American Memorial Marshall Fellowship

I'm thrilled to share with my blogworld that I accomplished something else while enduring 20-weeks of morning sickness...I was selected as a 2008 American Memorial Marshall Fellow. This is an incredible program that sends young adults, 28-40, leaders to European cities for a 21-day public policy tour. My friend and colleague Diane Presley first told me about the fellowship last year. It is an incredible honor to be selected to represent Texas next October. Click here to see others across America who were selected for the fellowship, and, you can read more about the program: http://www.gmfus.org/template/page.cfm?page_id=366

Speaking from Silence

"All necessary conversations begin in stillness and silence."--Me, Dec. 23, 2007

I'm impressed by yogis who go off in silence at the end of the year to wait and listen for a New Year's message. Silence is a lost art in our world today. Yet silence truly is fertile soil from which new ideas, different thoughts, and renewed energy grows. I've always found it humorous that the Self family can sit in a room together, be perfectly silent and yet perfectly happy. Makes me think we have some Quaker in our past DNA.
I haven't gone on a silent retreat recently, but I feel like a word has bubbled from deep in my soul...and I believe it's my word for 2008. It's not original...but it's mine--grateful. I have this deep well of gratefulness that seems to be spilling over in my heart and soul. So my New Year's wish is that I continue to develop and deepen a grateful soul.
What's your word for the New Year?

The belly is growing

"Everything grows rounder and wider and weirder, and I sit here in
the middle of it all and wonder who in the world you will turn out to be."--
Carrie Fisher
"The most important thing she'd learned over the years was that there was
no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one."-- Jill
Churchill

Here I am at 22 weeks on Christmas Eve Day! It's hard to believe my tummy is getting so round--like a bowl full of jelly (although my tummy is actually hard, not soft!) My parents requested this picture posting and I must admit it's a little strange to put my belly on my blog. Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!

Christmas is coming

Well, the big day is just around the corner. I'm ready for Christmas. Since we had an early Thanksgiving, it feels like Christmas has been out there "lurking." I was able to get my Christmas presents bought and the necessary ones mailed in a timely fashion. These days, I'm thankful for little accomplishments like these. The pregnancy nausea now comes and goes but the pregnancy tiredness hangs around almost every day!
I've really enjoyed the Advent traditions of First Church and I look forward to the live Christmas Eve service at 11 pm...you can watch it in person, on the web, or live on WFAA-Channel 8.
Some incredible things have happened since my last blog entry...my colleague and friend donated a kidney to her sister-in-law. Both are doing well in the these early days post-surgery. Please keep them in your prayers...Sherrye (donor) and Kim (recipient)....my baby is kicking and moving more every day. I'm waiting for that magic moment when Troy will be able to feel a kick.....and, I had a "middle of the night" wake-up call two weeks ago and realized that it was now-or-never for me to take my massage therapy exam. I registered for the test, brushed up on my anatomy and took the state exam this past week. And I passed! I'm now a licensed massage therapist in the state of Texas--a massage therapist with no clients! (Not a good business model.)
I'm preaching tomorrow at First Church so my mind is on my sermon...will blog more tomorrow.

Meditation Rocks

There's all kinds of meditation out there and this "Geek meditation" is funny. I'm currently taking a class, "Meditation for Birth." It is a very interesting course and could easily be titled, "Medititation for Pain Management." Will discuss more later. For now, just wanted to share a smile with you today.

Meredith Braaten -- email me!

Meredith, email me at reverendkath@gmail.com.

It's not about us people!

The Today Show spot was "How to Treat your Loved Ones Like a Celebrity this Christmas" and the person presenting is a professional shopper who can find all the things that are the "musts" if you want to copy celebrities' lives. The first item on the list--these "Ho Ho Christmas Stockings" that replace the traditional stockings hung by the fire. I don't know where to start....just to say that Christmas is not about making us feel good or feel happy or feel like a Celebrity. I'm not sure what it is about except that it is the annual observance of a season of the Christian year. And somehow from this observance we have derived "Ho Ho Christmas Stockings." It makes me want to run and hide in a convent the rest of my life.

My second cousin and my first pregnancy photo

My second cousin Nancy was in-town over the weekend for her husband's company Christmas party. She is the one who I recently met who has been sharing Simonds family photos. We had tea at her hotel...the Hotel Palomar (my first time there even though I've driven past many times). The top picture is the two of us in front of their hotel Christmas tree. The bottom picture--OH MY GOSH...my first time to see a picture of me looking pregnant. I think I'm having a baby!

DayTimer.com wins store of the year

Something good happened today--not quite a Christmas miracle--but as close as possible for the retail world. And the ending of the story is that Daytimer.com wins Retail Store of the Year in my book. I recently ordered my 2008 page-a-day calendar from them (this is my 3rd year using their system). I mentioned to the phone person that in the past year, I lost one of the screws that holds the rings to the binder. I asked if she could send me a screw. And she said she couldn't send me a screw, and she suggested that I could find one at the hardware store. The conversation felt funny and actually stayed with me the past few days, but I just didn't feel like pushing the issue.

Today, just 10 minutes ago, I received a phone call from the Quality Assurance Division of Daytimer.com. Upon reviewing the call, it was decided that my request was not accurately handled. I never knew that that pre-recorded message "Your call is being recorded for quality assurance" really mattered. Their apology--they are sending me a brand new binder. I would have been happy with a screw, but I will accept a new binder! I'm a small fish for them--I order once a year my pages--yet they treated me like my business really matters in the large pond of retail. Thanks Daytimer.com for brightening my day.

Buddha Belly

We had our 20-week sonogram this morning and we are celebrating the miracle of life. Baby Ransdell has become incarnate and all organs and anatomy are in-place and looking good. In fact, our little baby has a big belly for his/her age (already taking after Grandpa Self...). Big bellies were signs of godliness in Buddhas, which is why you always see Buddhas with bellies. The big belly actually represented the capacity to hold great breath, which is considered the source of all life. So, we have a baby with a Buddha belly!

And he/she has a long femur. Both are signs of a healthy, long baby! Troy likes the top photo because it looks like the baby is using his pointer finger to ponder life. I like the bottom photo because it shows the tiny details of his/her hand. And talk about temptation--the three different people who viewed our sonogram said they could clearly see the gender of the baby--but we held strong. It will now be a surprise because they did not write it in our chart. Here's to surprises in life.

The sonogram doctor said something funny...he asked if this was my first pregnancy. I said yes, and he said, "Good job...You grow them good." So now I have to keep this bun in the oven baking for the next 20 weeks!