Not much happening today except this....

Not much going on here unless Susan posts her report from PCRT. I'm not expecting that until sometime later this week or next week :-). So, might I suggest you read our archives? The news that we write about, usually isn't even current when we write about it and we've only been blogging for four months, how dated can some of this stuff be?

Though, while I was writing this I checked out the Drudge Report (why, yes, I do have ADD, how did you guess :-) and noticed that the Vatican is urging Catholics to boycott The Da Vinci Code movie. I was hoping that this wouldn't happen, why give them anymore publicity then they are going to get already? Don't bother boycotting. See it and be prepared to give a defense for the hope that is in you with gentleness and love.

And I see that ten thousand people marched in NYC against the war :

Tens of thousands of protesters marched Saturday through lower Manhattan to demand an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, just hours after this month's death toll reached 70.

Cindy Sheehan, a vociferous critic of the war whose soldier son also died in Iraq, joined in the march, as did actress Susan Sarandon and the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

This is news? When are they not marching? And yeah, you've been marching for how many years now? And are we out yet? That marching thing doesn't appear to be working for ya, does it?

Organizers said the march was also meant to oppose any military action against Iran, which is facing international criticism over its nuclear program. The event was organized by the group United for Peace and Justice.

"We've been lied to, and they're going to lie to us again to bring us a war in Iran," said Marjori Ramos, 43, of New York. "I'm here because I had a lot of anger, and I had to do something."

And marching against the war in Iraq before we went to war was so successful that you are trying to prevent a war in Iran by marching again. Yeah, that's a working strategy, influencing change there aren't ya. The reason you are so angry is because you have no control over what is going to happen. Bush will do what he thinks he should, not what protestors demand he do.

A country of religious zealots, who are under a totalitarian regime is not going to listen to reason, we can't negotiate with them. If we learn nothing from history we should learn this lesson: you cannot negotiate with those who don't share your moral standards. As I have previously noted, Dorothy Sayers wrote of the futility of trying to reason with those who do not share a standard code of conduct (WWII Germany):

"We have been very slow to understand this. We persist in thinking that Germany 'really' believes those things to be right that we believe to be right, and is only very naughty in her behavior. That is a thinking we find quite familiar. We often do wrong things, knowing them to be wrong. For a long time we kept on imagining that if we granted certain German demands that seemed fairly reasonable, she would stop being naughty and behave according to our ideas of what was right and proper. We still go on scolding Germany for disregarding the standard of European ethics, as though that standard was something which she still acknowledged. It is only with great difficulty that we can bring ourselves to grasp the fact that there is no failure in Germany to live up to her own standards of right conduct. It is something much more terrifying and tremendous: it is that what we believe to be evil, Germany believes to be good." (Creed or Chaos? pg. 29)

The Purpose of the Gospel of John

John 20:30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

More on my other blog.

Tags: blogs4God, Christianity, Theology, Reformed, Bible Study, Calvinism, Bible, Spirituality

Our Week in Tags

Yet Another Turn in Andrea Clark's Case

There's more bad news to report:

"The future medical care of a severely ill heart patient at the center of a life-support controversy is up in the air again after a plan to transfer her from St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital to a facility in Illinois fell apart Friday.

But St. Luke's officials said that they will not carry out their previous plan to discontinue Andrea Clark's life-sustaining treatment on Sunday, which will be 10 days after the hospital notified her family it was invoking Texas' futile-care law.

[...]

The family and St. Luke's agreed Thursday to transfer Clark to Glenshire Nursing & Rehab Centre, a long-term, acute-care facility in the Chicago suburb of Richton Park. St. Luke's told the family it would pay the entire cost of moving Clark, estimated at about $15,000, but only if the family decided by Thursday.

The deal was canceled Friday after Glenshire doctors realized Clark's condition was too complicated for the level of care they provide.

And from My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy:

St. Luke’s has agreed not to pull Andrea’s life support at least until Tuesday. On Tuesday, a committee of doctors from St. Luke’s will meet to discuss how to proceed with Andrea’s case. Andrea’s new doctor–a doctor who shares our values about the sacredness of life–will take over her care on Tuesday and will fight for her right to live. Let us all hope and pray that the committee meeting on Tuesday is chaired by doctors who have a reverence for life and not a former abortionist like the St. Luke’s ethics committee chair.

Texas Republicans, what are you doing about this? This is insanity, why are we leaving the decision of who gets to live to a small group of people who may have a low view of human life?

(Links via Right Wing News)

Denial of Service Attack on Popular Blogs

Michelle Malkin reported that there was a DOS attack Hosting Matters that brought several popular blogs off line:

Today, 11:46 AM This morning at approximately 10:00 AM Eastern time, we noted a sudden abnormal surge in traffic to the network.

Shortly thereafter, our upstreams confirmed that one of the servers within the network was the target of a massive DOS attack.

We worked with the NOC and the upstreams to further identify the target and steps were taken to isolate that target from the rest of the network.

Recovery on all segments except that target segment is complete. The target of the attack will not be brought back online and will be removed from the main network in the event they are the target of future attacks, so as not to negatively impact other clients.

We are currently working to address clients who may be on that same segment of the network to bring them back online.

Stacy - Hosting Matters, Inc.

There was a second attack last night:

We are seeing another round of attacks after changing the IPs on the target server. This is an indication that the target from earlier either was not the primary target or was a byproduct of the original attack and identified as the primary target.

Working on this now with the NOC and upstreams.

The source of the attacks? Saudia Arabia. The reason? Political cartoons (this is what they think at this time ).

Free speech baby, get used to it. This is what it means to be free, we get to say what you don't want to hear. And Americans will just say it louder and more viciously when you try to shut them down.

Read further updates here.

Da Vinci Judge Hides Code in Court Papers

In England, the judge who resided over Dan Brown's plagarizism trial, hide a message in his court papers:

A secret code embedded in the text of a court ruling in the case of Dan Brown's bestseller "The Da Vinci Code" has been cracked, but far from revealing an ancient conspiracy it is simply an obscure reference to a Royal Navy admiral.

British High Court Justice Peter Smith, who handed down a ruling that Brown had not plagiarized his book, had embedded his own secret message in his judgment by italicizing letters scattered throughout the 71-page document.
[...]
The judge's secret message was: "Jackie Fisher, who are you? Dreadnought," Tench wrote in the Guardian newspaper.

Judge Smith is known as a navy buff, and Fisher was a Royal Navy admiral who developed the idea for a giant battleship called the HMS Dreadnought in the early 20th century.
[...]
"The message reveals a significant but now overlooked event that occurred virtually 100 years to the day of the start of the trial," he said in a statement.

Read the rest here.

The Fick and Oz Show

As I wrote in my profile, "I'm a stay-at-home mom who is never home (I'm usually in my car). " I have to drive everywhere, I drive my daughters to school, I have to drive back from taking them to school, I have to drive to pick them up and I have to drive from NJ to PA to go to seminary. I drive a lot and one thing I can tell you is morning radio in NJ and PA stinks (thank you, Howard Stern, every show has a giggly woman and a guy telling off-color jokes). So, I'm always on the lookout for something interesting to listen to while I drive and recently I found something completely different. It is the Fick and Oz show.

This is a very funny show that is: "A provocative talk show that looks honestly at the church, culture and Christ. A good mix of humor and profundity." Well, I think this blog, Life Under the Sun and eventually Reformed Weltanschauung Blogging are about Christ and culture, so you can see why I would be interested.

I came across their site completely by accident one morning. I was checking my stats and I noticed that I got a hit from a comment section of a blog that I had never visited before and being the curious person that I am (read nosey), I went and checked it out. It turns out that someone had linked to the comment section of my blog. So while there, I noticed that it was a website for a podcast and being the daring woman that I am (read bored with morning radio), I downloaded the first podcast to see if it would be worth listening to and recommending to my loyal readers (all three or four of you).

I listened to the podcast the next day in the car and I was laughing so much that I'm sure it was quite dangerous. One of the things they did was read from this article on Pensacola Christian College. It was so funny, this college is the worst! They are much, much more stricter than Bob Jones University. (Can you believe that there is a college on the right of Bob Jones University?) Their student behavior code is something out of the medieval period. But the shocking thing was that the college is being funded--get ready for this homeschoolers -- by Abeka Book!! Your money is funding this college which isn't even accredited.

Even though the show was long and poorly edited, I could see it had great potential so I downloaded the rest of the podcats and listened all week while I drove to school. Show 2 almost made me stop listening; I was kind of bored with it. I listened to it again today on the way home to see if I felt differently, and it was better than I remembered but there were some places that didn't hold my attention and I dozed off at one point (it's a good thing they have rumble strips on the PA Turnpike). But they redeemed themselves in Show 3, it was great and the rest of the shows after that were really good as well.

They do regular bits such as "getting into the word" and a "freak of the week" that are usually pretty good. They look at famous Christians throughout church history who have given their all for Christ. They've done Jim Eliot, C. S. Lewis and then a combination of John Newton, William Wilberforce, and David Livingstone and it was pretty well done (though they did promise to go back and do each individually but they haven't yet). My favorite bit is Fick's predictions (and no I'm not going to say any more about it, go listen for yourself).

After I listened to the podcasts, I decided I was going to recommend them to you, my loyal readers. So, I decided to contact them and get their take on what the heck they were thinking when they decided to start podcasting:

Who is your target audience and what do you hope to accomplish with your podcasts? (Entertainment, spiritual growth, outreach?) I plan to mention you on my blog and would like to include that type of information.

Evidently they weren't thinking too much because this is the response I got:

Target audience – anyone who’ll listen – I think you’re luck number 7. Seriously – I would say any one who doesn’t mind us poking fun at them. We are bound to hit on something that pertains to you. We aren’t quite the SNL of the church but if SNL says nothing is off limits – then I would agree that is true of us as it pertains to the church.

What we hope to accomplish – I’d say all of those that you suggested are nice objectives. Just trying to get people to relax in the church and hopefully those outside the church might find something compelling to join with us.

When you listen to the show, you can tell they've got some kind of an idea where they want to go with it and that they're not just two youth pastors sitting around swapping stories and calling it a podcast. It does have the feel of an actual broadcast (one that's definitely in it's infancy).

One thing that I need to warn you about is that this show is PG-13. I know that sounds weird, especially since they are youth pastors (or maybe because of it) but on a couple of the podcasts, especially Show 5, they get into a panty discussion and the show deteriorates after that. Now, don't run off and listen to Show 5 until you listen to all the previous podcasts because each show builds on the previous shows and you won't get the references if you haven't been listening to them all.

Finally, yes, in Show 6, I am the Michele they are referring to. This is the email I sent them when I requested information about their show:

BTW, it would be helpful (and easy to do) if you could link to some of the sites that you reference on your podcast. Since I'm usually driving in my car when I'm listening to you, it is really dangerous for me to write down the site (especially since I am usually being tailgated by semi-trucks and those guys would probably run me off the road if I slowed down to write).

So, while I'm driving this morning, I was listening to their podcast on my mp3 player (not an ipod, a cheaper one but it does have over 1 GB storage) and they were talking about me listening in my car and laughing so hard I might get into an accident and when Oz says, "Michele, look out for that car" a car stops in front of me and I hit the brake and I avoided an accident. These men are prophets :-). You really should listen to them! You can click on their icon in my sidebar bling section or on the icon to this post.

Updated to add: You may be interested in my response to the podcast.

Tags: Podcast, blogs4God, Christianity, Bible Study, Spirituality

Another Update on Andrea Clark

Andrea Clark's family is moving her to Chicago. Her sister, who is a democrat, has words of praise for the pro-life movement:

But the pro-life people stepped forward and just absolutely ground St. Luke's into submission on this issue. You have, without a doubt, saved my sister's life. I want you to know that. Without the pro-life/right to life people stepping in from the very first of this fight for Andrea, we would have lost. I have never in my life seen such a centered, focused and energized group of people.
[...]
Because of the people in the pro-life movement, a light has been shown on the truth, for all of Texans; indeed, for all of the world to see. May God bless you for your works. And, please, do not hesitate to ask myself or my family, for anything that you may ever need in order to continue your fight for these precious lives. We are here for you and your cause, as you were here for us in ours.

Read the rest here.

What really needs to happen now is that energy needs to be focused on getting this law abolished. Life has to mean more than the cost to maintain it.

Aaagh! I Need 32 Hours in My Day!

