Geek Alert

You have been warned.
This book is a late addition to my Christmas wish list (along with the time and solitude to read it!)

I have been over the moon about the textbook Explore Evolution, by Stephen C. Meyer, et al. (All the poor homeschooling moms in my hui have had to listen to me go on and on about that book.) It is an excellent biology supplement that takes each issue in the arguments for neo-Darwinism point by point. It presents both sides of the arguments plainly and without bias. The glorious problem in that, though, is that the only reasonable conclusion to be drawn is that there is an intelligence of some sort behind the beginnings of life on earth. By making the argument about the facts and not beliefs, Meyer et al succeed in providing the one critical flaw in Darwinian theory. A flaw that Darwin himself pointed out in his well known On The Origin of Species:

"If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely breakdown. But I can find no such case,"

The text is beautiful and well organized. There are also a DVD and different powerpoint presentations geared to middle, high school, and college students. It is precisely the type of book a Christian needs to truly teach their students the controversy that surrounds our origins. This controversy must be taught to our children if we expect to have them prepared for life.

One of the most debilitating problems in Christianity today, in my humble opinion, is that Christians have all but left science. True, many who are Christian and scientists have been bullied out. However, the Christian response has been shameful...even sinful, if you ask me. Post Enlightenment Christians have taken the bullying and left the secularists and atheists to answer one of the most important questions of humanity: where did I come from? It is this compartmentalization of our lives that has contributed to sappy Christian music, bad curriculum, and an almost total lack of science curricula for those of faith.

Before I became a Christian, I was turned off--even nauseated--by so much of the feel good mindlessness that I thought was Evangelical Christianity. It seemed the prerequisite for faith was an absence of thought. What a blessing to stumble into a branch of Christianity that is rich in study--producing and intellectual faith. However, on the issues of Darwin's theories, there was still a deafening silence. What a refreshing blast of (good) music to read Explore Evolution! What could be more worshipful than hard evidence of a Creator?

Ok, I should end my rant here. As my poor children can testify, I can really go on FOREVER about this. Please do at least check out the websites linked in this post. And remember to pray for my kids, because next week we delve deep into DNA, molecular machines of incredible complexity, and some really great experiments. I can't wait!!

So Many Thoughts...

...so few of them publishable. ;-)

What a dreadful year it has been! It really began when Teen-A-Thon (She's 20 now, so I'll have to rethink that moniker) and I took a trip to Pennsylvania. We were trying to secure a shot at life for the oh-so-adorable boy she had placed for adoption. The wheels of "justice" had to move slowly so the DNA contributor was afforded every possible opportunity to exhaust many public and private resources. You know, he had rights.

We flew home without success. The loser had phoned in to the court, and the judge (wisely so, but still!) wanted to afford him every opportunity that the law provides to be heard. T-A-T (I'm tired, work with me, here) and I were deflated. We knew it could go either way, but somehow we were both optimistic. While in the air, the results of the 2008 presidential election came in. When our plane landed, I had received a text from Dad-A-Thon. It read "Welcome to ObamaLand." We were just exiting the gate area into the warm open air of Oahu and I shouted, "SH*T." T-A-T didn't say a word. She knew what it meant. We were defeated times two.

And thus, the year has gone. Bad timing, negative complications, and many other things from which we previously enjoyed a respite. It would appear they had only been on pause, waiting to pounce. And pounce, they have indeed.

That's actually nothing. What is really bad, and seriously depressing, is that cancer is the theme of 2009. More of my peeps than I would have ever imagined have been diagnosed with cancer this year. And frankly, I'm pissed. It's not as if my friend with breast cancer who is, by the way, widowed due to her husband's BRAIN CANCER, is the only one. No, there is Kimmi Dee with whom I grew up. And Peg, whose breast cancer was discovered at her 40 year old mammogram. There is Jane who taught at our church's school. And Kim who is our Pastor's secretary. Yes, and Chris, together with whom we homeschool and have reared our kids for the past 9 years... Seriously. It's gotten out of hand.

