July 30, 2004
Something to ponder
What's the point of having words on the back of your shirt if you're not around long enough for anybody to read it? (Quoted from Hannah T. for those who know her)
July 29, 2004
Titus 3:3-7
For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (ESV)
July 28, 2004
Ain't they cute?
As Adrienne mentioned, I babysat EC, N & SP the other night. Here's some pictures that I took with her digital camera.
"Ye Olde Farte"
That's what I was just called. I made the statement that I was born during Jimmy Carter's presidential reign. The funny thing is, I have friends that graduated high school before I was born. I'm not an old fart!
July 25, 2004
7th Sunday After Trinity
LORD of all power and might, who art the author and giver of all good things; Graft in our hearts the love of thy Name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of thy great mercy keep us in the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.
Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defense is sure.
Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.
Thy Word commands our flesh to dust,
“Return, ye sons of men:”
All nations rose from earth at first,
And turn to earth again.
A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.
The busy tribes of flesh and blood,
With all their lives and cares,
Are carried downwards by the flood,
And lost in following years.
Time, like an ever rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.
Like flowery fields the nations stand
Pleased with the morning light;
The flowers beneath the mower’s hand
Lie withering ere ‘tis night.
Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard while troubles last,
And our eternal home.
July 22, 2004
Recent Movies
Red Dragon - Was kinda disappointed since I read the book first. Still kinda good. 3 out of 5 stars.
What Dreams May Come Really really sad for me @ the end since I know how the kids felt. 4 stars.
SpiderMan 2 - AWESOME! 5 stars.
White Chicks - Not as funny as the trailer makes out to be. 3 stars.
Sling Blade - Wasn't sure if I liked this one @ first. 5 stars.
July 21, 2004
Summer Fun
Went swimming today with A & S and A, EC & N (Matt's sister and nieces) and I'm pretty surprised that I didn't get a sunburn. But I think a few more hours have to pass before I know for sure. Ya know..you never really know how red you're going to get until it's been a while?
In other news: my mom talked to somebody that used to go to Knox and he asked how I was. She said that I was fine but looking for a job. Turns out he works for The Fletcher Group, and they needed some help getting some websites done. I went and saw him today, and they gave me some info and files to get started on one! YAY! Some income! I also have a pre-screen interview with Chase on Tuesday and hope that goes well. Maybe I'll get the job @ Chase and still be able to do this stuff for TFG.
July 20, 2004
Letters to the Editor
We should keep God with usHer grandfather (also my uncle) is an SBC pastor down in Columbia.
On Sunday, July 4, we celebrated Independence Day. In the funnies, "B.C." confused me. I had to ask my mom what the empty block was for. "Under God" was missing. My mom made me say the pledge the way I was taught. Why would they leave God out? The Supreme Court ruled not to take it out but everywhere I go, someone is elaving God out. I know I am only 10 years old but even I know what's going on. What else are they going to take away from us in our "free America?"Morgan Flow, Columbia
July 19, 2004
What a weekend!
Saturday - Luncheon @ Log Cabin w/ ladies from the church; met some new friends; Stephen's b-day party followed by watching Secondhand Lions (not recommended by me; very hokey movie but kinda cute) and staying @ B & A's until 12:30 am.
Sunday - Took care of 3 cute cute cute (one for each) little ones during Sunday School; great worship service; visited my Papaw (he's decided to go ahead with the angioplasty; it'll happen in about 2 weeks or so); playing Speed Scrabble @ B & A's with E & A and C & MK; back to church for a nice casual service and dinner; home; bed.
July 18, 2004
6th Sunday after Trinity
GRANT, O Lord, we beseech thee, that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered by thy governance, that thy Church may joyfully serve thee in all godly quietness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Blest the man that fears Jehovah
Walking ever in His ways
By thy toil thou shalt be prospered
And be happy all thy days.
In thy wife thou shalt have gladness,
She shall fill thy home with good,
Happy in her loving service
And the joys of motherhood.
Joyful children, sons and daughters
Shall about thy table meet;
Olive plants in strength and beauty
Full of hope and promise sweet.
Lo, on him that fears Jehovah
Shall this blessedness attend,
For Jehovah out of Zion
Shall to thee His blessing send.
Blest the man that fears Jehovah
Walking ever in His ways.
By thy toil thou shalt be prospered
And be happy all thy days.
Thou shalt see God’s kingdom prosper
All thy days, till life shall cease,
Thou shalt see thy children’s children.
On Thy people, Lord, be peace.
July 17, 2004
Happy Birthday Matt
He and I met @ a joint-church junior high retreat in TX and never really lost touch. And now the hobo's done gone and gotten married and almost ABD by age 23. He's the one that some people used to say he's the Kevin Bacon of reformed circles. If you didn't know him, you knew somebody that did.
From the 1928 BCP:
WATCH over thy child, O Lord, as his days increase; bless and guide him wherever he may be, keeping him unspotted from the world. Strengthen him when he stands; comfort him when discouraged or sorrowful; raise him up if he fall; and in his heart may thy peace which passeth understanding abide all the days of his life; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
July 16, 2004
Mormon names
My Mormon name is Jessiraye Beatie!
