Houses, Puppies & Painting

So...since the last post we've moved into a house and have a new family member.



This is Homer Higgins, our puppy! :) I have better photos of him, but our external hard drive isn't turning on. arg. Homer aka Homes, Homeboy, Little Boy & Homey (as in Homey don't play that...) ranges around the house lazily all day and is the most relaxed dog in the world. not. okay, so he is fairly mellow for a puppy, but he does enjoy is wrestling time with Conrad! :) In fact, if her hears a person whistle on tv or in a movie he immediately runs to the back door looking for Conrad. it's uber cute. :) anywho, Homes is a black lab-retriever mix. we found him at the Johnson County Humane Shelter. he was the only one, besides the great dane husky mix puppy, that was just chillin in his cage when we visited. the rest of the dogs were going psycho and he was just sitting there staring at us saying "take me home!!!" so we obliged. :)

Our house rocks. :) I'm still trying to unpack here and there. the painting/fixing things up part is never ending! :) it's so true. we have about half an acre which is WONDERFUL! :) perfect for having the middle school kids over to play in the backyard and letting puppies run amok! :)

anywho, i have to get going - i'll try and post a little more regularly - but i can't promise anything! :)

Holy Cow Cud, We're A Fat And Lazy Nation!

"Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters. Don't forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it! Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies." Hebrews 13:1-3 (NLT)
In the spirit of another blogger (yes, I still abhor that word) dear to my heart, I wanted to put my 2 cents worth of ranting down for those that stumble across such things.

Disclaimer: I'm going to say some fairly harsh things, and yes, I'm a little ticked about some things, and yes, I'm probably being a touch irrational. Feel free to lash out with a yay or a nay.

First and foremost: The United States of America is full of people who can be remarkably caring, wonderful individuals. As a nation, however, we are typically a group of fat, selfish, and lazy hypocrites. I fall into the latter category more than I'd like. Here's why I say this about our nation:

Take a good look at Hebrews 13:3. Just in case someone has questions about whether it's being accurately translated, here are a few other versions:

"Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering." NIV

"Remember the prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also." NKJV

"Regard prisoners as if you were in prison with them. Look on victims of abuse as if what happened to them had happened to you." The Message

Now let's ask ourselves: Do we live up to this in our personal, daily lives? Does our local community reach out the abused and imprisoned with the compassion and unconditional selflessness required here? Does our nation exercise a foreign policy with the balls and funding to battle injustice abroad and stop bad people doing bad things?

If you're like me, the sad, shameful answers to these questions are "Sometimes" , "Not consistently," and "Not even close."

I had the wonderful privilege in college to take a mixed PolSci/History class on Genocide, and one of the professors who taught us daily was a Polish Jew who had escaped the Holocaust with his parents using false papers. To make a long story short, what I learned about genocide in that class is that after the Holocaust, the worldwide leaders (USA included) are the greatest lip service artists in the history of mankind. Our presidents, prime ministers, and chancellors have made a great habit of holding joint press conferences touting "Never again!" about genocide, about mass abuse & rape, about ethnic oppression and about caste system abuses.

Sometimes when we're feeling especially plucky or there's an imminent election somewhere, the UN might sign a resolution amounting to a giant "Tsk, tsk" for the group or nation comitting the offense. But in the end, we do very little. Maybe send some food and medical aid, maybe an investigation committee, or even issue an apology a few years after the fact for sucking so badly.

The truth is, though, it's not just the leaders and politicos that are the problem. Let's be honest: the American public has ADHD when it comes to foreign policy. If it's not "Shock and Awe" with some crafted soundbytes and people aren't cheering us in the street, we stop caring. If the babies crying on the news aren't blonde-haired and blue-eyed, then it's just another darkie who's having a bad day to us.

"C'mon, Debbie Downer, don't give us a guilt trip. We're just trying to live our lives!" we say. "C'mon, flip the channel! The game is on! Britney got a boob job! I wanna see how big!"

Does that qualify for the "Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies" award?

I'm guilty. I flip the channel too often. I get so bombarded day after day after day that it all starts to sound the same..........right? Unless.......instead of Beirut or Baghdad on fire, it's the New York skyline. Instead of five-year-old Jamal Mohammed with a blown-off limb, it's Madeleine McCann with a "Missing" poster. Then...........then we care. Then we feel empathy.

