Wordless Wednesday::Happy Birthday Ollie!

Kid Quotes::3 1/2 yr old

Wesley has been cracking us up lately, but I keep forgetting what she says by the time I try to tell someone about it. I used to write things in her "baby book" but that was when she had just started talking, now that she never stops talking, I see no possible way.

But here are a few moments I can remember, and  I will blog about for posterity sake.

1.
(General annoying whining sounds from another room)
Matt: "Wesley, what's wrong...use words"
Wesley: "I can't get my underwear onnnnnn!!"
Matt (goes to Wee): "Oh, they're just crooked"
Wesley: "But I can't even cook!"


2.
(After applying my new Anti-aging lotion and foundation)
Wesley: "What's your face about?"
Me: "What do you mean?"
Wesley: "Why do you look like that?"
Me: "Like what?"
Wesley: "Muno"

3.
(Listening to All Sons and Daughters in the car)
Wesley (singing) "You make it beautifullllllll"
Me (Just checking): "Who does?"
Wesley: "Jesus"
Me: "Yep"
Wesley: "But we are singing about God"
Me: "Yep"
Wesley: "Then who's Jesus"
Me: "God"
Wesley: "What?!?!"
Me "Yep"

Wordless Wednesday:: Then and Now

Under a Big Blue Sky

As native Memphians, Matt and I know, when the weather is good-- you get outside. You never know how many chances you'll have to enjoy 70+ degree, less than 50% humidity days before the 90+ and 100% ones set in. See in Memphis, we have two seasons- Winterish and Summer with quick glimpses of normal temps in October/November and March/April. But this year has been amazing, we never really had a Winter and Spring really started in February.

**That makes all of us a little nervous about what the summer has in store for us, so we are soaking in the gorgeous weather we are getting right now!

I even had class outside this week!

And everyday just seems to be more beautiful, so...... my house is a wreck, my clothes are not folded or hung up, and if "they" stop by I will be thoroughly embarrassed...but dammit we had to PLAY this weekend.

We really started our fun on Thursday afternoon. We are members of our #1 Zoo in the country, and we happen to live across the street from it. So Wesley and I have a new habit of stopping by on our way home to check out the animals when no one else is really there. 

We started with the brand new dinosaur exhibit. Wesley was scared last time, but she loved it this time, when she had plenty of space to see.

Cat Country was super busy this afternoon, all the big cats were out and right up close!

This jaguar was in a feisty mood, this is her growling at us, seconds later she leapt from that perch to the one behind her in a single bound.

Friday was another gorgeous day, and I have been in a funk lately so I knew that meant I wasn't exercising enough. I searched for a 5k when I got home from school and found Opening Eyes to Autism downtown. The course would take us right by the river at sunset, it was going to be great and a beautiful cause! So I called Matt, he was all for it, we loaded up the jogging stroller and headed downtown. I ran with Wes because I'm not a fast runner anyway, I'm never in it for the "time" I just like running and being outside. Matt on the other hand has been training like a mad man because of his 1/2 marathon back in March.

He had a fantastic run. He finished in 26:37! That is a 8 min mile pace! I was so proud, especially since I just threw it at him like 30 mins before it started. He came in 66th place overall out of over 600. I on the other hand finished 38:35, 12ish min pace, 316th place....oh well we had fun being outside and watching the river roll by. No pics, sorry we were busy.

Saturday morning we got up and immediately needed to be outside, again. So we loaded up our bikes and headed to the Memphis Greenline. I wish I could say that was easy, but we are just now getting into the biking thing and we are not good at it yet. First our bikes have been in our basement for 2 years, so last weekend when the biking urge hit us, we had to drag them to the bike shop and get them working. AND we had to figure out how Wesley could ride with us, so we invested a bike trailer. This weekend we had the bikes and the trailer, but no bike rack, so we spent about 45 mins just trying to get 2 adult bikes, a trailer and three people in our SUV. We quickly realized we had to get a car hitch so we drove straight to the sports store and grabbed one, and while we were there I needed a helmet, Matt needed a bike seat cover, and Wes wanted a bicycle bell and basket (she did not get them b/c she doesn't ride the bike she has now, so I'm holding them over her head as an incentive). 

Finally, we hit the Greenline on our bikes and immediately stopped to eat lunch! Luckily it was on the trail and it was amazing. I highly recommend Cheffies!!!

**Note the PB&J smears on either side of her mouth, someone was way to hungry to take lady like bites!

When our bellies were full we finally set out for our bike ride that we had intended to take 4 hours earlier. And man it was worth the wait. The Greenline is awesome. Seriously, if you are in Memphis check it out. You can even rent bikes. About halfway through we found this great mural, and of course I had to get pictures.

And now it's Sunday. The day the Lord hath made. And again we rejoice! We hit up the church house and then you guessed it, headed outside. This time with our church family. I didn't take many pictures, as I am trying to be better of living in the moment. But here is a sweet one of the precious friends enjoying being outside together.

