Every Good Thing!

It's that time again, so here are the questions for this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge.

1. Are we always responsible for our actions? Are there any exceptions?

Yes, any deliberate action we do, we need to take responsibility for.  I get so tired of people being rude and disrespectful, or doing immoral, even illegal things, and then blaming their childhood or other factors for their actions.  Of course I believe in mercy and forgiveness - and that people can genuinely change - but even that comes after true confession and a desire for reconciliation.

Of course, the gray area comes with genuine mental illness which  have taken over and destroyed all reason and conscience.  

2.  Has anyone from your home town become famous?

Yes, actually!  I grew up in Arcadia, California - a suburb of Los Angeles.  Michael Anthony (from Van Halen) went to my high school - granted, a while before I did, but still!  Will Wheaton (Star Trek), Mike Saxson (NFL player), and Stevie Nicks also lived in Arcadia.

3. January was National Slow Cooker month. Do you own a slow cooker/crock pot? Did you use it last month? What's a favorite dish you make using a slow cooker or crock pot?

Yes, I'm now on my second slow cooker - I love it!  Although my family has recently asked me to not cook in it quite so much... what can I say, working as much as I have lately, it's just so much easier!  I've got a chicken tortilla soup recipe that is awesome in the crock pot, and I recently made this chicken parmesan that was really good too!  I generally use my slow cooker about once a week!

4. How do you feel about private companies collecting data about you?

I don't like it at all.  I feel like it's invasive and insensitive.  And it's scary - how little control we have over what is shared, and with whom it is shared.  Not sure if we can ever go back to the way things used to be... 

5. The Games of the 2014 Winter Olympics kick off with their opening ceremony this coming Friday....will you be watching? Which Winter Olympic event would you most like to see in person? Have you ever been to Russia? Any desire to go, Olympics or otherwise?

Yes, I will most likely be watching - I love seeing all of the nations together!  I would love to see the figure skating in person, though no, I can't say I have much desire to ever go to Russia...

6. Share a good or bad sports related memory from your childhood or teen years.

I didn't play much sports as a child - my parents didn't really encourage it, and by the time I did play on a soccer team, all of my friends had been playing for 5 years or so and were SO much better than I... that I just remember being out on the field and feeling so awkward, so confused as to what I was supposed to be doing, and how desperately I wanted to be able to play like them and be a normal kid... and yet, there was this one time that the ball came right to me, and one of my team mates went to cross in front of me, and the coach shouted "No, let Sally get it!"  And I ran up and kicked the heck out of that ball... and I'll never forget the looks of astonishment on my team mates' faces, and the pride I felt in myself.

7. What's a must have song for you on a work out play list? If you don't work out, run, swim, bike, walk, or anything else that could be construed as 'exercise', then what's a song that movtivates you to at least get up off the couch?

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

God is good.  He has a funny sense of humor sometimes, but really, He is good... and He is always looking for ways to bring us closer to Him.  This has been a crazy month, with biopsy, holidays, family drama, juggling three jobs, looking for new jobs, job difficulties, my dad's heart surgery... a lot to take in, a lot to process... but yet... God is good.  All the time.  (And my dad went home from the hospital yesterday!)