I have two articles that I'm working on but they are taking forever (the one was just going to be this quick sound bite type thing but it has taken on a life of it's on and I knew the other one was going to take awhile because it is multi-faceted) and I don't have time to finish them because I have to do homework and go to school and then my husband is coming home from a business trip today (he's been gone all week and I didn't complain once on my blogs). But I hope to get at least one done tonight, so stop back tonight or tomorrow morning.

Plus I created an email group for the Blogging Chicks to join if they wanted to and I have to submit all the email addresses and I know that's going to take forever. Plus, new bling for the sidebar and some changes to my linked lists. Too much to do, too little time to do it in and now this is taking too long and I got school work to do.

ROTC Armory Vandalized

This is our second article on violent behavior from students directed against our military. (I think it might be time to get the FBI involved.) Students from another college, UNC-Chapel Hill, vandalized a ROTC armory. Read about it here.

(Link via Instapundit)

Blogging Chicks

Start checking the Blogging Chicks blog for announcements. I'll still do shout outs here and on my other blog, but I won't do announcements here.

Reformed Theology Conference

Tulips will be blooming at the Philadelphia Conference on Reformed theology this weekend (they will be talking about Calvinism)

I'm going. I plan to blog about it when I get back.

A whole weekend being in the Word...I can't wait!

It really is the Garden State...

I know it's hard to believe because New Jersey has the reputation of being the armpit of the East Coast( hey, that's what I've been told!)...

but New Jersey really is the garden state...

Just look at what is blooming in my garden!

"He has made everything beautiful in its time" [Ecclesiastes 3:11]...

even New Jersey

Another Addition to Our Blogroll

We have a new member to our blogroll, Jennifer from Sob'ah My Soul, where she blogs about her life. I really like the title graphic. Please go to her site and welcome her to our group.

Steal this Post Meme

I stole this from SusiePie who stole it from someone else (I think I'm going to start a whole steal this post meme):

Look at the list of books below. Bold the ones you've read, italicize the ones you might read, cross out the ones you won't, underline the ones on your book shelf, and place (parentheses) around the ones you've never even heard of.

The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J. K. Rowling
The Life of Pi - Yann Martel
Animal Farm: A Fairy Story - George Orwell
Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
(The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon)
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
1984 - George Orwell
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J. K. Rowling
(One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
(The Secret History - Donna Tartt)
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Atonement - Ian McEwan
(The Shadow of The Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon)
The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
Dune - Frank Herbert
Sula by Toni Morrison
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

Too bad they didn't have Ethan Frome or A Farewell to Arms instead , I've read those! And I still think watching the movie should count because I've seen a number of these books on screen :-). I cheated a little because I can't decide if I'm going to read some of the ones I haven't read so I left those with no marks. I also am not sure if I read To Kill a Mockingbird or not because all I can remember is the movie :-). BTW, some that I have read, I'm not sure it I have a copy still or not :-)

Rate Your Blog

One of our Blogging Chicks, Tabz is reviewing blogs over at her Stupid People Shouldn't Breed blog. If she deems your blog worthy, you will get a coveted "rarely stupid" button for you blog. I don't take criticism well or I would submit my blogs :-). Undercover Angel was deemed worthy (of course).

Update on Andrea Clark

John Hawkins of Right Wing News talked to Andrea Clark's sister (I blogged about this here):

I spoke to Andrea's sister, Melanie Childers, again today to get an update on what's happening. To begin with, she said that a lot of pro-life people have been calling the hospital and she thinks it's having a real effect on them. She said that she hopes people keep it up. (The contact page for St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital is here. If you call, no matter how upset you may be, make sure to be polite).

Read more here. And you should check his site throughout the week to see if there are any updates.

You can find contact information here.

Updated to add: The hospital may be paying to move Andrea Clark to a hospital in Illinois according to Wizbang.

Burnt Oatmeal!

I burnt my oatmeal this morning, again. Nothing like the smell of burnt oatmeal first thing in the morning :-(

Updated to add: Twice! As you can tell, I wasn't blogging in the kitchen as I was supposed to do. I'm having toast this morning.

Prayer

I have put up a couple posts on prayer on my other blog.

Works for Me Wednesday

So, Shannon from Rocks in the Dryer started her on meme day to share things that work for us:

Think how much we could all learn from each other if we share our own little ideas!. IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE EARTH-SHATTERING. Just simple, affordable and designed to make the tiniest difference in your day

And I actually thought of something that I do that might be helpful to others, so I'm going to blog about housekeeping (shocking).

As some of my readers know, I quite frequently burn my oatmeal when I blog (read about it here) and sometimes quite badly (read about that here and the result of all this is here). Fortunately I learned early in my housekeeping career how to clean out badly burned pots (before blogging I surfed the Internet quite extensively). And the method is simple and affordable: baking soda and hot water. That's it! You cover the of the pan with baking soda and then pour boiling water on it and let is stand a couple of days and then wipe out the pan. You may need to do it a second time and use a brillo but it's usually much easier to clean.

Another cleaning product that I love is Barkeeper's Friend, it is cheap and takes out rust stains and gives porcelain a real shine.

Related Tags: Works for Me Wednesday, Cleaning Pots, Cleaning Tips

Reformed Chicks Blabbing

I'm posting this because our feedburner comes up before us when someone searches for "reformed chicks." Now, I have to think that this is someone who came to our blog and didn't bookmark us. Tsk, tsk. Bookmark us now, because you know you're coming back :-). Otherwise you'll google us and wind up at our feedsite!

Tags: Reformed, Chicks, Blabbing

Praising God!

I'm praising God tonight! We are finally on the PCA Blogs and the League of Reformed Bloggers blogrolls. I have been praying everyday that the Lord would get me on those blogrolls and He did. How great is that?

Texas, why do you have such an evil law?

What is up with Texas that they would have such an evil law like this:

An ill woman in Houston could die within days because a hospital ethics committee has voted to take her off life support - this despite the fact the 54-year-old is not in a coma, is not brain dead and wants to go on living, her family says.

On April 30, Andrea Clark is scheduled to be on the receiving end of a Texas law that allows a hospital ethics committee to terminate care with 10 days' notice, giving the patient's family that length of time to find a different facility.

[...]

According to the TV station report, Clark's family is doing all it can to find another facility that will treat Andrea.

Read the rest here.

And what if they can't find another facility to take her? Will they just end her life? This is what happens when you allow voluntarily euthanasia, eventually it becomes mandatory.

I thought Texas was a red state, what happened to our pro-life position? Pro-life means we don't end life even when it's to the benefit of big business (insurance companies and hospitals).

Texas Republicans, what's up with this?

(Link via Right Wing News)

Updated to add: Christopher Taylor pointed me to this post in The Corner from a year ago. I can see why Bush signed this bill into law, it was an improvement over what was in place:

In August 1996 the Journal of the American Medical Association published an article describing procedures then in effect in Houston hospitals. Under these procedures, if a doctor wished to deny a patient lifesaving medical treatment and the patient or the patient's surrogate instead steadfastly expressed a desire for life, the doctor would submit the case to the hospital ethics committee. The patient or surrogate would be given 72 hours notice of the committee meeting would be allowed to plead for the patient's life at it. During that short 72 hour period, the patient or surrogate, while preparing to argue for life, could also try to find another health care provider willing to give the lifesaving treatment, food or fluids.

If the ethics committee decided for death, under these procedures there was no appeal. There was no provision that the food, fluids, or lifesaving treatment be provided after the decision while the patient or family tried to find another hospital willing to keep the patient alive.

So under these procedures, the hospitals in Houston were denying life-saving treatment, food and fluids against the wishes of patients and their families, when the hospital ethics committees said their quality of life was too poor. Patients and families were being given only 72 hours after being notified of the proposed denial to find another health care provider.

But I can't see why more hasn't been done, don't the Republicans hold a majority there?

Tags: Euthanasia, Texas Law, Texas Republicans, Bush

Pimp My Snack

Here is a funny site. They take snacks to a new level:

PimpMySnack is a custom, banging, A1 Tip Top, jamming club fare. It's a sandwich of fun on ecstacy bread wrapped up in a big bag like disco fudge. It doesn't get any better than this.

We take Snacks to their limit, and show what they're capable of with a little ingenuity, a little cash, and a lot of imagination.

(Link via Me and my chickens)

School and...everything else

I am praising the Lord right now, because I don't have any homework!!

Housework yes, homework, no.

Late Monday morning (1:45 a.m.), I *finally* finished my paper for my Political Science class.
(I had to write a minimum 7 page book review--I read Tony Blankley's new book--I highly recommend it!).

The paper was due in class that morning. Needless to say, I got to bed around 2 a.m. --mind racing--had thoughts of "woulda, coulda, shoulda" about word choice and syntax. So, when 6 a.m. came around--I was exhausted.

I know that the Lord has called me to attend college...it has always been a desire for me to go.

Growing up in my house, higher education was not a priority for my working class parents. Their thinking was-when you graduate high school-you get a job. And I did, I worked on Wall Street for 11 years, met a wonderful man, got married, left my job when I got pregnant with my first child. My husband and I agreed that I would stay home with the children ( I now have 3 beautiful daughters). My dream of going to college was just a dream, I thought "one day" I will go. Well that "one day" came last September. My youngest is in 1st grade now, so I started taking classes at our local community college.

God is sovereign and His timing is perfect, so I trust that where I am right now is where I should be.

The thing is, in terms of my homework, I never factored in how hard it would be to accomplish it. In just this semester alone--with just two classes (English I and Intro to Political Science) I will have written 8 essays (1 mid-term and final), 1 research paper, 1 book review, and a summary of the "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire". I think I'm getting carpal tunnel from sitting at the computer for so long...

I'm not complaining. The thing the Lord keeps reminding about is this:
Just because I've called you to do something, doesn't mean it is going to be easy.

Just because it's hard and is not peaceful, doesn't mean that I should take it as a "sign" that I should quit school.

Peace is not tranquility. Jonah had a "peaceful" sleep in the boat, while running away from God [Jonah 1:5]. That's a false sense of peace. I'm talking about the "peace of God, which surpasses all understanding...[Phillipians 4:7]. To the world (family, well meaning friends) it does not make sense that I would inflict myself with the burden of school, but I am "confident that He who has begun a good work in [me] will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ"[Phillipian 1:6].

Another Terrorist Attack in Egypt

I pray that bin Laden is captured soon because he is causing great devastation to the Middle East and I pray for his victims and their families:

Three nearly simultaneous bombings hit an Egyptian beach resort popular with foreigners Monday at the height of the tourist season, killing at least 23 people a day after Osama bin Laden issued a taped warning against Westerners.

The bombers struck the Sinai seaside city of Dahab in the early evening along a crowded promenade of shops, restaurants and bars. Interior Minister Habib el-Adly said those killed included 20 Egyptians and three foreigners. Sixty-two people were wounded.

Read about it here.

(Link via Drudge Report)

This is an interesting defense

OK, so here's our lesson for the day, when you're caught plagiarizing, remember to state that you most have internalized the other source.

Harvard University sophomore with a highly publicized first novel acknowledged Monday that she had borrowed material, accidentally, from another author's work and promised to change her book for future editions.

Kaavya Viswanathan's "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life," published in March by Little, Brown and Company, was the first of a two-book deal reportedly worth six figures. But on Sunday, the Harvard Crimson cited seven passages in Viswanathan's book that closely resemble the style and language of the novels of Megan McCafferty.

"When I was in high school, I read and loved two wonderful novels by Megan McCafferty, `Sloppy Firsts' and `Second Helpings,' which spoke to me in a way few other books did. Recently, I was very surprised and upset to learn that there are similarities between some passages in my novel ... and passages in these books," Viswanathan, 19, said in a statement issued by her publisher.

"While the central stories of my book and hers are completely different, I wasn't aware of how much I may have internalized Ms. McCafferty's words. I am a huge fan of her work and can honestly say that any phrasing similarities between her works and mine were completely unintentional and unconscious. My publisher and I plan to revise my novel for future printings to eliminate any inappropriate similarities.

Read the rest here.

(Link via Drudge Report)

103 Screen!

Isn't 103 inches and 400 pounds a little excessive? Is this for bragging rights?

Read about it here.

(Link via JPod at The Corner)

DC Restaurants

We will probably be vacationing in DC in June. Any good restaurant suggestions?

Top 10 Movies of the Summer?

So, out of the 10 I'm probably going to see 2 of them. Man, I hope there are a lot more choices than this because I love going to the movies during the summer. Since I've been in seminary, it's the only time I can go. And I love taking the girls to see the newest kids movies (I actually like some kids movies). Sarah doesn't want to see the new car movie (too babyish), so I think it will be just me and Samantha.

