Thank you to all who have been supportive and so abounding in encouragement and "at a girls."

I'm sure contact will not be lost there.

Farewell,
Portia, et al

I am so proud of her. She is not a runner. She's been a weight lifter, rugby player and cheerleader, but she's never been a runner. And today she ran 26.2 miles alongside 25,000 others. Way to go Darbs! Fight on!

(She would kill me that these are her introductory photos on my blog. Just don't tell her.)

OKAY...after a number of frustrating attempts at uploading pics to mu.nu, I've decided to provide a link to the photos, since mu.nu apparently doesn't want to cooperate...still. I'm switching hosts before my official return, I've decided.

Here's the link to the marathon pics.

Way to go, runners!

Happy Birthday, Portia!

As usual, mu.nu is under a barrage of comment spam. It's great thing they've done, offering a space to all the Cotillionettes, and the blog-marm took up the offer in earnest. But, like I said, mu.nu is under another of the frequent spam-barrages.

In an effort to curtail any mentions of said spam sites, I've taken the liberty of doing the only thing I have at my disposal on mu.nu to get the spam out of the comments from well over 1,000 entries: I removed the comment entry form. It's gone, but the comments aren't.

So, until Porche returns from her blogging-break, you won't have any way to leave a comment on the site. Thanks for your patience.

For further explanation, see the post below. It's a much needed recharge for the new year. I'll be sure to notify the usual suspects when I'm back.

Hope all are enjoying the new year. In the eternal words of our governor, I'll be back.

(Sigh. I just quoted Arnold. Do you see now why I need a break from writing? :)

All this to say, with a Martha personality, it's often the Mary in me that gets second string (See Luke 10:38-42). I believe that all women battle one or the other complex. There's the Marys of this world who err on the side of passivity or can tend to be takers, and there are the Marthas who give and give but begrudgingly, making the lives of those around them miserable. Both personalities have their lovely and ugly characteristics.

Martha is the consummate hostess: attentive to detail. She knows the business of her home. Mary knows how to receive and cherish moments, a skill highly overlooked by our society.

This Christmas, I was challenged to find the balance of the two. Following Martha's footsteps, I want to truly know the "condition of my flock." Per Mary's lead, I want to sit in the presence of the Lord and hear His heart.

Thus, I am taking a blogging sabatical. School begins for me this week. It's the beginning of a new year and I want to start it on the right foot, spiritually and practically.

Even in the first few days of the year, I've had ample opportunities to minister to those around me. God has heard the cry of my heart for the lost and searching, both in my immediate and not-so-immediate circle. It's a thrill to watch. And I suspect there is only more to come--moments I do not want to miss.

So, here is to a brand new year full of blessing and inevitable hardships, but ultimately opportunities for God to show Himself strong on our behalf and in our weaknesses.

Happy New Year.

See you soon.

Yesterday's game was fantastic, and I could not have enjoyed myself more. Well, had my crazy football fanatic roommate been there, I probably would have. But she's in Fla., and I, Pasadena. But it was a great time.

Crow was the meal du jour of many ESPN and other sports commentators who called it for Michigan. Rather than backtracking, many sports journalists have decided to look to the future stating, "USC is the team to beat in 2007." (Hat tip: Muzzy.) That's all fine by me. No hard feelings.

While the Rosebowl was an incredibly satisfying and vindicating win for the Trojans, nothing could compare to the frenzy that was the Fiesta bowl. I came home from the bowl game to hear the screams and laughter of my dad and brother upstairs and was immediately caught up on the Boise St. v. Oklahoma game. (What was life like before Tivo and DVR?)

Congrats to the Broncos and the Sooners. That was a game that will go down in the annals of legendary college football games.

However, I'm grateful our game was not that exciting. I prefer blowouts. For my heart's sake.

For more details and further links on yesterday's games, see Port McClellan.

I'm off to the Rosebowl, crossing my fingers that we upset the pontificating armchair quarterbacks at ESPN who think Michigan will take it.

Be back later to blog about new years resolutions and all that boring stuff. Or I might not be back....it all depends on the outcome of the game.

Pasadena has some nice, high bridges. :)

A primary school has been accused of spoiling Christmas for pupils after a lesson telling them that Santa Claus does not exist.

The Grinch was also sited at a junior high school in West Midlands:

The teacher, who has not been named, is believed to have told the class at Boldmere Junior School, in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands: "All of you are old enough to know there is no Father Christmas or fairies.

A high school choir was asked to stop singing Christmas carols during an ice skating show featuring Olympic medalist Sasha Cohen out of concern the skater would be offended because she's Jewish.

A city staff member, accompanied by a police officer, approached the Rubidoux High School Madrigals at the Riverside Outdoor Ice Skating Rink just as they launched into "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman" and requested that the troupe stop singing, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported Thursday.

