Cheerios

Our newest trick... chewing Cheerios with 2 teeth :)

Don't you love the hair do?

Seriously?

Sometimes you just wonder, "What exactly where they thinking when they decided to pay $70 annually to attach that to their car?" Hmmmm...

Made in China

Costco shopping

WOE!

VIENNA — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu endorsed a Palestinian state beside Israel for the first time on Sunday, reversing himself under U.S. pressure, but saying the Palestinians would have to lay down arms, a condition they swiftly rejected.

Fox News

As the U.S. pressures Israel to make this move I wonder just what may be on the horizon for the U.S.? I'm certainly not 'pro' everything Israel. They are in no way a perfect people, and yet I recognize that God has blessed them and has promised a blessing upon they that bless Israel and a curse upon they that curse them (Genesis 12:3). The prophecy of Joel is also rather striking...

"I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land,"

Joel 3:2 ESV
emphasis mine

Keep watch! Israel, Iran, North Korea... interesting days are ahead.

even in the little things

When we were looking for houses a year or so ago one of the unuttered prayers I had was for a nice area in the back yard to plant a grapevine. While I do like grapes the desire had more to do with the abundant biblical allusions to them than any desire to eat them. When we walked through what would ultimately be the house we purchased I found not only a place to plant a grapevine, but a HUGE overgrown grapevine already planted in the back yard. It is so often the case that God's answers are exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or imagine.

Near the end of last year Josh and I pruned my grapevine, which by that time spanned about 15-20 feet from the main vine and was climbing well up into a tree in our front yard. The whole time we were cutting it back I was thinking, "Lord, I hope this thing grows back." When you prune a grapevine you basically leave it looking like a dead stump, but about 3 weeks ago while washing some of Ethan's bottles I looked out the kitchen window to see that little branches and leaves had begun to sprout. Now it's about 10 feet tall...


And yesterday while doing some work in the back yard I noticed the first signs of fruit!


On another note... over the last 48 hours I've discovered some of the realities of the curse. Not fun.

Curse the 'Curse'!!!!

Ethan Screaming...

Priceless

So I was watching Discover Channel and during the commercials this MasterCard 'Priceless' commercial came on...



"Water glass: $5
Energy saving light bulb: $4
Reusable bag: $2

Helping dad become a better man: priceless"

Don't get me wrong, conservation, recycling... being green - they're not bad things, but is this really what makes you a "Better man?

Extremely Interesting

I was just talking about birth replacement rates a couple of weeks ago while teaching on 1 Timothy 2. Somebody sent this to me this morning... very fitting!

Primitive or Progressive Pt. 2

Again a word on 'progressives.'

In the last several years the moniker Liberal has been substituted with Progressive. Let's be honest, Progressive just sounds better. Progressive implies advanced, enlightened and broad-minded. Our current administration and congress is dominated by progressives (liberals). Their worldview is certainly different than mine. I'm not a Republican, but I certainly am conservative (in light of the most recent DHS report I'd probably be labeled a right-wing extremest).

Progressives desire change. That's the mantra of our day. The change they seek would be to them 'progress', but I'm not at all convinced that it is the kind of change that I can (1) believe in or (2) get behind.

I was watching the CBS News Show "60 Minutes" this evening, they had a segment on Bull Fighters in Spain. At one point the Anchor, speaking about Madrid, said,

Many parts of Madrid take you back many centuries. But don't be fooled - Spain is one of the most modern and progressive counties in Europe. Half the cabinet are women, including the defence minister. There is gay marriage, quickie divorces, legalised abortion, and there is the ancient blood sport of bullfighting. How do you put that all together? It’s not easy.

60 Minutes is absolutely a Progressive (liberal) news show... and their definition of Spain's Progressiveness hit me like a 2x4 in the head. What is it that sets Spain apart as Progressive among the EU nations? Gay marriage, quickie divorces and legalised abortion. If that is the criteria for progressive then would I be wrong to say that progressive = immoral.

Oh wait, that's not very progressive of me.

Sand or Five Pillars?

Earlier this week our president spoke on the economy at George Town University. In his speech he made an interesting reference to the Sermon on the Mount.

There is a parable at the end of the Sermon on the Mount that tells the story of two men. The first built his house on a pile of sand, and it was destroyed as soon as the storm hit. But the second is known as the wise man, for when “…the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house…it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.” We cannot rebuild this economy on the same pile of sand. We must build our house upon a rock.

Interestingly he went on to explain what we do need to build our economy on...

It’s a foundation built upon five pillars that will grow our economy and make this new century another American century: new rules for Wall Street that will reward drive and innovation; new investments in education that will make our workforce more skilled and competitive; new investments in renewable energy and technology that will create new jobs and industries; new investments in health care that will cut costs for families and businesses; and new savings in our federal budget that will bring down the debt for future generations. That is the new foundation we must build. That is our future.

Interesting choice of words. The White House also had the cross and the letters IHS* covered.

* IHS is common Christogram based on the first three letters of "Jesus" in Greek. It's a common seal used by the Jesuits and was later interpreted as "Iesus Hominum Salvator", Jesus, Saviour of Mankind, "Iesum Habemus Socium"


I guess I'll just use my usual response... Interesting.

Yummy...

Swell!

This is something that you see in Germany a lot... I think it is great to see it here! Pretty cool.

Check out them arms!

My happy boy