Thursday, June 29, 2006

A to Z about Me

(OK Deb, this is for you. Now it's your turn. ;-) )

Accent: Most of the time none, but every once in a while I say things with my own peculiar accent. And if someone else is talking near me with an accent I honestly have to work really hard not to pick it up.
Best personality trait: Friendliness
Chore I hate: um…all of them? Lol
Dad's name: Lynn. He was supposed to be Linda.
Essential make-up/skin care products: Foundation and lipstick--I have acne and rosacea
Favorite perfume/cologne: I’m allergic and can only handle natural vanilla or a plain fruit
sent.
Gold or silver?: Silver.
Hometown: a town in the lovely Pacific Northwest
Interesting fact: Hobo (aka Brown Recluse) spider is the only poisonous spider in the Northw--What? Oh, you mean a fact about me? Hmmm, well, I have 20/20 vision in one eye and 20/200 in the other.
Job title: bookkeeper
Kids: N/A
Living arrangements: Live with my parents in the country, surrounded by hay fields, horses, and cows.
Mom's birthplace: same town as me.
Number of apples eaten in the last week: hmmm, three or so, I think
Overnight hospital stays: A couple of times I’ve stayed with my mom after one of her surgeries…never for myself, though.
Phobia: a tad of germphobia…but it’s better. J
Question you ask yourself a lot: Why am I doing this when I’m supposed to be doing that?
Religion: Evangelical Christian
Siblings: two older sisters, one brother-in-law
Time I wake up: 7 or 7:30
Unnatural hair color: I’ve never died my hair. It’s plain brown right now…was white-blond until I was about seven.
Vegetable I Refuse to Eat: lima beans, Brussels sprouts, and the stuff I’m allergic to.
Worst habit: see Q…
X-rays?: yeah, when I had a chronic cough. Somehow they never did one when I was having severe back pain and they determined I had scoliosis.
Yummy food I make: soup…any kind
Zaniest thing about you: Is there anything that isn’t zany about me?

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

A Novel Story

Well, I’ve missed two Monday Memories in a row, now, but I’ve got a good excuse, and a pretty novel one, at that! First of all, our last couple of weeks have been pretty full of family things. It’s been great to have my aunt and uncle staying with us!

On Friday an idea for a group writing project exploded and took over my life. LOL! I now have about thirty Christian authors working under me. This will be the second Peculiar People project, and I’m probably going to get a business license for PP and make it official.

As most of you probably remember, the first Peculiar People project was a Chat-A-Book sci-fi, where a group of Christian authors gathered once a week to “act” out a storyline, ad lib. I am working on editing the rough draft of that into a radio drama format, and eventually we’d like to see it become a movie.

This new project will be a novel with each chapter written by a different author, and from a different character’s perspective, yet all the chapters will follow one story-line. We decided to use ourselves as the characters! Hehe! So our characters will have our names and have some similarities to us, but really not be us at all…if that makes any sense. ;-)

We got the idea on Friday, and the authors were ready to go right away. So I spent much of the weekend writing up a story-line, outlining it, detailing how the project would work, drawing up a contract, and contacting all the authors and answering and asking questions. *pant, pant* Here is a synopsis of the book.


A Peculiar People novel is coming in Winter 2006 to a bookstore near you!


A story of mystery and rumors, suspicion and betrayal.

Struggle Creek is a poor town. The people make enough to get by, and not much more. They are content to be who they are, where they are, hidden deep in the hills of Tennessee.

Their world is shaken when a huge silver...something…is found in the woods. Rumors fly as thick and wild as the mosquitoes…It’s a UFO, or a nuclear bomb, or a mad scientist hideout! It doesn’t help matters much when a group of young adults come meandering into town--clearly up to no good, and asking questions about The Thing. Strangers aren’t appreciated in Struggle Creek. The people keep pretty closed-mouthed about their own business, and the gang sure doesn’t much appreciate that.


A story of silence and pain.

Right in the middle of all the trouble, a single mother moves into town with her deaf son. The people aren’t too willing to accept yet another newcomer, especially after the boy seems to get mixed up in something to do with The Thing. It doesn’t help that they are unable to communicate much with him. About then, the mother finds out that she is dying. Only an expensive medical treatment in a far away state will save her.


But more than that, this is the story of a community. The story of faith drawing a town together, making them stand stronger than ever before.

In the midst of their troubles, the townspeople realize one thing. They can cross their arms and scowl. Or they can reach out, reach up, and let peace enter their town.

