My Favorite Things

Magic Kingdom

2010-04-08T12:28:00.011-04:00

Yes, Noah, we know you have a gray tooth.

At the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House

Emily and Noah got to wave flags with some other children while the band played "Stars and Stripes Forever". Noah was a little clueless about what he was supposed to do.

He was fascinated with the band.

Time to move along now, little boy.

Noah and Friends at the Zoo

2010-04-08T12:04:00.012-04:00

Noah and I had a fun day with friends visiting the Central Florida Zoo.

Noah and I kept trying to wake up this sleeping lion by shouting "Meow meow!" and "Here kitty,kitty!"

She finally woke up and looked none too pleased with us.

My little monkey

Poor Maude. A few days before, her friend Mary the elephant passed away. She looked so lonely all by herself. Mary was 63 when she died and was one of the oldest elephants of her kind in captivity.

Daddy/Daughter Dance 2010

2010-04-08T11:05:00.000-04:00

Here are some recent pictures from the Daddy/Daughter Dance at our church. This is one of the favorite nights of the year for Emily and Matt. They look forward to it so much. This is the 4th year they have gone to the dance. It has become just a wonderful tradition for them to share together.

Rileigh was over at our house watching Emily get ready.

This is at Mimi's Cafe for dinner before they went to the dance. These photos are from Matt's phone.

A few pictures at the dance.

They have several craft tables.

Noah and I had our own fun Mother/Son outing. We went to Chick-Fila for dinner and Firkin Kegler for mini bowling.

More Pre-Christmas activities

2009-12-27T13:44:00.026-05:00

A new addition to our house this Christmas was our "Elf on the Shelf" that Santa sent from the North Pole to keep an eye on the kid's behavior for him. They named him Jack. Every morning when they woke up Jack was in a different location in the house. They loved to look for him as soon as they got up in the morning. They were kind of scared of him, especially at first. When I read them the book about how he reports back to Santa about them, Noah started crying.

At our church in front of their beautiful tree in the foyer.

Emily and I went to EPCOT one afternoon to go to the Candlelight Processional and visit the countries.

Los Tres Reyes Magos in Mexico or to us gringos the Three Wise Men

Chita Rivera was that evening's celebrity narrator at the Candlelight Processional. It was supposed to have been Vanessa Williams but she cancelled. This event is one of my favorite things to see at Christmas.

The performance was beautiful as always.

Santa and Mrs. Claus at the American pavilion.

At Germany with the live Nutcracker.

Emily's favorite storyteller was Helga from Germany. She did such a great job talking about their Christmas customs. She told us about how the Germans created the first advent calendar, the story of Martin Luther and the first Christmas tree and the famous story of the Nutcracker that comes to life.

A few days later we went to Hollywood Studios to see the famous Osbourne Family Christmas lights.

Spending time at Nana and Papa's house before Christmas.

The poor fella got sick a few days before Christmas with a fever and upset stomach. Thankfully, he was better by the next day and no one else got sick.

Visit with Santa

2009-12-23T13:20:00.000-05:00

Getting Ready for Christmas

2009-12-20T18:23:00.037-05:00

Making their paper chain to countdown the days until Christmas

Waiting in line to see Santa

Emily writing her letter to Santa at Macy's.

Noah really got a kick out of this jack-in-the-box.

Here's the letter Emily wrote.

Enjoying some hot cocoa on a chilly day.

"Cheers!"

Emily performing in the Christmas Musical as one of the wise men.

Rileigh came to see the performance.

Gazing on the Baby Jesus

ICE!

2009-12-20T10:45:00.028-05:00

Here are some pictures from a recent outing to the Gaylord Palms hotel to visit the ICE exhibit.

They were dancing on snowflakes on the ground.

Playing on the ice slide.

A life-size nativity made of ice.

Afterwards we enjoyed some hot chocolate while listening to Christmas music in the lobby of the Gaylord Palms.

Then we went on a scavenger hunt to find holiday gnomes hidden all around the lobby. Some of them were really hard to find. One of them was hidden inside this birdcage.

Only a Florida hotel would have alligators in the lobby.

Green Meadows Farm

2009-11-25T11:43:00.042-05:00

We recently went on a family outing with our Mom's group to Green Meadows Farm.

Gobble Gobble. "Kids, this is what you'll be eating in a few days."

Pony Rides

We love miniature horses. They are so cute. We pass one every time we go to church and the kids get so excited when they see it.

They got to hold chicks and ducklings.

They got to milk a cow.

Noah caught this duck all by himself. Poor duckie.

We ended the day with a hay ride.

Painted Oaks

2009-11-22T20:33:00.028-05:00

Our Mom's group had another fun outing. This time we went out to the country to visit a farm and ride horses. It was a beautiful, fall November morning.

Noah saying hello to one of the horses.

The baby goats were so cute.

Noah loved this bunny. He sat down beside it for the longest time.

Getting ready to ride.

They had this really cool saddle swing.

Patiently waiting their turn.

Checking out the stables.

Hay ride!

After the hay ride, we had a picnic and played on the playground. This is how filthy Noah was when we left. He had so much fun. It was a great day.

Gymnastics Fun

2009-11-22T17:31:00.011-05:00

Our Mom's group went on a field trip recently to a Gymnastics training center. We had been there once before and Noah had a blast. This time I made sure to bring my camera.

Spooky Halloween Dinner

2009-11-22T16:09:00.001-05:00

For some reason, I really got into Halloween this year. We had a speaker at our Mom's group at church talk about creating family traditions. She said that a favorite tradition for her family was the dinner they had before they went trick or treating. She said that her kids would never eat a good dinner Halloween night because they were so excited about going out and getting candy. So she decided to create a fun Halloween themed dinner so they would actually want to eat something. While they were out playing, she would decorate the kitchen and table with all kinds of fun Halloween props. I decided not to go all out decorating. I only bought Halloween plates and cups, but I did decide to make some spooky dishes for their meal. I did some research online for fun recipes and here's what I ended up making.

Lil "mummy" smokies

Spooky vegetable dip. It's supposed to be a hand coming up out of the dish. (If you can't tell)

Pumpkin face pizzas

It worked like a charm! The kids loved it and ate a good meal.

Halloween

2009-11-22T13:35:00.001-05:00

A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Emily getting ready for a party at Grandpa Rice's.

