Hannah loves to be like daddy.
She loves to put shaving cream and daddy will "shave" it off her face.

Hannah loves to "help" mommy put chapstick on her lips.
She loves to put it on herself too.

Here is our Santa baby eating before she sees "mama" and "pampa" or Grandma and Grandpa. She loves her cereal!

I've been saying this for a while: Don't waste your time with Left Behind!

Exhibit A: See above screenshot. This is a scene from the new "Left Behind:Eternal Forces" video game, which I will never play, let alone buy. Apparently the "good guys" (Christians) learn skills and power up at Mission Training and at churches/cathedrals and become more spiritual by praying. The "bad guys" can be killed in self-defense but you lose spirituality points and then must pray to get your spirituality back up. Wow. Exactly what Jesus did.

Exhibit B: Go to this blog and read a helpful q & a session with someone who has actually played the game and from whom I borrowed the above screenshot.

It's really funny (in a sad, strange way) and really, really sad that this game exists. I can just imagine youth groups having "Left Behind:Eternal Forces" tournaments on video-projector screens across America. Makes me shudder and reach for my box of Testa-Mints.

Here is our Christmas Picture 2006. We are not going to send out pictures until Grace is born. We thought it would be better to have a full family picture when Grace is born in March. We will send it over email too.

Here is Clint and Hannah as cowboy/girl. She loves to wear daddy's cowboy hat, so mommy decided to buy her one earlier today. Now she keeps making daddy wear his hat so mommy can take more pictures. She loves to be like daddy.

So, I am at the end of my schooling career. After 5 and ½ years with taking two spring semesters off, I am officially done with Southwestern College. My last final was Tuesday afternoon. Now I am recuperating from the last semester I just finished. I am only taking two classes online at Rio Salado, but they should be easy enough that I shouldn’t have to do too much. I am trying to get them done before my due date, but my final for one of the classes in March 3, 2007 and I am due March 10^th, so that will be interesting.

This will also be the beginning of a new chapter in my life. I will be done officially with school next fall, but I will be graduating from college (finally) in May. I am student teaching in the Fall at Larkspur Elementary for 4^th grade. That will be interesting because I don’t know a lot about 4^th grade material. Oh, side note: if anyone is wanting a full-time job of taking care of two children, let me know. I am so excited and ready to be done with school. I will also be a mother of two children under the age of 3. That will be new, exciting, but scary at the same time. Both Clint and I are getting more excited about having another baby, but having two children comes more responsibility and stress. We know that God will provide for our needs, whether it is financially or the littlest stuff like our sanity with two children in the house. I am now 27 week pregnant (for those who don’t know in those terms, I am 6 months and 1 week or just about). I have about 14 weeks left, but that’s if Grace is full-term and she is born on her due date, which I highly doubt. I also saw the doctor today and it’s always interesting to have to go to the doctor and try to keep a 2 year old entertained. I had to take the Glucose test and it was nasty and I HATE needles. Oh, wait, I want a tattoo, how can I have a tattoo and not like needles at the same time. Well……I guess we’ll see when we get to that part of my life.

The hard thing about this time of year is trying not to get sick. Everyone I know has the same symptoms as I do. Even my OBGYN has the cold symptoms. What stinks even more is the fact that both Hannah and I are sick. I can’t take anything that is strong enough to get rid of this and Hannah is so grumpy, she is hard to take care of. Hannah will get medicine at night and she will sleep through the night, but I am the opposite. I try to take something at night and it keeps me up. I was up like 3 times last night, not being able to get back to sleep right away each time. That makes it hard for me and for Hannah because we both don’t feel good and we are both tired and cranky. But enough with that, there is still so much to be thankful for.

We are going to a new church right now. We needed a change and it’s been really good for all of us. Hannah loves the nursery/toddler room. She is building with blocks every time we come to pick her up. Clint and I really are enjoying the music and the message the pastor has taught on each Sunday. And then at night we are going to a young adults class and they have a good message each time and it’s nice to be around more people our age.

God has really blessed us this year. I think about all of the new things we have learned by being parents and the challenges being a parent can bring to our walk with God and to our marriage. But through it all, we seem to always go back to God and His Word. We know that life will be challenging, but we are definitely not in it alone. If you are ever discouraged, read any of the Apostle’s writings in the New Testament and they were constantly being persecuted for their beliefs and yet rejoiced in everything.

“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.” 1 Peter 4:12

“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 1 Peter 5:8-9

My point in all of this is that there will always be trials in your life. That’s a part of being human. The way you look at them is the important thing. There will always be an ending of a part of your life and a beginning of something new. It’s scary, but exciting. Don’t be afraid to talk to God about what you are feeling because that is what He is there for. He is our Father who wants only what is best; even-though we think we know what is best for us. Be strong in your trials and rejoice, thanking God and asking for help in the mist of them as well.

Well, this is my soapbox, sorry guys. I went on a tangent, but I think it needed to be said. And yes, I need to take my own advice. I hope you can take this to heart and not just read it and forget about what is being said. Well, everyone have a wonderful Christmas holiday break.

