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
Awkward, and Oh-So Hilarious.
If you’re in need of a belly-r0llin’ laugh today, I strongly suggest you take a peep at awkwardfamilyphotos.com.
Honestly, there are tears rolling down my face.
Hiccups: A Cure.
Hiccups. Don’t scare me, don’t ask me to hold my breath, don’t rub peanut butter on my earlobes. Just hand me that lemon.
I heard about this cure on the Martha Stewart show which I am chagrined to admit I was viewing. Watching her makes me feel anxious and violent…but I digress.
The cure: Bite straight into a thick slice of lemon or lime.
Alternative: Swallow a spoon full of straight lemon juice.
…Something about the sour shock to your system disrupting a biological rhythm, eliminating those bothersome hiccups…
It works! Our family has experienced a 5 out of 5 success rate for this cure thus far. Proof that it is not merely a placebo effect? Two of these successes were performed on Gracie using lemon juice. She doesn’t know what a placebo effect is, nor does she know that we’re experimenting with her hiccups. All she knows is that she’s experiencing a new and quite astonishing flavor.
Goodbye Hiccups.
Mommy Vs. The State (1953)
I picked up a copy of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 at a garage sale the other day. I’ve never read it, though Paul informs me that I must have done some serious hoop jumping to have escaped high school without skimming it’s classic pages.
Here’s a quote that struck me hard enough to call for the highlighter:
“Heredity and environment are funny things. You can’t rid yourselves of all the odd ducks in just a few years. The home environment can undo a lot you try to do at school. That’s why we’ve lowered the kindergarten age year after year until now we’re almost snatching them from the cradle.”
It strikes me as strangely telling. Full-day kindergarten, “jump start” programs, pre-school, after-school programs and full time daycare available to those as young as newborns paired with a culture full of parents more than willing to abdicate their roles (heck, sometimes downright fleeing their roles), turning their children over at such incredibly early ages to the far more qualified experts for socialization, nurturing, and education…because, as we all know, parents are so inadequate when it comes to the needs of their own children.
What philosophy, ideology, worldview, religious view, view of self, view of family, view of life do you want your little one to hold onto?
Will he or she develop that particular ideology in the environment he spends most of his time in, whether a classroom or home?
Are you the primary sculptor when it comes to your child’s mind? Or have you given that job to someone else?
How do you know it’s you?
Woo hoo! I like thought provoking fiction.
Too Much “Church?”
Take a peek at this very short, but thought provoking blog entry about program driven churches and the potential impact on families and our youngest disciples. Here’s a sneak peek:
“We noticed our young families were spending more evenings attending church activities than they spent at home, often dragging young ones through the church door, rushing them into some childcare program, dashing down a hall to slip into an adult Bible study class without even having time to eat an evening meal until possibly 9:00 at night! We started counting up how many hours that our church was dividing up the family in order to have “spiritual activities.” We were alarmed by what we discovered.”
Read the whole entry here.
HT: Tim Challies
Do Dogs Ever Feel Self-Conscious About Their Appearance?
They should.
Bows aside, the dogs look great after being groomed today thanks to Klips by Kim of Buckley, WA. We’ve been really happy with their services. Chewy and Sadie get consistently good haircuts at very competitive prices for our area ($35 each as of today).
The Comfort Wipe???
Do you need a belly-rolling laugh today? Check out this blog entry from Bryan Allain on The Comfort Wipe. His commentary on the infomercial is hilarious.
Commercials That Stick: Mini Sirloin Burgers.
Some jingles just get stuck in your head. Here’s my current favorite:
Whoever is contracted to do Jack In The Box’s advertizing deserves every penny.
What I Got in D.C.
Though I would have preferred to bring home the three-for-$10 t-shirt featuring our President Obama in superman pose pulling his shirt open to reveal the presidential seal emblazoned on his chest, I came home with a sweet combination of infections instead. I won’t go into the gruesome details, but my head feels like it’s filled with wet cotton.
I will say this, though: the Neti Pot is indeed a magical little invention. I first heard about the Neti from Erin who claimed it was great. I was skeptical. Though I have a healthy sized nose, I have sort of smaller nostrils and have always preferred my nose to be a one way passage. The idea of liquid traveling up one nostril and exiting the other is sort of horrifying. But my husband uses one and insists that Erin is right.
So, last night after our arrival home, Paul gave me my first ever interactive tutorial on the Neti Pot. Paul says to me something like, “Close off the passage to your mouth so that the liquid stays in your nasal cavity.” I ask, “Can you give me an example of a time when I might do that naturally?” I was suddenly hit with the fact that we can do lots of various maneuvers with the muscles and openings and tissues inside our nose/throat/mouth, but when asked to do one action specifically it’s hard to intentionally make your body do what it does out of impulse during the normal course of our everyday lives. But I digress…
I’m still trying to get the hang of it, but I now agree with Erin and I’ll soon be able to bathe my nasal cavity with the best of them. It’s a nifty little Neti Pot. And though I really would have rather had the t-shirt, I can battle my capital cold with a little more nasal comfort, thanks to Erin, Paul & Neti.
Hail the Conquering Hero!
We received the news late Saturday evening: Our brother, David, passed his Journeyman Lineman exam with flying colors!
David works harder, has learned more, and has already done more with his education than 90% of college graduates. It has taken him 3.5 years to work through his apprenticeship, passing exams both academic and physical along the way. His work is sometimes extremely dangerous. He’s the first one to show up when the lights go out, and for some families in treacherous winter storms, he is the unseen hero who restores power for much needed heat. With snow and ice in his beard, he and his crew bring you warmth and allow you to get “back to normal.”
He’s incredibly good at what he does. Though there was a time when David was unsure about what he was good at or what he wanted to do, it almost seems like the lineman career hand picked him. There are few people more suited for this kind of exciting and challenging work.
David, you have done so well. You are working hard and providing for the needs of your family while helping and serving your community. We are so proud of you David.
We love you – Paul, Catrina, & Gracie.
