Taking Care of Business

Big Snow

2011-02-02T11:03:00.004-05:00

http://videos.mlive.com/grpress/2011/02/grand_rapids_residents_dig_out.html

http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2011/02/print_editions_free_e-editions.html

http://photos.mlive.com/grandrapidspress/2011/02/groundhog_day_storm_2011_33.html

http://photos.mlive.com/grandrapidspress/2011/02/groundhog_day_storm_2011_35.html

I'm in the news!

More Neighborhood Excitement

2010-03-10T13:40:00.000-05:00

I just saw the cops take a kid DOWN! I was walking back to work from lunch, saw a kid coming out of a backyard gate (thought nothing of it) and then the cops fly in (drifting it around the corner) jump out of the car and grab him as he tries to escape through another backyard. You would think the thieves would leave our hood alone until we stop being so vigilant, wouldn't you?

Ouch!

2010-03-09T04:44:00.002-05:00

Michigan, Michigan. Michigan!

Note especially the color coded map of population change on the right side of the screen. Oh Michigan!

And now a few more! :)

2010-01-14T13:41:00.002-05:00

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2010/01/three_suspects_arrested_for_gr.html

It looks like at least a couple of the theives have been caught...

2010-01-08T14:51:00.002-05:00

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2010/01/grand_rapids_police_ask_reside_1.html

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2010/01/grand_rapids_police_two_high_s.html

Matthew 15:8-9

2010-01-08T09:28:00.000-05:00

⁸"'This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
⁹in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'"

Dust & Dirt

2009-10-28T21:59:00.005-04:00

We are in the middle of some adjustments to our bathroom. Which is creating a lot of dust & dirt upstairs. I am a big fan of the work that is being done. Let me say I have a wonderful husband who has put a ton of work in and now we have a skilled uncle doing the more technical bits. Go to it!

It's really not that much. This goes to show I would never survive a true remodeling project.

I can't stand the idea of a new baby coming home to an upstairs filled with dust. You know the kind of dust that can't just be vacuumed up but requires wiping down the walls. Thankfully only the bathroom will really need the hardcore cleaning. I have made my request clear...if the baby should come before the project is completely done I will want the entire upstairs clean when I come home from the hospital. :) Not too much to ask right?

I have added my own dust to the mix by doing a lot of sewing projects in the last few days. Perhaps I'm getting a little addicted. I'm not very good at reading or sticking to a pattern. Most things I've done I've either copied from a similar item I like or just made it up. I recently bought a diaper cover & bag pattern. The sizes were a little large & I realized the covers didn't have gussets in them. I ended up tracing my favorite infant diaper cover (I only bought one when Alex was that little cause they were so expensive) and then figured out how to attach the gussets. I can't seem to figure out patterns very well. Perhaps that says something about my ability to follow instructions. I only have one thing left on my 'to do' sewing list. Never mind I just remembered a couple of other things, argh. Ok, so the list I wanted to complete is done, the rest can wait til I feel like it.

I project a birthday of Nov 4. We'll see what happens. Until then, enjoy your clean bathroom. Tomorrow I will be drying my feet before I get out of the shower & then putting my slippers on so as not to cake my feet with the thin film of ceiling dust.

Composure

2009-10-07T13:23:00.004-04:00

Alex has been a joy (most of the time) as a toddler because he's talking and doing some pretty hilarious stuff. The hubby & I have had a hard time the last few days keeping our composure. My husband has definitely done a far better job of stifling laughter or hiding his head where as I always seem to let at least 1 little giggle out.

For instance, we are very happy that Alex wants to pray at bedtime. It's very nice to hear him pray. For some reason he thinks he needs to pray at a higher pitch - I think it sounds more endearing to him. But the last few days he has taken it up a couple pitches and it's almost impossible to keep it together. I don't want him to think we're laughing at his prayer, it's just unbelievably high.

He's also very emotional about everything right now. I find it hard not to laugh sometimes when he's crying over the most ridiculous thing. He's wanting to do everything on his own and I can understand that's it's frustrating when things don't work out for him. Take for instance, lunch today. He really enjoys sandwiches, which he calls "meat & cheese", but becomes frustrated when the sandwich falls apart. He used to then open the sandwich up and eat the individual parts but with this greater desire to do it on his own, he instead starts begging me to help him put it back together. Smushing his bread together, like it's playdough and would stay together, he breaks down in tears over his crumpled sandwich. It's just so pathetic it's hard not to laugh. Especially since he's so much like another OCD member of our family (me). I'm trying to help him understand that's it ok and that it's still edible. We may just have to take a break from sandwiches for a while.

So I'm trying to bite my lip to stop the giggling but it hasn't been working so far.

This is for my brother

2009-10-01T15:05:00.003-04:00

I promised you I would post this since I couldn't stop laughing. Here it is.

I saw a short blurb about the Hond@ W@lking @ssist Device in Re@der's Digest at my mom's yesterday and couldn't stop laughing for over 3 minutes. The picture of the guy walking linked here (http://corporate.honda.com/innovation/walk-assist/) was shown. I just couldn't imagine wearing this thing.

Apple Picking

2009-10-01T14:52:00.003-04:00

Thanks to my mother-in-law we have a few photos of Alex's first apple picking last week!
Unfortunately they are backwards in sequence.

Alex and Uncle D. sitting in the giant chair. Alex actually only ate 2 apples that day but stole a lot of bites from his uncle's apples.

Waiting for the tractor to bring us to the Gala apples. Alex talked about the bumpy tractor ride all week.

Alex admiring a few large apples all shined up for him.

We're not dead yet!

2009-09-25T13:28:00.005-04:00

Sorry about the title. I've been meaning to post something for a long long time now but these last 2 months have flown by. My hubby has had a lot to do at work (which we are grateful for) and projects to tackle. Alex has been a handful, just a bit of that 2 yr old look you in the face & do it anyways defiance. I've been gestating, nesting, canning & sewing. So sorry our friends and this blog have not seen much of us as of late.

Alex's vocabulary has exploded in the last 3 weeks. My parents just returned from overseas Monday. My mom took Alex to the store & came back stating "I've been gone for 3 weeks and this boy knows his colors!" Yes it has been amazing. Alex is also being very silly, which is pretty hilarious. When he has pretty little, he made his first joke. He went the door w/ a bag and said "bye" and laughed. Now he laughs and laughs and can actually say the joke he's thinking. He's gonna be a funny one (or at least he will think so).

Brian finished staining & poly-coating the 2nd bookshelf! It looks beautiful and it's so nice to have a matching pair in our living room. Plus we rearranged the living room a little bit to make some more play space. Not as homey but definitely more spacious. We also FINALLY got curtains for our bedroom (there are blinds). It's so dark at night I have to carefully navigate my way to the bathroom 6 times a night! But I'm sleeping better :) Well until the baby decided to start punching my bladder the last few nights.

Tried a new soup recipe last night and it was awesome! So simple too, you should have everything in your house most likely. Finished canning tomatoes last night and all that's left (that I'm planning to do - the tomatoes were a last minute decision) are a whole lot of applesauce! We went apple picking for the first time this year with grandma and one aunt and one uncle. Alex loved it and has been talking about the bumpy tracker ride all week. I was nervous he would try to take a bite out of all the apples, as he usually does at our neighbor's house, but he shared 1 apple with his uncle and was satisfied. He even helped pick apples off the tree where he could reach. I have to say it was a wonderful morning. Hopefully I can get some pictures from Grandma for ya'll.

Well we're nearing the end of this pregnancy. Praise God that all is well. We've had quite a few scares along the way but I've been healthy & active for most of it. She's been in position for a month now and I'm ready to have my body back to myself(well you know...for the most part). I can't wait to have Alex crawl in my lap without sitting on my belly first or not get out of breath ever time I roll over (which happens at least 15times a night) in bed. It will be a big adjust to have 2 and I know Alex will be quite jealous of our attention. He likes to talk to my belly and show 'the baby' books, so I think he'll be a wonderful big brother once he gets used the idea.

The Return of the Squirrel

2009-08-04T08:48:00.005-04:00

I am sharing this story with you because Brian and I just can't help laughing when we imagine it happening.

My parents' archenemy has returned, the squirrel. He's not the same squirrel cause they took care of him last year and this one has proven to not be quite as crafty.

A little history. One day my mom came into the kitchen to find a squirrel sitting on her kitchen counter eating hamburger buns! The squirrel had managed to trespass by chewing a hole in the screen about her kitchen sink. The squirrel quickly exited by the same route when it saw my mother. It may have terrorized the house first - I know one time it did. So this fight between a certain squirrel (part of his tail was missing) and my parents continued for a few years. The last year the had bought the heaviest weight screen you could get and the squirrel managed to destroy it. A plan was made to 'take care' of the squirrel. After consuming an entire box of Decon the culprit was found dead near the yard. And they rejoiced!

A few days ago my father came home to find another squirrel on the kitchen counter eating hamburger buns! Yes he had chewed a hole through the same screen (trust me this was heavy duty stuff by now). Only this squirrel was not so bright and could not figure out how to get out. Somehow my father managed to trap him in the bathroom and finally give him a good hard wallop. The squirrel hissed and hid itself under the kitchen table in the nook. Afraid to go anywhere. Dad had to remove the screen completely and wait for the stupid animal to figure out he could exit via the same window. And he did.

Now my mother has pretty much put metal fencing on her window frame instead of a window screen. We'll have to see if the saga continues and if the burger buns may ever live on unmolested by these ravenous creatures.

Sewing

2009-08-03T18:21:00.002-04:00

Well I've really gotten into sewing the last few weeks. I took a beginners sewing class and lets just say I should probably steer clear of clothes. I seem to do a lot better with diapers or other projects I can visualize. I'm gonna try my hand at making some cloth diaper covers and fitted cloth diapers for the little one coming.

Had a little fall the other day and thought of LL. Fell on my back though and nothing happened - except some whining due to my sore body.

Alex is talking non-stop these last 2 weeks. I would probably do anything to hear him say horsey cause it's soooo cute! He's learning to use his emotions to try to get his way or when he's even a teeny weeny bit upset. We're trying to teach him to listen & then respond (as much as his attention can handle) since most of the drama is unwarranted. I don't think he understands the concept 'then we'll..' or waiting for longer than a millisecond.

