Star Trek is...

Okay. Jose and I just watched the very last episode of Star Trek: Deep Space 9, and I cried.

I cried, people. THAT is how much I love Star Trek.

Cool evangelical (oh my!) magazine online

Check it. Geez Magazine. Linked to the simple way people that I talked about earlier.

2 things

1. Last night I saw a U-haul trailer driving down I-35 with a vacuum duct taped to the side of it. I guess the trailer was just too full for the vacuum to fit. I can just hear the conversation, "Oh no! The trailer's full and the vacuum is still not packed! What can we do! ...I know, hand me the duct tape!"

2. Jose came back from Sweden and brought these little gummy candies that the Swedes like so much. Some of them taste like salty licorice, which is something that those crazy Scandinavians love. I never thought that I would like it, but I have to say, it's growing on me. It's strangely additive...

And finally, here's a little something extra:

The Simple Way

Don't go to this website if you don't want to have your lifestyle challenged.

I went to church with Jada last week and the Sunday School teacher read from a book called The Irresistible Revolution (order it here or here). The author, Shane Claiborne, is a part of this group/organization/community called The Simple Way. His book and the way that these people live is causing me to really examine the way that I live. I want to live the gospel instead of just studying it. I want to impact the lives of the people living in poverty here in Austin. I want to help them and show them that they are loved. There are so many men and women on the street corners with next to nothing. How can I justify buying the things that I want without thinking of those who have nothing at all?

The quote that has been most on my mind from the book is a quote that the author says came from the mouth of Mother Teresa.

"We are called not to be successful but to be faithful."

I want to be faithful to God and live in a way that glorifies HIM.

Jesus says that the first shall be last and the last shall be first. What does that mean in my life?

Oh, you guys

Jose has been in Sweden visiting Manolo & Co. for the last two weeks. How have I spent my time you ask? Well, I have NOT spent it cleaning up after myself. That's for sure. My apartment was so messy. I had time today to pick up, wash dishes, wash clothes, etc. Life is so hard.

I am forming an ugly Myspace habit too. That site is like crack. I can't get off of it. I have looked up just about every name in my brain.

While I am thinking of it, I have a question. Do you people notice the crazy spam email titles? Besides the ones about finding people to have sex with and the ones that tell me I can have a bigger wee, the rest have the funniest names. Here is a short list:

snuck outdid
or seep it say
The go draftsman
seemingly derive
her chromatography he waylaid
it my prone
if also panel boy republic

Interesting...One time I saw this website where this guy would take these random subject lines and illustrate them. It was really funny, but I can't find it now. I personally like "her chromatography he waylaid" the best. I think we need to collect the funniest ones and when we have enough, we can write an entire play using only spam subject lines as the dialogue. Then we can put in on Youtube. Awesome idea!

And finally, not to be snuck outdid by my friends, it was icy and cold about a month ago and here are my pictures of it:

Ooh, la la la la la

I have succumbed to the incessant and overwhelming pull of the monster called MySpace. I have a myspace page. There. I did it. Enjoy it.

Olive! Shoes! Lovin'!

Jose! Yellin'! In the background!

Interesting investment made by Jose

Jose bought a whole bunch of movies the other day for $1.99 each. Some of the discs even have two movies for the price of one! Here are the names and some taglines:

Kill, Baby...Kill!
Creature-"Death is no escape from an alien nightmare!" [wise words...]
Warriors of the Wasteland-"Can mankind survive without humanity?"
Alien Contamination-"A new plague on Earth will come from the stars!"
Slave of the Cannibal God-"A bloodthirsty cult that hunts for the taste of human flesh!"
Devil Girl from Mars-"Mankind's greatest threat is a single woman!" [Condoleezza?]
Bronx Executioner-"The fate of the city belongs to one man..."
First Spaceship on Venus
The Killer Shrews [my favorite so far]

I actually watched some of Bronx Executioner and I have to say it is really, really bad. Jose just sits there watching all the bad parts over and over again and laughing.

Embarassing moments...brought to you by a 12 year old

Last night we went to the airport to pick up Tori. As we were standing at the baggage claim waiting for her suitcases, a beige colored bag was coming down the chute and Tori said, "That's an old lady's bag."

So, I was under the impression that she actually saw an old lady with the bag so I asked, "Really? How do you know" Did you actually see an old lady with that bag?" She said, "No it just looks like an old lady's bag."

As these words were coming out of her mouth, an older man reached out and picked the bag up off of the carousel, looked over at Tori and said, "it's NOT an old lady's bag!" He was smiling and laughing, but Tori was so embarrassed! She turned bright red. It was funny.

Manolo, Jose's Cousin...has come!

Manolo:

Manolo's ugly twin:

Happy New Year.

