It's summer. Three kids. All day. No time to blog.

Things I've overheard this week:

Bradley explaining to Bailey about how when you die and get to Heaven, there's a special machine that checks your heart to see if Jesus is in it. If it doesn't find Jesus, a big hole opens up under your feet and you fall straight through to hell. Not quite doctrinally accurate, but I decided to let it go for now.
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Today Bailey asked me who my grandkids are. I told her that I don't have any because none of them have children yet.

She said, "Yes, I do. I have Bryant."

"Yes, but Bryant came out of my belly, not yours."

This led to a fascinating walk down memory lane about how fat I was when Bryant was in my belly. I said, "You'll understand one day how uncomfortable that is."

Bradley said, "Not me."

"No, but your wife will understand. You'll have to hear her complaining about wanting the baby to come out."

"Yeah. Then I'll have to have surgery to get her to stop having kids."

Sometimes it would be nice if he didn't pick up on EVERYTHING.

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This conversation led to him saying he would let McKenzie have 60 babies if she wanted to -- or whoever he married.

Bailey said, "You aren't going to marry McKenzie??"

"No. She said she didn't want to anymore."

I asked him if this made him sad. He said, "I don't know. She said we could talk about it again when we're old."

Congratulations, Bailey. I am so proud of you!

I can't believe I'm about to have two children in grade school. What has happened to me?

Is it just me, or is this prolonged delay in entering the presidential race bothering anyone else? I understand that he has a full plate, and there are a myriad of things that I don't know, but I wish he would just come out already.

I am psyched about a Fred Thompson run. I think that he would fill a niche that we are currently completely lacking on the Republican side. I think he is funny, charismatic, conservative, and would be an asset to our national security.

That said, this seeming reluctance to enter the race is starting to make him look wishy-washy and indecisive, regardless of how fair that characterization may be. While I don't want someone in the White House who wants it so bad that a loss would completely devastate him and turn him into the raving lunatic that we've all seen Al Gore become, I do want my President to be fully invested in the job.

I sincerely hope he jumps in soon so we can all get on with it. I know the election is still 17 1/2 months away, but in the political realm, it's getting late.

On the other hand, I could have this in my party...


NEW YORK (AP) - Democrat John Edwards Wednesday repudiated the notion that there is a "global war on terror," calling it an ideological doctrine advanced by the Bush administration that has strained American military resources and emboldened terrorists.

In a defense policy speech he planned to deliver at the Council on Foreign Relations, Edwards called the war on terror a "bumper sticker" slogan Bush had used to justify everything from abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison to the invasion of Iraq.

"We need a post-Bush, post-9/11, post-Iraq military that is mission focused on protecting Americans from 21st century threats, not misused for discredited ideological purposes," Edwards said in remarks prepared for delivery. "By framing this as a war, we have walked right into the trap the terrorists have set—that we are engaged in some kind of clash of civilizations and a war on Islam."

Senator Edwards, you are a complete idiot. I can not even believe that this is what you think, you overpaid, narcissistic hypocritical moron.

We already know that the Democratic leadership has been pressing the media to stop using the phrase "global war on terror," or any other form of GWOT. I understand that that keeps what is actually happening in the mindset of the American people, so of course the Democrats don't want that phrase being used.

But to call it a bumper sticker, an ideological doctrine put forth by Bush to justify his policies? Senator Edwards, where have you been the last six years? Are you one of the whackos who believes that we knew 9-11 was going to happen? Do you follow Rosie O'Donnell's theory that we wired the buildings with explosives so that we could justify a war with Iraq to get oil? I so wouldn't be surprised, but it's still causing me a mini-stroke.

Global war on terror. Let's see. Currently terrorists are in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia -- oh my gosh, you're right! I have never heard of any Islamic extremists coming over from Antarctica. Bush is such a liar. I am so ashamed.

War. Yes, I think we can all acknowledge that we are in a war. We are in a fight for our very existence. But that's hard to think about, so it's much better to pretend it isn't happening.

Terror. I know AP isn't allowed to call them terrorists, but that doesn't make it any less accurate. What else to you call randomly blowing up buildings and vehicles with the idea of killing the most civilians possible? Is there a symantic issue here that I am unaware of?