I'm afraid of when winter hits what this poor little boy will do 'cause he is in LOVE with the great outdoors. Yes I was outside as much as possible last year but with the baby I don't know that I'll be spending hours in the snow - hmmm. Some tips on that perhaps?

Well just thought I'd update yall a little.

Forced to Eat Paper

2009-07-12T14:19:00.002-04:00

It was one of those days when you feel like you have too many things to do and are always having to return to the house for something you forgot...making you even later than you were to begin with.

Well those days never work out well for me because you know you can't rush a 2 yr old. It only makes it worse. I at least had realized this ahead of time and instead of rushing, remained calm and encouraged Alex along. I was feeling pretty good, I was on track for the doctors appointment after the milk pick-up and the farmer's market. Then I realized I never took my glucose drink! So I dropped Alex off at grandma's, ran back to the house to grab the instructions & the drink. Instructions: No food for at least an hour before you take the drink and none till after your appointment. Drink 40minutes before your appointment. Complete within 5min. I had 10min. I downed the drink in 1 minute and drove off.

Now it's hard enough for most pregnant women to drink this syrupy high-sugar stuff. Hard enough that my nurse had strongly recommended that I refrigerate it and use a straw. I thought for some reason I down it luke warm in 1 minute (after non having eaten for 3 hours) and keep it down! Then I ran to the house & back to check if it was locked. As I drove to the doctors my stomach began to register what I had just forced upon it and was threatening to rebel. I realized I wasn't supposed to eat anything after I drank this stuff and that I didn't have so much as have a cracker with me to keep it down.

Then I remembered, my brother-in-law used to eat paper! What harm could it be. It's not technically food and one little piece would probably do the trick. As I drove chewing on a corner of my instructions sheet I realized I had reached a new low. All so I could avoid driving to the doctors another day to get my blood drawn.

It's a girl, or so they say.

2009-06-19T13:12:00.004-04:00

We had the ultrasound done last week and found out we are having a little girl! When they say it's a girl I have some doubts in the back of my mind since they can sometimes really be sneaky boys. Anyways, right after we got home from our appointment, my (Sarah) mom and I went shopping. We hit a great garage sale around the corner and loaded up on cute baby girls clothes. I got a stroller from another garage sale yesterday and a couple months ago got a bassinet from a garage sale. Can you tell I like garage sales? Who doesn't, they are marvelous! We're due on Halloween (boo).

We are pretty excited to be having a girl. I had visions of her and Alex playing in the mud looking for frogs in about 5 years :)

Summer seems to be flying by. We have had 5 weddings and a slew of baby showers already. Brian has been asked to use his photography skills to help in 3 weddings - 2 he was actually the main photographer. He's done a great job but I think he prefers to just take photos at his leisure. He's also been asked to display 3 photos in a cafe/ice cream shop in town. I guess they have an arrangement with the local flickr group to display people's photos.

My neighbor and I put in a very very small garden this year. We don't really know what we're doing but we thought we'd try. I also cleared a spot last weekend and Brian helped plant some raspberry plants, thanks to Gma and Gpa. So hopefully we'll have a plan for next Spring of simplifying our garden and have a real vegetable garden in come May '10. I just try to remind myself, that it's ok if I don't turn out to be good gardener. As my dairy farm owner says, if you can't farm support your farmer.

I did that today as I made my first trip to the farmer's market. I was a little disappointed but I know it's early and I think Saturday is a much bigger day. As much as I loved the Holland FM last year I'm not driving all that way again this year!

I'm also enjoying hanging the clothes on the line. Don't ask me why but I just love it. The humidity I could stand without while hanging clothes & being pregnant but I don't control the weather.

Well enough of my ramblings. I thought I'd give a little update.

Shopping Zombie

2009-05-19T13:38:00.006-04:00

So I (Sarah) was being quite indecisive and picky about which grocery store I was going to last night. See I was going grocery shopping alone :) after Alex was in bed (mistake #1). I had this sudden desire to go to a different grocery store since ours sometimes isn't stocked very well and is rather old looking. I usually love it but was in the mood for something new (mistake #2). So Brian did a search and listed off my options as I argued with myself over each one.

I finally decided to go to a grocery store that was farther away and the layout totally new to me...at 9pm at night! I proceeded to shop in Zombie mode. When I arrived the deli was just closing so I couldn't stop there and I was totally perplexed by the meat layout. Not only that but my cart kept shocking my hands! I've never had a cart shock me before. This happened throughout the entire store. I also had something poking my foot that I could not remove. (I found a sliver when I got home).
If you ran into a lady who looked like she had no clue where she was going, no one was 'at home' and was tired that was me. It took me twice as long to shop for half the amount of stuff I usually get! I never did find the ice cream toppings, oh well.

When I got home (2hrs later) I told Brian to never allow me to do that again. "Why, you won't listen to me next time either" was his response.
I said, all you have to say is "remember the time you went to store at ****" and it will all be very clear to me.

Confession

2009-04-15T20:12:00.016-04:00

Confession; it's not a popular concept, and it's definitely not a popular practice. When I hear the word my typical reaction is to get all tense and defensive and start scrambling for excuses and justifications. Over the last decade though, I've learned a lot about confession; I've confessed to God, to my friends and mentors, to my wife, to my son, to my employer; I've listened to the confessions of my friends, mentors and wife; and I've tried to understand confession in the context of God's word.

The Bible has a lot to say about confession. A couple different kinds are addressed; the confession of Jesus as the Christ and the son of God, and the confession of our sins to God and to one another. Just to make it clear, I'm writing about the confession of our sins here.

I think the first idea I needed to understand was that our sin hinders our relationship with God. In Isaiah 59 the prophet writes:

Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

And the apostle Peter tells us:

Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect ... , so that nothing will hinder your prayers.

These passages show us one of the fundamental truths of our relationship with God. Our sin separates us from him and deserves his judgment. This is where confession comes in. A writer in Proverbs tells us:

He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

This seems to be the heart of confession throughout scripture. Our sin is not meant to be hidden, not from God, and not from our brothers or sisters. Mercy, forgiveness, healing and restoration are found through admission of guilt. In Psalm 32, David writes passionately about the anguish he experienced while concealing his sin and the transformation that occurred when he revealed it:

Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Selah

Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD "— and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah

Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him. You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you. Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him. Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!

I think we can learn a few different things from what David tells us in this psalm.

The first is that complete forgiveness requires cooperation from both the offended and the offender. How can you accept forgiveness if you have not first acknowledged your need to be forgiven?

The second is that trust and confession are inseparable. When we confess our sins we make ourselves vulnerable, and unless there is a relationship of trust between the sinner and the confessor, a confession cannot be made willingly. David urges us to trust in the Lord and tells us that the result will be immersion in his unfailing love. God's response to our sin is judgment, but his response to our confession of that sin is forgiveness, protection and security in his love. Because of this we know we can trust God with our sin. A passage from Proverbs reiterates this:

He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe.

Finally, the whole psalm is a plea from David to us: Don't try to hide your sin from God, hide yourself in him. Don't resist God's discipline, confess your sin and enter his blessing.

In John's first letter he tells us:

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

Strong words. I think there is a tendency within our Christian culture to leave confession behind at conversion. We in insist that new believers acknowledge themselves as sinners and Jesus as Christ and Lord, but then what? I've seen broken people trying to portray themselves as whole, a lot of people who once trusted Christ with their sins trying to deal with them on their own.

Jesus took care of our sins past, present and future once and for all, we are forever forgiven. But we must continue to accept that forgiveness through confession and repentance. God is light, and the sins of those in a relationship with him are exposed by that light. The only way to keep our sins hidden is to remove ourselves from the light and break the relationship.

In another intriguing passage that touches on confession, James writes:

Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

There's a lot in there. Trouble, happiness, sickness, sin, prayer. I'm interested in the sin part here. If I'm interpreting the text correctly this passage tells us that we should confess our sins to each other and pray for each other so that we will be healed because our sins have been forgiven.

There are a couple different contexts in which we need to confess our sins to each other.The first context is the confession and repentance of a sinner to the one he has sinned against. This context also includes our confession to God, since all sin is against him. The second context is the confession of a sinner to others who have not been hurt by the sin.

In the first context the purpose of confession and repentance is the restoration or healing of the relationship. With God this is purpose is always realized, but when we confess an offense and repent of it to the one we've offended, sometimes we're met with rejection instead of forgiveness. In this case God will still protect us and surround us with his love even though our vulnerability with the other person has been turned down or even used to wound us.

In the second context the purpose of confession is our own healing. We need the accountability and prayer of others as we pursue holiness. Our sin can be deeply entrenched in our lives and the healing can be painful. The intervention of our brothers or sisters in the process is crucial.

In my own life and in the lives of my friends I've seen the results of hiding sin . David's words about wasting away and sapped strength come to life. We are crippled by our secrets, and Satan gains a foothold. Sin is most powerful when it is concealed.

If we don't step into the light on our own God will eventually expose us. Our sin will find us out. Depending on the sin revealed the consequences can be anything from embarrassment to divorce, from temporary rejection to a permanently scarred relationship. It hurts to be sinned against, but it hurts so much worse to find out that you have been sinned against and deceived.

It is always better to confess and repent now than to deceive ourselves and others and be found out later. Confession and repentance are painful, but we cannot take care of our sin by ourselves.

I've also seen the results of confession and repentance. The power of some of the sin in my life has been broken by opening it up to the ears and prayers of my brothers or my wife. The record of my sins is an open book to God, my wife and several of my brothers. I have no secrets that are mine alone, I am free. Confession and forgiveness have breathed intimacy and depth into my relationship with my wife that would never have been possible had I concealed my sin. There's no question that our relationship has been damaged by that sin, but confession starts a healing process that would otherwise never happen.

In conclusion, we sin. If I understand the gospel correctly then I know we will until the day we die. We will sin against God, against our wives, against our children, and against a lot of other people too. That's a problem, but trying to deal with that sin on our own by keeping it secret is the furthest thing from the solution. God's solution is confession and repentance; to him, to those we've sinned against, and to those who will hold us accountable in our pursuit of holiness.

