Praying

Yesterday Abbie was playing with her dollhouse toys. She brought out the table, chairs, and the "Mommy" and "Daddy" to the living room. After a few minutes, she laid the two dolls face-down on the couch and I overheard her say "Mommy, Daddy praying. Thank you Jesus, so much. AMEN."

It made my week.

Because no one else is reporting it.

Army of the Lord? Obama Seeks Health Care Push From Pulpit
Thousands of religious leaders got a call from on high Wednesday as President Obama reached out to Jewish and Christian clergy, asking some to sermonize in favor of health care reform.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/20/army-lord-obama-seeks-health-care-push-pulpit/

Two-year-old theology

At lunch this afternoon, Matt asked Abbie if she knew who made the spinach we were eating. He told her, "God made spinach." Not long after that, Abbie replied, "Jesus...made spinach!"

Apparently, my two-year-old grasps trinitarian theology. Most fabulous.

Starting college?

Have you noticed all the going-back-to-school commercials targeted at college freshmen and their parents that have cropped up in the past few months? I've started to see a trend that not only encourages but also sanctions the irresponsible and risky lifestyle of college students that the media has been so fond of portraying. The latest Target commercial, for example, features a student's mother (in all her maternal naivete) buying her son a bed comforter (which he subsequently uses to hide the fact that he's making out with a girl at a football game), a dorm-sized refrigerator (which he packs with Red Bull and other dangerously overly-carbonated drinks), and a desk lamp (which he uses as a blacklite to pimp out his raucous dorm room party). The last scene of the commercial shows the son calling his mom up, seemingly to report what a good student he's being.

Now, I went to a Christian college. My roommates never had boys sleep over. I never went to parties featuring beer kegs or drinking games. I got in trouble during my freshman year for overspending on my debit account, and I gained way too much weight on french fries and other junk food. So I'm not saying that I made the best choices as a college student. But the idea portrayed in these commercials that parents should stay blissfully ignorant while unleashing their irresponsible kids on the world to sew their wild oats is just absurd! I'm a big supporter of kids going away to college (because I've seen so many people my own age who lived at home during college or didn't attend college at all and now are living dead-end lives), but I also believe that with so much freedom comes a butt-load of responsibility. I think it's unfair for adults to expect and encourage kids to live irresponsibly during the first big test period of their lives. So to all my friends starting college this year: MAKE GOOD CHOICES!

Saying goodbye to Lucy

After three and a half years of having Lucy as a part of our family, Matt and I have decided that it's time to find a new home for her. We've been realizing over the past few months that we haven't been very fair to her in terms of giving her the amount of attention, play, and exercise that a lab really needs to thrive and have a happy life.

I'm sad that we're giving her away. She's been a terrific dog for the kids--she's gentle and unobtrusive and she lets the kids get away with anything! She's obedient, easy to train, and very apologetic when she does something wrong. She never messes with anything that's not hers. Really, we couldn't have asked for a better dog.

But I'm also happy because she'll be going to live with my sister-in-law's family. My niece and nephew fell totally in love with Lucy when we lived in Jersey during June, and my sister-in-law and her husband are really looking forward to having a dog again (especially one who's already house-broken). They have a huge fenced-in backyard where Lucy can run free and since they've owned dogs before, they know what having a dog entails.

We've been talking to Abbie over the past few weeks that Lucy is going to live with her cousins, and that we'll get to see her once in a while. I think she understands. Still, I think she is really going to miss her. I think I will too. Thanks for being a great dog for us, Lu, and we hope you love your new home!

I love Shepard Smith.