Life on the farm.

Update that shadow box.

My Very Educated Mother Just Showed Us Nine Planets.

Make that eight. I guess she wasn't at that astronomers meeting in Prague. And now I have to find a new mnemonic phrase for eight.

"Back in my day, we had to memorize nine planets! You kids have it easy."

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A community police officer addressed our staff at a meeting yesterday. He brought it to our attention that the only emergency shelter for women in Portland has just closed for good. They lost funding, and it sounds like there are not enough personnel resources to continue providing shelter through that facility even with new sources of funding.

There are several problems that come with having no shelter for women on the street:

• It is an extremely vulnerable population that is at high risk of assault.
• It keeps homeless men out at night, and it creates negative behavior from fighting and showing off for the women.
• It adds a new population for drug sales at night, so it increases drug traffic in the city.

The shelter I work for provides meals and basic services to women, but we have an all-men overnight dorm. The city approached us to see if we could help facilitate some new overnight services for women, and our staff would certainly like to try. It is complicated to balance government funding and a private nonprofit, but this is a huge need for the homeless community in Portland.

I was really upset by the news. Fortunately summer doesn't have the threat of extreme weather, but the danger for a woman on the street is never simply seasonal. It seems ridiculous that we in the social services community would allow this to happen to those at such high risk already. I am glad that there may be some sort of option in the works, but I am praying that there will be a functioning and permanent solution in place soon.

Not an inch taller.

I remember getting my driver's license when I was 16 years old. It expired in 2006. I remember thinking, I can't even imagine being 24. Will this thing ever expire? That's half a lifetime away.

Well, apparently it is possible. As of today, I have proven it. I'll have to line up again at the DMV when I am 32. Right, like I'll ever be in my thirties.

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Dan surprised me this morning with a birthday breakfast. At first I thought it was my roommate Carolyn bumping around in my kitchen at 5:30 in the morning.

The table was already set when I wandered out of my bedroom. We had eggs, hash browns, and he even brought my favorite guilty pleasure- an apple fritter. It was a great way to start the day.

   

Fresh like Tokyo.

A little sushi is good for the body.

Last night Jenny and I staked out a spot at the local Sushiland. They have cheap, fresh, delicious plates of California rolls and calamari on a conveyer belt of seafood delights.

Mmm.

Better take off that red coat.

“Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.”

–the Countess in William Shakespeare’s All’s Well that Ends Well.

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An attack on international airlines was foiled in London today.

The U.S. Army used to have a recruiting campaign that profiled soldiers and tagged each as “An Army of One.” I don’t think the American armed forces are the best representatives of one-person militaries. The terrorist attacks on Western nations in the last five years are the real picture of encountering a million “Armies of One.” There is no proven way to win.

It reminds me of the Revolutionary War. The British stood in proper battle formation while colonists picked them off with arrows from the trees. The systems of war changed again with World War I. Automatic weapons and war-by-air completely replaced the musket raids of the Spanish American and Civil Wars. Then nuclear war- superpowers threatening to flip the light switch on each other. And now it is all changing again.

The new systems of war target civilians and are driven by small, politically removed factions of extremists. Whether we like it or not, this is the way that battles are manifesting in the 21st century. I don’t mean to suggest that the West should respond with similar military schemes, but it seems it would be worth investing in the social aid and policy issues that affect the hearts of these independent armies. Perhaps carefully thought diplomacy might shift some of the work into the hands of nations closer to the source of the driving ideologies. And it probably wouldn't cost as much as bombs.

Fill the jars with water.

The weekend is over, and I was actually in town and feeling well for maybe the first time this summer! A large batch of my extended family from my dad’s side was here for a visit, so I spent some quality time with them on Friday and Saturday. We passed around pictures from the early 1970’s, talked about family heritage, and ate at least once every three hours.

Today Dan and I went on a hike up Larch Mountain with some of his JBU friends who were visiting from Colorado. It is an easy hike up an old volcano with a stunning view of five mountains from the top. I would have pictures to post, but my camera was out of batteries.

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Good news for my friends in northern Uganda. The LRA is talking, and there is a ceasefire in place. Joseph Kony’s violence has been called the most neglected human crisis in the world. There has been more attention brought to it lately with the Invisible Children movement, but the West is slow to recognize the trouble outside our high gates.

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Lebanon, land under fire. Israel, land deep in fear.

Some think that Qana, the city that had so many civilians die in bombings last week, is the Biblical town of Cana in Galilee. That would make it the site of Jesus’ first miracle—turning water into wine as recorded in John 2. It was a place of celebration and the dawn of the Messiah’s ministry. It was part of his neighborhood, and his friends lived there.

Thirty-five percent of Qana’s population is Christian. The American Christian church is probably the most vocal support of Israel’s military offence. John 17- Jesus prays for all who will be his followers. “May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them.” I pray with my Lebanese brothers and sisters, may peace come quickly to the land where Jesus walked.

Rolling in my head.

I heard an interesting quote recently. It's been stuck in my thoughts.

Good enough is the enemy of the best.