gift and treasure it is.  Joe and I are already praying for God to give us wisdom in when and how to explain it to our kids (no, no baby news yet)

For more thoughts on this topic I would recomend Kris Vallotton's book "Purity: The New Moral Revolutoin"  it's amazing!  

I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic!

Glorious!

What a great day!  Even despite finding out that we can't get a loan for a car.  I painted today.  No it's not Central America (or is it?)   Well it wasn't intended to be at least.  Just an abstract piece.  After I was done painting I got a knock at the door and found out that my neighborhood has been "adopted" by a bunch of students from BSSM!  Which will be so great for this area.  I'm so excited about that.

So something that has been on my mind lately is the amount of time/energy/money/focus that our culture puts on looking younger.  What's wrong with healthy aging?  Shouldn't healthy aging be worn as a badge?  To say "I have had an amazing life.  God has been good to me.  My life is full."  If we(culturally) put half as much energy into being healthy instead of just looking younger, we would look and feel "younger".  Just a thought.

Time change is this weekend! Don't forget! 

Homesick

A bit. It's true. Which doesn't really make sense anymore. I've been up here for over 2 years. In this same apartment for almost a year and a half! But there are still days when I just want to go back to So Cal. I haven't done very well creating a community up here. Well it was going pretty well then I started working full time again and still haven't adjusted. Thank the Lord for the patio tonight.

I went through the "Trees of Life" school this weekend. For those that don't know it's another counseling program offered through the Transformation Center at Bethel. It was so good. I got so many new tools and it cemented more that counseling will be somehow in my career. It also got me dreaming again. So exciting.

I'm also beginning to prepare for Christmas. I love Christmas.

How I love the rain...

I've been ready for it.  It was a wonderful way to start my weekend (yes, my weekend is Friday and Saturday)  It is a chai, Norah Jones, writing kind of morning.  I just wish Tosh would understand that.  

Tosh is our new kitten.  We've had him for two weeks and he is only 10 weeks old. He is my baby and is very demanding.  When he wants attention he cries.  Right now he is laying on my shoulder trying to nurse on my ear.  This is quite normal. 

I had a wonderful conversation last night at work with an older hippie couple.  That is what I really love about my job.  Getting to talk with all kinds of different people.  It's in my job description.  Connect.  I just have to be careful I don't spend to much time connecting and make sure the store still gets closed right :)

We are still looking for another car so be praying for us about that.

I know this isn't a very deep post but I wanted to write at least a little.  More will come soon

Dreams. Passion. Life

It's funny what makes you stop and really think. Sometimes it really isn't anything more than a simple question.

If you could do anything you want (in relation to work/career) and money wasn't an issue, what would you do?

That's the kind of question that really makes you look. At yourself mostly, then your dreams and passions.

What do I want to do? What are my Dreams? What are my Passions?

Restoration. Restoration is one of my passions.

I love seeing people, families, things, ideas, cultures, dreams restored. Back to how they are supposed to be. How they were intended.

I decided that what I really want to do is see people restored. Mind, soul, spirit, and body. Living how they were intended to live. Now for the hard part. How do I do that? I have a few ideas running through my head. I'm going to try to go back to school next semester. I believe a step is to get my degree, in Psychology. I'm also going to be trying to get as much training as I can from the Transformation center.

There is so much more racing through my head that I need to figure out. And actually form into something that makes at least a little sense.

Time for new

I'm not quite sure why I've now started ANOTHER random site with my random thoughts. Maybe because this seems more grown up than Myspace. Maybe I just wanted something that would (in theory) make me write more. I think that I could easily write atleast twice a week, but myspace just doesn't seem the best place for my thoughts. I'm not sure who all will be reading this, but this will probably be more like a journal. More vulnerable, more questions, more thoughts, more struggles. We will see where this thing takes us. It's bound to be interesting.