Building Generational Bridges

I like to have music on during the day with the kids (it discourages talk about whatever might be on TV). But we have a problem, what do we listen to? Kids music (which I can tolerate and occasionally enjoy a track or two) or Daddy's music (which they can tolerate and enjoy a couple of tracks of)?

Well, we might have found an answer: They Might Be Giants. A favorite group of Daddy's since 1990(!!!), who just released Here Come the ABC's. Educational, fun, quirky. Peace in the land.

Thank you, Johns!

Taking the easy way out...

Was going to try to do a quick review of the new Jill Phillip's CD: Kingdom Come, but decided to be lazy/efficient and just post the log of my comments on it in an IRC channel. Less than eloquent, but it's done.

hey...for those of you who read Cent's blog...he was recently praising a CD by Jill Phillips
got my copy in the mail today (from Kingdombound Books, no less) it's very, very good
think Fernando Ortega but with guitars where he has piano, and with a female vocalist
so, pretty much, not at all like Fernando
But...if you like Fernando Ortega, you'll like Jill Phillips
and if you don't like Ortega, there's something wrong with you

really need to post something not so down

okay after the last three posts, need something more on the uplifting side.

Sure it'll be outdated by the time anyone reads it, but

5 days, 16 minutes, 20 minutes until Opening Day, baby!!!

maybe I should just go live in a cave for a bit

I just want to watch/listen to the news again without getting angry. Okay the whole unjust war thing we've got going in Iraq got me/gets me burned, but, y'know, it's what governments do...I can deal. The whole Bi-partisan congressional 9/11 investigation/circus ticked me off, but it's what politicians do. Those sucked and they made me angry, but it was a detached anger, y'know.

But this Schiavo mess...there's no detachment there. And then today, thanks to those good people at Planned Parenthood for taking this to the Supreme Court (out of the goodness of their hearts, I'm sure), Idaho's law requiring parental notification before a minor can have a life-threatening and life-changing (not to mention life-ending) operation has been rejected. Grrrrr.

Okay, I'm not going to use the old "can't get a ear pierced w/o the parent's permission" line (everyone's tired of it). I'm going to come up with the, Can't get a B without the parents being notified line. or the Can't get a tetanus shot for scratching your toe on a nail at your neighbor's home without parental notification line. I mean, come on people! Where's our perspective?!?!?! I know, I know, we're all too distracted with the riveting and vital events in the Michael Jackson case to care about this, but...ugh. Maybe on a commerical break we can think about caring?

#5 is sometimes the hardest

"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. Ex. 20:12

"'Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. Deut. 5:16

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and mother" (this is the first commandment with a promise), that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land." Eph. 6:1-3

No matter how hard I stare at those I can't find the escape clause I so desperately want to find. Something like, "until your in your 30's or so, or have a wife and kids of your own...especially if your father is an unbeliever or idolater." But no...there the law stands, exposing my sin and keeping me on the path (you have no idea how many things I had following "especially if your father is..." before I decided that was the safest way to put it).

I've even tried to think well, what if I can get him on Eph. 6:4 (Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.)? Focusing on the first clause, of course. Of course the whole 2 wrongs doesn't make a right thing comes into play...(but 2 lefts do, if I remember the teachings of Steven Wright correctly)

What brings on this little escape into loophole digging, you ask? Well first of all he's been made a board member of the state's Interfaith Alliance chapter (motto: Proving J. Gresham Machen right every time we open our mouths). Which I have to admit is a pretty nice trick...I can't imagine how someone who hasn't attended church regularly in 16 or so years gets to be on the board of a religious group--and hasn't been a member of a church for 4-5 years before that! Anyway, now, as an official mouthpiece, he sends my sister and I this email called, "I couldn't have said it better!" In it, he just copies and pastes the text of this letter from the Alliance's president on Terry Schiavo. First off, it reads like he's paraphrasing the Democratic party Talking Points memo on the controversy. But then he drags his clergyman status into it, as if that makes him infallible and someone that every Christian should listen to. God's a convenient tool when you want to make an emotional point, I guess.

Now, my gut reaction is to reply with both guns blazing...but I know that would only accomplish getting my inbox filled with more tripe like his (not to mention even more awkwardness than normal when we see my folks this weekend). And if I reply with diplomatic language, he'll miss my point and assume (as he always does for some reason) that we're on the same page.

So, I sit here stymied. Unsure what to do, and trying to not get bitter. Not sure it's working.

