Josh & Shana

Shana and I went to Costco today. We went and got a snack from the snack bar place when I saw this...

















Uhh...I think it's an onion dispenser for hot dogs. Something about turning a crank to get onions doesn't seem right. Right?

Last night Shana and I watched To Kill A Mockingbird. We do the Netflix thing and we're kind of doing a system of "one new movie then one old movie." I hadn't seen the movie in a really long time. It's easily one of the best movies of all time and one of my favorites. There was one part of the movie I had forgotten about that helped me gain a little insight concerning the unbelievable hype over the inauguration. I get it that millions of people (the majority of the country) voted for Obama because they are ready for change. I get it. I do wish we could have gotten someone who isn't going to have a homosexual choir and band play for the parade. I wish we could have a president who wasn't going to have an openly gay "pastor" involved in one of the events. All that aside, there is a part of the inauguration that I better understand. Its the racial side. This is where To Kill A Mockingbird comes in.

The movie is set in the 1930's and blacks were only allowed to sit in the balcony (unless you were the one on trial). There is a scene in the movie where Atticus Finch loses the trial. He is the last one leave the courtroom - except for those in the balcony. Atticus' childern, Scout and Jim, are sitting in the balcony as well. Atticus did a remarkable job defending a black man (Jim) accused of raping a white girl. This of course was unheard of for the time. A white lawyer giving his best to defend a black man. As Atticus is packing his briefcase, those in the balcony begin to silently stand. At one point they are all standing except for Scout. One man says, "Scout, Scout, stand up." So she stands, a little confused. Then Atticus begins walking down the aisle to leave the room and the man says, "Your father is passing by." Then it hit me. This is why there is so much excitement over Obama - at least for the black community. He truly does represent change. No matter what he stands for he represents change and victory for a race of people who have been treated so badly in this country. Many of those people who were alive during the 50's and 60's are still alive today and this is true moment of vindication for them.

I am glad that we have a black man as president. I just wish it could have happened sooner. Obama does represent change for the African-American race. But he also represents change and hope for much of the country who are inclusive liberals who will truly change the face of this country. If I were a black man I would have a difficult time not voting for Obama. It must be difficult for so many Chrisitan black people to decide what is most important. Sure, its easy for me to say, "Choose your principles and convictions over your race." But as was said in the movie last night, "Try puttin' someone else's skin on and walkin' around in it for a while."

I think I have this fear that so many people will be let down by this man. When the shine wears off, all the balloons are popped, the bands stop playing, and the confetti is trashed, what will President Obama do? There is so much hype and excitement that I'm afraid of a let down. I think the country is in a very fragile state right now and I'm not sure we know what we've gotten ourselves into. Obama is not the Messiah and America is not God's Kingdom and Americans are not God's Children with exclusive rights to God. For this I am thankful. No matter what happens - good (which is certainly possible) or bad - God still sits as Creator of the Universe and Jesus is still the King of Kings. Not the President of Presidents.

Shana tagged me to find the 4th pic in the 4th folder of my pictures on my comp. Be right back...

Ok, here it is...
This is a picture of our kitchen in our old townhouse in Georgia. This picture was taken to go on our Realtor's website to advertise for our house. We had remodeled the whole thing before deciding to move - hardwood floors, new countertops and bar, appliances, backsplash. I also had some Coca-Cola stuff in our kitchen (I collect that stuff). It's rather bittersweet to look at this pic. We had a sweet kitchen - especially the oven/stove. And since we love to cook it made having people over and cooking a lot of fun. We still love to do that, but our place now is really small. Oh well. Its just a kitchen. The food still tastes good.

I was tagged for a picture tag. This is how it works, you pick the 4th picture folder and pick the 4th picture inside that folder and post it. Then you have to explain it. I am at work, so this should be interesting. I might try this at home too.



I don't have folders of pictures on my computer at work. They aren't organized I guess. So, I just picked the fourth picture. This is Bogie in front of Dean and Judy's barn at the house in GA. This was taken while we were staying with them Jan-July of 08. I think this was the weekend we were baby sitting the next door puppy. I might do this again from my home computer and see what pops up, I like this tag.

These are the people I tag:
Josh
Danielle
George
Tessa
Maggie
Marcy
Jennifer

I promise if I do it from home I will not tag anymore people.

Here's a little of Dr. Mohler's post today....

"This certainly explains a great deal about the current shape of Christianity in American today. Specifically, it points to at least one fundamental reason that so many Christians -- including a significant number who claim to be evangelical -- no longer believe that faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven.

That reason: Eternal punishment in hell is not consistent with "the American experience" or "the American way." The God of the Bible, in other words, does not act in ways consistent with what many people consider to be American ideals. Sending people to hell is just not fair.

The Bible never claims that God acts fairly, of course. Fairness is the best we mortals can often hope to achieve. We want our children to learn to play fairly and each child learns all too quickly to cry out, "No fair!."

But God does not claim to be fair. The God of the Bible is infinitely greater than we are. He is faithful, just, holy, merciful, gracious, and righteous. A morally perfect being does not operate at the level of mere and faulty human fairness, but at the level of his own omnipotent righteousness. We hope to make things fair. God makes things right.

I think Alan Wolfe is on to something really important here, and Christians should think carefully about what he is saying. The Holy One of Israel, the ruler of all and the sovereign of universe, is now to be judged by his own sinful creatures by the standard of fairness. Doctrines ruled to be "unfair" are cast aside and overridden by our cherished cultural assumptions. Evangelism will die the thousand deaths of cultural awkwardness.

