Some may boast of prowess bold

of the school they think so grand,
but there's a spirit that ne'er be told,
it's the Spirit of Aggieland.We packed the car and went on a road trip in early June. It was a trip of nostalgia, visiting friends, taking family photos, and staying with Aunt Sheesha (according to Anna).

I never understood why Dad and Mom had to take us sight-seeing as kids around the Texas A&M campus, but when we found ourselves doing the same to Caleb and Anna, it suddenly made sense. Seeing places that held dear memories for us brought the desire to share them with our kids.

Bryan/College Station has changed in so many ways in the decade or so since we've been in classes there. The southern edge of town is nearly the middle now. There are more restaurants than you can shake a stick at. (?) New construction of homes and shopping areas are springing up everywhere. Even in the summer, the campus was active with new student conferences, and traffic was still a consideration. Yet several places remain and flourish that we absolutely have to visit when given the chance.

One is Double Dave's Pizzaworks. Oh, the peproni rolls (yes, that's how they're spelled)...


Another is Freebird's World Burrito. Caleb and Scott shared a son/dad experience -- a half bird for C and a Monster for S.

We visited with our friends Kyle and Christine, who are about to leave Texas to plant a church in Virginia. Since we saw them and spent time with Will, Reese, and Luke, their house has sold. Praise the Lord! Check out their blog for information and updates.

Our friend Liz took some great family pics of us on the University's West Campus. If you're just that curious, I may be able to email you a link to the proofs. They turned out great.

We spent a great few days with Licia at her house during this time. If we'd had a little more time, we would have gone to Sunday services at Central and hugged the necks of several friends while there.

The Lord really grew us and blessed us during our years there. It's so much fun to go back and visit. Thank you Lord for using that time in so many ways, bringing Scott and me together, and placing people in our lives to invest in us so that we'd be prepared to invest in others!

^(keep)

Just a quick up-keep blurb about new McDonaldSpot features:

• a new layout... what do you think?

• a third playlist on the finetune player (lower right side) -- Kid Music -- a mix of silly songs, traditional songs, and kids' worship tunes

• if you'd like to keep listening while web surfing, click Pop the Player Out on the black screen, and your music won't disappear.

• McNuggets are here! I plan to make this a weekly or semi-weekly post, depending on how many interesting links I stumble across.
  

McNuggets (7/19)

Welcome to the first installment of McNuggets!

Do you remember how those little tidbits were once rumored to be many things other than chicken? I think I even heard Kangaroo once. Well, you can expect to find a true hodgepodge of link tidbits with every 6-piece McNuggets you encounter here at the McDonaldSpot. Expect some thought provocation, some silliness, and some curious things as well.

(tip of the hat to Tim Challies and his A La Carte series, as well as Sarah Jo and her For the Love of Links series for the great idea)

JellyTelly
VeggieTales founder Phil Vischer is launching a new venture this fall. Check out the preview now!

Trust
Don't miss this great photo from Iraq.

Drive-Thru Kid Wash
Beat the heat and give your kids a treat with this cool DoItYourself sprinkler project.

Wordle to get the gist
Use Wordle (a tag-cloud online program) to highlight frequent appearances of words in a text. Here, find the wordle of the complete text of the ESV Bible (OT and NT). Make your own if you'd like!

Like to write in books?
Use this neat trick to prevent, yet at the same time enable, compulsive book-writing, even in those that aren't your own.

Send a Surprise
You've got to see this unique idea for sending greetings to a college student, friend who moved, or anyone else, for that matter!


Hope you enjoyed this order of McNuggets. There will be more to come soon!

C+A+L+E+B = 5

I can't believe that my sweet boy is 5! We celebrated his birthday at Mimi and Pawpaw's on Memorial Day Weekend.

Below are some pics from his birthday breakfast at our house.


Still pretty groggy...

Opening presents did the trick!

Anna looked on while she scarfed down some cereal.

Science around every corner

I love that we can travel easily to the beach for one particular reason: the hands-on science lessons for the kids! (I don't care much for Texas beaches, and I don't get excited about hanging out on the beach in general) The cool thing Caleb discovered on this outing with some of our church staff was that many shells were washing up on the shore, complete with their original inhabitants living inside!

Here is our good friend, Bo, helping Caleb search for more critters...

Here are a few more fun pics!

"Yea, water!"

like brother, like sister...except she wouldn't get wet.