I had a chance to catch Blood Diamond on DVD the other day. Aside from being a compelling flick, it does a nice job trying to bring up these issues. How do we get the American public to care? How do we come to realize that it IS our responsibility? The last time I checked, the Declaration of Independence said this:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

One thing that sticks out to me is the all men are created equal, not merely all American men. Follow this path to the idea that all men have a right to life and to liberty. Where are we when our fellow human beings are being deprived of those rights? Where were we when Rwanda was torn in two with genocide and we watched it on CNN? Where are we now, when millions of people live in "temporary" refugee camps in Sudan? Do we remember them as if we felt their pain in our own bodies? I fail at this daily.

And in this failure I think we do a disservice to the honor of our nation (a word which is increasingly unheard in public discourse). And in this failure I think we do damage to the message of the Lord.

I don't have a ready-made solution to this. There isn't a magic solution for this emotional apathy, this disease on our nation. The only thing I can hold to is that striving to remember, care for, and help those being mistreated is not only Godly, but patriotic. It's what we should want for our children and for ourselves.

Can we find a way to fix our collective ADHD? I only hope that we don't get distracted from the idea the next time our favorite TV show is on.

-Conrad-

oops...

I should have posted the post that's on my blog here - since it involves BOTH of us! :P

The Cataclysmic Cookie Conflict

I don't think to post often, and even less frequently remember that this site exists, but every now and then things happen that I can't help but put on e-paper for the world to share.

We've been extraordinarily lazy lately. While basking in the last few days of vacation, we sat this morning on the couch for about three hours, me with my lovely Xbox, Em doing something-or-other on the computer. (I think it had to do with pictures, so if you know where to look, there might be new ones posted).

Near the end of our slothful spurt, when our couch sores were beginning to overcome us, we both got up and were in the kitchen. Emily looked past me at the pantry and said "I want a cookie." I, with no reason whatsoever, took this to be the opening salvo in an unscripted, unprompted, battle for the pantry. I gave here a mock-steely look and said "No."

And so it began. Em looked back at me, nostrils flaring at the first sense that this was the beginning of her jihad. "I.......want........a cookie."

I poised ready to defend whatever stash might be in the pantry and calmly replied, "Never."

Like lightning, she faked left, dashed, right, but still ran into my wall of mass. I, ever the thinker, pulled back like an archer on her brastrap and let fly. THWAK! Her eyes went wide with the rage of a buffalo overdosing on hot sauce. She left my chest with a clear red handprint as I laughed and sprinted away to the living room.

We circled like ninjas about the coffee table, I chasing, she ready to evade. She spat the accusation at me: "COOKIE!!" Then, quick! Into the bedroom, where the bed and random landmines (laundry basket, lampstand, oddly placed backpack) proved too much for me to handle. She made a dash back out to the kitchen for the cookies and nearly made it before I cut her off at the pass (dining room table).

She fled back to the bathroom, screaming in mock anger and alternating between jibberish and "COOKIE!?" I responded with my best pirate laugh. Ever mischievious, I spotted the mirror's dry erase marker out of the corner of my eye. Emily followed my gaze with a shriek and scurried around me and out as I snatched the blue stick.

Just before she reached the pantry, my marking tool of doom caught her shoulder. It was this innocent action which brought out the demon-wife. Her eyes turned the color of fire (in my head) and the sounds which accompanied her claws were inhuman. I took a moment to reconsider the wisdom of my marker actions, and came to a new conclusion (perhaps it had been unwise) just as a wild Emily claw snatched the marker and turned it against me. With a grin and mock-rage she shouted, "I WANT A COOKIE!"

We rolled over on the floor, slashing swaths of color at each other. A few minutes later the cataclysmic battle was ended, each of us covered in blue marks of glory and grins threatening to touch our ears.

"You know," I said, "there aren't any cookies in the pantry." Silence. She looked at me, tried momentarily to glower, and then we both burst out laughing. It's a good day to do nothing at home.

=)
-Conrad-

"Back In the Saddle Again..."

Husband is home. :)

"Leaving On A Jet Plane..."

Conrad leaves me tomorrow night!?! No, not leaves leaves me, but he's traveling with work for the first time. I think I'm going to stay with Momma and Daddy while he's gone. And yes, I know, that makes me sound like I'm two. :)

So. I think you all need to know about Conrad's newest obsession. Viva Pinata. That's right. He's playing the only Xbox game that I can play with a zeal that will not die! Twice this week I've trudged to bed around 10:30, leaving him pounding buttons in the living room. When does he join me in the bedroom you might ask? 2 AM. That's right. He's planting a fake garden to attract and then breed various kinds of pinatas. Oh if you only knew how child-like and hilarious this game to be you too would laugh until you peed your pants. :)

So. Next time you see him - ask him how his Flutterscotch breeding is going! :)

Wedding Reception