A Very Special Kind of Prayer

This post is for my family (nuclear, origin, and extended) who mostly seem fairly interested in bodily functions.


In preparing to teach my World Religions class, I ran across this segment on the topic of Judaism. Jews are expected to give thanks continually, and there are blessings for many of the everyday actions of life, like taking a drink of water. Below is the blessing to be recited after using the toilet:


Blessed art thou, our God, Ruler of the Universe, who hast formed (human) beings in wisdom, and created in them a system of ducts and tubes. It is well known before they glorious throne that if but one of these be opened, or if one of those be closed, it would be impossible to exist in thy presence. Blessed art thou, O God, who healest all creatures and doest wonders.

thanks Office Max

Office Max has a wonderful dancing elf program, with elves that look amazingly like my family. Check it out!

Bon Appetit

Our house is decorated in antique hand-me-downs. Just about every piece of furniture has come from a family member who has died, moved to smaller quarters, or bought something better. The one big exception is the tv armoir - which came from Big Lots and took me 7 and 1/2 hours to put together.

Our dining room table and chairs were no exception. My parents had used them for a number of years before we inherited them close to 19 years ago. They became a safety hazard in recent years. The table leaf was missing, and the table might decide to separate with very little provocation. The table had a center base, and one side of it was slanting so that I never put heavy dishes on that end. The chairs had been glued, screwed, nailed, etc. - but still literally kept falling apart. Dinner time was always an adventure at our house.

But Santa came a little early by making a stop at the sale aisle of World Market. The pictures give witness to our beautiful new table and chairs. A little assembly required - Sonny Boy and his best bud were up for the job under my supervisory skills. Of all the things for which my family and I are thankful, a safe place to eat tops the list this year!

USA Davis Cup vs. Spain

Davis Cup is an international tennis competition. Teams play for their country, and the USA team hosted Spain in the quarterfinal this past weekend in Winston-Salem. I can't quite express how excited I was to be able to go. Not only was I seeing professional men's tennis, I was able to enjoy it with my family and with my tennis buddy, Restless Mama, and her two boys. We saw Andy Roddick, James Blake and the Bryan brothers take on a Spanish contingent that included no. 6 Tommy Robredo.

This weekend's Davis Cup was a sell-out. Supposedly George Clooney was even in the crowd (he has been filming in the area). The USA won and the players attributed it in part to the enthusiasm of the crowd. It has even prompted Bob Bryan to request that if they make it to the final it should be played in WS.

I have lots more pics I'll post in the coming days. Being able to see a Davis Cup match was certainly one of the highlights of my life, and being able to see these particular players was an added bonus. Sonny Boy, who resisted our family outing because he thinks tennis is not as cool as snowboarding, was even heard to say, "This was more fun than I thought it would be."