This is Just Too Good.

Straight from today's FoxNews headlines:

Indiana Boys Left With Bleeding Tongues After Licking Flagpole
Saturday, January 26, 2008

CHESTERTON, Ind. — Two fourth-grade boys mimicking a scene from the movie "A Christmas Story" wound up with their tongues stuck to a frozen flagpole.

Gavin Dempsey and James Alexander were serving on flag duty at Jackson Elementary School Friday morning, with the job of raising and lowering the school's flags. They decided to see if their tongues really would stick to the cold metal.

"I decided to try it because I thought all of the TV shows were lies, but turns out I was wrong," Gavin said.

Karen Alexander, James' mother , said her son told her he got the idea from the movie, which is based on stories about a boy growing up in the northwest Indiana community of Hammond in the 1940s.

"I can't believe he did it, but they learned their lesson," she said.

James said he plans to eat a lot of ice cream to help nurse his wound.

"When you're young, you're just messing around," he said.

Billie Dempsey, Gavin's mom, said a nurse called them to tell them the boys' tongues were bleeding.

"The nurse asked them, 'OK, who double-dog dared who?"' Billie Dempsey said, a reference to a phrase that a character in the movie used to dare another child to stick his tongue to the pole.

BWI

Biblical Worldview Intigration is what we are learning about in our school these days. We've had some Professional Development days on the subject, and since our last PD day, I've found myself thinking a bit on what was presented. There were discussions about the philosophies our kids are bombarded with on a regular basis (relative truth and Nietsche's thoughts on the weak and powerless) through TV and music... all in all a very good study.

We've been tasked to observe each other in the classroom to see how we might be integrating our Biblical World View into our subjects. I was priviledged enough to observe the Science teacher as he began teaching about the Scientific Method. His integration was a perfect extention of the lesson: How God had created our brains to be inquisitive. How it pleases Him for us to question him, because that gives Him the chance to prove Himself to us. How this is a major feature of Christianity: we are not to just blindly follow. Good stuff.

A Little Bit 'O Sunshine

Big Dad and I were on a walk this morning, when something the color of a tennis ball dropped down in front of us. On further inspection, I discovered it was a parakeet. Knowing there are many cats on the prowl around this particular 'hood, I decided to try and pick it up. When I walked up to it, it didn't fly away, and it immediately flew to my waiting finger. Very cute. So I walked around to various neighbors across the street, and no one knew where it belonged. SO...off toward home we went.

A small cage and birdseed was in order, so I ran off to the store while the kids got acquainted with "Sunshine" as we've come to call him. About $10 later, and he has a temporary home.

We've found that he likes people food, because he tried to eat Big Dad's yogurt and Timothy's Eggo. He also has clipped toenails, and his color is just too vibrant to have been left on his own devices in the wild. We plan on putting up some fliers in the neighborhood. He's so well taken care of, I'm sure he's missed.

In the meantime, we're enjoying our little bit o' Sunshine. Timothy is completely taken with him, and was even playing different kinds of music for him to see what he likes. (He seems to like the song "Bubbly" by the way) He's also taken to English fairly well, but responds better to Chinese. As you can see in the picture below, San is completely fascinated. He made that face when Sunshine un-fluffed his feathers. He didn't know they could do that. ha!

All in all, we're enjoying him while we have him.

Well Said

This is one of the best eulogies I've ever read. Ann Coulter, you did your dad proud.

Read it all. It's worth it.

It's Not About Me

I've read portions of "A Purpose Driven Life" over the years, though I haven't read the whole book. I like a lot of the thoughts given, but the one I like the most is at the very beginning: "It's not about you." That thought rattles around in my head quite a bit, especially during the past year, and a few revelations have resulted in this thought process.

The first starts with me, embarrassingly enough. In reading through my previous blog entries, and reviewing the things that have bothered me over the years or have captured my attention, I have come to the realization that much of them are very self focused. Everything is about what I need or what I want, like or don't like. That's OK in that it's the place where I was, and I think I needed to go through that to grow, (and thank God FOR blogs, because writing these thoughts down has enabled me to review them) but I realize now how self focused it all has been.

This brings me to the second thought, and it may require more posts to completely follow the thought through: How much of our Christian life is focused on our own personal growth? This year, I got really tired of being around Christians. There was a restlessness and frustration that came from dealing with Christians on a daily basis. I know, I know, Christians are people too, full of faults and complications. I know this because I am full of faults and complications. But the "lightbulb moment" came from realizing that maybe that's not WHO I should be spending most of my time with. Am I keeping my light under a bushel? Or in a church? Or surrounded by like-minded friends that encourage ME?

So this is where I'm at. My time needs to be spent with non-Christians. Telling others about Christ is important, but what the world needs is to see the Word lived out, real, and modeled by example. Out there, in the community, involved, and letting THE light shine. I'll let you know how it goes.

Coffee-time Contemplation

While I haven't had time really to sit and contemplate this new year as I've always done in the past (because of hectic things at work along with some medical issues that aren't hugely serious but enough to keep our attention), I still found myself looking ahead a little bit. This year won't settle, really. There are big things coming down the pike. Our oldest child and only daughter, Emily, will be graduating this year, as well as our first real stateside time, we are looking at quite a few transitions. Anyone who knows me knows that moving is my least favorite thing on the planet, because no matter how well I plan (cough, cough), there are always those last-minute items that mean rushing around for a few days. I hate that part of it. In anticipation, we are getting rid of as much stuff as possible, so that there will be a minimal amount of items in storage. I also hate traveling. Funny, especially when you consider my job description. Once I am on the plane or in the car I'm fine, but it's the running around and hectic-ness beforehand that stresses me out.
Once we get to the states, it will be nice to settle in for awhile. We haven't lived a full year in the states since 1999, so it will be nice to have that next year. It will also be SO nice to be around family during ALL of the holidays. Our family has had fun and quite a few adventures with friends over here, but it will be nice to hang out with and have fun with some kinfolk.
All of that to say that we are happily looking forward to changes this next year. There are some good things coming, and some of the changes will be tough, but I wouldn't want it any other way. Changes are good when they are about growth and improvement, and I know that God has plans for us that He is preparing us for even as I write this.