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Archive for January, 2008

From Here to Eternity

Thursday, January 31st, 2008

My praying friend, Amy Jo, sent me this encouragement as I prepared to go to Maui to cater/cook for Dare2Share (www.dare2share.org) and a reality show they were shooting (see here: http://www.jeanierhoades.com/stuff-i-actually-think/aloha). It is from one of the best books of all time Practice the Presence of God: The Best Rule of Holy Life by Brother Lawrence (Nicholas Herman, c. 1605-1691).

"As a humble cook, Brother Lawrence learned an important lesson through each daily chore: The time he spent in communion with the Lord should be the same, whether he was bustling around in the kitchen with several people asking questions at the same time, or on his knees in prayer. He learned to cultivate the deep presence of God so thoroughly in his own heart that he was able to joyfully exclaim, 'I am now doing what I will do for all eternity. I am blessing God, praising Him, adoring Him and loving Him with all my heart.'"

That's what I was doing in Maui. And if you're looking for me – that's my plan everyday from here to eternity. I've got a head start on heaven!

I was made to praise You, Lord…Jeanie

Read this great book online: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/lawrence/practice.toc.html

Posted in God's Word, Stuff I actually think, Worship | 1 Comment »

Mamala and Papala

Thursday, January 31st, 2008

My parents just stopped by to see me for a few days on their way to Phoenix where, for the second time, they are attempting to embark into retirement. They retired a couple of years ago…for about a month or two, then they went straight back into ministry.

We got to celebrate my dad's 69th birthday with all of our kids and grandkids. We selected movie clips that reminded us of him. All were about him being a man of prayer (He prays for us all every single day) except Rocky, who brought the comic relief for the night, showing a scene from "Nacho Libre" where Jack Black was trying to impress the "Sister" by contracting his buttocks in white pants and Rock said he imagines that was Grandpa – back in the day-trying to woo Grandma.

My dad reported a conversation they had recently that he felt summed up many of their conversations. It went like this:

Mom: They say if you play games like Yahtzee, it will help your memory stay sharp. Do you want to play a game?

Dad: Yes.

Mom: I forgot where I put the Yahtzee game.

Mom and dad will spend a month in Phoenix asking God for His next assignment. When I write them, as always, I will attempt to find creative greetings instead of the usual "Dear mom and dad…" Some of my past favorites:

Dear Mater & Pater…Dear Mamala and Papala…Dear Mummy & Puppy…Dear Mo & Po…Dear Mama Mia and Diarhea…Dear Matriarch & Patriarch…Dear Madre & Padre…Dear Mere et Pere…

But my all-time favorite, the one that cracked me up as I wrote it and them as they read it: Dear Mammogram & Pap Smear!!!

Thanks for coming by to spend time with me, Marigold and Peony. It was wonderful! I love you!!…Jeanie

NOTE TO SELF: Thank God every day for my heritage. Honor mom and dad (this is the 5th commandment with a promise: "…that it may go well with you…"). Keep up the correspondance!

I've written about my parents before: here http://www.jeanierhoades.com/stuff-i-actually-think/ross-and-norma-do-good and here http://www.jeanierhoades.com/stuff-i-actually-think/my-parents-are-in-their-late-60s

Posted in Mi familia, My most unforgettable people, Stuff I actually think | 3 Comments »

John Edwards

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008

Did the best man just drop out? http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080130/ap_on_el_pr/edwards The Associated Press says John Edwards is dropping out of the Democratic presidential campaign.

Did he really ever have a chance with Obama and Clinton gobbling up the spotlight in flurries of gender and color and change rhetoric? I wish he had. His level of integrity and record of hard work for Americans stands. It isn't flashy, but he seems some one we could've trusted.

Too bad he is only white. And a male. People apparently think that has already been done to death.

"John Edwards for Vice-President!"…again…?

I hate election years…Jeanie

NOTE TO SELF: Be glad we're at least hearing about things that matter and not just Lindsey-Brittany-Paris lunacy. Gag.

PS-I am neither a registered Democrat, nor Republican. Don't box me in!

