I believe Louis CK sums up this generation perfectly! The video is a portion of his interview on the Conan O’brien Show.
Join the Conversation: What do you think?
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Octo-Mom versus Grandma: Who’s Right?
February 24, 2009 By 4 Comments
Here is a portion of the video where Octo-mom, Nadya Suleman, gets into a heated argument with her mom, Angela from an interview on Radaronline.com (Click to View Video).
This is post is not an issues or argument about abortion or the killing and preservation of the embryos from Nadya. I want to focus on the attitude of both ladies.
I am shocked and amazed at Nadya’s attitude and tone towards her mom. For those who do not know all of the story, Nadya, and her previous 6 children were already living with Grandma Angela, and now Nadya has added 8 additional children (octuplets). I agree with Nadya that once she had the embryos implanted, it was too late, they were fertilized and were lives living within her, however, I don’t believe she was right by having the procedure done in the first place. She has no job, she has no home, she has no husband, and she has a ton of debt that she is now, basically asking for a bailout on. The procedure for the delivery of the 8 children cost tax payers well over $1 Million Dollars. Personally, I believe she has brought 8 children into a situation that is unhealthy, to provide a temporary fix for her control issues, and she has altered the lives of many others in between, including that of her mother, Grandma Angela.
With every interview, if it is edited, we only hear what we are given, so it is hard to understand the issue in context, however, I am amazed at Nadya’s attitude towards her mom, who provides for her and her now 14 children without any financial assistance from her daughter on behalf of her children. I do not hear an ounce of thankfulness from the part of Nadya. It really is a big mess. Once again, without getting into the issues of Abortion and preserving the Embryos (because that is not the isse) Join the Conversation and tell us who should be more upset and considered “justified” in their frustrations. Octo-mom, Nadya or Grandma Angela?
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Family Adventures at 4 a.m.
February 23, 2009 By 4 Comments
Usually you wake up from a nightmare. Last night, I woke up and walked right into one.
I heard some scuffling in the hallway at 4 a.m. and that usually means that Tristan is awake and trying to covertly sneak into our bedroom to get into our bed. Last night, I think God woke me up, because He’s cool like that. Most of the time, Tristan wakes up because his covers have fallen off and he is cold. I can simply take him back to his room (usually from our bed), cover him up and he is fine until his covers fall off again. Last night was a different story.
I walked into the hallway and saw Tristan standing there with a puppy dog look on his face as if something was wrong. The hallway light was off, but the bathroom light was on, giving me just enough glimpse of his face. I said, “Hey buddy, what’s wrong?” Immediately, as I walked towards him I was hit with the worst poop smell I had ever smelled, so I knew he was awake because he pooped in his diaper. So, I asked the question I already knew the answer to, “Did you poopy your diaper?” As he replied with a ‘yes‘ nod, I stepped in something wet. I quickly turned on the light to see a trail of liquid poop all over the hallway floor, and I had stepped all in it!
Nicki is probably tougher than I am. She would have probably let me sleep and taken on the poop monster and his mess alone, but I could see that God was using this moment in our lives to help us build team work. It didn’t take me long to jump into the tub to wash off my feet and get Tristan situated on a towel before I called my teammate in life to give me a hand. I would have hated for us to miss out on this team building exercise straight from God himself! We quickly discovered Tristan’s adventure for us started in his bed with what appeared to be a nuclear explosion, leaked all across his carpet, and then downloaded into the hallway floor and trailed behind him as he made his way towards our room. I quickly became thankful that God #1 woke me up before Tristan made it to our room and climbed into our bed and #2 that we have hardwood floors in our hallway. Nicki and I were able to crawl back into bed around 4:45 a.m. this morning after a bath for Tristan, laundry for the sheets, covers, and towels; and a lovely adventure of cleaning up poop laden carpet and flooring. Why do these things happen when its about an hour to an hour and a half before its time to wake up? Why not midnight? When we have several more hours to sleep? I guess I’ll never understand the timing of the early morning family adventures!
Join the Conversation: What’s one of your favorite early morning family adventures?
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Off the Blogs: This Thursday Night
February 21, 2009 By 1 Comment
This Thursday night, February 26th I have the opportunity to volunteer at the Off the Blogs event taking place after the One Day Catalyst Conference. Here’s the details:
When: Thursday, Feb 26th – 7:30 PM
OFF THE BLOGS is a night of conversation with three of the most influential bloggers in the ministry world, Jon Acuff, Anne Jackson and Carlos Whittaker, hosted by Pete Wilson with worship by Aaron Keyes. OFF THE BLOGS is a special evening of authenticity and truth. A night to take off what doesn’t matter and celebrate what does.
Cost:
Tickets are $10 and can be purchased here. Registration is free for Catalyst ONE DAY Atlanta attenders. Just pick up a wrist-band at the registration area.
Where:
3372 Peachtree Road
Atlanta, GA 30326
OFF THE BLOGS will be held at Christian Church Buckhead at 3372 Peachtree Road, Atlanta, GA (click here for directions)
I hope to see you there! For more information, visit the Off the Blogs website: http://www.offtheblogs.com
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What Holds You Back?
February 20, 2009 By 3 Comments
I was at a church training event this past weekend. One of the pastors at the event gave a great morning devotion. He opened by talking about some of the things that hold him back from fully obeying God or fulfilling the call that God has placed on his life. One of the reasons he listed was simply that he knew how messed up he really was. I have to agree with him. Someone can tell me how they think I am going to be successful at an upcoming endeavor and I appreciate the encouraging words, but too often I find myself wanting to hold back and to sit still versus progressing because I get to looking at how messed up I am. After all, I know the thoughts I thought or the attitude towards other people that I had…the people saying the encouraging things don’t see the junk, they only see the shining parts of my life. In the end, I know I have to step out fully trusting that God knows what he is doing by leading me to do anything, but its not always easy!
