Joke of the Day

It's been a while since I've done a joke post, so here goes...

CJ: [pours remainder of ice from one cup into cup with iced tea] "look, I am consolidating."

Me: "Hahaha... yeah, consolidating your liquid assets."

[rim-shot]

Sometimes it amazes me...

just how many fat people there are! America is truly the land of excess. It's sad...

"It's gonna be a scorcher!"

I remember hearing those words often every summer throughout my childhood and always thought of it as code for "Get your bathing suit on. We're going to the beach!" I really didn't know what scorcher meant - actually, I wasn't even sure it was a real word (Mom was one for making up words to fit the need of the moment). Since then I have looked it up and saw that it merely means "a very hot day." But the phrase has stuck with me all these years and as I drove to the office this morning, AC blowing hard, I glanced up at the thermometer in my rental car and saw that it was alread 80 degrees at 8 o'clock in the morning. I thought to myself "wow, it is gonna be a scorcher!"

Rivanna Trail Foundation

One of the pluses of C-ville, is the river trail that circumnavigates the city, marked by little diamond-shaped, metal signed, nailed to trees and posts.

There are a number of foot bridges, crossing the Rivanna River

The trailes can get pretty dense at times, making the trail almost undiscernable from the surrounding brush. So far I have not had any run-ins with Virginia's snakes, but I am always on the lookout just in case.

All the recent rains have actually washed out parts of the trail... but that did not stop us. Wading, anyone?

Your Mercies in Disguise...

When trials come and difficulties arise, friendships disolve, loved ones pass away, and life seems particularly dark, we often question why. We wonder if there is a reason for it all and we try to make sense of it. For some, life has no purpose, and so good and bad times are just cycles of life that everyone goes through, devoid of rhyme or reason. For the Christian, meaning in life is expected, but sometimes hard to find. I recently heard a song that spoke to this very topic and thought I would share it here:

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not our home

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise

~ Blessings, by Laura Story

Rivanna Reservoir

I didn't realize that I had know idea how to spell "reservoir" until CJ and I went on a hunt for the Rivanna Reservoir. I saw it on Google Maps one day when I was looking for directions for my lazor hair removal appointment (TMI? Oh, sorry.). I had been feeling overwhelmingly land-locked, here in Central VA (yes, I realize VA is on the Atlantic coast, but where I am living is so far from the ocean, I might as well be in a land-locked State), so I was desperate to see water - any water. I dragged CJ along on my quest, but didn't think to look up the specific directions. I knew the general vicinity - could even see the reservoir from the highway that runs through the city. But when we got to the right area, it seemed that none of the roads actually led to the water. I pulled out the GPS to type in Rivanna Reservoir and that was when it hit me that reservoir was a word I had never before spelled in my life. I couldn't even picture it in my mind's eye. In the end, it didn't matter. The GPS couldn't help us anyway. The only reservoir it would give us directions to was over 100 miles away (I still don't quite understand that one...). In the end, we parked the car on a nearby country road and found a little worn-away path in the brush and tall grasses that led us right to the falls of the reservoir. It was beautiful! CJ were both glad we went to all the trouble it took to find that spot... it was totally worth it!

If you don't believe, have a look for yourself...