Hannah getting ready for "Winter" in Phoenix, because it's like 50 degrees here :)

***Disclaimer: If you’re a good little fundamentalist, begin picking up choice stones to throw now. Better yet, go read John 8:7b, 1 Corinthians 9:22b, and Luke 10:27.***

Why have we, as followers of Christ, allowed “Christian” to mean “second-rate” instead of merely “different?”

“Christian” has become a sub-culture. Examples abound: “Christian” music, “Christian” radio, “Christian” books, and “Christian” stores. This is nothing new. The Christian sub-culture has been around for a long time but has, in the last 25-30 years, become very pronounced. And the quality and purpose have become worse and worse until most things “Christian” have become second-rate. The music is largely “cookie cutter,” the movies are generally pathetic, and other art forms are almost non-existent. Dancing is still out, although it’s all over the Old Testament. I cannot think of one “Christian” painter other than Thomas Kinkade, whose work is all over the “Christian” bookstores.

When did verses like Luke 10:27 become “’Love the Lord your God with most of your heart and with some of your soul and with little of your strength and with hardly any of your mind’ and Love your Christian neighbor as yourself?” When was creative thought banned from the mainstream of Christian life? When was it demoted to the fringes of “Christian” society? Why aren’t we loving God with ALL OUR MINDS?

To clarify, I don’t outright object to having “Christian” music, etc. The problems come when “Christians” forget to turn on their brains. Jesus (Remember Him? Radical, liberal type who hung out with whores?) told us to love God with ALL our mind(s). That covers anything that comes out of your head, including, but not limited to: thoughts, music, ideas, art, screenplays, sermons, words in a conversation, recipes, and ranting essays. Making music that sounds like somebody (everybody) else is not using ALL your mind. Making a movie or writing a screenplay that preaches to the choir is not using ALL your mind. Not recognizing dance or visual art as worship is not using ALL your mind. Saying that God hates “fags” is not using your brain at all and means you did not read the New Testament at all. (See www.godhatesfags.com and prepare to puke.)

There is a point buried here somewhere.

God did not call us to make mediocre music, produce happy movies, sell t-shirts with lame slogans, and jump on the “bracelet-with-a-message” bandwagon. He called us to be Ambassadors. He called us to be creative, thought-provoking weirdos who aren’t afraid to leave the Christian ghetto. People who claim to follow Jesus should actually do it. Read the Gospels and make a list of the places He went, who he interacted with and what He said to them, and what the results of His interactions were. Now compare that list to the modus operandi of most modern, Western Christians. Shocking difference, isn’t it?

Why am I writing this? Because last night Bethany and I watched Woman, Thou Art Loosed and it is the only “Christian” movie I would ever recommend to anyone. And “Christians” largely ignored it because it shows real life. It doesn’t have a happy, “inspirational” ending. I never cry in movies, but both of us were wiping away tears at the end of this one. The reality and the spirituality of the film hits you right between the eyes, if you aren’t afraid to watch an R-rated movie. It seems that we forget that life is R-rated. For that matter, the Bible is R-rated; it’s full of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Woman, Thou Art Loosed actually had an impact on me and no other “Christian” movie has ever done that.

To look into this problem further (and I hope you will), read Michael Spencer’s essay on “Christian” movies at http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/riffs-112006-why-bad-christian-movies-succeed-and-better-movies-never-will and read the lyrics of Derek Webb (www.derekwebb.com). Derek addresses many different problems within Western Christianity and the Christian sub-culture.

Here it is! My new tattoo, done yesterday by Cameron at Sacred Skin here in Phoenix. (www.sacredskinstudios.com) It's on the inside of my left forearm and if you haven't studied Hebrew lately, it says "She'ma Yisrael. Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad."
"Hear, O Israel. The Lord is our God, the Lord is One."

Hannah helps with chores. She can already multi-task: fold laundry and read about the "Five Little Ducks" at the same time.

This was just too weird/ funny not to post.
From cnn.com:

SIERRA VISTA, Arizona (AP) -- A grandmother found with a trunk full of marijuana was convicted of drug running in what prosecutors said was an attempt to earn cash for a bingo habit.
State troopers found 10 bundles of pot totaling 214 pounds hidden in Leticia Villareal Garcia's car trunk last year when they stopped her outside Bisbee, in far southeastern Arizona.
Villareal, 61, told jurors before they convicted her Thursday that her only regular income was a $275 monthly welfare check, but she frequently played bingo and occasionally won thousands of dollars.
Prosecutor Doyle Johnstun said the game was Villareal's undoing.
"People who play bingo almost every night of the week end up losing in the long run," Johnstun told jurors. "The underlying issue is that she's got a bingo problem, which explains why an otherwise nice person might get sucked into something like this."
Jurors rejected Villareal's argument that she'd been tricked into carrying the drugs.
Villareal faces three to 12 years in state prison when she is sentenced December 18.


Cochise County: the gambling Granny smuggler capital of Arizona!