Monday, May 24, 2004
 

A week ago Saturday, the Job family went to Carole's Hair Styles in Roan Mountain, Tennessee, for haircuts.  Anna had the wild hair (see the picture featured in the May 11 entry below), so she was in for her first trim ever. We had no idea, of course, how Anna was going to handle this.  But there she sat, propped up on the seat, sitting pretty as you please.  Miss Carole deserves to be in some kind of Hair Stylist Hall of Fame, because she did the best job in sixty seconds that I've ever seen, finishing right before Anna's attention span expired! Both Mommy and Daddy were very proud, of course, and relieved that Anna kept her curls.

Tonight little Anna has a cold, but she's quickly learning, of all things, how to use a tissue to blow her nose.  She's also becoming a little bookworm, after spending most of her life only casually interested in books.   Next up in kid news is that Erika's Tree has been planted (and she helped, of course).  Erika's tree started as a maple seed about the time she was born.  My parents, Gale and Kathy, planted the seed back in 1999 before we had a permanent home.  This summer, I felt good enough about the state of the grounds at our new house to begin landscaping.  I was quite surprised when Dad took me behind their house to show me that Erika's tree was over eight feet tall!  Yikes! But we got it in the ground at the top of the hill a couple nights ago (yes, we sometimes work well into the evenings.  We love that evening mountain air!) Erika is predicting that her tree will become the tallest tree in our yard.  I'll be pleased if it branches out to become a good climbing tree. (Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa for this wonderful gift for Erika!)

Friday, May 21, 2004

Developing web sites is one of my favorite computer things to do.  It unites the creative with the technical in joyful and rewarding ways.  While I'm currently a full-time information technologist (for lack of a better description), I do develop web sites for interested parties.  To see some of what I have done, see the new Web Site Services page.

Monday, May 17, 2004

This past weekend we visited North Star Nursery up on Buck Mountain, North Carolina.  Calvin and Carol Winters run this highland nursery, and their selection of hardy mountain shrubs and trees is excellent.  Calvin turned us loose among a few hundred hybrid rhododendron, and Erika and I chose eight to place in front of the house and outbuilding.

Erika is so excited about planting.  She's at a great age and just lights up at the thought of working outside with Daddy.  She asked me what our plan was next, and she suggested that we plant irises.  I'm always surprised at what she already knows and understands.

Tuesday, May 11, 2004

Happy 16 (months) Anna!  How time flies when you're having fun!

Tuesday, May 4, 2004

We had the recent honor of sending off one of America's brave servicemen to a foreign assignment.  John will be away from his wife Jennifer and children Victoria and little John for a year.  Providentially, John's departure was delayed long enough for him to be home for little John's birth and first month.

Keep John and his family in your prayers.  They are one of thousands of American families making a sacrifice so that we can continue enjoy freedom and liberty, even as we hope that other nations of the world will also one day be free as well.

May is National Military Appreciation Month (www.nmam.org).  Take time today to call someone you know who is serving in the military and encourage family members of those serving!

Thank you, John and Jennifer!

(Clockwise from upper left:  Jennifer, John and little John; Erika (ours) and Victoria enjoy a fountain; Victoria and Erika hungrily wait for dinner and watch for places in the restaurant; Kassi and Erika pose with John, Jennifer, little John and Victoria.)

Monday, April 19, 2004

What have the girls been up too? 

Erika, with her recently received replacement raccoon (on the left) and her borrowed raccoon (on the right), is immersed in nearly constant fantasy and pretend these days.  Occasionally we have to coax her back to reality, and sometimes we enter her imaginary world ourselves.  Her first Racky Raccoon was lost a few months ago.  Then she happened on Rachel Martin's copy while at her house one evening, so Rachel generously loaned Erika the beloved coon. 

A couple weeks ago, Kassi and I found a new Racky Raccoon on sale at Jeannie's House on the Internet.  Racky must be getting rare.  I just noticed that Jeannie has taken him off her web site.  Yikes!  Don't lose this one, Erika!  (Rachel, your Racky will return to you soon...but Erika knows where you live!)  By the way, these aren't really raccoons.  Erika insists that they're cats, and they're both named "K.C."  Ask Freddy Martin sometime what happened when he tried to convince Erika that an animal she was calling a dog was really a sheep.

