Interesting illusion

This is weird. It's a cutout dragon statue that appears to follow you around the room with its head, but it does not move.

Can you do this?

Kate-21 months old-9-22-06

My dear Kate,

Today you are 21 months old! I can’t believe you are almost 2! You are so much fun! You love to dance and you talk all the time! Your favorite sentence right now is “That sounds good.” Anything I say to you, you’ll respond with, “that sounds good.” You also say “Mommy/Daddy/Claire’s coming too.” So wherever we go, you’ll say, “Mommy’s coming too?” We basically don’t have a quiet moment around here. You are always saying something.
You are still screaming every time I leave you at the church nursery but you always have a great time and will yell “BYE FRIENDS!” whenever I come to pick you up. You take a nap in the afternoon from 1pm until between 3pm and 4pm and you sleep from 7pm-7am. You are a good helper and will help me “pick up” all of your toys each day. You love Pop-Tarts and whenever I go and get you up from your nap, you ask for a Pop-Tart and some water!
You close your eyes (at least for a few seconds J) when we pray now and say “AMEN” at the end. We were all praying at church Wednesday night before dinner (about 300 people were there) and you started off holding our hands, quiet, with your eyes closed and then all of a sudden we heard “HEY SISSY!” and you started talking to Claire.
One day you’ll probably feel like I do that you just have a hard time staying on top of the ironing and keeping the house perfect. My mom tells me that’s normal. I have 2 sweet little girls to take care of and sometimes after diapers, feedings, baths, and playing, things like ironing get put on hold. I do straighten up each day though before your father gets home (you help) so he can come home to a straight house. I think that’s important. We have a couple of big toy buckets that you can put your toys in so that way they are all together and can easily be pulled out or put up. I try to do different chores on different days so it’s just a few things to do each day. I’m going to start doing that with the laundry too. I just seem to get a pile of ironing otherwise. One month, I’ll share with you what my schedule is. I asked my mom and she helped me out a lot with some good ideas that I’ll share with you. I think it’s important for mom’s to teach their daughters all sorts of things and I’ll do some of that in my letters to you.
The weather is getting so nice now so I can’t wait for this month because we’ll be able to go to the park and zoo!

I love you now and always,
Mommy

3D Chalk Drawing - this is cool

In a world where we question everything, I wonder if this real, but it sure looks real, and it is amazing!

I wonder how long it takes to create one of these?

Amazing 3D Sidewalk Chalk Drawings

Reading Test

Claire-5 months old-6-19-06

My dear Claire Elizabeth,

Today you are 5 months old! I can’t believe how fast the time is going by. Everyday with you is a gift and a blessing. I asked my mother all kinds of questions when Kate was born about when she would do certain things so I’m going to try and tell you each month about the new things you are doing so you’ll know when you have your children. This month I have started carrying you on my hip (I know that sounds funny but I think it’s a pretty big deal!) Also, you can “tripod” sit on your own now for a few minutes at a time. You are eating some baby food now in addition to your cereal and you really like it! You can still only roll over from your tummy to your back (and you have started doing this early in the morning which is waking you up and well as me and your father…see your Bible verse for this month!) We’ve had to get up the past few mornings and go roll you back over so we can all go back to sleep so I’ve been practicing with you to teach you to roll the other way! You sleep straight from 7pm to 7am (except when you roll over at 5am) and take 2 naps during the day. Your naps are normally from 8am-10am and then from 1pm-4pm. I normally have to wake you up from both naps because I want to make sure you’ll sleep well at night. You still nurse 5 times a day and eat 2 “meals.” You’ll eat cereal at breakfast and then cereal plus a fruit or vegetable at night. Kate is becoming attached to you now and every time we go anywhere (out of the house or even in the house to another room) she’ll say “Claire’s coming too.” You are pretty attached to me this month and seem to want me to hold you all the time. Our days are fun and you are a joy. I love your big smiles and the little baby noises you make.
I love you now at 5 months old and I’ll love you always.

Mommy

Psalm 57:8
Awake, my glory! Awake, O harp and lyre!I will awake the dawn!

Romans 8:25
But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Joel Osteen teaches a false gospel

This article regarding Joel Osteen's church is disturbing. Many are able to see Joel's gospel as false teaching, but there are also many believers in the church deceived and unable to see the work of Satan in Osteen's teaching.

Reading scripture reveals God's purpose in creating man. We were created to glorify God. Osteen's message is glorifying to man. I read an article last year that quoted Osteen as saying his church does not talk about sin becaue it is a downer. Well, to all those blinded to the false teaching coming from Joel, please remember that not talking about sin will do nothing but fail to convict the sinner. Without conviction, repentance does not come. Why would anyone look to Christ to take punishment for the sin they cannot see?

This is not the Gospel of God. Please do not be deceived!

Fun at the Park!

I love to swing!

Sliding with Aunt Sarah!

Finger Paints???

A story about a dog, a little girl, and her mom

A few times a week (during a good week) I take Lucy (our dog) on a run (with a good bit of walking). I also take Kate our 20 month old daughter in the stoller on these treks. I usually let Lucy run free off the leash because she's good at staying close. Every once in a while she'll get a little to far away and I'll give the "Lucy, Come!" directive.

Well, as would be expected, Kate has picked up on this and now calls "Come!" quite often as we walk. Unfortunately, Lucy the dog does not understand Kate's version of english.

The humorous twist to this story happened this afternoon at the end of Kate's nap. Kate as usual calls "Mommy!" There is a short pause and another call, "Mommy, Mommy!"

Before Peggy had time to go into Kate's room, we finally heard, "Mommy COME!..COME!"

Football vs. Worship (War Eagle!)

We have many gods seeking our devotion in our country. The big elephant in congregations in the south is football. Most would admit that our devotion to football may be a "little unhealthy", but we either don't talk about it or we jokingly "admit" our "problem".

With college football season beginning this past weekend both Alabama and Auburn played at home as usual. Auburn was on ESPN2 so the game was at 6:45 pm. I wonder if people going to these games on a regular basis are ever concerned with how attending the game will affect their worship. I would assume that for most people, attending a game starting at 6:45 pm that is 2 1/2 hours from home usually translates into staying home from worship the next morning.

I imagine this happens quite often in the south (and maybe in other parts of the country). I don't attend very many football games so it is easy for me to be critical of this lifestyle, but then again I must question my own thoughts from yesterday evening....

I watched Auburn defeat Washington State (War Eagle!), but then found UAB in a close game against Oklahoma after the AU game was over. Watching the UAB game put me in bed about 30 - 40 minutes later than usual, but never once did I question "How will this affect my worship of our Creator God tomorrow." I was exhausted this morning. Granted our 20 month old waking up at 2am did not help, but I must wonder what an extra 40 minutes of sleep might have accomplished. I do not want to condone that football is evil, but rather want to challenge myself and others to consider the spiritual condequences of our decisions.

May God put this question on my mind regularly. Not just in regards to football, but about all of life.