week 49

My plan to put up new pics of Sophia every week for the first year of her life met a little road block for the past (almost) three weeks since she and Brooke were in the States for Brooke's sister's wedding. This has been a difficult couple of weeks for me. While Brooke and I have been apart for this long before I still don't like it, and up until now I hadn't even spent a night away from Sophia. Needless to say I'm very happy to have both of my ladies back in Auckland.

This was Sophia playing yesterday. Even after a two hour nap the jet lag made her look pretty dazed and droopy.

Her solution to that problem has been to take some extra naps and sleep very heavily. She usually wakes up as soon as any light enters her room, but today she didn't even flinch when I opened her curtains. Poor girl.

literal version

While I was in Dunedin last weekend some friends turned me onto the "literal versions" of music videos. How have I not heard of this until now? Basically a literal version is when someone re-records the lyrics of a popular music video and changes the words to match whatever is literally happening in the video. Most of the ones I saw weren't that great but this one taking on the RHCP made me laugh pretty good the first time I saw it.

yeah... uh.. nix that last post

So after a week of being back on the ol' FB, I've decided that all of my reasons for quitting a year ago outweigh the reasons for returning. Yes, that means the account has been deactivated yet again, and I'm pretty sure for good this time.

Does this make me fickle or unstable? I don't really care.

(P.S. Kitty, I hope this brings some more laughter to your day.)

a somewhat reluctant return

After a year long hiatus, I have reluctantly rejoined the dreaded Facebook. None of my reasons for quitting last year have really changed. However, I had been reconsidering the networking aspect of the site and recently two high school classmates tried to reconnect with me and were only able to do so through a mutual friend they were communicating with on FB. So, in full anticipation of the chiding and abuse I'm about to take... I've reconnected.

week 46

Here are some new pics of Sophia. The first is her famous tiger pose. Okay, I don't know what the pose is but it's pretty funny to watch her do it.

The other pics are some eating shots. Eating blueberries (a new favorite), eating... well, I'm not quite sure what, and eating her washcloth.

Unfortunately this will be the last Sophia post for a few weeks. She and Brooke head to the States on Monday for two and a half weeks. :-(

week 45

ex libris

"Jesus never begged anyone to follow Him. He never waited for anyone, never sang one more verse while people decided whether to follow. He barked, 'Follow Me!' and kept going. Those who immediately dropped everything became His disciples; those who hesitated were left behind.

"Yet week after week, especially in evangelical churches, we beg men to be saved. Problem is, the call to be saved is so familiar, men see no value in it. Don't misunderstand me: it's vitally important that we call men to follow Jesus. Men need salvation. But instead of pleading, what if our approach was: 'Do you have what it takes to follow Christ? Many say they do, but fewer than one in four will remain loyal. Are you one of the few, or when trials come, will you crumble?' What if we stopped begging men to be saved and started challenging them to follow Jesus Christ?"

"Christ plows through the Gospels like a wrecking ball, smashing tables, driving people with a whip, devastating the Pharisees with a word, taming the winds with an uplifted hand, toppling a detachment of armed soldiers simply by speaking His name. He never cajoles; He commands! Christ is powerful, dangerous, and un-predictable. Teachers, present Christ the man. Men will follow."

- David Murrow, Why Men Hate Going to Church, 163-164, 183.