The defiance starts

Lannom turns two at the end of this month. However, he has had a rough couple of days with daddy.

Last night while he was in the bathtub he started scooping up water with his measuring cup and pouring it out of the tub. I told him to stop and to keep the water in the tub. He then, scooped up some water, looked right at me, and dumped it out on the floor. He was, of course, instantly disciplined. For the rest of the night he was as obedient as could be.

This evening while at the dinner table he started spitting out his milk. I told him to stop. Once again, he took a big drink of milk, looked right at me, and let it dribble out his mouth. Oh was I mad. He was disciplined. My mother-in-law was over having dinner with us and even she commented that the look of defiance in his eyes as he spit his milk out was clear.

So, it looks like we may be entering the terrible twos a few weeks early. The poor kid though, doesn't know what he is up against. Daddy don't play.

Sadder but Wiser

At close to 36 years old, I am a fuddy-duddy. I value the characteristics of a by-gone era. That is why I love this editorial by Thomas Sowell on the subsidization of homeowners in trouble. The author hits on two "old and trite" notions of that by-gone era:

1. saving for a rainy day
2. sadder but wiser

Good read.

Best quote:

Even in an era of much-ballyhooed "change," the government cannot eliminate sadness. What it can do is transfer that sadness from those who made risky and unwise decisions to the taxpayers who had nothing to do with their decisions

Snowing...in March...in Alabama

It is snowing. Its is March in central Alabama and we have snow. A good snow too. They are nice, fat, fluffy flakes with enough moisture to stick to everything.

Mihaela and Noah are so excited. Mihaela has only seen snow a few times, and I think it has been two or three years since she last did. I don't think Noah has ever seen it before. They are running from the front of the house to the back of the house, amazed that both the front yard and backyard are getting snow.

It is sweet as they discover new items that are covered in snow. "Look daddy, the slide is covered in snow." "OH MY!!! Your grill has snow on it." "The cars have snow all over them." "It is snowing in the Thompson's yard too!!"

Noah grabs Mihaela's hand and drags her to a window..."Look, sister...its all over the trashcan"

Siblings Love/Hate

Noah is being so sweet to Lannom right at this moment. He gave Lannom the toy he was playing with, without being asked for it. Lannom walked over to some books and Noah asked him, "Do you want to read?" Picked-up the book and started "reading" it to his brother. It was touching. It was sweet. There was an ambiance of the purity of love.

However, I know this will end. It won't be more than five minutes and it will turn into a screaming, toy-pulling, crying, whining mess that will require parental oversight. Siblings are funny that way. Love to hate in eight seconds flat.

Nobody can love you quite like family can. Nobody can hurt you quite like family can. The indelible truth is though, no matter what...you are still family.

I have a friend who is struggling with a decision to leave his church and associate himself with another congregation. As he has spoken to me, I have had no words of wisdom for him; for I too have walked his path of pain.

After watching my own two tonight, I feel a deep stirring of thought that in the family of God, brothers and sisters can go from Love to Hate in eight second flat. Nobody can love you quite like your family of God can. Nobody can hurt you quite like your family of God can. But, the indelible truth is though, no matter what...you are still family.

Ten Commandments

This was a really fun series to do. The first challenge, of course, is determining which commandments are the 10 commandments. The lists which are commonly known as the Ten Commandments are given in passages in two books of the Bible: Exodus 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21 (compare side-by-side at BibleGateway.com).

If you count each "imperative statement," then you will quickly see that there are more than 10 commands. A little research shows that different religious backgrounds have parsed the commandments in different ways. I struggled with whether to follow the Jewish tradition or the Evangelical tradition. In the end, I went with the evangelical.

Commandment 1

Commandment 2

Commandment 3
I was stumped on how to illustrate this one for several weeks. I finally had a brainstorm and was able to find this picture.

Commandment 4

Commandment 5
This is one of my favorite designs. I played with a few things to get this to work.

Commandment 6

Commandment 7
Handling lust in a tasteful way is always difficult.

Commandment 8

Commandment 9
I actually wanted a picture of person taking an oath. But I couldn't find a good high quality (free) graphic to do that.

Commandment 10