My baby is 8 today. I guess he's not my baby anymore, but he'll always feel like that. I know everybody says it but I just can't believe how fast the time has gone. When I think about everything that has happened since that day, it definitely feels like it's been a bunch of years, but they flew by in such a blur. I try to think about him being Bryant's age and I can just barely remember bits and pieces.

I'm trying to cherish every moment, I really am. Those days that I'm so frustrated with him I want to scream, I always try to go in his room after he's asleep because I fall in love with him all over again just listening to him breathe. This is one amazing kid God has loaned me, and I am eternally grateful.

This is such a weird age. His teeth are all crooked or falling out. His pants are all ripped at the knees, each and every pair. He is starting to scold me for embarassing him in front of his friends. And yet there are times when I'm reading to him at night that he will throw his arms around me and tell me he loves me so much and I can hear the earnestness in his voice. It's like he's pushing me away with one hand and holding on for dear life with the other. I feel the part of his life that I have control over getting smaller and smaller and it scares me to death.

And yet I know that he has to be free to make mistakes, for learning how to deal with them are what shape us and mold our character. If I could teach him everything from my experience without him having to experience pain, then I would so want to. But would that allow him to grow? Fortunately the choice is not left to me. This is a new phase in trusting God. I know there are many more to come.

Happy birthday, sweet Bradley. Your momma loves you so.

Now THIS I can REALLY get excited about!!! :)

pretty please?

Now this I could get excited about...

March 11, 2007, 11:33 am
Fred Thompson Considers Running
By Kate Phillips
Former Senator Fred Thompson, who now plays a district attorney on “Law & Order,” told Fox News today that he’ll make a decision in the coming months about whether to jump into the field of Republican candidates vying for the 2008 presidential nomination.
“I’m going to wait and see what happens,” Mr. Thompson said. “I want to see my colleagues on the campaign trial, what they say, what they emphasize, whether they can carry the ball next November.”
“I think people are somewhat disillusioned. A lot of people are cynical out there. They’re looking for something different,” he said.
Mr. Thompson, who served as a senator from Tennessee from 1994 until 2003, said he was leaving the door open for a return to the political stage. Political writers in his home state have been reporting in recent days that former Senator Howard Baker has been testing whether there’s support among conservatives for a Thompson run.

written Saturday afternoon, somewhere in San Juan...

Yesterday, I was sailing on the Caribbean Sea all day long. Life was good. So good.

Today, I am sitting in an airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico. We got here at 7:45 a.m., thinking we were in plenty of time for our 9:50 a.m. flight. We realized something was up when we had been waiting in the check-in line for over an hour and were just now getting near the counter. About that time we learned that due to volcanic ash somewhere around Puerto Rico, no Delta flights had arrived, and therefore there were no Delta flights for us to leave on. Fortunately, we were here early enough that we managed to squeeze onto the 3:40 flight, which at last check of Jeff’s phone is supposed to be delayed until 4:15. If it leaves then we will feel fortunate. (As an update, our plane actually left at 5:00 p.m. We did make it onto our Atlanta-Nashville flight at the last possible minute, but our luggage didn't. It was delivered to us Sunday morning.)

This place is obviously packed, as five planes worth of people that were supposed to depart this morning are still sitting here waiting to cram onto the afternoon flights that were already pretty much full. And there is nothing here. No Chili’s, no Outback (yes, Orlando has an Outback), no nothing. Well, there is a random fried chicken restaurant that the line is backed up about two hours for. We went ahead and got ours about 10:25 because Jeff was afraid they were going to run out. I think he was right. We just saw a Jet Blue plane take off. If they can take off, then what the heck is up with Delta?!

Anyway, this day will not ruin the memory of our incredible vacation. After I last blogged, we went to Grenada. We were only there until about 2:00, and we sailed for the island of Bonaire.

Now, being somewhat of a geography geek, I’m ashamed to admit that I had never even heard of this island. But if you ever have an opportunity to go there, definitely take it. The island is absolutely gorgeous. There are only about 14,000 inhabitants, as compared to the 125,000 or so of Aruba. It is so pretty with all the red tin roofs, and just feels calm and relaxed. The beaches aren’t much, but because of that the water is crystal clear. It was amazingly beautiful.

We took an island tour up to the north part of the island. Bonaire is one of only four natural habitats for pink flamingos, and we were able to see a few. Our tour guide, Edgar, informed us that the reason they flock to Bonaire is for the abundance of little baby shrimp, and that it is because they eat these shrimp that their feathers get so pink. The more shrimp they eat, the pinker they get. That’s why the babies are so pale. I did not know that.

Wild donkeys also have the run of the island, which is incredibly desert-like in its vegetation to be an island surrounded by water. But they only get rainfall about three months out of the year, which makes agriculture difficult. The island imports virtually all of its food because hardly anything grows there. Being 60 miles north of Venezuela, it also serves as a repository for all that Hugo Chavez oil. Since the big tankers have a hard time with the shallow shoreline of Venezuela, they pull up to Bonaire and get it from the storage tanks instead. Fascinating stuff.

Our last port day was in Aruba. Since we hadn’t done hardly any shopping, we spent the morning looking for souvenirs to take back to the kids. We planned to take our stuff back to the boat and then head out to the beach, but once we got back on the boat the laziness kicked in and we decided to enjoy the coastline from our favorite spot on the top deck of the ship. We decided that our next cruise we will definitely take a shore excursion and go snorkeling somewhere. But for this trip we were totally content to just hang out and do nothing. There’s a lot to be said for a week of doing nothing. That night was formal night, so here we are all fixed up.

