Wayzata hockey stars

I got some really fun pictures of Brad and Dave playing hockey last weekend. Check them out here.

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Now playing: Amos Lee - Arms Of A Woman
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Is Christianity funny?

Is Christianity funny? It sure is, but not half as funny as Christians. That's the take away that I get from spending a little bit of time at a new Christian satire site Larknews.com. I first found out about this site when reading an article about it in Christianity Today. The funniest headline that I read on the site was about California pastor Rick Warren, Warren to buy Saints, build Purpose-Driven Field. While I thought the site was funny, it didn't seem to be quite a good as it's predecessor The Wittenburg Door. I loved the article entitled 2008 Resolutions of the Televangelists. I don't even know who Randy and Paula White are but this resolution cracked me up.

"Randy and Paula White: We resolve to remember to pay for private jets we say we're going to purchase, instead of coughing up $112,000 in damages for cancelling the deal. And we resolve to place in our bio only those doctorates we actually earned, and to claim only doctorates at schools that actually exist. Oh, and we resolve to make sure there are no pesky lawyers around when we scam an old lady out of her life savings. Amen."

The CT article tackled the tough question behind publications like this. Is it all right to make fun of Christianity and Christians? I say, "Yes. Especially when they are doing ridiculous things!" Satire has always been a sincere form of criticism. As long as the criticism/satire is aimed at people or institutions and not at God, I think its great. Check out the above sites. You'll get a good laugh at your own expense.

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Now playing: Ryan Adams - Oh My Sweet Carolina
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This week at Gammons Montessori

We were talking about the potential of us homeschooling the boys and Brad said that maybe Sarah should just bring James up to "Gammons Montessori". I thought it was pretty funny.

We have been talking to the boys a little about the primaries and caucuses. We've got our US map puzzle together and each time a candidate wins we put a little picture of them on the state. The boys favorite candidates right now are John McCain and Barack Obama. Ben said he likes their names. I think that is how most voters make their decisions. We'll start talking policy differences in a few weeks. Amanda said that Ben was pretty pumped this morning when he learned that McCain had won in New Hampshire.

What's up with the RIAA?

Do you know what the RIAA is? It is the Record Industry Association of America, a trade group that represents almost everyone in the Recording Industry. They are also the biggest opponents of music piracy, file sharing and it appears now, even making digital copies of your own music. In a few recent articles, the RIAA has said that it is illegal for consumers to put digital copies (MP3's) of legal CD's that they own on to their computers. While I am slow to take the side of people who are blatantly stealing music, i.e. file sharing, getting digital copies or burned CD's from friends, or ripping CD's from the library, this isn't what I am talking about. I just read in the Star Tribune this weekend about the slumping CD sales. Doesn't the RIAA get it that the business that they are in is in trouble? It seems they want to make criminals of people like me who are working hard to keep only music that they own on their iPods. I think that the RIAA should pull it's head out from where the sun doesn't shine and worry about trying to give people good music in a convenient and fair legal way. And that's my two cents.

Read more here and here.

A blast from the past

When Amanda was a little girl (and up until the first year of our marriage) she slept with a pink quilt. I believe the story goes that they found it on the road in California. It was a huge part of Amanda's growing up.

Yesterday in the mail, Molly received an almost identical quilt as a gift from our church. Amanda was SO excited. It was made by the White Cross group at our church. Not to be spooky, but it seemed like yet another providential confirmation that we have found our church home.

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Now playing: WILCO - Side With The Seeds
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And so it begins . . .

When I was growing up, every night was the same. We would finish dinner, clear the table and then pull chairs over to the sink. Tricia would wash, Joe would rinse and I would dry and put away. While I grew up dreading this, it was part of my learning to work.

Last night, as they have been most nights lately, the boys were fairly high strung. I decided that their time had come. After dinner they cleared the table (They have been doing this for a while.), pulled chairs to the sink and began doing the dishes. I had to do some supervision to make sure that the rice was off of the pot and that Caleb didn't scald himself, but it went quite well

Talking after the boys went to bed, Amanda and I marveled at how nice it was to not have to do the dishes and looked forward to the passing on of many other household duties. I think this summer might be Ben's first date with a lawn mower.

Happy New Year!

Brad, Sarah and James joined us as we rang in the new year at Shube's house with a dance party around 8:00 pm. The boys thought it was fun. Amanda and I followed them to bed soon after. We are party animals! You can see all of the photos here.

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Now playing: Bruce Springsteen - Johnny 99
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