I might see "The Devil Wears Prada," it looks interesting and I'm probably going to see “"The Da Vinci Code."

(Link via Right Wing News)

Google Search: Michele LUTS Blog

I think this morning someone tried to find my Life Under the Sun (luts) blog and Google directed them here. This post is to make sure people are directed to Life Under the Sun and not get lost somewhere on this blog.

Tags: luts, blog, Michele

Gmail Error Message

I'm sorry but this doesn't fill me with confidence in your service:

Server Error

Gmail is temporarily unavailable. Cross your fingers and try again in a few minutes. We're sorry for the inconvenience.

One of the few drawbacks of using Gmail is that it's not always available when you want to read your email.

Updated Picture of Me

Sarah drew a new picture of me. I have a mouth in this one and it is open. She says I'm smiling, I think I look like I'm yelling. The body is not even close to reality. But I like it. She says the saying on my shirt is accurate.

Thank You Teresa and Pastor Shaun!!!!!

This goes out to the brilliant and talented Teresa who finally was able to help me get Pastor Shaun's code to work!!! And of course a big thank you to Pastor Shaun for making the code available!

Your post body should look like this:









Updated to add this --the post section of the template (click on the picture):













Tags: Javascript, HTML Tags, Hide Text,Read More

Interesting Passages

As I was reading in preparation of writing a exegesis paper for my hermeneutics class I came across the following verses that I thought were interesting:

The day of the Lord:

Amos 5:18 Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why would you have the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light, 19 as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him. 20 Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?

This is interesting and something that I had forgotten, the Lord excluded all who had physical defects from offering food as a sacrifice to the Lord:

Leviticus 21:16 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 17 "Speak to Aaron, saying, None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may approach to offer the bread of his God. 18 For no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face or a limb too long, 19 or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand, 20 or a hunchback or a dwarf or a man with a defect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs or crushed testicles. 21 No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to offer the LORD's food offerings; since he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. 22 He may eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy things, 23 but he shall not go through the veil or approach the altar, because he has a blemish, that he may not profane my sanctuaries, for I am the LORD who sanctifies them."

I have a longer post on my other blog on John 5.

Tags: blogs4God, Christianity,Gospel of John, Theology, Reformed, Bible Study, Calvinism, Bible, Spirituality

Here We Go Again Hiding Text

Teresa got Pastor Shaun's code to work but it did not work for me. I'm not sure why. But I did get this to work. It's doesn't work all the time as you can see if you check out my other blog. But the benefit of this code is that you don't have to tag your posts and I'm going to live with the fact that it occasionally misses a post :-).

BTW, the code was really easy to install but I got this really weird problem with my test blog that caused me to lose an hour trying to figure it out. If you follow the directions, you will not have any problems.

Our Week in Tags

I almost forgot!

Prayer for Christians Detained in China

Lindsey of Enjoy the Journey is reporting on her blog that five Americans from North Carolina have been detained:

Chinese police have detained five Americans who are connected to North Carolina churches including some in Greensboro. It happened during a raid on a Christian retreat in the southwestern part of that country.

Join me in praying for both the American and Chinese Christians captured in this raid.

Another Addition to Our Blogroll

Welcome Polly Boyette of Life is a Buffet in Virginia to our Blogging Chicks blogroll. Polly's is an author who has written a book entitled, "Life is a Buffet" which "is a collection of hilarious but true stories...Along with each story, a scriptural interpretation has been added to teach simple Biblical principals." Please stop by Polly's blog and welcome her to our group.

BTW, you might have noticed that I changed the name of my "Weltanschauung Blogging" to Reformed Weltanschauung Blogging, I think it's catchier :-).

Also, you might have noticed that I created a Blogging Chicks site. I plan to eventually move the base of operations for Blogging Chicks blogroll over there. I was thinking of starting an aggregator, what do you think?

24 Blogging

Since Ang, our 24 expert, appears to be taking a much deserved rest from last weeks heavy week of blogging :-), I thought I would post something so that the "Blogs For Bauer" folks don't get miffed with us for not posting. Here is a link to a summary of 24 from Dave Barry.

Also, I was listening to Glenn Beck on Friday and he was talking about this weeks episode and a caller asked him if he thought that the producers were doing a "war for oil thing." What's up with that? I thought that the producer was a conservative.

OK, I know, pretty lame. If Ang doesn't come back next week I think I'll request that they drop us from their blog list. Can't have people coming here expecting 24 analysis when we don't have any!

(Link via Hugh Hewitt)

Baylor University and Playboy

There's something seriously wrong when officials at a Christian college think they have to threaten the female students not to pose nude for Playboy. Aren't somethings just a given?

Baylor University in Waco, Texas, which bills itself as the world's largest Baptist college, has threatened to discipline female students if they pose for Playboy magazine, which is trying to recruit models from the college.
...
Baylor Vice President for Student Life Samuel W. Oliver sent an e-mail to
women students this week warning that any who "associate" with Playboy would be
subject to the university's disciplinary processes.

"Playboy is clearly antithetical to Baylor's mission and associating with the magazine would be a violation of the code of conduct," Oliver wrote in the e-mail. University officials said punishment could include suspension.

Read about it here.

(Link via Ace of Trump)

Tags: Baylor University, Christian College, Baptist College, Playboy

Yet Another Update on Hiding Text

Pastor Shaun couldn't even make my template work! So, I've given up on his script. I found another one but I don't have time to try it. Teresa, could you try this and let me know if it works?

BTW, Pastor Shaun has all kinds of interesting stuff up on his blog, go check it out, including the fact that RC Sproul is going to be on TV! (RC Sproul, a televangelist?) I have some things I'll be posting throughtout the day, so make sure you come back.

There and Back Again

I have added another site to our reciprocal blogroll, Chaplin Todd Luken, of There and Back Again. He came here last night, saw that we were all that :-) and decided to link to us. See, this is how it's done.

Chaplin Luken is going to Iraq and will be back again in 07. Let's all keep him and the men and women that he will be serving, in our prayers.

Updated to add: Chaplin Luken is a graduate of Westminster Theological Seminary.

I'm a little more upbeat than this...

You Have a Melancholic Temperament

Introspective and reflective, you think about everything and anything. You are a soft-hearted daydreamer. You long for your ideal life. You love silence and solitude. Everyday life is usually too chaotic for you. Given enough time alone, it's easy for you to find inner peace. You tend to be spiritual, having found your own meaning of life. Wise and patient, you can help people through difficult times. At your worst, you brood and sulk. Your negative thoughts can trap you. You are reserved and withdrawn. This makes it hard to connect to others. You tend to over think small things, making decisions difficult.

What Temperment Are You?

Updated to add: I took out the link to the blog where I had found the quiz, she deleted the post. No use having a broken link on my blog (I hate that).

Evil Conservatives

Here is site that is embracing the stereotype (it's part of the Glen Beck program).



(Link via Slapstick Politics)

Checking Account Update

Woohoo! I finally have access to our money in the new checking account! My checks arrived Wednesday and my debit card arrived yesterday. Ah, freedom!

College Students Out of Control

Why in the world would any mom send their baby girl to a college that can't control their students? Santa Cruz just took themselves out of the running (they probably didn't stand a chance anyway) to be awarded the privilege of having Sarah as a student.

I am talking about this:

Four military recruiters hastily fled a job fair Tuesday morning at UC Santa Cruz after a raucous crowd of student protesters blocked an entrance to the building where the Army and National Guard had set up information tables.

Members of Students Against War, who organized the counter-recruiting protest, loudly chanted "Don't come back. Don't come back" as the recruiters left the hilltop campus, escorted by several university police officers.
...
"We're saying it's not OK to recruit on high school campuses, it's not OK to recruit on university campuses,'' Marla Zubel, a UC Santa Cruz senior and member of Students Against War, said. "In order to stop the war, you have to make it more difficult to wage war."

This is what really got me:

David Kliger, campus provost and executive vice chancellor, said the school was most concerned Tuesday about safety issues, but also wanted to preserve access to the recruiters for students who wanted to speak with them, while still allowing protesting students their right to free speech.

Kliger said officials had tried to engage the anti-war student group in discussions in the weeks leading up to the fair. But when talks broke down, officials began privately hoping for rain and brought in extra police.

Excuse me, but haven't you people heard of the word "suspension." Reminding the students that violence could lead to their suspension or dismissal from school might have made them rethink their actions. College administrators, you do have the power in this situation, you need to use it.

(Link via Michelle Malkin who is being harassed because wrote about the incident -- these people hate free speech and if they ever get in a real position of power, you will lose your right)

Tags:Michelle Malkin, UC Santa Cruz, Students Against War, Recruiters, Military

Gun Blogger

Here's an interesting gun blog, he appears informative (how would I know, it's all gibberish to me) and I like his title graphic.

Yet Another Update to Hiding Text

Pastor Shaun updated his post to make it less confusing but it's still not working for me.

Updated: I noticed that Pastor Shaun's "read more" opens the text in the current page but mine goes to a completely new page, I wonder why?

Blogging will be light for the next couple of days

Susan and I have papers for school and Angela appears to be MIA again. I will still try to post something everyday, so please stop back.

School Choice

One of the reasons we do not send our children to public schools is that there is no real accountablity. At a private school, the parents are pretty much in control because we are the consumer. If we are unhappy, our complaints are taken seriously. I know this from experience.

I've read many stories in which the public school does nothing about bullies, political indoctrination and this:

While two parents in Lexington, Mass., are upset about the fact their second-grade son was read a fantasy book in school about two princes getting married, what makes them even more angry is the fact the boy's teacher said because same-sex marriage is legal in their state there is no way a mother or father can opt out a child from such experiences.

"We are outraged," parents Rob and Robin Wirthlin told the local Article 8 Alliance. "This is a highly charged social issue. Why are they introducing it in the second grade? And we cannot present our family's point of view to our children if they don't tell us what they're saying to them."
...
It was explained to the couple that since same-sex marriage is legal in Massachusetts, discussion of the matter is fair game -- parents do not have to be informed before or after the issue is presented. Kramer reportedly told the Wirthlins that the theme of the day was "weddings" and the teacher wanted to present all points of view on the subject.

The parents were given no choice, they were usrped by the school district and told when the child was ready to learn something that the parents deemed inappropriate, the decision was taken out of the their hands. Parents know their child better than the school district or the teacher, they should decide what is appropriate and what isn't for their child. But in this school district the teacher and the principal clearly do not agree and this parent won't get a satifactory response because this school district will set the agenda, they've proved that in the past:

Estabrook School was also in the news last year when father David Parker faced prosecution for trespassing and spent a night in jail after confronting school officials about homosexuality being discussed in his son's class.

They will never get a satisfactory resolution to this problem because they are not in position of power, they are not the direct consumers. If they were paying the schools directly they would have a lot more power. That is why school choice is imperative. It puts the power back into the hands of the parents. School districts would have to watch what they do because the parents could take their funding to another school. If my child was in the public school system, I would be working really hard lobbying for school choice. I believe all parents with children in public school should be doing the same thing, it is the only way they will have any say in how their child is taught.

(Link via The Rightwing News)

Update on Hiding Text

Well, I couldn't get it to work. I tried for over an hour. For some reason it displays "Read the rest..." and "...Collapse Post" for every post. Maybe I'll try it again tonight.

Hiding Text in Blogger

If you want to hide text in Blogger, Pastor Shaun figured it out. I haven't tried it yet but I will tonight. Check my other blog in the morning to see if I was successful.

BTW, while I was scrolling down, looking at the code, I got distracted by his quotes and noticed that I was quoted. How cool is that? This is the first time I've been quoted in a sidebar. I am so thrilled :-). Ok, the rest of you can be jaded about it but I'm not! WooHoo my first sidebar quote.

No more tagging!

Remind me never to tag Angela or Susan again! They are a dead end!

Weltanschauung Blogging

So, I've been doing a little experimenting with my Weltanschauung Blogging site and I think that I might get more traffic if I switched to it and dropped Life Under the Sun. I think it stands out on a blogroll and makes you go to it just to see what's up. The same way Reformed Chicks Blabbing does. I'm not sure Life Under the Sun has that draw. What do you think?

Though, the one thing that would stop me is that I love my title picture and it would take forever to update the blogrolls.

BTW, when you say the name of the blog all together do you say "Blogging" do you say it with a German accent? I do!

The problem with businesses today...

