Satan's Meeting

A friend sent me the following text a few days ago and I've been mulling it over ever since. It has convicted me on many levels. Will it convict you?

Satan called a worldwide convention of demons. In his opening address he said...

"We can't keep Christians from going to church. We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can't even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their Savior. Once they gain that connection with Jesus our power over them is broken. So let them go their churches, let them have their potluck dinners, BUT steal their time, so they don't have time to nurture a relationship with Jesus Christ. This is what I want you to do: Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!"

"But how shall we do this?" the demons shouted!

"Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds. Tempt them to spend, spend, spend and borrow, borrow, borrow! Persuade the wives to work away from home for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7 days a week, 10-12 hours a day so they can afford their empty lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their families fragment, soon their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work!

Over-stimulate their minds so they cannot hear that still, small voice. Entice them to play the radio whenever they drive. Keep the TV, DVD and PC going constantly in their homes and see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-biblical music constantly. This will jam their minds and break their union with Christ. Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogs, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, un-needed services, and false hopes.

Keep skinny, beautiful models in the magazines and on TV so their husbands will believe that outward beauty is what's important and they'll become dissatisfied with their wives. Keep the wives too tired to love their husbands at night. Give them headaches, too! If they don't give their husbands the love they need, the husbands will begin to look elsewhere. That will fragment their families quickly!

Give them Santa Claus to distract them from teaching their children the real meaning of Christmas. Give them the Easter Bunny so they won't talk about Jesus' resurrection and power over sin and death.

Even in their recreation let them be excessive. Have them return from their recreation exhausted. Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on God's creation. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts and movies instead. Keep them busy, busy, busy!

And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences. Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Jesus. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for 'the good of the cause.' It will work! It will work!"

It was quite a plan. The demons went eagerly to their assignments, causing Christians everywhere to become busier and more rushed, going here and there, having little time for God or their families...

And having no time to tell others of the power of Jesus to change lives.

Has Satan been successful in his schemes? You be the judge! Does BUSY stand for Being Under Satan's Yoke?

Two!

Our baby turned two on Thursday, the 25th, and I seriously don't know how we reached this point so quickly! I can vividly remember what it feels like to be pregnant as if it were yesterday, but yet we have a walking, running, jumping, talking, laughing two year old! Nolan had tons of fun this week with Grandma and Grandpa visiting to celebrate his birthday with us. We had a small celebration at home with Cars everywhere and then we spent the day at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

We all wore Mater hats. They're totally "in" this season, ya know?

Studying the fish!

Nolan was a little bit apprehensive touching the starfish, but he talked about it afterward. It clearly made it an impression on him!

The penguins were Nolan's favorite, so Grandma and Grandpa bought a stuffed penguin for him to take home. He sleeps with it every night!

The Brevity Of Life

In a four hour span this past Saturday we received news that two completely unrelated people we know had passed away. Superstition says that a third should follow. Thankfully, we are not superstitious or we'd be sleeping with our eyes open.

One of Todd's directors unexpectedly passed away on Friday night. What's so strange is that Todd spent the entire day with this gentleman on Tuesday. From what we understand, he had bronchitis that turned really bad really quickly. He had also developed blood clots in his legs and lungs. A stunned widow and two small children are left to grieve.

One of my former student's fathers passed away last week. When I had Kristen in class three years ago her Dad had "ongoing health problems" that were never specifically named. As it turns out, these unspecified health issues were drug and alcohol related. He overdosed last week and has left a wife and three daughters behind. Not only have they lost their husband and father, they have lost all of their worldly goods because he sold their livelihood to finance his addictions. The funeral was today and I wish I could have been there to give Kristen and her mom and sisters hugs. I share their tears and their frustrations from miles away and am grateful that they are surrounded by many others who are loving on them and helping them through this tragic time.

In Darren's case, his death was unexpected. In Kristen's Dad's case, it was just a mater of time. In both situations there are myriad unanswered questions that no one but God has the answers to. Lord, I pray that both of these families would turn to You in their darkest hours and find the peace that only You can provide. We praise You that You are the giver and taker of life and that Your plan is perfect. Please help these families make sense of Your plan even now and trust You that all things work together for good.

Yummy Yum Yum!

For all you bakers out there...have I got a recipe for you! It's delicious and it "tastes like fall."

