Ice storm

Been a little cold here over the last few days... as in, negative degrees and windy. Yuck. 

It does, however, make for some gorgeous pictures (compliments of Bethany). 

Charles Edward Ketner

Charles Edward “Chuck” Ketner, 62, died on December 9, 2008, another fallen soldier in the war against cancer. Born on April 2, 1946 in Jacksonville, IL to Charles Albert and Marjorie Doris (Johnston) Ketner. Spent his wonder years in Polo, IL. Graduated from Rockford West High School and the University of Wisconsin-Plattville. Married Mary (VanLandingham) on October 6, 1978. Loved playing golf at Rockford Country Club; fishing in Waupaca, WI; riding his red custom motorcycle on the area highways and byways; running his business, the Rockford Carpet Company; and spending time with family and friends.

He will be missed by his wife, Mary; his children, Charles A. Ketner, Elisabeth E. Key (Harry Mallin), Tiffiny A. (Paul) McGivern; his grandchildren, Francesca Mallin, Paul McGivern, Michael McGivern, Katherine McGivern, John McGivern; his siblings, Sue Ellen (Al) Orian, David Ketner (Chris Swenson), Sally (Dan) Hogan; mother, “Dodie”; father and mother-in-law, John and Jean VanLandingham; and best friends for 46 years, Hazen Tuck and Neil Fischer. He will join his father, “Charlie”, on the other side of the rainbow bridge.

Visitation on Saturday, December 13 from 2-4 P.M. at Rockford Country Club. Private family prayer service. In lieu of flowers, please contribute to the charity of your choice.

Mr. Mischief Returns

(Apparently Trey wanted to freshen up his feet with baby powder.)

He found my mascara - most of the bottle was in his hair.

What a Little Bird

I found The Mincing Mockingbird on Etsy awhile ago, and have really been wanting an excuse to buy some of her magnets. They are hilarious! 

Her descriptions alone make me laugh - not to mention the expressions of the birds. Love it!

Sisters, sisters

Don't be mad at me, Em, but I had to show off your goods!!

Doesn't her display look cute?

Chase kept getting in the mix.... lucky he's so cute.

An Ancient Rivalry

Em and Luke came to visit this past weekend, and we had such a good time with them. (Thanks for coming, guys!) Em and I had an open house together, and she had her cards and prints out - they looked fantastic!

They brought their new Devon Rex kitty with them, and we tried to introduce Chase to Rinkle. I'm not sure how it would have gone if we would have just let them go all weekend (Rinkle spent some time in the garage), but we tried to put them together twice, and there was LOTS of hissing!

And hiding.

(P.S. Don't judge me for the thick layer of dust under the bookcase.) 

Illusion of Neutrality or a Glorious Hypocrisy

I read about Pleasant Grove City, UT v. Summum case a couple of weeks ago in World magazine and heard about it again on NPR the other day. I think cases like this are interesting because it brings out underlying presuppositions that aren't usually talked (or even thought) about. The shallowness of American theology rears it's ugly head here. We pretend that we think all religions are created equal, and that anyone who thinks one religion is superior to another is both arrogant and ignorant (i.e. ignorant of the "fact" that it's impossible to know anything about God). Then something like the “Seven Aphorisms of Summum” shows up and wants to join the party.

If the city says that the 10 C's monument reflects the views of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Summum folks can say that their group should be able to have their monument put up. If they say that the 10 C's monument (after donation) reflects the city governments views, then there's (supposedly) a violation of church and state. I'm sure the arguments are going to get more nuanced than this, but it may end up coming down to something like: "the 10 C's, unlike the Seven Aphorisms, are interwoven in the foundation of Western Civilization" or "The Fraternal Order of Eagles has longstanding ties to the community" (which I think was the original argument).

The problem is, even though this case is going to the highest court of the land to be scrutinized by our finest legal minds and ought to bring about deep, probing insights into religious epistemology, what we're probably going to get is legal technicalities which obscure the real issue: Cities should be able to reject monuments like the Seven Aphorisms of Summum because they are heretical, hurtful, and false.

It's either an illusion of neutrality that's going to ultimately end up hurting us as our public religious sphere gets more and more absurd, or a glorious hypocrisy which allows us to have a civil, productive society despite fundamental religious diversity.

I'm sure Nate and Andy will tell me that I'm just an ignorant layperson.

Screamy T Welcome

Screamy T's Training Techniques

Tree Huggin'

I don't consider myself a radical environmentalist. I did a 6th grade report on the dangers the spotted owl faces, I recycle, and I compost. I understand the importance of good stewardship of our environment, but I have no intention of making it some sort of religion like most college-educated white people. Still, when I witnessed the amount of packing that Borders used to send us two 6-packs of Mister Men books, I couldn't help but feel a little guilty. Check it out:

(By my rough estimate, that's about 60 square feet of packing paper)

What a waste. I'm glad some companies are doing something about it. I don't care if it's just a marketing ploy. That's one of the nice things about capitalism i.e., if values change (in this case customers hating the wasteful, bulky packaging) people that want to make money change their policies.