And then, as I said, yesterday was spent sailing north from Aruba to San Juan. I loved that our last day was a full day at sea because it is a 100% stress-free day. We literally laid out up on the top deck all day. The only thing we had to do was pack, but packing to go home from a trip isn’t nearly as hard as packing to go. You pretty much just stuff everything in your bags.

Since we had a 9:50 flight, we got to get off the ship this morning at 7:15, which was really cool until we entered the land of airport darkness. But it could be worse. I’m listening to a child who is as sick as all of us are of being here have a full-fledged screaming tantrum. While this is annoying, at least it’s not my problem. I feel bad for his mom though.

So if you are reading this, then I am home. Our trip was amazing. Since my mom-in-law was at the pediatrician four times and the ER once in her first five days of keeping the kids, I’m thinking it may be the last one we get to go on for quite some time, so I’m going to savor it as long as I can!

Thank you, Gale and Gene and Mom and Dad and Darlene and Brandon!! You made it possible for us to be here and we love you for it.

news from the cruise

I’m e-mailing this post to my blog, so forgive me if it looks weird.  I have no idea how it will show up once I’m done.  This seems the easiest option since I can write everything down and then just log on long enough to send my e-mail to Blogger.  The boat charges 50 cents a minute for Internet access, and it would take way too long and be way too expensive to try and blog the traditional way.  So, sadly, I can not post any pictures right now.  Those will have to wait until I get home.

 

We boarded the Crown Princess about 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.  Our room is on the 10^th floor with a balcony big enough for two lounge chairs, so we have spent a lot of time by ourselves on our little private balcony.  Well, it’s private as long as you stay back close to the door under the 11^th floor balcony.  If we stand at our railing, the people above us can look right down on us and see if they like what we’re eating.  But at least we have the option of staying out of view or being seen, and that’s really nice. 

 

The boat didn’t leave Puerto Rico until almost midnight on Saturday, which was nice because it was a pretty view and it felt like as long as we weren’t moving, our vacation time wasn’t ticking down yet.  But it was also kind of weird to go to dinner and the show knowing that we were still sitting in the same place we’d been since boarding.  Since we were still had access, I found out that evening that whatever Bailey had had passed to Bryant, and he was now throwing up every 30 minutes.  Fortunately, since my mom-in-law knew exactly what it was and had something to fight it with, his was stopped after about 5 hours instead of being the all-day affair it was with Bailey, and didn’t involve a trip to the emergency room.  Thank God for grandmothers!!

 

Anyway, part of the reason we didn’t leave until so late on Saturday is because we were only going to St. Thomas, which is about 50 miles away from San Juan.  We were going so slow that it felt like we were just drifting along.  We were docked by 7:00 a.m.  Since it was our first day on the ship and Jeff and I have been to St. Thomas before, we decided to just stay on the ship.  It was a fabulously relaxing day.  Our view was amazing, because we like to lay out at the highest point of the ship.  We just moved from one side to the next depending on whether we were in the mood for the ocean view or the island view.  Very stressful choices we are making this week!  After getting enough sun, we came down to our cabin and spent the rest of the afternoon either on or balcony or watching a movie in our room.  We decided to try the traditional cruise dining experience this time, and our seating isn’t until 8:15.  We are loving this because it allows us to not feel like we have to rush back to our room and get ready.  Because we are doing the traditional dining, we have the same two servers every night.  Now they know that I want water in my lemon and we want decaf coffee with our dessert so we don’t have to tell them.  It’s just there when we get there.  I know those of you who are experienced cruisers don’t think this is a big deal, but our other two cruises we have done the anytime dining, which is just like showing up at a new restaurant every night, except for the obvious differences like just getting up when you are finished and leaving without receiving a bill. 

 

Yesterday we were in St. Kitts.  Since we’ve never been here, we did decide to walk around a little bit.  It turned out that the view of the island was much prettier from the ship than getting up close and personal, so we didn’t hang out too long.  What was so pretty about the island from the water was the very green meadow-like hillside.  It reminded me a lot of England, which was appropriate since it is a British island.  We walked around a park called Independence Square which used to be a slave market.  Very sobering thought.  We went inside this run-down Catholic church that is still operating, but felt so sad.  The time line of Catholicism on St. Kitts that we read on the wall said that only about 6% of the island is Catholic, which of course sent my mind wandering towards the inclination of the other 94%. 

 

The interesting thing about St. Kitts was that the locals pretty much left us alone to wander.  A lot of times you can’t go five feet without being approached to either buy something or just give them money.  The only person who spoke to me was offering me weed, and it was very much under his breath, much like walking past people in New York City with stolen watches.  I was a little surprised, but the paper the ship had given out said that this would very likely happen and to please not be tempted because there’s nothing they can do about it if the police catch you.  Amazing that people would be so stupid!

 

Yesterday afternoon we had a couples massage – yes, straight out of the Bachelor.  Except our faces were pushed down in the donuts the whole time and we were worked over pretty good by two little Phillipino ladies.  Mine was so cute.  She called me Ann because she said she couldn’t pronounce the Leigh.  I think if it had been spelled Lee or Li she wouldn’t have had a problem, but I didn’t want to push it.  I kept wincing at first until she finally said, “So, you really just want it light?”  I said, “Yes, please!”  After that it was much better.  I’m really such a wimp.

 

We left St. Kitts around 3:00 p.m. and started booking it towards Grenada, where we are this morning.  We had only gone about 7 or 8 knots the two previous nights, and last night we were kicking it at about 22!  There was no doubt that the boat was rocking.  I was amazed watching the servers in the dining room carrying so much food on these trays when I had had a hard time just walking to my seat without hanging on every now and then.  Of course, I was in high heels, which those of you that know me well will not be surprised that I was having trouble walking.

