Odds and Ends

Happenings over the last week or so:

Best Quote: My parents have been going through some boxes that belonged to my grandparents. My mom brought over some things from the box that she thought I would like to have. Included in this was a box of Barbie type dolls and some clothes. Seeing this Matthew burst out excitedly, "Oh Mom, now YOU can play!" Apparently he was under the illusion that the reason I didn't play was that I did not own any toys.

Bragging: Amy took the ACT test and received her scores back. She made a perfect score on the verbal part of the test!

Mishap: I was downstairs while several children were playing in the tub upstairs. I hear yelling - ok not too uncommon around here so being the mom that I am, I ignore it. Then I hear people running so I figure its worth checking out. I run into several children who can only seem to get out one word "explosion". So I'm a little more worried and run to the bathroom. There several children are huddled dripping wet and crying. It seems that one child decided to shot water up to the ceiling. This water hit the light bulb in the chandelier causing it to explode and shower bits of glass into the tub. In a small act of justice the child who sent water up in the air was the only one hit by the hot glass and she received a burn on her leg from it.

Hospitality: We hosted a shower today for a young woman in our church, Amy, who is getting married in February. We had some great food (made by my Amy and Katie) - chicken salad, spinach-artichoke dip, strawberry pretzel salad, orange muffins and the best cake in the world. I sent out cards with the invitations asking each woman coming to write down "words of wisdom" for Amy. It could be either something from Scripture, passed down from their mother or other woman or just life experience. I had each woman read them as they gave Amy their gift and then I put them in a little book for Amy to keep. The neat thing was that Amy's mom brought, as one of her gifts, a glass rolling pin filled with "words of wisdom" that were given to Amy's grandmother at her shower! It was neat to read some of them and see what advice was given 50 some odd years ago, compared to now.

The Sweet Sixteen Party

For a little over 24 hours we were host to about 15 teenagers celebrating Katie's birthday. First there was some bowling - well I'm not sure what you would call this, but we were at a bowling alley.



Then we had some BBQ, some rousing games of Catch Phrase and then the birthday spankings!


There was a movie (Pink Panther with Steve Martin) and then other games etc. which I don't know about as I went to bed. However I did hear that there was 3 am trampoline jumping. (It was about 18 degrees outside!)There was more trampoline jumping the next day, along with a trip to Starbucks. And there was just being with friends and having a great time!

Sweet Sixteen!

Katie turned 16 today!!! Time sure does fly. Katie has grown into a lovely young lady and is a lot of fun. She has always been our social butterfly and we have enjoyed the liveliness she brings to our family. I would say to watch out on those roads, but it will still be a little while until she gets her license. (Scott says at least 5 years!) We love you Katie!

Reading Opportunities

There are a couple of reading opportunities I wanted to let people know of as they may want to take part in them.

First, Princeton Theological Seminary, in honor of the 500th anniversary of John Calvin's birth, is hosting a Read The Institutes for this year. We have had a copy of the Institutes of the Christian Religion sitting on our shelf for some time. Several times I have wanted to start but didn't. Eric did start, but did not make it very far. So both Eric and I have determined to follow Princeton's schedule and read the Institutes this year. Surprisingly the daily readings are not terribly long and it is quite readable.

Second, my friend Cindy over at Dominion Family is hosting a blog discussion on the book All God's Children and Blue Suede Shoes by Kenneth Meyers. This book deals with popular culture and it is one I would highly recommend. Each Wednesday Cindy will be posting her thoughts on the chapters for the week, and then linking to others who are also in on the discussion. For this week it was only the Introduction and Chapter 1, so if you are interested you should be able to catch up quickly. Maybe if I finish each week's assignment before midnight of the night before I may be able to post my thoughts, but if not there are plenty of people reading and taking part. Cindy is very wise and her posts always make me think so I am looking forward to this discussion. A quote from the introduction to start you thinking:

"The forms of our popular culture may well have a more significant effect on our perceptions than the content. This is why I do not believe that much would be improved if, all other things being equal, Christians could somehow take over all of the instruments of popular culture, even if they were very talented and orthodox Christians."

Bowl Week

Even though Georgia Tech did not do so well in the bowl, it was still a neat experience for Scott. He stayed in the hotel (Marriott Marquis) with the team (from Dec. 26 until Dec. 31) going to all the various functions - Falcon game, aquarium, nice restaurants etc., and also was the recipient of many gifts - money, gift cards, clothes, shoes. It is easy to see the temptations that come with this kind of life. He was able to dress in a jersey and warm-up pants for the game and be on the sideline. Quite an experience for someone who before this year had never played in a football stadium before.

He is in the middle of the picture below (number 24).
Our pastor and his wife came to the game. They even bought Georgia Tech sweatshirts and this is a BIG deal for them as they are GA BULLDOG fans!!