Sounds of Silence

Looking at this color scheme, saying "Hello darkness, my old friend" seems very appropriate.

No particular reason for the almost week of silence, while I have a lot on my plate, haven't accomplished any of it. Haven't really tried. Just one of those weeks where doing anytihng seems pointless.

Found this quote today:

"Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?" Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887)

My wife (happy birthday honey!) would testify that nothing could describe me better...

Scottish Presuppositionalism

Like any other of the great doctrines of the Word of God that of its own Inspiration was to be derived directly from the statements which we find it making on the subject. Thus it is that we reach a doctrine of the Person of Christ or of the work of the Holy Ghost or of Justification by faith. It is when the various statements of the sacred writers are carefully weighed and compared that on these subjects we come to a decision as to what on a conjunct view of the evidence should be held to be the Christian Faith. Rays of light from a variety of texts and contexts are seen to converge or to come to a common focus. This gives us the truth that is regulative for Christian thinking. The doctrine of Inspiration is in no different category. Like all the other doctrines of the Faith it can be profitably formulated only when we are sure of our ground in authority. For as a doctrine it is to be discussed as a thing possessed with authority only among the believers in the witness of the word. What the word teaches controls the faith of the Church, or at least it ought to do so. In controversy with avowed unbelievers it is not on the inspired character of Scripture but on its truth that Christians first lay stress. It is only when their opponents come to own that truth that they will accept its witness when it tells about itself. The campaign of opposition to the doctrine of the fully inspired character of Holy Writ when it is carried on within the Churches proceeds logically on a refusal to accept the truth of the claims which the Apostles made on their own behalf. In taking this line it not only aims its blow at the common faith of Catholic Christendom in regard to the inspired and consequently divinely authoritative character of Holy Writ; it strikes also at the substantial truth of the Christian archives. It is only when we set aside the witness and authority of the Apostolic word that we refuse to own Scripture as the Word of God.

The Churches of Scotland [circa mid-19th century] were but ill prepared for the day that had overtaken them. As they wavered and halted they let a tendency that was inimical to their ancestral Faith find a home in their bosom. For they lost sight of the essential simplicity of the Christian position. When John tells us that he wrote his Gospel that we might believe, with the record of his signs, that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and that believing we might have life in His name, he thought that the witness borne by his fellows and himself was ground enough for the faith of Christians to build upon. Christian faith has through the ages responded to this claim and this claim was that not only of the Apostle, but of the Holy Ghost who spoke in Him. For it is undoubtedly the mind of the Spirit that the evidence which he thus bore to the truth as it is in Jesus should suffice as a ground of faith for the Church of God to the end of time and to the ends of the earth. What was thus in the Gospel claimed by an Apostle for the witness of his writing, he and his fellows could claim for their teaching in the Epistles. They spoke not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Ghost teaches. This was what Paul could say, and we find John in the same vein adding: ‘We are of God, he that knoweth God heareth us” he that is not of God heareth not us.” Not to hear the Apostles proves that one is not of God. Now claims of this kind were in full keeping with the promises given to the eleven by their Lord in the Upper Chamber at Jerusalem.

There has been from the beginning a Holy Catholic Church—define it how we may—to whose care and keeping the New Testament books were committed, and from whose hands in successive generations its children have received them as being alike in their witness and in their teaching the crystallized and perpetuated ministry of the Apostolic band. As many as are willing to sit at the feet of the Apostles, as they thus by their written word continue to bear witness and to teach, will learn to treat the Old Testament Scriptures as it is plain the Lord and His Apostles did. They will accept both Testaments as the Word of God. Here we have the common view of Holy Writ as it has been throughout historical Christendom. It is on this view that the whole structure of Church Confession and of Christian Theology is built. To maintain the superstructure we must defend the substructure.
--John McLeod, Scottish Theology in Relation to Church History, p.311-313

Yet one More Reason

I'm proud to be a Yankee fan.

Julie, Jamie, be sure you read this :-)

(you'd never see Derek Jeter or Tino Martinez do this...)

Reads of the Day

On the serious-side, we have Nothing much to celebrate by Kathleen Parker which is a keeper.

For those who aren't keeping track (shame on you!!) 20 days 'til Opening Day (which really should be a Federal Holiday--everything save hospitals and bars should be closed) 2 good articles:

• Boone's one small step turned game upside down
  

As world-changing figures go, Aaron Boone may not be quite up there with Edison or Einstein. Or even Lennon and McCartney.

