HARMLESS THOUGHTS

It has been a weekend of gatherings. I'm guessing it will take ONE MILLION trips to the gym to combat the eating that has been happening here in the South. Sunday night we celebrated with Di again and the Bradley's. It was misery the rest of the night to lead me directly into this morning when Anne came by with pizza and cake for lunch. Tonight, We went to Ruby Tuesday's because I felt the need for salad...Yes, something green, please! Of course, Sam made fun of me! There was the infamous "carrot cake" that I get every year... I loved this picture of Josiah looking "reflective". He actually posed for it, which cracks me up! I had wanted an ipod (I'll explain what that is to you later) so I can store all my music for when I run, but I got the next best thing for now...Sam picked it out. He said he knew I would like it because it was "purple with flowers on it"! It should bring on some interesting conversations at the gym! There's a part...

837 15th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet 1594 Henry IV is crowned king of France in Chartres. 1801 The District of Columbia was placed under the jurisdiction of Congress. 1807 The poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born. 1827 1st Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans 1844 Dominican Republic gained independence from Haiti. 1861 Russian troops fired on a crowd in Warsaw that was protesting Russian rule over Poland. Five marchers were killed. 1879 Two American chemists announce the discovery of saccharin 1902 Author, John Steinbeck was born. 1908 Star #46 was added to U.S. flag for Oklahoma. 1922 The United States Supreme Court declares the Nineteenth Amendment constitutional, thereby guaranteeing women's voting rights. 1932 Actress, Elizabeth Taylor was born. 1933 German Reichstag building in Berlin was destroyed by fire. 1934 Consumer advocate, Ralph Nader was born. 1939 The Supreme Court outlawed sit-down strikes. 1951 The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution was ...

Monday is my 32nd birthday. I miss my mom and dad and my best friends-so for them, I will blog the festivities that will lead up to a fairly insignificant day for most, but another monumental year for me! It all started this morning with a call from my good friend Diane, who invited me to come along shopping with her and enjoying some lunch. I was released from my wifely and motherly duties (which of late has been round the clock care of the sick) and I took off for an afternoon of catching up on latest news and checking out the jewelry at Belk. It was fun. I love Diane. Just about any time with her is fun. We are planning a road trip back home in May and I CAN'T WAIT! Then, we picked up Kate...the highly demanded babysitter from BJU so that she could watch the boys tonight for my birthday dinner out. She was at Anne's and that gave us a chance to visit with my poor sick friend...who has the same bug that my family has had. I patted her on her poor, feverish head and it w...

I called in sick today because, well... I am sick. I have had a fever and body aches for almost a week, and they were at their worst the last two days. I went in yesterday only because I had a commitment to drive the bus for a field trip. If it hadn't been for that commitment, I wouldn't have gone to school yesterday. And for the time that I was there, I was almost useless. Trying to teach while you are running a fever doesn't work all that well.

I think that the theory of evolution it absolutely and completely absurd. In fact, the more I hear about the topic, the more I am convinced of it... Evolutionary theory is absolutely ridiculous. Even Darwin admitted the absurdity of it in his famous book, The Origin of Species. In the chapter titled Difficulties, he states, "To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree." I just read an article about how churches were being urged to support the theory of evolution. The president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) even made this statement, "It's time to recognize that science and religion should never be pitted against each other." And I am thinking..."What are y...

The other day a student left this Foxtrot comic on my desk. It was so fitting that I had to share it with you.

For some reason, I can't get to Google, Gmail, or Blogger from the school. I am not really for sure why this is. I can get to any other site out there, but I can't get to these. It doesn't make any sense. I have my suspicians that one of the Internet Techs messed with something. It really bums me out though, because those are the three sites that I visit most during the day. I haven't been able to get on there since last week, and I am starting to go through Google Withdrawal! Oh well. I have put in my formal complaint now, so maybe it will be fixed in the next few days.

(By Josiah) Tomorrow is my fourth birthday but my mom and dad had my first ever, real birthday party with my friends today. We met my church playgroup buddies at my favorite pizza joint (CiCi's) and there was a great Hot Wheels birthday cake. My friends all helped me celebrate....Claire, Molly, Caleb, Naomi, Annelise, Baby Stephen and my bubba, Sam. We all laughed and ate a BUNCH of pizza and I got some really great presents....Even though, "actually", I'm still three! I missed my Grammy and Pop-Pop and my MeMaw and Paw-Paw. I missed my Aunts and Uncles and all my cousins...but it's good to know that you can make new friends wherever you go! I left this movie clip of my BIG moment so you can all feel a part of my party! (click this picture to watch a short movie clip) Be Patient! It takes about 30 seconds!

(By the Mom, again) Yes, my friends...it was the wee hours of the morning that I was awakened by not only one sick Josiah but also one very sick Samuel! There were a few bleak moments in the bathroom with a sobbing little boy-and I will save you all the gory details! I will say that I have gotten to play "caregiver" all day and just for the record, it's MORE fun when you've had a little more sleep! Sick or not-they are so sweet and I wish I could force them to stay small forever.

(By the Mom) I thought this was so sweet! Samuel and Josiah beat me downstairs this morning and I was so touched by what I found a few minutes later after I came into our living room. Josiah had gone to bed with a cold last and so Sam decided that he deserved a little "TLC" to start the day off... Samuel had prepared the couch just the way JoJo would like it with all of his favorite things. New favorite book, favorite cars, favorite cats, favorite pillow, bowl of favorite cereal, favorite cartoon on the tv, and of course, all the best blankets in the house! The funny thing is, I was just thinking yesterday that while I am SO (and can I stress SOOOO) glad that no one has gotten very sick this winter yet, I am a little sad because I haven't gotten to spoil a sick person for a long time. It's one of my favorite duties as the Mom. (...Or wife, or friend, or neighbor, or for just your basic stranger. I clearly don't want to CATCH your sickeness but I love to to tak...

I don't listen to very much secular music. I just don't keep up with it anymore, plus most of it is trash. But every once in awhile, I will run across an artist (whether by accident or by recommendation) and will become an instant fan. So the other day this friend of mine shows me this clip of this guy named Raul Midon . And I gotta tell ya, he's cool. You can check out his website here and then you can check out his live performance at the Kennedy Center . You have to watch at least enough of the live performance to see the "trumpet" thing that he does. Pretty amazing stuff.

Every week the pastor of our church sends out a church-wide e-mail with some though-provoking comments concerning the coming week's teaching. This week's e-mail says this: Which is better, worshipping (a) at a church or (b) at Starbucks? George Barna would answer (b). He contends that Spirit-filled, biblical Christians are throwing off the traditional trappings of local church worship and creating highly personal expressions of their love for God. He calls this a revolution ,” like the Reformation, Great Awakening, and Missionary Age. Churches can either jump in or lose out. Is this good or bad? How does this emphasis relate to Jesus'’ teaching on “ spirit and truth” worship? We will tackle these kinds of questions this Sunday morning. I am really excited about this topic because it seems like such a prevalent opinion with so many oChristianristian" bloggers out there. I have even met a few people who gather together, yet refuse to call themselves a "chu...