Pumpkin carving

"Yucky!!"

This is Noah saying "I don't like it." I realized a few minutes later that he had tasted the pumpkin guts. Ewww!!!

We followed up our pumpkin carving party with a viewing of "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown."

Trunk or Treat with our friends

The Big Night

"Dorothy and Toto"

"Buzz Lightyear"

"Is it time yet?"

"Buzz and Woody"

Dorothy and Cowgirl Rileigh

Yet Another Disney Day

2009-10-28T21:09:00.015-04:00

While Matt was home painting the outside of our house last weekend, I took the little ones to Disney's Hollywood Studios. We made a quick bee line to the Toy Story ride in the hopes of getting a fast pass. We have never succeeded in doing this during past visits. They were always out of fast passes and the stand by line is usually 80 minutes. Luckily we got there early enough to get fast passes. Of course, we had to wait until the park was almost ready to close before we could ride it. But that's okay. We got to ride it and it was awesome. We all loved it so much and can't wait to go back and ride it again. I heard an employee say that it is the most popular attraction of all 4 parks.

They had some fun props along the line to meet Buzz and Woody. This is Emily and Noah trapped inside Sid's crate.

Here they are strapped to Sid's rocket.

Noah meeting his favorite character.

I think he was a little star struck. We told Buzz that Noah was going to be him for Halloween and Buzz gave him a big thumbs up.

Emily and one of the green army men. Noah absolutely refused to get his picture taken with him. Later on when he saw this picture on the computer he said "I no like him". I think he was scared.

Emily reenacting Gene Kelly's famous scene from "Singing in the Rain". Of course, she had no idea what I was talking about, so I showed her a clip of it on youtube when we got home.
When you stomped on the grate on the ground, it started to rain above the umbrella.

They fought over who got to stand next to Lightning McQueen, so the photographer came over and had Noah sit in the tire. Poor Mater.

My Buzz Crazy Boy

2009-10-28T17:19:00.001-04:00

Here is Noah trying on his Buzz Lightyear costume that he is going to wear on Halloween.

"To infinity and beyond!"

He is obsessed with Toy Story and Buzz. He used to watch little to no television and now watches Toy Story at least once a day and sometimes more.

He even has Buzz pajamas. Good night Buzz!

Our Little Patriot

2009-10-28T17:02:00.001-04:00

Emily had the privilege of leading her school in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance one day last week. I was so proud of her. They filmed it here in this little studio and it was transmitted to each classroom on their television. I couldn't be in this room when they were on camera, so I videotaped it as it was playing on the television in the media center. If I ever learn how to put videos on my computer, I'll put it on the blog. Emily did such a great job. She was so excited to do it.

Bye Bye Crib, Hello Big Boy Bed

2009-10-21T22:10:00.005-04:00

Saying good-bye to the crib

He slept on just the mattress for a night to get used to it.

He loves his new big boy bed

Noah's Super Fun Birthday Weekend

2009-10-11T20:28:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, we celebrated Noah's 3rd birthday. We started the festivities on Friday night by having some friends and family over for a party.

The Birthday Boy getting ready to party.

We let him open up one of his presents from us before the party which was a baseball toy so the kids could play it outside.

The theme of the party was "Thomas the Tank"

Jumping and Bouncing fun

Noah and Jase enjoying dinner.

Cookie decorating

Cake time

The Pinata was a huge hit- no pun intended.

Noah got some really fun gifts.

Opening some presents from Nana and Papa.

Opening presents on the morning of his actual birthday. It was so nice having already had his party the night before, so we could relax and enjoy his birthday by ourselves.

More "Thomas" toys

And a "Thomas" DVD. No way!!

And a "Thomas" book, too!! Yeah!!

I think I'll read a little of it right now.

A train set!

A John Deere Tractor from Grandma and Grandpa!! Thank you!

Wow! A trailer to go with the tractor!!

Playing baseball in the house.

Helping Daddy put together the train set.

We went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch. Noah's favorite restaurant. We even got to see the cow.

After lunch we went to Monkey Joe's where they bounced, slid and ran around to their heart's content.

Matt won each of them a critter. Emily was so excited.

For dinner, we went to The Swan Hotel and had dinner with Pluto and Goofy.

Pluto brought Noah a birthday cupcake.

After dinner, we went to the Magic Kingdom.

We love the Spectromagic Parade. It is fantastic. Noah was mesmerized and so excited to see each float. The lights are truly amazing.

Emily shaking hands with the Queen from Alice in Wonderland.

Silly Sleepy pretended to go to sleep right in front of us.

Being silly at the castle.

One tuckered out birthday boy. When I put his pajamas on him and laid him in his bed, I asked him if he had had a good birthday. He just nodded at me with the biggest smile on his face. He looked so full of happiness. It was a great day.

Back to Disney

2009-09-20T15:48:00.000-04:00

We love this time of year at Disney. The summer crowds are gone and the weather will soon be cooler. Hopefully. Actually the day we went was very overcast, a little rainy and not very hot at all. It was great.

Okay, I need to work on Noah's picture taking expressions. This one is just plain scary.

I know it looks like Noah wants nothing to do with Ariel, but he was actually quite smitten with her. It took some time to get him to actually leave her and when he did, he walked out backwards without taking his eyes off of her.

Getting ready to watch the Philharmagic 3-D movie. This was the first time Noah actually wore his glasses for the entire movie. His reactions to the 3-D images coming out at him were priceless.

New York City

2009-08-22T12:32:00.000-04:00

I know it's been forever since I've blogged. We have had such a busy summer with numerous trips, but I should be able to blog more once school starts.

One of our trips was to New York City. Matt had to go for business and Emily and I went along with him to have some fun. And we did. New York is my absolute favorite city. There is nothing else like it. I've been infatuated with New York since my first time there when I was about 12 years old. On that first trip, I remember being in complete amazement at everything I saw. I loved every part of it. I like to think that one of the reasons I love it so is that both of my grandmothers were born there. It makes me so happy to be up there. Maybe it's in my blood.

Ever since Emily was born, I have dreamed about taking her there and sharing my love of the city with her. I wanted to wait until she was old enough to enjoy and appreciate it and also be able to do a lot of walking. A couple of years ago I learned that The Little Mermaid was coming to Broadway. That moved my plans up to take her there because Ariel has been her absolute favorite character since she was a toddler. Little did I know that the show is closing at the end of August. It'll probably go on tour, but there is something special about seeing a show in New York on Broadway. I also wanted to take her while she still likes to play with dolls so we could do the American Girl Place together.

