"It’s going to get a lot of Christians with their knickers in a knot unnecessarily.”

I'm no DNA expert, but don't you need the mother and father's DNA to determine genetic
identity? Wonder where Jim Cameron got God's DNA? In case you're even later to this story than I am, it seems the Titanic/Terminator dude has found Jesus' "residue". Do read the whole thing.

I agree with this guy:

“This is exploiting the whole trend that caught on with ‘The Da Vinci Code,’ ” said Lawrence E. Stager, the Dorot professor of archaeology of Israel at Harvard, in a telephone interview. “One of the problems is there are so many biblically illiterate people around the world that they don’t know what is real (emphasis mine) judicious assessment and what is what some of us in the field call ‘fantastic archaeology.’ ”

Any of you who know me, know it is almost painful for me to read fiction. But I tried, I really did, to read Da Vinci code. It was so poorly written, I just couldn't take it. I was actually stunned that so many people had read it. The movie was kind of fun, but could have been much better. The real point to be made, here, is that it is a work of fiction. (Christians should pay attention to that categorization as well as non-believers.) It makes no more sense to believe in the premises of Da Vinci Code, than it does to believe that there's a real Willy Wonka with lickable wallpaper.

I plan to use the premises put forth in the documentary in my son's logic lesson this week. (We have been on vacation, and he needs some easy exercises to get back into his logic groove.)

"Uh, Mom? I don't understand my math."

Megan and her dad walked to the store. They left the house at 9:30
AM. The walk took them 45 minutes. What time did they arrive at
the
park?

Nice editing work, publishers ;-)

Vacation-a-thon

We are on the last few days of a truly great family vacation. You know, I really like the people in my family:-) That may seem obvious, but I do love people I don't really like. I'm not very good at it, but I do try to obey God in this regard. In so doing, I find it wonderful to appreciate loving people that I like, as well. God is so funny that way. He always makes it more than worth it to obey him. I like that, too.

We spent a week here, which was awesome. It was, however, colder than last year, so we did have a few unpleasant chills. But it served its purpose--boy-a-thon is over his desire to live in Utah. He decided his ol' mom is right: snow is a nice thing to to visit.

We flew to L.A. where upon landing in the enchanted airport, we knew we were definitely not in Kansas anymore. As we looked around in wide-eyed amazement, we saw right away that this was an entirely different land. Just like those other travelers trapped in Oz, we linked arms to stay safe and we chanted while we walked down the path to the rental car busstop:

"Escalades...
...boobs...
...and Botox, oh my!"

The next five days we spent here. Last night, we met up with old friends, and had incredible Mexican food. This afternoon, girl-a-thon and I are headed here.


Lots of interesting observations that I'll be posting about when we get home!

True Love, Indeed

here are two great stories about families who loved their members regardless of what they could do for them. Yes, folks, actual love.

Personhood, Part One

This is the first in a series of posts I hope to get off my chest. I also hope to rattle your cage a bit, and get you thinking about something I fear we GenXers will surely see worsen.

For a while now, I have been plagued by what a friend of mine calls our culture of death. He asserts that some time ago, as a culture, we turned a corner and are now more comfortable with ending lives than saving them. (It's nearly impossible to argue with him, given the every day use of tidy phrases like "mercy killing" and "pregnancy termination".)

For whatever reason, this particular topic disturbs me at the core of my being. Now I know it seems obvious that it would, but this, above all other horrors in the world, truly grieves my soul. I literally become dumbstruck in conversations about the value of a human life. It is because, this, more than any other truth should be held as self evident. How is it even possible that a human being would argue against its own worth or right to live? I suppose it makes sense when we consider that those who don't value human life aren't including themselves in the discussion; but the mental acrobatics required for that to make any sort of sense is just too much for me.

An Actual Inconvenient Truth
Regardless of the more polite terminology, the bottom line is that inconvenient people are legally killed. Whether it is bad timing to have a baby, or a confused, incontinent grandpa, these people take too much effort to maintain. Our society that loves convenience has somehow stealthily slid into sanctioning the killing of others who may be a burden to someone else. Charming, isn't it?

I think I'm Gonna Hurl

For the love of Pete, someone tell me this is not actually happening: Al Gore is nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize?

"A prerequisite for winning the Nobel Peace Prize is making a difference, and Al Gore has made a difference," Conservative Member of Parliament Boerge Brende, a former minister of environment and then of trade, told The Associated Press.

Silly me. I thought the Nobel Peace Prize was supposed to have something to do with furthering peace.
You know, they don't have to award a prize at all. There are many years where no peace prize was even awarded. On the other hand, if one can be nominated for the Nobel Peace prize for telling people they need to clean up after themselves, or the world will be a mess, every mom I know is hereby nominated!