Twistin' to Johnny Cash

Grace's first music video was shot at a pumpkin farm, where she delighted in the farm animals and generally running around as if her parents didn't exist. She's got some smooth rhythm.

Chinese Toy Recall

You may have seen in the news recently that there have been a lot of recalls on toys made in China. Stay informed because some of these things for kids are really dangerous.

Quotes from home

Here are a few things heard in our household, related to Grace:

"What do you have in your mouth?"

"Where is she?"

"No, no." (to which she replies, "No, no.")

"We don't climb on the dishwasher."

"How did she get that?"

"Did she poop or was that you?"

"I know she chewed the corn. How do the kernels come out whole?!"

Happy 1st Birthday, Grace. Love, Mama

Dear Grace,

Today is a momentous day… not because we did anything super special, but because it monuments such a precious thing… your first year of life. With your first year of life came our first year as parents. Wow. When I reflect on our first year together, I think ‘isn’t it amazing how God can make things in life the very most challenging yet the very best experiences of our lives all at the same time!?’ That is how I feel about having you. You’re my sweet little pea and I love you to pieces. Even though much of this year has been a blur due to sleep deprivation and the adjustment to the biggest life change I have ever experienced, it has been the sweetest year of my life and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I cannot believe all the ways you have grown. When you were born it was all I could do to keep you awake long enough to eat. Now you have more energy than I can chase. You climb all over the furniture. You love playing “boo” on the couch. You dance to your dad’s beat boxing. You sing into your play microphone. You do funny things to make us laugh and you join in with your own laughter. You put random things on your head because you think it’s amusing. You love being in mama and dada’s arms, yet you also love to explore. You say “what’s that”, “dada”, “uh-oh” and “no”. You clap your hands. You assert your opinions. You bang on the office door when dada is working. And you give hugs… to any and everything you feel affection for… your stuffed animals, your mom and dad, your little friends and even your sippy cup sometimes. I thank God for you multiple times a day and I thank Him for the countless lessons I have learned and continue to learn through you. I have learned about dependence upon Him for strength, feeling utter helplessness, about my selfish heart and my tired body. I have learned about His love for me and about my own parents’ love for me. I have learned that I have more love in my heart than I ever could have imagined. So thank you, Gracie Grace, for teaching me these lessons and bringing me the purest joy I could ever fathom. I love you and am so happy to celebrate this day with you. Happy Birthday!

Love, Mama

T-shirts and Worldviews

T-shirts can reveal significant things about the people wearing them. Recently I've seen some t-shirts with statements that reveal particular worldviews--presumably those of the ones wearing the t-shirt. "Worldview" may not quite be accurate in all cases but it some cases it comes close. I am embarrassed for the people who wear t-shirts such as (btw, these are real, folks):

"It's All About Me"; "I Am Awesome"; "I'm Kind of a Big Deal"

That's egotism.

How about this one: "Whiskey and Women...Nothing Else Matters"

That's hedonism. I might add that this t-shirt has on it a huge bottle of Jack Daniel's and a scantily clad sexpot. The guy who wears this t-shirt leads a very empty and sad life. I truly feel sorry for him.

On another note--the picture below is of a fellow I saw at an ice cream parlor on the Oregon Coast. He had a sweet mullet so I took a picture of him, without him knowing, of course. I erased his eyes with iPhoto so that he wouldn't be easily identifiable, in case he's a friend or relative of anyone among my vast readership. Though with that distinctive of a hairdo his identity would probably not remain hidden to those who know him. Appropriately, his t-shirt (not visible in this picture) had cartoonish drawings and statements about being a redneck. Better to be a proud redneck than an unabashed hedonist, though they're not necessarily mutually exclusive. Anyway, I used to have a mullet.

(I know. The eyeless redneck is kind of scary.)

ambassador for spiritual fad

I read an article entitled: Madonna: I'm an 'ambassador for Judaism'.

Here's an excerpt:

"Madonna, who was raised a Roman Catholic, has taken the Hebrew name Esther, and has been seen wearing a red thread on her wrist in a Jewish tradition to ward off the evil eye.

But her interest in Kabbalah in recent years has been criticized by Orthodox Jews, who say it is an abomination.

Other celebrities who flew in for the Kabbalah conference included movie star Demi Moore and her husband, actor Ashton Kutcher, Rosie O'Donnell and fashion designer Donna Karan. Madonna came with her film director husband Guy Ritchie.

The Haaretz daily quoted Kutcher as telling a group of Israeli businessmen and entertainers on Saturday that Kabbalah had answered fundamental questions in his life and made him a better actor."

Kabbalah seems to be the latest spiritual fad, especially among the cultural elites of film, music, and television. Kabbalah's giving Scientology a run for its money. Seems that the way to go about religion these days is by popularity and pragmatism. Truth is passé. Go with whatever works for you and enhances your life the most. It's all a matter of personal preference right? Do you want cheez-its or pringles? You pick. Drive stick or automatic? You choose what you like. Kabbalah, Buddhism, Christianity, eastern mysticism, atheism? Just go with what works for you and helps you in life. I mean, if Kabbalah makes you a better actor, why not?

looks like a toddler

Grace is eleven months old now. It seems that in the past two months she's made the transition into toddlerhood. When you're shoveling dirt, when does a pile become a mound? I don't know. Same with the baby to toddler thing.

She's been walking for about a month now. She calls me "Dadad" and points at stuff and says, "W'ssat?" If you laugh, she often will laugh to copy. She makes faces because she likes when we laugh. She goes berserk when she sees dogs and cats because she loves them so much...she flails her limbs about in excitement and laughs. And she now enjoys dancing when I beat box, though she often loses her balance while bouncing. She is a funny, adorable kid. We get another one in about 4 months!

