Halloween 2009

Everyone is anxious for the Trick-or-Treating to begin!

Here's our Jack-O-Lantern.

Daddy and LoveBug (dressed as a flower - the flower headdress made by her big sister).

The Whole Gang!

The HAUL. Our kids have three days of unfettered candy access (and then it all gets tossed out).

using your toolbox

I Corinthians 3:6 "the letter kills but the Spirit gives life."

In fact, as much as we need systems, ultimately they will kill us. The life is in the blood. This can almost be applied across the board.

Grammar is a good thing. We cannot write without it. We cannot communicate without it but it isn't the only thing. If we approach writing as a purely grammatical exercise we will kill ideas.

Systematic theology is a good thing. We cannot understand the Bible without it. But if our theology is merely systematic it is dead.

The law (Pentateuch) was a good thing but it was powerless to save.

Systems are tools. They help us find the real things. Unfortunately, many people are happy when they have found a system. They never look up from their scavenging in the rubble to see the reality of the thing they are searching for.

Very often it is the conservative, Christian wing of the world that enjoys substituting the tool for the thing. The problem is that you can have a measure of success with a system but in the end you are left bankrupt and confused (Col 2).

October 6, 2009 from Cindy at Ordo Amoris.

God's grandchild

from Dante's Inferno: Canto 11

"Turn back again, " I asked, "to where you said
that usury offends the Power Divine,
And pray explain to me this knotty point."

"Philosophy," my master answered me,
"To him who understands it, demonstrates
How nature takes her course, not only from
Wisdom divine, but from its art as well.
And if you read with care your book of physics,
After the first few pages, you will find
That art, as best it can, doth follow nature,
As pupil follows master; industry,
Or art is, so to speak, grandchild to God.
From these two sources (if you call to mind
That passage in the Book of Genesis)
Mankind must take its sustenance and progress.

The moneylender takes another course,
Despising nature and her follower,
Because he sets his hope for gain elsewhere."

Baptism, Birthday, and meeting the Greats

It was a BIG week for our family.

On Sunday, Baby L was baptized! After church we met her Godparents and some other good friends for a picnic lunch to celebrate.









Then on Tuesday, September 1st, we celebrated her FIRST birthday! After the excitement of the weekend we kept it fairly quiet. Just our family, but quite a few presents. :)

Then this past weekend we went up to the Tennesee mountains to finally introduce Baby L to her Great Grandmother and Great Aunt and Uncle. We had a lovely afternoon at their mountain cabin hiking, riding the 4-wheeler, collecting rocks, dipping our toes in the creek, finding wildflowers, and rescuing a butterfly caught in a spider web.

So, it has been busy to say the least.

The year of the "Last Hurrah"!

Today, I kicked off the start of my last year before I hit 40...my "last hurrah!" LOL!

Erik and I got up early for a "coffee date". Here's a photo of me in our '69 Datsun convertible (a project car for hubby and the boys). Riding in this always makes an outing more fun!

We had a really relaxing breakfast together and it was such a nice start to my 39th birthday. When we got home the kids were anxious to give me my gift. They had all pitched in and bought me my first iPod. An 8GB Nano...I've been filling it up today with music and podcasts. Somehow my kids (who do not have iPods) all knew how to work it better than I did! It does make you feel old to hit the point when your kids have to help you with new technology. **Sigh.**

September is a busy month of celebrations:

Baby L's baptism,
Baby L's first birthday,
our 17th wedding anniversary,
and DS#2's 10th birthday.

Actually, those are all within the first 2 weeks of September!

There is one other event I'd like to tell you about: the second "Carnival of the Church Year" (for the Church Year season: Ordinary Time) which will be hosted here on Monday, September 21st, the Feast of St. Matthew the Evangelist. Mark your calendars and start getting your posts ready to share! Look for more information (and maybe some post ideas) coming in the next week.

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a warm kitchen can do wonders

"In the embracing light and warmth, warm and dry at last, with weary legs propped up in front of them, and a suggestive clink of plates being arranged on the table behind, it seemed to the storm-driven animals, now in safe anchorage, that the cold and trackless Wild Wood just left outside was miles and miles away, and all that they had suffered in it a half-forgotten dream."

p. 57, Chapter 4, The Wind in the Willows

Baby L says Daddy and Doggie

Well, you can't tell here, but usually WE can tell when she is saying "daddy" versus "doggie". These are her first words! At the very end you'll hear Erik say "SIT". I promise he's talking to the dog (who was trying to eat the camera right out of my hand) not Baby L!

Fourth of July!

Gathering up all the Stuff we needed to take with us for our Fourth of July swim and fireworks party was quite a task: pimento cheese, squash casserole, swim suits, towels, changes of clothes, diapers, bottles, toys, etc. There was one item I really didn't want to forget: a camera. It was Baby L's first Fourth and I wanted to get lots of photos for the scrapbook!

I wandered around the house muttering "camera, camera, camera" until I could get to the cabinet where we keep The Camera. Unfortunately, my mommy-brain was too easily distracted and we went off without it. Oh, the guilt!

Then my friend, Donna, came to my rescue! She had remembered her camera (she has more functioning brain cells than I, don't believe her when she tells you otherwise) and was kind enough to send me some of the photos she took (one of the wonderful joys of the digital age - instant photo sharing). So, thank you, Donna!

Poolside - relaxing in the afternoon shade.

Not so happy.

Happy! Baby L's first dip in the pool!


LadyBug (on the left) and her two girlfriends
enjoy snowcones




The boys (H, or StinkBug, on far left) enjoying snowcones in the hot tub!

Here's a man with a pyrotechnical problem.

Hey, look, it really goes up there!

Hope you had a wonderful Independence Day!!

when the literal loses its Truth

In a discussion of the Song of Solomon . . .

I read the end of Ephesians 5 as an example of what happens when you discover a metaphor so elusive you know it must be true. As you elaborate, and try to explain, you begin to stumble over words and their meanings. The literal takes hold, the unity and the beauty flee.

p. 110, Cloister Walk, Kathleen Norris

First Steps!

Yes, we have a baby walking at 9.5 months - that just makes me crazy, but I'm still encouraging her to keep practicing!