Back from CA

I am back from California. Major jet lagged today but still surviving. I flew out for my mom's 60th birthday party. Since it was a surprise I couldn't really post on it... my mother reads my blog. So for those wondering why I haven't posted in over a week, that would be why.

It was a great surprise. She had no idea my little sister and I were flying out. We had to hide out a day until the party but due to a well organized and executed mission all went as planned and the covert operation went off without a hitch. My parents live in the middle of the desert in Indio, CA. Talk about hot!! The second day we were there the thermometer read 118 degrees... you've got to be kidding me! Everyone kept commenting about how dry the heat was. Coming from Colorado where it is so dry your knuckles crack when you flex I couldn't quite identify with the CA heat being dry. I would walk outside and immediately begin to sweat. Dry? I think not. I think the moisture may have been due to the incredible number of golf courses in the area. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a perpetual mist hanging over the valley from the amount of water it takes to keep all those greens so lush. Nothing against the Coachella valley but if we rationed the amount of water they were allowed to use on those lawns we may find the solution to world wide drought.

One morning I went out for a walk in the development we were staying in and noticed one person's lawn was rather dry and brittle. There was a notice on the door concerning their failure to comply with HoA standards of appearance. What if they were trying to be environmentally aware and conserve water??!! Forget it! Your HoA says you must use water! Do it!!! Ok, I'm done ranting... but they are living in the desert... perhaps coming to grips with that and not pretending it is a lush desert oasis may help out a bit. There is probably a legitimate desert oasis in Palm Springs but it's only about a mile circumference and yet the surrounding 30 miles is attempting to create the mirage of desert fauna as well. Oops... I was supposed to be done ranting.

I got to eat authentic Mexican food again - heavenly. I was able to observe CA night life again... oh boy do I sure NOT miss that. (Note to women everywhere: if you exceed the weight limit for a car booster seat you are not allowed to wear Hollywood apparel. Those clothes are only designed for women who have not come to grips with their womanly figure yet. And when it comes to boob exposure... more is not better. Women wonder why men stare at their chests and not at their faces when they talk... they will look at what you give them, duh!)

Well, it was fantastic seeing my family again. I had not seen my brother and sister in about 3 years and missed them terribly. It had only been six months since I saw my mother but due to the nature of the book I am writing about femininity I missed my mother terribly too. I wish we lived closer so I could just pick her brain for information without the huge cell phone bill we incur. I am now back home safe and sound and need to spend some much needed time with my own daughter. Time flies so fast and sooner than I know it she'll be trying to sneak out in skimpy clothes and my time for instilling morals in her will be gone. I'll post pictures of the trip soon. My little sister took all the pictures and so I'm waiting on her to get those downloaded.

Traffic Stopper!

Well, it appears that my life long aspiration to be a traffic stopper has finally come true. It was a smash success... even caused an accident. Ok... maybe it wasn't all that glamorous. I was walking this morning... and I came to the crosswalk. I stood there for a few seconds debating whether or not to push the walk signal or just pick my way across 6 lanes of traffic. I decided to be a law abiding citizen and hit the walk button instead. And so I'm standing there waiting for the signal to walk and lo and behold it is finally my turn to cross. As the walk signal flickers to give me the go ahead the first renegade car goes speeding through the red light...wonderful. Too bad he was going too fast to get a license plate number. Oh well.. I see all the cars stopped now and so I continue on with my trek across the street. Right as I get about halfway across the first 3 lanes I hear what every pedestrian fears to hear... screeching tires. I look to my left and notice all the cars still at a stop so it doesn't register right away what's going on... and then I see it. Coming up behind my first line of defense to the rest of traffic is this little pickup truck who obviously feels he is impervious to red lights and the car sitting in front of him as well. He smashes right into the car which of course propels her straight towards me. But the most shocking element of all was that I was unaware I could move that fast. I hopped off the street onto the opposite curb as the drama unfolded. After ensuring that no one wanted my information or number (which I was absolutely sure someone would want...after all... I stopped traffic!) I continued on with my walk. And so now, I can honestly say (because of course I did in fact push the little "walk" button) that I stopped traffic and caused an accident. I can now check that off of my "bucket" list.

Busy Little Bee Indeed...

Here's my update post to say that I'm busy busy this week. I was wrapping up another chapter for my book on Ms. Folly. I have to prepare a teaching on "teaching" for this coming Sunday so that's got me tied up too. And to top it all off my parents get into town tomorrow and I haven't dusted their room yet!! So I gotta go but I will post on something of some sort of relevance soon... I promise!

