Big Nell is Home

Well, it took a few weeks from broken to fixed but Big Nell got home a couple of weeks ago, and with a new hard drive.

She's running just fine now, and all the little niggling problems that made me nuts before are resolved...probably the original hard drive had defects, and that's why I had so much trouble with running Ubuntu and Linux Mint so was stuck using Windows, and even had miscellaneous aggravations with that!

Anyway, I now have Linux Mint installed and it's running perfectly. Still using Windows during the day for my job because it's where all of my files and software are currently loaded, but that will change so I can use Mint all the time instead.

The hassle of returning Big Nell was still a hassle. But now my husband is happy with his new computer (he hasn't had a new one in 6½ years, I've had at least 2 new ones since then!) and I'm happy to have Big Nell back, AND WORKING PROPERLY! :)

A Fun Game with Leelan!

Leelan is my 3YO grandson. He loves playing with his "bowling bat" (a plastic golf club) and a big red ball but of course not so good to play with in the house. We have a vacant lot between our house and the house to our south, which we maintain as a lawn, so Saturday Leelan & I went out there and made up a new game. It was great fun for me too!

One of us chooses a place to stand - close to a bush or tree, or on an incline, is a good spot - and that person is the "goal." The other one takes the ball about 20' away, and hits it with the bowling bat toward the "goal"; touching the ball with hands or feet is not allowed! You have reached the goal when the ball touches that person's feet/legs AND stays there, so s/he can pick it up without moving from their spot. 1 point is scored for each stroke, as in mini-golf. One the goal picks up the ball, s/he becomes the player and the other one becomes the goal. The player stays where s/he is and the goal chooses another place to stand. Play continues, reversing roles, until a certain score is reached - the person that reaches that score first is the loser.

What a fun game for both a preschooler and a grandma to play together!

The Word and The World

As I've mentioned before, I get a lot of chaos in my brain since my stroke. Too much input (which now means just a couple of things happening at once!) results in mental confusion or even inability to deal with any of them, as well as frustration and even anger. I wasn't like this before obviously...and even though it's been a few years, I still struggle in dealing with it, since I apparently can't "screen out" input so as to concentrate on one thing at a time...

Anyway, recently I've increasingly been experiencing this mental chaos/frustration/anger cycle going on and haven't been able to pinpoint exactly why. My environment or the people around me (who "get it") haven't changed. So, what then...?

The internet has been great for me. I can talk to people, post updates, and be social without having to think quickly, or deal with other stuff at the same time. I can do it on my terms, when other things aren't vying for my limited attention. I used to be quick and smart in conversations; now I can still be quick and smart when I'm writing because I can take time to think and control the environment.

It's been great being able to witness and share the gospel online, especially via social networks.

But there, as in "real life", there is a whole lot of the world. And I have really let the world's concerns bore holes in my spirit. It's been a slow, incremental change, but a change just the same, until it all started upheaval in my carefully-ordered world. I found myself struggling with even mundane, common tasks and thought processes, frustration and anger taking over more and more...

It took a while to realize what was happening. It wasn't the fault of the internet or social media, it wasn't even a "fault" at all, just an encroachment that I didn't see happening and therefore didn't stop.

The reason I'm even writing about it is that the same things can happen to any of us. The world, its views, its problems and issues, all start taking up more and more space in our thoughts and lives. It isn't that we aren't to deal with them - share and love our brothers and sisters, take the gospel to the world, uproot sin in the name of Jesus wherever it is found - but that these things can't be allowed to become our focus.

Our eyes must always stay on Jesus. Our hearts must always be full of the Word. Even as we do whatever He has called us to do, it is still all about HIM and not about the world. I have to say that again, it is so important: It is all about Him and not about the world.

So last week I decided to take a sabbatical from social networks for the weekend, and focus on Jesus, on the Word, on prayer...then yesterday - Sunday - came, and church, and a guest speaker/singer. And God used her in such a mighty way in my heart!! The things she said were like arrows, shooting the truth right into my spirit! So many things I can't begin write them all down (I can't remember them anyway but I remember their gist), and I'm thrilled that Pete "taped" the whole thing on his Droid! He's never done that before - another way God moved - but I can listen to her again and again!

I need more time with the Lord. My social networking will be severely curtailed, so I can spend time in the Word and in prayer. I haven't been blogging as much either, and that's going to change. I've overdosed on the world, on worldly events and issues and too many things temporal. Now I'm craving once again fellowship with my Father and a spirit that is centered on the spiritual and the eternal.

I am so thankful that God didn't just hand me back over to the world!

(Note that links to this blog are posted on various social sites. If you reply there, I probably won't see it. Just sayin'...)