 

So this morning we have arrived in Grenada.  I’m curious about this island, because my youth minister in high school spent two years here as a journeyman missionary.  They call it the spice island, so I think we’re going to see what we can find for Jeff’s kitchen.  We are only here until 2:00, because we have another 450 miles or so to go to reach Bonaire.  Don’t forget to check us out on the web cam, www.princess.com/bridgecams/crown_bridge_cam.html

 

Hope everyone back home is having a fantastic week.  We are doing a whole lot of nothing, which is exactly what we had planned.  It amuses me that older folks still ask us if we are on our honeymoon.  When I tell them we have three kids they always look at us like we must have started really early.  I always feel compelled to tell them how old we are and how long we’ve been married.  The look of shock is hilarious.  But I told Jeff that one day in the not-too-distant future people will no longer think we are on our honeymoon and it will make us sad.  Time has a funny way of doing things to your body that you just can’t help.  But we are here to relax and rejuvenate and reconnect.  So far it’s going just as we planned.

Okay, now for some details. We arrived on this gorgeous island about 2:30 p.m. local time on Wednesday. It took us about an hour to get out of the airport, onto the shuttle, to the Thrifty rental place and finally get our black Jeep Wrangler and be on the road (it's so pretty!) Jeff had already downloaded the coordinates to the Westin Rio Mar in our TomTom, so we just punched it in and were off. We accidentally missed a turn, though, and ended up on a toll road. This would have been fine, but we pulled up to the express lane where you have to have exact change, which we didn't. The lady took Jeff's dollar and casually meandered over to make change. By the time she was back there were about a dozen ticked-off Puerto Ricans blaring their horns at us to move on. It was funny, because if that had happened in America Jeff would have been the one laying on the horn! But all we could do was laugh and drive on.

We arrived at our resort about 4:30 p.m. and our breath was taken away. The hotel we are staying at is located on a couple hundred acres of beach/jungle/mountain territory. There is a mile of private beach nestled back in a little cove. It is simply stunning. Our room is on the back side of the hotel, so we have this view.

Since I have been spending so much time reading Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers lately, I can't help but be reminded of Mt. Sinai and how the Isrealites saw God descend upon it in a pillar of cloud.

Not only is our view gorgeous, but we are right next to the rain forest, so the sounds of birds and all kinds of other creatures fill our room at night. It is amazing.

We were so tired on Wednesday night that we walked around a little bit, had supper, and were literally in bed by 8:30. Unfortunately we had some bizarre ghost in the walls of our room that would rattle the closet door every time someone opened and shut a door in the hall. So Thursday morning we kindly requested a room change and they were gracious enough to accommodate us.

We spent Thursday moving back and forth between the beach and one of the two pools. This was our view late in the afternoon. This pool actually has cushions for the chairs, so we were happy to get to lounge here for a couple of hours.

We had dinner at the main hotel resteraunt Thursday night, and when we got back to the room I called my mom-in-law to check on the kids. That's when I found out that due to a violent day of throwing up since about 9:00 a.m., my Bailey had been taken to the doctor and was now at the emergency room getting rehydrated and given anti-nausea medicine intraveneously. This doesn't sit well with a mommy thousands of miles away and unable to do anything. I'm so thankful for mine and Jeff's parents being able to take complete care of our children in our absence. It is worth its weight in gold to know that even though I'm not there, my baby is in good hands. But I can't wait to see her nonetheless.

Yesterday we decided to hop in the jeep and do a little sightseeing. We drove down to Old San Juan, which is where our ship will be docked today. There is an old, and I do mean old, fort located right at the tip of the cliffs, and we spent an hour or so touring it. The original structure is from the late 1500's, but has been updated over the centuries. The last battle the fort saw was in 1898 during the Spanish-American war. One of the rooms even had cannon fragments in the wall from an American battleship.

The scariest part were all of the tiny little staircases and alcoves where the soldiers would shield themselves from outside attack. This little tunnel was a place where a soldier with a musket would stand at the end and fire out on the sea. For a quasi-claustrophobic like me, I had to do a whole lot of convincing myself to walk down to the end and look out. If the wind hadn't of been blowing so hard, I don't know if I would have been able to do it. But the view was worth a look, even if it was quick!

We ate lunch at Popeye's chicken (don't ask) and stopped by Belz Factory Outlet mall on the way back so Jeff could get another swimsuit. The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging on the beach and by the pool again. We ate dinner at a resteraunt in the hotel called Palio's, wonderful Italian food. But every time we have eaten we have had visions of the food that is to come beginning tonight!

So I need to wrap this up, because Jeff is busy in the room packing up our stuff to head over to the port. We will board our ship around lunchtime, but we won't actually leave port until about 11:00 tonight. We are only going to St. Thomas tomorrow, which is less than 50 miles from here. We are going to be poking through the water tonight!

I don't know if I'll be able to have access to wireless via my laptop on the boat or not, so I may not get to blog about the cruise until after we get back. If not, I hope you enjoy your week. I know I will! :)

Hola from Puerto Rico! After a crazy day of travel, we are finally here. This is the view out back from the hotel lobby. Not planning on blogging very long, because the beach is calling me.

Observations of Puerto Rico from our drive over from the airport - feels like Miami; looks a lot like Nolensville Road. Except for knowing you are a couple of miles from the ocean, and yet seeing these gorgeous mountains on the other side, which is truly a beautiful sight. But we drove past every American fast food resteraunt imaginable, Walgreens, Sam's Club, Office Max. There is even a Belz Factory outlet mall between our hotel and the airport. It was hilarious!

