A very belated but happy birthday!

It has now been over a month and I still haven't put pictures of Anna's birthday up. :P So before the next birthday comes around (later this week:) I wanted to say Happy 22nd Birthday Anna! We love you lots and lots!

"Where an opinion is general, it is usually correct..."

Hello to all our reading public, small though you may be (your motto should be "We may be small, but our hearts are large, metaphorically speaking" :). Since this blog seems to be limited to the domains of books and pictures, I have decided to take a slight variance on the books topic.

Jane Austen is one of my favorite authors, but I will refrain from waxing eloquent on her charms here. But below, if you click on the icon, there is a personality test for Austen's characters--you simply answer the questions on the quiz, and they will "diagnose" you and tell which of her characters you are most like! It's a fun, and un-time consuming little thing (unless you agonize over how to answer the questions), so leave a comment and I'll tell you if it was correct or not. :)

Take the Quiz here!

SPRING IS HERE!!!

Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord from the heavens;
Praise Him in the heights!
Praise Him, all His angels;
Praise him, all His hosts!
Praise Him, sun and moon;
Praise Him, all you stars of light!
Praise him, you heavens of heavens.
And you waters above the heavens!

Psalm 148:1-4

These pictures are all of past spring flowers but I greatly anticipate the blooms popping out this spring! I stand in awe of our loving Creators handy work and creativity and am praising Him and thanking Him for the season of spring! I pray that as this spring brings us warmth to feel, sweet smells to smell and beautiful things (like flowers:) to look upon, we will all praise our Lord and thank Him for the abundant blessings He gives us each day!

Happy Spring to everyone! :)

What do you think?

I looked at our blog and we have two post in a row without pictures...Ahhhh! :P We thought that it would be fun to put a picture (actually two of them made the cut) on here and have you all come up with a caption(s)! :) The only rule is that you can't be mean - not mean at all or dire consequences will befall your comment. Have fun!!! :)

Picture #1
Picture #2

Thinking in Circles?

Time for a more serious post... sort of. :) Some people like to try and think along these lines and then there are others who don't get the point, but I hope you'll find this at least a little humorous.
These paragraphs come from a book entitled "The Holiness of God" by R.C. Sproul.

~ ~ ~ ~

What was there before the beginning of Genesis 1? Adam had no father nor grandfather. He had no history books to read because there was no history. Before the creation there were no kings or queens or rocks or trees. There was nothing; nothing, of course, except God.

Here is where I got an Excedrin headache in my philosophy class. Before the world began there was nothing. But what in the world is "nothing"? Have you ever tried to think about nothing? Where can we find it? Obviously nowhere. Why? Because it is nothing and nothing doesn't exist. It can't exist, because if it did then it would be something and not nothing. Are you starting to get a headache like mine? Think about it for a second. Nuts! I can't tell you to think about "it" because nothing isn't an "it." I can only say nothing isn't.

So how can we think about nothing? We can't. It is simply impossible. If we try to think of nothing we always wind up thinking of something. As soon as I try to think about nothing I start imagining a lot of "empty" air. But air is something. It has weight and substance to it. I know that because of what happens if a nail goes through the tire of my car.

Jonathan Edwards once said that nothing is what sleeping rocks dream about. That doesn't help much. My son offered me a better definition of "nothing." When he was in junior high, I asked him when he came home from school, "What did you do today, son?" The reply was the same every day, "Nuthin." So the best explanation I can give of "nothing" is "that which my son used to do ever day in junior high."

Thinking along the right lines...

Little brothers can always keep you laughing even if they are not trying! The other night Josiah (who has quite the personality) came home from a gathering where there were "snacks". Not too long after we were home and he was getting ready for bed he told Mom that his tummy wasn't feeling very good. Of course Mom's first response was..."Did you eat too many sweets tonight?"...and, like I said, he was not trying to be funny but his response was..."No, all I had was a brownie, a piece of cake, and two peanut butter cookies." Needless to say, some of the bigger people around here thought it funny that in his mind "all" was not very much (all the while trying not to let him know, of course). A few minutes later he came to Mom with his solution for the problem and that was..."Sarah told me to eat one carrot and I should have eaten more vegetables." For some reason the fact that he shouldn't have had that much sweet stuff at one time never occurred to him and so his way to fix the problem was to eat more veggies. More would probably be compromised of two carrots. :)

The Story of Daniel

We put on a very impromptu "play", using the story of Daniel and the Lion's Den. Complete with adorable lions, very cool bad guys, and all the other necessary parts, it turned out quite funny. Video footage is being withheld so that it's not used for a presentation at anybody's wedding rehearsal dinner. :P

~~~~~

Josiah's shaggy hair made him a candidate for the lion part.
(That's four year old logic. :)

Dad, the able narrator, casting the lion and his sidekick.

King Darius and his guard.
Once the lion parts were taken, anything that had to do with being in charge or having a sword were next best.

The officials, satraps, and royal advisers - consorting.
(And having too much fun - obviously.)

Right before this, they did the whole "Oh King! Live forever!" routine.
They're convincing the King to "put the jewelry" (i.e. his signet ring) to their evil plot.

Daniel, praying and getting caught.

Being brought (drug and hefted would be more accurate - he did put up a struggle) before the King.

The ferocious lions, roaring and being terribly frightful.

...but Daniel trusted in God and he was saved from the lions.

This was not part of the plot, but these are the officials, satraps, and royal advisers singing a very interesting rendition of the story. Complete with "dooly-wop-wops" and lyrics, improvised on the spot by the tallest of the three bad guys.
(Under threat of dire consequences, I'm not allowed to put the video on here, but you should ask them to sing it for you sometime. :)

And here we have the bad guys once again, with another aberration from the plot. Instead of the lions crushing their bones before they hit the bottom of the pit, they satisfied them with Muddy Buddies (puppy chow).

Turned into a free for all because the bad guys had to be attacked by somebody...

...and the lions were busy.