Love,
Debbie

Random...

Mustard Seed Plant

My Sunflowers

My Guitar Hero!

Bright-eyed, Bushy-haired Baby

Backyard Visitor

Mountain View from the Backyard (pretend the power lines aren't there... that's what I do.)

Her Name Is 'Folly'

In countless women's bible studies, we are constantly directed to Proverbs 31 in order to gain definition for our femininity in this chapter pertaining to the noble wife. In the opening verses of this chapter the noble wife is compared to the attribute wisdom. Throughout Proverbs wisdom is characterized as feminine and is indeed a feminine noun in the Hebrew language - "Chokmah".

I decided that if wisdom contained the characteristics of true and rightful femininity as we are led to believe then it would stand to reason that the evil associated with wisdom, folly, would entail the "false feminine". The Hebrew word for folly is also a feminine noun - "Ivveleth". And so I spent the better portion of yesterday pulling out the various reflections of folly from the pages of Proverbs. The list is rather extensive but I think it will provide some clarification for where we may be deceived into seeing these characteristics as encompassing godly femininity when they do not.

And so, here is my compiled list of the "false feminine":
despises wisdom and discipline, delights in mockery, hates knowledge, does not fear the Lord, scheming, wayward, complacent, perverse mouth, seductive words, leaves the partner of her youth, resents rebuke and instruction, inherits shame, bitter, cruel, lazy, stirs up dissension, haughty (self-exalting) eyes, lying tongue, sheds innocent blood, preys upon men, incites jealousy, loud and defiant, proud and arrogant, brings grief to mother, violent, lacks judgment, leads others astray, finds pleasure in evil conduct, hopeless and depressed, duplicitous, destroys and tears down with words, gossips, attracts trouble, lacks discretion, deceitful, chases fantasies, easily annoyed, anxious, wasteful (squanders money), quarrelsome, spares the rod, tears down her house, quick tempered, hotheaded, reckless, simpleminded, gives birth to folly, oppresses, contemptuous, disgraceful, incurs wrath, spurns father, despises mother, no pleasure in knowledge and yet airs opinions freely, answers before listening, robs father and drives out mother, betrays confidence, craves to take, servant to lender (in debt), immature, praises herself, disregards laws, eager to get rich, lives in fear, gives full vent to anger.

And after all this the tell all sign of true folly is she turns on her character and says, "I've done nothing wrong." I don't know about you but I saw a whole lot of characteristics in there that I have believed in and that the world tells us embodies the empowered feminine of today.

I will be working on acquiring more characteristics throughout other books in the bible but I was just astounded with the extensive list I accumulated from Proverbs alone. These characteristics are evidence of the false feminine - the harlot - in our midst. The world tells us to aspire to be this woman. We lift her up on our shoulders and strive to be like her. But it is a lie. This is not true femininity.

The False Feminine

Well... my book research has taken me to a new study. I am exploring what it means to be falsely feminine. Our society tells us many things about what does or does not make us feminine but all those things aren't necessarily true. Since the majority of perusers through my blog are women, I am asking you (men feel free to comment here too please) what it means to be falsely feminine. What lies have we believed in, that actually tear down women's character and nature instead of lifting it up? Where in your own personal life have you been deceived into thinking this? Feel free to pass the blog along to any friends, I'd like to have as much input as possible on this topic. And if you hesitate to share because you do not want to admit the deception you have succumbed to, trust me... you are not alone. There are many lies that I have believed would fulfill me as a woman that have only succeeded in causing pain, sorrow, and grief in my life. As I stand on the other side of my experiences looking back on them, I cannot comprehend how the deception so easily sunk into who I was... but it did. I thank God immensely for striving so hard to bring me out of it; not only for my own sake, but also for the sake of my daughter. I want her to be able to grow up with a proper image of what it means to be feminine and not buy into what the world is trying to convince us is feminine. So without further ado... I ask of you: What does the "false feminine" mean to you?

Not Negligence

I thought I should make a quick post and just let everyone know that I am not intending to neglect my blog. I have a massive reading list to get through and I have been trying to make headway into it. I will have plenty to write about afterwards though. Here is a brief summary of the books I am currently reading through. I'll update them as a finish.

The Practice of the Presence of God - finished.

The Messianic Matrix - finished.

Surprised by Joy - Finished

The Abolition of Man

The Weight of Glory - In Progress...

And so as you can see... I'm a bit tied up at the moment but will be right back on top of things as soon as I'm through this stack.