Let's NOT reach for the stars...

This is not a secret..

I think NASA is a bogus waste of money.

I hate it.  Do I think its worthless? Not totally....here are some great things that I will admittedly say that I enjoy that we have gotten from NASA.

1) Memory Foam Mattresses:

First of all, let me preface this with the fact that I cannot afford a memory foam mattress.  I am too busy surviving and pouring senseless amounts of money into my dying vehicle to buy memory foam....but I must say that I love it.  I've slept on a memory foam bed and that is what I dream about when I'm laying on my normal springy mattress at night.  LOVE.

2) Tang:

Classic orange flavored glass of sugar....wasn't invented by NASA...but they tested it out and made sure it was edible.  Gotta give props where props are deserved.

3) Scratch Resistant Glasses:

Clumsy people like me deserve a second chance at $400.00 eyeglasses.  Thank you NASA for that second chance.

But do I think it is an enormous and embarrassing waste of tax payer's money?  Certainly.  

NASA just announced today that they are seeking to develop a new successor to the Shuttle program that will allow missions beyond the Earth's orbit.  It basically involves this SUPER ROCKET that will allow for potential missions into deep outer space, with the hopes of something that I can't quite decipher.  Are they hoping to find life?  Are they hoping to establish our lives out there?  What are the goals of NASA aside from exploring areas of existence that I'm not even sure were meant to be explored?  

NASA has a $17 billion budget...on average.  $17 billion dollars is being spent to feed the obsessions of space nerds everywhere.  $3 billion of that budget is funded by US tax dollars. $3 billion dollars that essentially is being wasted on abstract hopes and dreams. Not that we really have $3 billion dollars to spend a year on stuff like this....but say we actually did....say we weren't in debt up to our eyeballs....couldn't that money be used better to actually keep people alive?  I can't believe that no one else is looking at that?  

I've heard the defense that NASA provides jobs and allows some of the great minds of this world a place to benefit humanity.  I'll give you something to work on.  How about finding a way to get clean water to EVERY single person on Earth.  Can you put your rocket scientist brains to work for that?  No one else seems to be able to figure it out...you guys give it a crack!

I've also heard it said that in the grand scheme of things...$3 billion isn't that much.  It's true...it is less than 1% of the total budget of the United States.  However...it has been estimated that basic levels (worldwide) of clean water and sanitation would cost approximately $9 billion per year.  That is 3 years of NASA budgeting....just three....with one year, we could contribute 1/3 of the necessary funds needed for that.  

Ridiculous.

I'm heated.  

Can you tell?

Don't try to win this battle with me...it will never work and it will make me want to launch you up in the next rocket that they will most certainly fly out of here....

Decisions Decisions!

You know what?  I have no idea what I'm doing with my life.

I don't have anything in order.  Even the things that feel in order aren't.

Jeremiah 17: 7-8
"But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."

I have a lot of big decisions to make this next year.  Lots of big moves and lots of time to think about the moves in between when I need to make them.  Lots of need for prayer.  Lots of need to rediscover what I'm passionate about and pursue that...not settle for less than what I owe myself out of life.

Lots of need to find joy in life even when things aren't going the way I hoped.

I use humor a lot to cover up what I'm really thinking, and its a pretty easy-out actually.  You don't look needy or embarrassed or helpless when you can find the strength to laugh at yourself.  But I think this time I'm going to resist the urge to laugh at myself and just be real.

If you get an opportunity...I need prayer for these things:

- I am struggling with my job right now.  It isn't new news for most people that I'm close to that I work with a very difficult population and that this last month has been particularly challenging.  I am committed to another 10 months at my job and literally this 10 months may bring me to the end of my proverbial rope.  

- I am fervently seeking the next step for me, and have been feeling for some time that schooling may be next in line.  For quite some time I have been considering the pursuit of a Masters in Social Work, but I constantly sense that God may be trying to talk me out of that.  Not that it isn't a noble pursuit, because I know it is....but the real question is whether or not it is the pursuit that I should be making.  (I must add in addition that my discernment as to God's will is nearly zero at this point in life, so my gut feeling about things is really poor and a bad judgment of right and wrong).  I might add that I'm struggling through my desire to work with animals and how alive I feel in that....but trying to make sense of how that factors into my future career.

- Speaking of careers. I guess I never expected I would need one...for long term.  Every little girl expects that they will most likely just be a mommy and a wife...the heck with careers.  Well, 25 years later...I'm needing to consider the fact that my career may be something that God is calling me to above being a mommy or a wife...and I sense that choosing wisely is important.

-I am needing more activity in my life...less time in my own thoughts and more time doing things that I love and that bring me life.  Please pray that those opportunities will open up...especially if they are free or very cheap, because my 10 month obligation to my current job leaves me with VERY little spending money each month.  Oh AmeriCorps.

Thanks for those of you that are reading this and take time to pray.  I feel like I don't ask for help enough, and especially not the kind that actually is effective...prayer.

Laboring away the weekend....

Life is so beautiful....


I was "stumbling upon" things this morning (since my body automatically thinks wake up time happens at 5:45 am these days....thanks alot morning shift) and found this website with quotes from kids about love and I just thought they were too cute to not share...when did kids get so smart?

"When someone loves you, the way that they say your name is different.  You just know that your name is safe in their mouth".  Billy-Age 4

"Love is what makes you smile when you are tired". Terri -Age 4

"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen." Bobby - Age 7

"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend that you hate" Nikka - Age 6

"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, and then he wears it every day." Noelle - Age 7

"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you have left him alone all day." Mary Ann - Age 4

"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it.  But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget." Jessica - Age 8

Kids are so cute....love it.  I had the weirdest kid moment the other day.  I was at the Spokane Indians game the other night with my parents....beautiful night...good game.  Well, they had some little kids that were preassigned to each player....and when they introduced the player at the beginning of the game, they got to run out with them.  I had the overwhelming urge to bawl when this happened.  I have no idea what came over me.  I got super emotional because I was thinking of how proud their parents must be to see their tiny little kids out on the field with those big baseball players... I'm turning into a sap.

In other news, I'm having an incredible Labor Day weekend thus far.  Labor Day in Spokane is all about Pig Out in the Park, and I definitely partook yesterday with some good company and plan on getting more where that came from today when I go with my Dad.  I'll just eat my way through the weekend.  The only unfortunate thing with this whole eating thing is that I've been having chronic headaches for the past month or so and I am starting to wonder if it is related to allergies.  I've narrowed it down to (aside from outdoor allergies) milk or gluten.  Both of which really constitute a worst case scenario for me because I LOVE the foods that contain each of those.  I figured I would get the worst of the worst out of the way this week and try a gluten free diet.  If my headache goes away this week, I will be very disappointed.....but very thankful that it means I still get to eat cheese!  :)  And if none of it works, I guess that means a visit to the doctor....but we all know I try to avoid that at all costs.  :)

Enjoy your weekend and stay safe!

Dani

Hope you all stay safe over the holiday weekend and