But Aaron Boone has left his mark, all right, even if he didn't mean to. He didn't mean to change what he changed: The Yankees. The Red Sox. A-Rod. The Curse. Not all of it. Not any of it.

Aaron Boone probably woudn't be an Indian today had it not been for his fateful night of hoops.
All he meant to do, on an innocent Friday night in January 2004, was play a little pickup basketball — not set off a chain of events that would one day send Curt Schilling's sock to the Hall of Fame.

• The Great Message Committee by George Will--Will gets to combine Baseball and Politics--his two passions into one column--who could ask for anything more? Two snippets

But to be fair to Waxman, he is a liberal representing Beverly Hills and Hollywood, so he is not expected to have a lick of sense regarding the limits of government, and he rarely sees a human activity that he does not think merits increased federal supervision.

Canseco says that during spring training 2001, when playing for the Angels against the Mariners and their second baseman Bret Boone, ``I hit a double, and when I got out there to second base I got a good look at Boone. I couldn't believe my eyes. He was enormous. `Oh my God,' I said to him. `What have you been doing?' `Shhh,' he said. `Don't tell anybody.''' But in five Angels-Mariners games that spring, Canseco never reached second base.

Little Reminder for Myself

"Happy is the life of that man who believes firmly, prays fervently, walks patiently, works abundantly, lives holy, dies daily, watches his heart, guides his senses, redeems his time, loves Christ, and longs for glory."
-- Lachlan Mackenzie of Lochcarron

Singing God's Praise

Because I used the "Ps" word today in my exhoration, I'm pretty sure I'm going to get some complaing started. "He's going start making us sing only Psalms." Oh, if only I had that much power! (which, of course, I'd only use for good) :)Anyway, was openitng up James 5:13, "Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms."Here's a portion of my exposition on the 3rd clause there (in note form):


I. There are some other reasons to sing praise in return for being cheerful:

A. It identifies the Christian.

1. Rom 1:21 “because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened …but the opposite must be true of the Christian. “Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. 23They are new every morning;” If His mercies are new every morning, so ought our thanks, true?

B. It counteracts complacency and pride

1. When things are going well in life—success in business or work, a good home life, decent health, decent money in the bank, etc. Those are what help us feel comfortable…but as we feel comfortable, as we shift our focus to these things of the earth…what kind of danger is there? Duet 6:10"So it shall be, when the LORD your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, 11houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant--when you have eaten and are full-- 12then beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

2. The Israelites got comfortable in the land, homes, and crops the Lord provided…but look what happened to that.

C. It glorifies God

1. Psalm 50:23 Whoever offers praise glorifies Me; And to him who orders his conduct aright I will show the salvation of God."; Psalm 96:8 Give to the LORD the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come into His courts.; Psalm 34:3Oh, magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together.

2. Henry: We cannot make God greater or higher than he is; but if we adore him as infinitely great, and higher than the highest, he is pleased to reckon this magnifying and exalting him.

3. Each of us as individual Christians has something glorious to sing about. Our redemption from the power of sin, being freed from a particular besetting sin…or deliverance from some suffering…That is what James is talking about here, not, "Is anyone happy? Then sing!" That is the world's attitude: "Roll out the barrel," and so on. Happiness is just another occasion for singing. We can have a great time with a bunch of friends, or driving in the car, singing along with “Friends in low places”…but that fun doesn’t last much longer than the 8:56 that the song lasts (if you go by the long version on Garth’s Double Live album). But James says, "Let him sing songs of praise." A song that will bless the Lord, sing is praise, reflect his glory—it won’t just be an expression of thanks and praise, and joy…but it will increase your joy—something that will last an eternity.

4. The Christian has something to sing about, and someone whose praises he can sing. There’s nothing wrong with having fun, but it’s just a passing thing. Praising the Lord isn’t.

D. Lastly, rehearsing the glories and graces and mercies of God in song helps us to lodge them in our brains, so that when we need them for encouragement during a rough patch, or to share with someone else…they’re available.