But now we are tucked away in our island resort, and the views are amazing. Jeff is drooling over the three golf courses. I told him he could go try and hook up with a group, but I think he's going to come to the beach with me instead. It's currently 76 degrees at 9:00 a.m., with a forecast of 86.

Hope all of you back at home are surviving the storms. Looks pretty bad on my radar. Thanks to all of you who are pitching in to help the grandparents take care of our children. You are making this vacation a possibility, and we are totally in your debt.

Love and best wishes!

why I need a vacation

Some of the most frustrating words you will ever hear as a mommy are, "It's a phase. He'll grow out of it." That's so not helpful in the moment.

My son is into everything. We call him the destroyer. He pushes, pulls, lifts, climbs, bangs, eats, rips and throws anything and everything he gets his hands on. He has learned how to lift the air vents out of the floor and does so constantly. It's only a matter of time before something valuable gets pitched into the black hole. He's now on the brink of full-fledged walking, and the thought of it alone is exhausting.

But all of that is relatively normal stuff. Not so with the baby bulimia. You see, my child has taken a liking to gagging himself. He sticks his thumb and/or pointer finger all the way in the back of his throat until he chokes. This usually occurs while we're driving down the road and scares me into pulling over unless one of the other kids can assure me that he's simply sticking his finger down his throat again. This has been just annoying and upsetting. But today it has spilled over into maddening. He managed to stick them so far back in his throat that he actually did make himself throw up. A lot. Over the side of the crib onto the floor and everywhere in between. Sorry if you have a weak stomach, but I need to vent.

So, if anyone knows anything about this bizarre behavior, please let me know. The "it's a phase" I got from the nurse at my pediatrician's office is just not cutting it. I need something a little bit more implementative than that. (No, I'm not sure that's a word.)

Maybe I'll just go to Puerto Rico. Grandmas are good for stuff like this.

My Jesus, My Saviour

A couple of years ago I had a friend who was not a believer and had almost no knowledge about what's in the Bible begin to ask questions about my faith and what I believed was the Truth. I was thinking last night that I have no idea who is reading this blog, since only a couple of you write back. ;) So I'm thinking that it's entirely possible that some of you happening upon this site don't know Jesus and may not know why He came to earth and why we who are believers love Him like we do. Back when my friend was asking questions, I sat down and wrote out the following. I hope those of you who don't know Him will be inspired to find out more about the King of Kings, Precious Redeemer, Lamb of God. And for those of you who do know Him, I hope this will remind you of what an amazing God we serve. God bless you all.

The book of Genesis is about the very beginning of God’s relationship to man. The Bible teaches that God is timeless. He has always been. There was never a time where He wasn’t there. He also has many angels, whose purpose is to both serve Him and worship Him. At some point before creation, one of his angels, named Lucifer, decided that he wanted to be equal to God. Isaiah 14:12-14 tells how Lucifer was cast out of Heaven. The Book of Revelation makes reference to the fact that he took 1/3 of the angels with him. These angels were no longer servants of God, but servants of Lucifer, who is also called Satan. They are no longer known as angels, but demons.

So, the first part of Genesis is about when God created the world. It goes through all of the different things that He created. Then in chapter 1, verse 27, you see that He decided to make man. God created us for the same purpose that he created the angels, to have fellowship with Him and to worship Him. However, just like the angels, He also created us with a free will. We can choose for ourselves whether we want to follow Him or not. Otherwise, the love would not be complete. If you only love something because you have no choice, how sincere can that love be?

So like I was telling you the other night, from the very first people God created came the first disobedience. Satan lured Eve into tasting the fruit from the only tree in the garden that God had commanded them not to eat. This again was giving them a choice. They were able to eat from every other tree in the whole place, just not this one particular tree. So, of course, that’s the one they ate from. At that point, man was cut off from God. And starting right then, there had to be restitution for sin. God didn’t stop loving Adam and Eve, but they lost that perfect communion that they had had before they chose to sin. From that point on, every human has been born with a sinful nature. I’m sure you’ve been around your sisters’ kids enough to know this is true. No one has to teach a 2-year-old how to lie. It just comes naturally.

So the rest of Genesis is stories about the first people on earth. Several generations after Adam and Eve, the world had gotten so wicked that God could only find one righteous man and his family. That man was Noah. Because He had decided to destroy the earth, He commanded Noah to build an ark for his family, and then a pair of all the animals as well. I’m sure you are somewhat familiar with that story. Once the flood was over and the waters had receded, God promised to never again destroy the earth by flood, and gave the sign of the rainbow as a promise that that would never happen again.

A few generations later, God chose a man named Abraham to be the father of many nations. All three major religions of the world trace their roots back to Abraham; Jews and Christians through his son Isaac, and Muslims through his son Ishmael. However, the Jews are God’s chosen people. They are special above all others. Abraham’s son, Isaac, had a son named Jacob. Jacob had twelve sons, who became the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel. One of those sons was Joseph, who through a series of unfortunate events ended up a slave in Egypt. Because God looked favorably upon Joseph, he ended up becoming the number two guy in Egypt, just under Pharaoh. When a famine came over the whole Middle East, Jacob’s sons moved all of their families to Egypt at Joseph’s invitation. This is where they grew in number for many years, truly building a nation of Israel (which is what Jacob’s name was changed to.) After Joseph died and time had passed, the new pharaohs didn’t have any reason to want to treat the Israelites favorably, so they were eventually made slaves. The people cried out to God for deliverance, which is where Moses comes in.