I hope you all had a wonderful week(end) and I hope this next one is just as great, no matter what the weather brings. Put down the chore list and soak up the world!

Easter overload

I want you to study that adorable face. Isn't she precious? Just an angel.

Check this one

Easter dress petticoat, remember those?!?!

And this, I mean she is holding baby ducks for goodness sakes. Sweetest. Thing. Ever.



What I don't have is photo documentation of what happens every night at about 8pm, now that we have been ingesting Easter candy like water for 5 days straight. Man, it sure is easy to judge crappy parenting, before you're a parent. Keeping excess sugar out of a crafty 3 yr olds belly is so much easier said than done. Especially around holidays when everyone (including you) keeps giving it to her in adorable pink packages.

So here's to the Easter egg hunt, the Easter basket and the power of time outs.

Science vs Religion

**This is a combo summary of two weeks "Science has proven the Bible is a myth" (3/25) and "How can we know that God exists?"  (4/1) click here for sermon podcasts

The biggest point I want to make with this post is the title. It is science vs religion, not Christians vs Scientist and not Jesus against scientific proof and theory.

"One of the great tragedies of our time is this impression that has been created that science and religion have to be at war"

-Francis Collins

Let me give you my definition of religion- the laws and rules set by (wo)men trying to understand Jesus and the bible. So, fallible. Maybe not all ill willed, but up for debate.

That may be a broad definition, sorry.

When people try to pit religion and science against one another they are trying to get you to pick a side. But what if you don't want to. What if you believe, as I do, that our God created a beautiful world with complexities and miracles, with evolution (gasp) and dinosaurs, with quarks and forces, with unknowns. Can we need believe in science and Jesus?

"I see God's hand at work through the mechanism of evolution. If God chose to create human beings in his image and decided that the mechanism of evolution was an elegant way to accomplish that goal, who are we to say that is not the way."

-Francis Collins,  Human Genome Project

In this sermon, our pastor showed us how many of the stories in the old testament were paired with poems or songs. We read Genesis 1:1 and noticed how it is laid out with a very obvious refrain. "On the ____ day he.... and saw that it was good" And then how the following passages seem to describe creation in more detail without the refrains. Could it be the earth was not created in 6 literal days (gasp, unfriend, gasp some more).

Another thought that I love, because I love science and I love God, scientists have proven we are fearfully and wonderfully made. They have PROVEN it! Again from Francis Collins (sorry, he rocks):

"When you look from the perspective of a scientist at the universe, it looks as if it knew we were coming. There are 15 constants, gravitational, strong and weak forces etc, that have precise values. If any one of those was off by even one part in a million or in some cases by one million million, the universe could not have actually come  to the point were we see it. Matter would not have been able to coalesce, there would have been no galaxy, stars, planets or people."

WE ARE NOT AN ACCIDENT!!!! Evolution or quantum physics or whatever is not a meaningless chain of events.

Science proves God created this world for us. That comforts me. And this also leads me to worship. I think all this scientific proof leads to the unknown and spiritual as well. It's a cycle for me. I believe God created the heavens and the Earth---->Science can show me the amazing, unfathomable things he created, but it can't show me why------>I believe God created.....and so on and so forth. So, as much as I love the science, it cannot take away my faith, quite the contrary, it strengthens it. And I don't think everyone should feel like it is asking you to. I know there are people on both sides. I know there are scientists who want to prove there is no God. And I know there are faithful followers who are terrified science will take your God away.

Everyone breathe.

Dig deep in the scriptures, understand the context, understand the language of the day. This is something that drives me to a church family as well. Having a faith family that is open to discussion is helpful. And having pastor that you trust is studying the Greek and Hebrew, Old and New testament times etc. I didn't know the Old Testament paired stories with songs, but I didn't go to Bible college! (your mom goes to college...sorry I digress) 

I'm not saying you take what someone preaches from the pulpit as absolute truth all the time, I'm saying you should be in a church where you trust what the pastor is saying, or you feel comfortable debating him/her on. They should be backing it up with the Word. 

If you are intrigued, or disgusted, or angry let someone else who is WAY more informed help you out. Check out biologos.org here is their bag: (If you are skimming, as I do when I read blogs, I highlighted my favorite for the purpose of this argument)

What We Believe (Biologos)

• We believe that God created the universe, the earth, and all life over billions of years. God continues to providentially sustain the natural world, and the cosmos continues to declare the glory of God.


• We believe that all people have sinned against God and are in need of salvation.


• We believe in the historical incarnation of Jesus Christ as fully God and fully man. We believe in the historical death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, by which we are saved and reconciled to God.


• We believe that God continues to be directly involved in human history in acts of salvation, personal transformation, and answers to prayer.


• We believe the Bible is the inspired and authoritative word of God. By the Holy Spirit it is the “living and active” means though which God speaks to the church today, bearing witness to God’s Son, Jesus, as the divine Logos, or Word of God.