As much as Christians in this blessed nation should respect and cherish our democratic ideals and system of government, we must keep ever in mind that the Kingdom of God is ruled by a higher and infinitely more perfect law and system of governance.

Be warned: God is not running for office, and heaven is not a democracy."

Go Read the Whole Thing Here.

One thing I like to do is make ice cream (a lot). Tomorrow night we're doing a quasi-dessert night for our student small group at church. I'm making 2 types of ice cream. To get that "grocery store consistency" (you know, scooping it like Bryers), you have to freeze it overnight after you churn it. Well, to churn it, my ice cream maker bowl has to be frozen. In my freezer the bowl usually has to be frozen overnight. The first batch (Peanut butter-banana-chip (my own creation)) turned out fine. My dilemma came when I had to churn the second batch (peach) in the same night. I needed to re-freeze my bowl. My freezer is cold, but not as cold as it is outside. The wind chill is -10. Not below freezing. -10 below zero. Super cold. So after I churned the first batch, I put the bowl outside. A few hours later the bowl was completely frozen and the peach ice cream is churning nicely. Don't ask me why we're doing ice cream when it's so bloody cold outside. It's never too cold for ice cream.

Slowly I am crossing things off my list of things to do and figure out. This week Josh and I interviewed doctors. I was so happy and proud of Josh for wanting to go to all of them. There were only 2, but still. I think we are pretty much 99.9% decided on a midwife in Indiana, but we are going to visit the hospital probably this weekend before we move our records. I was super excited about our consultation with the midwife. For those of you who might be thinking midwife-have the baby at home-NO! I will be having the baby in a hospital. Midwives still have to go through medical training like OBs. The only thing they can't do pretty much is a C-section. If you have more questions on that, comment and I will respond.

I need some help from my readers, seriously all of you. I know there are lots of you out there that don't comment. I need help on a crib. Josh and I are looking at mini cribs. LA Baby and Da Vinci make some on casters. If any of you are familiar with them I would love some feedback. Also, we are looking at these mini cribs because we don't have a lot of room and want to get something that will see the baby from infant to about 18 possibly 24 months that is compact and portable. So, if you guys have any ideas out there please flood my comments to educate me. I think once we decide on this we can start a registry.

Thank you Thank you.

Tomorrow and Friday look like this. Yipee!! I wish I was in Georgia where its a balmy 25 degrees. It snowed a little today. I wish it would actually snow enough to look good. They say it may get below zero for a good bit of the night tomorrow. I really can't remember the last time I was in cold like this. Can't wait to take the dogs out!

This was a very exciting week for me. Last week I was sick, you know sick, on Tuesday and after that was really a lot better for me through out the week. Normally I am in bed by 8pm to subside the sickness, but I was able to get to bed a little later 10ish. Still feeling charged for the day. I was nervous cause I had a shift by myself Thursday at Sunglass Hut, to close the store. I was afraid I would get sick and be in the bathroom throwing up while everybody stole our merchandise. That would have been marvelous, but I was good all night. I know Danielle was happy, I am pretty sure she was nervous too. Saturday was my first day in a while that I had nothing to do. I cleaned the entire house, minus Josh's bathroom. That is his job for now. I had a ton of laundry to do. I was exhausted at the end though. Well, Saturday night I had my first craving I guess you could say. I really wanted Outback.

Josh came home from work and I preceded for about an hour trying to convince him to take me to Outback. I haven't had or desired red meat for over a month. So, needless to say I really wanted to fill this craving. I begged and pleaded, but no give. I have to say he is pretty awesome for not, that would have cost half our food budget for the week. He is the man. Well, you are probably wondering if I got my Outback. I did! We compromised to order it take-out style so we didn't have to pay the full 20% tip on top of the food, along with drinks etc. Josh didn't order anything either, he just let me get what I wanted. So, what did I order. Outback special, 6 oz with french fries and a side of their fabulous honey mustard, salad w/tangy tomato dressing, and potato soup, extra bread with honey butter. YUMMO!!! I ate it all!!!! I could hardly believe it myself. I saved some bread and the soup for the next day, but still that was a lot of food for me too eat. It was so good, did I say that already. It was good.

So, last night I wanted Chinese food. Josh didn't budge on that one. We had tacos instead at home. It was still good.

Ok, I have to give tons of praise to my husband for something he did this morning. I woke up almost an hour late. I have no clue why, I never heard my alarm go off. So, that meant I had one hour to get up and get ready to get out the door. That is tight. I bolted out of bed and let the dogs out of their kennels. I left Josh in the bed and shut the door quietly behind me, today was the first time he was going to get to sleep in a bit cause he didn't have to work till 12:30. I fed the dogs, and jumped in the shower. When I got out of the shower, Josh was up and dressed taking the dogs out. He had already made the bed. I thought I would almost cry, baby hormones I am sure. He said, "don't worry, don't stress I will take care of the dogs just get ready for work you'll have time, you just won't be able to sit around a little like you like to." Which is true. I like to ease into my morning. I like to sit in front of Diane Sawyer, Robin Roberts,Chris Como, and Sam Champion in the morning while eating breakfast, putting on my make-up, and my clothes as they warm up from my space heater. Well, not so much today. I am sure the gang missed me. Josh, you are my favorite husband. (that is an endearing saying we have for each other) I would have never asked you to get up and help me out this morning. Thank you for sacrificing your sleep-in time(which is precious, I know).

P.S. Today is our first doctors appointment. We are really excited.