How incredibly sophomoric and irresponsible for Senator Edwards to say that this is a war on Islam. We are at war with a mentality, an ideology that is unfortunately spawned by Islam. We are at war with a mindset that believes to do us harm is the will of Allah. We are fighting a group of people who want to remove any memory of our existence from this planet, a mentality that allows parents to justify allowing their children to strap bombs to their back and blow up buses full of innocent people, because to do so is the only way that they are guaranteed salvation. It is unlike any enemy that we have ever faced. And it is global. They are here.

I don't think Senator Edwards has a snowball's chance in hell of being elected next year. But how different is his rhetoric from the "mainstream" Democratic party? Nancy Pelosi has certainly put forth this sentiment. Harry Reid has already claimed our defeat and is ready to move on. These are the people that Americans put in office.

God help us if they get the White House too.

Can anyone explain to me what is going on with my president? I have delayed in blogging about the current proposed immigration bill because I have been listening in disbelief to what is supposedly in it. I say supposedly, since the thing is something like 750 pages long and unreadable to the average Joe.

But the major point, taking out all the little nuances, is that legal status would be granted to the millions of people who are here illegally. Period. I'm completely baffled by this. Not that Ted Kennedy would think it's a good idea. He's an idiot. But why is George W. not balking at this? I've never understood his ideas when it came to immigration. I don't know if it stems from his geographic origin or his "compassionate conservatism" ideals or what, but it makes no sense.

Why would a president whose number one strength has been national security find it logical or reasonable to grant legal status to millions of people that we know nothing about? Is this amnesty bill supposed to keep millions more from flocking over the border in the future? The very idea is absurd.

What a slap in the face to those people who have come to America through the legal channels and spent years seeking legal citizenship through endless miles of red tape. What a slap in the face to American citizens as a whole, who are already forced to support this largely indigent nation through welfare programs and rising healthcare costs because they treat the emergency room like a walk-in clinic. Illegal immigrants are being offered in-state tuition at some universities, while those legally in this country are penalized for wanting to attend that same university with an out-of-state address.

I am not anti-immigration. But I am anti-illegal immigration. What if this was the way I disciplined my own children? Oh, you broke the rules and ate a popsicle on the living room couch? Must have been a bad rule. I'll just make it not a rule anymore, and then you'll be forgiven for the huge purple stain and sticky woodwork. You want to stay up until midnight on a school night? Sounds reasonable to me. You want to watch Rated R movies? I guess we can work that out, although the therapy for dealing with your post-Freddie Kruger nightmares might get a little expensive. We don't allow our children to break rules because to do so on a consistent basis would lead to chaos and their ultimate harm. Why should we expect anything less to happen to our country?

In his article today in World Net Daily, Pat Buchanan quotes Theodore Roosevelt from a 1915 speech to the Knights of Columbus. Almost 100 years ago, Mr. Roosevelt warned, "The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities."

By offering amnesty to millions of people who are in this country illegally, with absolutely no mention of assimilation into our culture, combined with the constantly-rising demands that their rights be met, we are sending ourselves down a path of destruction. Throughout history, every great society has come to an end, usually by becoming so weak from within that when an outside force attacks, they are powerless to respond accordingly. America is so divided right now on everything from stem cell research to immigration to the war in Iraq. It is not hard to imagine a future where we have torn ourselves into such tiny pieces, that those who seek our harm will only have to cause a small ripple, and it will grow into a tsunami that washes us away into oblivion.

Please, Mr. President, apply the same wisdom and train of thought to this issue that you do to the war on terror. They are not unrelated issues. I've always supported you because I have believed that you thought what you were doing was crucial to the well-being of our nation. What are you thinking now?

I CAN SEE!!!

Yesterday will be marked on my list of best days ever. You might say it will go on my Greatest Hits (for all of you Lost fans out there!) At 3:00 yesterday afternoon, my 20/400 vision, as depicted above, was restored. So amazing.

After 24 years of needing visual correction, and being forced to wear my glasses for almost two weeks, which really weren't all that great to begin with, I couldn't have been more ready for this surgery. When I arrived at Loden Vision Center yesterday, they told me to leave my stuff, including my glasses, with Jeff. I went back to the prep room for what seemed like 20 different sets of eye drops, at least some of which were to dilate my eyes, a valium and the biggest ibuprofin I had ever seen.

After a few minutes, Dr. Loden marked my eyes to give the laser a reference point. I didn't really understand it, but by that point the valium was kicking in so I didn't really care either.

