a donkey speaking to affect change?

a prophet asked to marry a prostitute?

the King of Kings born of a virgin?  in an obscure village?  With the animals?

a young girl positioning herself and using physical attraction to ask for the salvation of a nation?

a writer of much of the New Testament previously being a persecutor of the followers of Christ?

a mom of 5 for Vice President?

Hmmm…..In God’s name?  What is He thinking????

“I don’t think the way you think.
   The way you work isn’t the way I work.”
         God’s Decree.
“For as the sky soars high above earth,
   so the way I work surpasses the way you work,
   and the way I think is beyond the way you think.  Isaiah 55:8-9

Robin

I’m convinced. Dryers (or washers) really do eat socks. How do I know? Every time we did laundry at our house, there’d be another lost sock; a lonely, wandering cotton footy, without its match.

You can imagine, over time, what that must have been like with a family of nine people. Not only did we have four or five loads to fold EACH DAY, but at the end, we had a basket full of single socks.

One remedy was The Lost Sock Shop. This simple piece of one by four held a Velcro strip so single socks could be displayed and hopefully matched. Kind of like online dating for stockings, these socks would hang around until their match was found, or we threw them out. A sad existence. A desperate attempt. The shop didn’t last long.

Every couple of months mom would get fed up enough to loosen her frugal way of life and throw all the single socks away. Of course within a month the lint-spitting, sock-eating monster would choke out a couple more miss-matched socks whose fate didn’t look promising.

Do you have this same problem at your house? Have you found the remedy for missing socks?

Anna

I’m all about people that like to make New Year’s resolutions, because really I’m just all about people (myself included) making goals for their life.  For me though, I like to break it down and make new personal goals at each start of a new semester.

So to look back over the summer here were my personal goals:

*Get a tan  check

*Garden check

*Organize shed  check

*Organize spare bedroom/office/workout room uncheck

*Do my school planning for the year  check

So I’m 4 for 5.  Not bad.

So for this Fall semester I have new personal goals.  Here they go:

*Make a habit of brushing my teeth twice a day (yeah, I’m just a once-a-dayer, embarrassing huh?)

*Learn how to take better pictures with my Canon point and shoot (any tips???)

*Learn better tricks with Photo Shop Elements (any tips???)

*Sell all the extra stuff laying around the house on Ebay

*Start working out at 7:00am (ick, I’m SO not a morning person)

Ok, there’s mine.  Whatya got?  Get some motivation to make some goals and then let’s tackle them this semester!

Erin

OK, so since last week was such a hit (especially for Theresa) I have decided to write another blog about the NFL.

So, for this one I will start out by appealing to those fans who are… how we might say, “casual”. The NFL is composed of 32 teams in 2 conferences, the AFC and the NFC. In each conference there are 4 divisions for example the AFC west or the NFC east.

Alright, so now that we have taken care of the more casual fans I will dive in a little. I am going to keep with theme and break down one main game this week. However, I must comment a bit on the outcomes of the last week. First off, I am 1-0 in my predictions. Second, I would like to say holy crap. INDY what the heck happened? Like I mentioned in my last blog I thought it was kind of a gimme game. Oh, and poor Brady….except he will still get millions to sit and watch football from the sidelines. This event, sorry for you Pat fans out there, was the best thing to happen to the AFC. Also, I have to say this because I am a Broncos fan and they are a division rival so HA HA HA HA San Diego LOST.

The game I have decided is the most interesting this week is the Panthers vs. the Bears for obvious reasons. The Panthers had a huge upset when they beat the Chargers and the Bears pulled one for the ages and defeated Indy at their brand new stadium. My quick assessment of this week’s match up is that Matt Forte will have a huge game because the Bears simply don’t trust any QB they have, even though Orton did pretty well last week. Unfortunately for the Panthers there will be no Rasario to save them this week and since Steve Smith is still out they will have a very hard time against a re-established Bears defense.

My prediction is the Bears eat the Panthers 24-10.

Who’s your player to watch this week and why?

Brad

Here’s a time-saving tip to help ensure that all your loved ones receive cards from you on time.

Collect various cards (birthday, anniversary, holiday) while you are out on your normal shopping trips. Keep your eyes peeled for discounts/sales (especially after holidays—you can plan ahead for next year!)

Organize your cards and “file” them away in a box along with a nice writing pen, cute stamps, and a calendar of birthdays, anniversaries, and other special events.

Here’s the KEY: Whenever you find yourself with a few spare moments, write out a card or two for upcoming events (i.e. your niece’s graduation that’s a couple months away), rather than waiting until the last minute.

Write the date of the event (i.e. 9/15) in the space where the stamp will go. A week or so before the event, place the stamp over the date and stick it in the mail!