Teaching

2009-04-13T17:20:00.003-04:00

I recently read that Jesus' purpose in teaching was to change the lives of those who were listening to him. No, really? It seems pretty obvious, right?

Maybe not.

Let me toss in a generalization. Our modern culture is infatuated with knowledge. Think about the news. We have news about everything. We value being informed about things that will never have an impact on our lives.

We learn facts in school that we will never use. The pat response to any complaints is that "You are being taught how to learn."

We have a game called Trivial Pursuit.

I'm not arguing for ignorance, and obviously a lot of knowledge that we don't use explicitly is used to form a framework for how we understand the world we live in. My point is that to a large extent we've disconnected knowledge from response.

For example, we can have disposable income, know of an urgent financial need that we could meet, and proceed to spend the money on ourselves without recognizing any kind of serious incongruity. Maybe it's the way we've been trained.

I know that I often approach my time in God's word and sermons on Sunday with a kind of detached attitude. I'm interested, but I'm not necessarily looking for a deeper understanding of God's Kingdom that will change the way I live. I think I'm usually looking for a few more facts, a couple more concepts or connections that I can tuck under my belt. They help me build a spiritual framework through which I should be seeing all the time but which I far too seldom apply to my life. I don't really want my cage rattled when Jesus turns my world upside down with his teaching.

But Jesus didn't come to puff us up with knowledge, he came to open up the Kingdom and explain how it works. I think I want to let myself be rattled to the core. I guess this is what Paul was talking about when he wrote:

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

Jesus knew it would be painful for me to go through this lifelong transformation, but I think the last thing he wanted was to throw open the gates of the Kingdom so I could stand there at the threshold with a pair of binoculars and a notebook. So Jesus, please take my hand and lead me in.

Recent trends

2009-03-22T18:57:00.005-04:00

As some of you may know, Alex chooses to speak in Alexeese and a bit of English. He has decided that English is not for him and therefore has forced his mother (me) to become bilingual. Of course this language would not be marketable on my resume or serve anyone else but there it is. One English word he likes is 'poop'. He recently has chosen to describe any food that looks suspicious as 'poop'. What he really means is yucky but thinks poop is a lot funnier. Recently we served Alex some chicken enchiladas which he quickly announced was poop! We tried to show him that it was good but he refused to take a bite until daddy put ketchup on it! Alex loves sauce and thanks to daddy just a little bit of special sauce led to Alex devouring his dinner.

Alex has taken to hording. Now I know for a fact he gets this from my side, traced back to my maternal grandmother. He hordes blankets, toys and anything else he finds interesting. He is attempting to be like his cousin Clara by hording as many items as he can in hopes of taking them to bed. Thankfully I put a stop to this early on. Although he has been successful at hording blankets. He usually has 5 blankets in his bed, although he never sleeps with a blanket over his body. He's unusually protective of blankets as well. Uncle Danny and I set-up a fort for Alex this week. I was expecting him to be excited (as you'll see why in the next section) but he was very concerned about the fact that 'his' blankets were all being used in this fashion. So he tore down the blankets and dragged them underneath his slide.

Alex has taken to hiding. He loves to hid underneath and inside furniture. He will spend a minimum of 10 minutes a day hiding somewhere. One favorite spot is on his rug underneath his crib with what else but a blanket and a book. His other common hiding place is inside the bench. It sits in our sunroom/mudroom and has sliding doors for the space underneath. He slides a door back, crawls in and lays down on some coats for a while. Usually talking on his cell phone. The first time I heard him inside there I was afraid he was stuck, but he can open the doors just fine from the inside as well. It's his favorite spot to call daddy from I guess or do some other business.

These are a just a few of the things he has recently done that I find rather humorous. Not to mention that it's nice to have a 10 minute break every once in a while while he goes and hides. I promise I check on him every few minutes but he usually refuses to come out.

California Vacation: Saturday Morning

2009-03-19T10:39:00.006-04:00

I woke up earlier than anyone else on Saturday morning and wandered downstairs. The backyard was already bathed in sunlight so I brought my Bible and prayer journal out there and was able to spend a very peaceful half hour reading and praying.

After that the kids woke up and the wondrous chaos of double family life ensued.

Here's Alex, still trying to wake up.

In the morning Hannah was gone for a while teaching, so Sarah and Jeremy and I took the kids down to the campus center again to visit the farmers market and to play amongst the trees and frolic in the grass.

On a side note, Alex has become obsessed with doors recently. He either desperately wants to open them if they're closed or he feels like he has to close them, especially if we'd like to leave them open. Here he is trying to open some office doors near the campus center.

Watching the kids play reminded me of Alex's uncle Tom's childhood ways. As a toddler Tom used to like nothing better than the attention of a young lady. When we used to camp together as family he would go missing sometimes on his tricycle, but we always knew we could find him at the site with a teenage girl. There weren't any teenagers at the play area but Alex was pretty happy playing with all the little girls, and some of them who were a few years older than him seemed to think he was the cutest thing ever. He really didn't have much of a choice on whether to play with girls or boys I guess, since the ratio was about 10 to 1.

As we were playing uncle Tom himself was beginning his drive from Phoenix, Arizona to see us.

California Vacation: Friday

2009-03-16T09:48:00.017-04:00

Friday morning we got up at 4:40 AM Chicago time so we could catch our 7 AM flight to LAX. We caught the flight handily and even got to see the Grand Canyon in the morning light along the way:

At this point you may be wondering why we were going to California. I'll tell you. We were going to California to visit Sarah's sister Hannah and her husband Jeremy and their two daughters Clara and Ruthie. We had tens of thousands of frequent flier miles left over from Australia, and Alex was just about 2 years old so he wouldn't be able to qualify as a "lap child" much longer, so we decided to ditch the ice and snow for a few days and hang out with some well loved family.

So as it often happens at the end of our flight we were there! California! Sun! Warmth!

It was wonderful.

Hannah and Ruthie picked us up and we rolled on back to their house across the street from the campus of the University of California Irvine, where Jeremy is a professor of Philosophy of Mathematics and Logic. Here are a few tastes of our arrival:

The kids warmed right up to each other - Alex and Ruthie are almost two and Clara is four. I think it's been about a year since they've seen each other.

After the kids woke up from their post lunch naps we took a walk down to the university campus center where we got some frozen yogurt and watched the kids play in the park area.

Sarah does not mess around when it comes to Alex trying to jump into fountains:

That evening we had a nice dinner at home, played with the kids outside, and went to bed early.

California Vacation: Thursday

2009-03-16T09:30:00.003-04:00

We were supposed to fly out of Grand Rapids at about 7:40 PM on Thursday night. We were supposed to connect in Chicago and take the last flight of the day to LAX. It may come as a shocking surprise to you, but that didn't happen.

Our flight out of Grand Rapids taxied into take off position about a half hour behind schedule and waited for the good word from Chicago to take off (Chicago was holding us off due to rain and strong winds). We ended up waiting on the runway for what seemed, especially to Alex, like forever, but was probably more like an hour.

It really wasn't too bad, especially since Alex had a grand old time cavorting around the mostly empty rear portion of the plane and making friends with the flight attendant and several passengers. He did have one near disaster when his feet slipped off the armrest he was climbing on and he found himself diving head first toward the floor while his mother and the flight attendant watched in horror. I saw it happening in slow motion and my body was taken over by a kind of papa superpower as my arms neatly inserted themselves under his freefalling body with the speed of lightning, swooped him up softly as his hair brushed the floor, and flipped him back up to the safety generally reserved only for those standing upright on solid ground.

Eventually we did take off. This gave us a chance to think with great concern about our connecting flight in Chicago, but we were reassured by the flight crew that all the flights out of Chicago were also delayed, and that we would be fine.

When we got to O'Hare Sarah threw Alex in the carry pack, front style, and we rushed to the nearest flight monitor. It showed that our flight to LAX was currently boarding. So we ran 0.4 miles (at the least, I just measured it on Google Earth) with all our luggage from our arrival gate in Terminal G to our departure gate in Terminal H. When we arrived the gate was closed, the flight was gone, and we were very, very sweaty and very, very disappointed.

We ended up staying the night in a Holiday Inn Express at the "distressed passenger" rate. Our stay lasted about 6 hours since we caught the first flight out to LAX in the morning. Alex and Sarah were able to sleep pretty well but I ended up tossing and turning the night away.

Overall we figured it really didn't work out too badly (except for the whole lack of sleep thing). Had our flights all gone as planned we would have been getting into LAX at 11 PM California time, with an hour car ride to Jeremy and Hannah's place in Irvine where we would have hit the sack immediately. As it ended up we got into LAX at 9:30 AM California time on Friday and were able to spend an hour in the car soaking in the sun and scenery on the way down to Irvine.

We're Back!

2009-03-12T14:06:00.004-04:00

Brian, Alex & I flew to California last Thursday night and arrived Friday morning. Let's just say we ran a long ways (with Alex strapped to me) to miss our connection & then sleep 4 hours in a hotel. But everything went smoothly otherwise.

Best vacation in a long time! It was so good to see my sister and her family. Alex slept like a champ and followed the girls' schedule so it made life a breeze. The weather was beautiful, we ate lots of frozen yogurt and as usual Hannah cooked up some delicious food. We got to see the rich & surgically enhanced, God's beautiful beaches and collect a few rolly pollies for Alex's bug box. We spent every day outside enjoying the sun. Alex wouldn't even eat breakfast until after he got to enjoy the backyard. Hannah's house is beautiful and it is always wonderful to go somewhere where you don't have to pack much because they already have it all! Go Heis's!

Tom drove to over to see us on Saturday. It was so great to see him & Alex went to him right away. He even said I love you to Tom as he left! That is the only time he's ever said it. :)

Well I'm sure Brian will post lots of pictures on his flickr account and some here. Thanks to the Heis's for such a wonderful time, we wish you lived closer so we could crash your place more often.