I was hoping she would love the city as much as I do and she did. When we arrived at the airport and were in the taxi coming over the bridge into Manhattan, she got her first glimpse of it. She gasped and reached down into her bag to pull out her camera and started snapping pictures of the skyline. I knew then that she would love it.

Right after we checked into the hotel, we took a walk down 5th Ave to the Plaza Hotel. Here is Emily with a portrait of Eloise from the famous children's books about a little girl who lives in The Plaza.

We took a walk through Central Park which always amazes me with its beauty.

During the summer, they have carnival rides set up in Wolman's Rink which is where they have ice skating in the winter.

This is Heather from San Diego. She and Emily because fast friends and rode all the rides together.

After Central Park, we went to the American Girl store where Emily picked out her doll.

The next day in the lobby of our hotel ,The Michelangelo, before we started our day.

We stopped by The Today Show and got to meet Meredith Viera. She was super sweet. She spent a lot of time walking around visting with everyone. She told Emily that her doll looks just like her.

After that we headed downtown on the subway to pick up our tickets for that evening's performace of The Little Mermaid. We stopped by South Street Seaport and saw the big ships on Pier 17.

Then we headed back up to midtown to The American Girl store again to have lunch in the Cafe. The lunch was so much fun. It was so neat to see all the little girls dressed up with their dolls. It was so sweet. They give you a little seat for your doll to sit next to you. That evening we went to see The Little Mermaid. For some reason, I didn't have really high expectations for the show. I hadn't heard many things about it and I was more excited to see Mary Poppins which we saw the following night. However, I was completely blown away by The Little Mermaid. It was outstanding. The sets, the costumes, the singing and dancing. It was spectacular. I loved it and Emily did too. I had wondered what Emily would think of it. She usually gets bored during a 90 minute movie and the show was going to be about 2 and half hours long with an intermission. She looked at me about ten minutes into it with a huge smile on her face and said "Oh, Mom. I love it!" I looked over at her a few times during the show to see the expression on her face and she was completely enthralled with it.

The next morning, Matt had some spare time before his client event, so he took Emily down to Times Square to the big Toys R Us store that has 5 floors and a ferris wheel while I did some shopping by myself.

Later on, I picked Emily back up and we headed uptown to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Emily really enjoyed seeing the Egyptian artifacts and mummies. She also loved looking at the knights and armor.

A trip to the museum would not be complete without a visit to my favorite part- 19th and early 20th century European paintings to see my favorites: Monet, Van Gogh, Degas, Seurat, etc.

On the way back from the museum to the hotel we walked through Central Park and took a wrong turn. We ended up in a section of the park that I had never been in before called The Ramble. It was so beautiful.

That night we went to Mary Poppins. And of course, Emily brough her doll with us.

The show was playing in The New Amsterdam Theater which is one of the oldest in the city. This is where Fanny Brice performed with The Ziegfeld Follies in the early 1900's. Most of the theaters in NY have pictures in their lobbies from shows that were there in years past. It's neat to see some of the history that the theaters have seen. This theater was gorgeous.

I love how small the theaters are here. All of the seats are really good and you're close enough to the actors to being able to see their facial expressions. It really adds to your enjoyment of the show.

Mary Poppins was fabulous. I wasn't sure if Emily was going to enjoy it as much as The Little Mermaid, but she did. The finale was outstanding and at the end Mary Poppins opens her umbrella and flies away right over the audience into the balcony. Awesome.

The next day was Saturday and Matt did not have to work. Yeah! We got up early and headed downtown to Battery Park to make sure we made it on the first ferry out to the Statue of Liberty.

Here are Matt and Emily standing in front of the original torch.

A replica of her face. This is in the museum inside the statue.

After you finish in the museum you can climb about 400 and some steps up to the base of the pedestal on which she stands. They just recently opened up the crown as well, but you had to have a special pass for that which we did not have. I'm not sure we could have managed the climb up to the crown anyway. The climb we did just about wore us out.

This is what is looks like from the observation deck.

The ferry that brings tourists over to Liberty Island.

It's really hard to fathom how big she is until you are standing beneath her. Awesome! Emily loved being able to visit the Statue.

You can't help but think of all the immigrants coming to this country (including my own relatives) to seek a better life. This was the first thing they saw upon their arrival. One of my favorite parts of the museum is where you can read letters and hear recordings of people who talk about their wonderful memories of seeing the statue for the first time. It's very emotional.

We also stopped by Ellis Island.

The skyline view from Ellis Island.

For dinner that night we went to Tavern on the Green in Central Park. Emily wanted to sit outside, so we sat in their beautiful garden area. Notice her doll sitting in her chair. She came with us pretty much everywhere we went.

The beautiful Japanese lanterns hanging from the trees in the garden.

After dinner, we took a carriage ride through the park.

Our last day before leaving on the plane, Matt took Emily to the American Museum of Natural History while I did some shopping. He took these great shots of her in Central Park on their walk to the museum.

Portraits

2009-07-16T12:30:00.010-04:00

These are some pictures taken by Jaron Brown:

Last Day of Kindergarten

2009-06-14T08:45:00.022-04:00

I stopped by Emily's classroom on her last day of school. I didn't tell her I was coming and she was so surprised to see me. Her face lit up.

Emily and Alyssa

They sprayed shaving cream on their tables and played in it with their hands.

Emily and Stacy

Her beloved Mrs. Flynn

After school, we went to the Magic Kingdom to celebrate.

The kids love the Country Bear Jamboree

Trying to pull out the Sword in the Stone

Emily's Year in Kindergarten

2009-06-04T21:43:00.000-04:00

Emily had a fantastic year in Kindergarten. We are thrilled with how much she has learned and how well she did. Her teacher, Mrs. Flynn, was amazing. She made school so much fun for the kids. Emily has told me several times that she is really going to miss her. One of the other moms and I were talking about how well everyone in the class got along. They all became such great friends. Here are a few highlights from the year.

Wearing their "Clifford" dog ears.

Hard at work

Everyday Emily would come home with shoes filled with sand from the playground.

