Intricate

I really don't like spiders, and I for sure don't like them in my house, but I have to admit to a begrudging admiration for them and their web craft. How can such a tiny and insignificant thing as a spider build something so clever, intricate, strong, and flexible, to say nothing of beautiful? And if I tear this one down (because it is blocking my back door), he just gets right back up and builds another one.

Proverbs 6:6 says to go to the ant and observe her ways to become wise. We could probably learn something from the spider too.

Here is a link to a site that shows step by step how a spider builds a web. (Of course, they don't admit to a Creator giving spiders such ability, but the illustrations are informative.)

A Stack of Bibles

My "paralyzed" friend, Melchizedek, made a post recently about his inventory of Bibles. That got me to thinking about my life a long time ago. I think it was the spring of 1972. I was in Bible college, on tour with a womens' singing group, visiting a church in Minnesota. Or was it Wisconsin? This poster was on the wall of their church. I was so moved by this poster, which went on to have a profound effect on my life, that I asked someone at the church if I could have it and they obliged.

I know you can't read it (this is a scan of a photo taken in 1974 of the poster as it was a couple years later on my bulletin board). On one side is a stack of Bibles in English. On the other side is a blank sheet of paper. One one side it says, "Dozens of translations of the Bible in English." On the other side it says, "Hundreds of languages without one single verse of the Bible." If I remember correctly, the poster was actually advertising for New Tribes Mission, which I didn't join.

I stayed in that womens' singing group for the three years I was at that college, and each spring we toured. Year three we returned to the same church where I had found this poster two years prior. This time, there was a poster advertising Wycliffe Bible Translators.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Our Integrated Lives

The conversations this morning went something like this:


He: Can you print off a couple things for me? Here are 7 urls, 1 pdf and 1 word file. And then I need 50 more color copies of the flyer--duplex, please. No don't bother folding them, I'll do that later.
Me: Grrr.
He: You know, if you had a real job, you couldn't complain like that.

Me: Your lack of planning does not constitute my crisis.
He: What lack of planning? I've been planning this for weeks. And what do you mean, "last minute"?? The plane doesn't take off for another four hours.

He: Did you pick up my business cards from the printshop?
He: Yep, and you're not going to like the mistake they made on them.

He: Where's my favorite shirt?
Me: I just finished your laundry.

He: Where's my new pants?
Me: I just finished hemming them.

He: You know, I don't think I have room in my suitcase for my tennis shoes, jeans, dress shoes or dress pants. Could you put them in your suitcase when you come?
Me: Sure. When I join you next week all I'm bringing is my toothbrush and a change of underwear.

He: Photos. Don't you think I should take some photos of the family with me?
Me: Have you ever heard of the internet? Let me write down the URL.

He: Could you make a back up copy of my Powerpoints on a CD? The one for the keynote lecture at Stanford and the one for the sermon I'll be giving 5 times. Don't mix them up.
Me: Mix them up? Hmm, that could be instructive--in both cases.

Me: Would you like some salad? It might be your last chance for vegetables.
He: I know California is full of fruits and nuts, but do you think there are no vegetables?

Yum

Looks like I'm not the only one who likes these roses.

Pizza

Grilled burgers is the typical food for July 4th, but with all the rain, it seemed more like a time to make homemade pizza. With Rachel's help it went pretty fast.


When I used to make pizza there were hardly any leftovers. But now, we'll be eating this the rest of the week.

Lurkers

I don't get very many comments on this blog, but I have a counter, so I know some people must be stopping by. I've thought a little bit about lurking, and wrote about it here. We'd be happy for you to join the conversation there, or just leave an anonymous comment, or, just lurk!

Happy Birthday to Me

I think I want one of these for my birthday!

Life Goes On

I take lots of photos, but I don't get in the photos too often. Yesterday we were happy to celebrate 60 years of marriage with friends from our old church. I want to be like Laurel when I grow up--always kind and cheerful!


Gary's day brightened up when he discovered marshmallows could be dipped in melted chocolate!

Lunch with Ardith

I got to meet another internet friend today. I had met her large family two years ago, and today I got to meet the eldest child, Ardith. She got here around 11am and I took her on a tour of my workplace and then we got together with a small group to go out for lunch. It was lots of fun! She is a sweet and smart young lady, and she's welcome to come back and visit again anytime she's in Texas.

lunch with Ardith

We Understand the Universe

• By science we understand the universe.
• By deduction we understand the universe was created.
• By faith we understand the universe was created by the word of God.

Hebrews 11:3

Titanic

Last evening we attended the Family Music Theater's presentation of the musical "Titanic". AS always, they did a great job, and as always, it was a lot of fun to watch.