The economy is in the dumpster. Which affects business. Which affects Dad-A-Thon. Who affects me. Who affects the Kids-A-Thon (bless their hearts).

I'll be happy to see 2009 go. And praying that 2010 has a decent upswing...

Decor

I figured I'd better skip the whole fall theme and head straight to Christmas. Odds are I won't be getting to this blog much more than I have been...

What's in a Name?

One of the challenges of being a stay at HOME mom, or a HOUSE wife and HOMEschooler, is that when it's time to relax, I want to be anywhere but HOME! My husband, who is rarely here for more than a few hours at a time, loves us to stay home when he can. I really hate that that is such a conflict...

Long Lost Blogging

I confess that I have been lured away from blogging to the much more convenient worlds of Facebook and Twitter. They provide a much quicker (and shorter, less intimate, etc.) outlet for my selfish need to blurt, share thoughts, or just hear from other folks.

I kind of like all the neat compartments my life can have with these different areas of "interaction." Sometimes it is awkward though, as I restrain myself from saying what I really think (or maybe change the way I would say it) because I know who will likely be reading it. That is both a good and a bad thing.

It's interesting though, to find other people's thoughts and feelings (or just ways of wasting time) posted in a virtually public arena. It's as if we are all crying out for interaction--but only on our own terms. Too busy to have a real get together, we do the much more convenient thing and make a post to one of the many sites. (I have thought of inventing a way to combine them all into one and call it "MyTwitFace." I wish I could claim that as my own name, but it was PalmtreePundit's.) These sites allow us to feel connected, though we really are not.

Interesting, don't you think?

My Baby is a Teenager

She had a great day. And I marveled at the idea that she is becoming a woman before my very eyes...

Why We Love Earth Day

Fourteen years ago today Boy-A-Thon was born. We were young and scared, but very much in love with that little guy. This is a picture of him at Bishop Museum on a "dinosaur dig."

It is all too appropriate that he was born on Earth Day. He loves animals and is mindful about caring for the planet God has given us. Now he is taller than me by nearly 3 inches, helps me around the house and is quite the budding drummer.

Happy Birthday, Boy-A-Thon! We love you dearly and are so proud of you.

I Think I'm Gonna Hurl (yes, this is the second time I've used that headline)

“It’s a unique time in Washington and this photo helps capture all of the reasons why,” Graff said. “It’s not a normal way to look at a president of the United States but this is not a normal president.”

I couldn't agree more with that statement,though most assuredly, the person making it and I couldn't have more different meanings.

If this is the new normal, I am confident the hurling will continue. This is an article on a NEWS website and is written about the news coverage of The One's abs and pecs, the first dog, and the sleevelessness of FLOTUS' dresses.
SERIOUSLY. The only thing more asinine than reporting on those frivolous topics is reporting about that reporting!! And calling this reporting is being kind here, by the way. At least make it an opinion piece, and make some kind of statement.
If this is what we have in Washington to "keep 'em honest" we're all in deep kim chee.

The Change I Was Afraid Of

I learned of Barack Obama's election as president after my plane landed and I turned on my phone. I had one text message. It read: Welcome to Obamaland. My response was a one word expletive. I didn't yell it, it just kind of rolled out like a cup of poison would fall from the hand of the one who just drank it and died. That is dramatic, but that is how I felt. On some level, right then and there, I knew we were in for some bad turns.

Our nation has joined a cult. And like any cult, you don't find out what it is you are in, until you are in. No one really knew who Barack Obama was or what he stood for. Though he was a senator, his record was blank (voting "present" will do that). We knew he was pro-abortion and wanted to "spread the wealth around", but we really didn't know much more than that. Now that we're in, we are learning just what it is we have (been) signed onto. And again, like a cult, any disagreement is quickly beaten down. Those who adore the leader take care of that task for him, without having to be asked to do so.