Lunch in the Cafeteria

Their class pets "Cookies and Cream"

Tying a red ribbon on the fence for "Say No to Drugs" week

Pumpkin carving

Halloween

Working on Christmas crafts

Field trip to the Science Center

Field trip to the Edith Bush Theater to see a live production of "The Velveteen Rabbit"

At the Edith Bush Theater

Emily and Derek on Pajama Day

Emily and Celeste on Field Day

A Day at the Beach

2009-05-31T11:37:00.028-04:00

Yesterday we met our friends the McCartney's from Illinois over at Clearwater Beach where they are vacationing. We had such a great time with them.

I took Emily and Noah for a walk to collect sea shells. Noah collected shells, rocks, sand and seaweed.

"Look what I found, Mom!"

Noah playing with his new friend Kaley.

The kids had a blast playing in the water. The waves were pretty big. Usually the water on the Gulf Coast is calm, but not today.

After playing on the beach for most of the day, we walked back to the house and swam in the pool before dinner. Swimming and playing in the sun all day sure does make you hungry.

Dave, Matt and a squished up Noah.

The Girls

Noah and the girls

Memorial Day Weekend

2009-05-31T10:00:00.000-04:00

Last weekend we had fun visiting with my brother Mike and his family who came down from Charlotte for the holiday weekend.

Emily and Carson

Waiting for Papa to come home.

Watching a movie after dinner

We went to Birthday World

Getting ready to ride the roller coaster

The boys put on a brave face, but I don't think either one of them liked the coaster very much.

At Downtown Disney right before the deluge hit.

A fun dinner at Rainforest Cafe

Who is this?

2009-05-19T12:09:00.002-04:00

Is this Emily and Noah or my brother Mike and I? It's a little hard to tell. Noah is convinced that it's "Emmy and Noah". I love my brother's leiderhosen outfit. It looks like he's getting ready to go yodeling in the Alps.

Flower and Garden Festival

2009-05-18T14:13:00.031-04:00

Yesterday, Emily and I had a fabulous Mother/Daughter day at EPCOT for the Flower and Garden Festival. We were going to go on Mother's Day, but she was sick. Below are some of the pictures I took throughout the day. Pretty much every picture I took is either of Emily, flowers or Emily next to the flowers.

Stopping to smell the roses.

We ate lunch in Japan. This was our server, Yukiko. She was so sweet to us. I took this picture of her with Emily and she gave me her email address and asked me to email it to her.

Emily eating sushi with chopsticks!! I love that she is such an adventurous eater. I ordered her a meal off the children's menu, which she ate, but she also wanted my sushi, too.

Watching the sushi chefs at work

They had a couple of these really cool playgrounds which we had not seen before. Emily had a blast playing on them. Then I found out that they are only here for the festival. Bummer!

Emily and this little girl had a great time playing together. When we left, the little girl yelled out, "I'll never forget you!".

This was another one of those playgrounds next to Germany. It was in a really shady area and they had these really comfortable adirondack chairs for the adults to sit in while the kids played. I could have sat there forever.

The last thing we did before we left was the Kim Possible interactive scavenger hunt game. I had no idea how much fun this was going to be, or we would have started earlier in the day. We ended up staying in the park a lot longer than I had originally wanted to because we were having such a great time with it.

We were given this video phone which gave us missions to do in several of the countries to help catch some of the evil villains in the "Kim Possible" tv show. For each "mission" you had to find a specific item located in the country. When you found it, you pressed a button on the phone and sometimes it would give you a secret code or do something. The picture below is an example of what happened when we found a certain rock in one of the ponds in China. This green monkey came up from under the water. My favorite part was when we were in Germany and we were able to activate one of the Glockenspiels. Whoever came up with the concept and design of that game is brilliant. It was so much fun!

Easter

2009-05-16T09:05:00.019-04:00

Finally, here are a few pictures from Easter.

Spring Planting

2009-05-12T17:17:00.007-04:00

Update

2009-04-29T18:22:00.002-04:00

It's been so long since I've posted anything. I've been wanting to put up some pictures from Easter, but just have not had time to do it. It's not been a very good week so far in our house. Noah has had some digestive issues that have been causing him some pain. He's been getting up in the night crying and not able to go back to sleep. So, of course, I have been having sleepless nights along with him and am just exhausted. I've also been stressed out worrying about him. I took him to the doctor today and figured out what was wrong and what to give him for it, so hopefully he will be better soon. Also, Matt pulled a muscle in his back and has been in some serious pain. He also went to the doctor and got some medicine, so hopefully he will be better soon too.

It's a good thing that Matt and I went out of town last weekend to celebrate our 8th anniversary. We had a wonderful time in Tampa and had dinner at our favorite restaurant Bern's Steakhouse. Sunday we drove over to Clearwater and spent part of the day walking on the beach. The water and the weather were beautiful. It was a great anniversary. Thanks to my mom and dad for watching the kids for us. Especially since Noah started to not feel well over there and didn't sleep good.

Wearing Orange for Stellan

2009-04-21T09:52:00.003-04:00

Stellan is a little baby who we have been praying for for several weeks now. He has some major issues with his heart and as I type this he is undergoing a very risky surgery on his heart. Please say a prayer for him. You can read his story by clicking on his picture on the left side of my blog.

I Dreamed A Dream

2009-04-14T15:47:00.001-04:00

This video is so good!

One of my favorite songs from my all time favorite musical- Les Miserables

Emily, the Theologian

2009-04-10T13:40:00.004-04:00

Last night I was reading to Emily out of the "Jesus Storybook Bible". Incidentally, I highly recommend this book to anyone with young children. Every chapter points forward to Christ. The subtitle of the book is "Every story whispers His name." It is excellent.

Anyway, we were reading the chapter about the crucifixion in preparation for Good Friday. She had lots of questions and was especially horrified about the crown of thorns that they placed on his head. Every time we see a rose bush she takes great care not to get too close to the thorns. She is very fearful of them. We talked about the great suffering that Jesus went through for us. Then, she looked at me and these are the exact words that came out of her mouth:

"Mommy, do you think he was sad? Or maybe he was happy because he knew that he was taking away our sins?"

I was stunned by these profound words that came out of my six year old's mouth. They say that the gospel is simple enough that even small children can understand it. I got a beautiful glimpse of that last night. There are many adults I know who still don't get it, so it's amazing to hear it from the mouth of a little one. Oh, that we would all have faith like a child.

