JoyKodani

Hoping your 2009 is full of love, hope, inspiration, blessings and fun!



I'd like to take credit for this cute little guy, but I was too lazy to work up any gnu art myself, and found him online. He was actually created by Nicholas Rougier for the GNU Project, and I'm using him with permission of the Gnu Public License, at this www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html

Thanks to for bringing this little guy to my attention.

And I'd also like to point out a few other gnotable gnus I found while searching for gnu inspiration on DA:

For unto us a child is born...

Growing up blessed with the name Joy, I always dreaded hearing the song "Joy to the World" at Christmas. I especially cringed a lot when the Three Dog Night song "Joy to the World" became a big hit back in the 70s (yes, I'm really that old...). It has taken me a long time to accept the word joy into my own vocabulary — I finally noticed that people only take note of my use of the word if I wince as I say it. I still get occasional grins from friends and family when the either song comes up at church or on the radio, but I've finally learned to accept, and even enjoy my name: Sometimes at church I'll give in to the humor and sing "Me to the World..."

But JOY is what this season is all about. In my morning devotions today, I reflected upon the ordeal Mary went through. I'm a mother, and even though it was 16 years ago I still vividly remember what it felt like to be nine months pregnant. Even in today's modern culture it's not something I would describe as comfortable. So I'm sure that Mary was feeling anything but blessed and joyful as she endured a long donkey ride to Bethlehem in her advanced pregnancy. I'm sure she didn't shout, "Oh, Joy!" as she went into labor while Joseph struck out at every inn, only to settle for a cold stable which I'm sure wreaked of animal offal. As she went through the wracking pains of advanced labor contractions, I'm sure she felt anything but joyful as she was forced to have only her husband to help her (in that culture and time, men were forbidden to be present during labor -- and probably happy about it), instead of a traditional midwife.

But there is a miracle that almost every mother experiences once the baby makes its entrance. It is beautifully phrased in a framed piece of calligraphy a friend gave to me when I had my daughter:


This past year, I have been through a lot of hardships, but as I've clung to God through all of it, blessings and joy have continued to flow through my life in abundance. And in spite of the commercialism, hustle and bustle that our modern society has attached to this holiday, even if you are not a person of faith, it is a wonderful time to celebrate the joy of the blessings in your life.



When God wants to change the world, he doesn't send draughts, floods or earthquakes. He doesn't send plagues, famines or war. When God wants to change the world, he sends a baby boy... and waits.

BOYCOTT PETLAND!

I belong to a meetup.com group for local dog lovers, and some of our members just spent part of their Thanksgiving holiday picketing a new Petland store in nearby Roseville, CA. Petland is notorious for selling dogs from puppy mills in their stores, and they are the target of an ongoing protest by the Humane Society of America. Their web site features an 8-minute video documenting Petland's continued patronage of horrendous puppy mills, as well as Petland owners lying about it (You can check it out for yourself at this community.hsus.org/campaign/US… and there is another news report video at this video.hsus.org/?fr_story=b224f… ).

Pet shelters all over the country are full of great dogs in need of homes. If you want to buy a dog, give a mutt a good home. If you insist on buying a particular breed, don't buy over-priced puppy mill products from stores like Petland: Only buy from breed-association-approved breeders and never buy a dog that you can't see in person for yourself, as well as the facility/home from which it came. My niece purchased a pocket Maltese from a breeder across country, and the poor thing that arrived via airline shipping was malnourished, emaciated, and stained yellow from long-term urine soaking (it wasn't just from being stuck in a shipping crate with one piece of newspaper -- the vet said it had to have been soaked in urine for a long time to be that stained) — it was basically one sick, neglected puppy.

Christmas is coming, and a lot of puppies are purchased for Christmas presents. Don't be rushed into an impulse purchase at a pet shop. Research the options in your area carefully, and make sure your dog/puppy came from a good home. More tips on buying a healthy dog are available at this stoppuppymills.org/puppy_buyin…

"My goal in life is to be as good of a person my dog already thinks I am." ~Author Unknown

There's no place like home...

We've been living in California for almost four months now, and in our own place for about two months. I'm still unpacking... But I spent yesterday getting the house cleaned for company. A friend I knew from when I lived here back in the '80s was coming over for dinner. She has a new husband (well, they've been married 18 years, but he's new to me), and he had heard about our dogs and was looking forward to meeting them (as well as us human residents).

There's nothing like company coming to get the ol' elbow grease and cleaning fluids flowing. And when I was finished cleaning (15 minutes before the guests arrived), I was pretty pleased with myself and how cozy our little cottage looks. Dinner and the company were great -- a good time was had by all. We enjoyed chili and cheesecake, and watched Wall•E (Then as I sat at my computer playing computer games at 2 a.m., it dawned on me that I had NOT made decaf coffee to go with the cheesecake... oops!).

Anyway, I got up this morning to be greeted by a pile of dishes to be put in the dishwasher. And while dealing with the afterglow of cleanup, I was hit by a flood of emotion. I was so grateful to have friends that I could welcome into my home. I've always loved entertaining, and it dawned on me that one of the real reasons I enjoy it is because friends are one of the best home accents a person can ask for.

Then I thought about Friday's trip to the mall to see Twilight with my daughter. As we were leaving the movie, she saw a friend from her school. Bumping into somebody you know at a public place is such a great feeling when you've felt like an outsider for so long. And today she's going to go to the movies with another friend that she actually met five years ago on Neopets, but who just happens to live 15 minutes away from us here in California.

So I sit here looking at my office which is finally clean for the first time since we moved here, watching my dogs nap contentedly in the living room and I'm feeling extremely content myself. The blessing of friends was just the finishing touch we needed to finally feel "at home" in our new home.

"Let go your sadness, give up the fight. Follow your madness and take flight..." ~Seal