Is that there is too much group think. This post by the Walrus demonstrates the problem with businesses. He writes of a woman who was billed for surcharges on her credit card balance even though she was dead. The supervisor had no way to fix the problem. This is clearly unacceptable and there is no reason a supervisor should live with this type of situation. Why be held hostage to poorly designed software?

Group think says, "The system won't allow us to do that." Those who use their brain at work would figure out a way to get the system to do what they want or replace the system. Death of a client isn't something that would be outside the norm, why would this be an issue? Poorly designed software or bad training.

10 of Life's Simple Pleasures?

Hey Susan, what's up? Can't think of ten?

Anti-PC League Blogroll

We have joined the Anti-PC blogroll because as Christians we are considered politically incorrect, bigoted and intolerent. So, why not just go with the label. We are anti-PC (the opposite of PC :-). Basically we joined for the button and to make a statement.

BTW, the owner of this blogroll was very quick in putting us on, he should be commended for his quick action. On the other hand, I have been waiting for months to be put on the GOP bloggers blogroll. I wonder how quickly I would be put on the Libertarian Blogroll or the Independents Blogroll. Maybe we should blog for the Libertarian party. Hey Susan, what do you think? Should we blog for the Libertrians?

Two New Additions to the Blogroll

Two new blogs have been added to our Blogging Chicks Blogroll. The first is Pamela Lynn of Time Flutters By in Hampton, VA. She blogs about her life and scrapbooking. She has some wonderful pictures of her scrapbook pages. Go check them out. I wonder if she knows Mel, the Blogging Chicks' Creative Memories consultant?

Our second addition actually doesn't need any introduction because it's me! I've started yet another blog, Weltanschauung Blogging (it's German for worldview -- the framework through which an individual interprets the world and interacts in it). I'm using it to store reports that Susan and I write for school. We wanted to make them available to our readers and I thought this would be the easiest way to do it and I like the name and may use the site for other purposes later on down the road.

A Picture of Me

If anyone is interested in what I look like, I posted a picture here. My hair is a little longer now than it was in this picture.

Suicide Hotline

Tabz is requesting that people donate to the Suicide hotline. The amount needed is very small. Go to her site for more information.

Tags: Suicide Hotline, Suicide

Wow! They have a quiz for everything!

You scored as James Orr. You are James Orr. You are not afraid of Scholarship, but you know that scholarship is not necessarily objective.

James Orr		85%
John Knox		70%
Thomas Boston		70%
James Denney		65%
Thomas Chalmers		50%

Which Scottish Theologian are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

(Link via Rebecca Writes)

Updated to add: the link is fixed

My Marathon Man

This is a picture of my dh. He did really well. He finished the marathon in 3 hours and 22 minutes, which placed him at number 3428 out of about 22,000 runners.
Yesterday was a great day for a marathon. We are really happy and blessed that the Lord gave him success in this effort!

Princeton

So, we went to lunch at Chevy's and of course we overate, which worked out really well because we weren't tempted to do any snacking when we went to Princeton (well, not much anyway). After lunch we bought Sarah's ipod at Best Buy, she got a white Nano and of course Samantha said she wanted one. I told her that she could get one for Christmas even though she has an MP3 player. Yes, I know I'm a terrible mom! They are too materialistic, blah, blah, blah.

Anyway, we went to Princeton next. I took tons of pictures. We parked the car in a parking garage and walked toward Nassau Street. We passed a gemstone store and were told that the girls could get free rocks. This is a great racket, are you going to get a free rock and then just leave? No, Sarah and I both got earrings and if you bought two, you got a third pair for free. And Samantha got one of those necklaces made out of magnates. Here's a picture of our loot:



Then we walked to Nassau Street and went into "A Touch of Baroque" which is like walking into a museum. Their stuff is beautiful and funny, I really like to look around.

There is a wonderful church across the street with beautiful tulips:







This is Holder Tower:



I think this is a chapel, it is not part of the university:


This is Nassau Hall:



These were taken at the Princeton Public Library:




That was their gift shop! Yes, a library with a gift shop! They also had a cafe, 3 floors of books, beautiful furniture, on every floor they had computers to access the Internet. It is probably the best designed, most visually appealing library I have ever seen.

Princeton is a really cute town. If you are ever in NJ, you should stop in Princeton and walk around and visit the little shops. There's a bakery right across the street from the library that has a very good bread pudding muffin.

We did get to see the movie, I will post a review some time this week (I'm back in school, so posting should be lighter--it should be, but that doesn't mean it will be :-).

Prayer Request

I have a request for prayer from "someone who is going through one of the most difficult things I have ever had to face. The grief is overwhelming and I am so thankful that I have a sovereign God in whom I trust!"

South Park Update

You can get the daily Gaggle here. I'm going to check it each day and see if it might be something we want on the blog. Once I figure out where we would put it.
(Link via Latino Issues, A Conservative Blog)

Tagged!

Hey Susan, you've been tagged. Ang, I tagged you on your blog.

Caution, you are about to enter the "No Divisive Zone"

Just because I am a Reformed Chick doesn't mean I go to a reformed church (reformed as in holding to the doctrines of grace or historic reformed theology) . For reasons too long to include in this post, I have stayed where I am because I know the Lord has called me to minister there for a time.

Well, now that I have begun teaching (exercising my God-given gift) in my church and coordinating bible studies I am having doctrinal difficulties. My church isn't against Calvinism per se, they actually "allow" both Arminian AND Calvinism doctrine to co-exist because they consider it a "non- essential" to salvation. I totally disagree, because it does matter. (I see a future post coming on this topic!).

The thinking goes along these lines: In terms of election, it really does not matter if you think you choose Christ or if He chooses you, because in the end you are saved so why quibble over who does what in salvation? It really isn't something you "go to the wall about" (to quote a friend). Let me explain further.

The other night I met with a friend, she and I will be co-leading a new ladies evening bible study. We were going over the structure and scope of the study (we are studying Women of the Old Testament). First off, I never was happy with her choice of topic, I wanted to teach a book of the bible, not a topical "woman" study-so there is my first problem-but God in His providence directed me to a good reformed source that will add meat to the study.

Anyway, during our preparation we somehow got onto the topic of election. In my naivete, I just *assumed* she and I were on the same page, doctrinally speaking, but that was not the case. When I challenged, in a loving way, her thinking regarding who chooses who, it got very awkward. I just asked her where it says in scripture that we choose God? She could not give me anything besides John 3:16 (which isn't about salvation at all) and when I mentioned other scriptures from Romans 3, Ephesians 1, Col 1, John 6 etc (just to name a few), she just didn't want to go there.

That's when she said it..."I just want to caution you, that you might want to be careful saying "these things" to women who come to the study. You don't want to upset them".

I was confused, I asked did I say anything that was upsetting or untrue? I have to say, I was upset that I was the one who needed to keep quiet but it was perfectly okay for her to be able to let women believe an error. She even admitted to me that she didn't have a desire to know for herself if what she believed was true, she just trusts those who are more "scholarly" than herself. And for that matter, since many have different interpretations, we can't be sure.

I guess my questions are these:
Do we remain silent and not make doctrinal waves because they are uncomfortable or might cause division?

Why are women so afraid to think deep thoughts about God and dig into scripture for themselves?

Are we just to study "woman's issues" that are mainly focused on the cast of characters and the family dynamics and allow the main character of scripture-Jesus Christ-to become obscure?

What are we to be learning during a bible study? Are we just to learn how to be a better wife, mother, daughter etc. or are we to grow in our knowledge and love of Jesus Christ?

I'm afraid this has turned into a rant. But I needed to get this off my chest.
Please pray for me. Needless to say, when I left my friend there was tension and we are supposed to teach together tomorrow night. I need wisdom to know how to proceed.
Thanks for listening.

Easter Report: Too much chocolate!

The girls got peeps for Easter. I don't buy them chocolate because my mom and sister usually give them too much. Sarah wanted a peeps pillow, so Samantha got one too (she's learned that her sister has good taste and if Sarah likes something, so will she) and Samantha wanted peeps, so everyone got one including the husband.

Church was great, the pastor's sermon followed similar lines to my post on LUTS about the disciples and the truth of their report of the resurrection. Samantha glittered the pew and Mommy with her dress.

We went to my sister's where I preceeded to eat way too much chocolate, chips and cheese, bbq chicken, ham and ice cream cake. When I came home, I had more chocolate, feel asleep at 12:00, woke up at 2:00 and couldn't go back to sleep until 4:00. Now, I have a headache and am really cranky.

The girls are on spring break this week, so we are going to go to Princeton to walk around and take pictures, see the movie "Ice Age 2" and Sarah is going to buy an ipod with her birthday money. Check back later tonight for the pictures and a review of "Ice Age 2."

Scary But Funny

This is funny.

Da Vinci Code at Westminster

This is how out of it I am. I had to learn from Pastor Shaun that my seminary launched a new Da Vinci code website.

The Truth will be resurrected on Good Friday when Westminster Theological Seminary, one of the oldest and most respected seminaries, will launch a robust website dedicated to presenting a factual response to the claims in Dan Brown'’s runaway best-seller novel and soon-to-be-movie The Da Vinci Code.

"We certainly appreciate the engaging narrative, and recognize an author'’s right to present a good yarn," explains Dr. Bill Edgar, Professor of Apologetics at Westminster. "But we are concerned because the mix of fact and fiction in the book and presumably the film is leading many readers to question the Bible's message and its impact on history."

The site is designed for those wanting to engage the culture in spiritual conversations by providing biblically sound, intellectually honest, and historically accurate information so that the assertions in the book and movie can be discussed point-by-point.

Dr. Peter Lillback, President of Westminster, lays out the purpose of the site in this way, "Studies show that only five percent of pastors have read the book, and many in the church are dismissing The Da Vinci Code as 'just a novel,'’ or 'another movie.'’ In so doing, they discount the wave of doubt that has been and will continue to be created by its cleverly written claims. Our intent is to create ‘doubt about doubt."

Very slick website and make sure you have your speakers on so you can hear the cool music.

I'm glad to see that the Christian community is facing the opening of the movie with facts and not protests (I hope no one organizes a protest). I'm thinking about seeing the movie since I still haven't read the book!

My husband is running in the Boston Marathon today...please pray!!

Hello Everyone! I'm writing to you from not-so-sunny Massachusetts! The Boston Marathon is today, and my handsome husband is running. This will be his third Marathon, his second attempt at Boston. Last year he passed out from dehydration only 4 miles from the finish, so he has definitely had the agony of defeat!
Please pray for cool weather, not too much sun, and a great race for my husband.
Thanks!!

2 3 New Blogging Chicks

Welcome Ellen of mzellen & co. from Michigan. Ellen blogs about her life with her two teenage children, a son and a daughter, about her diet and about theology. She wrote an excellent article for the Carnival of Beauty on aging gracefully.

Welcome to Nicole Carter of Me and My Chickens from North Carilonia. Isn't Nicole's blog made for Blogging Chicks? Nicole blogs about her life and well, chickens (she definitely has a theme going on here :-).

And welcome to Julie of Everday Mommy. Julie has a visually appealing website with a wonderful graphic. She blogs about life, her son and about the Lord. She has an interesting story about becoming a mom so late in life. Make sure you read it when you visit.

Please join me in welcoming all three blogs to our blogroll and go check them out.

Happy Resurrection Day!

Was the resurrection of Jesus a myth created by his disciples? I explore this a little on my other blog.

You can purchase the above print here.

He is Risen...He is Risen Indeed

John 20:1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." 3 So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. 4 Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went back to their homes. 11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." 14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." 16 Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned and said to him in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"- and that he had said these things to her.

Happy Easter

Fractal Easter Eggs

This is really cool. A fractal egg decorating contest.

(Link via Stop the ACLU)

The Blessing of Christ's Resurrection

O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?
Thanks be to God,
who gives us the victory,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
1 Corinthians 15: 55

Easter Dress Shopping Rant: Day 2

Day two of shopping for an Easter dress and shoes. Samantha decided not to go shopping with us today, since she was the one who got the dress yesterday. She was so exhausted from five hours of shopping that she decided to relax by cleaning her room :-). So, it was Sarah and I. I decide it was a good idea to eat before we went to the mall so we don't waste any time.

"Did you bring the skirt we bought yesterday?"
"No."
"How are you going to make sure it matches?"
"I remember what it looks like."
"You won't remember it exactly."

