lions, and tigers, and bears...oh my!

the help.  novel and book...well-done. 

"i don't know what to say to her.  all i know is, i ain't saying it.  and i know she ain't saying what she want a say either and it's a strange thing happening here cause nobody saying nothing and we still managing to have us a conversation." {the help, kathryn stockett}

"mrs. charlotte phelan's guide to husband-hunting, rule number one:  a pretty, petite girl should accentuate with makeup and good posture.  a tall plain one, with a trust fund." {the help, kathryn stockett}

"'saying thank you, when you really mean it, when you remember what someone done for you...it's so good'" {the help, kathryn stockett}

i was disappointed with the wonderful wizard of oz.  i found the movie to be more much interesting than the book.  my biggest disappointment was with the famous slippers though.  in the book, the slippers were silver.  silver?!?!  what happened to the ruby slippers?!?!  okay, so yes, i know the book came first, but still.  how very disappointing.

"no matter how dreary and gray our homes are, we people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other country, be it ever so beautiful.  there is no place like home."  {the wonderful wizard of oz, l. frank baum}

"'all the same,' said the scarecrow, 'i shall ask for brains instead of a heart; for a fool would not know what to do with a heart if he had one."  {the wonderful wizard of oz, l. frank baum}

"everyone loved her, but her greatest sorrow was that she could find no one to love in return, since all the men were much too stupid and ugly to mate with one so beautiful and wise."  {the wonderful wizard of oz, l. frank baum}

"experience is the only thing that brings knowledge, and the longer you are on earth the more experience you are sure to get."  {the wonderful wizard of oz, l. frank baum}

"'you have plenty of courage, i am sure,' answered oz.  'all you need is confidence in yourself.  there is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger.  the true courage is in facing danger when you are afraid, and that kind of courage you have in plenty.'"  {the wonderful wizard of oz, l. frank baum}

"all you have to do is knock the heels together three times and command the shoes to carry you wherever you wish to go."  {the wonderful wizard of oz, l. frank baum}

can i go back to college?

the influx of students (and parents...) has brought me to a mix of emotions.  part of me thinks, "get out of my way, you are slowing down my day, and i have no patience for you."  the other part of me thinks, "can i go back to college and be one of them...setting up my dorm...meeting new people...?"  it certainly makes me reminisce my undergraduate days.  oh what treasures those days were!  it is incredible to me that it was about this time seven years ago that i was making my liberty entrance.  wow...just think all of the memories of the last seven years.  love it!

"this time seven years ago..."  this will be likely be in my introduction tomorrow as i welcome a group of thirty students to liberty tomorrow.  i am really excited to be teaching a freshman seminar class this week.  i see it as an opportunity to reconnect with the students outside of my job so that i can be reminded of why i do what i do.  often times in my job, i can feel overwhelmingly irritated with the student population.  not because they are all frustrating, but because the couple that are irritating take up way to much of my time.  i am praying that God allows me to make that initial impression of liberty positive and welcoming.  i am praying that God gives me the words to speak to change hearts, especially those that may feel discouraged already or are already regretting their decision to come to campus.  {liberty university} truly has been an incredible blessing to me over the last seven years.  sometimes i wonder if i would be equally as happy and blessed had i followed my initial desires for college selection.  let's just say liberty and its rules were not my number one pick.

in reading the freshman handbook to prepare for this class tomorrow, i was encouraged and reminded of paul's call to pray for our family, our friends, our church, ourselves:

• that God "may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him" {ephesians 1:17}
• that the "eyes of your understanding [may be] enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His caling" {ephesians 1:18}
• that you may know "what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe" {ephesians 1:19}

good luck, freshmen! be open to what God has in store for you over the next 4+ years!  (yes, some of you will take the 4+ years to finish, but stay strong, you can do it!)

no horsing around

i have been eagerly wanting to plan a trip to next year's {kentucky derby}.  while horse races are fun, my primary goal was to have an excuse to get dressed up and wear big hats.  a few of the girls shared in my excitement.  we could easily make ourselves fit in.  we thought so anyway...until we discovered the ticket prices for grandstand seats.  a trip to the horse track sure isn't a trip to the ball field.

truth be told, i am disappointed we will not be sitting in the grandstands next may.  maybe we can throw our own derby party here though.  this is my friend's attempt at cheering me up:

"one day miranda… we will leave our 2.5 kids back in the hotel with our nanny’s and our husbands will have purchased us the best seats with, of course, tickets to the winners circle after the race! and we will walk in with our big (very expensive) hats and hot (very rich) husbands and enjoy the kentucky derby as it was meant to be enjoyed."

well said, friend!

throwing stones

continuing with the reading list.  i am starting to realize that several of our selected books are centered on slavery and/or the civil rights movement.  i have found them to be interesting reads.  included in this list is uncle tom's cabin by harriet beecher stowe.