Good Friday

2009-04-10T12:48:00.004-04:00

For the past couple of weeks in preparation for Easter, I have been reading Frederick Leahy's "The Cross He Bore". The book consists of 13 meditations on the suffering of Christ beginning in Gethsemane and ending with the outer darkness. Many times while I was reading this book, I was overcome with gratitude and a desire to worship. I don't think that any of us can fully comprehend the magnitude of the sacrifice that Christ made. I tend to focus more on the physical suffering that he experienced with the floggings, the crown of thorns and the crucifixion. As horrible and awful at they were, the spiritual suffering that he endured was much more painful and sorrowful to him than his physical suffering.

Jesus repeatedly refers to himself drinking from the cup. "Shall I not drink of the cup that the Father has given me?" (John 18:11). The cup he is refering to is the cup of God's wrath for the punishment of sin. The wrath of God is not a subject that we hear about very often, but it is very real. I heard R.C. Sproul say recently that there is an idea in our culture and in our churches that God's love swallows His wrath. This is not the case. We have a holy God and because he is holy he cannot and will not ignore sin. In Jonathan Edward's famous sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God", he compares the wrath of God to water that is stored up behind a dam that is about to burst. He also uses the imagery of a bow and arrow with the arrow bent and ready to be released. It is only because of God's grace and mercy that He holds back his wrath. But he will not hold it back forever.

In the second chapter of Leahy's book he says:

"Here in Gethsemane, we see the sinless, finite humanity of Christ in deep and terrible distress. Calvin said that Christ had horror at the prospect of death because 'he had before his eyes the dreadful tribunal of God, and the judge himself armed with inconceivable vengeance; and because of our sins, the load of which was laid upon him, pressed him down with their enormous weight..."

He drank the cup of wrath that should have been ours and will be for those who have not trusted in Christ for their salvation.

"Now he gives to his people 'the cup of salvation' (Psa 116:13). These two cups, one so bitter, the other so sweet, stand side by side: the one cup necessitated the other. One cup was emptied that the other might be filled to overflowing. The first cup guaranteed the second. Both cups are precious and bear the hallmark of sovereign grace. ' What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD (Psa. 116:12,13).

The End of Christian America

2009-04-08T18:08:00.004-04:00

This is the cover story from this week's issue of Newsweek. I can't say that it really surprised me but it was still disconcerting to read it. One of the statements made in the article is that the number of people in the United States who have no religious affiliation has doubled since 1990. It also says that the area of the country that has the most non-religious people is now the Northeast instead of the Pacific Northwest. Considering that the Northeast was home to The Great Awakening during the Puritan era and exploded in Christian growth during that time, this information is astounding. It is becoming more and more common for people who attend church to be in the minority. When I was a child, pretty much everyone I knew attended church. This is not the case anymore. It will probably not be long before the South and the Midwest follow suit with the Northeast. North America is resembling Europe more and more. Today in Europe, many of the great cathedrals and churches from centuries ago are empty. They are cemeteries and graveyards.

This information makes it abundantly clear that the West is no longer the center of Christianity. I think it's interesting to look back on church history and follow the spread of Christianity from the Middle East westward to Europe and then North America. Now it's coming back full circle across Latin America, Asia and Africa which is now where the majority of Christians in the world live. This is no surprise to God and is all part of His good and sovereign plan. So, I guess I should not be disconcerted by it. I guess I'm more concerned about the faith that my grandchildren and great-grandchildren will have. This gives me an even greater incentive to teach my children about Christ and pray for their salvation.

This is an excerpt I read the other day in John Piper's "Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die" :

Christianity began in the East. Over the centuries there was a major shift to the West. But increasingly now, Christianity is not a Western religion. This is no surprise to Christ. Already in the Old Testament his global impact was foretold: " All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you" (Psalm 22:27). "Let the nations be glad and sing for joy" (Psalm 67:4). So when Jesus came to the end of his ministry on earth, he made his mission clear: "that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations" (Luke 24:46-47)... Jesus Christ is not a tribal deity. He does not belong to one culture or one ethnic group. He is "the Lamb of God , who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).

Wildlife in the Suburbs

2009-04-03T18:17:00.006-04:00

This is what the kids and I saw as we were leaving our neighborhood the other day.

Ironically, we were on our way to Animal Kingdom to see some animals and ride the safari. Ha! We didn't even have to leave home to see animals! We had our own neighborhood safari.

Easter Bunny

2009-04-02T18:46:00.005-04:00

Noah's Easter Pictures

2009-04-02T18:21:00.012-04:00

Emily's Easter Pictures

2009-04-02T17:51:00.012-04:00

Happy Birthday Matt!

2009-03-29T18:43:00.015-04:00

This past Thursday was Matt's birthday. I won't say how old he is, but I will say that this is his last year in his thirties. Hee hee! We celebrated his birthday as we always do at Amigo's for Mexican food.

Yum!

Somebody had too much chocolate.

"Soy uno chico guapo!"

I guess Noah was done with the picture taking.

Daddy and his "Mini-Me"

A Magic Night

2009-03-29T18:07:00.015-04:00

Last weekend, we left Noah home with the babysitter and took Emily and Griffon to watch the Magic play the Knicks. This was Emily's first NBA game. We had such a great time. Emily especially enjoyed it and surprisingly was able to follow most of the game. She always knew what the score was and whether the Magic were winning or not. She'd get nervous when the Knicks would start to catch up. Our seats were where the Magic player's family and friends sit. It's fun to watch the players communicate with the people sitting around us. I like to guess who belongs to who.

Emily cheering on her team.

Stuff "The Magic Dragon" paid a visit to our row. I wish I had thought to send Emily out to the aisle to get her picture taken with him. Right before I took this picture, Emily asked me where Stuff was at. A little while before he had been on the court on the other side of the Arena. Then we heard a commotion behind us and turned around. There he was! Emily was so excited to see him up close.

Shooting "fire" out of his nose.

This was the score with two minutes left in the game. It was very close and exciting. The Magic ended up winning 110 to 103.

Game is over and getting ready to leave with some of the streamers that came down from the ceiling.

