Random Thoughts...

Just some random thoughts bouncing around in my head here on the last day of 2011.  Actually, most of them have nothing to do with the end of the year ... they're just things I've meant to blog about over the last few weeks but haven't had the time.  So, here we go.

1.  I turned 46 a couple weeks ago.  Kind of a strange feeling to be closer to 50 than 40.  I suppose I'll start getting stuff from AARP in the mail any day now.

2.  The best part of turning 46 was that I got a new laptop for my birthday.  Take a close look at the picture of the keyboard of my old laptop below.  Do you agree that maybe it was time for a new one?

Actually, this wasn't my laptop anyway...it was Hannah's.  When she turned 17, her aunts, uncles, grandparents, and even some others, all chipped in and surprised her with it for her birthday.  It was the perfect gift for her, because at that time she was going through her second round of radiation and was out of school.  It helped keep her connected with her friends and the world around her.  Unfortunately, it wasn't long before her vision deteriorated to the point where she couldn't see well enough to use it.  At that point, I took it over, and this is the computer that accompanied us to every hospital appointment and stay, and the means by which I wrote all of the emails which chronicled our journey.  It has served our family well, but lately, it's begun to sputter...so its number is being retired.

3.  Our Christmas stuff is still up, and will remain up until sometime after January 21st.  That is when we will be celebrating Christmas with my side of the family.  Why are we waiting until January 21st, you may ask?  Because that's when my brother and his family will be home on furlough from Indonesia.  The last time we saw them was just a couple of months after Hannah went to Heaven.  We are absolutely giddy at the prospect of seeing them soon!

4.  There are some very exciting things going on with the "While We're Waiting" ministry, and I can't wait to share them with you.  But, I am going to wait until my next "Tell About It Tuesday" post.  So be sure to check back next week.

5.  I'm excited about starting The 3650 Challenge tomorrow.  What is The 3650 Challenge, you ask?  It's also known as Professor Horner's Bible-Reading System -- a method in which you read ten chapters of the Bible a day, every day, for a full year.  Each of the ten chapters comes from a different book of the Bible.  If followed exactly, by the end of the year, you will have read 3,650 chapters. That would mean that over 2012 calendar year you would read through all the Gospels four times, the Pentateuch twice, Paul’s letters 4-5 times each, the Old Testament wisdom literature six times, all the Psalms at least twice, all the Proverbs as well as Acts a dozen times, and all the way through the Old Testament History and Prophetic books about 1.5 times.  Sounds interesting, doesn't it?  If anyone else is doing it, I'd love to hear from you.  There is actually a Facebook group called The 3650 Challenge to provide a forum for those of us who are doing it.  There are 1,348 members of this group, so I know I'm not the only one.  I plan to use the YouVersion Bible on my iPhone, which has this system available as one of its plans, and also another free app called Bible Bookmarks.  Anyway, I'm going to give it a try...I'll let you know how it goes.

6.  I'm totally geeked out about pulling out my new calendars tomorrow.  I may even have to put them up tonight...I just don't think I can wait!  :)