Mind you, Sasha Cohen never asked them to stop singing, and according to Michael Medved, was actually angry that they were forced to stop on her behalf. This wasn't in the newspaper accounts. Also according to Medved, the woman responsible for stopping this, from the Cultural Affairs Office in Riverside, did not want Sasha or others to hear the line in the song about Jesus Christ being our Savior, as it could be offensive to others.

The would-be Hitler of Persia has already made it abundantly clear that he plans to wipe Israel and its millions of Jews off the map. And last week he told Western leaders that their turn would soon be next: "If you do not respond to the divine call," he warned, "you will die soon and vanish from the face of the earth."

Now is the time for all those who love Israel to stand up and be counted. Now is the time for pro-Israel Christians everywhere, and especially in the US, to rise up and cry out on behalf of God's people.

Storm the heavens with your prayers, and the White House with your pleas. Speak out now and urge US President George W. Bush to eliminate the Iranian nuclear threat once and for all.

For those Christians who believe God's Word, who support Israel's right to exist and protect herself, now is the time for united support. Pray, write letters, make calls and get the word out.

This can be our Christmas present to Israel.

Late last week at the Lakeview Elementary School in Wilson County, Tennessee, moms and dads, grandparents, aunts and uncles gathered at the school to watch the performance of the elementary students’ Christmas program. Also in attendance were three lawyers, including our Senior Counsel from the American Center for Law and Justice. The Wilson County School System has been sued by the ACLU because last year’s program included the singing of the song, “Away in a Manger.” The ACLU actually alleged in the complaint that when people joined in to sing “Away in a Manger,” it violated the Constitution because the song is “exclusively Christian in nature, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.”

(Let me first begin by stating this is a work of non-fiction; any resemblance to actual characters is purely in the mind of the reader.)

Nancy "I'm the prom queen!" Pilosi is head of Student Council. Perky, energetic, and a former cheerleader; doesn’t tolerate competition very well and is deeply threatened by more intelligent and prettier girls, such as Jane Harmon. Assigns posts to her dippy, incompetent friends, which assures her of keeping the #1 spot as Head of Student Council. Loves holding slumber parties, making s'mores, singing Kum Bai Ya and telling scary stories about her rivals on Student Council.

Hillary Clinton is the manipulative, bossy, bullyish girl everyone is afraid to stand up to. She's a sophmore now but has been posturing and campaigning for Senior Class President (SCP) since she was a freshman. Before holding an office on Student Council she made and failed at an attempt to unionize high school students. Hillary is determined to protect all students with a union whether they like it or not because it's for their own good. The fees for each student would be more than most can afford, but her plan calls for the students with more allowance to pay for the kids without allowance. She plans to force this issue once she's elected president.

John Kerry is the quintessential awkward sycophant; he considers himself a whistleblower and makes sure all illegal plays made by the football team are published each week in the school newspaper. Kerry also published his team's highly secret football plays and distributed them to all rival football teams "in the name of fairness". He has been known to take pom-poms over to the opposing side and dance with the cheerleaders as a show of good faith and solidarity, and thinks score-keeping is plebeian. He annoys everyone but himself and the Dean of Students, who depends upon Kerry's surveillance of student behavior. Kerry tried to run for SCP but lost and would now be happy to settle for Prom King.

Jimmy Carter, Past (way past) Senior Class President, is the high school graduate who keeps coming back. He hangs out in the Student Union criticizing the current class president or organizes pep rallies to stir things up. Carter also thinks he alone can bring peace and unity between a long-term rivalry between the science club students and a brutal campus gang that keeps bullying and beating up the science kids. He says there will be peace if all the science students would just stop getting A’s and leave campus; he claims their achievements have created a sense of insecurity in the gang.

Al Gore lost his bid for SCP six years ago and has never gotten over it. Gore thinks one day he will take over the world. He believes that only he alone can avert the destruction of the planet and threatens to make it very inconvenient for anyone who does not listen to his version of the truth. Sources close to Gore reveal he affectionately refers to Tipper as “Pinky”.

Bill Clinton, a former two-term SCP, is everybody’s best friend, especially if they're female. He wants to make high school a better place and will do or say anything to make sure everyone feels good about his attempts. Clinton was elected because he assured the student body that he felt their pain when they got bad grades. He is huge on equal rights; defends disenfranchized students who feel they have been unjustly left off the Dean’s List. Clinton claims it is not their fault they have a 1.6 GPA and asserts that putting them on probation is bigoted. When that same group of students got caught smoking weed, he vigorously defended their right to inhale. His long-term goal is to tear down the wall of separation of individual schools, thereby creating one global school campus; he plans on being the first Global Senior Class President.