i thank you God for most this amazing day

http://www.last.fm/music/Eric+Whitacre/+videos/+1-5U7i99AfBik

I never thought I'd say that...

I was just griping to someone about schoolwork and he said "Well, I'm sure every kid feels this way about school. Except nerds. Somehow, they never seem to be overwhelmed." To which I replied, "Lucky nerds."

Do dolls freak you out? They freak me out. When I was little, there were only two dolls that I could tolerate. One was a smallish, very thin and spinsterly looking Raggedy Ann. She had a little, white bunny rabbit doll to go with her and I loved her. The other one that I liked was named Emily and she had huge blonde hair, blue eyes, and the prettiest pink dress I had ever seen. However, all of our other dolls totally scared me. The ratted hair, the rolling eyes (or lack thereof), and the scary hands haunted my dreams...well, maybe not. But they scared me. I remember one time when I was about 6, Molly had put all of their dolls under my trundle bed. That night, of course, I really, really, really needed to go use the bathroom, but the thought of putting my feet down on the floor where the dolls could reach them totally scared the peewaddin out of me. I found a way past this major problem, however. I stood on my bed, leapt off, hit the ground running and sped towards the bathroom, proving that fear can help a 6 year old make Jesse Ownes look like Freddie the Sloth.



Of course, if I had thought about it hard enough, I would have realized that the wolf that lived under my bed had probably eaten the dolls all up.

and I quote...

~monolog

Here are a few great quotes and things that I've randomly come across lately.

If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten.
Tony Robbins.

An adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered.
C. S. Lewis.

A girl of sixteen deserves no credit for her looks. Beauty at sixty is her souls doing.
Anonymous.

Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.
Tim Keller.

idiot n. A member of a large and powerful tribe whose influence in human affairs has always been dominant and controlling.

The Devil's Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce.

beauty n. An aesthetic radiance that delights the soul; a quality much admired in women, landscapes and tropical fish, but curiously out of favor in art throughout the modern era.

cat n. A soft, indestructible automaton provided by nature to be kicked when things go wrong in the domestic circle.

egotist, n. A person of low taste, more interested in himself than in me.
The Cynic's Dictionary, by Rick Bayan.

Whoso neglects learning in his youth, loses the past and is dead for the future.
Euripides (c. 480–406 BC).

In Ages of Faith, the final aim of life is placed beyond life.
Alexis de Tocqueville.

But what if man had eyes to see the true beauty--the divine beauty, I mean, pure and dear and unalloyed, not clogged with the pollutions of mortality and all the colours and vanities of human life--thither looking, and holding converse with the true beauty simple and divine?
Plato's Symposium.

A mighty fortress is our God, 
a bulwark never failing;  
Our helper He amid the flood 
of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe 
doth seek to work us woe; 
his craft and power are great,  
and armed with cruel hate,  
on earth is not his equal. 

Did we in our own strength confide,
our striving would be losing,
were not the right man on our side,
the man of God's own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is he;
Lord Sabbath is his name,
from age to age the same,
and He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled,
should threaten to undo us,
we will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph through us.
The Prince of Darkness grim,
we tremble not for him;
his rage we can endure,
for lo, his doom is sure;
one little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers,
no thanks to them, abideth;
the Spirit and the gifts are ours,
thru Him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go,
this mortal life also;
the body they may kill;
God's truth abideth still;
His kingdom is forever.

~Martin Luther

enlightening conversation for all you hot dog lovers out there...

and hot dog haters, i guess.

hug.
kiss.
love.


(yes. the heart balloon is flying towards the little girl. NOT away.)

Charlie bit my finger....again!

Chuck Norris is #1.
Chuck Norris is also #2.

phobias: we all got 'em...some more than others

Some of these are state-the-obvious-ish fears like the fear of atomic explosions; some of them make you wonder if there are people that actually have them. These are just a few that I thought...humorous (or profound).

Chickens- Alektorophobia
Beards- Pogonophobia
Chopsticks- Consecotaleophobia
Atomic Explosions- Atomosophobia
Bald people- Peladophobia
Beautiful women- Caligynephobia
Peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth- Arachibutyrophobia
Sermons- Homilophobia
Clowns- Coulrophobia
Bolsheviks- Bolshephobia
Everything- Panophobia, Panphobia, Pamphobia, or Pantophobia
Garlic- Alliumphobia
Being tickled by feathers- Pteronophobia
Old people- Gerontophobia
Words, long- Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia
Pope, the- Papaphobia
Thinking- Phronemophobia

we can't escape the realization of the fall

This is an excerpt from one of the Worldview Academy podcasts with Bill Jack and Jeff Baldwin. Bill Jack:

I recently took Ruby Nell, my ten year old, down to the local Castlerock, Colorado confectionaire, and we got some ice cream. So, we’re sitting there and we made our choices from all these delicious and delightfully named selections. Ya’ know, they had Purple Hazelnut, they had Pistachio, they had Strawberry Peanut Butter, Raspberry Sorbet...they had one—this really rich concoction, you could just look at it and gain weight, ya’ know—it was called Death by Chocolate. So we were sitting there, enjoying our little taste treat, and there was another family, and they came up and they made their choices. And in response, the server acknowledged one of their decisions by saying this: “Is that one scoop of Death?” And here’s the thing that struck me about that: even in that pleasant, respite—on a warm autumn afternoon where the sun is filtering through the window and I’m sitting there with my daughter... I can’t escape the realization of the fall.

And what was amazing was that “death” was a word that was new to Adam and Eve. Even in their expansive vocabulary. After all, Adam named all the animals. He had an expansive vocabulary, but he did not know the word “death”. But it’s so common to us that we make it a delight to our palate. Our culture feeds us death one scoop at a time.

Happy Birthday Ellie!

16 years old

We love you old thing.