The TEA parties held thoughout the nation this past April 15 are the first, I fear, in what will be a long and progressively uglier scrap over the next four years. The MSM's utter digust of the people's right to gather and protest the Beloved Leader was truly disheartening to me as an American. The irony of community organizer types to loathe the very idea that people would gather in protest is stunning. From the verbal battering by CNN's Susan Roesgen to the truly back alley gutter language used openly by Anderson Cooper of CNN and David Schuster of MSNBC, we have crossed over to a new place of language use. Read this article from Greg Hengler at Townhall.com. The author makes important points about the type of language used in civil discourse and debate. It is also important for you to see with your own eyes and hear with your own ears what was allowed on air by CNN and MSNBC. I had no idea what either reporter was talking about, but have now been "re-educated" by those two informative news outlets.

Hey! Hey! Oy Oy Vey!

Our Omniubus I group will be having a Seder next week. I have wanted to do a Seder for years, and finally will get to do it. A sweet neighbor of mine who is Jewish loaned me a bunch of her stuff, so it's a go.
While hunting around on the internet for recipes and such, I came across this. I loved it and hope you will too :-)

TOTUS

If you haven't yet checked this out, you must. It's at least a little levity. I tell ya, it's getting downright gloomy to think of four whole years of this.

The Ends Justify The Means (Or How our President Needs a Vocab. and History Refresher)

The President has reversed the prior administration's ruling on federally funded embryonic stem cell research. This has many people thinking we can finally have the research we need on embryonic stem cells. Interestingly, though, private funding--those who choose to have their money used for this purpose--was never affected by the Bush Administration's ban. Only those labs seeking taxpayer money were limited. Anyone who felt so strongly about this issue that they were willing to put up their own money, was always able to do so. The issue here was and is taxpayer money--yours and mine. So now, those who believe the ends justify the means have gotten their way, and we all get to pick up the tab.

On to the vocab section...
The President said:

"Medical miracles do not happen simply by accident. They result from painstaking and costly research from years of lonely trial and error, much of which never bears fruit and from a government willing to support that work," Mr. Obama said as he signed an executive order and a memorandum overturning Mr. Bush's 2001 policy.

Point of order, Mr. President. A "miracle" is not something that is painstakenly ground out through man's sweat and government funding. A "miracle" is

mir-a-cle   /mir-ə-kəl/ [mir-uh-kuhl]
–noun 1. an effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause.
2. such an effect or event manifesting or considered as a work of God.
3. a wonder; marvel.

As such, then, it is not possible to use the word "miracle" and have it be an accurate description of the events Mr. Obama sees on the horizon of stem cell research. Now, I don't want to be a Keith Olberman, here, but words mean things. And words from presidents mean a lot.

Time for history. (And a shout out to the importance of worldview.)
Values and beliefs determined by the culture create people like OJ Simpson. He has surrounded himself with his own culture and everyone in it believes he is innocent. -Ish. The problem in that example is obvious--the guy is guilty and has delude himself and his hangers-on that he is not. The same thing happens in any belief system that is not rooted in timeless truth. Everyone agrees about what is right, wrong, good and bad. The only problem is, it doesn't have anything to do with what is actually right/wrong/good/bad. It is based on the majority opinion.
"Majority rules", seems downright American. And it is. But think about what that has meant for our nation. Slavery. Women not able to vote, or be landowners. A husband's right to hit his wife. School segregation. These were all held as majority opinions. It was the minority who based their arguments on fundamental rights given by their creator, who caused the majority opinion to change.

And though majority opinions do change, the actual rightness or wrongness of something does not. When we have a sitting president who bases his decisions on the popular attitude of the times, we are making huge strides backward as a nation. Not very progressive, is it?

Of course, I have to end this post with the verse that begs to be shared:

Ephesians 4
13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 14Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.