1. For this reason I’d encourage the use of capital “P” Psalms in this—sure, you might have to start out with some work in learning them. But what better thing to sing God’s praise for deliverance or provision or health, than His own inspired Word matching just such a condition? What better words to drive into your hearts and mind for future use? Yes, a well-written and Biblically based hymn or “praise song” can do the same...but it won’t have quite the same punch in the long run. You know you see commercials on TV for CD’s of Hymns or you can subscribe to Time-Life’s praise and worship series…some of those songs sound so cliché, so trite, so yesterday. But yet I know not too long ago my friends and I were abele to close our eyes, lift our hands and get that quiver in our liver while singing that song. Doesn’t happen now with us, not because I’m a cold Calvinist (well, not just because that anyway, but they’re Pentecostals and Nazarenes, etc.)..but because time moves on, and the same sentiment can’t last forever. But Psalms are god’s living word. They don’t get old. They’re never yesterday—they’re always today.

Reading of the Law 3/13

All of us have been in some public place--a grocery store, a park, a restaurant with a child that clearly doesn’t want to be there or doesn’t want to be doing what his mother or father wants him to do. We were at Kiddie Kandids yesterday, and towards the end of our time there we got a waling serenade from one such toddler. Now, that’s annoying—sometimes VERY annoying. But that’s all. There’s nothing I can or would do about that. But if one of my children acted that way, I’d have something to say about it. And they would have to respond. If I went up to that rebel at the photographer yesterday, he’d have no reason to listen to me when I told him to pipe down. Frodo, Samwise and the Princesshave every reason to listen to me. The same is true for those in God’s family. All those who have been created by God are bound by his law, his commands. But how much more do those of us who call Him Father, who have been given that great gift, how much more do we owe him our obedience. Heart obedience is for the family of God. Not for strangers to the promise, those enemies of our Father. And we see another picture of our familial obligation her in our reading of the law today...Romans 8:5-13

Proud Moment

Sitting here at the computer watching my wife trying to entice & cajole the
Kidney Kid to come to get his bottle. "Put the book down and come get your
bottle!" (sniff, sniff)

Glad to see he's got his priorities in order at this young age.

Even a Stopped Clock...

"There's already speculation that Hillary Clinton will be the nominee for the Democrats in 2008. Well, you have to admire the dedication of the Democratic party. They just lost an election, and they're already hard at work planning to lose the next one" -- Bill Maher

Time waster...

How to Kill a Mockingbird. For my dial-up friends, this is probably too long. For my high-speed readers, it's long, but worth it. HI-larry-us.

New Star Wars Trailer

Okay, I'm cynical. I've been burned by Lucas before (n.b., one of the funniest things Kevin Smith ever did was have Randall get Lucas on the stand and demand his money back for Phantom Menace in the cartoon Clerks). I just know in my bones I'm going to be annoyed with Lucas 10 minutes after I walk out of the movie but I see that trailer...and I have hope.

A new hope, if you will.

c'mon George...show us you still got it, babe.

Preaching

From the days of the Reformation the preaching of Scotland for some generations was an echo or an exhibition of the system of truth set forth in the Reformed Confession. The system was known not only in an intellectual was as it might be learned from the Confession and Catechisms and Treatises expository and controversial. It was known as a creed, and as such it was held fast from the heart by a Gospel ministry who yearned for the salvation of the souls of their fellows. This meant that the preaching of such a pulpit was not only sound and correct, but that it was also the message of men aflame with zeal for the honour of God and the coming of His Kingdom. It was the happy lot of the Reformed Church of Scotland to have in the ranks of her ministry not a few of who what was said by David Hume when he heard John Brown of Haddington preach, might be said: "That man preaches as if Jesus Christ stood at his elbow." Preaching of this kind was to be heard not only in ordinary from week to week; it found a special centre round which it revolved in the services of a communion season.

--John McLeod, Scottish Theology in Relation to Church History, p.95-96

May God in His wonderful grace grant us this again...

Couple of Follow-Ups to Recent Posts

• Posted the British covers the other day, and here's what the American readers will be looking at (once they actually finish the book, obviously, doubt many will be taking time to look it over when there are new pages of Rowling to devour)
• My faith in the American Idol voters has been restored. Goood-bye Amanda Avila (and goood-bye leering Cowell), Janay Castine (why, oh, why did it take this long?!?!), Nikko Smith (poor Paula...) and Travis Tucker (dude. it's 2005...just thought you should know). No doubt Scott, Anthony, and Mikala are overjoyed at being spared. I think it's just a matter of time for the first two..but Mikala's got a shot. Prediction: Lindsey says goodbye next week.