Anna has been having a time of discovery and is surprising us with intelligible English words.  I was swinging with her yesterday and had my first conversation with her:  "Anna, what do you hear?  What's that sound?"  She replied, "Dog!  Woof!  Woof!"  Anna is a true hands-on learner and seems to be able to quickly grasp how things work.

It amazes me how two parents can be blessed with such different children.  About the only similarity between the two girls is hair color.  Each is special and has different strengths, interests and approaches. 

I'm reminded again in the Word where it says, "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.  I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well."  (Psalm 139:13-14)

Parents of older children emphasize to me how important it is to invest my life and time in my children now, not later.  This is advice I am trying to heed.  Erika won't always enjoy these cats as she moves on to being a young lady.  Soon, Anna will be talking in sentences; the cute days, where rather than tell us what she wants, she would grab our hands to show us what she wants, are probably drawing to a close.  They are truly treasures, and Kassi and I cherish each moment with them at every age.

Our deepest and most heartfelt prayer is that each of them will give their love and lives to Jesus Christ.   

Tuesday, March 30, 2004

I'm reading The Death of Truth: What's Wrong With Multiculturalism, the Rejection of Reason and the New Postmodern Diversity, edited by Dennis McCallum.  I've heard the terms modernism and postmodernism thrown around quite a bit, but I don't fully understand what they mean.  While I don't expect to be an expert after reading this book, it's a good start.  Much of what we see transpiring on the political front today is a direct clash between these two world views as well as with Christianity.

Wednesday, March 24, 2004

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Today the Supreme Court will hear arguments about whether or not the words 'under God' should remain in the Pledge of Allegiance.

See www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18976-2004Mar23.html for a good article that lists several implications, including removing 'In God We Trust' from U.S. Currency.  You'll have to register your e-mail address with the Washington Post to read this article, but it's an important article and worth the effort.

Consider the damage done by the Supreme Court since 1948:

1948 Religious instruction in public schools banned (333 U.S. 203)
1962 Public school prayer banned (82 S. Ct. 1261)
1963 Bible reading in schools banned (374 U.S. 203)
1968 States cannot ban teaching of evolution (89 S. Ct. 266)
1971 Separation of church and state (91 S. Ct. 2105)
1980 Ten Commandments banned from schools (449 U.S. 39)
1985 Moment of silence, if for silent prayer, banned (105 S. Ct. 2479)
1987 Teaching of Creation Science banned (107 S. Ct. 2573)
1989 Nativity Scenes displayed in government buildings banned (492 U.S. 573)
1992 Prayer by clergy at school graduations banned (112 S. Ct. 2649)

There are even more decisions, including legalizing the murder of unborn children.

(Rescue workers are shown unfurling the American Flag at the Pentagon on September 12, 2001, the day after the 911 tragedy in the photo above.  More information about this photo is available from the U.S. Navy website at www.news.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=1463.)

Saturday, March 20, 2004

With certainty we believe that spring will follow winter, summer will follow spring, and so on.  We never know what to expect from each season, but each season will come.  Crabapple blossoms give way to shady summer leaves.  Fall leaves carpet ground to be covered in snow.  Mottled snow seemingly recedes into the ground to nurture the next spring.

The cycle of seasons is one of the certain realities created by God, meant to teach us hope.  One definition of hope is "to look forward to with confidence or expectation".  Yet with all the uncertainties of life and the utter lack of guarantees, it seems there is little for which to hope.  We give the word and idea of "hope" more uncertainty than the definition allows when saying things like, "I hope I get a new car."  The great misuse of "I hope" is to mean it as "I want".  Most people really do not have hope.

Children might understand hope better than adults, because they do not question reality to the point of unbelief like we do.  That's what Jesus was talking about when He said we must receive the kingdom of God like a child (see Mark 10:13-16).  Children accept absolute truth without question and have a better grasp on hope than enlightened grown-ups.

The Gospel message is: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." (John 3:16-17)  Believing in Jesus is what gives this hope, which is eternal life with the Lord.

We are in a season of death, what we call "this life".  But the next season is eternity; it is more sure and certain than the changing seasons, and it is the last, final, and forever season.  Be assured, be certain, be confident, be hopeful.

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