No Grasp of Your Reality

This morning, I awoke early - for me, this is 6:00am - and could not go back to sleep.

Before I awoke, I was dreaming that I was in a large library (we are going to the library this morning, with our friends Susan and Timothy) and that I saw a man who was struggling to look through volumes of old, dusty, periodicals, while carrying a child on his hip. I volunteered to help him with his research, and discovered that he was the secret, bastard son of President Reagan.

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Well, it seems that the prosecution in our case intends to use our blog as evidence in the trial, and we’ve received selected posts in our packet of evidence, so while I’ve always assumed that anyone in the world could read this, I now have that knowledge in the back of my mind as I write.

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“EEeeww! Dinner smells like spider!” - Thomas, peering to a pot of boiling chicken broth made from our delicious “Chicken Stuffed with Garlic Butter” grilling experiment, the recipe taken from pages 208-10 of How to Grill: The Complete Illustrated Book of Barbecue Techniques and Recipes by Steven Raichlen.

It should be noted that I was teasing Thomas earlier for turning his nose up at Tom’s Penne Garden Alfredo last week, when he decided he didn’t like it without even tasting some. When he asked what was in it, I told him “spiders”. Lately, they have been observing the spiders on our front porch, some of which are rather large. He ate the whole bowl full and asked for seconds.

Penne Garden Alfredo

Cooked penne pasta, sauteed

Saute separately and add:
Garlic cloves to taste
Broccoli
Shiitake mushrooms
Tomatoes (optional)

Mix in Bertolli Creamy Alfredo Sauce

Top with freshly grated Parmesan

Would also be delicious with prosciutto.

We had a great day yesterday! After going to Uncle Andrew and Uncle Peter’s soccer game, we took a borrowed GPS receiver and Sarah, Thomas, Tabitha, Andrew, Peter and myself all drove off to the Struble Trail to go hunt for treasure.

Geocaching is a sport/hobby where people go and hide items around the world, and take a geocoordinate “snapshot” of it’s location. For example, one of the cache’s we found yesterday had the geocoordinates “N 40° 02.604 W 075° 42.556″. So, we entered those values into the GPS receiver, and it pointed out the direction we needed to go.

In order to get an idea of where to start, I used Google Earth to figure out where the location was, and where we should park. Since we had the kids, it was a good first cache, since we only had to walk about a half-mile to and from the location. Once we got close enough, the kids looked around for the hidden box, and they found it!

It was cool because there was another cache within easy walking distance, so the kids were able to find two caches in one day. They were very excited!

For those of you who do have Google Earth, here are the coordinates for the two caches we found yesterday. I plan on keeping this file up to date with the caches we find.

Our trial is now scheduled to begin Tuesday, September 27. There really isn’t too much more information that I’m aware of, except for one major issue. Despite our request, the Session has apparently decided to close the trial. I have no idea why they’ve chosen to do this, but Sarah and I are rather concerned by their desire to keep the proceedings secret.

Please keep us in your prayers this Tuesday. We’ll be sure to keep you all posted.

An anonymous source sent me an excellent series on the Wittenberg Gate on spiritual abuse, and the techniques that abusive leaders will use to control the congregation. I don’t know the woman who wrote the article, but she does do a good job listing the traits of manipulative leaders, including some of my favorites like being preoccupied with appearances, paranoia, and blame-shifting.

The author references many of the existing works on the subject, including The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse and Toxic Faith, but she does a good job summarizing the works and breaking down the subject.

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An interesting letter was posted on the Google Blog talking about a couple that used Google to save their premature twins from a dangerous medical procedure soon after birth. Turns out that an apparent complication in the health of one of the twins led the medical team to tell the parents that their son required an emergency blood transfusion.

The quick-thinking father googled the symptoms and found a medical article stating that the condition was normal. After showing the article to the medical staff, the staff did some research and admitted their diagnosis was incorrect.

Yay for Google being there to allow us quick access to information, and offering a tool to help us make better informed decisions.

New photos online from last week’s Mud Party. Click the photo to see more. This happened about 15 minutes before dinner was to begin.

Baths took a priority to dinner that night!

With your favorite hat and a marmalade tie.

Today at the Post Office, I learned how to ship my eBay packages internationally.

I also learned that while the Post Office does ship liquid, such as perfume, UPS only will if you have a certificate from the manufacturer stating the item’s flash point.

The Postmaster said that many of her eBay clients use Endicia for Internet shipping and “Envelope Management”. Something to look into. I was particularly interested because they do a nicer job of listing restricted items for each country than the USPS site.

While I was browsing Endicia, I stumbled across something quite cool: You can create real postage with your created design or even photograph!

Think of the possibilities! A Grandma can now put their image on stamps and give a stampbook to their grandkids to ensure they know where to send those thank you notes!

Tonight at bedtime, both Thomas and Tabitha expressed fear about dying as I was tucking them in. Although we often talk about Jesus, this evening was different because both children said specifically that they believed in Him.

My mind is not quick, nor do I boast having great theological knowledge, and I pray that God can even use such simple talk about Him to work in the hearts of my children:

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Who knew a tipped-over love seat could be so much fun? Click on the photo for more pics.

There are certain items which, when combined, create a noxious result. Combine a video camera and a young baby, and you get inane movies like this one. But, of course, as parents, we think it’s the cutest thing in the world.

And so should you.

Yes, we did film Micah blinking and put it on the Internet. Sue us.

Dr. Neill H. Payne posted this quote on the Reformed Theology Discussion List. It’s appropriate in many contexts.

Most of the major ills of the world have been caused by well-meaning people who ignored the principle of individual freedom, except as applied to themselves, and who were obsessed with fanatical zeal to improve the lot of mankind-in-the-mass through some pet formula of their own. The harm done by ordinary criminals, murderers, gangsters, and thieves is negligible in comparison with the agony inflicted upon human beings by the professional do-gooders, who attempt to set themselves up as gods on earth and who would ruthlessly force their views on all others — with the abiding assurance that the end justifies the means.

– Henry Grady Weaver, The Mainspring of Human Progress, 1947. (Thanks to the Future of Freedom Foundation)

I love this quote from John Roberts during his Supreme Court confirmation hearing today:

Judges and justices are servants of the law, not the other way around. Judges are like umpires. Umpires don’t make the rules; they apply them.

The role of an umpire and a judge is critical. They make sure everybody plays by the rules.

But it is a limited role. Nobody ever went to a ball game to see the umpire.

Labor Day this year was probably one of the most relaxing we’ve had in a while. The Carlson family, who are dear friends, came over and we had a leisurely afternoon together, feasting together, spitting watermelon seeds, and thanking God for our blessings - including the perfect weather.

While the men burned a tree that Tom and had I cut down the previous Saturday, I introduced Susan to Boggle, one of my all time favorite games. I think there will me more Boggle competitions in the future between she and I! She is the first person in about five years to beat me! Rematch!

The children played until the fireflies came out, and no one sustained any injuries requiring a Band-aid.

album03/wedding_015It should also be noted that Labor Day weekend marks my sister Bethany’s first wedding anniversary. Mike almost missed it because he is in the National Guard and was called up to go help out in New Orleans. He loaded trucks and packed his bags, but at last minute was permitted to stay home, as he would have been cancelling his college classes for the third time in a row because of Guard duty. He and Beth were able to spend their anniversary together after all!