WALL-E thoughts...Compacted (heh heh heh)

[update: on further review, I was still a little disappointed, but I didn't mean to spend so much time on the soap box below :) ]

****WARNING: If you're determined to see it and don't want anything spoiled, skip the post entirely*****


**********SPOILER ALERT*************
(don't say I didn't warn you)



We took Caleb to see his second movie in a theater yesterday. His first was the VeggieTales movie about those adorable but lowly Pirates. It was GREAT!

For his second, we chose WALL-E by Disney/Pixar. Admittedly, we didn't know much about the plot except for the vague inference of the boy Wall-E making friends with a new-fangled girl robot. We left the movie with mixed reviews. Caleb would say it was fun (but not overly enthused). Scott was very impressed with the computer animation, and rightly so! I was somewhere between non-plussed and irritated.

The characters of the movie were great: the diligent, nostalgic, and very endearingly expressive trash compacting Wall-E; the cool, determined, and sleek Eve; the petite and tenacious cleaner-bot; and steadfast, hale, and strangely charming little cockroach. The animation was truly stellar (pun intended: much takes place in space). All in all, I had no problem with the general story line: robot is lonely, meets girl robot, desires innocent companionship and romance like he has seen on film clips of Hello Dolly.

My problem lies with the premise. Enter the hero, doing this daily job faithfully: compacting trash into efficient little cubes. The problem is that he's stacking cubes into huge skyscrapers that dwarf the actual skyscrapers of the big American city he occupies. This city has long been abandoned and the other WALL-E robots have broken down, but still Wall-E remains resourceful and even finds time to glean sentimental items from the trash heaps (a light bulb, a Rubik's Cube, Christmas lights). See, the earth has been abandoned after the all-controlling BigBox store has taken over every aspect of society, society has over-consumed and trashed the world, and thus society has been relocated to a giant space cruise ship. The hope is that once the robots get everything cleaned up, everyone can return. There's just one thing (OK, maybe several): Wall-E is all that remains after 700 years, and the space cruisers have become (all of them) morbidly obese and technological hermits.

Seriously, must we brainwash our kids with hyperbole? I've taught Caleb about being a good steward since he was 2, and I'm ready to start with Anna. I want to teach them to take care of their toys, others' belongings, and why litter is bad. They need to know that having stuff is not what makes a person happy. I want them to realize that all we have is from God, and He wants us to practice stewardship and simplicity for the time that we're here on Earth.

But, good grief! I'm getting a little agitated by the current trend of promoting Eco-issues to the point that we're worshiping the environment instead of the Creator. I won't even start on what I think about Global Warming, mercury-filled halogen light bulbs, and carbon footprints. It's time that being Green takes a permanent backseat to being Godly.

Should you go see Wall-E? Use your discernment. At the age of 5, Caleb was a little oblivious to the propaganda, but I will still work to make sure he understands what the truth is. Had Wall-E been built on a different premise, it would have been GREAT. If I had it to do over again, though, I'd skip it and see that VeggieTales film again on video.

Coming Attractions

Yes, I know that this is a sorry excuse for a blog post, but in order to keep me accountable and also to wet your whistle:

Coming Soon to a McDonaldSpot near you...
(in some order, but mostly chronological)

• My thoughts on Wall-E ***spoiler alert***
• Caleb's Bday
• Trip to Aggieland
• Sea World is cool (and really hot)
  
• Road trip! Canton and Missouri
  
• BIG Tahtors. Dey're Tomin'! (harvest is here!)
• A new regular post series with random links I've come across (fun, strange, crafty, etc.) PLEASE help me with names by posting a comment or responding to the poll on the right sidebar! Clever phrases or names are encouraged! Puns are even better! For some reason, most of my ideas seem to be food related...
  

The Moment has Arrived!

...talk about a loaded title...

I'm referring to the posting online of Scott's sermon during our church's Generations series based on Titus 2, which speaks to different generations within the church body.

The site is relatively new, and they've changed video players, so I've yet to figure out how to embed the file straight to the blog. When that happens, I'll post it anew!

Until then, you can watch the sermon in full here, but be sure to click on Generations #4 -- College Students (but boy, does the message apply to all of us!).

We've had a loaded summer as well, so be looking for upcoming posts documenting our month of June!

Something's hiding in my closet

(HT:Josh Harris)

Have you ever thought something in your house was out of place, but you seriously couldn't remember moving it yourself? I'd check my closet if I were you... check out this really strange article. btw, I have so many more questions about this that the article just didn't answer...

Post Leftovers and Summer Fun

Ok, somehow that sounds really gross to me, (leftovers...) but in effort to get some comments from you readers out there, I'm going to do a...