Breakfast of Champions

I've been down with the flu all weekend. Boy-A-Thon has two physics experiments--one of which needed to be completed by this morning. Since Dad-A-Thon is extra busy building the dream this meant Boy-A-Thon would not have adult supervision to do his experiment. His online teacher stressed the that the students were, under no circumstances whatsoever, to perform experiments without an adult present. Boy-A-Thon (bless his heart) is a rule follower. This made for an interesting start to our day. Because my counter is black, it's hard to see, but we started our day with fruit, cereal, a stopwatch, 5 washers, string, a pen casing, ruler and some note paper.

None of us really wants this to be Monday, and I am modeling procrastination right this very minute as I blog before I start Girl-A-Thon's math...

Funnier if it Wasn't True

"It is right for us to rescind this policy and restore critical efforts to protect and empower women and promote global economic development."

Does anyone else see the problem with the worldview that allows someone to make that statement?

That statement finally shows the real issue behind the frame of mind that justifies aborttion. Abortion has so little to do with women's rights, and so much to do with economics. In fact the president's perspective is so very American. An inconvenient life is rightfully destroyed, when it is economically challenging to support it.

New Toy and a Countdown

We are fortunate enough to be going skiing again this year. (Thus the Deer Valley ski report to the right.) Last year it was just Dad-A-thon and the kids, while I satyed home with a very pregnant Teen-A-Thon. What a year it has been!

Because of the craziness of this past year, I am especially looking forward to a vacation with the four of us. I've missed how much fun it is to just hang together. I know--homeschooling gives us time together, but that's work. This will be all play. And I think I'm even a bit more excited than the kids are about it!

And It Begins with an O(bama)

Wow. Am I the only person who's more than a little bit concerned at the expediency with which Obama is shutting down these prisons? The guy has basically had two months to review and digest the masses of intelligence that have been collected since 9/11. And with that level of expertise he's willing to shut everything down that has kept us safe for nearly 8 years? That's kind of scary, no?

You gotta love the naivete of this:

The official said "there are serious concerns as to where the detainees will be held" and that sending them "into the U.S. federal court system may lead to some of them being released" because the military commissions have different guidelines regarding evidence.

White House officials declined to comment on the status of the orders.

I'll bet they declined to comment.

So. Just to recap: our new president has already stopped military prosecution of enemy combatants, is now set to close the military prisons, and is seeking to prosecute these terrorists in our federal court system. Just for you slow kids in the back, that will extend to these people the same rights as a U.S. citizen. (Yes, meaning they will have court-appointed (read: paid for by you and me) attorneys, and they will have the right to sue to federal government under any of the plethora of "you made me feel bad" laws.

Dennis Prager nailed Obama's worldview today when he said that his thoughts on our enemies are child-like. Below, Prager quotes from the inaugural speech and then points out the dangers of having a child's mind in the oval office:

“Our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.” Only the very, very naive could say something so wrong. It is hard to identify a time in history when any people’s security emanated from the justness of their cause. That is a fairy tale. Did the justness of the Jews’ cause give the Jews security in Hitler’s Europe? Or the Ukrainians or Armenians or Cambodians or anyone else? Powerful armies give decent peoples their security, not the justness of their cause. If President Obama believes that in this world good people are secure thanks to the goodness of their cause, America is in trouble.

Lamenting a Childhood Dream

When I was in high school, I decided I wanted to have six children. In fact, I talked about it like it was a given--just part of my grand plan. (A friend in college nicknamed me "Six" because I held tightly to that plan.) I had met this brother and sister and they came from this wonderfully warm family with 14 kids. They actually ate in shifts. But they ate at the dinner table every meal. Somehow, they all had these strong individual relationships with their mom and with their dad. (To this day, I am trying to figure out how that was accomplished!)

Well, obviously the nickname I should have had was "Two". My plan had to give way to God's plan on that and so many other things over which I foolishly believed I could control as an adult.

I bring this up, because I've recently re-connected with the girl from my hometown and she has seven beautiful children. As I perused the pictures on her Facebook page, it actually stung a little bit to see the huge gatherings of family. As she said--it's always a party. And when her family of origin gets together with all of their kids, it's quite a wide angle lens moment. (Each of the 14 have had large families, too.)

