Happy New Year!

An Australian journalist gets a taste of Department of Homeland Security hospitality.

Infuriating and scary.

Thanks to Dean May over at Polemics.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

And no, I'm not referring to the traffic, checkout lines, or holiday sales.
Our tree is up and decorated, but the presents haven't all migrated to the living room yet. That is a good thing because I doubt they'd all fit under it anyway.
My Christmas shopping is nearly done. I need to pick up a few things that I already have in mind, and figure out one gift for a hard to buy for person, and then I can make gingerbread houses (or die trying!) and play nonstop Christmas records.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

'Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.
Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.
"For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." '

(Luke 2:8-11 NKJV)

What Natural Disaster are you? Take the quiz!

"At the time Augustine wrote City of God, it must have seemed as though civilization itself was collapsing. In A.D. 410, Rome was sacked by Alaric and his forces. The Empire was in decline. In our day, as homosexual ‘marriage’ is gaining acceptance and abortion is completely commonplace, sometimes we feel helpless and distinctly outnumbered. Augustine tells us that our homes should be small parts of the City of God, and that we ought to interact with others in our households as we should, remembering our citizenship and obeying the laws of the City of God. Augustine doesn’t lay difficult burdens on our shoulders. He doesn’t tell us we must be political leaders or influential and prominent celebrities. He tells us we must treat others in our homes the way we ought. He tells us we must remember that we are part of the Heavenly City, the City of God, which was founded by our Lord Christ Jesus. And the simplicity of that task of living our lives rightly is complex enough to keep us all busy to our deaths, and simple enough that we can know what we must do."

~a paragraph from one of my recent essays.

"As you remember, Tolkien sold the original rights for a hundred pounds because he didn’t think the book could ever be made into a film."

~John Rhys-Davies, who played Gimli in the LOtR movies.
Here is the entire interview. Found from another part of the interview linked to by Little Geneva.

My parents gave me a sewing machine yesterday for my birthday. I'll have to learn to use it well.
The sewing plan-
-pj pants
-simple shirt
-easy skirt

At some point after that, I'd like to make a ball gown, despite the fact that I already possess an absurd amount of formal wear, most of which I was given and most of which I have never worn. You see, you can wear only one dress per ball.

Josh Matthews, of Polemics, says movies
can never replace the reading experience and applies that to the Lord of the Rings movies.
I think he puts it very well when he says:

"Lord of the Rings, the story, is an invitation to mentally participate in an active, crafted world of Tolkien’s construction. But unlike Tolkien’s words, popcorn, big screens, and Hollywood’s special effects do not usually involve mental participation."

Blogger Poll

I'm just checking to see who is out there.
Please leave a comment if you stop by while this is on the current page. If you want to elaborate on how you got here, feel free. :-)

(Note: My comments just all disappeared. If you left a comment before, I probably saw it so there is no need to repost, but if you want to that is fine.)

(they're gone yet again. The first time it was their fault, but this time it was mine. Apologies. Thank you to those who posted.)

“The result is that although there are many great peoples throughout the world, living under different customs in religion and morality and distinguished by a complex variety of languages, arms, and dress, it is still true that there have come into being only two main divisions, as we may call them, in human society: and we are justified in following the lead of our Scriptures [footnote: cf. Eph. 2.19, Phil.. 3.20] and calling them two cities. There is, in fact, one city of men who choose to live by the standard of the flesh, another of those who choose to live by the standard of the spirit. The citizens of each of these desire their own kind of peace, and when they achieve their aim, that is the kind of peace in which they live.”

(Pg. 547, City of God, Augustine)

Today is the calm before the storm.
Thursday a paper is due-- not just any paper, either. A persuasive essay paper on whether Augustine's view of the Two Cities is still relevant. I think I'll have to spend more time in the book to get a better handle on his view before I dive in and really begin to write.
Also Thursday, I'm going to babysit from 2-7pm. Ideally, my paper will be done before I leave.
Friday I'm hoping to hitch a ride with Ant to go see Kit.
Tuesday and Thursday I have class, too.

I am enjoying the Sabbath calm. We took a walk to look at the neighborhood Christmas lights. And ate fudge.

Joshua wants to know what is in dynamite. I told him I wasn't sure. He told me he thought something 'explosion'. (explosive). No doubt he's right. Five year olds always are.