After going back for a few more measurements, they put me in the machine that makes the corneal flap. If you have a weak stomach, you may want to skip a few paragraphs. Dr. Loden inserted a suction cup thing in my eye, then pushed my head under the machine that makes the actual cut. I felt some pretty intense pressure as the machine pushed into my eyeball. It was like when you push on your eye and see those tiny little red dots. It lasted about a minute for each eye, and was probably the most unpleasant part of the whole ordeal.

After he had made my flaps, I walked over to the actual LASIK machine. This was like something out of a sci-fi movie. He inserted a vise-like contraption in my eye to keep it open, and then I was supposed to stare at a blinking red dot as best as I could throughout the procedure. This woman's voice, straight out of Alien, would say, "Procedure 35% complete, approximately 45 seconds remain," and so on, until it was over. Dr. Loden was very encouraging, telling me I was doing great and just reminding me to hold still. It didn't hurt, but the smell was similar to the dentist's drill when you are getting a cavity filled. A very odd sensation, indeed. Once the laser part was over, I could feel him putting the corneal flap back in place with what seemed like tweezers, and then it felt wet, like he was spraying it with saline or something. It was very hard to keep looking at the red light, but I did the best that I could.

After it was over, I laid there for a couple of minutes, and then they had me get up and walk back to the recovery room. I could tell immediately that I could see, but everything was still very hazy and the light was intense. Once in recovery I had a few more rounds of drops, then Dr. Loden checked out my eyes to make sure everything looked good. He gave me his blessing and I was free to leave.

When Jeff came back to get me I was decked out in a blue hairnet, blue footies and some really nice, thick, white-rimmed goggles. My instructions were to wear the goggles until the following morning when Dr. Loden would remove them. I had some eye drops to take every four hours yesterday and 4x a day for the next 5 days. Everything was very sensitive, and my eyes still feel a little bit scratchy, as if there's sand in them, but I can see. I just can't get over it.

We stayed in a hotel room next to the surgical center because it was north of town and about an hour away from our house. Once I got there I climbed straight in bed because the Valium was just knocking me out. I slept for a couple of hours, and Jeff came back and woke me up to see if I was okay and if I wanted dinner. He went out and got us something so I wouldn't have to dine in front of others wearing my classy eyewear. I had to wait until 8:30 to take my second set of drops, and then I was out again for the rest of the night.

This morning I woke up and I could SEE what time it was, and the alarm clock was on Jeff's side of the bed! It was unbelievable. My eyes were still really dilated, so light was still making me hurt, but the discomfort was significantly less than the night before. We went back to the Vision Center for my follow-up, and Dr. Loden said everything looked perfect. I could see 20/20 in my right eye and about 20/25 in my left. He said I was about 85% of what I will be in a few days as far as clarity goes. I just can't wait to see how things are going to look by Friday.

It literally feels like a miracle. I am so thankful that God gave his kids the ability to come up with this amazing procedure, and empowered some very wise people to figure out how to do it. What a blessing it will be to not have to wear contacts or glasses for the next several years until I get old enough to need reading glasses. I don't think my brain is fully wrapped around it yet.

But for today, I'm just going to enjoy the view.

I cannot even believe what I just read. I knew that reality TV was bringing out the worst in us, but never imagined that things could go so low.

Apparently, CBS is just wrapping up a new reality show using 40 children, ages 8-15, and putting them in an abandoned ghost town in New Mexico with no adult supervision. It is supposedly based on Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, one of the most disturbing stories ever written. I watched the movie based on this book that came out several years ago and I was upset about it for weeks. It's one of those premises that I just would have been fine not thinking about.

Now, those of you who watch Lost know that the scenario playing out on this show could be likened to Lord of the Flies. However, there are some major differences. First, it is fiction. Second, it is a story told by actors. Third, 98% of those actors are adults.

Can we even comprehend how depraved it is to send 40 kids to a deserted ghost town and "see what happens"? What kind of parent would allow their 8-yr-old to do such a thing? My son is 8. He's afraid of going upstairs at night by himself. Does no one care that some of these kids could be traumatized for the rest of their lives by the way this thing plays out?

Yes, the kids are going to be allowed to leave whenever they want. (I'm sure there won't be any pressure techniques used to get them to stay.) And, yes, they are going to reward a child at the end of each show. The idea is to see if they can create a functioning society. I get it. I know that there will be tons of adults there doing the filming and whatnot. But if the premise is to be true, then these adults will supposedly not be interfering with what goes on. And since when is leaving your 8-yr-old alone for 40 days with a bunch of kids not considered at least neglect?