Most of the story of Moses is in Exodus. I know you might at least be somewhat familiar with the basics. Moses went to Pharaoh and told him to let the Israelites go. He refused over and over, and God sent plague after plague on Egypt until the last straw. On that last night, he sent an angel of death to kill the firstborn son of every Egyptian family, including the pharaoh's. However, he told the Hebrews (Israelites) how to avoid losing their firstborn sons. They were to kill an innocent lamb and put the blood of that lamb on the doorposts of their homes. When the angel saw the blood, he would “pass over” their homes and the people inside would be safe. This was the very first Passover. And it set the stage for what would happen many hundred years later on a Passover weekend, when the blood of Jesus would be shed for the sins of the entire world.

Well, Pharaoh finally decided to let the Israelites go after this terrible night. The Israelites gathered up all of their stuff and headed out of there. This is called “the exodus.” Pharaoh later changed his mind and chased after them, which is when God parted the waters of the Red Sea and the people crossed over. When the Egyptian army was trying to cross over as well, the waters came crashing back down on them and they were destroyed. While the Hebrews were in the desert, God gave Moses many instructions on how the people were to live. This is what’s known as “the Law.” Part of that law was the very famous Ten Commandments. There were also very detailed instructions on how to make sacrifices to atone for their sins. This always involved the killing of an innocent animal to pay for the sins of the guilty.

OK – to make a long story a tiny bit shorter, Because of disobedience, the Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years but finally ended up in Canaan, which was their Promised Land. This is where modern day Israel is today.

The rest of the Old Testament is stories of the Israelite people rebelling against God, being punished by God, and turning back to God. God loves these people so much, yet they could not remain faithful to Him for very long. The people decided after a while that they wanted a king just like everybody else had, so God let them have a king. They had some really great kings, such as King David, and some really terrible kings as well. But throughout the entire Old Testament, God promises his people a messiah, a savior, a deliverer. They long for him and watch for him. Between the Old Testament and the New Testament are 400 years of silence. God stopped sending prophets to the people, and they didn’t hear audibly from Him for four generations.

In the meantime, the land of Israel came under the rule of several different empires, finally ending with the Romans. They were forced to pay taxes to Rome, send their boys as soldiers and do all of the things expected of Roman subjects. They hated this, and longed for their promised Messiah, who they believed would come in as a military hero and get rid of all the oppressors Israel had been dealing with and they would finally be on top for once. They were not at all looking for, nor expecting, The Prince of Peace.

The first four books of the New Testament -- Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, are also known as the Gospels. “Gospel” means “good news”. Each one of these books tells the story of Jesus from a slightly different perspective. They are all beautiful in their own way, and I recommend that you read all four of them. Jesus Christ was the most amazing person to ever walk the face of the earth. He is so easy to fall in love with just reading about how He treated those he came into contact with, and then seeing what He went through out of His love for us. (By the way, if you haven’t seen Mel Gibson’s movie “The Passion,” it would give you incredible insight into this sacrifice. It’s hard to watch, but an experience you will never forget.)

The basic gist is found in John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life.” God sent Jesus to be the final sacrifice to save us from our own sins. This is what makes Christianity different from all other religions. Every other religion talks about what you have to do to get to God. Christianity talks about what God did to get to us. It was an unbelievable sacrifice on His part, and yet He would have done it even if it was only for one person. He did it just for me. He did it just for you. God loves YOU so much that He sent his only son to die on your behalf, to pay the price for your sins so that you wouldn’t have to. He did it so that you could spend eternity in Heaven with him, instead of having to serve out your own sentence of death for the rest of time. This is why they call it Amazing Grace.

So, the rest of the Bible talks about the beginning of the Christian church, and there is a wealth of fabulous information packed in those pages. But there is plenty of time to read and absorb and study the Bible. You don’t have to do that before you can decide to follow Christ. The fact that you are searching is evidence that God's Spirit is working in your life, seeking to draw you to Himself. This is not something that mankind does naturally, because we seek to be the answer to all the questions in our own lives.

To respond to this drawing of God, the only requirement there is, is that you confess to God that you need Him. Confess that you have sinned and that you need and gratefully receive His forgiveness. Thank Him for the precious gift that He is freely offering. Invite Him to be the ultimate authority of your life and acknowledge that He is your saviour. Ephesians 2:8-9 says that it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith. It goes on to say that salvation is a gift from God, and not something that you can work for. If we could do something to earn it, then that would give us a chance to feel like we are somehow responsible for it, and that would just feed our pride. The best part of salvation is that there is absolutely nothing that we can do to earn it. Isn’t that a blessing? It’s just there for the taking. All you have to do is ask.

You asked me the other night if I feel guilty all the time, and wouldn’t it just be better to not know that I’m offending God, or something like that. I can tell you that nothing could be farther from the truth. Yes, there are times when I feel convicted that I acted in a way that I shouldn’t have, but that just gives me an opportunity to confess my sin to God and thank Him once again for his grace, that he could love someone like me. I mean, it’s not like you never feel guilty about something you have done, is it? You just think of it as your conscious. It’s actually very freeing to just be able to admit to God that I screwed up once again, and to know that he’s ready to forgive me and forget all about it.

Once you invite Christ into your life, the best part is that He never leaves. No matter what you do. Romans 8:38-39 says, “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” I believe that with all my heart.

Now, here is the part that also makes Christianity different from all other religions. John 14:6 says, “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” Christians get ridiculed for being exclusive. We are hated because we believe that there is only one path to salvation. But the fact is, if you believe the Bible is God’s word, then this is what God said. He didn’t make it difficult. He just made it specific. You either choose to believe that Jesus is who He says He is and accept that personal gift, or you don’t. But God desperately wants you to choose Him.