Idling in America

I was going to give a run-down on American Idol tonight after the gals do their thing (and I may still). But the good people over at TVgasm have done it for me. Can't say I disagree with much there...

Giving Up the Key to a True Redemption

Speaking of the immediate fall-out of the acceptance of practical Amyrauldian in the United Secession Synods in Scotland, mid-1800’s:
New Light was coming nearer the citadel of the Faith in its disintegrating results. At this point, among a considerable section of professed Evangelicals, the key that admitted to the fortress of a true and efficacious Redemption was given up; and this had a close relation to practical methods in preaching and pressing home the Gospel message. It meant a new approach to the case of the anxious sinner when he was told that our Lord had died for him, and that he must right off receive this as the good news of salvation. This method of approach to him hid from the enquirer that when it said that the Saviour had died for him it might prove that He had died either in vain, or with no intention to effect his salvation. For the Universal Redemption which it taught was on its own showing a Redemption that did not secure life. In this respect the method of treating the anxious played with the use of deceitful terms, and did not compare well with the methods that had been formerly in use. This older method told the sinner of a Saviour Who had died to save His chosen and called ones, and Who was now calling and inviting him to make proof of His saving power by talking Himself as the Lord his Righteousness, and so sheltering under the covert of His sacrifice and the shield of His intercession. The older Calvinism did not seek to assure the sinner that Christ had died his death until he a had first, in obedience of faith, closed with Him as a Saviour in His office as Mediator. It could, as The Marrow put it, tell him that Christ, Who died the Just for the unjust, was his for the taking, and that when he took this Christ as his own, he was in doing so guilty of no presumption. Methods that were borrowed from organised, almost mechanised American Revivalism began to be so common in dealing with enquirers for salvation that they came to be looked upon as part and parcel of aggressive Gospel work.
--John McLeod, Scottish Theology in Relation to Church History, p.244.

Tell me this isn't incredibly relevant today. This summary of the presentation from The Marrow is just perfect.

Misc. notes that You, you, you oughta know...

• Emailed a post a few days ago, hasn't shown up yet. Very odd...at this point I'm just waiting to see if/when blogger posts it.
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is already the fastest-selling book in British history. Just wait 'til it's published! Check out that link for the British covers, too, btw.
• And then the latest installment in my ongoing series: Okay, I am officially old now. Jagged Little Pill will be 10 years old this July. I'm only comforted in this look into my own mortality in that she'll be releasing a new, acoustic version of the seminal album.
  

Relief

aaahhh. Just got off the phone with the State Tax Commission. I start my temp assignment with them on Monday. Perfect timing...I think I've almost walked out the door at McD's every night I've worked in the past 2 weeks. They've been over scheduling me the last few weeks, and it's killing the whole studying thing.

But now, I get to go in tonight (the manager in charge of scheduling is closing tonight, which she practically never does--talk about nice timing...it's almost like there's someone controlling things) and give them a new schedule with a lot less availability on it.

Beyond that, there are some bonuses to this new gig

• Get to sit while working
• Get to listen to my class lectures while working
• Get to work with actual GROWNUPS

More than that, for just a couple more hours a week, I'll be making a lot more money, which will hopefully take care of some big expenses headed our way.

Anyway, my text for this week contains the instruction "Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms." Which is exactly what I'm doing now.

late night meanderings

just put the littlest one down again, he woke up screaming for some reason, seemed pretty scared. It's pretty annoying, but when I stop and think about the way things were a year go, it's reassuring to have a dopey little old nightmare to deal with.

It was a year ago yesterday that we brought the Kidney Kid in for a follow-up at 3 days old...between this, that and the other, he was admitted to the hospital. They did some tests, and found the kidney issue. Kept him in the hospital for days. First night my wife had to just sit there and watch him in a UV bed...couldn't hold him or anything. Not sure if that was harder on her going through it, or me watching her.

As I blogged a bit last year, it was a tough few days, but the prayers of the saints and the work of the Spirit kept us standing. I remember that on Sunday, I was supposed to exhort from Ephesians 4:17-24 and try as I might, I just couldn't come up with anything to say. So I pulled up a sermon by Jeremiah Burroughs, "Christ is All in All," made a few tweaks to the language and read that. I was assured by others that it was beneficial to them, which was a nice bonus, it was about the only thing keeping me from despair.

