Am I a Pharisee?

Posted on 15.Oct.06 by | 8 comments

We have been attending a church that meets late Sunday afternoons.  We enjoy the timing because it makes the whole day feel very restful, but not going to church Sunday mornings makes me paranoid.  We live in a small town (albeit next to a big city, it is still a small town) where many of our neighbors invited us to church upon meeting us.  Both of our cars are obviously home every Sunday morning.  Then I took the girls for a walk this morning and I wondered what people thought about me walking around with two casually dressed children at 10:30 Sunday morning.  I almost wanted a shirt that said, “I’m not a pagan.  I go to church later in the day.”  Sunday mornings are just so entrenched in our culture as church time, and I do appreciate the setting apart of a day for the Lord, but I know that 11 a.m. is not intrinsically sacred.  I just have to keep reminding myself of that.

8 Comments

Posted in culture, family life, theology

Progress

Posted on 14.Oct.06 by | 1 comment

We’ve been stuck in a rut for the past six weeks with the house (sickness, travelling, general busyness, etc.) but I feel like we’re finally getting some momentum. I worked on the playroom today and we’ve both worked on prepping the foyer for painting… maybe next weekend. I should upload pics of the living room and playroom sometime this week. The playroom isn’t finished, but everything is planned out.

1 Comment

Posted in home sweet home

Louisiana Readers: Head’s Up!

Posted on 13.Oct.06 by | 6 comments

The state board of medical examiners is poised to make more regulations on homebirths in Louisiana. Regardless of what people think may be a good idea for most (like living near a hospital in case of transport) more regulations only hurt midwifery and narrow birth options for women.

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Posted in in the news

Babywearing Tragedy in Darfur

Posted on 11.Oct.06 by | 2 comments

As someone who often wraps my daughter on my back, I found this story especially real to me. I was encouraged to see that an African Leader (Nigerian President Obasanjo) has used the word genocide to describe the situation in Sudan for the first time this week but there is still so far to go in stopping the violence there.

2 Comments

Posted in in the news

Made it!

Posted on 06.Oct.06 by | 2 comments

We made it with very little trauma on the way, just boredom when the iPod skitzed out (as it has been doing lately).  We are enjoying seeing the family but we miss Mike!  Just wanted to give an update since I blogged about travelling and all. 

2 Comments

Posted in family life

Leaving (in a Volvo)

Posted on 04.Oct.06 by | 8 comments

Tomorrow the girls and I are headed to spend a few days in my sweet Carolina with my parents and siblings. I am a little nervous about the drive, but we will surely have a great time. We’ve had a stomach bug circulate through the whole family the past week and a half. Mike fell last and got it the worst. I feel a little bad leaving him by himself but tomorrow will be day five and at the very least he will not have anyone to bug him while he recuperates!

We had a really great Magic City Slingers meeting today. It was so encouraging and fun. Several people completely new to slinging left the meeting armed with carriers from the lending library and some knowledge of how to use them.

8 Comments

Posted in family life, general

Not Ashamed

Posted on 03.Oct.06 by | 7 comments

I’m not ashamed to be really happy that we are back in a market that shows the Gilmore Girls. And I’m not ashamed that I hate FOX for airing baseball instead of House. I’m also not ashamed that we normally record House and watch it after the Gilmore Girls since they are both on at 7p.

I don’t think I’m quite a TV junkie (I only watch four shows!) but we’ve come a long way from the TV-free days of the first half of our marriage.

7 Comments

Posted in culture

Books and Music, Cheap and Free

Posted on 02.Oct.06 by | 4 comments

We’re still loving Paperback Swap. We’ve received almost 20 books now and setting up the wishlist means we get a steady stream without doing anything at all except send out books as they are requested as they notify us when books we want are posted in the system. It’s really a great site: pay for media mail postage to send out a book, get a credit when the book is recieved and then get any book you want for that credit! If you list nine books, they’ll give you 3 credits to start out (Full disclosure: if you click on our link, we get a credit if you register and list nine books)

Another great site I used recently is emusic. If you sign up, you get 25 legal mp3s for free. They have a good selection of music from independent and smaller label artists, I could have definitely found 500 songs I’d love to have without any trouble. I get nothing from emusic if you sign up, I’m just passing it along!

4 Comments

Posted in books, culture, technology

Learning By Experience

Posted on 01.Oct.06 by | 1 comment

I never truly grasped the phrase “grows like a weed” until we had a lawn of our own to care for.

1 Comment

Posted in home sweet home

Balsamic Pasta Salad

Posted on 29.Sep.06 by | 1 comment

I used to add Extra Virgin Olive Oil to the dressing, but it’s just not necessary. This has gone over well both times I’ve made it and it’s super simple.

Combine
1 pound bowtie pasta – cooked, rinsed and drained
3+ roma tomatos, diced
3-4 oz. feta cheese
a little bit of finely chopped vidalia onion
cooked chicken, cubed (optional – fine without if it’s a side, with makes a great meal)

Make dressing
1/4 c. balsamic vinegar
1+ Tbs. dijon mustard (to taste)
dash sugar
salt and pepper
2 Tbs. mayonaise (I used helman’s light — the light blue one.)

Toss dressing over other stuff. Refresh with a little more balsamic if it gets dry.

1 Comment

Posted in feasting, recipes

It’s beginning to feel a lot like autumn…

Posted on 28.Sep.06 by | 2 comments

… a chill is in the air!  Long pants and even sleeves have been worn.  Wild onions are more prominent amongst the yard weeds.  I saw real cider in the store this week.

We had a last hurrah at summer at community group yesterday and grilled out.  I brought a balsamic pasta salad that went over well.  I should post that recipe.  I should also post open letters to our local big box stores about Newcastle.  And change the header.  I am being blog-negligent.

2 Comments

Posted in family life, feasting

Interesting CT article

Posted on 26.Sep.06 by | Leave a comment

Young, Restless, Reformed talks about Calvinism’s recent comeback, focusing mostly on Calvinistic baptists, but interesting nonetheless.

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Posted in in the news, theology