That’s what Bunny said to me tonight when we were talking over the events of this sad day: “God is good.” Her faith, I think, is stronger than mine, but I’m glad she’s willing to share it with me.
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. 3 John 1:4
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:1-4
“There’s a, um, tradition in tournament play–not talk about the next step until you’ve climbed the one in front of you. I’m sure going to the state finals is beyond your wildest dreams, so let’s just keep it right there.” Gene Hackman as Coach Norman Dale in Hoosiers
These lines, from the song “One in a Million” on the Veggie Tales “Junior’s Bedtime Songs” CD, always make me choke up a bit.
Through all the laughter, through all the tears,
Whenever you need me, I will be standing here, right here.
No need to wonder, don’t ever fear,
Though you may wonder,
I’ll always be right here, right here.You’re more than one in a million,
No one can take your place,
Though I could try,
There’s no way that I could ever forget your face.
There are so many things wrong with this article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that I don’t even know where to begin. It frightens me that men placed in charge of a flock in a parish are willing to follow the world to this extent. If he’s willing to try this experiment himself, what of the souls under his charge?
I do have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this “pastor’s” bishop is taking action against him. Seeing how things have been going in the Episcopal church in recent years, I figured that this would be lauded as a great project in diversity and acceptance by others of that denomination, including the higher-ups. So at least someone is willing to draw a line somewhere.
I think this is the sentence I found most disturbing:
“On Wednesday, the first day of Lent, he began performing salah five times a day, by facing east, toward Mecca, and praying to Allah.”
Maybe someone should tell this guy that if he’s praying to Allah, he is not praying to the Triune God. There’s just no comparison. That’s Theology 101 right there. Or maybe I’m just too simple and conservative to understand this experiment.
His public, ecumenical series may be called “Giving up Church for Lent,” but what he’s really doing is giving up Christ for Lent.
Lord have mercy on us all.
I received a review copy of The Organized Home Schooler by Vicki Caruana from Crossway Books. I was pretty excited about reading this, as I’m always looking for new ways to organize, and because we’re in the midst of transitioning our school room to a new space. I have to say, though, I found the first 10 chapters to be pretty dry, and not particularly helpful. The “Heart Matters” at the end of those chapters (example–remembering that I’m a steward of the school supplies God has given me), seemed way too preachy and patronizing to me.
Six of those first chapters dealt with different things in our lives that need to be organized (thoughts, time, space, supplies and materials, paperwork, and family), and I didn’t take away much from them. There was an interesting section about public vs. private space in the home, complete with a list of ideals Frank Lloyd Wright had when designing spaces, (I really liked “the house shelters the family not only from nature, but from the world itself”) but I found that to be a more general home design issue than a home school one.
I did benefit from the last three chapters, however. These focused on the actual organizing of the school room (great suggestions!), a filing system, and a whole chapter of lists (I love lists!). This was all very useful information, and I definitely have some ideas to implement in our school–including a hard one to hear: “if you can’t keep it neat, you have too much stuff.”
I wish the whole book had been as useful to me as those last three chapters, but even so, the content of those three chapters was excellent and very helpful. I don’t know if I’ll actually become more organized, but at least I have some good ideas from another homeschooling mom who’s been there, and is succeeding!
Here’s a summary of the children’s reactions to the news of their forthcoming new sibling:
So, the reactions were as we’d hoped–everyone is thrilled! I quite honestly wasn’t sure how Moose would take the news, or if he’d even “get it,” but he seems to, at least as well as any five-year-old does. We were also a little worried Ladybug would be upset at losing her status as the baby, but for now, at least, she’s just excited to get to be a big sister. As for Turkey and Bunny, we knew how happy they would be–after all, they’re old pros at this new sibling business!
The children and I are continuing to watch I Love Lucy together in the afternoons. The following clip is one of my favorite TV moments ever. I’ve never seen such raw, real emotions between two actors as Desi and Lucy exhibit in this scene. Their love is so evident here that it makes it all the sadder that they couldn’t make their marriage work. I also discovered recently that Desi actually wrote the words to the song–how sweet!
I got to thinking about two of my all-time favorite commercials today–probably because I was trying to explain the spelling versus the pronunciation of the word “paczki.”
The commercial featuring the “doctor” is hilarious, but the one featuring the “coach” is my favorite!
While searching for the commercials, I found a third one that I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen before–also quite funny.
Budweiser has always had come of the best advertisements I’ve ever seen!