What's yours?
Here's a few more:
Bradstreet Burtis & Jadrienne Bonquisha & Sheenan Calla Burtis
Bradstreet Helamans Warrior & Young Elizabeth Hariella
AureJudd Kennety
Mickale Deward & Kris Stena Southern Justice & Christmas Holiday Southern Justice
Final update on Papaw
After have the angiogram on Wednesday, he had trouble with lying still on his back for at least 5 hours straight. They came back and told him that he was 85% blocked on both sides and gave him the option of surgery or go home. He decided to take the latter which means he could have several more little strokes for the rest of his life or a massive one that could kill him or both. I expressed my concern to my mom about how he can have the big one out by his pond (they have over 20 acres of land in WM) and nobody would ever know about it. She said that he understood the consequences and just wanted to go home. I hope he'll be ok for a long long time.
July 15, 2004
July 14, 2004
July 11, 2004
:(
My Papaw, my only living grandfather, had a mini-stroke this morning and is in the hospital. My mom said that his right side is a little weak but will probably be better. She also said that he was barking out orders to my aunt and the hospital staff, which is really like him. He's almost 85 and had a mini-stroke a few years ago but it wasn't this bad. It really just slurred his speech and slowed him down for a few days. I think that if this slows him down any it might come close to killin him. He's so independent that he won't want to do anything and just wither away.
UPDATE (7/12) After doing some tests, the doctor came in and told him, my grandmother, and all the kids that his carotid artery (the one that leads from the heart to the brain) was about 80% blocked, limiting the oxygen supply to the brain. Options are that they could leave it alone and he could have these mini-strokes for the rest of his life or even a massive stroke that could kill him, or both OR have a procedure to clean out the artery which could trigger a massive stroke. He's thinking it over, and the kids (my mom, 2 aunts and uncle) are getting together with him and Mamaw this evening to talk it over.
UPDATE (7/13) He decided the go with the procedure. I dunno yet when they're going to do it. (Miss Steph -- he might be moved over to the VA in S'port.)
UPDATE (7/14) Angiogram today and this is where the danger of him having a massive stroke lies. The surgeons will look @ the tests and decide when/where of surgery. He's blocked 85% on one side and 100% blocked on the other.
5th Sunday after Trinity
GRANT, O Lord, we beseech thee, that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered by thy governance, that thy Church may joyfully serve thee in all godly quietness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.
Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.
Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art.
High King of heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.
July 09, 2004
Girlie road trip
I had such a good time today. Me, Adrienne, Ashley (Matt's sister), Mary Katherine, and Raonna all piled in my car early (if you can call 8 am early) this morning and headed out for a three-hour trip Little Rock, Arkansas to see a friend. It felt like I barely had time to breathe while stuffin' my face @ Senor Tequilas, shopping @ Old Navy (and finding the cutest matching surf shirts for my little nephews), going to get snacks for Ashley, Raonna and Adrienne (me and Ash went 4 places for those three people; choosy huh?) just before we had to come back to big ole Ruston. I drove around a huge town that I had never really driven around in, with a navigator of course. That was fun. I felt like a big girl. Then we got rained poured on coming back, and I had at least 2 backseat drivers warning me of hydroplaning. But we made it back safe and sound. I'd do it again in a New York minute. Even with the nagging! :) WE LOVE YOU MELLIE!
July 08, 2004
Anybody have $30,000,001?
AP — LONDON, July 7 — The first painting by the Dutch master Johannes Vermeer to come to auction in more than 80 years — and one that for decades has been suspected of being fake — sold for $30 million Wednesday night at Sotheby's here.
The overflowing salesroom burst into applause when George Gordon, an expert in the Sotheby's old-master paintings department, took the winning bid by telephone. While the auction house is not saying who the buyer was, it is believed to be Stephen A. Wynn, the Las Vegas casino owner.
For years Mr. Wynn has collected trophy paintings by the great masters: Rembrandt, Rubens, Cézanne, Renoir, Picasso and Sargent.
Other possible buyers, experts say, could have been the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. (Scott J. Schaefer, its chief curator, was in the audience) and Lord Thomson of Fleet, one of the richest men in Canada.
Still, most experts in the room thought the buyer was Mr. Wynn. If it was, he was one of seven determined bidders. Robert Noortman, an old-master paintings dealer based in Maastricht, the Netherlands, also tried hard to buy the painting. He stopped bidding at $25.7 million. Mr. Noortman, who was sitting in the front row, said before the auction that he wanted to buy it for his inventory.
"Whoever bought the picture outbid one of the most experienced dealers in the business," said Rachel Mauro, a Manhattan art dealer who was at the sale. "As a Vermeer — and I happen to believe it really is a Vermeer — the price isn't that crazy. If it did go to Las Vegas, it would certainly look good there."
The sale price of the painting includes Sotheby's commission: 20 percent of the first $100,000 and 12 percent of the rest.
"We were extremely pleased," said Alexander Bell, head of Sotheby's old-master paintings department in London. "It is unlikely that a painting by Vermeer will ever come to the market again."