Posted in Stuff I actually think | 2 Comments »

Go ahead-ask me anything

Friday, January 25th, 2008

Just updated the FYI-about Jeanie page, too. I am sure that it is more than you ever wanted to know about me…but I told you anyway. Questions?

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

And by the way, we are eagerly awaiting our next granddaughter (this will make it 2 boys, 3 girls) any day now. Jovan and Rocky had us all make guesses about her name, day of birth, weight, length, etc for the baby book. So far I am still in the running with my guesses:

I selected the name Abigail because it means "the father's joy" and I think the obvious tie-in to the famous street in London: Abbey Road, along with the Beatles album would be a cute conversation starter (her father is, after all, Rocky Rhoades). I hope they choose it!! I hope we have an "Abbey Rhoades" soon.

I chose Jan. 27 as the brithdate because that is my dad's birthday and it would make a great gift ( a new great-granddaughter – get it?). And I chose the time to be 10:08 pm for my birthdate, Oct. 8. I predicted her to weigh 8 pounds and 4 ounces in honor of her daddy and to be about 20 1/2 inches long, a nice little bundle of joy! Pink is in the air!

We'll see how it goes…Jeanie

NOTE TO SELF: Get bag packed for hospital waiting room – a good book, camera, snacks…what else?…

Pictured: Rocky and Jovan, eight months pregnant

Posted in Grandkids, Mi familia, Photos of the Fam, Stuff I actually think | 13 Comments »

In progress…

Friday, January 25th, 2008

I don't keep up much on the "pages" on this site (see left column) because, frankly, I forget they are there. But I am working on one with my personal favorites. It's called "Stuff I actually DO think." It isn't finished (like usual), but take a look, if you'd like.

Many blessings…Jeanie

NOTE TO SELF: Yet another project…

Posted in Stuff I actually think | No Comments »

Stormie Solos on a Cake

Monday, January 21st, 2008

Stormie created a 12" x 12" white and chocolate marble cake for her good friend, Elise, while I was in Maui. In the pictures the blue looks turquoise, but the leftover icing in my kitchen was "dustier." My "baking center" is somewhat askew now, but I heard it was delicious and I know it was made with great love!

Posted in Garden/Food/Seasons, Mi familia, Stuff I actually think | 5 Comments »

Aloha!

Sunday, January 20th, 2008

I am just back from Maui where I got to help my great friend, Carol Ann, cook for the cast and crew who were filming a reality-type series: Gospel Journey - Maui for Dare2Share (www.dare2share.org) under the leadership of Blake Pilgreen with Mediatech (www.mediatech1.com) and with these great people (my Hawaiian-housemates, Rolly and Holly) from Outside the Box Ministries (www.otbm.org) and a wonderful crew of cameramen and sound techs and grips and all those other film-types.

The cast was made up of six 18-22 year olds from different backgrounds, religious affiliations and streams of belief. They lived together in a beach house just 50 yards from the ocean and got to experience all the cool stuff Maui has to offer while engaging in really great conversations with Greg Stier (President of Dare2Share, and Zane Black (an extreme snowboarder and instructor www.timberlinelodge.org). I fell head-over-heels for these kids. They are such beautiful human beings. I will always remember them and the short time we had together and how they let Carol Ann and I fuss over them and nurture them and feed them.

You can see lots of pictures and read other accounts of the project, the trip, the filming and all sorts of other stuff by visiting Rob Kelly's, Carol Ann Kelly's, or Greg Stier's blogs: www.robkelly.typepad.com, http://cakboliv.wordpress.com, http://www.gregstier.org

We figure we put together 3 meals a day for about 8 days for any number of people between 25 & 30 and that is a lot of meals. We also found out that we could put over $1000 worth of groceries in just 2 Costco carts. It was quite the adventure!

The cast called us their personal chefs. The crew called us caterers and said we were better than Hollywood's Kraft Services. But we were really just a couple of moms cooking for the guys and the kids, just like we do for our families – only it was in paradise!!

The ocean, the sun, the swaying palm trees – wish you could've been there!…Jeanie

Pictured, left-to-right: Zane and Greg (the sort of leader/host/facilitators of the week for the cast), Jasser, Carol Ann Kelly (my partner-in-crime), Priscilla, Rachel O., me, Jonathan, and Rachel M. Emma is seated in front of us, the Pacific Ocean is behind us! Carol Ann and me.