Join the Conversation: What do you let hold you back?
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Joaquin Phoenix Has Gone to the Nut House
February 12, 2009 By 4 Comments
I can’t help but wonder if Joaquin Phoenix is putting on an act for an upcoming show, but this is one crazy interview.
Its getting a little weird though especially after his rap…
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The 10 Cannots and Abraham Lincoln
February 12, 2009 By 4 Comments
Today is Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday and many people throughout the country are celebrating our great 16th President. Politicians on both sides of the political isle love to attribute their party to Lincoln in an attempt to have some of his greatness rub off on them. Lincoln, by today’s political spectrum, would have been considered a Conservative, although Liberals attach themselves to him and praise him because he was responsible for one of the largest increases in the Union. However, much of this was due to Lincoln’s starch support of the Constitution of the United States, something we rarely hear about, much less see from politicians. Abraham Lincoln believed whole heartily “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” He believed that all men’s rights and freedoms were given to them by God, not by Government, a far cry from what we see today. Lincoln’s increase of the Union was to do one thing, ensure that all slaves be free and granted their God given rights and freedoms, something the Constitution of the United States promises. The Constitution does not promise a Savior Government to provide financial security for individuals or for businesses, only that all men would have equal opportunity and for the physical protection from foreign and domestic enemies and justice for any who takes those freedoms and rights away. I wonder who protects us from the Government who takes those freedoms and rights away?
It is because of Lincoln’s view on limited Government, that some historians believe the “10 Cannots” were attributed to him, based on some of his thoughts, speeches, and ideas. However, others attribute it solely to a flyer that was sent out by a Conservative Group, one side containing a quote by Lincoln, the other the 10 Cannots by William J. H. Boetcker. The author of the 10 Cannots is, William Boetcker, a Presbyterian pastor, who was an outspoken Conservative, you can read more on him HERE.
I believe in light of our current political situation, our current economic problems, in honor of Lincoln’s Birthday and his support of limited government, I would post William Boetcker’s 10 Cannot’s for us all to think on today…they are very powerful:
- You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
- You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
- You cannot help little men by tearing down big men.
- You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
- You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
- You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.
- You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
- You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.
- You cannot build character and courage by destroying men’s initiative and independence.
- You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.
William J. H. Boetcker
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The Hunt for the City’s Best Pizza
February 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment
I was supposed to be updating my blog frequently with our family’s “Hunt for the City’s Best Pizza.” However, I have found myself extremely busy and we forgot the camera on several of our visits, so here goes 4 reviews in one post, with hopes I’ll do better in the future! For those who do not know what I am talking about, every Monday night, our family hunts for the city’s best pizza. Nicki and I wanted to do something fun with the kids to help make some lasting memories, so we are trying every pizza available to us in the city, whether its at a restaurant or in the freezer section of the grocery store (we are not trying all of the freezer pizzas or we’d be eating pizza til the day we die). Gavin’s been learning charts at school, so he made a chart and each Monday the pizza that we eat, gets a rating of up to 5 stars by the whole family, one star being the worst and five stars being the best. So far, its been a lot of fun!
Mellow Mushroom: Mellow Mushroom was our first visit several weeks back. We tried two different kinds of pizza, the Carnavor (all meat) and a Veggie Pizza. We gave Mellow Mushroom 5 Stars, and it has currently been tough to beat, as it remains our favorite so far.
Stevi B’s: It was rough going from Mellow Mushroom to Stevi B’s, but we drew it as our second trip. Needless to say, Stevi B’s got a rating of 2 Stars and is currently in last place. Apparently our Stevi B’s is under new management, which means not as good service and not as good pizza.
Pizza Joint: Pizza Joint is a local owned, well, pizza joint. Their rating got pushed down by Gavin and Tristan. We allow Tristan to rate, and being two, he just randomly throws out a number…our main objective is to have fun with the kids and make some memories, not to worry about their ratings. Nicki and I gave Pizza Joint 4 stars, but the final rating ended up 3 Stars. The great thing about Pizza Joint is they do individual slices, so we all got to try our favorite toppings…and they are cheap!
Hungry Howie’s: We’ve never tried Hungry Howie’s until this past Monday night. It was surprisingly good. You have a choice of various flavored crusts and they had decent deals with their cupons. We once again tried a couple of different pizzas, and Hungry Howies received a 3 Star rating.
I’ll be out of town next week, so we will not get to do our family night, but I’ll post our next review in the coming weeks!
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Busy as a Bee
February 9, 2009 By Leave a Comment
How busy is a bee…really?
My blogging may be very sporadic, even more than it has been over the next 2-3 weeks.
I may just blink and wake up and realize that it is April.
I have so much going on right now I can’t get sidetracked right now.
Who know’s as something happens I may just post it and keep it short and sweet. I’ll be back to normal soon.
Hang in there with me 
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Mark Driscoll’s “Vintage Church” FREE Giveaway!!!
February 6, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Win Vintage Church FREE!!!
Bible Study Magazine and Mars Hill are giving away 20 copies of Mark Driscoll’s new book, Vintage Church. Not only that, but they are also giving away five subscriptions to Bible Study Magazine and a copy of their Bible Study Library software! Enter to win by going to the Mark Driscoll page, then take a look at all the cool tools they have to take your Bible study to the next level!
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