Princess Missile

So Ana is definitely a girly-girl. She loves to do girly things. But she has an older brother, which affects how she plays girly-style. Like she likes to dress up as a pirate, she loves to say she's a bad guy, all while holding her dolly.
The other day I caught her coloring on our walls. I went to investigate the damage and realized she wasn't really coloring. She was pretending to color...with a rocket. I guess it's good that she won't end up ultra-girly, but it's kind of funny at this point.

Paper Route

I like this band. Go to their website and let the music play in the background while you surf around the internet. You may like them too. JM

Revival?

I don't know if you heard about this florida revival thing that was going on down in Lakeland, FL. I talked to a couple people about it because they were curious what I thought about it, but I don't think I posted anything here about it. I was able to watch some of it on GodTV (which I don't recommend viewing).
Anyway, the point here is that the whole thing seemed weird. It seemed as though the guy thought that he was a rock star. Turns out that the leader of the revival was having an affair whilst performing healing miracles and pouring out the holy spirit.
Ed Stetzer has a great post about the gullibility of evangelicals. At root I think is that we're too trusting. We don't like to research things for ourselves. And most of all we want to be part of something special. Something unique. Something that can't be explained other than God.
The thing is, we'll never be part of something like that if we don't want to explore the Bible for ourselves and have it speak into our lives as opposed to having it filtered through a prophet. JM

Tropic Thunder

Tropic Thunder looks hilarious to me. But it's getting some bad press because of degradation of the mentally disabled by using the term retard. It's interesting to hear the different viewpoints on it. I read two today, this one saying it's horrid and should not be shown because of its offensiveness, and this one explaining why they used the word retard. I agree with the second one. Basically he says that it's an R-rated film where hopefully mature audiences will get that it's not an appropriate word to use in a demeaning fashion. Also, he mentions the context in which the word is used

Adults should have the ability to process the jokes employed by "Tropic Thunder" within the context of the film and recognize that the joke doesn't target those with disabilities. It satirically takes aim at actors who exploit roles in which they play disabled characters in order to garner acclaim and win awards. Since children might not be able to make that connection or understand that context, the R-rating serves a strong role

.
The trailer looks hilarious, though. Can't wait to see it, but that probably means once it's on video. JM

Kid Songs

I have to listen to a lot of kid music, either on TV as part of the daily noggin watching that occurs at my house, or in the car whilst transporting my offspring to random activities. If you listen to enough of these songs, you really start to appreciate some of them. Right now I'm totally digging this one Backyardigans song called "Nobody's bigger than a giant". While the lyrics may not necessarily speak to your soul or anything remotely meaningful like that, I think the tune is catchy and absolutely love the synth. Listen for yourself, if you think you can handle it. JM

What Inspires You?

So the other day in a meeting we were asked "what inspires you?" I didn't know the answer. At least not the root of it. I like stories. Especially when they're well told. I derive a lot of inspiration from them. I specifically mentioned Rudy, which is close to being the most inspirational movie of all time.
The more I thought about it, the more that I realized that I like people who beat the odds. I've always described myself as a punk. If somebody says something can't be done, then I like to try to find a way to do it. I like doing things when they're improbable. When the odds are stacked against me. When I don't have all the resources. When all it takes is a lot of work and discipline. That's what inspires me. JM

Full Apologies

Ran across this site tonight called fullapologies.com. It's got videos of kids who have killed somebody while driving drunk and they're apologizing to people close to the people who died. It's really interesting and moving. It looks like the site also has some tools to help kids not drive drunk. Worth looking at. Watch the one by "Ashley B" after you read the little bio about her. It's amazing the amount of grief that girl is feeling because she killed her best friend. Interesting line in her apology: "I'm the one that deserves to die." Deserves, not deserved. Sad.
Great idea to hopefully make the consequences of driving drunk more real. JM

Ana

So last night we were over at a friends house. My daughter loves to dress up, so she put on an Alabama jersey and some pants. Then she put on these glasses and this little woolen hat. By the end of this process, she looked like an old lady. Here she is modeling her new duds. It's so stinking cute.

Of course, she doesn't always like dressing up. Like today at lunch we were out at Moe's. She was wearing a pretty little pink dress. Then she decided to take off her diaper and lift up her dress to show the world how white her butt was. Hypocrisy. JM

Staff Meeting

We have an all-day staff meeting tomorrow. This could be really good or really bad. If people talk and share and are open and honest, then it will be honest. But if people just kind of sit there and do as they're told and don't offer input, it will be extremely lame. We'll see how it turns out. JM

Nice Jugs

I may regret that title later, but have you seen the new milk jugs that wal-mart is using. They're way more efficient because every side is perfectly flat. I think it will be huge and we'll all be using them within the next 18 months because of the savings in shipping. Here's a picture of the new milk jug next to a current one. JM

Out Of Sorts

So I'm back from Romania. I still feel a little jet-lagged or whatever, but it's getting better. I'm hoping to get back to a normal schedule soon.
I'm so pumped about actually getting back into school year ministry again. The consistency of it is awesome. Also, I'm really excited about trying to pour into my leaders and spending time with them. Should be a great year. It's so cool that my job is something that I'm so passionate about. JM