Happy Birthday Laura

2009-02-13T14:45:00.003-05:00

There's lots going through my head today about you. I wish you were and we could celebrate your birthday. Every year we are the same age for just 1 month and then I become the eldest. Every year Mark beats me by 3 weeks and has to remind us who is older. I saw your mother today and we agreed that we'd do anything to have you here with us. You'd probably be married with a little one running around. I like to think that you are blessed to have our little one with you in heaven. I miss you lots and love you so much. Happy birthday beautiful girl.

Too cute to be good

2009-01-31T17:36:00.010-05:00

Alex has been interested in the potty for the last couple months and I am more than happy to encourage this interest. A couple days ago he sat on his potty and announced to me the various adventures he was having with the potty while I was cooking dinner (there is a half bath just off the kitchen). Alex knows that he is not allowed to be in the bathroom alone with the door shut so he quite often makes a game of closing and opening the door just to see what I will do. I thought today was one of those days and was quite easily distracted with making dinner, so Alex would close the door and then I would go open the door and he would close the door... you see how this was progressing. I was finally at a pause in the cooking so I dragged Alex out of the bathroom and thought it rather cute that he had stuffed a few Kleenex in his potty (he's also big on having to wipe every time he's near the potty).

When Brian came home I asked him to look in the bathroom at what Alex had done. Brian was not impressed. I did not understand why, until he pointed out the big chunk of wall paper missing! I then realized that Alex was being way too cute at the time to not have been involved in mischief.

I avoided mischief today. I relented and finally let Alex 'help' mommy wash the dishes. I made sure all things sharp were washed and put out of reach before I put him beside me. I was quite impressed with his minimal splashing. He loves bubbles in the bathtub so of course bubbles in the sink kept him fascinated well into dinner time without a fuss. Perhaps this will need to become a regular occurrence. :)

Anymore snow?

2009-01-13T14:38:00.003-05:00

We are getting a little tired of winter already. It's hard to believe after all our initial excitement and hard work at staying on top of the shoveling. But it has happened, we are ready for summer. I just came in from shoveling and chipping at the hard packed snow with one of those short handled sharp shovels (often used for digging holes). I am a little tuckered out. It was the chipping that did me in.

Alex, on the other hand, is not. He loves to go sledding and throw snowballs for hours. He will occasionally lie down for snow angels (he has a fear of laying on his back). Brian made him his own sledding hill in the front yard this past weekend. The neighbor girls broke it in for us.

I can picture Australia and it's warmth right now, I don't even have to close my eyes. So please, Lord, don't let it snow into April this year.

Footprints

2008-12-16T13:44:00.007-05:00

I will try to make this quick since I should really be making our Christmas cards and Alex is bouncing in his crib (supposed to be napping).

We threw a low-key Christmas party Sunday night. We had around 18 couples/families. It was a ton of fun. The kids were running everywhere. We had a paper snowflake contest :) I was originally thinking gingerbread houses (I was going to make the gingerbread) but realized probably no one but me would think that was cool.

Brian's brother came home from Kuwait/Iraq on Friday and it has been wonderful to see him. Alex took a little bit to warm up but seems to enjoy playing with his uncle now.

Alex has been wanting to use the potty on and off for about a month now. Last weekend I tried to rush him to the potty after he had already started. He finished and we did the clapping, etc. Changed his diaper, put his pants & socks back on. I went back to looking at something online and he ran around for 20 minutes...until I noticed a strong poop smell. I looked down and there is Alex, feet up in the air, with poop all over his socks. I took a closer look and there is poop smashed on the bottom of his pant leg. I removed his pants a piece fell out. How did this happen I wonder?! I looked around only to realize there are little poop footprints all over the carpet. So I threw him in the tub and washed him off. Rinsed his clothes. Put new everything on. Then got him comfy in the basement with his only video - The Jungle Book - and spent the next 20 minutes searching the first floor for the remains. I probably cleaned 20 spots on the carpet, mopped the kitchen floor and cleaned the dining room floor by the time it was all done. I guess it was his way of motivating me to get the floors cleaned a little earlier than planned before the Christmas party. It also reminded me that once he's started there's no 'finishing' on the potty.

What the Kingdom of God Will Be Like...

2008-12-10T09:33:00.001-05:00

What the Kingdom of God Will Be Like...
Originally uploaded by FreakyNami

A friend of mine in Australia took this photo after noticing the irony of the situation. The sign advertising this church's likeness to the Kingdom of God is surrounded by luxury sport utility vehicles. So that's what it's all about, huh?

Weekend in Traverse City

2008-11-19T20:45:00.003-05:00

Sarah and I had a really nice weekend in Traverse City together. Just the two of us.

Here's the view from our hotel room.

Here I am baring my teeth.

Mrs. Coop.

Droplets on a leaf. Kind of obvious. Sorry.

One of the renowned lakes in the Sand Lakes Quiet Area in stormy weather. I was standing on a bouncy bog when I took this. It was fun.

A path to the end of Old Mission Peninsula.

The light house on Old Mission Peninsula.

So yeah, spending one on one time with your wife is a beautiful thing.

Fall

2008-11-09T20:55:00.002-05:00

So Summer and Winter got together this year and just kind of decided to skip Fall. It was approximately 75 degrees outside like three days ago and now there's an inch of snow on the ground. Good times. So here's a few photos taken during the niceness a few days ago. Another post will hopefully go up soon detailing the adventures of Sarah and I up in Traverse City over this weekend. We had a nice getaway. Remember, you can always view the photos larger by clicking on them.

Alex looks up to our neighbor kid big time. Wants to be just like him. With those cowboy boots I really can't see why not.

Sometimes we catch Alex looking like a clone of my brother Tom. It's pretty incredible.

As toddlers are wont to do, Alex is always in search of the next adventure.

What can I say? God made a nice baby.

We're reaping the rewards of labors of the previous owners of our house. The trees are beautiful.

Alex's Antics

2008-11-05T17:10:00.001-05:00

Alex is a new dog, and he's learning all the old tricks.

Squishy face is a recent favorite. He generally prefers to dispense the squish on mommy or daddy's face, but his own will do in a pinch.

Peekaboo is another staple. He just can't get enough.

And of course there's nothing so thrilling as stepping into daddy's shoes and clomping around the place just like daddy does.

Halloween

2008-11-05T17:08:00.003-05:00

Here is Alex in his Dragon Halloween costume, provided generously by his Grandma Johnston. He didn't like it at first, but eventually warmed to its insulated comfort and fearsome appearance. He enjoyed shouting at the trick or treaters, daring them to brave the fire of his breath.

Here is the daddy pumpkin.

And here is the baby pumpkin.

And here they are together chilling in the in the dark.

This little guy is our neighbor, he's about six months younger than Alex.

These two are brother and sister to the little guy above. We ate a terrifying dinner of mummy dogs, eyeballs, rotted filth and coagulated nast at their house (it's a Halloween tradition).

Potluck and Hayride

2008-11-05T17:01:00.002-05:00

With only 15 years to go, Alex is already revving up his desire to possess a driver's license.

Sarah and Alex are the cutest.

Fall colors from the hay wagon.

Our friend Jayden.

Sarah, Alex and friends thoroughly enjoy the blistering wind and itchy hay.

A pa pa (a pumpkin)!

2008-11-03T13:27:00.010-05:00

Fall is my (Sarah) favorite season. We've been enjoying the hayrides, pumpkins and the yummy food. Alex is an outdoors man - he is a boy after all. I have braved the cold days and bundled us up so that we can throw leaves, ride our truck super fast and visit the neighborhood dogs. I brave the cold so that when winter really hits I won't be such a wimp.

For Halloween I bought a small pumpkin for Alex and a big pumpkin for us. Brian did a wonderful job carving them in under 20 minutes since we were rushing to a 'spooky' dinner with our neighbors. Alex was a dragon (thanks to grandma) this year and took pride in yelling at the tricker-treaters if they dared come his way.

His favorite activites at the moment are, of course, taking the tops on & off the pumpkins and going on a good bug hunt. Now that we've freed the spider we held captive in a canning jar he goes outside in search of bugs under rocks and leaves. He can spend over 15 minutes poking things and shouting "bee!" even if he hasn't really found a bug.

I'll try to get Brian to get some pictures up soon but he's a busy man so I don't promise anything today.

I Know Why You're Here

2008-10-13T15:35:00.000-04:00

Is it just me...

2008-10-13T15:26:00.003-04:00

...or does the the passage of time accelerate at an alarming rate?

I mean come on - how much faster can it go?

Canning/Freezing

2008-10-09T00:41:00.003-04:00

Well I'm finally done! But did it really have to end this way? I have canned over 5 bushels of fruit, frozen 1/2 bushel of beans, 1 flat of strawberries (as jam or berries) and 6lbs of blueberries. I think that's pretty good for my first summer doing any of it. Everything has gone well until my last night, argh. Not one broken jar or bad seal but tonight we had 3 strikes. 1 broken jar, 1 just blew the top off and 2 possible non sealers since they're oozing applesauce as we speak.

I guess I better not complain but if only I had saved the best for last, right? Well I did because my wonderful husband is letting me go away for the weekend with 2 long-time friends in Chicago! Woo hoo! I hope to cook, eat cheesecake, & get lots of sleep. I doubt it since I can't sleep even when I get the chance. So...

Here's to my wonderful husband and prayers that Alex co-operates this weekend. I love you lots. I promise to scrub every crevice of the kitchen when I get back.

Exciting Times

2008-10-08T14:17:00.002-04:00

I entered a few photos into a contest at Wired.com a while back and then forgot about it. I noticed the contest url in the drop down list today while typing in the address for another site and figured I'd check it out and see if I had any winners. For the reader's choice category I had nothing, but in the "Top 10 Wired.com Fall Photos, Decided by Us" category the photo department chose two of my entries, which can be seen here and here.

Time Stands Still

2008-10-06T12:00:00.004-04:00

Summer is over, but here are few shots to take you back to the heat of it all.

The busyness of the summer season has wound down a little bit, but I think we're still feeling pretty weary. We've continued to grieve the loss of our baby, and the whole emotional, spiritual and physical aspects of the process are leaving us really drained and feeling like we have no passion left for life outside ourselves. I never realized how long and painful healing would be.