For New Year's we went to my mom's house. She lives in a little town called Munday, Texas. There's not a whole lot of things to do there. You wouldn't know it from all the pictures we took.

We went to Knox City, which is about 10 miles West of Munday:

Memories! From the corners of my mind...! My grandma lives here and I basically grew up going to Knox City and doing country bumpkin stuff.

We went to this store in Knox City (it's called Pepper's, if you ever want to go there):

Where you can buy stuff like this:

We also rode a Ryno. It's like a souped up golf cart. And camo!

We went all over the cotton fields behind my mom's house. It was so fun, especially going over bumps.

Jose told me to take a bunch of pictures of him on it (this isn't even all of them):

How many pictures did he take of me, you ask? Well, I'll tell you.

Two:

The flatness:

These are cotton modules:

See our tracks?

Amber rode it too:

And we saw some pigs:

Since we didn't go for Christmas, we opened Christmas presents:

Amber in the jungle:

On New Year's Eve, we played an eternal game of dominoes and ate grapes (a Spanish tradition). Jose said "boobie storm" (ask me about it). There are no pictures from that momentous occasion.

On the 2nd of January, 2007, my mom was sworn in as Treasurer of Benjamin County. Congratulations Mom! In the afternoon, we went to Witchita Falls. On the way, there is a camel ranch. That day, three of them were out by the road. So we walked up to the fence and, lo and behold, one of them decided to come closer and check us out. Unfortunately, we forgot the camera so we didn't get to take any pictures (I got this picture off of Flickr). The camel that came up to see us was white. It let us pet its nose, but it tried to bite me twice, too. It was so cool!

On our last night there, we ate ice cream at Dairy Queen:

AWESOME.

The Comeback

Soooooo, has everybody gotten a good look at Sabrina????? I hope so, because the next time I feature a missing child on my blog, I expect results. Results, people! Find those missing children!

Also, in case any of you were wondering, Sabrina is my friend's daughter. That's why I left her up for so long. Not because I was neglecting my website. No.

Movingon.org, in honor of the new movie Rocky VI, I, too, am making a comeback (Tim, is that enough commas? Because, I, too, can add some more). This post is getting a little random, so I'm going to come into focus here and write a few related statements.


Jose and I are staying in town for Christmas this year. Basically, because he has to work and I don't have any vacation left anyway. So I plan on gathering up everybody else that I know that is staying here for Christmas weekend and have a nice cozy get-together at my cozy apartment. We can play Parcheesi and microwave chestnuts! Yay! Yellow army! (Martin, that hyperlink is for you)


Another thing that I want tell you about is the athlete's foot that I got last week. My friend gave it to me for Christmas. Oh, it's not what you think. I don't have crusty, yellow, stinky toes. I got an athlete's foot fungus magnified one million times its actual size and made into a plush doll, as modeled here by Olive.

She loves her athlete's foot. Can't you see it in her face? Isn't it cute? My friend, Jessica, gave it to me. She gave other people various and sundry diseases as well. I felt special.


Now, I'm going to tell you something that may make you uncomfortable. Every time I mention the subject to people they act strange and start either laughing or looking around nervously or both. It may sound sad, that's because it is sad, but I want you to know before I write it that I'm okay.

Here it is: last Wednesday was the 1 year anniversary of my brother, Dennis's, death. Most of my friends know that he died and most know how he died, and I don't want to write about it now because it's long and depressing. Maybe someday I'll tell the story, but for now, I just want to honor him by saying that he is greatly missed by his family and we wish he were here with us for Christmas 2006. I know that he is in heaven with Jesus and that God has given him a good, long lecture and now he's chillaxin' with Adam, Eve, Mammy and Pappy and Johnny Cash and co. I still wish he were here though. Here is a photo of him just 2 days before he died:

Amazing isn't it? He was alive and just two days later he was not. I can still hardly believe it.

Esta niña se llama Sabrina Allen-This girl is named Sabrina Allen

Hoy quiero destacar la historia de una niña que se llama Sabrina Allen. Su madre la sequestró en el año 2002. Se cree que están en México. La siguiente foto es una aproximación a cómo parece hoy en día al lado de una foto de como era antes del sequestro.

Today I want to highlight a story about a little girl named Sabrina. She was abducted by her non-custodial mother on April 21, 2002. They have been spotted in Mexico. The following picture is an "artist's rendition" of what she may look like now along with a picture of her before she was abducted.

This is Dara. She is the abductor.

Esta mujer es Dara. Ella es la sequestradora.

La historia es tan trágica como es verdadera. La madre ha sido diagnosticada con problemas mentales. Ésta es una de las razones por qué el padre tenga custodia. Dara llevó a Sabrina muy lejos de su familia y sólo Dios sabe lo que Sabrina ha experimentado durante los últimos 4 años. Han estado corriendo y escondiendose todo este tiempo y su padre ni sabe si Sabrina está asistiendo la escuela.