The captain was one of our colleagues, and we knew several other cast members as well.


Large scale photos from the real Titanic were projected on the screen behind many scenes, making this a history lesson as well as an evening of entertainment.

Who Let the Dogs Out?

You remember a few weeks ago I told you about Sooner and Boomer, don't you? Tonight during dinner I saw them running around, unattended, in our back yard. "Who let the dogs out??" I demanded, and somehow Rachel and I broke into song:


Of course, we only knew six words of the song, and now that I've looked up the lyrics, it is probably best to leave it that way. Enjoy the dog bloopers video--it made me laugh.

Screen Door

Today has been a day of making things.

First, Rachel and I baked cookies that the 3-5 year olds will turn into Father's Day gifts tomorrow at Children's Church. Here is a sample:


Next, it was helping Rachel edit a photo for and think about a new business card. Here's the photo we used:

Lastly, I made a screen door for the sliding door. I found an idea in the airline magazine, so I made my own version of it. It is simply a 36" wide piece of nylon screening with a casing on top and bottom. The top is held in place with a tension rod, and the bottom has a plastic-encased chain in it to provide a flexible weigh to make it automatically fall back into place after one walks outside. (No photo, I mean who wants to see a photo of a screen door?

I should have done a bit more house cleaning today--I only managed to get one bathroom cleaned and one load of laundry.

Forgetful

I am losing my mind, no doubt. But I think I've got company.

An Invitation

I'd like to invite my readers, both of you, to check out Zeal For Truth.

Zeal for Truth is the name of a small community of friends and thinkers that I've gotten to know over the last few years via their forum. Recently this forum has added a blog that you may find interesting. Here's some words of welcome from the blog's first post:

Welcome to ZealForTruth.org

This website has served our community for over four years as a framework for grappling with mankind’s inherent exploration of truth. Indeed, Zeal For Truth was founded under only one basic pretense, that absolute objective truth exists. As Aristotle accurately acknowledged in his opening of Metaphysics: “All men by nature desire to know.”

Contributing daily to this blog are multiple authors from the Zeal For Truth community. Topics will be wide-ranging from discussions about the abstract fundamentals of existence and our world to pragmatic interpretations of books, media and personal events. The subjects will be as diverse as we are. But all of these things relate back and contribute to the important, individual process of exploring truth.

It is with great anticipation and excitement that this new articulation arrives. As one of our members noted in the discussion leading up to this blog, “we certainly have enough of a brain trust here to do it.” In other words, we’ve had a lot of fun having these conversations among ourselves over the last four years – but we’re ready to expand outwards and engage the internet in a new way. Please, be encouraged to enter into the material: comment on the blogs, join the forum, perhaps even get to know us a little. Either way, thank you for visiting our website. We all hope you find it valuable.

Please consider joining us in the discussion. It would mean becoming a member, but there's not much effort in doing that, and your privacy will be respected and no junk email will be sent! A lot of the discussions will be about politics, but a lot of them won't be too, so don't let that scare you off.

I personally plan to post a contribution each Thursday. I'd be happy if you stopped by and commented.

Reunion

For almost two days we are having our whole family here together.

Besides the fun things, I like to put them to work: David replaced a broken light switch.

And Andrew is our defacto financial advisor.

It also means two trips to Ton's in three days!! Yay!

Cool

I haven't had anything interesting to write about lately. My recent accomplishments include washing the carpet in three rooms and the hallway. Not exactly exciting blog material.

We are looking forward to Andrew and Laura coming tomorrow to stay for a few days. Tomorrow also happens to be Rachel's birthday and we've got a day of partying planned: trip to the airport, Shrek III, lunch at Ton's, visit by the Time Warner cable guy, and a Rangers' baseball game.

The only other thing of importance to note is that I think tonight is the night we will turn the A/C on. We've gotten all the way to June 6 without turning it on this season. It has been unseasonably cool and rainy this spring. Yay!

"Our Prayers Weren't Answered"

Or maybe they were. We didn't make it to our destination, but we were protected and got home safely.

Thanks to Hess Towing in Gainesville, we are no longer stranded on the side of the I-35.

More Babies and More Weddings

Today Rachel and I went around visiting people. First, welcome to a new baby in a family she often babysits for. Now there will be 7 kids for her to take care of!


Next, off to the used book store to buy her friend Steven a couple books she thought he could use. Because his bride works overseas, he is "getting" to plan a lot of the wedding himself. Rachel thought he could use some tips.

Bad Kitty!

In spite of this cat being recently emasculated, he apparently is still is a killer. At this sight, Panther's owner rather unceremoniously exclaimed, "See, [testicles] don't make a difference!"

Perhaps not.