One Week Until Bellingham Bay Half Marathon

In one week, I will be walking in the Bellingham Bay Marathon.  I have done little to NO training, but I figure that it is something I should follow through on.

Ideally, I should be able to walk it in less than 5 hours, right?  I had hoped to be more disciplined in walking and running over the past nine months, but I have not.  When something had to give in my schedule and to keep my sanity, it was the exercise.  I know I need to make some adjustments in this area, but for now, it is what it is.

So, my goal for next week is to finish the race (and get one of the very cool medals!).  But if that doesn't happen, then at least I gave it a shot.

Space Debris Falling to Earth

A defunct satellite is falling to earth.  NASA says that the satellite will disintegrate into 26 pieces, each a potential missile falling to earth.  NASA experts expect it will crash into the ocean, as 70% of the earth's surface is water.

But I wonder when some of this debris is going to fall on land and result in death or destruction.    And I wonder what steps we have taken to prevent this from happening.

The full article is here.

To Glee or Not to Glee, That is the Question

Since adding kiddos to the household, I'm scrutinizing my TV viewing much more closely.

Should kids watch reality TV?  What about police dramas? CSI shows?  At what point does all the blood and guts start effecting them? 

And the final question: Should we watch Glee?

I like Glee.  But I don't completely agree with all the messages the program conveys.  As an adult, I can discriminate between these messages (although I am not immune to the power of these messages either).  But can a child?  Is it a good idea to watch things that clearly conflict with the message from church I want them to catch?

So, these are the questions that I am wrestling with.  Fortunately, the kids have been willing to listen to my suggestions for TV watching.  But now, Spongebob Squarepants has less than stellar reviews...

Recycling Fashion: Who is buying this stuff

Recently I spent some quality time in the youth departments of a number of stores.  The clothing selection leaves much to be desired.

The good news is that if you desire to have your toddler, pre-teen or teenage daughter look like a hooker, you can find it at nearly every store.  If, however, you value modesty and having children look like children, you have your work cut out for you.

This year's styles recycle the 1980's.  Fortunately I lived through that decade and have a good idea what it is supposed to look like.  However, the new spin on the old look of long shirt over leggings is to skip the leggings.  This leaves a long shirt that barely covers the derriere.  Again, who wants to wear this? Who wants to look at it on a 8 yr old? Or a 12 yr old? Or a 28 yr old?

I'm taken aback by the proliferation of lingerie for toddlers.  As most girls don't start to fill out until late elementary school, I am baffled why bras are necessary in the toddler department.  And why some companies are starting to produce very adult looking bra and panties styles in toddler and child sizes?  There are even bikinis for babies.  Why do some think that sexualizing young girls is a good idea?

For little girls, it seems tutus, glitter and pink are in.  The more garish, the better.  Most clothing features peace symbols, which seems to now be devoid of meaning.  I say this because most of the time the peace symbol is on a shirt with Barbie, Hello Kitty, dolphins or palm trees.  I'm not sure what Barbie or Hello Kitty has to do with war and peace, but I'm pretty certain that dolphins are not the animal kingdom equivalent of Genghis Khan and palm trees are not the new poison ivy.

For teens, strapless shirts, spaghetti strap tanks, and short shorts fill the stores.  While some of these things are used as layers, there are a lot of girls walking around with minimal clothing on in part because it is what the stores are selling.  Does a 13 yr old need to look sexy?  Does a 6th grade boy notice these things or are they really for the viewing pleasure of adults?

Shopping for a daughter has become a very difficult process because the choices available in the stores leave a lot to be desired.

Church Business

As my church is in the midst of a pastoral search, we are also taking a look at our "mission statement" and our ministries.  While some of this is good, I have never been a fan of church mission statements.

It seems to me that Jesus was rather clear in what the church was to do in Matthew 28:19-20: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” 


Why we, as the church, think we need to add or subtract from this statement is beyond me.  The other problem I have with church mission statements is that the idea is stolen from the business world.  The church is not a business!  While there can be good ideas from business that the church should apply (like accountability), mission statements are not necessarily the best idea.  


Mission statements are designed to provide a purpose for the organization.  A way to unify the workers toward a common goal.  Again, it seems that Jesus has already done this for the church in his last directions to his disciples.  When we synthesize our own purposes and ideas of what church should do, we tend to leave out some of Jesus' directives, selecting our favorite ideas like baptism or evangelism or world missions.  

Back to the Choir

With the start of the school year, it also means the start of my choir rehearsal schedule.  I'm very excited to see everyone again (although I saw a few over the summer).  It is hard to believe that we are going to start singing Christmas songs!

I had debated giving up the choir to be home another night with the girls.  However, I decided that keeping a non-child commitment was important, and I really get a lot of enjoyment out of the choir.  My hope is that it will be a good break for all of us.  If it gets to be too much, I can always take the spring off.

Plus, with the Little One going to bed between 7:30 and 8, it wouldn't be much time with her that I miss.  The pre-teen is just as likely to be in her room listening to music or watching TV in the living room as doing something with me.  Perhaps it will give her time to do some 7th grade homework!

Deal Breakers

Since I've added a couple kiddos to the household, I'm quickly learning what my deal-breakers are.  By deal breaker, I mean quirks that drive me crazy!

First, I hate doing laundry.  So, I'm imposing limits on how many towels/underwear/socks can be used each day.  Otherwise, I have one child who thinks 2 towels a day is great, plus 3 pair of underwear and 2 pair socks.  The other has 1 towel, but 2 undies and 3 socks.  At this rate, they are out of undies and socks before noon every other day!

Another deal breaker is the pets.  Little One thinks the dog deserves half of every meal eaten.  Blaze is great with this.  In fact, he parks beneath the chair waiting for his cut.  However, his tummy is not as gracious, and I'm having to clean up messes from an overfull dog.  So, I'm limiting the amount of treats and food he gets.  Both kids are trying to sneak the cats into their beds at night.  This doesn't bother me except that the cats do not stay put, and end up running wild at night instead.  So, Hatteras, the kitten, is locked up in the basement and Indy, the older one, is locked out of some of the rooms.

Neither kid likes "spicy" food.  I love spicy food.  So, I'm trying to figure out how to sneak the spices in, as it appears once they try things, they like them.  We'll see if the Mexican food ban sticks or not.  We also have the typical ages issues: the teen wants to eat to lose weight (although not a pound overweight) so won't eat some "too fattening" things (like celery!), usually saying this as bags of M&M's are eaten, while the toddler doesn't want to eat anything and has to have minimum bites eaten set for each food.

I'm sure other things will crop up, but for now, I'm trying to avoid too many issues and just let the kids be kids.