i'm back

Gondola at the Venetian

I?m back. I was in Las Vegas last Tuesday through Friday observing some enroller training. The whole time was very informative. I was hoping to do some posts while there but I either had no computer or when I did have a computer there was no free internet connection. Vegas is a very interesting city and I wouldn?t mind going back with Leslie some time. I ended up with 60 bucks more than I went with, so that all worked out well. I did end up with a cold though. I think I must have gotten it from one of those black arm bandits. ;-)

John David was glad that I was back. Leslie, John David, and Elliot met me at the air port, and John David just about freaked out when he saw me. He was so excited. He caught a glance of me at about 75 feet. He stuck his little two year old finger up in the air and with and excited squeal let out a big daaadieeeee. It was very nice to hear. I?m glad I was missed.

View from hotel window

As much as I hated to be gone I really enjoyed myself. I was able to get to know a team member that before the trip I had not really gotten a chance to know, and I also had a chance to do some reading. I read Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold by C.S. Lewis. It was not at all what I expected. I either completely missed his point in the book or it had absolutely nothing to do with enriching my walk with Christ. If anything I am trying to remind myself that there is only one God, and that no plethora of gods exist before which I can argue my case because of their unjust acts. It was a good book but totally unlike Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, or The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Where we Stayed

Well, I need to get to it so I?ll just share a picture or two from the trip. I might get around to putting up some other latter on.

being vigilant

vegging out

The doctor warned us after the birth of Elliot that John David might regress a bit. We have been very vigilant in looking for any signs of regression but to our delight there has been absolutely none.

No really I think this is a very funny picture. Yesterday after I got home John David found Elliot?s bouncy chair and the misplaced pacifier. He promptly jumped in, turned on the vibrator, popped the pacifier in, and pulled up the strap around his waist, and then proceeded to vegg out. I just had to take a picture.

I have been more busy these past seven days than I have been for a very long time. I want to thank everyone who commented on my marriage post. Kevin, you make a good point about the two reasons for there being an amendment though, I need to do some research on it before I could begin to fully agree. If anyone else has time to read through the comments on the marriage post I would be particularly interested in your thoughts on Kevin's comment.

I will be heading to Las Vegas for several days next week for business. I have never been and am looking forward to it. Though, I am sad about leaving the wife and kids. It is amazing how much marriage changes a man! I used to be the kind of guy that when I would get a few hundred buck in my pocket I would just take off on a road trip to nowhere. Now I worry about things like: I hope Leslie will be alright with the two little ones and I hope John David will remember me when I get back. Strange, very Strange?

Jason and I were joking the other day about me going to Vegas and me getting my wife a gift while I was there. He suggested that presenting my wife with a second mortgage was not a good idea. I will have to keep that in mind.

I hope to get some pictures while I am there. Who knows I might even get a blog post or two in while I am there.

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Check out a few of these:
[blog hunt post]
[gay marriage post]
[Home School post]
[the boxer post]
[being vigilant]
[schappi, das kleine krokodil post]
[good eaten post]
[journalists post]

the boxer

the punch

the follow through

gay marriage

I had originally written this as a comment on this blog, but my comment was too long.

For me it all boils down to there being unalienable and alienable rights. Our founding fathers saw this distinction also and created a system of government that protected these non transferable rights, those being life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

I think the founders chose life as the first unalienable right to mention in their Declaration of Independence because it is the core right given to us by God. God initiated the institution of marriage as the spring that life would flow from.

Once moving past their declaration of independence the founders set forth to write a Constitution and a Bill of Rights which were intended to be the ideal system for those unalienable rights to flourish. I don?t think the founders ever envisioned that the institution of marriage, which produced the core unalienable right, would be in danger. They would not have seen a need to protect that institution partly because man invents new ways to commit sin (Romans 1:30). If they had seen that the institution that produced life would have been in danger, I have no doubt that it would have been address. Does anyone know if gay marriage has been attempted by any other culture that proceeded the last 500 years? I would be surprised if they did.

As a Christian, and yes I know not all Christian agree with me on this, I have a requirement to stand for what Christ stands for, marriage being one of those things. Out side of that fact common sense requires that I look ahead to see what the side effect of gay marriage would be. One of those side effects would be polygamy. Both issues have to be addressed at the same time. I know that the gay lobby calls it a red herring to bring in polygamy, but the red herring is theirs. Both issues are involved here and have to be address.

This post was one of my favorite posts because we were able to carry on a great discussion about a hot topic. I am not sure about Texas marriage laws but maybe one day they will have more content.

Who?s two?

Our little ground hog turned two yesterday, so there was a big party at the Gidcumb household last night. Well, okay, it was just the four of us and Elliot was already asleep, but we had fun nonetheless. John David got some really great gifts. My two favorite toys that he received were the Geotrax Railroad and Track System, which is a great add on to the Geotrax Remote Controlled Mix 'n Go Work Crew he got for Christmas and Wedgits, which if I might add are a lot of fun.

I think he got three or four books, a Percy train, the stuff mentioned above, the wooden alphabet, the ubiquitous 8 pack of socks though no underwear, a guitar, and a few other things, I think.

We are so thankful to the Lord for giving to us John David. John David has been a source of much growth and joy in both of our live. We love him a bunch!

How much is too much?

How many gifts are too many? This past Christmas and also for John David?s birthday I was uncomfortable with how much he got from us and his grandparents. I was left with the feeling that I had contributed to the existence of western excess. At least once while presents were being opened during the last two celebrations I felt like the little ones had received enough. I wanted to pick up all the unopened presents and stack them in a closet to be opened during the next holiday.

I don?t know if I feel this why because I never received a lot of presents for the holidays, which was mostly due to the finical situation I grew up in. I never really got anything I wanted. They were usually just small gift from my parents and siblings that were nothing great but the gifts let you know that they cared about you. For the most part holidays were about eating good food and not so much about the gifts. That being the case, I might be being over sensitive about the amount of gifts a child should get at any one holiday.

How do people out in the blogging community handle giving to your kids? Is there a number of gifts like between 1 and 5 or 5 and 10? Or is it by how much you spend?