A few things he said:

Is Christ all in all? Then if we have an interest in Him, it should satisfy and content us though we have nothing or though we are nothing. Why? Because if we have Christ we have all. Though you lack parts, friends, estates, outward comforts, know Christ is to be your all, and is He not enough? As He said, Am I not better to thee than ten sons? So Christ says to the soul, "What do you lack? You lack this comfort and the other comfort, but am I not all in all to you, and better than all?" Yea, be willing to be made nothing, for all is made up in Christ.

With what mighty intention of spirit should the heart be put forth towards Jesus Christ in all things! Though God gives you an estate and honor in the world, if you have not Christ you have nothing. You have not that which makes way for you to eternity. Therefore, do not be satisfied with anything without Christ. As Abraham said, What wilt Thou give me Lord, seeing I go childless? So you say, "Lord, You have given me a portion in this world. You have given me credit and reputation among men, but, Lord, what is all this to me if I go Christless and do not have Him that is the conveyance of grace to my soul, Him that is all in all? Oh, Lord, You have taught me this day that such is the distance and breach between You and me that, unless it is made up through a Mediator, I must eternally perish. Therefore, give me Christ, whatever else You deny me."

Do not satisfy yourselves with anything without Christ! Many hypocrites satisfy themselves with gifts. If they have gifts, then they are contented. Consider that parable in Matt.13:45-46, "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. Now gifts and parts and other achievements are these goodly pearls, but Christ is the Pearl of price. Therefore, whatever you have, be willing to part with it for Him. If God has revealed to you the Pearl of price, let no [earthly] pearls satisfy you. Many souls perish eternally because they are satisfied with [earthly] pearls and do not endeavor to obtain this Pearl of price. In your seeking God, be sure to take Christ along with you.

What a joy it was this morning to look out and see him in worship, squirming enough to drive his mother crazy, smiling at those around him...trying to play with them when they needed to be paying attention. And then tonight I was able to sit and listen to my fellow elder while playing with him (hopefully we didn't get too loud)--he was in a playful mood, and it helped me stay awake (not a reflection on my brother's work, but on my sleep level). As John said in his prayer tonight, already this little guy's had a ministry in the church--we've been able to see God's mercy, God's providence in getting--and keeping--him healthy, to go beyond what any one predicted, and far beyond what we all feared a mere year ago.

God has certainly been gracious in giving him life, and I pray that one day, he'll give this tyke spiritual life as well. Beyond that, no matter how I love this little one, I pray that God would remind me that it's Christ who's all in all, and it's in him alone I can find comfort, assurance, and strength.

f o c u s

just can't get my mind to stay on task at all...oodles of things I need to/want to write: this week's exhoration, a reading report for class, a review of The Forgotten Man for the blog, a blog farewell to Blue...can't study, can't write more than 3 sentences...

Commercial

Should've mentioned this earlier, will make a point to do so more often: if you need a nice, unique gift, consider some hand-painted cookiez. Or if you just want a very tasty treat yourself.

Kidney Kid Update - 3/2

Just got back from the kidney specialist (the traditional way most people celebrate a 1st birthday, eh?). The Doc is still very pleased with how things are going for him--was really impressed with his development in things like standing and whatnot (he had been going to physical therapy for awhile, but graduated recently). His blood levels were pretty much the same, so no medicine or dietary changes. 'Tho he has to keep his dairy intake low, ditto for red meat (ohh, the HUMANITY!!). All in all things are going well there.

He will be seeing his urologist in a couple of weeks and we'll likely be scheduling a surgery then. So please pray for that.

Aside from the medical issues, everything's going great, praise the Lord. He's standing for periods of time, crawling allll over the place, jabbering a lot, and will even glance my way when I tell him "no" before going ahead and doing whatever I'm telling him to stop. Sadly, during our little birthday celebration today, we discovered the he doesn't like brownies...which could be a sign of serious psychological problems :)

Again, thanks for all your prayers and interest.

Idaho Politics

Now, I knew that there were plenty of fish, cows, emus, etc in Idaho...just didn't realize there were so many RINO's...

• Our beloved governor, Dirk "Be Careful of Typos in that Name" Kempthorne gets a "C" on the Fiscal Policy Report Card on America's Governors: 2004 (for the grades, for the entire report)
• My former classmate John McGee made a motion in committee to effictively kill a bill to cut benefits to people in this state illegally, while that same committee passed a bill to create a new bureaucracy that will pester and plague citizens. (read this rant by Robert Vasquez...my favorite Idaho politician)