Abbi

While traveling through Israel this past summer with my wife and sister, I spent several days in a hostel in Eilat, which is located on the southern tip of Israel. During our stay there, we encountered a group of college students from the U.S. who had come on a two week trip to Israel to spread the gospel. Armed with Bible tracts and enthusiasm, they would leave the hostel every morning and spend the day trying to discreetly (proselytizing is illegal in Israel) hand out tracts and initiate conversations with non-Christians on the beaches.

However, more often than not, when they were able to actually start a conversation they would be stymied by the questions the Israelis asked them. Their theological knowledge did not go much beyond the basic information presented in the tract.

Talking to our hosts in Jerusalem (friends from Oklahoma who have lived in Jerusalem for over a year now) several weeks later, I discovered that this is fairly common. A short term evangelical group will come over and try to distribute tracts or initiate conversations, but as soon as the Jews start asking theological questions (and they can ask some doozies) the evangelicals have no response.

But who can blame them? According to Time Magazine, their intellectual leaders include, among others:

A man who denies the Trinity in lieu of the prosperity gospel (T.D. Jakes)

Another who denies almost any truth associated with the Bible and subscribes to a postmodern view of scripture (Brian McLaren)

A prosperity gospel preacherette whose teachings lack a solid Biblical basis (Joyce Meyer)

The “theological mind” behind the Left Behind Series (Tim Lahaye)

To be fair, I was not previously familiar with all of the names on the list, so I cannot comment on all of them.  It was disheartening to me that no serious theologians (to my knowledge) were included.  

You want to know the worst phrase you could say to your hairstylist?

The other day this lady comes in and sits down in my chair, I ask her how she would like her hair cut. She replies, “I don’t know.  You’re the professional.” 

                                              Anna (3)   Ali (5)                                              

Yes, lady.   I know I’m the professional.   But I don’t know how you want it cut…I can’t read your mind. (I didn’t say this out loud, even though I wanted to).

So, as the professional,  I’m here to help you know how to communicate with your hairstylist so you get the cut you want. It’s also good to have an idea how you want it cut before you sit in your hairstylist’s chair.(hint hint to that lady)

1. Bring a picture. You can try to explain it all day but what something means to you may mean something totally different to your hairstylist. If you don’t have a picture,  most salons will have books to look through. You just have to ask for them.

2. Remember what year we are in.  2008,  not 1970. You might want to brush up on some more recent celeb haircuts so those of us that were born after 1970 will know who you are talking about. J

3. Know your lingo. It is no longer called “feathering”.  It’s called ”layers”.  You probably shouldn’t ask for “frosting” either. (unless you’re talking to Abbi)   It is now called “highlights”.  For you guys remember what number of clipper guard is used. Come on it’s the only thing you have to remember.  Write it down if you have to and put it in your wallet.

4. Don’t be afraid to speak up. If your cut is not looking the way you want it to,  speak up before it’s too late and all your hair is on the floor.

I hope this helps you understand a little bit about your hairstylist, and if you’re not happy with your current hairstylist,  you can always come and visit me!

Have any hair horror stories to share?

Ali

My take on opening weekend for the NFL

Well for most of us guys this is the holy grail of sports holidays. Yes, I am speaking of the first regular season NFL weekend. I think the most interesting game is the Dolphins, Jets. Both are mediocre teams and probably won’t be playoff contenders, but let’s face it.  What else is there to watch? I mean you can only watch New England beat up on KC for so long and Indy will likely embarrass the Bears.

So, let’s talk about predictions on this matchup.

 Will the Dolphins be better than a 1 win team this year? This is an easy one for me; I think the dolphins could push 500 this year. They have upgraded at QB, OL, and they got back one great back. I know what you’re thinking Ronnie Browns knee is still tender, to which I reply I am not talking about Ronnie Brown. Yeah that’s right I am talking about the running, smoking machine,  Ricky Williams. Also Chad Pennington might be a better leader when there isn’t so much pressure; I mean for goodness sakes, the Jets fans show up to the draft in full force. Also I think Ted Ginn Jr. now has someone to get him the ball and he is going to have a blowout year. My prediction for the Dolphins is 7-9 with an opening day loss to the Jets.

 The next question for this game is:  Will Favre pan out? My answer is simply yes. He is a star and this year won’t be any different. Yeah, he has an awkward style and sometimes gets careless.  But who in the NFL doesn’t? And don’t reply with Tom Brady. My opinion is that Laverneus Coles and Jericho Cotchery are arguably just as good as Driver and Jennings. And Thomas Jones is better than Ryan Grant in my opinion. Need I remind you that at this time last year Ryan Grant was on a practice squad for the New York Giants? You will see his true colors this year.

Back on topic.  For the most interesting game on opening weekend I predict that the Jets drown the Dolphins by a score of 28-17.

Have any predictions?

 Brad