Thank You, Onion

The last 30 seconds of this video are hilarious. Yes we can!


Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

Tackle

Jay is teaching Trey how to play football.... I don't know much about football (sorry, Mom) , but I think he needs to work a little more on defense.

No.. no... no... NOOOOOO!!!!

Political depression has set in. We're about to elect the most leftist, pro-abortion candidate to ever hold the office of the presidency (and evangelical Christians are actually voting for him). I've had 2 Smithwicks (sorry, K-Bam) - they didn't help. I'm about to have a vanilla milkshake which I don't think is going to help. We read Romans 8 after dinner, that actually did help.

Anyhow, the current situation, coupled with many recent half-jokes about moving to Dubai made me think of this article from LarkNews: In face of declining U.S. morality, Christians emigrate to Muslim countries. Genius.

Halloween/Reformation Day fun

We've been really getting some good use out of the scrubs from Aunt Katie & Uncle Andy! Trey got the hang of Trick-or-Treating ("tiioteee") after a few houses, and had a great time. We went to visit some friends and neighbors, which was the best part!

Trey and "Lala":

Max, Jack, and Trey - don't you love the elephant costumes?


And the best part....

Now I Know How Michelle Obama Felt

Keeping up the trend of posting when I buy new things...

Michelle Obama drew headlines a while back when she said that "for 'the first time' in her adult life, 'she was proud of America.'" Well, now I think I know the sentiment.

We got our new ESV Study Bible in the mail a few days ago. It's basically the normal English Standard Version, but with TONS of footnotes, maps, cross-references, artistic renderings of buildings and cities, short articles on historical backgrounds, etc. It's jam-packed. It would be wrong of me to say there isn't anything evangelical I'm grateful for, but it has to be admitted that sites like purgatorio and LarkNews wouldn't exist if there wasn't buckets of tripe, shysters, canoodlers, and miscreants in the mix.

I'm excited about this too:

Hitchens/Wilson sneak peak from LEVEL4 on Vimeo.

UPDATE: My wife had no idea what the above video was in reference to. Douglas Wilson (Christian pastor and general skylarker) and Christopher Hitchens (latest atheist with a British accent) did an on-line debate hosted by Christianity Today called Is Christianity Good for the World? They ended up writing a book together (not sure if it's just the debate republished or not). To promote the book, they did a number of appearances together over the past week or so. It sounds like they got along really well. This post is in reference to the video.

The Saggy Cowboy

And his faithful dog.

Sippy cup

Who knew the top of a sippy cup could be so hysterical? Boys....

Freebie

I just found this coupon for a free tall latte, cappuccino, espresso, coffee, or tea at Barnes & Noble!

And they say you can't get somethin' for nothin'.

Sunday afternoon

It was cooooold at the park!



Jay is teaching Trey how to play tackle football... great idea, eh?


A great way to end Sunday afternoon...

A little help???

Yes, this is our child stuck in a beer box and eating a cold hot dog for dinner. How did YOU get some time to relax this weekend?

*For you cynics out there, he sat in that box on his own accord. I promise.

This one. NO! THIS one!

Do you like how Jay and I keep fighting over the look of this blog? Every time I get on it looks different. This blue-ness is Jay's. Too much color! Maybe we should have a vote. But I win.

Say What?

It's sentences like this from this weeks JAMA that keep me from reading as much primary medical literature as I ought:

The minimum OR detectable with 80% power in a 2-sided test with an level of .05 was 1.48 for a rare binary covariate of prevalence 1% and reached a minimum of 1.08 for an exposure of prevalence 50%.

Thanks, guys, that's helpful. This is why I stick to a handful of resources and pray to God that they don't sell out (or haven't already sold out) to the man.

Been awhile...

Well, my poor little Mac didn't make it. As much as it hurts ($$$) to replace it, they came out with the new MacBook the day we decided to go for it. I have two shows in the next few weeks, and really need to get to my inventory, which sped up the decision...


So besides that,here are some things have gone on in the last month or so that I haven't posted on...

1) Jay and I took some of the singles small group and went to the Desiring God conference in Minneapolis during the last weekend of September. "The Power of Words and the Wonder of God" was the title of the conference, and the speakers discussed the absolutely amazing significance and impact of words in all aspects of life. It was refreshing, encouraging, and convicting - even more significant than I anticipated. You can watch or listen to the messages here, and I highly recommend it.


There were TONS of free books in our registration packet! Woo hoo!



Bethany met John Piper after the conference!