Listen Carefully...

...pay special attention when the countdown hits 13 seconds

Avant-garde Comics

My friend Dan came up with his own comic strip. I forget the title. I think it's called "Grayson". Awhile back, Dan and I worked to create a number of different "episodes" (I don't know what to call them). He did all the drawings. Below are four separate ones. Each line is its own episode, unrelated to the others. They are a bit avant-garde, you might say. I don't know if people will find these funny. But we could not stop laughing.

As you may know, humor is derived from the incongruities in life. Something has to be incongruous enough, and incongruous in the right way, to be funny. But it is possible, I think, to push the incongruity envelope too far, and you lose all connections and slide into complete randomness, which then doesn't make any sense and isn't funny.

We tried to push the incongruity envelope to the edge--so far that some may think the humor is lost. But we think it's there. It's dangling on the edge. But it's there conceptually. If there's a common thread in them, it's that the outcome is opposite of what is expected (irony). I won't be offended, though, if you don't find these funny. But please, read them slowly, contemplate, pay particular attention to the facial expressions, and enjoy the humor derived from the incongruity.

(For awhile, when my friend Chris and I thought something was funny and we laughed, we'd say, "How incongruous!")

(The comics below are small and hard to read so I've typed out the dialog below by frame)


1: My dad can beat up your dad
2: No he can't
3: Yes he can
4: I know


1: Well, look who we have here.
2: Wait a minute...Who are you?


1: Would you PLEASE just get out of my life

3: I love you so much


1: Do you wanna get some corn?
2: No. Do you wanna get out of my face?
3: Corn?

And it's a...

I guess I was right about four readers. Dear Bethany, Nate, Chris, and Kim (and whoever else reads this but doesn't like to comment): We are having a girl!!!!!!!

I was going to post the ultrasound picture but I decided to just get on with the result and not mess with the pix. I'll post some of those later.

Crazy. Another daughter. Grace will be a big sister. Now we're workin' on a name. Our 10 year old niece Megan suggested "Bernice". Bernice Regan. It has a nice ring.

what's your guess?

Tomorrow Lindsay and I go for the ultrasound appointment. We'll find out whether Lindsay's been carrying a boy or a girl. For some reason, I'm more anxious to know with this baby than I was for the first one. People often ask me, "Do you have a feeling of what it is?" It's funny that we have "feelings" about it because frankly they're worthless. Now, I'll ask you a question that may sound similar, but really it's different:

What's your guess? Boy or girl? This is different from asking you what you think it's gonna be. I'm just asking you to guess. And we'll see who's right and wrong.

So, to my four or so faithful readers out there: boy or girl?

Enjoyable tidbits

July was a crazy, busy month, so, very little posting. Then we were in Montana for the beginning of August. What I've got for you today is an enjoyable sampling of pictures.

This is my brother-in-law, Scott.


This is Scott at an earlier, embarrassing time of his life, before he met my sister, Bonnie. She forced him to cut his hair, shave his mustache and chest, and give up the skin-tight leather pants. Fortunately, she was able to see the decent man under the machismo.


In Montana, we went on a four day hiking/camping trip in the mountains of Montana with Lindsay's family. Normally, I would just call it a backpacking trip, but we didn't carry our gear. Nine llamas did.


Lastly, Grace is now 10 months old. She's feeling pretty confident with her dexterity skills.

Surprise! (to us, too)

Family Vacation in San Jose & Lake Tahoe

I realize some of you won't appreciate looking at pictures of people you don't know. My advice then is ignore this post and look at pictures of people you do know. For the rest, these are photos from our vacation with my family in June. My sister Kathleen and brother Chris weren't able to be there, unfortunately. Lolo (Filipino for "grandfather") and Lola ("grandmother") met Grace for the first time. Lolo's gonna be 96 this August! Eating plenty of food and taking 14 naps a day keeps him going strong. Sydney, our 2 year old niece, thinks it's fun to dip in Tahoe's water sans pants. Like the baby seals, she has a protective layer of baby-chub to keep her warm.

How Deep the Father's Love

A couple of weeks ago, on Father's Day, I preached on 1 John 3:1a: "Look at how great a love the Father has given us, that we should be called God's children. And we are!"

During the worship time preceding the sermon, we sang "How Deep the Father's Love". It doesn't happen to me often while singing worship songs, but as we sang this song--a song which captures the heart of the very verse I had been studying, praying about, and preparing to preach--I wept. I think they are some of the most beautiful and wonderful words I have ever heard in song. They are because the Father's love, given in Jesus Christ, is beautiful and wonderful beyond all comprehension.

Please read the lyrics slowly. They are even more beautiful when set to the melody.

How Deep the Father's Love

How deep the Father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

Xtreme Smiling

Being in a car seat is fun

Stuffed Elephant to the Face

non-creative, non-humorous post

Life is busy my friends. Rarely do I write anything, I've realized, other than captions to ridiculous photos, mostly. I have friends who have blogs. Some of them post entries about once every two months. Lame. You know who you are.

But I've been guilty of some long stretches too, which probably means I don't really have any good stuff to post...perhaps I do, just not the time or energy to do it. Once I get my pictures all sorted on our new computer, and figure out how to upload new ones (it's easy I'm sure), I'll be up and running. Then you can enjoy more content-less yet humorous (hopefully) posts.

Once I get done with seminary in 10 years I'm gonna be writing a junkload of seriously deep, moving, life-transforming, spiritual stuff. In the meanwhile, I'll just have to post pictures of stuff like fat, bulbous faces. It's the next best thing.

A Whole New World

I can open your eyes
Take you wonder by wonder
Over sideways and under
On a magic tree swing ride

A whole new world...