We decide to hit Coldwater Creek first. I love the clothes in their catalog but every time I go to the store, I can't find anything I like. Everything has a weird pattern or is see-through or it's too casual for church. Plus, they make everything for someone who is 5'8 and I'm only 5'3 1/2. So, we keep walking. We go into Talbot's and I finally noticed something, all they had was pants, no skirts or dresses. What's up with that? Here is a picture of what one of the few skirts in the store looked like:



Then we went to Aerospace for Sarah and got some shirts for her. We decided to try a blue camisole under a shirt she already had. She was a lot happier after that, so she was more willing to allow Mommy to shop for a skirt. I decided to see if I could find a black skirt to go with my new shirt.

Next we go to Macy's and I find a pretty skirt to go with my shirt but because I indulged a little too freely in ice cream, sour skittles and chocolate (not all at the same time, eew), I could not wear my normal size. I had to get a size bigger and they didn't have it. I asked the salesperson to call another Macy's to have one put on hold. She found a store that had 8 of them and she tried to call them but had trouble getting through. We decided to chance it and just drive over.

On our way out of the mall I bought some shirts for Samantha and we tried to find shoes for Sarah, but Payless was packed and I have problems being in confined places with other people (I need a lot of personal space), so we left.

We drive another 1/2 hour to the other mall and go immediately to Macy's. We found 1 not 8 skirts. While there, I decided to take some pictures for those of you, like me who rarely step into a mall:



This is picture of one of the couch cushion clothes.


This is a picture of a pair of paints I saw so often I was tempted to buy them. I think I could be brain washed into buying something if it becomes familiar to me. Good thing I have a teenager to stop me.



This is a picture of a skirt that is meant to be worn by an adult woman.

Next we turned to getting sandals for Sarah to wear to church. And surprisingly, we were able to find a pair right away.

I decided my skirt was too sheer, so we go to Lord and Taylor to get a slip. They only had one brand which cost $29. For a slip!

"What is this? Russia?"
"Oh, I get it"
"What?"
"You're talking about a monopoly."

Then we have a discussion about capitalism verses communism and how capitalism is the best system given man's fallen nature and how it works the best because man is basically self-centered and greedy.

So, back to Macy's. On the way I see the pants again.

"I'm thinking about getting those pants."
"Eeew! Why?"
"They're growing on me."
"Where would you wear them."
"I'd wear them to seminary or when I picked you up."
"No, you wouldn't. I'll have to pretend I don't know you."
"I could wear them when I work in the cafeteria, I could embarrass you. You won't come over and say hi."
"I'll pretend like I don't know you."

Too many choices on the slip, there are three different sizes (aah, capitalism). I made my choice, made the purchase and then we are out of the mall! Yeah! Mission accomplished and we are now ready for church tomorrow. I only wasted 10 hours of my life doing it :-).

Our Week in Tags

Personal DNA

Reserved Analyst

I didn't agree with all the results but some of it was pretty close. I would agree that I am reserved and analystic. What this test doesn't take into consideration or ask is if you believe God is in control of your situation, they asked if you thought your circumstances were controled by luck. The results are messed up either way because I'm not a person who believes that my circumstances control me but I believe that God is in control of everything that happens.

South Park in the News Again

The guys at South Park got so mad at the censors who wouldn't let them include an image of Mohammed, that they instead included an incident involving Jesus, Bush and the American flag. Thus proving once again, it's OK to bash our President, the symbol of our liberty and Jesus but not Mohammed.

Read about it here.

Tags: South Park, Media Bias

Blogs for Bauer

Since we might be endorsing Jack Bauer for president, I thought it would be a good idea to join his blog group, Blogs for Bauer.

5 New Blogging Chicks

Wow! What a week we've had for Blogging Chicks Blogroll! This list is really growing fast, much faster than I have time for :-). Usually I give a nice little introduction to each site but this week I am unable to do so. I invite you to go check out each blog for yourself. I started to write a nice little introduction but Firefox crashed and now I lost all that time and I have some things I want to blog about before I leave this morning to continue my fruitless shopping for Easter clothes.

So, welcome Alli's Mom from Manic Mommy's Musing in Alabama (mother to three year old Alli), Tabz (yes, the same one who did our Blogging Chicks icon) has a second blog, Stupid People Shouldn't Breed (go there and rant with her, I may be over there later after my trip to the mall today :-), Cheeky from Snow Trapped Southern Girl in Minnesota (poor thing), homeschooler and savvy chick, Gem from My So-Called Homeschool, and finally Denise of Mental Excrements in Tennessee, who has a great layout to her blog.

Please make sure you visit their blogs and welcome them to the blogroll!

Easter Dress Shopping Rant

Why does the mall want to send a woman, who came to spend money (and was prepared to spend whatever it took), home empty handed. We bought one dress for $25. That was it! We spent more money eating than we did actually buying merchandise. All three of us needed an Easter dress and the girls needed Easter shoes. We got one dress.

We decided to leave the mall and see if we could find a Kohls and of course we could because they are everywhere. I found a blouse (not sure what I'm going to wear it with) and Sarah found a skirt (not sure what she is going to wear it with) that was it.

The clothes out today stink, they are ugly, the colors are ugly and it looks like it escaped from stuffy Aunt May's couch. And they are so immodest. Why would I allow my fourteen year old to go anywhere in this or this. That would be lovely for church. And doesn't the second one look like a bed spread or Aunt May's couch cushion.

Because we took too long shopping, we were unable to get back in time to prepare for the evening Good Friday service. Read more about that here.

And now, I get to do it all over again tomorrow.

Good Friday

The other night over dinner, my girls and I were talking about the upcoming Easter break from school.

I said "You know, school is closed on Good Friday too". My daughter Lauren said "Why do they call it Good Friday? There is nothing "good" about it, that was the day they crucified Jesus".

Don't you just love when you get such a good teaching moment?

I took a deep breath and said "honey, the crucifixion was the best event ever to happen in human history, it was the day that all of creation had been waiting for. That without the cross there would be no salvation. That "...without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins [Hebrews 9:22]. From our perspective we don't see how this could be "good"; to die this kind of death.

Then I read her this:
"The cross of Christ proves that God's plans are good. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ was the most evil deed ever committed on this planet. God's own perfect Son was put to death by wicked men. What could be more evil than that? At the same time, however, the crucifixion of Jesus was the best thing that ever happened on this planet. As we shall see, the cross has brought salvation to the world...it was the place God's love and God's holiness embrace. Here is the love of God. God the Father sent his Son, his only Son, to suffer and die for our sins...The cross of Christ is necessary to preserve both God's love and God's holiness in the salvation of God's people. The German theologian Emil Brunner (1889-1966) explained that the cross of Christ "is the event in which God makes known his holiness and his love simultaneously, in one event, in an absolute manner...The cross is the only place where the loving, forgiving, merciful God is revealed in such a way that we perceive that his holiness and his love are equally infinite."

quote taken from "The Heart of the Cross" by James Boice and Philip Ryken


Without the cross, there would be no Christianity. My daughter Lauren thanked me for helping her understand more about her Savior. I thank God for giving me the opportunity to share the gospel with her.

That in the cross of Christ, God performed that which we could never, ever do--satisfy His own righteous, holy standard. And that what God required of us, He also provided for us in the cross of Christ. That's the gospel.

On this Resurrection Sunday may we praise Him who "has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have the redemption, the forgiveness of sins." [Colossians 1:13-14]

He was wounded for our transgressions...

Isaiah 53:1 Who has believed what they heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? 9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

I reflect on the meaning of the cross here.

(graphics via Christian Clipart and Graphics)

Tags: Good Friday,Atonement,Cross, Christ, Jesus

Another Good Quote!

If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking. - George S. Patton Jr.

(from Cadmusings)

Happy 14th Birthday, Sarah!

Senator Podcasting

Just found out from an ad on both Right Wing News (our favorite news source) and Evangelical Outpost that Senator Frist is podcasting. Both of these websites should be happy to know that some of us do read their ads. I have no choice, if you put a picture on a blog, I'll look at it. Text? Not so much :-). And Senator Frist should be happy that I'm plugging his podcast for free.

Updated to add: But those guys wouldn't be so happy I'm plugging his site for free. OK, I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer and it took me till 10:00 this morning to figure out this wasn't the smartest thing to do! I'm not one to bite the hand that feeds me :-)

GOP Blog

Hey, Ang! Only if he's GOP, we're a GOP blog. And he has to be pro-life.

Jack Bauer for President, pleeeeaaase!!!!

Okay, I have to say this. What America needs is Jack Bauer in the Oval Office. If only he were a real person.....
But I digress. So, how about that episode of "24"? Wasn't that great? I found a website where a very sarcastic guy does a very funny recap of the weekly episodes. Check him out.
And I think he raises an excellent point. President Wimpy has suddenly become much more centered and clear thinking now that we know that he's this season's Bad Guy.

Updated to add: Okay, "24" fans, I want to share something very special with you. I have written a song for our man Jack. It's posted on my blog, so take a look!

Tags: Jack Bauer, President, 24

How much is this sandwich worth?

No fair guessing if you've already read the story.

Updated to add: Are you people going to force me to offer you a prize?

Updated to add: The price of this sandwich is $148.33!

What is is claimed to be the world's most expensive sandwich goes on display at Selfridges Department Store in London, Monday April 10, 2006. Named the McDonald Sandwich, after it's creator, chef Scott McDonald, the ingredients are Wagyu beef, fresh lobe foie gras, black truffle mayonnaise, brie de meaux, rocket, red pepper and mustard confit, and English plum tomatoes, all packed into 24-hour fermented sour dough bread - and it sells for 85 pounds (US$ 148.33: euro 122.53) each.

(from the Corner)

Longest Comment Thread

I can't believe that the longest comment thread on either of my blogs is the one on women's sufferage! This should not be controversial, people.

Bible Discussion for Before Samson and Delilah

I put up a discussion question over at my other blog. Go check it out.

Here's a great quote

"I know that ridicule may be a shield, but it is not a weapon" Dorothy Parker.

(from the Free Dictionary)

Oprah's Wealth

I have a new found respect for Oprah Winfrey admitting that being wealthy was a good thing. When I first saw the title on the Drudge Report, I thought that she was going to say that it was good to be wealthy so that she could helps less fortunate than her. But she surprised me by being honest and by being smart enough to enjoy her blessings from the Lord. Good for you Oprah, you enjoy your wealth and the satisfaction of helping others with it.

Pearl and Homeschoolbloggers.com Boycott

As I mentioned in my previous post on this subject, boycotts sometimes hurt the innocent. The boycotters are refusing to link to those who are hosted at homeschoolbloggers. One of our Blogging Chicks, Tabitha of The Blinking Cursor is hosted there and she likes it. Why should she leave her blog because others are boycotting her host? She talks about the boycott here.

Tags: Homeschooling, Homeschool, Pearl Boycott, homeschoolblogger

Another Blogging Chick

Please join me in welcoming Jana from Going Places in Pennsyvanna to the Blogging Chicks blogroll. Jana blogs about her life with her four sons and homeschooling. You can tell she really likes to take pictures, go checkout the picture of her son's view of the table (very cute) and the blast from the past pictures at the bottom of the page.

BTW, we have an a dozen sites! Yeah! Woohoo! Look out Internet, here we come!

Bye Donna!

We are saying goodbye to Donna, she told me when we started this blog that she might not have time to blog and it turns out, she was right.

Report from the Doctor

Turns out I had a cyst. I was afraid it was arthritis, which I just know I'm going to get eventually. It is a type of cyst that usually shows up suddenly on joints and usually people get it between their wrist and palm. I'm praising God I didn't get that because I wouldn't be able to use my laptop. Then you would have to rely on Susan and Ang to give you something to read while you have your cup of tea in the morning.

Not Much Happening Here Today

I will not be able to do much posting today because I have to go see the doctor. I have a lump on my thumb and I have to get it checked out. I will be posting something related to the Bible discussion before my appointment, so go check out my other blog later this morning.

More Bling

Well, I've added a quote of the day, so that we look like we have something going on in the intellectual department. Plus we have joined another fine blogroll, the Alliance of the Anonymous. I don't just join any blogroll, I have to agree with their purpose:

• Tired of all them Blogrolls with all them rules and stuff?
• Welcome to the Alliance of the Anonymous. All we ask is that you stick a picture on your blog. What for? I dunno. But at least you're part of a group.

Who wouldn't be for that? If you're interested in joining just scroll down until you see their icon.

Speaking of blogrolls, you may not have heard that we have one. If you are interested in joining just email us. We only have one small requirement, you must be a women and some minor restrictions, profanity must be kept to a minimum (I hate sites where every other word is a profanity, that's what I'm talking about) and it can't be a porn, spam site or a hate site (meaning pro-Hitler, racist, anti-semitic, etc.).