Apple Blueberry Pecan Bread

1 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter
1 t. vanilla
2 eggs
2 apples, peeled and finely chopped (about 2 cups worth)
1/2 c. chopped pecans
1/2 c. blueberries
1 c. each--whole wheat flour, all purpose flour
1 t. each--baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon
1/2 t. salt

Preheat oven to 350 and grease the bottom of a loaf pan. Mix sugar, butter vanilla and eggs. Stir in flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add apples, pecans and blueberries. Spread in loaf pan. Mix 1 T. sugar and 1/4 t. cinnamon to sprinkle over batter for "topping." Bake 1 hour and 15 minutes. Immediately remove loaf from pan and cool on wire rack.

Happy eating!

Big Boy Bed

The Lightning McQueen bed has arrived! Nolan loves it and can't seem to believe it's his! Bedtime is a breeze! Thank you, God!

Happy Birthday, Todd!

We love you to the moon and back!

Radar

All things Disney are amazing. I'm even more convinced than ever that their marketing department is no exception. Call me a conspiracy theorist if you must, but I am certain that the head honchos at Dinsey have recently sent out a radar signal to track my child so that he can track any and all products that are remotely affiliated with the movie Cars.

We were in the grocery section at Target today and Nolan screams "A-Queen!" I gingerly tell him that he had left "A-Queen" in our Jeep and that he'd get to play with him when we got home. However, he continues to yell "A-Queen! A-Queen!" and points toward the wall of soup.

There must have been 500 cans of soup on this wall and Nolan still managed to spot the dozen or so cans of chicken noodle soup that were Cars themed. I had no idea that such a product exists! It seems that Disney and Campbell's are co-conspirators to get me to purchase soup that I really don't want or need. But being the doting mommy I am, I bought a can of Cars soup (not all of them that were on the shelf, like he wanted.) Nolan carried the soup can around with him all day and loved every bite of it at dinner tonight.

The culprit

McQueen's biggest fan

NOTE TO SELF: Call brother in law Bob at Disney office. Ask that Nolan be removed from Disney radar ASAP.

The Other Women

Todd is a political junkie and, as his wife, I have followed suit (to a lesser degree) over the years. (Never mind the fact that I have a degree in Political Science. It was a natural counterpart to my degree in History.) We have been glued to the RNC these last few days and Todd now has a new woman in his life as a result...seven year old Piper Palin. Todd can not get over how cute she is. He literally beams when she's on screen and goes on and on about her adorable-ness. (I think he thinks she's cute because she looks like me at that age...not to brag or anything!)

Last month when the Olympics were in progress, Todd's crush was sixteen year old American gymnast Shawn Johnson. He was so sad for her when she didn't win the gold medal in the all-around competition. Before she won the gold for the individual balance beam event he said "If that little cutie-pie doesn't win the gold medal I'm gonna go and buy her one!" Todd takes his crushes quite seriously!

I truly don't mind that there are "other women" in Todd's life. It just confirms to me what a protective, sweet, mushy Daddy Todd would be if we ever have a daughter. I hope we do. I love this side of my husband.

Transitions

Our man-child now weighs upwards of 30 pounds, and although I'm not exactly petite he is much too heavy for me to hoist over the side of the crib. So Todd and I took the crib apart last night and placed his mattress on the floor...all the while reminiscing about our baby who's no longer a baby.

Nolan was thrilled to get to sleep in this miniature rendition of a big boy bed. We put him down at 8 o'clock as usual, and he played and jumped and danced in the pitch darkness for two hours. Todd and I came into his room intermittently to try to convey that it was time to go to sleep and took turns wrestling him onto the bed (so much for being careful with my back!) Our efforts were thwarted once and for all when Nolan realized that he could open his door and come out and say "Boo!" to us, screeching wildly like a madman. It was all a big game to him...and Mommy and Daddy were losing!

Before Nolan's "Dance Dance Revolution" party

We surrendered to the will of our wired little boy and brought him into bed with us around 11 pm, hoping he'd settle down. Finally, at 11:45 he fell into a deep solid, practically comatose sleep. We placed him in his bed and were delighted that he didn't wake up or cry when he fell off the mattress and onto the floor somewhere around 3 am. He had wonderful carpet marks all over his body this morning when he woke up.

Today's strategy for the bedtime battle is this:

• Wake Nolan at 9:30 am and only allow him 9.5 hours of sleep instead of his normal 12.
• Play hard all day and skip the afternoon nap.
• Pray that at 8 pm he'll be so dog tired he'll forget about the novelty of the big boy bed and fall quickly into a dreamy state of sweet slumber.

Todd also was online early this morning to purchase a "real bed" in hopes of luring Nolan into staying in it. We ordered a red plastic Lightning McQueen toddler bed that we hope will do the trick! All things "A-Queen" in our house are huge hits, so hopefully this bed will be the ticket! Wish us luck!

I LOVE this Face!

Melts my heart!