I pray that if this is the first time you've thought about Jesus as God's gift to humanity that this will set you on an investigative course and you will begin to seek out the truth for yourself. You will not be disappointed in what you discover about Him. And it just might change your life.

I was getting ready to blog about how it must be a slow news day when cable news has a split channel between K-Fed going to a custody hearing and the ongoing saga of who gets Anna Nicole's body. But before I began I linked over to the Living Proof blog and read this fantastic post by Beth's youngest daughter, Melissa. She saved me a lot of time and said it much better than I could have dreamed of. Hope your thoughts are as provoked as mine!

Now I can get back to my Sunday school lesson...

Serenity now...

I'm leaving for the Caribbean in 5 1/2 days. My mother-in-law will be here on Tuesday. On Saturday we found out that Bailey had strep. No big deal, happens about once a month. She got the antibiotic shot and we're good to go.

Tuesday, Bradley started running a fever. He was diagnosed with strep. But due to hearing Bailey's elaborate tale of screaming at the top of her lungs when she got the shot (which she actually did), my son was shaking in his boots from the time we got out of the car that he was going to get that shot. So I agreed to let him take the oral antiobiotic, which he started Tuesday at lunch. Yesterday he was feeling fine, looking great. Puerto Rico, here I come.

Today he woke up with a fever, headache, stomach ache and cough. Yep, we are now infested with influenza B. I'm starting to panic just a little bit.

Fortunately Bryant had the flu shot in January, so he got his booster this morning and I think he'll be fine. None of the rest of us got the flu shot because we never get the flu. I realize how stupid that sounds now.

So my sweet pediatrician wrote my entire family, sans Bryant, prescriptions for Tamaflu. $200 later, I'm shoving a "preventive" drug in us all, praying with all my heart that none of the rest of us come down with this. I just have a bad feeling about getting the flu in San Juan, or even worse, on a cruise ship! So if you hear stories in a couple weeks about the Crown Princess having to dock due to a flu epidemic, you'll know what happened.

If you love us, and this isn't too selfish of a request, can I ask you to pray that this illness will be confined to Bradley and that he will be rid of it as quickly as possible? I pray that he will be fever free by the time Jeff's mom gets here and that Bailey won't show any signs by then either so I can decontaminate this place.

Next year, flu shots all around.

Please pray for Abel Tyson. This is a link to the Tyson family's Caring Bridge web page. Their story will break your heart, and yet bless you beyond measure. This family used to live just down the street from me, next door to the Abbotts, before they had Abel. I had no idea what they were going through until just recently. I'm warning you before you read their journal, you will not be able to remain detached from their plight. I hope you will use this as an opportunity to take part in a miracle by interceding for this precious baby boy.

When I'm faced with people who are going through pain so unimaginable that I can't comprehend how it doesn't break their spirit, and yet through it all continue to bless God rather than curse Him, my faith is increased. I hope yours will be too.

At the risk of sounding politically incorrect...

Is this man black or not? I mean, he calls himself an African-American. In this picture he looks black. But I've seen some pictures where he looks really white. He's a democrat, so he's probably black, since everybody knows no self-respecting person of color ever crosses over to the dark side.

Seriously, I have been amazed by the debate in the media over whether or not he's black. It just seems so racist. Isn't the whole definition of racism paying more attention to the color of one's skin than who they are as a person? But Senator Obama is clearly going to have to deal with the issue of whether or not he's black before he can start winning people over with his policies.

First, the facts. Senator Obama is the son of a Kenyan immigrant (black) and a white woman from Kansas. So obviously he is biracial. But apparently to some, that makes you black. Kind of like being half Jewish. But the fact that he doesn't descend from African slaves has some political leaders saying that he's not truly African-American, because that criteria is apparently embedded within the classification. I really didn't know this before.

Senator Joe Biden thinks he's black. In fact, he praised him for being the first bright, articulate clean mainstream African American presidential candidate. Holy cow, he actually said that. Apparently this didn't go over too well with Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, which makes me giggle just a little bit. I apologize.

We've all heard that Clarence Thomas, Colin Powell and Condi Rice aren't really black because they are sell-outs to their race. Even though Clarence Thomas came from a tough upbringing in South Carolina after his father abandoned his family and he and his mom had to go live with her father, helping him make ice deliveries. Condi grew up in Birmingham during the height of the Civil Rights movement, yet somehow this doesn't count towards her blackness. Colin Powell grew up in Harlem, and yet he's discredited because he attained his success through the military. And, oh yeah, they are all Republicans.

And yet, we've also been told for years that Bill Clinton was the first black president. What does that even mean? Here's a very white guy from Arkansas, of all places, and he gets called the first black president? How insulting is that to people like Senator Obama who actually do strive to be the nation's first black president? (Incidentally, on this issue I actually agree with Maxine Waters, which will most likely never happen again so it's worth mentioning.)

Anyway, my point is that it frustrates me that race is still such an issue. All the pundits are hypothesizing about whether or not the country is ready for a black president. I'm offended by that. I have to tell you, I like Barack. He seems like a genuinely nice person, certainly intelligent and well-spoken. The only problem I have with him is that I disagree with his politics nearly 100%. I think on Iraq he is just dead wrong. He is one of the most liberal senators in Congress. But if I agreed with him politically, I'd vote for him in a heartbeat. My gosh, if I was a liberal and I had the choice between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton?!? What a no-brainer.

