we should get a pig fest together

John David and the pig at rib and loin

I'm so jealous. I would love to participate in a group like this. After reading his post my heart was beating a 100 miles a minute. I would love to jump in on the arranged marriage debate. I might need to try to get something like this going in Chattanooga. That reminds me. I need to get the remodeling of my dining room finished so I can host one.

Is there anyone in ole chatt who would be interested in participating?

And I agree with the Dawn Treader, this kind of moral discussion group would be a great way find out about and to get engaged with the ideas of the day.

It must be an omen. I just so happened that I had a pig picture in my camera from this weekend. We went to the Rib and Loin on 153 and I snapped a few of John David and the pig.

utah state fair: Napoleon

those poor babies goldfish

How can you care more about the eye sight of goldfish than you do about unborn children? I just don't get it.

I tracked down this interesting article on abortion statistics in Italy. Here is a quote that I find really surprising.

I wonder if abortion is higher for the same subgroups here in the US. It is hard to believe that mothers and housewives would be those who abort the most.

I know I have said it before but I really hate abortion. I wish there was something I could do about it.

super boy just like Kipper

We have decided to celebrate Halloween this year. Ahhg, it sounds odd to say celebrate, being that I'm not sure what we are celebrating. Okay let me rephrase, we are doing Halloween this year. As you can probably tell, I'm not totally at peace with it, but to be quite honest I'm not totally at peace with much of anything I do. I can make a huge list of things that were considered outright sins when I was growing up. Whether it was missing church, not doing my devotions, drinking beer, playing cards, women wearing shorts vs. culottes, men having long hair, Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, or buying a Procter and Gamble product all of the above have been “Sins” in my life at one time or the other. I guess I am getting to the point where if it is not clearly a sin and instead has the possibly of just some cultural interpretation then I am going to research it and if I can't find a definitive answer then I am just going to jump right in. What I've learned in my walk with Christ is that He has a way of sitting on my chest when I have entered into sin knowingly or unknowingly, so I'm not going to try to make things sins which aren't. I guess a lot of my thoughts stem from my legalistic upbringing. Somehow I have to learn to live in the freedom that Christ death has given me as a believer.

FYI. The above diatribe was not the point of my post. What I intended to post about was John David's Halloween costume. Elliot is going to be a lamb but John David is going to be Supermanboy. John David watches this great little British cartoon called Kipper. In one of the cartoons Kipper becomes Super Dog and flies around doing the things that Super Dogs do. John David loves the cartoon so we told him while we were picking out the costume at K-Mart the other day that he was going to be super boy just like Kipper. He got excited about it and because he knows nothing of Superman he thinks he is going to be Super Boy just like Kipper. So yesterday Leslie decided to give him the opportunity to play in the cape, and after she got the costume on him he just stood there. So after a little while Leslie asked him what he was doing. His response was "I'm trying to fly." She told him to run around and that the cape would fly, but after doing it he was not very impressed.

The kid normally has a very good imagination so we are hoping he will be able to enjoy the cape even though he can't fly. Stay tuned, I will be sure to get some pictures up after Halloween. Maybe I will get him to try and fly again.

can anyone say bigoted

I sure am glad that Iran has some level headed leadership. You know, not being bigoted and stuff. What happened to all that Iranian reform that was taking place a few years back?

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's hard-line president called for Israel to be "wiped off the map" and said a new wave of Palestinian attacks will destroy the Jewish state, state-run media reported Wednesday.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also denounced attempts to recognize Israel or normalize relations with it.

"There is no doubt that the new wave (of attacks) in Palestine will wipe off this stigma (Israel) from the face of the Islamic world," Ahmadinejad told students Wednesday during a Tehran conference called "The World without Zionism."

"Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's fury, any (Islamic leader) who recognizes the Zionist regime means he is acknowledging the surrender and defeat of the Islamic world," Ahmadinejad said.

Ahmadinejad also repeated the words of the founder of Iran's Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who called for the destruction of Israel.

"As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map," said Ahmadinejad, who came to power in August.

Ahmadinejad referred to Israel's recent withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as a "trick," saying Gaza is part of the Palestinian territories and the withdrawal was meant to make Islamic states acknowledge Israel.

Mid week vacation at the Rock City cornfield maze

Rock City Maze Leslie, Elliot, John David

Yesterday I took off and we went to Rock City Enchanted Maize. In spite of the fact that it was in the mid 80's and felt nothing like fall we had a great time. Well, it did not start out that way. When we got there we decided to go through the maze first. The first thing you noticed when starting the maze was that there was a net on either side of the trail to keep people from making short cuts. On top of being just unsightly John David tripped a few times on all the net that had been pulled down into the path. One time he fell pretty hard and was crying a good bit. Leslie and I were both upset about paying so much and it being such a mess. There was even a bunch of trash in there. I think they should have had staff member walk through the maze from time to time to tidy it back up. We are usually not ones to complain to a manager about such things but we did talk to the manager about it. But, he just gave some excuses as to why it was such a mess. It was really bad. No really, it was a total mess. It was so bad that we only did half the maze.