Thank God for Alex - at least he never stops making us laugh. I never realized how deep of a source of joy a child could be until we had our own.

The Photos from Family Camp are Finally Finished

2008-09-29T21:48:00.003-04:00

If you're interested, please take a look at the photos I took at Upper Peninsula Bible Camp this year. I'm finally finished processing all of them, and now I can move on to some fantastic ones of Alex dancing around in the sprinkler. Stay tuned.

Miscarriage

2008-09-10T08:56:00.004-04:00

A couple months ago Sarah and I found out that she was pregnant with our second child. We had been trying for a few months and were really excited. We told some family and a few friends but decided to try to keep it mostly under wraps for a couple more months.

Over the next several weeks, due to some medical test results and other signs, the conclusion was reached that we were most likely losing or going to lose the baby. We started to grieve, we named the child, and we sought comfort. But we still had an appointment at 7 weeks to check for a heartbeat. On the ride to the doctor's office we talked about what we would do if the baby beat the odds. We tried not to get excited, to push down the hope we thought would only disappoint us. As the technician started the ultrasound I didn't want to look at the screen. Then she said "There's the heartbeat, see?" My heart leaped and I looked over at Sarah, who was trying to hold back her response. The last month turned upside down, and I felt ecstatic as the technician printed an ultrasound capture showing our tiny little baby in the yolk sac. After the talking to the doctor we set up another appointment for the next month. On the way home we thanked God and called the people we had told about the possible miscarriage to let them know that the baby was all right.

Sarah went to the next appointment, which was about two weeks ago on a Thursday, by herself. We knew that the pregnancy was still high risk, but things didn't seem to have changed too much from the last appointment. There were still some signs that could have been bad but are also common for healthy pregnancies, and Sarah still had morning sickness.

After the appointment Sarah called me and told me that we had lost our baby.

In some ways we're at peace. We know the child is with his true Father. We know that we're not alone. Three young couples that we know have lost babies to miscarriages within the last year, and uncles and aunts and friends have let us know that they've been here too. It's been hard but we're grateful for the hope that we have in Christ. Pray that God would bless us with time to talk and to mourn together.

Sick

2008-09-09T16:31:00.002-04:00

I hate to complain, but I lived for a year and half in Australia and did not get sick once. Even my seasonal allergies were minimal. But now that we're back in Michigan it feels like I'm catching every single thing decides to make the rounds. Is my immune system protesting or something?

UPBC

2008-08-20T15:48:00.004-04:00

Upper Peninsula Bible Camp. Of course there are words to describe it, but for me it is always difficult to convey the depth of my feelings.

Lets start with the drive to camp. The anticipation begins the second I climb into the car in our driveway in Grand Rapids. It waxes as the mile markers disappear behind us, and hits a peak as the Mackinac Bridge slips into view while we slide up 75. The metal grating is the only way to cross - windows open, heads hanging out and hearts surging with adrenaline as the water flys by 200 feet below. The rolling beauty of the varied forests along the highways, the untamed reaches of nature's grasp. The Seney Stretch: more than 20 miles of perfectly straight and nearly perfectly level two lane highway; the crazy 180 degree turn from 28 onto 94, at the bottom of the huge hill; the violence inherent in the crossing of Slapneck Road and Slapneck Creek. The crosses Bill and I made as a memorial for Matt and Mylissa at the intersection where they died; poignant reminders.

Then, oh glory of glories, Bible Camp Drive! The glimpses of the buildings through the trees, and finally we're there.

As I step out of the car the smells overwhelm me: evergreens and cold nights, stargazing and the northern lights, good food and warm hugs. My head spins with memories: the tower, the crack of 22s, the raft, conversations on Randy's dock, fights, wrestling matches, backrubs, friendships, the wind in the pines fading to silence, ripped shorts from the rope swing platform, T-111 and Jilberts. I don't think it would be possible to overstate the depth to which camp and the relationships I formed there have influenced who I am and who I want to be. It was at camp that I first understood what God did for me. It was at camp that I came to know true intimacy, trust, service and love. I was at camp that I really began to know and love the woman who is now my wife.

It was near camp that I watched as an empty logging truck hit my friend's car at 55 mph as he and Matt and Mylissa crossed an intersection. It was with tears in my eyes and desperate prayers on my lips that I shattered his window, held him tight and told him it would be all right. It was with denial and desperate sobbing prayers that I looked at Matt and My's bodies hoping for a sign of life. It was with devastation that the truth sank in. It was with gut-wrenching pain and loss that my friends' arms surrounded me and our tears mixed in the dirt. It was with blood on my hands, face, shirt that I returned to camp.

It was through the pain, grief, hope, truth and hard work that followed that my deepest and most enduring friendships were formed. I will never forget that summer.

I love camp because God used it as a tool to shape and unite the hearts of me and my friends. Camp is where I have seen the body of Christ most fully realized.

Since July

2008-08-20T13:11:00.002-04:00

We've had a few things going on lately.

I'll try to get some posts and photos up.

So...check back here soon and check out Flickr for the photos (they're usually up there before they're up here).

Godwin and Jeni's Wedding

2008-07-29T09:18:00.002-04:00

Last Friday Sarah and I left little Lex behind with the 'rents and headed off to East Lansing for my friend Godwin's wedding. I met Godwin when I started at the University of Michigan. We were both new arrivals at Phi Alpha Kappa (the Dutch House), and I think I may have been somewhat influential in convincing him to become a pledge instead of just being a boarder. I quickly came to love Godwin as a dear friend and brother, and his love for life and lack of inhibitions always spurred me on to greater depths of outlandish behavior. His love for Christ coupled with his thorough thoughtfulness inspired me and left me wanting deeper things for my own friendship with God.

It was with intense joy that I reunited with Godwin after my return to the United States from Australia. Sarah and I had the privalege of meeting him and his lovely fiancee Jeni at the flapjack place in East Lansing. Their joy was a joy to behold.

More recently I met with Godwin in Grand Rapids to discuss the mysteries which soon be made known to him. Good times.

I was able to meet Godwin again at the flapjack place for lunch before the wedding along with several of his groomsmen. With barely constrained excitement and just less than embarrassing volume we shared the kind of advice that makes you turn red and feel very warm all over. Oh Godwin! The joy and the sorrow, the pain and the happiness which are yours will be deepened twofold now. It is good.

The wedding was beautiful, the bride and groom stunning, and the guests fascinating. All who wish can view the photographs I captured here. More are coming soon that are not there yet. Here is a small sample of the day:

More Cute Pictures of the Nieces

2008-07-21T22:17:00.001-04:00

We miss them a lot.

And last but certainly not least:

The CA Crew Shows Up

2008-07-21T09:02:00.002-04:00

Sarah's sister Hannah, her Husband Jeremy and their two girls, Clara and Ruthie came to visit for a week recently. We haven't seen them since last fall, so it was great to be back together again for a few days.

Here's Alex showing off his slick reading skills in front of his cousins:

Actually, he usually does get books right side up, and he loves looking at them and being read to lately. His attention span can cover "Blueberries for Sal" now.

Alex laughs his head off with Grandpa Johnston:

Clara has such a wonderful smile. I'm glad she uses it so often:

Ruthie and Hannah search online for the perfect diaper bag design, or some other such elusive prize:

The 4th of July

2008-07-21T08:36:00.002-04:00

Sarah, Alex and I spent the evening of the 4th with some family friends and the Johnstons. After a delicious dinner, a wicked game of badminton and a very tense couple rounds of water balloon tossing we watched the Grandville fireworks.

Revealing

2008-07-18T08:48:00.002-04:00

The Mackinac Center found a pretty revealing presentation recently. The presentation about the Reform Michigan Government Now proposal was given to Michigan union officials a couple months ago, and clearly states the strategy behind the proposed changes to our constitution.

Back to the Desert

2008-07-11T14:55:00.002-04:00

Tom is back in the Middle East after his two weeks of leave. It was really really really good to see him.

The Big Lake Part Two

2008-07-03T21:30:00.001-04:00

Just some more photos. Peruse at your leisure.

Contact

2008-07-02T21:33:00.001-04:00

Sometimes a little touch is all it takes.

The Big Lake

2008-07-02T20:54:00.002-04:00

It was my first vacation day of the year and off to Lake Michigan for the day on Tuesday. My mother's side of the family has made a tradition of camping for a week or two together every summer somewhere north of Grand Rapids in Michigan. This year the place is Pioneer County Park near Muskegon. The weather was splendiforous, the sun as warm as the family, and the water invigoratingly cold.

It was Alex's first beach experience, and he loved it once the siblings and cousins stopped blocking his sun. He was never quite able to bring himself to get in the water, but I can't blame him. It was shockingly cold. You got used to it about the same time your extremities went numb. I love it.

Saturday

2008-06-28T19:40:00.002-04:00

Today Sarah held a fancy schmancy spa party at the house. I was banished with the kid to the parent's-in-laws place. We had a lot more fun than those ladies, what with all their funky goop and smelly lotions!

Alex got to watch our friend Mo put in a new screen door. Fascinating!

Dedication of the Babe

2008-06-28T19:35:00.004-04:00

Last Sunday we dedicated ourselves to raising Alex for Christ in a ceremony at church. He liked Andy's shoes.

Stuck

2008-06-28T19:26:00.002-04:00

My coworker Joe and I went over to a site near Port Huron for work on Friday. It took the expected three hours to get there, but the return trip to took over four and half hours due to an accident in Detroit on 696 and construction on 96, west of Lansing.

Here we're approaching the accident. The smoke was, I assume, from a burning vehicle.

We were stopped for about 15 minutes.

The police eventually had us all turn around one by one and head back the way we had come so we could get off the highway at the closest off ramp.

This is what 96 West looked like west of Lansing. We did left the highway and did some exploring, and I think we beat the people who stayed in the jam by at least 20 minutes.

Family Time

2008-06-26T14:26:00.006-04:00

Ah summer. Time to get together.