When Sotheby's first announced the sale in March, auction house officials estimated it would bring $5.4 million, a price far lower than what a second-rate Impressionist painting might fetch at auction.
They were obviously nervous. For decades the authenticity of the painting, "Young Woman Seated at the Virginal," has been in dispute. But after 10 years of study and testing by a group of scholars, museum curators, painting conservators, costume experts, paint analysts and auction house experts, Sotheby's said it was confident it was genuine.
Sotheby's promoted the auction vigorously with advertising, hoping to attract collectors from around the world. Vermeer's popularity has been fueled in recent months by the best-selling novel "Girl With a Pearl Earring" and the 2003 movie based on it.
The painting, which served as the cover image on the old-master sales catalog this year, has an entry that is 22 pages long and includes an extensive history as well as pictures of color pigment tests.
The canvas is small — 10 by 8 inches — and dates from around 1670. It shows an intimate scene of a young woman seated at a virginal, a type of harpsichord, with her eyes gazing directly at the viewer. It is the last genre scene by this artist in private hands apart from one owned by Queen Elizabeth II. The last Vermeer to appear at auction was "The Little Street" (1658-1660), which was included in a sale in Amsterdam in 1921. It failed to sell and was later bought by a collector who donated it to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
While technical evidence had supported the theory that "Young Woman Seated at the Virginal" was by Vermeer, it was not until the process of cleaning the canvas was completed about six months ago in the Netherlands by Martin Bijl, the former head of painting conservation at the Rijksmuseum, that the majority of experts and scholars endorsed the painting.
Until now only 34 paintings have been fully accepted as by Vermeer, who was not a prolific artist and who died young, at 43, in 1675.
Nobody had disagreed with the attribution until Han van Meegeren, a master forger, revealed a half-century ago that between 1927 and 1943 he had sold fake Vermeers to unsuspecting museums and collectors. The art scholar A. B. de Vries then excluded this painting from an important monograph.
For much of the 20th century the painting languished in near obscurity. From the description in a 17th-century sales catalog, the painting once belonged to Pieter van Ruijven, Vermeer's most important patron. By the early 19th century, it was owned by Wessel Ryers, a Dutch collector. By 1904 it was documented as a Vermeer in the collection of Sir Alfred Beit, a collector in Ireland, who also owned the artist's famous "Lady Writing a Letter to Her Maid." In 1960 the painting was sold to Baron Freddy Rolin, a Belgian dealer, who died in 2001. It is his family who sold the painting now.
Experts at Sotheby's compared it to two larger Vermeers at the National Gallery in London, "A Lady Standing at the Virginal" and another portrait of a lady seated at a virginal, both also late paintings by the artist.
The auction house and Baron Rolin also consulted Libby Sheldon, who runs the paintings analysis unit at University College in London. She analyzed the pigments and was able to find corresponding ones used by the artist in authenticated works.
Ms. Sheldon also studied the painting's canvas and discovered that it matched the one used in "The Lacemaker," which is in the Louvre. "The two are so similar," Ms. Sheldon said, "they could have been cut from the same bolt of cloth."
July 06, 2004
July 04, 2004
4th Sunday After Trinity
O GOD, the protector of all that trust in thee, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy; Increase and multiply upon us thy mercy; that, thou being our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we finally lose not the things eternal. Grant this, O heavenly Father, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
From ocean unto ocean, our land shall own Thee Lord,
And, filled with true devotion, obey Thy sovereign word:
Our prairies and our mountains, the woods and fertile field,
Our rivers, lakes and fountains, to Thee shall tribute yield.
O Christ, for Thine own glory, and for our country’s weal,
We humbly plead before Thee, Thyself in us reveal;
And may we know, Lord Jesus, the touch of Thy dear hand;
And, healed of our diseases, the tempter’s power withstand.
Where error smites with blindness, enslaves and leads astray,
Do Thou in lovingkindness proclaim Thy Gospel day,
Till all the tribes and races that dwell in this fair land,
Adorned with Christian graces, within Thy courts shall stand.
Our Savior King, defend us, and guide where we should go;
Forth with Thy message send us, Thy love and light to show,
Till, fired with true devotion, enkindled by Thy word,
From ocean unto ocean our land shall own Thee Lord.
July 03, 2004
Can they really do that now?
I was watching Jeopardy for the first time in a long while last night and was amazed to know that they don't kick champs off after five wins. The current champ has been on for over a month and won over $755,000. When did they start doing that? Maybe if I mail him my address he can share some of that wealth. :)
July 02, 2004
Everybody all at once now....AWWWWW
Congrats to Mr. & Mrs. Mike Stewart on their new little bundle Katie. She's so pretty, y'all! Plus they spelled Kathryn they way my younger stepsister spells it.
July 01, 2004
Would I really like this?
A friend of mine works volunteerily for Tech TV, and we came up to the the "office." WOW. they have some really nice Macs. Three HUGE screens with the proportions of a movie screen plus I can go back and forth with a second screen. If I used Macs I could probably really get used to this. Maybe I could even get used to Macs.