John David in the Rock City Enchanted Maize

Okay enough of that; back to the good times. After the maze we ate a snack and headed to do the hay ride before we left. John David loved the ride. What made it even better is that we were the only ones on the trailer. The ride was only about 10 minutes but we had a good enough time that our spirits began to lift. After the ride we headed over to the kids section where they had this other ride, which is kind of hard to explain so just look over at the picture of Leslie, John David and Elliot. All three had a lot of fun. I think they road around the little field three or more times. John David was ecstatic with joy. I took a lot of film with my camcorder and can't wait to watch it. The pictures just don't do it justice. Elliot looks miserable in the picture but he wasn't. It was just that split second he looked like that.

After the little ride we swung on the swings and did the seesaw/teeter-totter. They also had a few animals for the little ones to look at. Surprisingly, I think John David was having too much fun on the toys to really be interested in the animals. Though come to think of it, when I was getting him in bed last night he was trying to tell me something about the pigs having dirty nooses and them trying to eat, so I guess those little pigs did not totally get past him.

the three in the maze

As we headed out we stopped by the kid's maze. John David and I had a lot of fun chasing each other through the bails of hay. I think he could have stayed longer but Leslie and I were getting tired so we decided to head home. Plus by that time it was 3:30 and neither of the boys had had a nap, so we wanted to get them to bed a little early.

I'm going to try and get a page together with all our pictures of the day on it. Yea, don't hold your breath….

Gandhi vs. Christ

went for a walk

left to right: John David, me, Elliot

Last night Leslie and I took the boys for a walk around the neighborhood. The weather has been nice the last several days. I think it has been getting down to the low 50's at night, so by the time I get home the weather is perfect for a walk.

I have been looking for the leaves to start turning, but no luck so far. I'm starting to think that this fall is not going to be as nice as I would like. The weather has been crazy and it is supposed to be in the mid to upper 80's here in ole' Chattanooga by the end of the week. You would think that by October 18th the weather would have turned. I'm still holding out hope for a good winter. I want to be able to bring the boys sledding. I think they would have a blast.

It has been over a year since I've posted a picture of myself, so I though this one would fill that void in everyone's life. :-) The picture is from our walk last night. I think this is the first picture I have posted of the three of us.

Got to go...

Halloween or not......II

Here is a little more reading on Halloween. Be sure to check out the comments as well. Both are pro Halloween. Yeah, the first quote would make you think he was against the holiday but he is not. The second quote is from a blog I don't visit often enough. I like his point -- that something which has bad beginning does not have to have a bad ending. I think his point really speaks to the nature of Christ.

From Baylyblog

From Nowhereville, USA

He makes some really good points. What does peek my interest, whether rightly or not, is that in his holiday breakout none of his holidays have any religious significance to him. Maybe I am reading a bit too much into it. I guess his "A time to enjoy friends and family through shared traditions" could also encompass any religious traditions.

Like Daniel brought up in his last comment on the Halloween or not…… post I think it is important for me as an evangelical to tie religious meaning to most if not all of my holidays I celebrate. I think it is a natural out flowing of the significance of holidays to God in the Old Testament. I do see a difference in the OT holidays, which all pointed to Christ and our modern day holidays, but where those ties in our holidays are easily made shouldn't they be?

Google fun

The way you play:
1. Go to google.com
2. Type: "(your name) needs"
3. Pick the 5 funniest ones
4. Leave a comment with your five

Check mine out:
1. David is in serious need of a bath.
2. David needs to roar with pride.
3. David needs dusting often
4. David needs to be able to do this work independently.
5. In short, David needs to listen, take notes, and repeat-slowly in his own words-what was just stated.

(hat tip gravits)

DOWNFALL (Der Untergang)

DOWNFALL (Der Untergang)

I found myself getting really uncomfortable during this movie because Hitler was painted in a light unlike that of any other movie on Hitler I have seen. Unlike in Max where Hitler is portrayed as either unstable or psycho, Down Fall portrayed Hitler as Human, and at times even likeable. In spite of the fact that he was not portrayed as a seething Jew hater as we like (and rightly so) to view him here in the west, I think the story was probably truer then any I've seen about Hitler.

For the most part the movie chronicles the last couple of weeks of Hitler's life. The story was partially told from the perspective of his personal secretary Traudl Jung. On a side note if you want to see a good documentary on Traudl Jung then check out Blind Spot. It is an insightful documentary on how an innocent girl got sucked into the heart of WWII. I might do a post on Blind spot at some point but not right now.

There were several really moving scenes in Down Fall, but by far the one that was most moving took place after the suicide of Hitler. Upon hearing of his death Frau Goebbels murdered her six children as they slept in their bunk beds. The scene was far less disturbing than the Andrea Yates murders, but none the less it brought to life the reality of a despotic ideology running its course.

If you are looking for a good movie to pick up this weekend that will get you thinking then this is the one for you. If you are with the right group when watching this movie it should lead to a very interesting conversation.

If you end up seeing it let me know what you think.

Halloween or not....

There was a point in time where Leslie and I gave out candy and the like at Halloween, but we always kind of questioned whether Halloween was a holiday that we should celebrate as Christians. The last time we did give out candy we has some idiot (I only call them an idiot because it was a hit and run) ran into our mailbox while trying to back out of our drive way, so we decided the next year not to give out candy and for some reason we just never have again.

But, now that we have two little ones we are going to have to settle the issue once and for all. Over at Carol's Storybook she presents Halloween from a perspective I had not heard.

So what do you think, will you be handing out goodies?