BUMP! (also known as TTT or To The Top)


from a previous post: Summa-time

I didn't think that the thought of summer would ever be a daunting
one for me. However, now that I've had our first school year of consistent
home-life structure, I'm a little intimidated by the prospect. That's not to
say that we don't have plenty of things clamoring for our attention. It's
more a matter of the desire I have to make the most of our time.

Both Caleb and Anna are pretty good at playing together and
independently, but I really want to keep some semblance of structure going
on instead of depending on their abilities to keep busy (or tv and computer
for that matter). So, consider this a poll of all you moms out there: What
activities and other things do you institute during the summer for your
kiddos? What would you like to put in place? Please click the comments link below to add your very appreciated two cents!

I really want to hear your ideas!

I LOVE to share things I find, so here are a few things I've come across, thanks to the girls at GirlTalk.

• Summer is Important
• Summer has Potential
• DEAR time
• Summer Vacations here and also here (The second has a linked-to pdf file with more ideas.)
• Summer Meals (includes pdf file link with 30+ recipe ideas)
• Summer Goals and Projects (This one has a link to a pdf file of ideas also.)
• Summer Activities (Check out the pdf link here, too.)

Heard at the McDonaldspot

Lest you think our kids are perfect, let me fill you in on what we heard at the grandparent's spot tonight:

(setting: dinner with a family friend is over, and we're sitting at the table talking. The kids are playing in the toy room, but they're getting restless. Caleb wants to build a marble run, but it's not safe to do so around Anna. We've told him "no" twice.)

Caleb from the living room: You know what would make me happy? Getting to play with the marble tower right now. I really want someone to make me happy right now.


We tried really hard not to laugh. Of course, the situation was dealt with, but have you ever been there? I don't mean with kids... have you ever been there?

Both the tune from this Chase Credit commercial and the theme of this settlement commercial sum it up pretty well, but haven't we all had a (several) bout(s) with that yucky part of our sin natures called selfishness?

...Not to mention the instant gratification that we crave from technology, fast food, and just about everything else in life.

I searched for some applicable verses when I decided to post this funny comment by our sweet boy. Here's what I found that encouraged and challenged me:

2 Corinthians 5:14
For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.
And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again.

Philippians 2:3,4
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
both NIV translation

It's definitely a daily battle, but with the Holy Spirit's help and strength, I'm up to the challenge. Are you?

Constant Awe, Weighty Responsibility

I can't fully express the awe, excitement, joy, and gratitude I feel when I get yet another glimpse of how from the beginning of time, God has had a purpose in everything and how everything in Scripture points to Jesus and our need for Him. Whether that be the need for a Savior to restore what was lost when Adam and Eve sinned, the prophecy statements in Isaiah that Jesus fulfilled to the "t", or the symbolic example set by Jonah -- three days in the depths, then coming back to live anew, every story whispers His name.

I love the big picture of God's plan. I've recently studied about the Promised Land (linked to in previous post), and I read through Deuteronomy to get some context. There were the Hebrew people, poised (for the second time) to enter the land God had promised them . They had been there once before, but because they didn't have the faith to enter the wonderful land due to its formidable people, they were punished with years of wandering.

Now, at the Jordan River opposite Jericho, Moses stopped the people for some important words. The book of Deuteronomy (Greek deuteronomium = second law) is named for what Moses did there: he recounted the law God had given their parents' generation and reminded them of everything the Lord had done for their people. The new generation that would be entering the land (minus their faith-less parents who died during the wandering) must know Who gave them the land, His love for them as His chosen people, the necessity of obedience to His laws, and the consequences that would definitely come if they disobeyed. It was really a first-things-first situation. They had to be reminded in order to fully appreciate what was about to happen: God's faithfulness, provision, and protection.

The Hebrews went on to conquer the very peoples that their parents' generation had feared. Many of the battles were won without much effort on their part, because God led the way and showed His glory. Obedience led to victory and blessing. Disobedience led to failure and deaths at the worst, and assimilation in to a culture that worshiped other gods at the least (maybe that was the worst). The book of Joshua recounts this process of the Israelites possessing the land.

The people had been faithful to the Lord for the time of Joshua's leadership and the elders' leadership during that time. Then we reach the book of Judges.

In the first chapter we see that the tribe of Benjamin refuses to drive out the people in their territory. Assimilation begins. In chapter 2, we learn that enough time has passed for that faithful generation to pass away. Here's the disheartening part:

2:10

And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.

2:11

And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals.

2:12

And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger.