And yet if by some reason Senator Obama does win the Democratic nomination (although he may have to pry it out of Mrs. Clinton's cold, dead fingers) the race card will be fully on the table. As happened last fall when Harold Ford, Jr., was running to be the junior senator from the state of Tennessee, I will be told that I'm not voting for him because he's black, rather than the much more obvious reason that he opposes me politically in almost everything I stand for. I really don't want to go through that again.

You have to give him props, though. He's got an incredibly steep hill to climb if he wants to beat Senator Clinton out of the nomination. I just hope somebody's got his back.

How funny is this?

HOUSE HEARING ON 'WARMING OF THE PLANET' CANCELED AFTER ICE STORM HEARING NOTICE Tue Feb 13 2007 19:31:25 ETThe Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality hearing scheduled for Wednesday, February 14, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. in room 2123 Rayburn House Office Building has been postponed due to inclement weather. The hearing is entitled “Climate Change: Are Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Human Activities Contributing to a Warming of the Planet?” The hearing will be rescheduled to a date and time to be announced later. DC WEATHER REPORT:Wednesday: Freezing rain in the morning. Total ice accumulation between one half to three quarters of an inch. Brisk with highs in the mid 30s. North winds 10 to 15 mph...increasing to northwest 20 to 25 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows around 18. Northwest winds around 20 mph.

Hallmark's Got Nothing on my Babies

My son brought me breakfast in bed this morning. Jeff said he'd been planning it since last night. He woke up and fixed his own breakfast, made his bed and got dressed. Then he fixed me some cereal and donuts and coffee. It was so unbelivably sweet. This is the valentine he made me. "Roses are red, Violets are blue, Know one could have a mom like you!" (I'm going to assume that was a compliment.) You have to love the arrow cut-out. I adore this child.

Not to be outdone, my sweet Bailey brought this to me as we were getting ready to leave for school. I asked her if that said "I Love You," and she readily agreed! I love that she is experimenting with letters, and I can see each day that she is getting closer and closer to cracking the code. She'll be reading like crazy before long. I can practically see the lightbulbs over her head going off.

A couple of nights ago, Bradley brought these pre-Valentines to dinner and hid them under each of our plates. The duck was for Bailey, the heart for me and the football for Jeff. Each one had a flap that when you lifted up read, "I Love You." Bradley has such a loving heart. It's things like this that make me realize what a true gift being a Mommy is, and how no matter how frustrated I get with these little guys when they misbehave, the rewards far outweigh any momentary troubles.

Thank you, God, for Bradley, Bailey and Bryant. I couldn't ask for any better Valentines than these!

I was reminded this weekend that there are people in America who feel that there is a rational comparison to be made between our President, George W. Bush, and one of history's most evil and demented dictators of all time, Adolf Hitler. As preposterous as this sounds, it is just indicative of the level of hatred that some in our country have for him.

When I woke up yesterday morning, Good Morning America was running a story about Mahmoud Ahmadenijad's rally speech marking the 28th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Tehran when Iran became an Islamic Republic. Amidst shouts and chants of "Death to America," the Iranian president insisted that Iran would not be deterred from its efforts to achieve complete nuclear capabilities in the enrichment of uranium.

From The National Post :

Ahmadinejad said Iran’s nuclear technology advances will gradually be made public over the next two months until April 9. He did not explain what would happen on that date but it marks the one-year anniversary of Iran’s announcement that it had enriched uranium for the first time.

So, let's see, Mr. Ahmadenijad has stated on repeated occasions that his goal is to see a world free from Israel, Israel wiped off the map, the Zionists pushed into the sea, etc., etc. All you have to do is listen to his words (when he's not speaking directly to the American media) and you will hear what his true goals for destroying all Jews are, not to mention his plans for the United States, since we are the Great Satan.

Can anyone imagine what Hitler would have done had he had Mahmoud's opportunities? There are approximately 5.4 million Jews living in Israel as of the end of 2006. Imagine that Hitler had that many Jews already centralized in a strategic location. Then imagine that his country developed nuclear technology that would allow him to create fissile cores for nuclear warheads. Now imagine that all Hitler would have had to do was load up some nuclear missiles and send them 1,000 miles to where all these Jews lived and destroy all 5 1/2 million of them in one day. No messy gas chambers, no spending time and resources on all those ghettos and long train rides. Really, wouldn't that have been much simpler?

Can anyone imagine that Adolf Hitler wouldn't have jumped at the chance to have nuclear capability and a country full of Jews just sitting there waiting on him? I can't.

We have a real live Adolf Hitler right here on the world stage. And his name is not George W. Bush. Pay attention to what this man says and does. He believes that the end of the world is coming and that it is his privelege to help usher it in with the complete annhilation of America and Israel. He longs to see our streets run with blood. I'm not making this up. Just read what he says. Evil exists. It's up to us to decide what we're going to do about it. Will we rise up and protect ourselves and one of our closest allies from the threat of nuclear weapons? Or will we wait and see if he really means what he says. My fear is that by the time we decide to act we will be too late.

So if you hear our President begin to talk about taking military action against Iran, don't roll your eyes. Don't call him a cowboy and say he's trying to take over the world. He knows so much more than we do, and yet how much worse could it possibly be? I don't want to go to war with another nation any more than the next guy. But in a situation where to be wrong is to be dead, is it worth the risk of waiting?

And besides, TV could never be as entertaining as this.

Things I Learned on my TV Fast

1) Most of what I was watching I really don't miss.
2) My nights are much more relaxed when I'm not trying to keep from "getting behind" on my shows.
3) My son is much more open about what's really going on in his life at night right before he goes to sleep. Whether this is stalling or just when his spirit gets quiet doesn't really matter, because his sharing with me is all that I care about.
4) Due to my willingness to linger in her room a little longer for a few nights in a row and answer some pretty intense spiritual questions for a 5-yr-old, my daughter will now be joining us in the kingdom of Heaven. Welcome your new sister in Christ, Bailey!