And if you're not interested in the above? Then how about a blogroll against stupid people? No, I didn't start a new one (I didn't even join), it belongs to blogging chick, Beth (go here to join).

Say No to Boycotts

We are not affiliated with any boycott of anything. I don't support them and I believe that innocent people become adversely affected by them and that a "mob" mentality could develop. And they unfairly target some and not others who are just as "guilty." I believe our time could be better spent talking through our differences instead of choosing sides.

So, if you see our name linked to any boycott, don't believe it. This blog, of which I am the owner, does not endorse any boycott and never will no matter how noble the cause may be.

Prayer Request

Samantha asked me to ask you to pray for a little girl she knows who has pneumonia and problems with her lung and only a fifty percent chance of surviving. Her name is Cindy and she is only three years old.

Christian Children Being Snarky

Two children doing chores, one says something to the other and then a fight breaks out and in the snootiest voice ever:

"Practice what you preach"
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"
"Love your neighbor as yourself"

I'm not sure the Lord intended his word to be used this way.

White Horse Inn Podcasts

Did you know that White Horse Inn has podcasts? Why didn't someone tell me? You can go here to signup.

I know I haven't post much, but...

Since starting college I find that I don't have as much "free time" as I did when
I was a lady of leisure (I say that with a smirk), so as soon as I finish this semester I hope to post more.

Thanks Michele for letting me ride your coat-tails!

BTW, please pray for me. I am writing a research paper for my English class and it's due Wednesday. My topic is abortion. Who knows, I might even post it!

How Cool! Am I the last person in America to know about this?

Okay, so I read a couple of posts here where people were extolling the joys of Firefox. I hadn't even heard of Firefox. I Googled, I asked around, I decided to give it a shot.
Well, let me tell you that if are the other person who hasn't yet discovered this, jump on in! And it's true that this site loads easier and looks better through Firefox than through Internet Explorer.
Give it a try!

I was right! (of course)

In this post I said that someone would come here because I mentioned Ligon Duncan and sure enough they came. Mention Ligon Duncan and they will come (oh, no, I did it again -- heehee). Ligon Duncan is here.

ABC Offers Shows Online for Free

ABC is going to offer four of their shows online for free in May. I think that shows that they are being smart for a change. I can’t believe how dumb these people are not making their content available on the Internet. They would increase their viewership tremendously since it would be world-wide and they would increase their world-wide distribution since those watch it on the Internet will tell those without the Internet about it and then they will start demanding it from their broadcast providers. I bet it even would increase DVD sales.

Not to mention that their ad revenue goes up:

The offerings will also include current episodes of "Commander in Chief," as well as the entire season of "Alias," and will be available through June.
The shows, being offered by the Disney-ABC Television Group, will be supported by advertisers, including AT&T Inc., Ford Motor Co., Procter & Gamble Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and Unilever PLC, among others.

Read the rest here.

I think it is incredibly dumb of CBS to make their episodes available for $2.50 each. I might be tempted for a $1.00 but not $2.50. Their content is just not worth it to me. They should just sell ads and offer it for free like ABC.

Updated to add: Link to someone who apparently has more free time than I do.

Sheech!

It was Iraqi Liberation Day today! Why didn't someone mention it to me, I would have said something. I am thankful that the Iraqi people are able to start down the road to democracy. It takes time, Germany had many problems after the war but slowly they were able to rebuild. I think that Iraq is making tremendous progress. I m thankful to the men and women in the military who risked their life to set a people free from tyranny.

Samson Before Delilah Discussion Questions

Are up at my other blog.

New Bling (Sidebar Trinket)

So, I got us a new toy. Scroll down to my Technorati baby picture to see it. It will display where everyone is from who visits us. Isn't that cute? I wish we had it before because we have had people from all around the world so far, including the Middle East and China!

Things I've learned since I started blogging

1. I know now why people can't stand blogger

• Pictures say that they're loaded and aren't
• Pictures suddenly disappearing from posts
• Posts disappearing and then reappearing
• No trackbacks
• Templates stink
• The editor doesn't have an undo button and it really, really needs one (really)
  

2. I know now why people who can't stand blogger stay with blogger

• It took me forever to get us on these blogrolls, how long do you think it would take for me to get our address changed.
  
• What about all the people who link to us now (all three of them and one of them is on hiatus)

3. This is a lot of hard work.

• Not just the writing part but the finding clip art and such.
• Tweaking the template.
• Figuring out how to use all the little trinkets that are out there for your web and then installing them in your template.
• Responding to comments
• Writing material in such a way that it can be read independently by someone using google. This is time consuming, I have been putting off doing this. It may mean writing a summary post and linking to all the other articles together. This is more of a concern for my other blog than this one.
  

4. People tell you they are reading your blog but they are not (this one makes me the most bitter)

• Sometimes you feel like you are talking to an empty room and friends reinforce that feeling.

5. This is not really a good environment for a control freak who has the added problem of being insecure.

6. I have a new respect for those who can do this and have a life as well :-).

7. I really am a workaholic.

8. Firefox is the best browser to view blogs. This blog looks sooooo much better in Firefox than in Explorer. And it has all kinds of fun plugins. I'm going to write a post about this later in the week.

9. There are some really incredibly nice people on the Internet who have been very generous with their support and encouragement (not to mention their linking to us :-).

10. I've learned that you have to be incredibly careful about what I write because you don't know who is reading.

11. And related to that, I have to be incredibly careful about what I write because my words could adversely affect how people view Christ and His people. You may only get one shot at someone, they might not read your apology, revised opinion or your further explanation. Being careful with the original post is the most important step in the process.

12. Never change your template after 12:30 am. You may delete something you might need :-)

13. It might not be a good idea (for grammar's sake) to post after 12:30 am, as well.

I'm probably forgetting some but I will no doubt be updating this list as I blog. I'm here to stay (Lord willing) until I've accomplish my goal.

Updated to add: more things I learned.

Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel

John 12:13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!"
More at my other blog.










(Graphic via Crossmap Clipart)

300!

This is our 300th post! Can you believe it? No dancing numbers this time. They were too big and I'm too tired. You get a little woo hoo (and not even a dancing one) and some ballons. Who would have thought that we would make 300 in less than four months? See why we called ourselves Reformed Chicks Blabbing?

(Graphics via Madlantern Arts)

Another Blogging Chick

Join me in welcoming Laura Long Collins of Survival Theory in North Carolina. She blogs about politics and current events. She is all over the story about the poor girl who was raped by the Duke Lacrosse players. And I found out tonight that she is one of the favorite bloggers of Thirdee of Code Red Women for the Troops. Go over to her site and welcome her to our group.

Our first compliment!

We have had our first compliment from another blog. You can see it above our profile box. Our new second favorite website is Wide Awake Cafe! Thank you so much Laura Lee Donoho, you are the best!

Samson Before Delilah

BTW, I thought I would plug my other blog while we are getting increased traffic. My other blog is a place I stick longer pieces, Bible studies and digests of books that I have to read for seminary. Next week I will be holding a Bible discussionover there, not as formal as a Bible study, just a discussion . Just some questions and if people want to they can post their answers to the questions. Then I plan to post what I learned from my study of the passages on Friday.

Here we go again with RC Sproul Jr.....

First of all, I think that I owe an apology to those who have been effected by this RC Sproul, Jr. trial. Whether the RPCGA denomination or the people who lodged a compliant against Sproul. All I wanted to do was get Sproul's side of the story out there because all I hear is one side but I should have been more balanced. I don't know what happened and who is telling the truth and it's not for me to judge. I'm going to just give you everything I got and let you decide what to think.

I have already linked to Pastor Shaun, please read the comments of his post because he clarifies what he meant, and the other commenters have links to other material you might want to look at. Here is a link to Karen of from the prairie, she has links to a couple articles, just keep scrolling. I hope that helps.

I think that I will take Pastor Shaun's advice and pray for all those involved and I recommend you do the same thing. I pray that the people who lodged the original complaint will not let a bitter root grow if they do not receive the justice that they believe they deserve and I pray for RC Sproul Jr., if he is innocent of the charges, I pray that God will vindicate him. And I pray that they Lord will remind us all that we are brothers and sisters in Christ:

John 13:35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

Tags: RC Sproul Jr., defrocked

Our Week In Tags

This is a copy of the Technorati tags for this blog and my other blog. This is what we have been blogging about this week! I might make this a weekly wrap up feature :-). Our week in tags.

Updated to add: I laugh every time I read "defrocked...Easter bunny." And the Ligon Duncan one is funny because I was telling the googlers that I don't write about Ligon Duncan and they should go to his blog instead (OOPS, now they'll come over here).

Welcome Once Again RWN Readers

Thankfully we have been blogging away since your last visit so there is fresh content to look at. Make sure you check out the link we have to the women sufferage video, you aren't going to believe it. But scroll down and read the articles first :-) (please).

And thanks once again to John Hawkins, who is the best guy in the whole Internet for linking to us two times in the same week.

Two New Blogging Chicks

We welcome two new Blogging Chicks over at my other blog. Go check them out.

Women Suffrage Video

Ang! I just saw that video and I can't believe how accommodating these girls are! A guy comes up to them and says sign something and they say, "sure why not" even though it would lead to a loss of their freedom. They didn't even realize what it was they were giving up. I am making sure my daughters understand their rights and make sure that they realize they shouldn't sign them away. I know Sarah at least understands because she did report on Susan B. Anthony. Sheech women! Teach your daughters because their schools aren't.

Poor Susan B. Anthony she worked so hard and see what happens? Women are willing to give up their right to vote! All her hard work down the drain. Well, I won't give up my right, Susan and neither will my daughters.

Updated to add: You know, I was thinking that this is another huge loss for the women's movement. I thought that they made the schools teach this stuff to the kids. What happened? Why don't these girls understand their rights?

Children's Stories

Hey, look at what one of our Blogging Chicks, Lisa of Family of Five found, it's a link to a website that has MP3's of children's stories.

End Women's Suffrage...Please!

I can't believe this. A teenage male went around with a handheld video camera and asked high school girls to sign a petition "To end women's suffrage."
He must've spoken to 20 girls, and only ONE actually knew what that meant.
Very scary.
Thanks to K and W from The Well Trained Mind boards for darkening my day with this info!!

Another gospel?

National Geographic is dedicating next month's magazine what is supposed to be the gospel according to Judas!!

According to the Washington Times article:

Judas is presented as the one to whom everything is told," said Gregor Wurst, a German scholar who helped translate the document. "Judas was an anti-hero."
It claims that Jesus and Judas planned Jesus' Crucifixion so that the death of Christ's weak, earthly body could release His spirit to enjoy the glories of heaven.
Near the end of the Judas gospel, Jesus tells Judas he will "exceed" the rest of the disciples "for you will sacrifice the man that clothes me."
This concept comes from gnosticism, a doctrine that believes salvation comes not by Jesus' death and Resurrection, but through secret knowledge imparted by Him to select individuals.

[The quote below is not part of the above article, I just couldn't figure out how to UN block a quote! Be patient with me, I'm new at this blogging thing!]

"But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is accured!" [Galatians 1:8]

Clearly, that is what this is.

Go read the rest of the article here.

Dan Brown Wins

Man those guys were robbed! He clearly copied his book from their research.

A judge ruled Friday that mega-selling author Dan Brown did not steal ideas for "The Da Vinci Code" from a nonfiction work, ending the suspense about the case with an ultimately unsurprising decision.

High Court judge Peter Smith rejected a copyright-infringement claim by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, authors of "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail," who claimed that Brown's blockbuster "appropriated the architecture" of their 1982 book. In the United States, the book is titled, "Holy Blood, Holy Grail."

The ruling will allow a film based on the book and starring Tom Hanks to open as scheduled on May 19.

Read the rest here.

Update: How Cool is This?

Well, this may not have been all that it appears according to this site.

Bummer! I loved the story of the chick with moxie making her own way in the world, the independent spirit making her big break happen. Maybe she is or maybe she's not. Who knows what is the truth? But I don't want to slander her so I'm going to give here the benefit of the doubt. The truth will probably come out eventually. I guess we will find out in the coming months if she's a phenom or a publicity stunt. I'll keep you informed.

One thing that we should all keep in mind, I'm just commenting on what I see.