My brother Tom is home from Kuwait/Iraq for a couple weeks right now, and my uncle and aunt came to visit from Colorado. I love the rush of giddy conversation and exciting stories combined with pleasantly awkward silences that always result from such reunions. I'm looking forward to the big one.

Thomas has cultivated the growth of his mustache carefully for the past several months. It shows.

Run John, run.

Steve has carefully been cultivating his musical taste for the past couple years. It shows.

Suz, beautiful as per the usual. We like the stripes. Bold move.

My brother-in-law Aaron came from Chicago to grace us with his presence for a week. It was good to see him.

Alex sees fit to grace us with his presence pretty much every waking moment of his life. It's quite a privalege, I must say. Here he models his fancy seatbelt pads, custom manufactured by his grandmother using towels and duct tape to ease the discomfort on His Excellency's shoulders.

Flickr Picnic

2008-06-26T14:07:00.002-04:00

Last Saturday we met up for the first time with the group of folks from Grand Rapids who use Flickr. We grilled up some burgers and hot dogs at Riverside Park and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Even though I try to remain neutral in the Nikon/Canon feud, I was impressed with the number of Nikons present.

I've never attended a meeting of amateur photographers that didn't degenerate into photographers taking pictures of photographers taking pictures of photographers. Here is the requisite shot.

The grill, after grilling.

Father's Day

2008-06-21T21:58:00.003-04:00

Being a father is incredible. It's all been said before, but it's truly amazing to me. It's mind blowing to think that billions of men before me have walked this path. It's hard, but now I know why they did it. God's made a beautiful way for things.

We were able to go visit Sarah's grandfather last Sunday. It was good to see him.

A lot of thoughts and feelings flood me when I see this boy. Love, joy, a hefty sense of my boundless responsibility for him, gratitude, hope. Nothing I have ever experienced is like the love of my son for me and my love for him.

The Cottage in Jennings

2008-06-21T21:49:00.002-04:00

Over Memorial Day weekend we were able to make it up to my mother's parent's cottage in Jennings, Michigan for an afternoon. Lots of memories up there.

We made some new memories with the little man,

enjoyed the company of my grandmother

and my grandfather,

saw some woods,

saw some tracks,

and some other tracks,

and some more woods.

He's a Sweet Little Guy

2008-06-19T17:35:00.002-04:00

Alex has been wonderful to hug lately. He usually hugs us back, and sometimes pats us and gives us a little kiss. It warms the heart to be sure. It's also pretty incredible to come home from work to a little boy who runs to the door and wants to play.

Sand

2008-06-19T17:14:00.002-04:00

Alex had his first real experience with sand the other night.

He loved it.

The Office Landscaping

2008-06-19T17:11:00.002-04:00

Twin Lakes Nursery is almost done landscaping the office. They've done a quality job.

Little Buddy

2008-06-19T17:04:00.001-04:00

We love Alex's buddy Lucas.

Leave the Chains Behind

2008-06-12T15:04:00.001-04:00

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Some Goings On

2008-06-10T20:36:00.002-04:00

Tom, this blog is for you, since you haven't seen the little man face to face for six months.

At the beginning of this video Alex is "gripping" his peas. He gets a couple in his mitts and then clenches them as hard as he can, complete with a most excellent facial expression.

Doin' a little dancing.

Getting outside loud inside.

He'll make a toy out of anything.

Catch up

2008-05-30T14:04:00.003-04:00

Not much has been happening at the Cooper household. We all have been sick for the last 2 weeks and are just starting to feel better. This is one of the longest (and nastiest) colds I've ever had. Much better than the flu except that this is lasting well over a week.

Alex is starting to wake up early and we are doing our best to discourage it!

We are enjoying the previous owner's labors in the garden. Some interesting flowers keep popping up. I am most excited about the rhubarb plants, yumm. I've already eaten my fair share of rhubarb sauce.

I've been pretty lucky since most of Brian's projects actually end up benefiting me the most! We finally moved the fridge over so the kitchen stand he made doesn't jut so far out into the hall. He just put up my clothesline last night. I'll take some pics once the rain stops so you can see how huge the posts are. I've been more & more impressed with his handiwork since he hasn't had much prior experience. He is a perfectionist so I really shouldn't be surprised.

Tomorrow we have about 30 relatives coming over for a barbie and I really hope it doesn't rain so we can enjoy the outdoors. I volunteered to host this event, who knows why ;). They do these birthday celebrations every few months with all the cousins which seems a bit much to me since I saw my cousins maybe twice a year! Guess that's the difference when you have 3 vs. 30 cousins.

Lately I've been using the phrase 'rock up'. It creates some confusion so once I realize what I've said I correct my Aussie lingo. At least somethings have stuck. We are looking at our financial goals and hope to visit in the next 1-2yrs. We figure soon after that everyone will have completely forgotten about us.

Well I'll get those pics up. Until then I think I'll clean...or take a nap.

The Garden

2008-05-20T09:27:00.002-04:00

The previous owners of our house were plant lovers. We're doing our best not to undo their labor of love, since we love the results. However, neither Alex, Sarah nor I really know a whole lot about loving plants.

Wierd and Tired

2008-05-20T09:17:00.002-04:00

Life has been a little wierd lately. Mostly good but a little wierd. Maybe that's just the lens I'm seeing everything through right now. A tired, sick and mistaken filter. In actual fact I have everything to be thankful for.

The following pictures are some representative moments of life in the past few weeks.

The Legend of the Black Deuce

2008-05-09T20:29:00.004-04:00

I removed the second video due to some content not appropriate for public viewing. If you know us and still want to see it just come over to our house.

Cows, NJ and the Backyard

2008-04-28T14:19:00.003-04:00

So we now own 1/20th of a cow. She lives at a nearby farm. The farmer milks her and we pick up a gallon of her milk once a week. This photo may be her, but we're not sure since there are six other cows on the farm too:

I've been working on a project for a company in New Jersey, and my boss and I recently spent a day near Newark scoping out the pipeline route.

The backyard is exploding with new life - the fruits of the previous owner's labors. They loved uncommon flora, so the plant beds are full of flowers, shrubberies and trees I've never heard of before. It's a lot of work, but it sure is nice to look at.

Playing the (insert your word of choice here) Card

2008-04-28T14:14:00.005-04:00

I'm pretty sick of cards. Can't the politicians and the media do something else for a while? If I spent all day accusing other people of playing cards I think I would get fired.

It's time for a new metaphor.

Dance!

2008-04-21T20:12:00.002-04:00

Exam Update

2008-04-12T20:59:00.001-04:00

Well Brian felt confident about how he did on the exam and he even finished 30 minutes early! We had a quick dinner, friends over for some laughs and now he's out smoking his pipe with da boys. (He hardly ever gets a chance :) )

The Exam

2008-04-12T08:08:00.003-04:00

Brian is gone and has begun his Professional Engineering Exam by now! Please pray for him. He's been studying every week night for 2-3hrs for the past 3 1/2months. I'm sure that he will do great. That is he better pass! ;)

Neither of us have gotten much sleep the last few nights. Alex has been waking up randomly during the last week and then 2 nights ago he woke up barking (coughing) and couldn't breathe. I never seen so much green stuff come out of a little nose. Since then he's been doing ok during the days but up for 2hrs each night trying to get back to sleep with us by his side. Poor Brian, these things always happen when he needs sleep most.

Yesterday the weather was crazy and the sky was exciting. It looked like a line split directly down the center of the road separating sunny sky and dark clouds. It went from sunny to rain to sunny to hail to sun in about 15minutes. I guess there was a tornado about 1hr from here.

Well better attend to the little man.

Spring is Here!

2008-04-06T19:02:00.002-04:00

It's official: I've shaved my head and there a flowers all over our yard and the trees and shrubberies are beginning to bud. And it's sixty degrees Fahrenheit outside.

We spent all of Saturday removing the fountain in our backyard, clearing all the dead foliage from our plant plots and pruning as necessary. Then I helped my friend set up some composting boxes. It feels so good to be outside again. Let me repeat that: It feels so good to be outside again. So good.

Once my 8 hour engineering exam next Saturday is over the next projects up are the bike repairs and then the bookshelves. I'm gonna enjoy this summer for all its worth. Which is a lot. A very, very lot.

The 'Hawk

2008-04-06T18:55:00.002-04:00

This was the real thing. None of that fauxhawk business. I really wanted to keep it. It was like the stray dog you bring home as a kid. "Mommy can we keep it?"

"Sarah can I keep it? Just for one day?" "NO!"

Lately

2008-03-31T10:24:00.003-04:00

I've heard the phrase "Life will never be the same again" more since Alex started walking than when he was born. That is deeply, deeply disturbing.

It certainly has been an exciting week. Alex has been teasing us with little spurts of surprise walking every now and again for the past month or so. I think about a week ago he realized the potential of this whole walking thing and started pursuing it in earnest. He is now running.

Here are a few endearing photos from the most recently captured bath.

In this one Alex is looking down the barrel of Joe's video camera. Joe spent a few evenings last week filming us for a short film he's creating for a school project. The purpose of the project is to portray an emotion, which, in Joe's film's case, is loneliness. Joe showed a rough edit of the film to his class. When it was finished no one spoke for a minute, until one young lady offered a profound insight: "That was sad as [heck]."

Alex has been affectionately dubbed "the Cute" by his uncle Steve.

And here is the Cute looking downright sinister as he brandishes his washcloth:

The Anti-Anti-Homeschooling Post

2008-03-26T18:38:00.006-04:00

Please read our friend's post here before proceeding. The format for this post is our friend's statements followed by my rebuttals. Make sure you read his post to get everything in context. If I seem abrupt please know that I love Derek very much.

Derek: Homeschooling is very popular among conservative, fundamentalist Christians.

Me: Any other labels you'd like to apply?

Derek: There is a commonly-held view among them that some things taught in public schools (such as evolution and gender identity) are wrong or that the social interactions with other kids at school are too dangerous. In the true spirit of American individualism, the parents choose to withdraw their children from public schools and either teach them themselves or enroll them in a private Christian school. As a Christian who may someday have children, I can easily understand how keeping my child out of a public school would seem beneficial. However, I keep coming back to the conclusion that doing so would be irresponsible to my child and to society.