Perhaps this is the major reason I wasn't supposed to be watching TV that first week, that the Lord knew I would need to be spending some extra time with her and really listening to her questions. That's definitely reason enough.

But I think also He was just trying to get my attention, get me to refocus a little bit. Before, when I might feel like reading the Word, if it was a Monday night I would probably decide to watch 24 first. Then if I got tired I would go to bed and forget what I'd been planning to read. No matter how you look at it, this is putting TV above God, and that is clearly idol-making. (Speaking of Idol, that's one show I haven't missed even a little bit. Sorry, Simon.)

So, you're asking yourself, is she watching TV again or not? Yes, I am, a little bit. After several lengthy discussions with the Father, I've concluded that the TV itself was not the problem. I don't think that as a believer I have to renounce everything that brings enjoyment that isn't specifically about God. (Think oreos, for instance.) I enjoy watching 24 because it is very relevant in these times we live in. (As a complete rabbit trail, there was a fabulous op ed in the Wall Street Journal this week written by a muslim-American in defense of the show. It's a must read.) Anyway, the plot twists are amazing for a mystery, action-adventure lover like me. The problem was strictly in my priorities. I think we've fixed this for now. And I'm going to be very careful not to sink back into my old ways. If I can't keep from doing this, then it may have to go for good.

So, my friends, please hold me accountable. If I start to act like a nuclear bomb actually has already gone off in California, or begin to work 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42 into regular conversation, just slap me! And thanks for helping me think this through.

I'm beginning to obsess about my upcoming vacation. Which is funny, since my husband has been obsessing about it for months now.

This picture is the current view (as I write this) off the Crown Princess bridge cam. So exactly four weeks from right now, this should be my view. I can't wait!

The sad thing is, exactly five weeks from now I will still be obsessing and checking the web cam to see where I was last week at that time. Then it's just depressing. But for now, I'm really glad the ship has this camera. Technology is so amazing. This whole concept would have seemed totally Jetsonesque not too many years ago.

Because I'm a geek, I'm going to leave the kids a map of our route for them to trace each day that we are gone. It will be fun for them to be able to pull up the web cam and see where we are, too. In case anybody wants to check in with us the first week of March, just click here!

This week has been nothing but doom and gloom from our friends in the media that the end of the world is upon us. Interesting. Why is the end of the world upon us? Is it because, as Jesus says in Matthew 24:3-8, we hear of wars, rumors of wars, nations rising against nation, famines and earthquakes? (Well, hold that thought on the famines.) No, the thing we have to fear most is, of course, global warming. But lets tack on the part we're really supposed to be upset about so as to feel shame, guilt and America-loathing, man-made global warming.

So I have decided that I am going to start searching the Bible to see if there is any mention of global warming. So far, the closest I can get is the part about famines, and then an interesting line in Luke 21:11 about fearful events and great signs from heaven, which seem like they could be interpreted in a number of different ways. As I said, I haven't fully researched this yet, so if any of you have insight into this, please feel free to share.

My thoughts swirled yesterday when I saw a headline on GMA that said something like, "Will global warming kill us all?" My immediate reaction: where is the headline that says, "Is Mahmoud Ahmadenijad planning to kill us all?" Why wouldn't they post that story? Because the answer is yes. More like yes with an expletive attached. How do we know this? BECAUSE HE IS SAYING IT EVERY DAY. And yet we completely ignore him. Surely he doesn't mean what he says. No one can be that crazy. Hmmm...

So instead of focusing on the real, existential threat that is staring our nation in the face, we sit and fret about global warming. My personal thought, in case you are interested, is that it is very possible that the earth is warming up. If you look at history, this happens on a cyclical basis. Simply pull out the old farmer's almanac and look back at the past couple of hundred years and this will become apparent. Do we have anything to do with this? Not one bit.

Supposedly we are destroying our planet by burning fossil fuels and eating out of styrofoam (although we don't hear much about the ozone layer anymore, do we?) What about the industrial revolution? The amount of pollution emitted from the factories during that time period dwarfed what's going on now, and yet somehow the polar bears survived.

The media is completely manipulating this story with their "unanimous scientific expert consensus." We are not really told who these guys are, just that they are the most important scientists and that they all agree that life is over as we know it. All of the scientists and meteorologists that completely disagree with this theory, and there are a lot of them, are 100% discredited and blown off as political hacks.

This whole thing reminds me of the month or so leading up to 9/11. If you remember, the big story of the day was one we are familiar with, stem cell research. The president was getting all kinds of flack for being against stem cell research, when of course the fact was that he was against federal funding for stem cell research, not a ban on the science. But I digress. The point is, we were all in a tizzy over an important issue, but a fairly insignificant one in light of the fact that a group of terrorists were about to hit us at home and completely rock our world.

We are not living in the dark any more. We know there are enemies out there that intend to do us harm. They are not hiding this fact. Mahmoud Ahmadenijad couldn't be making his intentions any clearer. And yet, because we are a war-weary nation, we are ignoring this very real threat and focusing on something that we can't do anything about.

As a believer, I can read how the end of times is going to play out. And right now I'm not finding anything about penguins and polar bears. But if this gets you thinking about how much we need to do before Jesus comes back, then at least use it to spur you towards making sure everyone you know has heard the truth about the Truth. Yes, there is an end coming. But for those who believe, it will only be the beginning.