Now, personally it wouldn't suprise me if the idea gets trashed, because I think there are still a huge number of people in this country who will be disgusted by this idea. But the point is that someone came up with this and thought it would be a good idea. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that this person does not have children. But even more shocking, CBS thought it had legs. They're thinking it's going to be their next breakout reality show. I'm so disgusted by this I physically feel nausea.

CBS, as a general rule, has problems. Their news is laughable. They obviously have issues with decision making. But they did begin the whole reality TV invasion when Survivor was such a hit. Apparently it has gone to their heads. But this... there are just no more words.

Gatlinburg. This is where we spent Mother's Day weekend. It couldn't have been more fun.

A few weeks ago I was really starting to feel down, like there was never enough time for anything and that my kids never seemed to get me at my best. It felt like I was always pushing them aside, saying "not right now," or whatever variation of that fit the situation. I told Jeff that I wanted to just get away by ourselves. Being the amazing man that he is, he booked us a cabin the very next day.

We suddenly realized that we had never gone away as a family all by ourselves. It is something we will most definitely do again. We did whatever the kids wanted to do, playing board and card games, miniature golf, and even eating at -- you guessed it -- McDonald's.

Our cabin was absolutely incredible. Three stories high, located at the top of Ski Mountain Road, even higher than Ober. Thankfully it was built on the side of a very steep cliff, meaning that our lowest balcony was still 40 feet off the ground. I say thankfully, because Saturday morning as we were sitting out on the balcony eating breakfast, we heard a rustling noise in the woods. We looked down and watched as a black bear made his way all the way up to the stilts our cabin was built on. It was amazing. We couldn't have tailor-made a more realistic mountain weekend!
Saturday afternoon, and again on Sunday, we spent a lot of time up at Ober. The kids had a blast riding the Alpine Slide. Bradley was able to ride it himself (that's him coming down the mountain), but Bailey was too young. We had fun taking turns riding it with her. They loved riding the ski lift, but it made me just a little bit nervous!

Brad, Bailey and I also rode the Blue Cyclone water slide. It was a blast! I couldn't believe how fast it went. All three of us screamed all the way down.
Probably the most fun we had all weekend was our Saturday afternoon swim in the hot tub. We kept having to remind Bailey that she was not in a swimming pool. She was swimming like crazy back and forth. Bryant got to sit on the side of the tub and play in the fountain. He was squealing and laughing so hard. I'm sure the owners would have been shocked to see their hot tub used in quite this fashion, but it was a definite memory maker for the Swords kids!

Of all of my Mother's Days, this has been my favorite by far. This is what it is all about, cherishing our time together. Loving each other. Laughing out loud. I'll remember it always.

18,000 Mexicans strip naked for a photo shoot. I'm struggling to find an intellectual discourse on this one.

But seriously, what does this say about the moral decay of society as a whole when thousands of people can stand around naked all day being placed in various poses to be photographed? Did anyone there get a sense that what they were doing was wrong? Or at the very least, uncomfortable? Although I don't think that this could happen in America today, I am quite sure that it is only a matter of time if we continue down the slope we are on. This barely caused a blip on the moral radar. In fact, most people probably thought it was funny, as I did when I first heard it.

Our morality has been so desensitized, that we don't even recognize how things like this must grieve our Father. We just shrug our shoulders and think that's bizarre. The majority of moral outrage we see in this country is towards those who are intolerant. How did things get so upside down?

I know some would say I should lighten up. But that's exactly my point. Haven't we lightened up so much that our sensitivity towards what is right and wrong is so blurred as to almost be completely destroyed?

I will say this, though. If the trend catches on, it should make the job of INS a little bit easier. They sure wouldn't be hard to spot crossing the border like that.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A controversial religious figure who claims he is Jesus Christ incarnate with a following of millions with "666" tattoos on their bodies, filled an amphitheater in Orlando this weekend, and promised joy, peace and prosperity.

I find this story completely fascinating. Not because I think this guy is the antichrist. I think he's just another cult leader. But you have to admit that it is pretty amazing that his followers are tattooing themselves with 666, whether they number in the millions or not. He has been banned from at least 3 countries. He says that he is known as God in at least 30.

I may be wrong, but I never hear of anyone claiming to be Muhammad, or Buddha, or Vishnu, or any other god, for that matter. They're always claiming to be Jesus. You have to wonder why that is. Or not.

For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ, and will deceive many.

(Matthew 24:5)

PRAISE GOD!!

