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.

...having survived his battle with the fearsome Balrog and been made even more powerful by his trial.

more George-isms

16th Do not Puff up the Cheeks, Loll not out the tongue rub the Hands, or beard, thrust out the lips, or bite them or keep the Lips too open or too Close.
(pretty self-explanatory)

17th Be no Flatterer, neither Play with any that delights not to be Play'd Withal.
(don't flatter, and don't tease people who don't like to be teased)

18th Read no Letters, Books, or Papers in Company but when there is a Necessity for the doing of it you must ask leave: come not near the Books or Writings of Another so as to read them unless desired or give your opinion of them unask'd also look not nigh when another is writing a Letter.
(don't bury yourself in a book when others are around; don't look over somebody's shoulder)

19th let your Countenance be pleasant but in Serious Matters Somewhat grave.
(keep a nice expression but be serious when it's appropriate)

20th The Gestures of the Body must be Suited to the discourse you are upon.
(keep your hand motions etc. appropriate to what you're talking about)

21st: Reproach none for the Infirmaties of Nature, nor Delight to Put them that have in mind thereof.
(don't make fun of people who can't help the way they are)

22d Shew not yourself glad at the Misfortune of another though he were your enemy.
(be a good sport, even with people you don't like)

23d When you see a Crime punished, you may be inwardly Pleased; but always shew Pity to the Suffering Offender.
(it's ok to feel that justice has been done, but be sensitive to the punished one)

24th Do not laugh too loud or too much at any Publick Spectacle.

25th Superfluous Complements and all Affectation of Ceremonie are to be avoided, yet where due they are not to be Neglected.
(don't be all gushy, but give a compliment when it's deserved)

To all you people who have been at our house within the last year....

They're gone!!!!

things I'm looking forward to

~monolog

As this year comes to a close, there appear in my mind a few things that have not yet come to pass which I would like to share with you. Some are close at hand, some are quite distant, yet they all have one thing in common: They are all eagerly awaited by myself.

I'm looking forward to...

blogging more
I do intend to start trying a little harder in the Blog arena. It is healthy, you know.

having my sisters at home for a little while

getting another iPod at some point in the future
When Steve was stolen at the beginning of the semester, I was crushed. But I recovered quickly, and now once again enjoy the pleasure of not feeling the need to "phone up" every time I'm...doing...something......all the time, basically. But the joys that Steve did bring are ever filling up my memory space. I miss that little guy. All 2GBs of him.

going in January and again in February to the Sacred Harp singing held in Oxford, MS

Punch
Highly acclaimed mandolin virtuoso and musical master Chris Thile has formed a new acoustic band, Punch Brothers. Their debut album from Nonesuch Records, Punch, is slated to be released February 26, 2008 (at the release of their previous album, How To Grow A Woman From The Ground, they were ticketed as the How To Grow A Band). It's gonna be groundbreaking.

Grace Chapel's December meeting

reading Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis
It's fiction, and it's by C. S. Lewis. Apparently, it's a "must".

finishing some of my music
I'm becoming more and more aware that you sort of have to put some gritty work into a song or a piece of music. You can't just scribble a little bit whenever the Muse comes along. Sometimes she's pretty shy. Especially during the school year.

Through the Window of a Train
The underrated bluegrass group Blue Highway will release their 8th record also in February. All 12 tracks on the record were written or co-written by the members, so it's completely fresh work. Their last album, Marbletown, which was nominated in 2006 for the IBMA's Best Album award, was super good. But this upcoming record is thought by the band to be their strongest yet!

voting!

track next semester
I've really enjoyed running cross country this year. It's been extremely beneficial. I once wrote down 10 pros to running in a little notebook, but I lost it, so, I'll try to remember as many as I can.

1. Physical strength
2. Concentration and focus
   
3. Bonding with fellow runners
4. Healthy use of energy
5. Physical coordination
6. Self control

getting to Romans

diminishing the contents of the bin of sentimental junk under my bed
Slowly, but surely, I'll get it down to the bare essentials. I'm not the sort of person that takes his box of Stuff down the driveway to the trash barrel in a moment of truth-and-revelation and dumps it in without looking. No, I get rid of it bit by bit as my attachment to it slowly peels away so as to make it not hurt. Like a band aid on your arm hairs.

In which I fly

I am going to fly for the very first time on Tuesday. Or, rather, on Tuesday I am going to fly for the very first time. I look forward to this experience with no trepidation. Some I have talked to have described flying as something that one should look at as a Pekingese dog would look at a vet when going to have its monthly shot. But I am very excited about trying my wings and am looking forward to a rough take-off. I like excitement of that kind, you see.
However, never having done anything like this before, I was hoping that you could give me some advice about what to take/do on the trip over. I think it will be only an hour flight, nevertheless, I want to have all the experiences of flying that I can in that flight. Oh! And I will have the flight back in which to revel. Yay! I'll be going with Dan, so he can show me what to do, but I'd still like some input from our loving blog followers...if we have any left, that is. :-)

Note: This post is dedicated, with fondest love, to Rebekah.

For a certain Rebekah Ceridwen

Post.

There. I posted.

No really... an interesting post is coming up. One that can be waited for with bated breath.

Thoughts on our Refrigerator

Magnetic Poetry is a wondrous thing.

chocolate
love
prince

wish
spring

friends
too

fun
summer

you
laugh

boys
band

fall
rain

dance
silly

family
smile

happy
way

winter
play

cheese
princess

little
giggle

cute
life

(While this may not be a Glorious Waterfall, it is somewhat more interesting than Stagnant Mode.)