Healthy Eating

2009-03-29T10:59:00.001-04:00

In January, we had a Naturopathic Physician come speak to our Mom's group at church. He's actually the husband of one of our moms. Now I know the difference between healthy foods and non-healthy foods, but I walked away from that meeting having learned several things about nutrition and feeling convicted about what I have been feeding my children and the long term effects that what I feed them now will affect their health for the rest of their life. As the one in our family who does all the grocery shopping and cooking, I have a huge responsibility to make sure that what I feed my family is good and healthy and will improve their life- and not the reverse.

I knew before that sugar has absolutely no nutritional value and rots your teeth. What I learned, though, is how much damage sugar does to your immune system. Anything you eat or drink that has sugar in it weakens your immune system which in turn makes you more susceptible to getting sick.

Here are some of the changes I have made:

1. No more sugary cereals. I was really worried about this one because the kids loved them. Surprisingly, they love the healthy cereals, too. Noah usually eats Multi Grain Cheerios. I also bought a Kashi cereal that has lots of nuts and crunchy things in it and he loves that too.

2. No more sugary juice drinks and soda. They only drink milk, orange juice or water. I started buying the pure orange juice (not the from concentrate stuff). Once in a while I buy an organic milk. But it's so expensive, so unfortunately, I can't do it very often.

3. Lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. Noah loves the fruit especially strawberries, blackberries and bananas. He's not a big fan of the vegetables yet, but I am working on him. Emily loves berries, melons, apples and peaches. She is usually a great vegetable eater, too. Once in a while I set out some raw veggies with a dip while I am cooking and she will eat them up.

4. Avoiding processed foods with tons of chemicals and preservatives. I have started actually reading the labels in the grocery store. If I pick something up and it has a huge list of ingredients many of which I cannot pronounce, I put the product back on the shelf.

5. My kids inherited my sweet tooth. We love sweets! I don't want to deprive them completely of these things because they love them so much, as do I. So, I think as long as they have something once in a while in moderation is okay. They love ice cream, so I will usually give them the Breyer's brand which has very few ingredients. Usually on the weekends, I will make a special dessert. This is in lieu of having packaged sweets in the pantry that they would snack on all the time. I also started making a fun appetizer on the weekends for the family to enjoy instead of buying processed snack foods. Some dry snacks I give them are pretzels and a goldfish cracker that is made with whole wheat.

6. Whole grain wheat bread with no high fructose corn syrup instead of white. Emily does not like this as well as the white bread, but she will still eat a ton of the whole wheat.

7. I have stopped making my super sweet iced tea which Emily was addicted to unless we have company over. Emily kept asking for this over and over every day, but now she has stopped asking.

8. No more deli meat or hot dogs that have msg and nitrites. There is an Oscar Meyer healthy turkey with no nitrites that I have been buying. There are also some organic brands of healthy deli meat available. I've noticed that the expiration date for these products comes up very quickly I guess because there are no preservatives in them. I also found an Oscar Meyer hot dog that has no nitrites. Of course, it is more expensive and there are only 6 hot dogs in the package, but I feel better about giving this to them once in a while instead of the alternative.

Since making these changes, my children have not been sick. For several months before this, they were getting sick constantly. Now, Noah did have a runny nose for a few hours the other day, but it went away as quickly as it came. Emily started coughing one night, but a little while later it was gone completely. I have not had to give them any kind of Tylenol or pain reliever since before Christmas. I know it is inevitable that at some point they will get some type of virus and get sick, but this is huge progress for us. It has been great not having to keep taking them to the doctor.

Charlotte's Web

2009-03-24T19:37:00.006-04:00

Emily and I recently read "Charlotte's Web". It was the first "real" book that we have read together. By "real", I mean a book that took us longer than one sitting to read. I am excited to read some more classic children's literature with her. We started "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" around Christmas, but we got sidetracked and never finished it. We'll have to go back and finish that one and the rest of the Chronicles of Narnia, too. I loved the "Anne of Green Gables" series when I was young, so we may try that also. I am determined that my kids are going to love to read as much as I do. I recently started limiting her time on the computer to 30 minutes per day and have noticed since then she has started to spend more time reading on her own in her room. Yeah!

One thing I thought about as we read "Charlotte's Web" is how this story and many other great stories involve someone giving their life for someone else. Of course, this story originated with our Creator before He laid the foundations of the earth.

This was something kind of funny that came up while reading this. Emily was confused about why the people wanted to kill Wilbur the pig. I explained to her that pigs provide food for us like ham, bacon and pork chops. She looked at me in amazement like she could not believe this. It reminded me of an episode of "The Simpsons" when Lisa decided to become a vegetarian. She was explaining to Homer that she could not eat bacon, ham and pork because they come from pigs. Homer starts to chuckle and says "Oh, yeah right, the pig...it's a magical animal."

Some Thoughts on Real Christianity

2009-03-24T10:29:00.003-04:00

One of the books I'm reading right now is an abridged version of William Wilberforce's "Real Christianity". Written in Britain in the late 1700's, Wilberforce sought to challenge the understanding of the faith of those who professed to be Christians. It's amazing the similarities between that era and ours. I guess some things never change. I think the term "Christian" is one that is used very loosely and many people who claim to be such have no idea what the real meaning of it is. How sad.
Wilberforce says (regarding many of those who profess to be Christians), "The Bible lies on a shelf unopened. And they would be wholly ignorant of its contents, except for what they hear occasionally in church. Or perhaps they retain vague traces of the truth in their memories from the lessons of childhood....How criminal, then, must this voluntary ignorance of Christianity and the Word of God appear in the sight of God. When God of His goodness has granted us such abundant means of instruction, how great must be the guilt, and how awful must be the punishment, of voluntary ignorance." Later on he says, "Though the Gospel had been predicted, prayed and longed for, announced, characterized and rejoiced in, we scarcely accept this heavenly treasure even when it is poured in our lap in rich abundance. We turn from it coldly or, at best, possess it negligently as a thing of no estimation."

A Note from Emily

2009-03-21T14:52:00.001-04:00

Matt found this note on the floor outside Noah's room one night. Apparently, Emily wrote it and left it for Noah after we put her to bed. Awww, she loves her baby brother.

