The Ratliffs

I think today is some secret Holiday, I have had 15 unreturned phone calls and 6 unanswered e-mails. 

i think the world is having a holiday without me. 

I smell Barbeque…

“Next to the word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world. It controls our thoughts, minds hearts, and spirits….a person who…does not regard music as a marvelous creation of God…does not deserve to be called a human being; he should be permitted to hear nothing but the braying of asses and the grunting of hogs.”
-MARTIN LUTHER

I have always held to the fact that I am not an Pre/post/a/disp. pre-millennialist but rather a pan-millennialist, I believe that it will all pan out in the end.

     My Birthday was last Friday and for my Birthday I just asked for gift cards to amazon.com, yeah I know I totally geeked out. Well today the product of my book loving obsession came in. 

• 15 books
• 6423 pages give or take a few
• all theology or related
• Grudem, Carson, Piper, Owen, Stott, Sproul, Dever, Driscoll, and others and more.  

I love books! I love learning! but I think my eyes were bigger than my preverbal stomach.

A few days ago I went into a bookstore and began to browse the shelves of the store. This, by far is one of my favorite activities! But on this trip, I was struck by the sheer number of books that were at best dull and at worst heresy.  They were books about deep things written by men who had arrived at the wrong conclusion and now suffer the world [and trees] to their wrong conclusion.
I wonder if Gutenberg would cry? [Not Gutenberg]

Sadly, these books and authors were filtered and edited; a glimmer of hope that is doomed by the blog world. Just because you can write doesn’t mean you should.

myself included.

Jesus also tells some sunday school teachers they are going to hell, which made the universalistic Emergent folks immediately engage in a conversation about the mythology of hell and fingerpaint about the emotional wounds caused by his words.

Mark Driscoll, Vintage Jesus p. 44

Today, Afton is 8 months old. And so, an update is long overdue. The older she gets, the more she discovers and grows. This is an obvious statement, but for first-time parents, it is meaningful. My favorite new thing Afton is doing is sleeping through the night! Last week, she just randomly did not wake up once the entire night, and she hasn’t stopped doing it yet. YEAH! Afton is on the brink of crawling. It will be any day now, literally. She can get up on all fours, she launches herself onto her belly while she is sitting now, and she is army crawling. We just encourage and wait, and enjoy watching her discover that she can get something on the other side of the room. She loves it! Afton is very close to standing by herself, as well. She hasn’t really tried to pull up on anything, but she likes to stand while holding on to our hands or her crib.

Afton is also eating breakfast now, but not on a consistent basis. It usually depends on when she wakes up in the morning. She has also mastered the sippy cup and LOVES drinking from it. Right now, she is drinking apple juice, pear juice, and water. We had gorgeous weather a few days ago, and so I decided to take Afton for ride in her stroller. When we got back to the house, I picked a dandelion for her and let her hold it. She was very fascinated by it and didn’t even put it in her mouth for 5 minutes. I was so proud of her! Afton also got to sit on the grass for the first time. She picked up the leaves and got slightly annoyed when they got stuck in her hand. She seemed to really enjoy it though.

Afton was a month late for her 6 month checkup, but I just wanted to give her measurements. She weighed 19 lbs 4 oz. and was 28 in. long. Those measurements put her in the 95th percentile for her weight, and the 80th for her length. Afton does not get any of that from me!

Amy

So at my new church, we apparently do something called a pounding(don’t worry I had never heard of one either) in which the entire Church comes together and stocks the pantry of a new minister with a pound or so of everything. So today we were pounded! It was pretty amazing! We received about 22 lb. of sugar, 15 cans of tuna, 14 cans of whole corn (5 or so of the creamed corn variety), at least 20 cans of beans (ranch style, baked, refried), a couple pounds of flour,  baby food, 200 diapers, lots of can soups and about a million other things that would be too numerous to mention.  Here are some pictures below:  

      

 So we were supposed to see snow last night. We did, not much but we did. When we awoke this morning it was about 40 degrees and the snow had disappeared from everywhere that was not still cast in shadow from the morning sun. So I saw about a quarter inch of snow. “Getting an inch of snow is like winning 10 cents in the lottery.”

CHORUS:
I will trust in You
I will hold to what is true
That You see the weakest through
Every trial
I will cling to You
Each day I pledge it new
My imperfect gratitude
From now on

I am a rag doll
Made of strings and yarns
Each day a new thread
Is torn from me
And as I come apart at the seams
My hands raise up and I fall to my knees
Please hold me and sew me back together again

CHORUS

I can feel so old
Like I’ve seen too much
All my hope has been squeezed dry
Like some worn-out sponge
And as I am used up and spilled empty
You fill me up with a sweet certainty
Please keep me filled and never to be thirsty again

And as my tiny steps lead to freedom’s strides
Keep a watchful eye over me
Lest I trip and fall
I know I will

I will trust in You
Each day I pledge it new
My imperfect gratitude From now on

Amy