The remainder of the account in Judges shows the downward spiral of God's people, as God brought a Judge to bring them out of disobedience to faithfulness, they obeyed for a while and prospered, and then they began to worship other gods again.

What caused this?

There arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work He had done for Israel.

Thus the weighty responsibility:
to teach our children faithfully. To recount to them how God has moved throughout history and also personally in our lives. That's a hard thing to do! It doesn't come naturally to me to speak of spiritual things face-to-face with people. Is it the fear of being hyper-spiritual? Is it lack of gratitude or recognition of God working in everything? I hope not! But how convicting that blogging is another situation entirely for some reason. I pray that the Lord will guide me in making daily talk about Him a more consistent part of our family's life together. I pray that He'll give me boldness to make every moment a teachable one, that perhaps the Holy Spirit will use me to awaken their hearts to the One who can free them from the entrapment and despair of our sinfulness.

but there's a tangent to that...
to share Truth with others. After all, we can see evidences now that faith is much less important these days. Scratch that... religion and "spirituality" are important, but very relative and often composed of a mish-mash of different belief systems. I'm praying that I'll be bold enough to speak openly of the difference Christ makes. Not to make converts; rather, so that no one has to live life without a relationship with the One who made them, that life can be more than just "hopeful". Instead it can be one of true hope: a guaranteed hope you can "take to the bank." The promise is that we can be freed of our inability to measure up to God's standard if we'll accept that Christ sacrificed himself to pay our penalty for sin -- that giving our lives over to Him is actually freeing and allows us to live abundantly and bring Him glory. I worry sometimes that when I am bold enough, I don't communicate effectively. Yet the urgency of making sure that current generations know the Lord makes me want to combat that worry and trust that the Lord can use even my flawed communication for His glory.

I'm tempted to apologize for a lengthy post, but I'll stop myself and be reminded that to be more comfortable speaking of Christ is exactly what I'm needing.

Want some parenting resources to help you accomplish teaching your children as well? How about Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp, Teach them Diligently by Lou Priolo, and the Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones. I love these, and though I'm not proficient at what I've learned from them, I'm working on it! Another, which I haven't read but looks promising, is Parenting with Scripture by Kara Durbin.

How about music? We LOVE Hide 'Em In Your Heart vol. 1-3 by Steve Green and Seeds Family Worship (4 CDs) All-Scripture-lyrics make it easy for the kids (AND ME!) to memorize and internalize God's Word so we can apply it to our lives.

Summa-time

So today is the start of the first day of summer... for our family at least. Caleb just realized this last night when Scott asked him what he was going to do tomorrow. Caleb easily came up with some ideas, but I was at a loss.

I didn't think that the thought of summer would ever be a daunting one for me. However, now that I've had our first school year of consistent home-life structure, I'm a little intimidated by the prospect. That's not to say that we don't have plenty of things clamoring for our attention. It's more a matter of the desire I have to make the most of our time.

Both Caleb and Anna are pretty good at playing together and independently, but I really want to keep some semblance of structure going on instead of depending on their abilities to keep busy (or tv and computer for that matter). So, consider this a poll of all you moms out there: What activities and other things do you institute during the summer for your kiddos? What would you like to put in place? Please click the comments link below to add your very appreciated two cents!

They're Exploding!

...Anna's language skills, I mean!

This past week has seen her putting together micro sentences much more adeptly than before! I love this stage where we are communicating better and better. She's even singing to herself. I've yet to understand most of those songs, but it's fun to listen! She's such a sweetheart!

First Ups

It seems I'm developing the habit of doing mass posts on the weekends. I'll try to remedy that for the future, but make sure you catch all five of the posts I wrote for this weekend! Pictures galore...

We also managed to catch a first on video this weekend!

Anna actually got some air!

First Sleepover

Some friends in our lifegroup had the chance to attend a marriage conference right here in the area, so we agreed to help them by keeping their youngest son, who is Caleb's age, for two nights. They get along pretty well. These pictures were taken yesterday afternoon as they played at my parents' house, had a picnic, and rode on a tractor. It was also before they got tired of each other last night. :) Overall, it was an exhausting (for me) and good weekend. I was glad to help... but now I need sleep.

B is for Brownies, Birthdays, and Blowing out pretend candles?

Caleb gets to have a day off from school for his birthday! Well, sort of. Caleb was born on Memorial Day, and his birthday falls during that holiday again! He got to have his school celebration on Friday, and though he didn't act crazy or prideful, you could tell he loved his moment in the spotlight. We love Mrs. James. She's done a great job of meeting the varied needs of the students in her class this year!