2) We're doing 'Don't Waste Your Life' for our small group study this year, and it is pretty intense. But so, so good. More on that later, I think.

4)I was tagged! So, Erin, I've never been tagged before, but I'll try my best. I'm supposed to list 7 random things about myself, then tag some other people. Hm. I'm really bad at stuff like this, so feel free to skip the rest.

1. I used to wear colorful, 70's polyester pants and jackets from Goodwill to high school. Yeah, I know - yikes. I think I thought I was being artsy, or indie, or unique, or something. I don't know. What was I thinking? I also wore Dr. Marten boots with my homecoming dress!
2. Going on the high school theme (my reunion is next month, it's on the brain), I will admit that I was on the bowling team. (eep!) Seriously, the chess team is much cooler...
3. My major in college was biology with a minor in psych, and the plan was to go to med school. Ha to that.
   
4. I would love, love to go back to school for counseling, and I think it would be fascinating to integrate counseling with art/music therapy.
5. Speaking of counseling (this list is supposed to be random, right?) I just read a book by Ed Welch called "Running Scared." This was one of the most helpful books I have ever read on dealing with anxiety. If you are a worrier, I highly recommend his book.
   
6. I'm *still* trying to learn to play the guitar. Someday, someday.
   
7. I wish I could draw like my little sister. She is so good at it, and so patient!
   

So this tagging business is going on like crazy, and one can be thinking, "I hope I don't get tagged!" (ahem), and yet get tagged anyway. So I'll tag with no obligation: Angie, Katie, Ashley, and Genese.

One Issue Voting

Here is article by Robert George pretty much sums up why I couldn't fathom voting for Senator Obama.

And here is an article by John Piper explaining why it's OK if people call me names like a "One Issue Voter."

J. Peterman, Eat You Heart Out

"It's a hot night. The mind races. You think about your knife, the only friend who hasn't betrayed you, the only friend who won't be dead by sunup. Sleep tight, mates, in your quilted chambray nightshirts."

I'm not sure where I was. Perhaps at work, up late in the MICU. Or maybe I was at home, ignoring my child's cries for attention. It was over a year ago. All I remember is that I was looking around on J. Mark Bertrand's website when I saw it. It was the most beautiful material possession I'd ever laid eyes on. It was... A Saddleback Leather briefcase.



Thanks, Mom & Dad!

Genius

I guess this is what other kids did while the rest of were trying not to fail out of our first year of medical school.



HT: Melissa

Ackerman Farms, Part II

Oh yeah, and the orchard. A new discovery: Honey Crisp Apples. They taste like candy! We picked a bunch and brought them home.... mmmmm.....

Ackerman Farms

Trey and I went to a local farm/shop/orchard with our friends Angie & Owen last week. We had such a great time - and it was a gorgeous day to be outside! There was lots to do at the farm, but the big hit of the day were the stray kittens.





Apparently the kittens will even eat Goldfish crackers!

Soggy Pumpkins

The Tuck Family's 3rd Annual Morton Pumpkin Festival took place two weekends ago... and what a weekend! (I know, I haven't blogged in awhile.) This is the longest we have lived anywhere, and we love it! Carol, Hazen, Em & Luke came to visit to celebrate Jay's birthday and the festival; we had a great time despite Ike trying to dampen (or drown) our weekend.

Jay's 31st birthday was on Friday the 12th, and we celebrated by going out to dinner with Hazen and Carol, eating delicious desserts, and Jay opened his presents. I'll let him blog more about that... he has lots of adoring words for one of his gifts.

Saturday morning Hazen, Jay, Luke, Em & I got up early to run the Pumpkin Fest 10K. Em & I had never run a 10K race before, so we were a little nervous. The race officials said that the course was flat. Ha. This is how fast I was: Jay stopped about 50 yards before the finish line to help someone who had collapsed - examined the guy, did some medical stuff, blah blah blah, and BEAT me. Ahem. But it felt good to finish a 10K, and we all really did have fun. Here are Em & Luke sportin' our new race shirts while watching the parade:

We tried to make it to the tent in time for pumpkin pancakes, but got there just as it was closing. We had to settle for pumpkin doughnuts and pumpkin ice cream instead. Mmmmm...

It was soggy all weekend (you should have seen people trudging through the muddy grounds), but the rain held off long enough for the parade.... and long enough for Trey to figure out (well, for Nonnie to teach Trey) how to stuff the parade candy in his pockets!





After the parade it rained, and rained, and rained. Luke and Em were staying in the basement, and woke up Sunday morning to a flood. It was ankle deep in my craft room - so sad. What a great weekend to have visitors... well, for us! ;) Everyone went to work - we couldn't have dealt with the mess by ourselves... what a job. We won't put you to work next time you visit, guys - we promise!

Kid #1 or Kid #2...

... I wonder who had more fun at the park?