The local theater company owner decides she is going to do something new. The result is a production of faith and beauty that can be enjoyed by the hearing and deaf. The result is a community coming together to touch lives.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

New Friend

One of my cousins just graduated from high school with an Associate’s Degree in college, through Running Start. Way to go, Gabe!

At his graduation party, a young lady my age and I introduced ourselves to each other. As we were chatting, I asked her how she knew my cousin, and she responded that they attended the same church. When she said the word “church”, her hand moved a bit. My mind raced. It looked like she just used the sign for CHURCH. Maybe she knows sign language! No, that’s silly, she was probably just scratching her wrist.

Then I noticed that she had on hearing aids, so I asked if she knew signs. Sure enough! So we spent most of the evening signing. It was great fun!

She is deaf, but reads lips incredibly well, and can hear a tad with her hearing aids. I never notice how often the hearing talk while facing the other direction or with a hand in front of their mouth until a situation like this makes me acutely aware of it, hehe.

Throughout this summer, I am planning get togethers to practice signing. My new friend is going to try to join us!

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Truth. Like Hammer

I recently got asked to be a part of a new website called Truth. Like Hammer. Over the last few weeks we have been writing articles, getting the site set up, and figuring out logistics. Today when I got online later than usual I found a message board thread full of “We’re ready to go on T.LH, where’s Amy?” “What happened to Amy?” LOL

So, here I am at last!

First of all, the press release:


The Western church is dying. Slowly but surely, it is being overcome by false prophets and supposed spiritual gurus spouting promises of walking in divine blessing, happiness, and health. Despite the overwhelming acceptance of feel-good lies, there is still a flicker of light.

As stated on their website, the goal of Truth. Like Hammer is clear: To stand against the flow of cultures and social movements firmly planted in the unchanging message of Christ. We accept this mission proudly.

Charles H. Spurgeon once said, "If the Lord does not speedily appear, there will come another generation, and another, and all these generations will be tainted and injured if we are not faithful to God and to His truth today."

Truth. Like Hammer was founded in 2006 by Joshua Wood of btfindustries.com and is co-authored by Jezreel Cohen, and Amy Michelle Wiley. The site offers a range of articles, blog entries, a discussion forum, and advice pertaining to the Truth of the Gospel.


Please check out Truth. Like Hammer. Read, learn, get involved, stand strong with us. Anyone may submit articles to T.LH--they will be reviewed by the board, and then you will be notified if it is accepted or not.

Fell free to pass on the word to others! I’m excited about this, and feel it an real honor to have been asked to be a part.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Beautiful Wedding

I just got home from a lovely weekend. My cousin got married yesterday, so we drove four hours up on Saturday to attend a lunch gathering for all the friends and family, and then the rehearsal dinner. It was a wonderful time with family and friends from all over the world.

The groom is my age, and the first of the six cousins our age to get married. The wedding was doubly special for me because I’ve gotten to be friends with the bride. They are a beautiful, Godly couple.

The rehearsal dinner was homemade Indonesian food (my cousins and uncle and aunt are missionaries there), and quite delicious.

The pastor’s message was right on--about how weddings are wonderful, but it is the life-long marriage commitment that is the important part.

Tomorrow night my Aunt and Uncle will come to stay with us for a week, so the fun will continue.

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Busy Girl

Well, it's been a bit longer than normal since I've posted--not because I didn't have anything to post, but because I've been busy. Let's see...quick catch up...

On Friday evening I went to a Deaf night at a coffee house. A man who does cued speech was there, and talked to a few of us for quite some time, explaining about it and demonstrating. Cued speech is not a manual language, like ASL, or a manual form of English, like SEE, but rather it is an aid to lip reading. Only about 20% of English is available to the eye. This makes even the best lip readers forced to rely on a guessing game. Mom, Bob, mop...and so many more are nearly identical on the lips.

Cued speech consists of 8 hand shapes and 3 locations--these, in conjunction with the lip movement, tell the reader exactly what sound is being made. It is very easy to learn, very difficult to master. This man told us that a good cued speech user can cue for any spoken language, even if they do not know it, because they simply show each sound. They can even show different accents.

On Monday evening I went to dinner with my life-long friend, MeMe. We had a lovely time.

Wednesday night I had my final for Deaf Studies. Not too sure how that went. ;-) It was a very helpful class. The first half of the semester we studied Deaf history, and the second half was the laws and rights for the deaf. The whole class had Deaf culture lessons sprinkled liberally in.

Tonight we had our last regular class for my sign language class. I'll really miss the other students, teacher, and the class itself. It was so fun! Now just to finish getting my two poems ready for the final, and then my school will be over for the summer. It seems so odd. LOL