Here are some pictures of Samantha's first day.
OK, now I saved the most hilarious picture for last. This was an unbelievable fluke shot--she's not really smiling yet, of course. We have got a lot of laughs out of it. Maybe Samantha forgot, just for a millimoment, that she was supposed to act like a baby and blew her cover. Apparently, she knows something we don't.
We are grateful to the Lord for answering many prayer in the safe birth of Samantha. She was born at one this morning, June 16; she was 8lb 14oz and 20'' long. The main part of labor went beautifully (Dana is amazing!). But when it came to the end, Samantha's head was turned sideways and it took longer than usual. Finally, we were told that if she didn't come out soon, she would have to have a c-section. Dana basically had two more pushes to try. And she did it! (with help from the Dr. turning her head and pulling her out). Thank you Carrington, Dr. Womack, and all the nurses! It was a stressful exit, the cord was around her neck, and she swallowed some fluid, so she had trouble breathing at first. Her first couple of hours were in the nursery. But she recovered quickly, returned to us, and nursed like she knew what she was doing!
We named her Samantha Rubie because Dana's Granddaddy's name was Sam and both of our Grandmothers' names were Rubie (or Ruby).
God has recently been showing me deeper ways I can learn to love and encourage others. I want to be more patient, kind, encouraging, affectionate, and gentle—especially with my family. I have been asking the Lord for wisdom to understand why I am finding this so difficult. I think I have identified one important part of it. One problem is my agenda. When I have an agenda and people get in the way of it, I am frustrated. When I have an agenda, I simply do not see or have the energy to love people. And I am talking about a task oriented agenda. If my agenda were loving people, that would be produce a difference result altogether. For example, when the children do not do a job correctly, my agenda determines my response. If my agenda is the task itself, then I am frustrated and ungentle. But if my agenda is to relate to, love, build up, and train my children, then I will gently instruct and encourage them.
It seems that I am a fundamentally task oriented person. The physical and practical task, whatever it may be at the moment, must be secondary. People are always first. Love is always first. “Whatever you do, let it be done in love” (1 Cor 16:14).
Happy Anniversary to Dana and me! I am so grateful to have a faithful, capable, beautiful, motherly, homemaking, hospitable, organized, loving, ministry-partnering, good-cooking wife.
I recently watched one of the old Sherlock Holmes movies starring Jeremy Brett. In it, he made this statement:
"If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."- Sherlock Holmes
About a week later I watched the new Star Trek movie. It was a very cool moment when, in a moment of mystery and confusion, Spock (the logical Vulcan) said, "If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
I can't help but wondering if this argument might be of some use in philosophical discussions about God and reality. To be sure, we are constantly blinded by our preconceived ideas and prejudices about what we want reality to be. It is therefore easy for us to rule out what seems improbable to us because it is not what we hope for. I am therefore using the term 'improbable' to refer to what seems so to finite human perception.
I would argue that it is not possible to establish with reason and evidence that the existence of God is impossible. If it is true that questions about God are difficult to establish with absolute certainty due to his invisible nature and our limited knowledge, I believe that one can make a powerful and irrefutable argument that God is the most probable explanation of this world. I believe that if we exercised pure reason and observable evidence, we would find that Jesus Christ is indeed "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14;6).
"So how do we know when to pursue someone for marriage? When we do not need marriage. When we are full and growing in our relationship with Christ, then and only then, are we really ready for marriage. Adam did not tell God he was lonely. In Gen 2:18 God said, 'It is not good for man to be alone, I will make him a suitable helper.' Elizabeth Elliott was asked how she found three husbands. Her response was 'I did not find any husband because I was not looking for a husband.' God will determine our need and readiness and will lead us to marriage when the time is right." - R.D. Hodges, The Greatest Adventure I Never Dreamed Of (forthcoming)
I wrote the following article for the Greenhouse Report, the newsletter for the North Carolinians for Home Education.
Six years ago, my wife Dana and I wandered around the Convention Center in wide-eyed amazement. It was our first NCHE Conference ever and we had never seen so many homeschooling people, philosophies, books, and curriculum. That first year was life changing for us and helped us set the course for our home education journey. Since then, we have made the annual conference a priority and we are encouraged and challenged every year. This year was no exception. So I would like to share the top ten highlights of the 2010 NCHE for Dana and me.
10. Our hotel room card opened the door and there was no one staying in our hotel room. Two years ago we tried to save money and stayed in a crummy hotel. After returning to the front desk for the third time, the room card finally opened the door . . . but there were people in there! Recommendation #1: Don’t come for just the book fair or one day of sessions. Make it a priority, take off work, and come for the whole conference as a couple. Recommendation #2: Save up some money and stay in a nice hotel.
9. Buying our curriculum. Every year, the first thing we do is head to the My Father’s World booth and buy all our curriculum for next year. We love this curriculum, love saving money on shipping, and are glad to get the main, big purchase out of the way.
8. BrewNerds Coffee. Its hard to justify spending so much time in the insanely long line at Starbucks, but I usually do. Not this year. Instead, I found Brewnerds Coffee one block away on Fourth Street. It is easily as good (probably better) than Starbucks and the line was short. I also learned it owned from strong believers.
7. Meeting old friends. There are some people I don’t ever see except at the conference. What a blessing to give hugs and talk face to face instead of over e-mail!
6. Meeting new friends. This is difficult not to do. It is very encouraging to meet and be sharpened by so many other like-minded people.
5. Finding new books. The two book purchases I am especially happy with: What a Daughter Needs from Her Dad: How a Man Prepares His Daughter for Life by Michael Farris, and the first two books of The Peleg Chronicles by Matthew Christian Harding, Foundlings and Paladins (this series is supposed to be for the kids, but I sure am enjoying them!).
4. Helping wide-eyed first timers. We met a couple that was there for the first time. It was easy to remember what that was like and so we felt a little sorry for them! It was a joy to help them sort through the overwhelming mass of information and select a curriculum.
3. Being reminded of how important it is to spend quantity and quality time with my kids. Even though our family spends most our time together, there are two traps we must watch out for: 1) Spending a lot of busy time with your family without realizing they need also need more focused relationship time, and 2) Not taking the time to spend one on one time with your kids.
2. Renewing a godly generational vision. I especially enjoyed hearing Kevin Swanson speak on the importance of such a generational vision. The heart of home education is that parents are taking responsibility for diligently teaching their children to love God so that they can teach their own children. “That you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son” (Deut 6:2)
1. Spending time with my wife. We take all the kids (except the youngest) to Grandma’s house and drop them off. The time that Dana and I have together at the conference is always rich. We spend a lot of time talking, especially on our regular Friday night date to Macaroni Grill. We are inspired by what we hear and share what God is doing in our hearts. We talk about our family and discuss ways to grow and improve.
All in all, we are grateful to be a part of NCHE and the opportunity to participate in a conference like this. See ya’ll next year!
We finished building our movable chicken coop yesterday. It is made out of PVC pipe, a little re-bar, some wood reinforcement, chicken-wire, and a tarp. It houses up to around 25 chickens and is light weight so that it can be moved each day. So in addition to their feed, they get fresh grass and bugs all the time. A friend of mine designed the coop and sent me instructions on how to build it. The kids did a great job helping me build it. Our little chickens moved into it yesterday and seem to be happy. So far, so good.