Birthday Party (sort of)

We had a planned Saturday night dinner for some of the other staff at our house. That keeps us from all wanting to go out to eat after the Saturday night service ($$) and since we rotate houses each week, it's less pressure and we still get to fellowship. What we didn't expect was that it would turn into an impromptu birthday party for Anna. I did get her a cake, but everyone else was instructed NOT to bring gifts. Oh well, we have generous friends!

Cute mini cake, but every attempt to blow out the candle just blew her bangs! :)

Gingerly sampling the icing, then begging for "keen hands"

Gifts! Stacey said that was the only bag she had, but we still teased her. Anna loved the clothes from the Windovers, the tea set from the Lewters...

...and the cool chalk and chalk-holders from the Haiglers.

Slick hair and rolled shirt sleeves

Caleb's class and the Kindergarten classes at his school let the good times roll with a "fifties" musical montage last week. We practiced ahead of time the whole concept of actually singing and doing the motions while on stage. Caleb is much more content just watching everyone instead. Here are some photos captured from way-back in the sanctuary. Sorry if they're blurry!

Looking for Mama and Daddy at the beginning

Just after yelling, "Hey, Mama! Take a picture of me!"
All smiles after the first song

Actually singing AND doing motions... Both were firsts!

The last song involved a few in front doing example-motions for the crowd to follow. Caleb was blocked from seeing us, and this was what he did right after the song ended: Tada!

Multimedia message

Heard at the McDonaldspot...Mobile Edition

We were in the car headed home from Mom and Dad's, when Anna started saying "Mama!" (She only knows how to do this in a demanding way; we've practiced a nice way, but it won't stick)
We explained that we were picking up pizza for supper. For the remaining 15 minutes of the drive, it was "Cheetah, Cheetah, Cheetah!" followed by a pause, then "Mama! Mama!! Eat." More explanation followed, then more "Cheetah".

When Scott went in to get it, we worked on pronunciation:

Anna: Where Cheetah?

Mama: Daddy's getting the pizza.

Anna: Cheetah! Cheetah!

Mama: Yes! Puh-puh-PEE-tza

Anna: Chuh-chuh-CHEE-tah (repeat exchange twice)

Mama:(laughing) Anna, you're funny!

Anna: Anna punny!

Mama: punny! puh-puh-punny.

Anna: puh-puh-punny

Mama: puh-puh-Pizza

Anna: puh-puh-CHEETAH!!!

Birthday Girl

Sharks, Puffers, and Rays... Oh my!

(This is the 4th in a marathon of posts...don't miss the three previous ones!)

We had a fun and relaxing trip for the first weekend of May to the Texas State Aquarium.

Easter Antics

Easter Sunday afternoon meant egg hunts at Mimi and Pawpaw's, dinner with them, the Lewters, and the Harts, and cascarones! If you haven't had the fun of cracking a confetti egg on a lucky person's head, you don't know fun. ;)

Caleb liked cracking them on the sidewalk...

...thus the strange follow-through pose.

Anna had to figure out more about the mess...

We only sprinkled it in her hair...
maybe she'll be tough-headed enough next year.

Cheese-ball pose. :)

Fourth Time's a Charm...I guess

Hope your Easter was a great one!

Spring Break at Snoopy's with the Family

We're really not that violent...

I found some awesome swords made of swimming-pool-noodle foam and gave them to Caleb for Christmas. They were a big hit, (pun intended) , with Caleb and Scott, as we witness regular fencing matches in our house now. Caleb is actually really good with his sword. Anna was content to watch for a while.

Then, one day when Caleb and I were out and about, Anna snuck up on Scott as he was using his laptop and stabbed him in the shoulder with a loud "Tee Yah!" We can only assume that she was mimicking the "hi-yahs" we usually hear from Caleb.

I hope you enjoy these clips! The first is an attempt to recreate what happens with the swords. The second was unplanned!

Friday Caleb Funnies

One afternoon recently, Caleb and Scott were shooting baskets in the driveway. We have the goal set at 8 ft. for Caleb, and he prefers to use his mini Aggie basketball for now. Scott got the ball and attempted to shoot it instead of the NCAA size one we have. As it left his hands on a mistaken trajectory toward the side of the backboard, Scott said, "Oh, that's bad." Here's the dialogue that immediately followed:

Caleb: Yeah, Dad, you were bad at that.

Me: Caleb! You should be encouraging to others even when they say something negative about themselves.

Caleb: (Immediately) Well, Daddy, you were only a little good at that.