Bugs Galore

AP, California - Mother Nature has settled a class action lawsuit brought by the ALCU for drivers world wide. The ACLU claims bugs are too hard to see to be able to avoid and the result car-bug collisions infringe on the driver's right to choose not to hit them. Mrs. Nature has agreed to mark bugs more clearly.---
We were at home depot recently when we saw this enormous yellow and black grasshopper. Isaac and I were both pretty impressed. Isaac has been quite the bug-wrangler lately! He has really started to get a big kick out of picking them up (much to Cheryl's chagrin!) The interest has extended to frogs as well and momma REALLY doesn't get much out of that. So for now, we'll just be keeping the pictures!

Julia's Promotion

Julia moved up this Sunday to the next class ... for bigger kiddos! Our little girl is growing up. True to form we were ready with the camera phone to document this momentous occasion. Julia was pretty ambivalent about the whole thing. As is often the case, this was probably much more of a big deal to her parents than it was to her. In fact I know it is the case.

I'm constantly amazed at every milestone. I'm caught off-guard at how fast they are growing up. They on the other hand take it all in stride, no doubt their overall demeanor buoyed by the constant air of achievement and sometimes frustrated when achievement tarries. In thinking about this odd dichotomy, it strikes me that this has likely been a part of life for all of history. Its an odd connection to thinking of my parents ogling my every change. It's even more awesome to think of Mary and Joseph watching Jesus grow like this.

Julia handled the promotion well, though. She was a happy camper most of the morning and topped it off by falling asleep on the changing table! The nursury workers placed her on a bean bag, and she snoozed the rest of her big event away right there.

So Many Blogs

It all started out with one little blog. Maybe this one. Then you started one. And so did your brother/sister/-in-law. Then they all started putting up link to their favorite blogs and you started finding your own. You might have even started returning a particular website to read their headlines! The number of articles and blogs to read just keeps on growing. If this keeps up you'll end up going nuts! We'll find you huddled in a corner of your closet with a laptop you stole from Best Buy strung out on caffine pills mumbling and typing what you mumble into a series of increasingly incoherentblogsthatyoujUSTCAN'TSTOP!!!!! DO YOU WANT THAT?! DO YOU, PUNK!? ...sorry, i think i need a time out from blogs!

Wouldn't it be great if you could go to ONE website and have all the articles and blogs you like to follow posted right there? You can! Recently a friend put me onto a cool service by (who else?) Google ... the Google Reader. It can take all the blogs you read and combine them into one list of articles. (The techie name for this is a "Feed Aggregator".)

If you don't already have a google account (your "blogger" account is one) you can start by setting that up. Then go to http://reader.google.com and start adding subscriptions - click "Add Subscription" and type or paste in the address of a blog you like. Most of the time this works with out a hitch. Give it a shot - you'll be glad you did!

A Little Quiet Time

I'm not the most disciplined man in the world in any realm of my life. Spiritual disciplines included, I have to confess to a high degree of 'flux' in all of my routines. Still I know the value of quiet time and try to get some in before leaving for work as often as possible.

Coincidentally, Isaac often gets up early. We normally send him back to his room to lay down. But, recently I've started letting him come into the living room with me. The understanding, though, that I try to make with him is that mornings are for Quiet Time. I'll let him come out 15 mins early, but he has to spend that time looking through his picture Bible. Somewhat to my surprise he has accepted it readily. The photo was one I snapped just before sitting down with him at the end to pray. We pray together on these mornings.

If my greatest fear is that I'll not lead him properly, somehow cripple him emotionally or, worse, spiritually, my greatest joy is when I see him growing, maturing and best of all moving toward a spiritual life.

Proverbs 22:6 Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

The Joys of Home Maintenance

Cheryl and I have been putting off some home improvements and maintenance for quite some time now but this weekend we got started in earnest! We recently had the siding replaced and need to get the painting finished but that meant power washing some parts of our house. So we borrowed a pressure washer and got to it. While we had the machine we decided we might as well wash the brick ... and the walk ... and the driveway, patios, etc. What began simply enough turned into an entire day of pressure washing just about everything! I have to admit though, it is pretty cool to see the concrete gleaming now. It is rather noticeable - so much so that we had fun 'writing' with the washer!