The story is as tragic as it is true. The mother has been diagnosed with mental problems. This is one of the reasons that the father has custody of Sabrina. Dara has taken Sabrina far away from her family and only God knows what Sabrina has gone through in the last 4 years. They have been on the run all of this time and they aren't even sure if Sabrina has been in school.

La foto de Sabrina arriba fue sacada cuando las encontraron en México D. F. en 2003. La madre le había cortado y teñido el pelo de Sabrina. Estaba registrada con un nombre falso. Se evitó captura y no han podido llegar tan cerca otra vez.

The above photo is was taken when the FBI found them in Mexico City in 2003. The mother had cut and dyed Sabrina's hair. She was registered by a false name. Theye escaped capture and the authorities haven't been able to get as close again.

Aquí está su página web.

Por favor, ve a esta página. Tiene muchísima más información.

Here is her website. Please, go visit this website. It contains much more information.

Please, if you have seen either Dara or Sabrina, contact the investigators at: Investigator Philip Klein: 409-729-8798 x10

or email: info@FindSabrina.org

Por favor, si has visto a Dara o a Sabrina, contacta con los investiagdores: Investigator Philip Klein: 409-729-8798 x10

o manda un email a: info@FindSabrina.org

Anti-Christian Propaganda

I found this article about a photography project today and I was intrigued and angered by it at the same time. It totally skews Christianity into something that only ignorant people believe. The author intentionally mixes facts with his own negative opinion to make Christians sound stupid. I know, why read it? Well, I think that it shows what people will brainwash themselves into believing in order to ignore God's truth.

Something positive does shine through about how God loves everyone and desires for us to know Him, despite our differences, faults and failures.

Notice that towards the end the photographer who was interviewed says that the people that he met were so nice and they believed so strongly that he actually considered the possibility that they were right and he was wrong. That is because the the Holy Spirit that lives in Believers is so compelling.

This whole thing reminds me of something I read before:

The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. As the Scriptures say, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.” So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense. But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength. Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God. God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.”

(from 1 Corinthians)

Beautiful.


By the way, I looked up Mars Hill Church. It looks like a great church. It is badly misrepresented in this article.

It's a Small World, Literally

Hi guys. I know I haven't been writing. I know. Since I can't seem to find time to write a good post, I will leave you with this awesome picture. It's from this website called Astronomy Picture of the Day. The photo that you are looking at is from October 16, 2006.

Breathtaking isn't it? As you can see, it is of Saturn. If you click on the photo, it will take you to the website where you can see a bigger version and read about it. And just to peak your interest, Earth is somewhere in this photo.

I feel so small in the universe when I see how tiny the earth is. It really puts things into perspective.

This is what Carl Sagan had to say when he saw another photo of a tiny Earth:

"We succeeded in taking that picture [from deep space], and if you look at it, you see a dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there - on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors, so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light.
Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."

Of course, I don't agree with Sagan that, "In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves."

There is more than a hint that help will come!

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Psalm 19:1

There is someone who came to save us from ourselves!

"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." This saying is true, and it can be trusted. 1 Timothy 1:15a

Thank God for Jesus!

the universal translator

Why is it that in all the movies that are set in "ancient times" or even just "olden times" the actors all have a British accent?

Rule of Thumb

When a friend tells you that you did a bad job of painting your nails, but you actually did a great job and she is mistaking your hangnails and dried up, crusty cuticles for stray polish, then your nail polish is an ugly color.

More party, less boring videos

This is what Tim posted. We sat there for about an hour skipping rocks. It's more fun in real life. Seriously.

Movingon.org...more party pics!

Cornhole is a spectator sport.

Except for Tim, he's looking for buzzards to catch and pet.

These are the "berries" that I tried to get both Tim and Jada to eat. I was unsuccessful with Tim, but Jada ate one. They are really what are known as Pequin peppers. They are "very hot, often 7-8 times hotter than jalapeños." That's from Wikipedia. It must be true. Anyway, they taste like ...burning!

Scary!

I touch you...you touch me! (wasn't that a song or something?) Anyhoo, Tim touches Bowen, Bowen is weirded out.

Tori farts and Jada doesn't like it.

J/K! Tori didn't fart, she is just saying something 11ish.

Second Birthday Parties Rock!

I feel like a hobbit. They eat second breakfast, well, I had a second birthday. My sister-in-law, Amber, turns 30 on Thursday. So Susan decided to throw us a double b-day par-tay in Belton. IWSF!

The CAKE. Yum!

Cornhole, of course. My family is officially addicted.

Tim and Jada, chillaxin' on the patio.

I'm happy because I get more presents. Amber's just happy.

No comment.