http://www.pleonast.com/user/fullofgrace recent pleonast.com entries by user fullofgrace en-us http://www.pleonast.com/user/fullofgrace?l=5&entryID=612983 this is about a minute long... if laughter is the best medicine, this could potentially cure cancer... watch all the way to the end.... 2008-12-25 http://www.pleonast.com/user/fullofgrace?l=5&entryID=612035 reasons to be thankful this december: magnetic poetry ginger-smelling girly products an impromptu road trip that includes both sides of the family a husband that cooks clean pillowcases a fascinating job the pile of clean laundry being bigger than the pile of dirty laundry penguins friends that make me laugh friends that act like penguins which makes me laugh friends that play eggnog fairy absorbing and challenging reading material not living in the snowy tundra currently known as any state north of georgia the grace of God the love of Jesus the comfort of the Holy Spirit the endless potential of this upcoming year for joy the infinitely expanding circle of my connection to the universe on a subquantum level comfy shoes 2008-12-23 http://www.pleonast.com/user/fullofgrace?l=5&entryID=608633 even after living in Florida for eight years it's still strange not having to scrape drifts of "albino brain chiggers" off my windshield before driving anywhere in december.... my obsession with all things ginger is starting to get out of control...especially now that Origins has augmented their ginger collection....*ecstatic shudder*....so....dangerous... a friend of mine discovered the Starbucks brand Gingerbread Latte Truffles and got me a box on the occasion of my inching even closer to thirty (sigh...) ....can i just say...wow....particularly because i am a food texture freak, and even my wild love affair with ginger does not extend to enjoying little pieces of ginger-flavored crunchy nast in ANYthing that is supposed to be smooth or creamy....nope....penijean not a happy camper when she is squishing creamy anything between her tongue and the roof of her mouth and she incurs an injury or induces a chokefest due to stale imitation "accent crumbs"....it is ... 2008-12-12 http://www.pleonast.com/user/fullofgrace?l=5&entryID=607107 step one you say we need to talk he walks you say sit down it's just a talk he smiles politely back at you you stare politely right on through some sort of window to your right as he goes left and you stay right between the lines of fear and blame you begin to wonder why you came where did i go wrong, i lost a friend somewhere along in the bitterness and i would have stayed up with you all night had i known how to save a life let him know that you know best cause after all you do know best try to slip past his defense without granting innocence lay down a list of what is wrong the things you've told him all along and pray to God he hears you and pray to God he hears you as he begins to raise his voice you lower yours and grant him one last choice drive until you lose the road or break with the ones you've followed he will do one of two things he will admit to everything or he'll say he's just not the same and you'll begin to wonder why you came 2008-12-08 http://www.pleonast.com/user/fullofgrace?l=5&entryID=604033 i love the way the holiday season tastes. gingerbread. pumpkin spice. eggnog. gingerbread pumpkin spice eggnog. mmmmmmm.... it is interesting to me that i observed a great many posts complaining about the high price of gas over the summer and early fall, and so fewer posts in recent weeks expressing gratitude that the price dropped drastically. it puts me in mind of one of my favorite quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson (who has, by the way, the COOLEST gravestone ever): “The sun shines and warms and lights us and we have no curiosity to know why this is so; but we ask the reason of all evil, of pain, and hunger, and mosquitoes and silly people” my friend, Gina, just recently published a book titled, From Gravel to Glory. not only does she use this very Emerson quote in her book, demonstrating clear literary taste (*grin*), but she taps a variety of classic and modern resources to help communicate her message, which consists of: when we are struggling spiritually and ... 2008-11-28 http://www.pleonast.com/user/fullofgrace?l=5&entryID=586317 i have been on the road more than usual recently....i have been in cleveland this past week and look forward to getting home tomorrow night. however... in the interim.... any of you that have the time to go and leave an encouraging comment on my husband's blog, please do so...he had a rough experience last night at work. a man with a gun came into the store where he works and tried to rob the safe. he held the gun to brian's head to ensure his cooperation, shot it into the air multiple times, tried to rob the register by shooting it, and settled for robbing the employees after threatening everyone's life because no one could open the safe. to his credit, considering he was the one being directly threatened the majority of the time, brian stayed calm, cooperative, and even managed to trigger the store security alarm without the guy noticing. ultimately, the perpetrator only shot up property, not people, but he managed to evade the police, running out the back door as they were... 2008-10-11 http://www.pleonast.com/user/fullofgrace?l=5&entryID=580170 i can't stand hairspray. at all. i have double jointed elbows and a double jointed pinky finger. i am addicted to honey sticks. i have insanely weird looking cowlicks. i have a love-hate relationship with formal education. i have an even more complicated relationship with make up. i associate people with particular color combinations. i believe in the emotional maturation process from self-absorbed idiot to reasonably considerate and self-aware individual. 2008-09-26 http://www.pleonast.com/user/fullofgrace?l=5&entryID=577598 you filled a brief space with pink and white joy overloading mommy’s heart and lining her dreams with sparkling baby dust when she looked in daddy’s eyes and saw you on the way we all wanted to meet you and made plans to love the way you grinned at us but God said gently, her feet are too fragile to dance on this rough earth so her visit will be shorter than you expected and we were surprised how heavy it was to hold nothing on your way up you turned and looked back at us red hair brilliant in the light and asked God, what will they do without me? and God replied, they will learn to trust me with their most precious treasure and I will bless them more than they can imagine in these dark moments for in this valley of shadow they are drawn closer to Me and share My heart in a way that those who have not grieved for a child do not know Me so you placed your hand in His and went to dance and laugh and wait a brief space in the garden of joy and peek-a-boo lined with the dre... 2008-09-19 http://www.pleonast.com/user/fullofgrace?l=5&entryID=577409 my heart broke this morning. please pray for lauren and matt. please pray a lot. 2008-09-19 http://www.pleonast.com/user/fullofgrace?l=5&entryID=575094 i was discussing my theories on relational hydraulics with a friend and he sent me this picture to illustrate his take on the topic... it is easy for us to forget that there are a few fundamental differences in how men and women approach a relationship when we are in the midst of attempting to actually navigate said relationship. when we talk abstractly, it seems very simple to throw around terms and concepts that are applicable to developing healthy interactions, such as "empathy", "patience", "active listening" and "not throwing televisions at each other", but when we are experiencing emotional distress in realtime, it becomes seemingly impossible to even retain these ideas, much less actually implement them. i would like to suggest something. an experiment, if you will. learning theory succinctly stated consists of "repetition, repetition, and reinforce with chocola- i mean, more repetition". if we want... 2008-09-13