Reformation Day

sola scriptura
sola fide
sola gratia
solus Christus
soli Deo gloria

Scripture alone
faith alone
grace alone
Christ alone
glory to God alone

Rocktober

October has been a good month for us. I always mean to keep up better, but sometimes I get tired of just posting what we do. I like more variety, but then sometimes my creativity is staunched by, say, exhaustion, excessive vomiting, or laziness. I do want to mention some of the exciting things that have happened this month.

1. My niece Alli was born on October 12. She is a precious thing, and I am so glad to welcome her to our world. She weighed 6 lbs. 7 oz. and was 19 inches long. Alli has lots of dark hair, and I can't wait to hold her again. (We've been fighting colds and didn't want to get her sick.) Congrats to Greg, Kelli, and Jackson!

2. Our cat, Wally reappeared after a month and a half of being dead. Really, I thought he was a goner. I was away the night he came back and when Jay told me I was completely astounded. I just kept saying, "no way." Well, it was a miracle in my book. Ruthie was so excited.

3. That same night we had two weed-eaters, a blower, and a circular saw stolen from our garage. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. So much for lawn maintenance. We have learned to keep our garage door shut. We had several things stolen at our old house, so this is not new, but we were sort of naive in thinking we were in a "safer" neighborhood. (Not that that was an issue in our decision to move at all.)

4. The day at the beach. It was wonderful. It brought back all those lazy carefree days of my youth that I spent on Navarre Beach. It brought back the day Jay proposed on the beach, and the times my brother and I drove down to the beach when a hurricane was coming to see what it was like. I have grown up on some beach or other, so I feel the pull, and I love " going down to the sea again." This day the butterflies were flying all about, stopping by on their way down to South America. They were delightful, especially for Ruthie and my niece Annabelle, who loves butterflies.

5. The trip to Meridian, MS. My aunt, uncle, and two cousins live in Meridian, and it is one of the dearest places to my heart because I spent time there every summer with Nanny, who passed away several years ago. I wrote about it the last time we went which was March of 2006 (I think). It was a fun, nostalgic trip including a fall festival (where I won brownies in the cake walk), a ride on the famous 1890s carousel, a visit to the train station (where my grandfather has a brick to commemorate his time working for the railroad), my cousin's daughter's soccer game, eating out at the Fish Camp on the Chunky River, and much good conversation and laughter with my family. My brother and I also found the "Monkey Tree" where we used to climb with my cousin Lang. It is a huge wisteria, the biggest one I have ever seen, growing up and around two large magnolias. We would ride our bikes there, after stopping by the corner gas station to drink an IBC root beer on the curb, and climb all around in the twisty vine.

Conversation with a 30 Year Old Husband

I think I was talking about how much I love quiche, and how it would be really good for breakfast sometime. Jay does not like quiche. Thus began one of our strangest, almost fighting conversations about a food item made of eggs and cheese and flaky crust; and maybe in a vegetarian version broccoli, or in a meat-eater version, bacon or crabmeat. Simple elements, but they combine and threaten to tear families apart.

(As best I can remember it, the conversation went as follows)

J: I can't stand quiche.
M: I don't see how you don't like it, it's made of eggs, cheese and it could be bacon. You love those things. Especially bacon.
J: I just don't like it. The consistency is weird.
M: I don't think you've ever had a good quiche, like this one I love at the Cafe that has crabmeat in it. Don't you think you'd like that?
J: I doubt it. Quiche is not good.
M: Well, maybe I'll take you there and you can try it.
J: I don't like quiche. I had quiche at the Blue Bistro and I didn't like it. You would probably consider it a really good quiche.
M: I don't understand why you don't like it!
J: I just don't. I've never liked it, and I don't want to try it again.
M: I love quiche. I think you are ridiculous.
J: No, and why are we arguing about this. You're getting mad.
M: I am not mad, I'm just frustrated because you hate quiche. And I love it. I want to make quiche sometime but I know you won't eat it and that frustrates me.
J: Well, I just don't like quiche.
M: (internal groan) Arrrrgggh.

By this time we were astounded at the ridiculosity of what we just talked about for 5 minutes. And the word "quiche" was starting to sound really funny. Like if you say the word "fork" over and over and over, it becomes strange, perhaps the strangest word you've ever heard and you end up in laughter over the English language and it's peculiarities.

We had quiche one night soon after this conversation, only because we had some frozen appetizer quiches left over from a baby shower and we had no other good option for dinner. And Jay tried them. And he didn't like them. (Sam I am?)

Check out my Slide Show!

Happy Birthday, Jen!

The stomach virus of death descended upon our family last week, so it was especially good to get out of the house and celebrate my friend Jen's birthday on Saturday. We went to the Cornfield Maze at the Alabama/Mississippi line. Ruthie was very excited about being in Mississippi because she knows it on the map. I think when we told her we crossed into Miss. she thought she would see the little shape of the state like on the map placemat. It was a beautiful evening to be out in the country, and I loved the wildflowers and the hay-ride, things that made me FEEL like it was fall, even though the weather says otherwise. Ruthie loved the cow train, which she rode with me and Jen, and I was again struck by how much Ruth has grown up- sitting there so calmly by herself, just enjoying herself. Jen has grown up alot too...I remember when she was just 20! (har har har) We never thought we'd be 29, but time goes by so quickly. So happy 29th, Jen, and I hope this year coming up holds wonderful things for you!