Updated to add: I changed the thrust of this story because I didn't want to slander the singer. I have no idea what is what, I just liked the story when I saw it but I also don't want to be used if this is a publicity stunt. See how far the media has fallen in my estimation? I wouldn’t put it past them to be duped by the record company PR department. Do I trust this website (that I know nothing about) or the mainstream media? Hmmm, this is a dilemma, isn’t it?

Updated to add: Make sure you read the comments, Adrian has some very useful information and links to an article that has more information about the singers traffic stats. Very interesting use of technology. I think the MSM should hire Adrian since he knows how to dig out a story, this skill seems to be lacking among some in the media.

Tags: Sandi Thom, basement, music, Record, Contract

Want to make a buck?

If you want to make some extra cash (and I mean just a buck) then leave a comment on this blog (meaning his blog not this one you're reading now, I'm not giving you a buck -- believe me someone asked :-). It's actually a great blog, you would expect that with a name like Procrastinators of the World - Unite (Later).

He really does send you a dollar. I know because he sent me one but I refused to accept it because my comments can't be bought, they have to be earned :-). Though I'm all for capitalism.

Updated again to add: I wanted to make sure you realize that one of the reasons I'm sending you to this site isn't just to make a buck, this is a really well-written funny site. Glenn did a great post on being a wiggly worm in the TLB ecosystem, it was so good that I was envious of his brilliance and wished I had written it. Plus he wrote about his commenting policy and had a very funny punch line. I was going to quote it but I decided not to steal his punch line! Go check out his site. Don't procrastinate :-)

Dumb Question of the Day

Nurse in doctor's office: Hi! How areya?

Patient: (barely able to speak, looking like a 3 week old Chicken McNugget found under a toddler's car seat) Not well.

To say the least. Why do they do that?

Samantha Cutie Part 2

Sarah was trying to get me to sign something but I was trying to compose an email.
"Here," Sarah said, shoving a paper in my face, "Sign this."
"What?" I replied dazed and confused, my mind on my email.
"She can't hear you she's got her blogging ears on!" Samantha said.

Boy, did I work to get her to let me blog that!

BTW, Sarah says that she didn't shove the paper in my face, she says she put it next to me. But I remember it being shoved at me. Sheech, it's hard blogging when your kids can see. I think I'll have to write about them while they're asleep.

Further Edification

OK, since I set the bar real low today I'll post this. It is a link to all the people who have died in the bathroom.

(Link via Jonah Goldberg at The Corner)

What can I say, sex sells.....

Here is something that is really annoying, when churches use shock tactics to bring in visitors:

In spring of 2006, Granger Community Church finished a five-week series called PureSex. To help promote the series, Granger employed an outdoor advertising campaign that featured a photo of a coupleÂ’s feet entwined under the covers and the Web address mylamesexlife.com.

Tackling topics like "The Greatest Sex You'll Ever Have", "The Language of Lust" , "Straight Talk for Men and Women", "What Happens in Vegas WON'T Stay in Vegas" and "Porn: What's the Big Deal?" has allowed for lots of interesting conversations for Granger's guests and the community.

This is from the church's website. Click here to see the ad.

What they don't mention is that the community was upset about it and the sign was above a Hooters restaurant.

Some parents who live near a Hooters restaurant in Granger, Indiana are pretty upset. Above the Hooters restaurant is a huge billboard with the photo of a man and woman, (presumably), their naked feet hanging out of an unmade bed. Underneath the photo are the words, www.mylamesexlife.com. The word “sex” is in red. These parents are outraged that their young children are asking questions about a subject that is inappropriate for their little minds. One of the mothers interviewed by a media outlet referred to the billboard as “disgusting”.

Read the rest here. And you can read more about it here. Also, here's an irate letter to the editor.

This is the worst type of bait and switch. Is this pastor going to preach about sex every week? Do you think that Joe Pagan is going to see the sign, go to the website and say, "They're going to talk about sex in church, let's go?" Won't Joe Pagan know that it probably won't be something that will rival what he gets on TV? What if you do get Joe Pagan into your church, then what do you do to entertain him next? Strippers?

Christians, Tsk, Tsk

So, we're in the Christian Aggregrator which has our newest posts listed, guess which one lead someone to come here. You guessed it, Just Call Us Nasty Chicks.

How cool is this?

Wow, talk about making your dream happen:

A British singer has signed up by a major record label after broadcasting live performances from her living room on the Internet.

Sandi Thom, 24, is now on the books of RCA/SonyBMG after signing with the label at her flat on Monday night.

She built up a daily audience of more than 100,000 people around the world.

Read the rest here.

You want something, you've got to go out there and use whatever means to make it happen. People notice success. This is Michele's inspirational minute of the day. :-)

(Link via Right Wing News, which is now my favorite site since he linked to us and sent us over 200 readers)

Updated to add: see update here.

Reciprocal Blogroll

I am going to start a reciprocal blogroll. I'm going to be redoing our link lists using blogroll and bloglines. I am only going to be linking to the blogs I read in bloglines (and that's not a lot). If you link to us, you can join our reciprocal link list. Just let me know in the comment section of this post or email that you link to us and I will add you to the list.

Just Call Us Nasty Chicks

Hey, Ang! Because you used the word nasty in this post, we are number one (as of this post) when you search for "Nasty Chicks Blog" using MSN search.

Wow, Ang only back one day and you are bringing all kinds of readers to our site :-).

Updated to add: So, I thought I would take out the link because I didn't want to cause any of my brethren to stumble.

Karen's New Blog

Hey, Doug, Susan and Linda

Here's a woman who blogs way more than I do! Karen of From the Praire and got me a college girl, has started yet another blog, this one is a resource to help homeschoolers. Go here for details.

Tags: Homeschooling, Homeschool, Blogging, Blogs, Blog

Bible Study

I forgot to mention that I have an introduction to a Colossians Bible study I wrote a number of years ago posted to my other blog. The introduction looks at how we should study the Bible (through an understanding of our union with Chirst). If you are interested in my posting more of the material leave a comment or email.

Over my spring break (next week) I'm thinking about writing a character study, which I would post over a three week period. Stop in from time to time at my other blog for more details.

Tags: Christianity, Theology, Reformed, Bible Study, Calvinism

Still trying to suppress the Truth

"Jesus walked on ice not water" says Professor at Florida State University.

Just another example of... "men who suppress the truth in
unrighteousness" [Romans 1:18].

Of course I'm not surprised, just noting the truth of scripture played out in our culture.

Susan

Can you believe I went to college with this guy?

We knew this guy in college. He used to stand in my kitchen and speak lovingly of ribs and scrapple. Now he's an author and "commentator" and he calls himself Mr. Cutlets. He has written a book on the best places in NYC to eat meat. And he has this very funny, yet informative site. Turn on your speakers because listening to the "Mr. Cutlets Themesong" is part of the fun.

I do have to admit that this is the person who "borrowed" my Norton's Anthology of American Literature and never returned it. I want that book.
Am I bitter?

The Right to Remain Silent

We were in line at the checkout counter, reading the covers of the magazines.

"Why did that woman kill her husband?" Samantha asked referring to Mary Winkler.
"We don't know, she won't say. This article is all speculation because she won't tell anyone why she did it."
"Why don't they force her to?"
"Samantha, she has the right to remain silent," Sarah answered before I had a chance to say anything, which was a good thing because I don't think I would have been smart enough to say that. Wow, that civics class she hates so much is really paying off!

She has a right to remain silent but the media won't let her keep it. They interview those who went to see her in jail and her attorney to try to get a tiny scrap of information as to why she would kill her husband.

We are all curious, we want to know what would make a pastor's wife kill her husband. The answer is, she is just like the rest of us who can snap and do something we would never think we would do in a million years. The killer is the one who decides to do that which is in our heart.

Matthew 5:21-22 "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire.

Is Congress Above the Law?

Do our congressmen and women think that they are above the law? Why shouldn't McKinney be charged with assault if she hit a cop, you and I would be charged with assault if we hit a cop. No, congress, you have to live by the same laws that you people impose on us.

“The notion that they would charge her is just beyond ludicrous, regardless of what happened. It sounds like a misunderstanding. She clearly wasn’t intending to assault a police officer.”

You gotta love the Repulicans in the House (unlike the Senate, blech):

McHenry and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) plan to introduce a resolution today to show appreciation for the Capitol Police.

Read the rest here.

(Link via the Drudge Report)

Communism

Communism is the greatest evil of modern man. There can be no argument and if you're tempted to argue, look at the pictures of the innocent.

Government Funding?

I was asked in the comments of my previous article if the prayer research was done with government funding and here is the answer, according to the NY Times (and since it is the Times we need to be skeptical):

The study cost $2.4 million, and most of the money came from the John Templeton Foundation, which supports research into spirituality. The government has spent more than $2.3 million on prayer research since 2000.

Read the rest here (until they make you pay for it).

You've sort of missed my point...

Someone commented that my facts are wrong and that the vast majority of homeschoolers are only boycotting The Old Schoolhouse (TOS) magazine and its affiliates. Okay, that's fine. I only know what I've read, which is apparently different than what you've read. I have seen at least one list that contained a list that included Amazon, eBay, Barnes & Noble, and Memoria Press. I don't have any kind of official stats regarding the number of hsers who are participating, nor to what extent. Maybe you're better informed than I am, so be it.

My primary point was that we have a common "enemy" (for lack of a better word.) I think that most of us can agree that the Pearls should be put out of business and made to wear a scarlet "A" for "Abusive." Let's stick to that. Let's stick to helping our fellow travelers to find better ways to discipline their children. Instead of turning on one another, let's use that energy to equip parents so that they no longer feel so desperate that they must turn to maniacs for advice. Haranguing a woman (who was anti-Pearl) until she shut down her blog did nothing to stop the Pearls.

"Almost Lazarus": thanks for the link. I want you to know that there are plenty of Christians who are against these people. I found lots of good info through your site and links.


Tags: Homeschooling, Homeschool, Pearl Boycott

The Power of Prayer

Scrappleface, funny and insightful as always:

A team of scientists today ended a 10-year study on the so-called “power of prayer” by concluding that God cannot be manipulated by humans, not even by scientists with a $2.4 million research grant.
...
“As it turns out, God was not impressed by our academic credentials, our substantial funding base, and our rigorous study protocols,” said lead researcher Dr. Herbert Benson, a cardiologist and director of the Mind/Body Medical Institute near Boston. “I get the feeling we just spent 10 years looking through the wrong end of the telescope.”

Go read the rest! It's so funny. Why would these scientist publish something so silly? Why do they think we would believe them? Related to my last story, I wonder if I should exerise after all :-).

(Link via The Best of the Godblogs)

Church Attendance Leads to Longer Life

Who knew? Does that mean I don't have to feel guilty about not exercising?

There are many things you can do to increase your life expectancy: exercise, eat well, take your medication and ... go to church.

A new study finds people who attend religious services weekly live longer. Specifically, the research looked at how many years are added to life expectancy based on:

* Regular physical exercise: 3.0-to-5.1 years
* Proven therapeutic regimens: 2.1-to-3.7 years
* Regular religious attendance: 1.8-to-3.1 years

Read the rest here.

(Link via the Drudge Report)

The Pearl Boycott/Debate/Debacle

Please Note: I am adding a comment to this entry. It has come to my attention that my comments have been linked to a blog that I'm not necessarily comfortable with. I'd just like to state for the record that the views expressed by any people who link to this entry may or may not be in accordance with mine.


I'm majorly bumming about some news I got yesterday.
I found out that the author of one of my favorite homeschooling blogs has had to stop blogging. She's been homeschooling for about 15 years, and was a great source of knowledge and encouragement. Not to mention her links.
Well, you're probably wondering by now what this has to do with the Pearl Boycott.
Some of you may even be wondering who "The Pearls" are. I'm talking about Michael and Debi Pearl, authors of the book To Train Up a Child (TTUAC.) They have come under a great deal of fire recently due to their punitive and (imo) harsh, even abusive attitudes toward disciplining children. Recently a child died and the mother was a card carrying member of the Pearl School of Switching, er um, Discipline.
Now bloggers and homeschoolers everywhere are harkening to the cry of "Boycott all things related in any way to Pearls, including the eating of oysters!" Okay, I made up that last part, but you get the drift.
The woman I mentioned above had the audacity to say that while she agrees that the Pearls are abhorrent in their teachings, she doesn't agree that boycotting Amazon.com will make much of a difference. She personally has chosen not to support them in any way and will make the same recommendation to others, but doesn't see the point in chasing down anyone who has any relationship to the Pearls. For this she was hounded and ridiculed and threatened to the point that she eventually shut down her blog. Somehow I don't think that the Pearls were adversely affected by that action.

