UPDATE: Amos and Story

At her blog, Jamie Ivey has been posting updates regarding the integration of their two newest family members, Amos and Story, into the family. The latest update gives a glimpse into how difficult adoption can be. Amos asks me every day why I love him. I’ll tell him I love him and he looks at [...]

family reengineering

you may recall a previous post on my blog regarding a liberal anthropologist’s case against homosexual marriage. today I present a conservative atheist’s questions about reengineering the family. worth a read. I like Heather’s ending the best: These are not easy questions. The deprivation to gays from not being able to put the official, public [...]

middle age

courtesy of Allen James (@pastoraj) here is a nice list of ten of the benefits of getting a bit older. here are the first two to get you started, but click through and read them all: I am less concerned about impressing others. I probably wasn’t that impressive anyway, but now I don’t care as [...]

wedding yesterday

the daughter of a good friend of ours was married yesterday. it was an outdoor wedding at Kindred Oaks in Leander/Georgetown/way north area. It was lovely and fun. the weather cooperated in a big way and it wasn’t too hot.

a wife’s submission

here is the personal story of a former feminist atheist who eventually converted to catholicism learning to embrace the leadership of her husband in the home. There has also been a part of my conversion on this issue that cannot be explained in terms of logic and reason. It’s nothing I could prove to a [...]

reality of marriage

Challies put up an article on Monday just after his eleventh wedding anniversary that was a very real look at marriage through the device of wanting to give his younger newly married self some counseling. the whole thing is good, but I thought this part was especially helpful because so many people have unrealistic ideas [...]

rebuilding a marriage after an affair

here is another Piper answer. this one regarding what to do to rebuild a marriage after one of the couple has had an affair. Tough timely stuff. HT vitamin z

sunday night

we went to the Long Center front lawn last evening for the concert in the park series from the Austin Symphony. It was big band night and it was great. Took a picnic. brought the camera and listened to the big band sounds followed by shaved ice snow cones. hmmmmmm. Have I ever mentioned that [...]

who do you trust? part III

all right, now let’s go back where we started. In John 10:10, Jesus contrasts himself and his mission with the thief. The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. Jesus came to bring abundant life. and here are we sheep in the middle. we have a choice to make. do I send this email to [...]

who do you trust? part II

earlier we talked about God’s thoughts on divorce and what Jesus had to say. Jesus proves his bona fides to us in his instructions because he is the good shepherd who laid down his life for us. We thus are forced to believe that he has our best interests at heart when he tells us [...]

who do you trust?

Jesus said in John 10:10 that the thief came only to steal kill and destroy. By contrast, his purpose was to bring life and that life “abundantly.” Jesus goes on in John 10 to assure us that he is a good shepherd. The proof that he is a good shepherd with the sheep’s best interest [...]

two good ones from Focus on the Family

I received an email from Focus on the Family that mentioned a couple of good articles. Just in case the rest of the world isn’t already on Focus’ email list, here they are. a good one on teen rebellion In his book Losing Control & Liking It, Sanford offers some explanation about the struggles most parents [...]

foto friday

some pictures from last week’s vacation SAFE!! Joseph with his catch a little macro fun

learning vicarious suffering

courtesy of vitamin z, I saw this quote from Tim Keller: “You need to get used to this reality. Once you become a parent, for the rest of your life, you’ll never be happier than your unhappiest child, because your heart is tied to your kids. That is a way of learning the gospel because [...]

marriage links

Jonathan Dodson has a great roundup of links to marriage resources. Go check them out.

Sunday morning

Sunday morning after breakfast. Rained a bit this morning, but no storms. Just raised the humidity level.

Camping again

Here we are out at Bastrop State Park again camping for the weekend Kirby and Rod are enjoying it.

Moving day

Today is the day for the big move to the new house. The Uverse is already disconnected here so this is posted from my iPhone. I love the rain, but we really need it to stop soon so that we can get everything done that needs to be done. I hate moving.

This Momentary Marriage

I read This Momentary Marriage by John Piper earlier this year. It was an incredible book. Everybody should read it whether they are married or single. at the link above you can download the book for free in pdf form. Here is the direct link to the download. It is easy to read and monumentally [...]

Saturday evening

Yesterday evening we went to the H.E.L.P. Launch party held at the Sodade Coffe house. It was fun and we were able to see some folks from Vista that we haven’t seen in a while. Good music too. first up was Aaron Ivey, followed by Kyle Lent (Kyle is also the guitarist for the Justin [...]

Training

I have signed up for Governor Perry’s fit Texas challenge and I am preparing to participate in the Texas Round Up (5K or 10K that is the burning question). My signing up for this after 20 or so years of basically no activity is proof that peer pressure works. Anyway, yesterday was our first training [...]

Saturday morning

Tournament time means being all the way across town for a basketball game before 8:00 a.m.

Monument morning

These are a couple of pictures off of the back porch of the Middleton’s house where we stayed last night. Beautiful. The view, not my iPhone pictures

Waiting for coffee

Waiting for coffee again. Lots of hiking and pictures yesterday.

Camping in the pines

Waiting for the coffee to percolate and listening to the crows. It’s going to be a good day.