starting to wonder.

i find twitter and other such "social networks" fascinating.

i can definitely not disagree with anyone that these websites do provide a form of social interaction...a form of community. that is definitely clear. however, are we using these websites as a way out of getting to know people face to face?

Are we just plain scared?

I've noticed for years how much easier it is for people to speak more freely through the web...whether it be through instant messenger, myspace, facebook, twitter, etc. But i'm starting to believe these things are all crutches. they are all ways we can pretend that we are really communicating effectively with others when really we're just scared to have actual human contact.

Is it easier to be rejected over the computer screen than in person? Heck yes it is! At least via email, you don't have to face someone and see the look in their eyes. You almost don't have to know the real truth. But how is that healthy? How is that normal? What is normal anymore?



Now, on to the whole reason why i even started this blog.

I really think the main problem with these networks isn't within the sites themselves. I mean, come on...twitter is a great idea. Facebook...myspace...i've reconnected with so many people that i might have never "seen" again if not for those sites. That isn't my issue.

My issue is the girl too busy with her face stuck in her iphone twittering...yet all the while missing out on a conversation happening with the people right in front of her. My issue is with the boss that would rather facebook people than sit and have coffee with a staff member. My issue is with the workaholic who is on vacation but cannot stay away from their phone or laptop for five seconds to actually fully enjoy the setting sun....the sound of silence....life without electronics.

Have we forgotten what it is like to not be so distracted by being in the "know" that we negelct the people God has placed in our life in that exact moment in time? What if God doesn't want us to be focusing on Bob down the road...why should i really care that he's washing his car when Sally beside me needs a friend right now....but, i'm too stuck twittering to Bob and all of my followers about how I'm meeting with Sally. My question...am I really meeting with Sally?

Again, don't get me wrong. I think these sites are fun...interesting...and can really connect you with those you do life with. but....

when you find yourself getting to know people more through these places than through actual conversation...something is not right. we were made for human contact and interaction. you cannot argue to me that having a conversation via twitter or ichat beats actual human contact.

i won't buy it.

i love my sister!

There was a package waiting for me from my sister when i got home last night. It was a shoe box...did she get me shoes? I'm not really a shoe person but love the gesture.

Oh, my sister knows me so well.

She sent me the box set to Indiana Jones! AND in with the box, i found a check with enough money for a ticket and snacks or two people. In the memo section of the check she put, "for Indiana Jones tickets."

Do i have the best sister or what?! She knows how much i not only love Harrison Ford but also how much i love Indiana Jones.

It almost makes me want to go back and study archaeology again...hearing Indy talk in the movie really made me miss it.

I love my Kimmie!



Currently listening to: Jon Foreman::The Cure for Pain

thinking...

i've been thinking about the chapman family a lot.

i've been praying for them...especially for the driver of the car. can you imagine? he's really been on my heart.

but, as i was watching a video of Maria...a thought came to mind...

as i watched her laugh and giggle with her father in the video, all i could think of is how happy she was. all i could think of was that God placed Maria in their hands so He could hear her laughter...so that she could live the little bit of time that she had left on this earth feeling loved, happy, and free.

they did their job. they loved. and God decided He needed her with Him...right where she belongs...

garden.

i want to start a garden.

but not just any garden. i want to be able to live off of my garden. i want to can the vegetables i grow.

if i decide to make a salad, i want to just walk outside and grab what i need. hmmmm. yeah. i like the sound of that.

problem:

i don't have a house for said garden.

i guess i'll just have to wait.




currently listening to: Colm Mac Con Iomaire:: Blue Shoes

because.

"because when you're wildly in love with someone, it changes everything."

from Francis Chan's book "Crazy Love."


currently listening to: All We Need::Charlie Hall

sometimes.

sometimes i cant see past the horizon. what am i saying. i never can.

sometimes i forget that God's in charge of that.

mom

she's pretty much amazing.


it is slightly fuzzy, but that's what i like most about it.




beautiful flowers! :) gotta love her "piano of fame" she's got going there.

i finally broke down...

twitter will be my end.

i tried to hold out...

just last week, i was saying i wouldn't do it. i said the same thing about facebook....

i said the same thing about blogging....

i need to stop saying i'll "never" do something. i eat my words quite often.



in other thoughts...i just listened to the song "yearn" by shane and shane. that song kills me. "i wanna yearn for you. i wanna burn with passion over you."

man, that's what God wants of us..that's who He's designed us to yearn over...Himself.

do you yearn for Him...more of Him...all of Him?

that song convicts me of all the things i yearn for that will never fill me up.



currently listening to: mat kearney, in the middle.

iron man

i love my job.

yesterday for Debbie's birthday, we went for lunch and then saw iron man.

go see it.

so good.


currently listening to: meghan coffee, not easy to love

is it strange...

that i was listening to Christmas songs on my way home tonight?



Currently listening to: Patsy Cline, Walking After Midnight.

I read a lot of Nancy Drew growing up...can you tell?

Hiding out behind the blinds..Autumn, Natalie and I found ourselves rolling on the floor laughing. The best line of the night... "Natalie, don't get all baptist on them." Natalie's response..."Hell fire and brimstone!" Nice, Natalie. Nice.

Since I've lived with Autumn, i've been very interested in the townhome across the way. I pass by it everyday...with our windows open, I can see all the comings and goings of those living there. What can i say? I'm a people watcher...nosey...and easily distracted. So, of course you'll find me staring out the window from time to time.

So, I've noticed quite a few interesting happenings at said house...which i'll refer to as the Hostel from now on. There are always new cars in the parking lot with out of state tags...exhibit A. Exhibit B....there are strange women and men always coming in and out that I never see more than twice. Exhibit C....their living room looks like a bedroom (something i've noticed just by walking by...i promise I'm not a stalker...). Exhibit D...ummm..that might be it.

At first, I only noticed men coming and going and therefore made the logical assumption it was a brothel. Obvious, right? But the people coming in and out didn't quite fit the stereotype of what a pervert would look like...however a pervert comes in all forms, I am sure. Moving on....

Then, I started thinking it was a hostel. I tried looking online...but came up empty. So, maybe it isn't a hostel...even though i still call it that.

My latest theory...

It is a Commune. (and no this theory has not been influenced by the latest news story about the commune out west).

I'm pretty sure the people living there are Morman. I see people coming and going on Saturday dressed in their Sunday Best...or for them, their Saturday Best. One of the women living there drives a car with a "Mitt for president" bumper sticker...(will someone tell her he's out of the race?)...

And then...the piece that ties all of this together....Autumn, Natalie and I saw two Mormon Missionaries (young men, dressed in white shirts with name tags and black pants, riding bikes) go up to the Brothel/Hostel/Commune and knock on the door. The Mitt fan answered the door....they proceeded to talk for about 10 or 15 minutes outside on the stoop...smiles...spots of laughter. Buddies? Maybe so. Either way, us girls turned out the lights, closed the blinds and prayed they wouldn't come over to chat. There we were, peeping through the blinds trying to figure them out.

And then it hit us...as great as the mystery was...as much fun as it was us laughing at ourselves....making jokes...

I realized that we did the classic "Christian" thing of trying to isolate ourselves from those different from us...those who don't agree...In that moment, we were those Christians I cannot stand.

i hope they come back...

and I hope they come to my door...and I hope i'm home.

(mainly though so i can ask which is it? Brothel, Hostel, or Commune. God, let it be a Hostel or a girl's overactive imagination).




Currently listening to: CCR, Fortunate Son.

innocent.

don't you hate how someone can say something to you..innocently...and it can change everything.