Me: The reasons you specify do come into consideration for some homeschooling families, but I think you've overlooked some of the most basic ones. Many people believe that parents are generally best suited to educate their own children, especially at younger ages when the parent's knowledge of the educational subjects is not as important as their knowledge of the child. Many also believe that education is best suited to one on one (or at least one on few) interaction between the teacher and the student(s). The reason they are not putting their kids into schools is because they fundamentally disagree with the concept of a typical American primary school.

Derek: Just as it is impractical for one to build their own roads, sewer system, and power plant, it is impractical for one to take on the duty of a child’s teacher in all subjects for every age level. Technology and human collective knowledge have progressed to the point where we must depend on others to help us out. This includes teaching. I can choose not to depend on the city to provide my water, but my quality of life will be significantly lower, if not outright unhealthy. I can choose to try and teach my son Geometry, but in reality, I will fail and end up telling him to read the book. If he doesn’t understand the book, well, he’s just out of luck, unless he’s a genius. Where does this leave the non-genius children who have inadequate teachers? The homeschooler will argue that there are plenty of under-qualified teachers in the public school system. This leads us to my second point.

Me: I agree, mostly. I would certainly not advise that a parent attempt to teach their child a subject they are not competent to teach. If the parents' competence is solid I think you might agree that everything is fine from this aspect. In my own personal experience my mother felt unable to teach me some of the material I was beginning to encounter starting in eighth grade. At that point my parents decided it was time to send me to a private school.

Derek: Parents need to be involved with their child’s education.

Me: Amen, brother. Preach it. This is what homeschooling is all about.

Derek: For too many parents, school is “daycare with benefits.” Not many are willing to take on the responsibility of keeping teachers personally accountable. They’d much rather have congress whip together a No Child Left Behind Act that institutes ineffective standardized testing and sacrifices deep learning experiences for learning what bubbles to fill in on the test.

Me: All too true.

Derek: An ideal school system would involve parental and student feedback that weeds out ineffective teachers and sets policies for what is taught.

Me: As well as a great many other things, but I certainly won't argue with that.

Derek: Furthermore, it is very telling that the students who typically do the worst in school are the ones whose parents are not involved. The problems with the public school system are not going to be solved by acts of congress, just as poverty will never be eliminated through welfare programs. It requires community participation.

Me: I agree. Problems are also caused by parents who are negatively involved, i.e. defending their child's behavior when they should be punishing them.

Derek: While withdrawing from a social institution may seem to provide short-term benefits, the effects are always negative for all parties.

Me: Watch the absolutes there buddy. Sometimes the social institution is fundamentally flawed. Plus, we shouldn't have a blind allegiance to a social institution just because it currently exists.

Derek: The poor always suffer the most as a result. For example, as middle class white people withdrew from urban areas to live in the suburbs, urban neighborhoods and schools severely deteriorated. They’re caught in a downward spiral of needing investment, but lacking the tax income to provide that investment. The only way out is for affluent neighbors to invest. Similarly, if all concerned parents withdraw from public schools, the majority who are left in the public schools will be left to rot in an unchecked system of under-qualified teachers teaching moral ambiguity. Wait, that’s already happening…

Me: Indeed. I'm not accusing you of saying it, but money alone is NOT going to solve this problem. While it may have been better when richer people were around, it was never perfect.

Derek: Sidebar: It was interesting to me, learning about the run-up to the Civil War, to hear what the was reason for pro-Unionists to keep the South from seceding. Their reasoning went as follows: If the losing political minority withdraws from a system of government every time a law is passed against them, the law will have no meaning because all of those who are opposed to a law are essentially choosing not to follow it. If I am pro-murder, I will just secede from the Union and murder will be legal for me. It’s another example of how institutions fail when no one wants to participate.

Me: Are we comparing homeschooling with slavery here? Splitting a nation with choosing to educate our own children?

Derek: Why do we care about society? The typical right-wing Christian mindset says that we are all sinners and that the world is hopelessly lost to corruption, violence, and poverty. Since there is no hope for society, better for me to live in a shack in the woods where I can read my bible and live a Godly life, far away from the influence of the evil world. I used to hold this view myself. However, it is not what Jesus taught.

Me: The cliched labels are getting old. It is sad but true that many think this way. And it is decidedly not what Jesus taught, especially the separatist part.

Derek: Jesus’ first recorded miracle is actually a clue to us as to what His plan is for us:

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

“Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied, “My time has not yet come.”

His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.

Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.

Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”

They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

This story is very rich in symbolism and John gives us some clues. First, the miracle happened “on the third day.” Second, the scene is a wedding. In the Old Testament, marriage was used symbolically to represent Israel’s (the bride) union and close relationship with God (the groom). Third, wine was used by Old Testament prophets to represent peace, fruitful labor, and blessings - heaven on earth. Essentially, this story boils down to servants bringing heaven on earth by following Jesus’ commands.

This story flatly contradicts the idea that the world is doomed to sinful decay. We have a part in doing God’s will to bring heaven on earth. Jesus initiated the moment where heaven and earth meet - are wedded - and bring hope to a fallen world.

Me: We are definitely called to build up the Kingdom of God and to bring hope and healing to the world.

Derek: Conservative Christians typically focus solely on their relationship with God. They strive to fulfill the first, greatest commandment - to love God with their whole soul, mind, and strength. However they many times miss the second part of that commandment - to love others as themselves. I spent most of my life ignoring that commandment and then most of the rest of my life only focusing on the first part of it. It’s easy to start a “God and me club,” but it’s hard to truly love others as God loves them.

Me: Hmm. I think there are those who would disagree with you about the ease of starting a "God and me club." God calls us to absolutely incredible depths of gut-wrenching change at the heart level. I agree wholeheartedly that it's difficult to truly love others as God does.

Derek: In fact, as you read the bible, you realize that if you are to truly love God, it follows naturally that you will love what he loves - justice, healing, the orphan, the widow, and your pointy-haired boss.

Me: Amen.

Derek: This brings us back to society. What is our mission as Christians who are trying to do God’s will and restore creation to its creator? Do we hide in our homeschools or do we try to help steer society toward what is good?

Me: Please don't make the mistake of thinking that homeschooling and helping to "steer society toward what is good" are mutually exclusive.

My family never hid in our homeschool. We lived in an urban neighborhood and built friendships with dozens of kids, most of whom didn't know Jesus. We were exposed to them and they were exposed to us. We were involved in the community and in community groups. I'm not saying we were perfect (not even close) but I am trying to combat your notion that all homeschoolers are running and hiding and separating themselves from the needs of the world. It's not true. Many, if not most of them sincerely believe that the task of training up a child in the way he should go is the responsibility of his parents. They don't see homeschooling as an abandonment of the needs of world, they see it as an opportunity to shape the character and hearts of their children in ways a teacher with thirty other kids to take care of never could.

I know that homeschooling is not the solution for everyone. I know it's not even a feasible option for most families in their current state. Some of this has to do with poverty, and a lot of it has to do with our materialistic, greedy, consumer-driven, double income middle class culture. There's some labels!

I am confident that if more God-fearing men and women were to start spending six or eight more hours a day rubbing off on their kids, teaching them and living out for them how to love God and how to love their neighbors as well as the usual facts, that this world, that our communities, would not be worse off. Obviously this can't be done in isolation. We need to have some neighbors to love. I think you may be caught up in thinking that the only neighbors we have to love are the ones in the public school system. If so, you're wrong. They're in the house next door, they're just down the block, they're at the park, they're in the babysitting co-op(maybe even in the homeschooling co-op), they're at church, they're sleeping on the street downtown. I don't think it's wrong to love your neighbor by putting your child in the public school system and getting involved in his education. I do think it's wrong to condemn homeschooling based on stereotyped perceptions and a narrow philosophy of loving one's neighbor. I would go so far as to propose that homeschooling has just as much potential to "help steer society toward what is good" as getting involved in the public school system.

The Little Man's First Birthday!

2008-03-21T16:33:00.002-04:00

Alex is one year old today! Happy birthday little buddy. Alex's lifespan has seen a lot of changes in the life of our family. When he was born we lived in Australia, I was a Naval Architect, and it was sunny and warm. Now that he's one we live in Michigan, I am a pipeline engineer and it's cold and snowing. That of course is a very rudimentary summary which does absolutely no justice to the incredible and profound changes that have taken place.

Anyway, here is our wonderful little boy showing off his newest trick:

Spring is Coming!!!

2008-03-15T22:20:00.001-04:00

Here's a taste of the fruits of the labors of the previous owners of our new house:

Walking

2008-03-15T19:02:00.001-04:00

Shortly before his first birthday Alex has decided to oblige us with a few steps out into the open.

Good work son.

Alex's First Birthday Party!!!

2008-03-15T18:53:00.006-04:00

Today we had a party to celebrate Alex's first birthday (which is next Friday). He had a blast playing with all the people and balloons and new toys. His favorite presents at first were the new spoons from Grandpa and Grandma Johnston and the little card that was attached to the Ferris' present. It's the simple things in life.

He also enjoyed his first taste of birthday cake:

The little guy made out pretty good considering he's never really done much for anybody.

You can click on the pictures to see a little bit larger version. You can see even more pictures here.

We love you Alex! You're a wonderful little son. Even though you've never done much for anyone, you've brought more joy to our lives than we ever thought possible.

Easter

2008-03-04T20:54:00.002-05:00

For the last 2 Easter's we have been in Australia. In fact it was one of our first social events with our friends at Holy Trinity. We have very fond memories of sitting outside at the Broman's. Helen and I with our nana rugs (where I first learned the term). Eating delicious hot cross buns and Brian tasting that weird (to me - Sarah) fruit we had never seen before! Last year was once again celebrated at the Broman's with hot cross buns. The weather was warmer and Alex was just a few weeks old. :)

This year, it's sad to say, will be spent in the cold. :( This year for the Aussie's it will be a wonderful 100 degrees F and dry. I wouldn't want to be in the kitchen making the hot cross buns but I will definitely miss eating them! Maybe I'll have to make my own to warm up this wintry city.