Emily's First Visit from the Tooth Fairy

2009-03-18T15:15:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago Emily lost her first tooth! It was loose FOREVER before it finally fell out. She refused to let us try to pull it out when it got really loose. Unfortunately, it came out when she was eating lunch at school and she lost it. We left the Tooth Fairy a note explaining what happened and she still received a present much to her delight. She looks so cute with her missing tooth. Her smile looks so different to me now. My little girl is growing up. (sigh)

Noah and Lisa's Night Out

2009-03-14T10:26:00.007-04:00

While Emily and Matt were at the Daddy/Daughter Dance, Noah and I went out on the town. We met up with some friends whose husbands and dads were also going to the dance. We took the boys to dinner at Chic-Fila which is Noah's favorite restaurant. Then we went putt-putt golfing. After that we went to get ice cream. We had such a great time. I kept Noah up way past his bedtime and he was exhausted by the end of the night especially because he had refused to take a nap that afternoon. He fell asleep in the car on the way home.

Here's Noah with his friends Nick and Jack at the golf course. This was Noah's first time playing putt-putt. He has a lot to learn about the rules of golf. It's a good thing that we were not on a real golf course because he probably would have been thrown out. He broke many rules including the really important rule about not picking up other player's balls and throwing them in the bushes.

The Daddy Daughter Dance

2009-03-13T13:04:00.009-04:00

One of the highlights of the year for Emily and Matt is the Daddy Daughter Dance that our church has every March. This is the third year that they have gone to it. Usually around summertime, Emily will start asking "Is the Daddy Daughter Dance coming up soon?". She gets so excited about it. It has become such a great tradition for them to share together. He gets her a corsage and she gets him a boutonniere. Before the dance, they go out to eat at Mimi's which is one of Emily's favorite restaurants. It's such a special time for them. The church does a wonderful job with the dance with all of the decorations, food and other activities besides dancing. They estimated that they had 1200 dads and daughters in attendance this year. At one point during the night, our pastor has everyone come into the sanctuary where he leads them in taking some Daddy/Daughter vows. Then they play the video from the Cinderella song by Steven Curtis Chapman. If I had been there, I'm sure I would have been bawling my eyes out.

The Great Duck Derby

2009-03-07T08:56:00.001-05:00

Last Saturday we enjoyed a fun day at Mead Gardens for the

Great Duck Derby .

Visiting with some firemen

Painting our ducks for the duck race.

Here they come!

If you look closely you can see Noah's duck. His is near the bottom of the picture just above the white duck. His has a red dot on its head. We have no idea where Emily's is. Hers had so much paint on it that it was hard to recognize. Even after the race when we went to pick it up, she had no idea which one was hers.

Approaching the finish line. The blue one won.

Noah watching the race.

Yeah! Spring is here!

Hay ride

Getting their faces painted

Emily got a butterfly

Noah got a spider.

Here comes the big duck

Our Quirky Two Year Old

2009-02-27T16:28:00.001-05:00

Noah has a few quirky things that he does. But maybe it's just because he's two years old. Here are a few of them:

1. When all of the cereal in his bowl has been soaked by the milk, he has to have another layer of dry pieces on top before he will eat anymore.

2. After he has had his bath and has been dried off and gotten his pajamas on, he has to stuff his wet towel back in the linen closet. I try to remember to go back later and get it out to hang it up, but sometimes I forget. He gets mad if he sees me do this.

3. He loves to help me put away the groceries after we come back from the store. However, he only likes to put things in the refrigerator. So later on in the day, when I'm searching high and low for the vegetable soup mix I know I bought, I remember that Noah helped me put everything away. Sure enough, there is the soup in the crisper along with the crackers and the coffee.

4. He's currently in the midst of potty training. When he is sitting on the potty, he has to have all of his clothes off including his shirt and socks. Because of this, he is often either completely naked or only wearing a diaper. It's a good thing that we live in Florida.

5. He gets mad if we go anywhere without his diaper bag. He won't let me leave the house without it even if we're only going to be gone for a few minutes to pick up Emily at school.

6. Every time I lay him down for a nap or at bedtime I have to sing him "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" and he sings along with me. Okay, this isn't really a quirk. It's sweet and I love it.

I'm sure there are more things. I just can't think of them right now.

Child Labor

2009-02-27T14:39:00.000-05:00

A List of Classic Literature

2009-02-24T11:30:00.002-05:00

I saw this list of books floating around on Facebook and thought it was interesting. The directions were to put an x next to the ones you have read, a plus sign next to the ones that you read and really liked and an asterisk next to the ones that you want to read. The BBC estimates that most people will only have read six of these books. This is the list with my answers:

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen x +
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien x +
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte x
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee *
6 The Bible x +
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte x
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens x
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott *
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier x
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien x +
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell x + (my all-time fave)
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald x
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck x
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy (started this one but didn't finish)
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis x
34 Emma - Jane Austen x
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis x
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden x +
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell x
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown x
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez x
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery X +
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen x
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens x +
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez X +
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold x
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Aleandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac *
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett x
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray x
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens x
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White x (reading this right now with Emily)
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom x
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Eupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Aleandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo * ( I really should read this. Seen the Broadway musical twice)

My total : 27

This has inspired me to start reading some of these great classics.

The Hiding Place

2009-02-24T10:39:00.000-05:00

I recently read this book written by Corrie Ten Boom. Corrie and her sister Betsie lived with their father in Nazi occupied Holland during WWII. They were Christians, but were imprisoned and later sent to a concentration camp for aiding and hiding Jews in their house. Their father died shortly after they were put in prison and her sister Betsie died in the concentration camp in Germany. Corrie survived and was miraculously released from the camp.

It took me a long time to finish the book because sometimes I could only read a few pages at a time. Sometimes the words were too painful to read and I would have to put the book down to weep. You can imagine the horrible, unspeakable things that they experienced.

One of the things that struck me as I read this book was that these events happened not very long ago- just over 50 years ago. This was during my grandparents generation. Sometimes it's easy to forget that even today there are many places in the world where there is great injustice and persecution. Maybe it's easy to ignore the fact that there is great evil and wickedness in the world because we live in a peaceful country where we have great freedom. The reality is that we live in a fallen, sinful world full of depravity. Thankfully, we have a Savior who will one day bring swift and complete justice.