• We believe that God also reveals himself in and through the natural world he created, which displays his glory, eternal power, and divine nature. Properly interpreted, scripture and nature are complementary and faithful witnesses to their common Author.


• We believe that the methods of science are an important and reliable means to investigate and describe the world God has made. In this, we stand with a long tradition of Christians for whom Christian faith and science are mutually hospitable.


• We believe that the diversity and interrelation of all life on earth are best explained by the God-ordained process of evolution and common descent. Thus, evolution is not in opposition to God, but a means by which God providentially achieves his purposes.


• We believe that God created humans in biological continuity with all life on earth, but also as spiritual beings. God established a unique relationship with humanity by endowing us with his image and calling us to an elevated position within the created order.


• We believe that conversations among Christians about controversial issues of science and faith can and must be conducted with humility, grace, honesty, and compassion as a visible sign of the Spirit’s presence in Christ’s body, the Church.


• We reject ideologies such as Deism that claim the universe is self-sustaining, that God is no longer active in the natural world, or that God is not active in human history.


• We reject ideologies such as Darwinism and Evolutionism that claim that evolution is a purposeless process or that evolution replaces God.


• We reject ideologies such as Materialism and Scientism that claim science is the sole source of knowledge and truth, that science has debunked God and religion, or that the physical world constitutes the whole of reality.

There is a ton more on the website, and a forum for discussions. 

Here are my two cents, God cannot be proven or disproven through the scientific method. But that doesn't mean he did not create a world and universe for us to discover and study. ( Hope we can still be friends)

Spring Day::Wordless Wednesday

Why can't you believe?

This is a follow up to an earlier post Why I can't believe? that I wrote at the beginning of the Lenten season. So now we are at the end--Holy Week.  It is a time to celebrate that Jesus died for us and rose from the dead three days later. This is the miracle. This is the story. He died. He was dead. And he is now alive, fully alive.  But I am skipping ahead.

First I want to quickly recap the arguments against believing, that our church went through in preparation to hear the Good news that is the most difficult to believe (Resurrection). This is not to preach at you, my 6 readers, including my mom....this is for me.


**Sorry to be so self -centered, but this is my blog, it is my way of journaling and remembering my experiences. I include all parts of my life on here.


**True confession, I do hope if you DO have arguments against church, this does help, or at least gets a jumping off point for conversation.

Okay, disclaimers over, here we go. I'm just going to include the highlights that I took from the sermons. If you want more on the topic, I included a link to the podcasts from each sermon. And I am happy to have a healthy debate with anyone.


Week 1:: There cannot be only one true religion (click here for audio of sermon)

• All major religions are basically the same and lead to the same god. This is disingenuous because you are saying doctrine is not important, and yet it is a specific doctrine. This way of thinking seems humble and yet it is very arrogant. You want all religions to abandon their beliefs.
• We all see parts of one whole truth.  Who gets to say we only see part of the truth? Who has seen the whole truth? If you think all religions/demnominations have part of it right you are assuming you know what is all right. When you say all religions have part of it right....you are admitting yours is wrong.
• When others are mad at Christians for trying to "convert" they want to convert you to not convert (did you follow that one?) 

At least Christians are honest. We are called to share the gospel. When people use any of the above cop outs they are pushing their agenda as well, but doing it under the guise of trying  not to offend anyone.

Week 2:: Why would a good God allow suffering and injustice.  (click here for audio of sermon)


The points that struck me most this week were

•  If we believe that something is unjust or wrong, we are admitting we believe in justice and right which points to a benevolent being,
• God did not shield himself from suffering. He endured ultimate suffering and sacrifice through Jesus. Even Jesus asked why and looked for a way out. If he had spared himself pain, it would be harder to believe in him or to trust him.
• We see put a pixel of the screen God is watching. It doesn't make it better when you are hurting, which you have a right to do, but you must find your purpose and satisfaction in him.

Week 3::Racism and Homophobia in the Church  (click here for audio of sermon)


Ahhhhh, we have reached my sticking point. I cannot support a religion that calls us to love, when it has so much hate. This one is a great sermon to listen to, because I cannot express anything like our pastor, for one, nor can I remember all the amazing points he made. (PS a lot of his explanation came from Tim Keller's book "Reason for God" which I cannot wait to read, after I finish "Kings Cross" same author.)

But a few of things that hit me and made me go "YES EXACTLY!"

• You don't go to hell for being LGBT just like you don't go to heaven for being heterosexual.
• My sin is the same as your sin, if he can love me I can love you. 
• Using the bible to discriminate and judge doesn't fault the bible it faults you
• The "church" has hurt so many, we must be better Christians, deeper in the grace of the gospel to overcome that.

Okay this is getting kinda of heavy and dense so I'm going to break there. The next point is Science vs. Religion and it was my favorite so I'll give it it's own post.

Again, if any of this stirs you please email me or comment or something, let's talk. I am so new at opening up about "religion" I would love to hear from others. Or better yet come to church with me. We meet at 9, 11 and night church-IN A BAR, so you can grab a beer as you debate : )