House Photos.
Today’s prize for Least Helpful Interior Photo of a Home for Sale goes to:
Happy Halloween!
Thanks to Grandpa Bill, we had a cute little pumpkin man to greet all the neighborhood children as they came to our door this evening. Getting to meet and greet so many of the families who live nearby, but who we rarely see because of the hectic pace of life, is a treat we look forward to every year. No, we don’t advocate scary costumes or witchcraft, but we do love kids and their families and we do love getting such an easy opportunity to love our neighbors with a big cheesy grin and lots of sugar.
Happy Halloween everyone.
Ee-I-Ee-I-O!
Grace had her one-year doctor’s check-up yesterday and all reports are great! She measures 30 inches long and weighs 21 pounds 11 ounces.
She isn’t walking or crawling yet, although she can army crawl backwards until she gets stuck somewhere. This is a stark contrast to her 10-day-older cousin, Sienna, who rivals Nascar speeds with her crawling, but only when she isn’t sprinting on her delicate little ballerina legs. The differences between the two girls are amazing. Gracie is far more interested in the intricate details and deepest meanings of the smallest particle of whatever she finds on the floor; Sienna has places to go, mountains to climb!
Grace Puppy, Sienna Piggy, Mighty Quin Lion.
And then there’s Quin. Mighty Quin. At his four-month appointment he weighed in at 19 pounds 11 ounces (Grace weighed 19 pounds even at her 9-month appointment). Each baby so different and so amazing.
But have you ever seen a more adorable puppy? Never.
Sexual Detox
Tim Challies has posted a fascinating series of articles outlining the problems of sexual sin in and outside of marriage, the impact of sexual sin on marriage, and the means of detoxing from sexual sin and rebuilding the ruins. He offers a very tender and fresh perspective on the issue and communicates both the severity of the problem as well as the hope for transformation in a very personal and applicable way. These articles are well worth reading. You can find each of them here:
Sexual Detox I: Pornifying the Marriage Bed
Sexual Detox II: Breaking Free
Sexual Detox III: A Theology of Sex
Sexual Detox IV: Detoxification
HT: Tim Challies
Movie Review: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
I’ll keep it simple. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is made up of four basic parts:
1: Asinine script writing. I haven’t heard lines this cheesy and overly dramatic since Army of Darkness. The only relief I had from the agonizingly dumb dialogue was…
2: Filler Action. A multitude of slow motion scenes featuring explosions, gunfire, and machines in random transformative states seemed to fill every conceivable gap leaving zero room for character development. It was almost as though they knew their script was completely lame…”Dude, we’d better make something explode or transform soon or they’re going to realize we’ve got nothing.”
3: Soft Porn. Realizing that explosions aren’t always enough to engage and retain the male mind, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, includes plenty of scenes that closely approach, if not completely indulge in, the pornographic. Use of lighting (strangely enough), wardrobe, and strongly suggestive sensual and erotic poses, expression, and action from young women in the film were outrageously inappropriate. I could go on, but my tirade against “innocent porn” will have to wait until another time.
4. GM commercial. If you’re at all interested in purchasing a new vehicle from General Motors, you can view their line up again and again throughout the film, in between pornographic scenes and explosive action shots. Don’t worry, they don’t bother you with brainless chatter while you peruse their product line…just take a good long look.
This film has zero substance. Dumb isn’t necessarily wrong, and under normal circumstances I’d say that if you’re looking for a brainless flick to pass the time, go ahead if you’re so inclined. However, the significant use of what I consider to be unnecessary and overly explicit sexual imagery puts this movie into a new category: You’re not missing anything by passing on this film, so don’t give your brain or financial support over to movie makers who want to sell low quality entertainment featuring beginner’s porn.
Happy Birthday Grace!
Happy Birthday Beloved.
It’s been the most awe-inspiring, quizzical and humbling year of our lives.
We pray that Christ would fill the next year with continued growth, health, joy and peace.
We love you: Mommy & Daddy.
Nine Months Up, Eleven-Months-21-Days Down.
I gained 30 pounds during my pregnancy with Grace. I had read in books that you should expect “nine months up and nine months down” when it comes to gaining and losing pregnancy weight. Oh yeah, and “anything extra you have at your baby’s first birthday is yours to keep.” Congratulations.
In the weeks after Grace was born I thought, “Losing this weight is going to be a snap!” I lost 24 pounds in the first two weeks. And that’s where it stopped.
By month nine I began to sweat a little. What happened to “nine months down?” I want the nine months down part!
“Well, every woman is different,” I consoled myself, but I knew I’d feel disappointed if I wasn’t back to my pre-baby weight by THE BIRTHDAY.
(Okay, here comes the part where I pat myself on the back and you cheer really loud.)
It is five days before our daughter turns one, and I finally saw my old friend on the scale this morning.
Hello old friend, it’s good to see you again. You don’t know how happy I am to have you back. Happy Pre-Baby Weight Birthday to me.
Submitted Parenting.
Sometimes I look at a picture of Grace and I project a certain idea about her onto the image. In this photo I think she looks like she’s in deep theological study of Scripture. That idea makes me happy. As she grows up, I want her to be thoroughly knowledgeable of and deeply submitted to the authority of Scripture.
Then this strange voice comes into my head accusing me of “projecting onto Grace things that aren’t necessarily hers” and “violating her development and choices with my own ideas” and needing to “wait to see “what she wants for herself.’”
And then I another more familiar voice says, “The previous thought you just had is [crappola]. Your highest calling as a parent is to guide and mold and teach your childrens’ minds in such a way that they will grow up in the knowledge and admonition of [The Lord].”
“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:5-9 ESV)
“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.“ (Proverbs 22:6 ESV)
I don’t know who’s talking to my head when the crappola thought comes in. Whoever it is, he’s a liar. It’s one thing to push my daughter to be a ballerina because I always regretted not take dance classes as a girl. It’s another thing to obey Scripture and share the incredible joy of Christ with my daughter, training her up in hopes that she will love and serve and obey Christ when she is old (and while she’s young). To not strive for this in my family is blatant disobedience to Christ.
When the two disagree on a subject, I must always submit to Christ, not culture/self/the new book I’m reading/whatever.
Whose voice will you obey as a parent?
A Disturbing Email.
Paul received a pretty disturbing email recently while at work. Though it’s somewhat graphic, we agree that its content may prove helpful to others and hope that by sharing it, others will be encouraged toward compassion for those in similar situations. The following is the entire content of that email:
Dear Master,
I am formally requesting that you return home as soon as possible. I am sure that your supervisor will understand your hasty and expedient departure from your cubicle when she understands the horrific events happening in your home. Without your kind and generous supervision, we are being exposed to the most ruthless and invasive forms of humiliation. I did not want to get into the gruesome details, but in an effort to convince you of the serious nature of our condition, I will tell all: we have been administered the Water Torture. As difficult as it is to type this, not having type-enabled phalanges or thumbs, I must.
Please come home. SHE’S ALL UP IN OUR GRILLS WITH THE BATHS!!!
Sincerely,
Chew-Dog.
Wrap Ups.
Last year, right about the time Grace was born, we started “the kitchen project.” New flooring, countertops, sink, DISHWASHER(!), stove, hardware, faucet, trim, paint…..the kitchen project. Most of the work was finished shortly after Gracie emerged into the big wide world, but those last few items just had to be put on the back burner while life happened.
In addition, we poured a patio this summer but had no steps to make the transition from the back door to the patio less “startling.”
So Fall brings the closure of summer and the closure of our unfinished family (read “Paul”) projects.
What projects did you work on this summer?
