The whole reason for my setting up this blog was to force myself to write more, but oddly enough, I rarely have anything to say. Or maybe I do, but I just have so many other legitimate things to be doing that I'm not that I just can't justify sitting here and blogging just fot the sake of blogging.
But, there may be more to it than that. There's my friend Dale. He and his wife are in China teaching English and I got to thinking, maybe I should blog more just for their sake (or just his if Lisa is anything like Kerry.) Anyway, I am commiting to blogging more often to be a pal and keep dude informed about what's going on here, provide food for thought with my often ridiculous points of view, and just kill off a few more minutes of my valuble time each day.
Also, be sure to check out his website, While You Were Away. It's really excellent and I'm just guessing here but logging in from Jingzhou, I imagine he's the most remote blogger in the Chattablog community.
Lent, from what little I know about it, seems to be a great idea. "Lent is a season of soul-searching and repentance." Well, isn't that special. I guess the rest of the year is spent aimless rebellion. And what is Mardi Gras? A couple weeks of church-sanctioned sin and debauchery?
Not that either of these things can't be participated in, in some ways, but I just can't imagine embracing these things as being part of my religion. You don't find either in the Bible--nor Easter, Christmas, or several other holidays. I say, and I believe God's word reinforces the idea, that we should follow Christ daily(Luke 9:23), we should celebrate his death and resurrection everyday, but especially on the first day of the week (Luke 22 and Acts 20:7), and we should always be thankful for God's amazing gift of His own son.
So, my advice is, this year for Lent give up Lent. Unless you do it for the personal challenge, or the fun of giving up something. But if you really want to crash a religious observance you could just as well try your hand at Rammadan, or if you're more adventurous check out Thaipusam--they are each about as scriptural as the "Christian" rituals listed above.
We've been reflecting today on how much has happened to us in the last 6 months, even though Jackson's 6 month half-birthday was 2 weeks ago. It's been an incredible ride, and it really seems like things are just starting to happen, at least from a Dad's perspective. In the last month Jackson has begun consistently sitting up, has proven roll-over capabilities, and has starting grabbing things to put into his mouth. He really seems like a human now..
Since neither of us were the typical, "We're definitely gonna have kids," types, it's hard sometimes to realize that just a year and a half ago we made the decision to start trying to have a baby. Now here we are, and when Jackson has gone to bed and we look at the toys on the floor, the baby food smeared all over his high chair tray, and the stinky clothes in the wash room, it the most fulfilling, happy, wonderful feeling we've ever had. I tell ya, all those obnoxious parents were exactly right, and I guess now I'm one of them. You just don't know what its like until you have one.
Why are things in miniature just so cute?
We've been capturing his outfits every morning for a while. What are we going to do with all these clothes?
He's real smiley in the mornings..
I've been wanting to hear some young people's opinions about whether or not a woman should as a rule stay at home to raise a new baby, a viewpoint I consider to be a little old-fashioned, but not without obvious merits; vs. the more modern approach of two working parents and a daycare where you feel confident your child won't be molested.
Why do a lot of people think a woman's place is in the home? What does the Bible say about this? What if Daddy stayed home, is that wrong? Where do people get off expecting everyone to do things, particularly child-raising things, the way they did it?