We miss you Aussie's! Enjoy your Easter. And Family - you better make this one worth our while. ;)

The Sickness

2008-02-29T12:18:00.003-05:00

Warning: Disgusting Post Ahead

It's been quite a day. Who knows where it all started, but we think Alex got it first. His diapers were full of something, shall we say, a little less solid than usual. It hit me yesterday at work after lunch. The porcelain throne became more my home than my desk. After I got home from work my system decided it was time to open up both exits, so my face also became well acquainted with the reflections in the bowl. After I ate some BRAT style dinner, which promptly decided it was not going to stay, Sarah went out to get some pop. As she was unlocking the door after getting home from that errand it hit her too. Don't eat that chunky brown snow beside the porch, my friend. I got the aches at some point during the evening, and could not fall asleep because of the pain. Sarah didn't fare much better. Thankfully Alex slept fairly well. I couldn't stop tossing and turning and thinking about potential trips to the emergency room to get rehydrated so at 11 pm I went downstairs and laid around trying to get comfy for a few hours. Then I got on the 'puter and processed some photos. Then I went back upstairs and tried to sleep in the guest bedroom. It still wouldn't work. I took some ibuprofen. I figured it was safe since I had been able to keep at least a little bit of liquid down for past few hours at that point. It worked, so about an hour later at 6 am or so I finally fell asleep. I dozed until about 10 am. Now I'm hanging out with Alex while Sarah gets some sleep.

Oh Dear

2008-02-24T19:22:00.002-05:00

Things is going about themselves as usual here. Alex is growing up faster than a cheetah. Sarah is Whipping a whole lot of different things into shape. I spend pretty much all the time I have outside of work and the basic necessities studying for the Fundamentals of Engineering exam which I'll be taking on April 12. It's the first of two 8 hour exams you have to take in order to become a licensed as a Professional Engineer.

Life is good, God is good, but boy am I going to be glad when that exam is over.

Much love.

Snow

2008-02-07T14:40:00.000-05:00

Well we've had lots of it this winter! The weather is supposed to come and go in waves...of snow that is. Well I hope that a wave doesn't hit Saturday because I'm driving to a conference for the day and am not looking forward to the early start.

Shoveling has become a spectator's sport in our house. Alex loves to stand at the window and watch Brian shovel. He also gives me the running commentary on the action. If there are any good videos of the commentary I'll get Brian to put them up soon.

Despite his fascination with shoveling he did not seem so thrilled to actually be sitting in snow. Brian let Alex 'test' the snow the other day. He was quite hesitant and didn't last outside very long. Perhaps it had more to do with the fact that he couldn't move in his super duper winter coat. :)

Chuck Norris

2008-01-31T18:34:00.001-05:00

If you have five dollars and Chuck Norris has five dollars, Chuck Norris has more money than you.
There is no 'ctrl' button on Chuck Norris's computer. Chuck Norris is always in control.
Chuck Norris can sneeze with his eyes open.
Chuck Norris can eat just one Lay's potato chip.
Chuck Norris destroyed the periodic table, because he only recognizes the element of surprise.
Chuck Norris can kill two stones with one bird.

Adelaide is Heaven?

2008-01-31T16:04:00.000-05:00

Brian and I were discussing how much we missed Adelaide last night. I have been feeling pretty torn by this whole move and my brain somehow still believes that we will be returning to Adelaide very soon. It just felt like home for me. I stated to Brian that I would love to go back if we got the opportunity. That's when Brian made a profound statement. He explained that being torn between two places made him that much more excited about Heaven because it will be a place where we will feel whole again. Where all believers will be together living for the Lord.

Then came the profound statement. Heaven will be like Adelaide, but with all our favorite people living there.

Cleanliness

2008-01-31T15:06:00.000-05:00

It's one of those days (actually on of those weeks) where I feel dirty and just need to wash my face or take a shower or clean the entire house in order to feel clean again. Well there have been a few things that have just made me (Sarah) feel dirty these last few days.

Last night I dropped a jar of applesauce and it completely slimed and stickified the kitchen floor. I've been meaning to mop for the last week and a half. A few things have happened this past week that make me thank myself for not mopping like I planned cause that would have made me even more upset about the mess.

Alex has a LeapFrog table that plays jazzy music and in the very center is a 'book' that has 1 page you can flip to change what the table plays - the ABCs/#s or jazzy tunes. A blue strip that lights up when you flip the page surrounds the ‘book’. The page is covered with a paper design/sticker-like picture. As I removed Alex from his beloved table so I could do the dishes, I realized he had puked on the table. But what part of the table, yes the part I have described where there are lots of crevices and the only section that could fall apart in little paper balls if you tried to clean it. So my point, I went to work cleaning it with a spray bottle, a toothpick and paper towel. I won't attempt to describe it. At the end I realized I needed to blow the water out of the crevices. Oh I blew out the water and any remaining puke. It felt as if my face absorbed most of it.

Alex has been a puker (chucker for the Aussies) since he was born. Puking has become a normal part of life. Then today, to top it all off, I got slimed. I was enjoying the fact that Alex's puke landed only on his sleeve, when he sneezed! As I'm holding him, kindly cleaning his sleeve he sneezes puke all over my face. In case you didn't know when you sneeze it comes out your nose AND mouth. Oh and I just touched my head and realized that there was dried puke in my hair, when did that happen I would like to know!

I guess I should go mop the floor and then take my 2nd shower of the day.

Alex in Motion

2008-01-27T16:02:00.000-05:00

Actually he's stuck in a couple different places in these videos, but he is, at least, animated. I'll see if I can catch him perpetrating some real action later today.

Word Combinations

2008-01-23T21:11:00.000-05:00

I'm a big fan of combining certain words. Sometimes it's pretty quirky. Sometimes a person will use a combo that hit's me just right and I'll start laughing while they glance at me with a furrowed brow and a worried frown. Other times I'll read the words in a book. A couple weeks ago I was reading Alex a book called "That's Not My Truck." For those of you without small children, this book is one out of a series of books with different themes in which a mouse inspects a lineup of items, rejecting each one of them in turn due to some nefarious trait which rules it out from being his. At the end of each book the mouse finds his item. As we turned to the last page of "That's Not My Truck" I read this: "That's my truck! It's tipper is so ridgy!" It was love at first sight: "ridgy tipper." I've been saying "ridgy tipper" at appropriate moments throughout each day ever since. Ridgy tipper.

Another favorite combination of late has been "chunky lumps" or "lumpy chunks." "Black deuce," "pink lady," and "slack jawed lackey" have also all played a part in the development of my laugh lines. "Like butter on a bald monkey" used to amuse my troubled mind without end.

More on Money

2008-01-17T17:34:00.000-05:00

Money is something I've been convicted about for a while now. The Spirit's work has been ongoing, and my heart and actions are changing slowly. I feel like there's a lot of hypocrisy in the Western church with respect to money, so it's hard to go against the flow, and it's also hard not to compare myself with others in this area. What matters is God's position in my heart, not whether I'm doing better than "them." The balance between generosity and wise stewardship is hard to find. I know Jesus does not want us destitute, like so many in our world are, but neither does he want us depending on wealth for security.

We see the well-off in the early church giving out of their plenty to those in need here. We also see the danger of deceit and legalism with respect to giving in the story of Ananias and Sapphira. That story can be found here. It looks like church sponsored socialism at first but I don't think it is. People have no choice whether they want to join in or not with socialism. As followers of Christ we have a choice. Is it good to give? Absolutely. Is it required for salvation? No. I think it's a mistake to form doctrine out of examples in scripture, but we do need to take what the early church did in their time and place, their context, and wrestle with it and apply it to ourselves.

I think money is something we don't talk about enough in the Western church. We need to be struggling through this as a community instead of ignoring it. We need to stop skirting the issue and confront our wealth in the face of the overwhelming poverty across the globe.

Sarah and I's current goal is to give back to God as much as we can, and to provide for our family in such a way that we can function effectively in our context. Note that it's our goal. We've nowhere near arrived yet. It's not necessarily wrong to be comfortable, since we see people making each other comfortable in the early church, but we want to push that line back as far as I can. With my income, if there's not plenty left over for generous giving then we know we need to re-evaluate. We want to test our purchases and savings by their worth in our service to God, not by their "necessity" in the eyes of our neighbors.

It Is No More

2008-01-17T17:20:00.000-05:00

I took my beard off on Tuesday night. The traditional pause with the mustache still intact was, of course, made.

Foresight Would Have Been Good

2008-01-15T10:16:00.000-05:00

I read articles like this one on a regular basis.

Perhaps they should have taken the shortage into account before allowing a 50 person engineering firm to dissolve and sending all the engineers back to whence they came. Most of us would have been happy to stay, but no one was hiring back in July and August.

I Know Jealousy is a Sin...

2008-01-15T10:10:00.000-05:00

but it's awful hard to resist when I see this...

Tom's Farewell with the National Guard

2008-01-12T14:13:00.000-05:00

A week ago we bid Tom farewell up in Cadillac, Michigan with the rest of his Army National Guard troop. Thanks again Tom, and we're thinking about and praying for you. These pictures are from that day:

Winter Went

2008-01-10T15:56:00.001-05:00

We're enjoying a brief respite from what has turned out to be a pretty intense winter. All the snow has melted, and it's not quite cold enough to make my ears hurt on my walk home from work if I don't wear a hat. I'm really looking forward to some more snow. I'd like to produce at least one habitable igloo this season. I just didn't have the time with that last batch of snow.

My brother Tom is now in Texas at Fort Hood training for a stint in the Middle East. He'll probably be there for a couple months before deploying to his final location. We love you Tom, and we're extremely grateful for the sacrifices you are making to serve our country. We're thinking about and praying for you.

You Don't Know What Cold Is, You Just Do As You're Told

2008-01-03T08:10:00.000-05:00

For our Aussie friends, here's an interesting little tidbit of information for you: It's -11 degrees C here this morning.

My breath was freezing onto my beard while I walked to work.

See the Little Man Here

2007-12-29T19:42:00.000-05:00

He's been learning some new tricks:

And practicing his consonants (and a few dirty looks too):