I've often wondered how I would respond if I was ever severely persecuted for my faith. I hear stories of people who have undergone extreme persecution who later talk about how those times were some of the sweetest moments they have experienced with Christ. This story was no exception. I've often wondered how this could be. I imagine myself being angry with God and asking all the "Why me?" questions. I think that maybe if God is truly the only thing in your life that you have to hold on to, when you have absolutely nothing else, that he truly becomes the most precious thing to you.

A Day on the River

2009-02-22T16:11:00.019-05:00

Last weekend, our friends the Weiss's invited us to spend the day with them on their boat. We went up the St. John's River to Blue Springs State Park. We had such a great time. The weather was gorgeous and we got to see a lot of wildlife.

This was Noah's first time on a boat other than the Jungle Cruise at Disney.

Emily and Rileigh

Some Florida wildlife

Noah wasn't real happy when the boat went fast but he got used to it by the end of the trip.

Emily driving.

Manatees at Blue Springs State Park

The girls watching the manatees.

Another gator

Somebody missed his nap and had his cranky pants on.

Relaxin' on the boat

Emily driving fast with Walt. She loved that.

Noah after he finally got used to going fast.

My Prayer for Today

2009-02-10T08:01:00.002-05:00

Lord,

Be pleased to live and move within me,
breathing in my prayers,
inhabiting my praises,
speaking in my words,
moving in my actions,
living in my life,
causing me to grow in grace.

(from the Valley of Vision)

A Girl and Her Bear

2009-02-01T10:05:00.003-05:00

This is a picture of Emily when she was five days old with the teddy bear that my brother gave her when she was born. Notice how clean and shiny his fur is.

Here is what "Bear" looks like today. No longer clean and shiny. He has certainly been well loved and is Emily's favorite toy.

When she was one year old, her favorites were Bear, Duckie and Lambie. Then at some point it became all about the bear. Duckie and Lambie are in a toy box in her room with some other stuffed animals and haven't seen the light of day in several years.

She literally used to take him everywhere she went.

He has celebrated every Christmas with her.

And has been on every car trip.

He was with us when we were getting ready to go the hospital to have Noah.

He's just like another member of our family.

Here he is with Papa. Emily must of taken this picture herself.

And in Charlotte with Uncle Mike.

With Aunt Moni.

He's even been on the Mississippi River.

He's been dressed up in all kinds of crazy outfits.

He was with us when Emily had to be hospitalized for a week.

Even Noah likes to play with him.

I'm sure he'll be a part of her life for many years to come.

The Reason for God

2009-01-28T09:03:00.003-05:00

I'm currently reading this fascinating book by Tim Keller that I borrowed from my dad. Keller is the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. He is a renowned pastor in the PCA denomination and in Reformed Theological circles. I heard him speak about ten years ago when he was a guest preacher at our church. I've always remembered the sermon he gave which was on the parable of the two sons ( or the Prodigal son parable). Incidentally, Keller has also written a book entitled "The Prodigal God" which is based on this parable. I intend to read that book sometime soon. I've never forgotten that sermon in which he said that the main point of the parable was not about the prodigal son (as is most commonly thought), but about the older brother and how he represented the Pharisees and their hypocritical attitudes. Anyway, I'm sure I'll have more thoughts about this when I read that book. I also intend to go hear Keller preach again the next time I am in New York.

In "The Reason for God", Keller intelligently responds to many of the doubts that many people have about the Christian faith. One of the arguments he responds to is the idea that "all major religions are equally valid and basically teach the same thing". He says this is ironic because

"...the insistence that doctrines do not matter is really a doctrine itself. It holds a specific view of God, which is touted as superior and more enlightened than the beliefs of most major religions. So the proponents of this view do the very thing they forbid in others."

Ha! I love that.

He also speaks to the argument that religion would become less and less important as the world became more advanced. He argues against this by quoting statistics about how all the major religions are exploding in growth. So, essentially the opposite of this argument is true. What struck me in these statistics was again the numbers of Christians in other parts of the developing world and how they are far outnumbering the Christians in the United States and the western world. For instance, he says that there are more Presbyterians (not Christians in general) in Ghana than in the United States and Scotland combined. Also, there are six times more Anglicans in Nigeria than in the U.S. I have always had the mentality that the majority of Christians in the world were in our country. This is most definitely not the case.

Emily's Tangerine Tree

2009-01-28T07:26:00.001-05:00

One of the joys of living in Florida is being able to have citrus trees in your yard. When Emily was a baby, we planted a tangerine tree for her.

Here is a picture of Emily and the tree in 2003.

Here they are again in December 2008.

Cleaning House

2009-01-26T12:52:00.002-05:00

One of my recent priorities has been to declutter our house. It is ridiculous how much stuff we have accumulated. The kids have tons of toys and their closets (especially Emily's and mine) are jam packed with clothes (many of which are rarely worn). Over the past several weeks, I have been doing some sorting and sold many things at a garage sale a few days ago. It felt so good to get rid of them.

What is it with the materialism that is so rampant within our culture? Why do we feel like we have to have way more stuff than we actually need?

Ready to get LOST

2009-01-20T13:43:00.004-05:00

My favorite show ever has its season premiere tomorrow night and I am beside myself with excitement. It is because of this show that it is now hard for me to watch a mindless sitcom, reality show or soap opera. I just can't do it. Lost is such a well written, brilliant show. One of the things I love about it( besides the great acting and storytelling, beautiful scenery and music) is that it is filled with literary, philosophical and biblical references as well as great themes and symbolism. After each episode, it takes me forever to go to sleep because my mind is spinning with questions. The day after each episode airs I usually read a few blogs of people who are a lot smarter than I am who can pinpoint and explain these references and what they mean. My favorites are Doc Jensen's column at ew.com and Liz Kelly over at the Washington Post. The producers have determined that there will be only be two more seasons of the show and this helps to keep the plot moving quickly toward its finale. I just don't know what I'm going to watch after the show has ended. (sigh)

Happy Birthday Emily

2009-01-20T12:48:00.003-05:00

Our sweet girl celebrated her 6th birthday on the 8th of January. I cannot believe that she is already 6 years old. It seems like just yesterday that we brought her home from the hospital. We celebrated the day of her birthday with a family party at home. Over the weekend, she had a party with her friends at the roller skating rink. What fun!!

Here are some birthday pictures from years past.

3rd birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese

4th birthday

5th birthday with her beloved Ariel at EPCOT