It is really something to be around a healthy, strong family. I craved that for myself when I was a teenager. And I thought that the key was in the numbers. In my lingering foolishness, I do wonder what a gaggle full of Kid-A-Thons would be like. And then realistically, I know that it's an issue of quality not quantity. And for me, having to figure this all out as I go, two have really got me maxed out.
I guess God does know what he's doing after all ;-)

Sweet Sarcasm

This is why I love Ann Coulter

Stop What You are Doing

And go read this.
(Hat Tip: Palmtreepundit)

Tacky Tacky Tacky

I wish Gigi* was here. She'd have the perfect disapproving glare for our president-elect. She was always a stickler for appropriateness. Clearly some of that has rubbed off on me, as I literally physically cringed when I read this article.

Here's the gist: GW had the five living presidents over for lunch. It was a nice gesture and his last hurrah as host in the White House. (Yes, he is still president, and it is still his home.) It was a nice photo op, GW made a pleasant statement, and there were no questions taken from the press. Apparently "The Office Of The President Elect" does not have an etiquette staffer because after the President of the United States ended the time with the press, Barack Hussein Obama just couldn't help himself and had to illustrate his winning rhetorical skills. (Yes, that is sarcasm you smell cooking. Mmmm, yummy.)

George W. wrapped it up with:

"Thank you all." Done, finished, over and out.

Junior White House staffers immediately bellowed "Thank you! Thanks, guys!" in an aggressive call for the press to vamoose. The giant "scoop" television lights that illuminated the members of the world's most exclusive club were quickly shut off as reporters and photographers began heading for the door.

But just then, the man who takes over the house on Jan. 20 on a long-term lease -- four years, with an option to renew for four more -- decided that the show wasn't quite over.

With a wave of his right hand, he froze the press corps in place. Still in the dark, and with Mr. Bush fidgeting next to him, Mr. Obama stammered at first, taking the floor in a room that, for eight years, has fallen silent after the president has spoken and his staffers have called out, "Thank you!"

"The, uh, uh, I, I, I, I, uh, I just want to thank the president for, uh -- I just want to thank the president for hosting us," he said, gesturing to Mr. Bush, whose fixed-on smile looked a bit like a grimace as the lights were turned back on. "This is an extraordinary gathering. All the gentlemen here understand both the pressures and possibilities of this office. And for me to have the opportunity to get advice, good counsel and fellowship with these individuals is extraordinary. And I'm very grateful to all of them. But again thank you, Mr. President, for hosting us."

Now I realize that I am being at least a little bit harsh on a newbie, but he is about to be the most important leader on the planet. And he is representing our entire nation. I'd like to think that someone could clue him in on when to just be quiet.(And no, the irony is not lost on me making that statement ;-)
(FULL DISCLOSURE: I am already thinking "tacky-tacky" because my friend was at the gym when the Obamas were working out during Christmastime. Mrs. Obama was dressed in a jog bra and biking shorts. That is specifically forbidden attire for the military base. And frankly, that is not appropriate public attire for the First Lady of the United States. Even in Hawaii.)

*Gigi was my grandmother.

Waaaah. (Big Spoiled Baby Alert)

Remember how thrilled I was with my excellent customer service from Williams-Sonoma? Well...I spoke too soon. As I was puttng away Christmas decor, I realized I still had not received my replacement plates. So I called, and guess what? They're out of stock. (No kidding. I actually knew that, but was assured that my replacements were on their way and would even arrive before Christmas.) When Christmas came and went without the plates having arrived, I wasn't too worried--figuring they wouldn't be priority shipped during the holiday season.

So my consolation prize is a refund. And I can hope that they will have the plates again next year, as I now only have 11. (Here I thought I was so smart ordering a couple of spares in case I broke them. Now I don't even have 12.) eBay here I come!
UPDATE: eBay has none :-(