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Can we box God in? Is God male or female? How about the Holy Spirit? Is God human like us? I made reference to the Holy Spirit using a feminine pronoun last week in my blog entry. I think it's good to ask questions. I was reminded of this today when Carla came in and asked me about it. Well, we refer to God as a he all the time. We don't know that God is a man. Why do we assume God and the Holy Spirit are male? Are they either? I don't see any harm in saying "she" if we say "he" all the time. Honestly, what's the difference? I'm thankful that the God I believe in doesn't get mad at me for asking questions, for wondering, or for trying to understand God more. And I pray that others around me are exploring God in the same way I am rather than being spoon fed their theology. Thanks to those of you who asked about that. Our brains are meant to be used!

Now it's time for a tribute to Carla! Tomorrow is her last day at Good Shepherd as she accepted a new position at the Torrance school district office. Carla was the first person to help me get acquainted with campus and has helped me almost everyday with random questions and tasks. She is so very gifted with a warm heart and a caring spirit. When someone says, "Thank you" on the phone, she replies, "You're very welcome." Carla rocks. We held a little party for her today in her honor and surprised her with a room full of balloons, a cake, gifts, and a bunch of wild party goers shouting, "SURPRISE!" She had no idea. Part of her present includes a group photo of all of us with her. She will be greatly missed. But, a party was a chance to collect a whole bunch of balloons, and steal Gloria's crown. I kept singing, "There's a new queen in town, everybody's talking 'bout the new queen in town." We joke that I'm going to take over her job when she retires. I think I could handle sitting on a royal throne all day and visiting people! Sounds like fun! I always used to watch Miss America pageants as a little girl and cry at the end because I dreamed of winning the title. Today was as close as I'll ever get, so I had to enjoy it! I took the balloons outside after everyone had left, and let them go. There's something that feels so good about sending a pack of 15 balloons into the air. Standing, watching, until they were high overhead. Good luck balloons, Good luck Carla!

Speaking of luck, specifically bad luck, my camera has just about officially died. The shutter button works occasionally when I try to auto focus, so I sucked it up and ordered a new one. A Canon 50D. I figure it's not worth risking a broken camera when I have a wedding to shoot in May, so I had to order it. It'll be fun to play with the new one, but cam cam has been a great companion for the last three years and it's sad to retire her. Supper tonight with the Luhmann's and the sad news of another violent shooting in Long Beach. 3 people were killed at the hospital when a hospital worker walked in with a gun and shot a man, another outside and then killed himself. Sadly, Linda's sister-in-law (Theresa, who I just celebrated Easter with) was working about 30 feet away in the hospital, and knew all of the men. The one who was shot inside apparently stumbled into the area where she was working before collapsing. I can't get over the number of deaths recently. Is this recession so bad that people need to take their lives over it? What can we do about this?

Last thing, in case you didn't know this, I love Kevin. A lot. It's our 23 month anniversary today, so I sent him a collage of pictures I took holding a sign. Here's one of them so you can know how completely nutso I've gotten over this kid! 5 days until I'm home in his arms! Not that I'm counting or anything. :)