Per Abel's multiple scans and tests yesterday, there is NO EVIDENCE of the cancer. Please go to their CaringBridge journal to read more. This is just incredible news.

Abel still has a long way to go towards recovery, and medically his chances of surviving the next 5 years are still only 20-30%. But my God doesn't work on percentages or statistics. He is the Healer, the God who Sees. He is all powerful, and there is nothing He can't do. And He will not be ignored. He is REAL. Praise you, Jesus!

Here's a thought. The racial makeup of the NBA is over 80% black. You do the math.

I just went on Amazon to place an order, and the nonfiction bestseller list caught my eye. This book is the Amazon #2 bestseller right now in nonfiction. I was intrigued, so I read the synopsis. It sounds like it is exactly as the title would lead you to believe, a 300-page book about the evil religion brings into the world.

As my friend Brandon's most recent post brings to light, there are so many people out there struggling with the idea of faith, whether there is a god or not. Many have chosen to believe that there is not, or else why would the world be in the shape it is. I hear the argument often that religion is the cause of almost all war, so how can it be a good thing.

Listen to the reviewers' thoughts:

I think Christopher Hitchens is a national - no, make that Global - treasure, and his newest book here only underscores this. To carry on with my baseball metaphor, when Hitchens stepped up to the plate with this book on religion the bases were already loaded: Vonnegut on third, Sam Harris [Letter to a Christian Nation] on second, and Richard Dawkins [The God Delusion] on first. Hitchens knocks 'em all in with one swing of the bat. He cuts through the BS of religion and "faith" better than anybody. His excellent writing style enlivens and enriches the soul at the same time. What more could a reader want?

I would add that perhaps what motivated Hitchens to write this book and so to "come out" more publicly with his critiques of religion and faith is what has also motivated me: the increasingly publicly-accepted insanity of religion in this, the 21st century. This insanity threatens to bring down all of civilization and, in the case of American fundamentalists in our government with their quivering fingers poised atop the launch buttons of our nuclear weapons, the end of Everything, which religious nut-jobs anticipate with unrestrained glee, so certain they are that they, at least, will be OK in the aftermath. This is just absolutely nuts, and Christopher Hitchens does us all a great service in pointing this out.
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Back in the 1990s, religion in America seemed to be on its last legs. I genuinely believed that the turning of the millennial clock would drive the final stake through its heart. How could anyone continue to believe after yet another postponement of the Second Coming?

Well, here we are almost ten years later, and religion is going stronger than it has in decades despite the advances of science which keep forcing god to hide in ever smaller gaps in our knowledge. Its revival reminds me of the Wizard of Oz story. After Dorothy & friends discover that the Wizard of Oz is really just an old man behind a curtain, they still expect him to work his magic. And so he does. The illusion persists. Which leads me to conclude that most people just want the illusion of an old man in the sky who will make everything right at some indeterminable point in the future.

I am halfway through Hitchens book and enjoying it immensely. One only need consider the past 7 years in the USA to see that Hitchens is right about religion poisoning everything. It's unfortunate that the people who need to read this book the most will flee from it. At least the Net has opened up a lively debate over the value of religion.
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Well, let's see, you either follow a bronze age myth made up over 2,000 years ago or you follow science and progress. The war against religion will continue as long as there are people with knowledge and science. Hitchens book takes us on a literary ride you will always cherish and enjoy makes the case against religion stronger and compliments Dawkins and Harris.

What's intriguing about the first review is the idea that it is becoming more and more acceptable to "come out" against the insanity of religion. I'd say that's an accurate statement. While at the same time, more and more people are turning to God for answers in a world full of fear and seemingly hopeless situations.

But I happen to think that everyone has a religion of one sort or the other. Mine is a belief in Almighty God, the Creator of the world, the Alpha and Omega, the one who has always been and always will be. I believe in a God who created us to be in fellowship with Him, but who doesn't force that fellowship. A God who loved His creation so much, that when they rebelled against Him and made eternity together an impossibility, was willing to sacrifice His most priceless possession, His son Jesus Christ, in order to bring reconciliation to a people who were otherwise doomed.

Everyone believes in something. Christopher Hitchens' religion may be self-worship. It may be the worship of money. Perhaps he has found faith in the ever-increasing religion of global warming. But he believes in something.

Again, this book is #2 on the Amazon bestseller list. There are SO many people out there who are missing it. We are to be the light to them. We are to live in truth, so they will recognize it when they see it. Live authentically. Love fully. Be ready.