Now before you go and send me nastygrams (please don't, I'm new here, remember?) I want to make it perfectly clear that I do not approve of the Pearls in any way. And I do understand the rationale behind boycotting, it's just that I'm not sure that it's the most effective way. And for those of us who believe that hearts are changed by love and not by force, I have to ask: Would our energies be better spent in working person to person than taking on the whole world and threatening not to buy from various e-commerce merchants?

Righteous anger and legitimate outrage (over the murder of a child) can turn into bitterness and ugliness and threats against someone who has no vested interest in this whole situation. I'm not naive enough to think that the Pearls can be "loved" out of their erroneous ideas, but we can love our friends and relatives enough to show them that there are better ways to parent.

Tags: Homeschooling, Homeschool, Pearl Boycott

Sorry for the gibberish

So, I learned a very valuable lesson tonight. Have a backup of your template so you can restore it if you fall asleep editing it. And secondly, always do a preview no matter how small the template changes in case you did something stupid like delete a bunch of stuff.

Hi, Right Wing News Readers

So, I thought I should blog something political since you are all here but I can’t think of anything that hasn’t been said better on other blogs. We’re really not political, though we are all Republicans and pro-life. I blog about abortion on occasion but mostly we blog about things that interest us. Like the priest (in Italy) who had to prove Jesus existed, the offensive bunnies of St. Paul, the banned laptops at Law School, persecuted Christians, drunks being arrested in bars, city cameras in apartment complexes, sleepovers and other mom and wife type stuff-- all from a Christian perspective (and a little snarky occasionally).

If that sounds like your cup of tea, come back and see us again (and certainly check our archives). If not, well, thanks for stopping by!

Comments?

168 people and Sarahk and RightWingDuck are the only ones who leave comments? What is up with that?

Right Wing News...Thanks!!!

We didn't want to appear ungrateful that we've been recognized by RWN...
just surprised as all get out!!
So on behalf of the Reformed Chickies:
Thanks!! :)

Right Wing News Linked to Us???

Why????

Frank J. Explains Christianity

Here is something strange, Frank J. explaining Christianity:

So, not only is murder in support of Christianity not encouraged, it itself is a sin. This wasn't always well known, though, and some people long long ago murdered people for not being Christians. That causes problems today, as people will say, "While other religions murder people now, some people a hundred million years ago murdered people in the name of Christianity, so Christianity is just the same."

And you might respond, "But that was very long ago and went against the principles of Christianity and thus is condemned."

And the person will rebut, "Yes, but I'm a moral retard who equivocates everything. As far as I'm concerned, A is the same as Z."

And there is no response to that.

So, not only is murder completely condemned by Christianity, the fact that anyone would murder in the name of Christ is considered harmful to the religion.

Despite these insane, murder-phobic beliefs, Christianity still seems to thrive. "Good living" and "salvation" apparently is enough to keep people faithful to a religion. Actually, it makes one wonder that, if "not being murdered" is the main selling point of your religion, maybe you should rethink the whole thing.

The thing about Christianity that most people don't understand is that it can only be truly understood once you experience it. I could try and explain it but it doesn't have the same impact until you've lived through it. A good analogy is giving birth. You can't understand the pain of childbrith until you've experienced it.

BTW, I can't believe that the Best of the Godblogs linked to Frank J. Did someone tell him?

(Link via Best of the Godblogs)

Yet Another Update on the Fruit of Blogging

Here's another fruit of blogging, I have to blog in the kitchen now while my oatmeal is cooking. After the smoke detector ratted me out, my husband and I got into an argument. He kept saying that I had to do something differently that he didn't want me to burn the house down (he repeated this statement a lot). I told him that the smoke detector wouldn't let me do that because it goes off when the oatmeal burns, not the pan and what in the world could I do differently. But there was no reasoning with him and we got into a bigger fight and then he said it, the thing that you don't say to me.

"I forbid you to eat oatmeal!"
"What?"
"I forbid you to eat oatmeal!"
"You can't forbid me to eat oatmeal! That's ridiculous!"
"I forbid it!"
"Well, I'm going to eat oatmeal because that's ridiculous. You're treating me like a child." And then I stomped my feet and huffed off.

Later, when the Lord calmed my heart and reminded me what was important, I told my husband that I understood that his concern was me not burning down the house. I knew that he didn't care if I ate oatmeal or not, his concern was for the house (well and us). So I told him that to alleviate his concern I would wait in the kitchen until the oatmeal is done. But I also told him that he can't be a dictator, being head of this household doesn't mean that we live in a totalitarian regime. I would not be a very good helper if I allowed him to force me to do something against my will. If he ruled with an iron fist, power would corrupt him and that is not good for his spiritual growth and it wouldn't be good for our marriage.

But my husband understands because he is a good manager and knows (usually) how to get his point across without being overbearing. He is not a micromanager because he knows that it wouldn't work, that there would be way to many fights if he did that. He is a brilliant man who knows what it takes to lead this family and I love him very much (hi, honey).

So, here I stand cooking my oatmeal and blogging and making my husband happy (even though he's still asleep and doesn't even know it). Not because I'm forced to do it, but because love involves sacrifice.

1 Corinthians 13:4-5 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;

It's a good thing I have a laptop or I wouldn't be able to blog about this!

Hey! Upside to Daylight Savings Time

We can stay up an hour later! Woohoo! (OK, I'll take what I can get)

Firefox

Here is something interesting. If you write "Firefox" in your post they will come. Trust me on this, I know what I'm talking about.

Hey Firefox guy, leave a comment.

Prayer request

Please pray for me...I have my *last* summary to write tonight for my Political science class on the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and I am dreading it...as you can see I'm procrastinating and blogging when I should be reading!

I haven't finished reading the book yet, I have about 90 pages left and my brain and eyes are giving out on me...I'm really missing that extra hour of sleep right about now.

Susan

Bloglines

You have to sign up for Bloglines, it is the coolest thing! You can surf the Internet from the comfort of one place and you don't have to go jumping all over the Internet and you can mail posts that you like to your friends, family or yourself. Very cool. Go subscribe to our feed and try it for yourself. If you decide you want to comment or see a picture, just click on the title of the post and it will bring you to our site.

Care to Wager?

If we weren't a Christian blog I would be tempted to place bets as to whether Ang will be returning. I bet no!

It seems we have a visitor

Hey Susan, who is this Ang person and what is she doing on our blog?

Okay, okay, so I'm here already!!!

After being savagely hunted by Michele I have come to my senses and brought myself on over to the RCB blog. I was in imminent danger of being banished by said Sister in Christ, and so of course I have arrived.
I think I'll fill out some of the profile stuff because I see that I am the only RCB girl who hasn't done so.
More later!
I want to talk about the Pearl Boycott.
And Easter, aka Resurrection Sunday.
But for now I must run off to pick up my 4 year old's prescription because he has a rather nasty double ear infection!
Vroooom!

Dial-up Users

To my dear readers who use dialup. I've been thinking about you lately and I know that my site must be a pain to load. I know I have a lot of pictures and I thought about cutting down on the amount I post but I have plans to post some pictures my husband took yesterday so that doesn't seem like a viable option. So, I thought that the solution might be very easy, why not view my site feed? It doesn't load the pictures, it is only the text and then, if you want to see the pictures, just load that article, not all the others.

Also, you could subscribe to my feed with bloglines, that is a feed reader. Just click on the icon on the sidebar and my feedburner will do all the work.

The Indie Virus

Have you heard of the "Indie Virus" yet? Well, you probably will. It's a strategy that got started in the comment section of this post. One of the commenters suggested this experiment:

On Monday's episode of The Apprentice, the teams had to get as many people as possible to text message a special keyword in order to promote Gillette'’s new (and overhyped) Fusion product line. Obviously, this is essentially an experiment in viral marketing, and it provided me with an interesting bit of thought fodder.

What if a few of us "Magic Middle" bloggers came up with a viral meme of our own? Maybe a tagline that we include in our posts to identify results on Technorati? Can we go to #1 on the search list? Can we start something that temporarily breaks the monotony and brings more exposure to sub A-listers?

How many people could we get involved? The winning team on The Apprentice got 637 people (or somewhere around there) to text message their special keyword in one day, but their approach involved face-to-face, direct techniques.

They are trying to prove that the little guy does have power and I agree. Another commenter:

"As far as blogrolls and other linking strategies being tired just like the A-List, there'’s a difference. There's only 100 of them. There are millions of us. Unless we revert to narrow herd mentality (which is possible) we should have hugely diverse blogrolls that allow for the introduction of unknown bloggers to others, based on our various niches.

It's a personal recommendation system, not a popularity contest. Show your eclectic taste and populate your blog roll with truly unique selections."

And this is actually what I was attempting to do with the Blogging Chicks blogroll. I wanted to start a blogroll specific to women but that went beyond genre, so that we could all be exposed to all kinds of writing. And so that we could be noticed and not let the top 100 have all the readers :-). In the movie A Bugs Life the ants realized that together they had the power that they lacked individually to beat up the grasshoppers. Let's join together to kick some grasshopper butt!

BTW, this isn't new, the Alliance guys figured this out a long time ago.

Updated to add: I just thought I would add this comment because I should have mentioned this when I orginally posted this. This test is for marketing purposes. These guys want to figure out a way to get their message out there using the blogs to do it.

Tags: Indie Virus, Blogging, Blogs, Blog, Blogroll, Marketing

(Link via Pearsonified)

I Found Something Uplifting

Well, I'm in a little better mood now. I did find something uplifting, my own writing :-). Check out this introduction to a Bible study I wrote a number of years ago.

Darn this daylight savings time!

Sorry about the profanity :-) but I'm no fan of losing an hour. I prefer to gain an hour, in fact I want more hours in my day (2 more to be exact). As you can see I'm cranky this morning so I better not blog that much today. I heard that some people like positive sites, so I'm trying to be more uplifting, less snarky to increase my readership. Maybe I should use more :-).

So, last night I feel asleep at my computer again and since it's a laptop it's not as bad as it sounds. I was trying to wait up until the dryer was done so that I could put in another load but the dryer outlasted me and I fell asleep. I woke up a little before 2:00 am and it was still going, so I got on the Internet and checked out other blogs and I checked to see if any night owls left me comments. Then the dryer buzzed, I put the clothes in the dryer and then went back to my computer for what I thought was a few more minutes but when I looked at the clock it said 3:00am. What? I've been on an hour, no way (yeah, well, you must remember that I just woke up with only an hour or two of sleep and I am over 40 -- ok, and I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer), then I remember that it was daylight savings and I just lost an hour (OOPS, I better make a new paragraph, I heard that there are some people who don't like their paragraphs too long :-).

Now, I lost an hour, I'm up later and I'm cranky on top of it. I better go find something uplifting to read or I'm going to be in terrible mood for church. And I better pray.

Check out Teresa's Blog...

She remodeled. And of course it would make sense that she would use latin as her background, what else is there? :-)

This is a great passage for April Fool's Day

Proverbs 26:18-19 Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, "I am only joking!"

I saw this at Challies.com.

BTW, I was incredibly impressed an envious that he has 1074 subscribers to his feed!

OK, really back to work!

Very Busy

I've been very busy reading for my Doctrine of Salvation II class and writing digests. My husband unplugged the Internet for me so that I couldn't blog (and no this wasn't related to the oatmeal incident of this morning), I asked him to do it. You can look for digests tomorrow some time.

But of course you can take the woman off the Internet but you can't take the Internet out of the woman (or something like that) because I keep thinking of things I need to do for the blogs. So, I decided to list my tasks in Outlook and I made 13 entries! But I don't have the time to do any of them. I hope to get back on the Internet and post something later tonight (either here or on my other blog).

Update on the Fruit of Blogging

Well, another burnt pot! This one because I was reading about Undercover Angels' sons sibling rivalry that has spilled over into the Internet (here and here). This is actually a brilliant idea on her part, when they start fighting she could say, "Why don't you just blog about it?"

And then before I published this post I was over at Rocks in My Dryer and I burnt a second batch of oatmeal so bad that the fire alarm went off!

Evil Internet! Why, oh why, do you have this hold over me?! There is too much interesting stuff out there and too little time to read it.

I'm thinking about giving up on breakfast this morning.

Updated to add: I had toast.

Firefox Merchandise

Are there people who wear this stuff? Maybe employees but customers? I think it's a little geeky (ok, really geeky) to wear the logo of a browser on your clothing.