"if it were your harry, mother, or your willie, that were going to be torn from you by a brutal trader, to-morrow morning,--if you had seen the man, and heard that the papers were signed and delivered, and you had only from twelve o'clock till morning to make good your escape,--how fast could you walk?  how many miles could you make in those few brief hours, with the darling at your bosom,--the little sleepy head on your shoulder,--the small, soft arms trustingly holding on to your neck?"  {uncles tom's cabin, harriet beecher stowe}

"sublime is the dominion of the mind over the body, that, for a time, can make flesh and nerve impregnable, and string the sinews like steel, so that the weak becomes so mighty."  {uncles tom's cabin, harriet beecher stowe}

"and for a few moments they all wept in company.  and in those tears they all shed together, the high and the lowly, melted away all the heart-burnings and anger of the oppressed.  o, ye who visit the distressed, do ye know that everything your money can buy, given with a cold, averted face, is not worth one honest tear shed in real sympathy?"  {uncles tom's cabin, harriet beecher stowe}

"of course, in a novel, people's hearts break, and they die, and that is the end of it; and in a story this is very convenient.  but in real life we do not die when all that makes life bright dies to us.  there is a most busy and important round of eating, drinking, dressing, walking, visiting, buying, selling, talking, reading, and all that makes up what is commonly called living, yet to be gone through."  {uncles tom's cabin, harriet beecher stowe}

"'i could sooner show twenty what were good to be done, than be one of the twenty to follow my own showing.'" {uncles tom's cabin, harriet beecher stowe}

"farewell, beloved child!  the bright, eternal doors have closed after thee; we shall see they sweet face no more.  o, woe for them who watched thy entrance into heaven, when they shall wake and find only the cold gray sky of daily life, and thou gone forever."  {uncles tom's cabin, harriet beecher stowe}

read this quote and tell me you do not feel convicted...

"if i answer that question, i know you'll be at me with half a dozen others, each one harder than the last; and i'm not going to define my position.  i am one of the sort that lives by throwing stones at other people's glass houses, but i never mean to put up one for them to stone."  {uncles tom's cabin, harriet beecher stowe}

dear hallmark

i have neglected you.  i have neglected our relationship.  i have allowed this to turn into a one-way relationship.  cards coming in, but no cards going out.  i use to be so dearly devoted to you and now it is as though i just have no time for you.  friends send me cards, notes of encouragement.  very few cards have been put in the mailbox with the mail is outgoing - thanks sign being put to use.  i am ashamed.  i am saddened for my dear friends and family whose mailboxes have been left unused by cards from miranda. 

so to those who have been neglected over the last several months:  happy birthday, happy anniversary, thank you, praying for you, i am thankful for you, happy mother's day, happy father's day, happy nurse's day, thank you, congratulations on your pregnancy, happy administrative professional's day, thank you, congratulations on your engagement, congratulations on your graduation, get well, and THANK YOU!

clean out your mailboxes...come august, you may have a card coming your way sometime soon.

it was the best of times...

...it was the worst of times.  a tale of two cities - interesting read.  i wouldn't categorize it under favorites, but i would categorize it as the other extreme either.  at times, it was difficult to continue and fully comprehend.  i have little else to say about it, so here are a few quotes...

"you were always somewhere, and i was always nowhere." {a tale of two cities, charles dickens}

"sadly, sadly, the sun rose; it rose upon no sadder sight than the man of good abilities and good emotions, incapable of their directed exercise, incapable of his own help and his own happiness, sensible of the blight on him, and resigning himself to let it eat him away."  {a tale of two cities, charles dickens}

"troubled as the future was, it was the unknown future, and in its obscurity there was ignorant hope." {a tale of two cities, charles dickens}

"i see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this abyss, and, in their struggles to be truly free, in their triumphs and defeats, through long years to come, i see the evil of this time and of the previous time of which this is the natural birth, gradually making expiation for itself and wearing out."  {a tale of two cities, charles dickens}

favorite era of reading

"but angry people are not always wise." {pride and prejudice, jane austen}

"i could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine." {pride and prejudice, jane austen}

"vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously.  a person may be proud without being vain.  pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us." {pride and prejudice, jane austen}

"a lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony, in a moment."  {pride and prejudice, jane austen}

"think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure."  {pride and prejudice, jane austen}

"as moderate as those of the rest of the world, i believe.  i wish as well as every body else to be perfectly happy; but, like every body else it must be in my own way.  greatness will not make me so."  {sense and sensibility, jane austen}

"between them no subject is finished, no communication is even made, till it has been made at least twenty times over."  {sense and sensibility, jane austen}

"don't cry so bitterly, but remember this day, and resolve with all your soul that you will never know another like it.  jo, dear, we all have our temptations, some far greater than yours, and it often takes us all our lives to conquer them." {little women, louisa may alcott}

"i want my daughters to be beautiful, accomplished, and good; to be admired, loved, and respected; to have a happy youth, to be well and wisely married, and to lead useful, pleasant lives, with as little care and sorrow to try them as God sees to send.  to be loved and chosen by a good man is the best and sweetest thing which can happen to a woman, and i sincerely hope my girls may know this beautiful experience.  it is natural to think of it, meg, right to hope and wait for it, and wise to prepare for it, so that when the happy time comes, you may feel ready for the duties and worthy of the joy.  my dear girls, i am ambitious for you, but not to have you make a dash in the world--marry rich men merely because they are rich, or have splendid houses, which are not homes because love is wanting.  money is a needful and precious thing--and, when well used, a noble thing--but i never want you to think it is the first or only prize to strive for.  i'd rather see you poor men's wives, if you were happy, beloved, contented, than queens on thrones, without self-respect and peace."  {little women, louisa may alcott}

"then let me advise you to take up your little burdens again, for though they seem heavy sometimes, they are good for us, and lighten as we learn to carry them."  {little women, louisa may alcott}

"i don't pretend to be wise, but i am observing, and i see a great deal more than you'd imagine.  i'm interested in other people's experiences and inconsistencies, and though i can't explain, i remember and use them for my own benefit."  {little women, louisa may alcott}



"...he did not own it till long afterward; men seldom do, for when women are the advisers, the lords of creation don't take the advice till they have persuaded themselves that it is just what they intended to do; then they act upon it, and, if it succeeds, they give the weaker vessel half the credit of it; if it fails, they generously give her the whole." {little women, louisa may alcott}