Posted in Garden/Food/Seasons, Memories/Melancholy, Stuff I actually think, TV, Movies, Books, and Entertainment | 9 Comments »

The Essential Partridge Family

Sunday, January 20th, 2008

While in Maui, I found out that my friend Carol Ann (http://cakboliv.wordpress.com/), an extremely hip woman who has over 6000 songs on her I-Pod, has no Partridge Family songs on there. Not one. I was aghast at this discovery, so it got me to thinking.

If you were already super cool in the early 70's, I know you didn't give these bubble-gum pop songs a second look, but if you weren't yet (I was a kid, I tell you- a mere child), maybe you listened to the Partridge Family and can affirm my position that they deserve their place in American music…maybe not much of a place, but a place. And if you have never heard them, fear not, I have compiled a list of my very favorite Partridge Family songs here:

1. I Think I Love You ("I'm sleeping, and right in the middle of a good dream, like, all at once I wake up from something that keeps knocking at my brain…before I go insane I hold my pillow to my head, and spring up from my bed screaming out the words I dread, 'I think I love you!'.") http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7821497694797564220&q=partridge+family&total=693&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

2. I Woke Up in Love this Morning (Apparently a lot of sleep loss tied in to being in love in those days, and hugging and kissing pillows, but a romantic life-long love, not just a one-night stand: "I woke up in love this morning…went to sleep with you on my mind.") http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8269782850909118409&q=partridge+family&total=693&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=2

3. It's One of Those Nights (aka "Yes, Love" He'd take her back in a flash, which I LOVE!, he'd even "hunt her down" like he has before! "It's one of those nights when you turn out the lights and you sit in the dark and you say to yourself, 'I miss her…'.") http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1601388937475243543&q=partridge+family+it%27s+one+of+those+nights&total=4&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

4. I Can Feel Your Heartbeat (pretty sexy, I must say – which I totally did not even understand when I was 11. I heard David Cassidy was still making hearts go pitter patter with this song in Vegas nightclubs to the over 40 crowd just a couple of years ago! "I can feel your heartbeat and you didn't even say a word…Oh, I know pretty woman that your love can be heard…You can feel my heartbeat, too, I can see you feeling me…") http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5438043450488501451&q=partridge+family&total=693&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1

Just trying to enlighten you in your search for great music!…Jeanie

NOTE TO SELF: C'mon get happy!

Some Partridge Family quotes:

Laurie: All you guys think we're interested in is being cheerleaders or homecoming queens. And then, if we're real lucky, we can all grow up to be Playboy Bunnies.

Danny: I've been a kid and I've been an adult. And believe me, adultery isn't what it's cracked up to be.

An exchange between their manager, Reuben Kincaid, and Danny (played by Danny Bonaduce, who was already very irreverent and wry at the age of 10) – Reuben: Tell me, did your mother ever tell you not to play in traffic? Danny: Of course. Reuben: Too bad.

Keith: They'd leave *me* for Mick Jagger???!?

Posted in Memories/Melancholy, Songs I am singing, Stuff I actually think, TV, Movies, Books, and Entertainment | 6 Comments »

A Look Back

Friday, January 4th, 2008

Update (Jan. 17) I was trying to remove that music so that it wouldn't assault you everytime you came to my site and I accidentally removed the whole slide show (I'll retrieve it later), but if you click on View All Images you can see the photos I posted from Christmas 07.

xxxooo, Jeanie

Posted in Home, Keep Christmas, Mi familia, Photos of the Fam, Stuff I actually think | 6 Comments »

Mi Familia

Thursday, January 3rd, 2008

Pictured: The whole Rhoades tribe, left to right - Stormie, baby Gemma (7 months) held by Stephanie; Tristan holding Guini, Hunter in front of him, Gavin just behind Hunter; Tara snuggling with Dave; Rocky behind Jovan (8 months pregnant with our next granddaughter); me, Tredessa in front of me, and Dave, the patriarch

Posted in Home, Keep Christmas, Mi familia, My most unforgettable people, Photos of the Fam, Stuff I actually think | 5 Comments »