Expelled

Friday night Mark and I went to see Ben Steins new documentary film, Expelled. It is very thought provoking, and I still have not wrapped my brain around all of the thoughts and ideas presented in the movie. In fact, I was going to wait a few more days to comment on it, but tonight I started a new book that will require probably more than a few blog posts. Therefore, I wanted to put a few thoughts down about Expelled before it loses it's place in Ronda's blog train of thought.

Obviously there are so many holes in the theory of evolution that even the worst archer in the world could shoot an arrow through it from miles away. Therefore, I am not even going to comment on that idea, except that it is scary how much damage it can do to the minds and hearts of our kids. When you take away the fact that they have a creator who loves and values relationship with them above all else, as well as with everyone else in the world, you take away any value of life at all. Then we wonder why abortion, drugs, murder, disrespect for authority, and...exists to the extent it does in our world today. Why care? If we all evolved from a big mud pit, and will eventually return there with no hope of anything after death, what's the point? In the end, love is a waste of time-if there is no loving God who took the time to create us, a world for us to live in, and a way for us to have relationship with Him forever, that is.

The overarching thought I had throughout the whole movie, and the emotion I still have two days later, is pity for those whose total lostness was obvious. They are not willing to entertain the thought that there might be a personal creator God, because then everything they have built their lives on will crumble. They must perpetuate the lie, because the truth would force them to face the error that will affect them for all eternity. One day these people will have to stand before the Lord and realize what a horrible mistake they've made. Even worse, they will be held accountable for all those whose lives they influenced-and there will be nothing they can do about it. The pitiful and dangerous consequence of pride.

Only in Tennessee

This statue has been on display for years at Loretta Lynn's Campground in Hurricane Mills, TN. You'd think somebody would have proofread it first.





You can't read this well, but it was posted in the pharmacy at Walmart. It says, "Alphabet has changed. Thanks!". Really!? Even Ian thought that was dumb.


Are we really supposed to think this is a good deal?





And this one's my favorite! Maybe if they double the price, we'll think it's worth more???

Adventures in Pajamas

Yesterday we had another round of strong thunderstorms and tornado watches/warnings. I don't get afraid, or even really nervous, when those things happen, but I do like to have my family together and be prepared. That way I know that if something does happen, all we have to worry about is getting the kids to a safe place. Our safe place is the hallway. I always pack a small bag with a change of clothes and toothbrushes for everyone, as well as a stack of blankets and our computers, camera and external hard drive in the cubby area in front of our hall bathroom. That bathroom is unusable at this point, so it has become a storage closet as we are decluttering our house. Trust me, these are all important details for the rest of the story.

Since the weather did get pretty bad, with thunder, lightening, little tiny hail, and a transformer on our corner that blew, the kids were in bed with us. That meant nobody got much sleep. This morning, since I didn't have anywhere to be until 9:30, I decided to take the kids to school in my pajamas. After all, I was staying in the car and had plenty of time to take a shower when I got home. So here's what I did:

1) Put on my leather jacket over my pajamas.
2) Went outside and realized it was too hot for the leather jacket.
3) Took it back inside and hung it on the coat rack.
4) Took the kids to school, wearing my flannel jammies (without my hair combed, by the way.
5) Got home and realized that my house keys were in the pocket of...you guessed it...my leather jacket.

So, in the pouring rain and my flannel jammies, I crawled over the fence and broke into my own house. Guess where I got in. The bathroom, which is serving as a storage closet. So, balanced with one foot on the toilet and one foot on tippytoe between stored things that may or may not be important, I tried to open the door. Next problem. Remember all of the things I had packed in the hallway last night? They were in front of the bathroom door. So here I am, in my pajamas, soaked and balancing precariously on the toilet and semi-floor, and I can't get the door open. I shoved as hard as I could, and finally got it to budge enough that I could squeeze through.

Amazingly, I did manage to take a shower and go on with my day. Good thing, too, since it was a pretty good day. I'll write more about that later. Tonight, I am securing my house once again and going to bed-in fresh clean flannel jammies-which is exactly what I wanted to go back to this morning!

Ian's War Wound

This afternoon I got a call from a number I didn't recognize. Since I was in staff meeting, I didn't answer it. A few minutes later, I got a text message from Mark that said, "Call me about Ian." Of course, I responded to that quickly. The first call had been from the school just wanting to let us know that Ian had bumped his head and had a little bruise. They didn't want us to be worried when we saw him after school. They had told Mark that Ian was fine and wanted to stay at school, so I figured it was no big deal. When I picked him up this afternoon, this is what I saw:

!!! He had been walking down the hall talking to a friend and a teacher just happened to open her door-just in time for him to walk into it. He's had a little headache, and doesn't like to ice it AT ALL, but otherwise, he's excited to have a war wound to brag about.

Spring Break Finally

Well, I said I was going to post some pictures from spring break, so, finally, two weeks later, here they are.

First we went to Shiloh. Ian has gotten very interested in the Civil War and wanted to go see the battlefield.






After Shiloh we went to Pickwick Landing State Park and fed the ducks and Canadian geese. The kids had a blast and fed the whole loaf of bread to the birds.




We also spent a day in downtown Memphis while daddy was in class. We spent time with Elvis and the Peabody ducks, riding in Cinderella's carriage, and hugging the big egg.











This is a really fun stage of parenting. The kids are old enough to not need constant supervision. They are all developing their own interests, and they are fun to hang out with-as long as they are getting along, that is :) I'm really looking forward to the next few years, especially as Jadon begins to catch up.