Happy Birthday

Today is my handsome man's birthday! I am so very blessed to have W as my forever love. He is daily teaching me how to praise our Lord more and how to be the woman God has made me to be. He is my rock. He is the best daddy to LB. He makes my heart pitter-patter. He leads our family with such strength and confidence that I know wherever God takes us we will be right where we need to be. Love you babe!

Word(less) Wednesday {Man Chant}

W has taught LB to chant men. They do this all day long whenever they complete a task deemed "manly". LB loves to clap at the end of the chant. During our family photo shoot we found a sign to the men's restroom, so of course W decided they should have their picture taken by it while chanting men. 

{photo credit}

The Word

My husband sent out this email to our house church last night. I was really encouraged by what Wade is learning in the word and what God is stirring in his heart to think and ponder about so I thought I'd share it with you all.

{Reading in 1 Corinthians today was interesting to me. In chapter 4, verses 8-16 (bear with me):

"Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have become kings--and that without us! How I wish that you really had become kings so that we might be kings with you! For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men. We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world. I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you, as my dear children. Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me."

So humbling!!!!! We are that verse for certain! We have all we want; we are rich by 95% of the world's standards. Yet it is the plight of the Christians thousands of miles away that captivates our souls and the eyes of the unbelievers. We Christians here are thought of as wise, good people, but the Christians in China or Vietnam or Iraq are considered fools. Those Christians barely have food to survive. They're beaten and hated by their neighbors. Yet they turn and bless their captors. Christians in India really embody the "scum of the earth, the refuse of the world." They are a lower caste and survive by bathing in water infested with parasites and bacteria/viruses that would have you and I literally crying for God to take away the pain. Yet they endure. But there's hope. Paul says that this should not be a source of shame to us, but a warning. Although we have our churches and our families and our friends, we lack mentors. We lack people who will correct us when we're wrong. We lack people who challenge us if we believe false gospels. That is why Paul says "you do not have many fathers... I urge you to imitate me." So my question: Who is your mentor? If you fall, who will correct you? (PS: The answer is not "my spouse".... that answer is a fail. God says very clearly "the two shall become one," thus your spouse is part of you. I've seen so many couples start their life as Christians only to fall away together because they egg on each others false beliefs.)

Also, ponder this vague question that God laid on my heart. No need for deep answers (unless you have one). Just pray about it, seek God's guidance, and be honest with yourself. The question is: Where are you going and why are you going there?}  

Great words for us to think about too. God laid out very clearly for us in Titus what it looks like to be in a mentoring relationship. How we as women are made to one another each other. Yet in our society today we are so quick to put that wisdom aside and think we know better than the generations that have come before us. But God has given us those women to teach us and correct us when we have gone astray from the Truth.

Ahh... The Guest Post

From the Hubs...

I am ashamed to admit it. Absolutely ashamed. I swore it would never happen and did my best to ensure it would not. My whole life was building to this moment. Years of education. Months of anticipation. Vial after vial of consuming knowledge. And then in an instant, it all came tumbling down.

That's right, LB got an ear infection. So what, you say. But this wasn't just any ear infection--this was an ear infection that was resistant to antibiotics. You heard it hear on Daily Sips: Antibiotic resistance will be the plague of our childrens' generation.

How did this happen? Great question and I'm still trying to figure that out myself. Only two options exist: a) Bacteria living in or on LB developed resistance, or b) LB picked up resistant bacteria from some foreign object. Option A is highly unlikely, as I ensured that he finished every last drop of every antibiotic prescribed. And I monitored his symptoms. And I checked the doctors' prescriptions against my Antibiotic Handbook (yes, there is such a thing, and yes, I have it). Everything checked out. LB most likely did not have resistant bacteria develop in or on him... he was not the figurative petri dish of destruction. (Although if he keeps crawling and finding new things, that could be his new nickname.)

So I'm left with option B: He picked up resistant bacteria from somewhere else. Which means that somewhere out in the world, someone chose not to read the instructions (admission: it was probably a guy) and did not finish their full dose of antibiotics. Selfish. Now my 9 month old has to get a series of 6 shots over the course of 5 days because someone thought "I have no more symptoms, I must be better."

Nevertheless, it never looks good for a microbiologist's son to contract an antibiotic resistant infection. So I hold my head in shame. You may have won this round Streptococci, but I will be waiting next time. You have met your match and your chains will be broken. (That's a little microbiological pun. Streptococci grow in a chain formation. I crack myself up... seriously... I am laughing out loud at that.)

Here's where I stand on my soap box (provided Kelley doesn't cut this from the blog): Get your children vaccinated. Get your children vaccinated. Get your children vaccinated. (I said it three times because it's not official unless you say it three times.) 150 years of science say it's safe. 150 years of science say it's efficacious. And no, the government is not trying to control your mind. (If they wanted to do that, they'd just dangle cash in front of our noses, because we all see how most Americans will do anything for money.) Stepping off my soap box now. Hopefully none of you stop following Daily Sips after that little rant.

Until next time....

Guest Post from the hubs

So Kelley has been asking that I do a "Guest Blog" for a few months now and I always used the excuse that I had to mow. I think she caught on to my ploy when the storm dubbed "Snowmaggedon" hit... and I don't think she would buy the fact that I need to change the oil in my mower. So here I am. At the computer, writing my thoughts to the world. We'll see where this goes, but rest assured, Miscellany Monday and Wordless Wednesday have nothing on me. That's right. We'll call today Wade's Maximal Miscellany Word-full Wednesday (WMMWW for short).

Thought 1) Reading this week, I read something that I had never read (or paid attention to). Holy Underwear. You heard me right. And now I think I have your attention. If you read Exodus 28:42-43, you'll see that God required the priests who entered His presence to wear "linen undergarments...reaching from the waist to the thigh. [They] must wear them...so that they will not incur guilt and die." I must say that that is the most convincing argument for boxers over briefs I've ever heard. So in the eternal vote of "Boxers versus Briefs," I think that God Almighty has solidly cast His vote for boxers, linen boxers to be specific.

Thought 2) Kelley kept saying that I would do a guest post about my gardening secret. The answer? Manure. There, it's out there. Go to your favorite garden store and ask for composted manure, mix in as many bags as you can before you start your garden, and then every year after that. Some people say a little TLC will grow a garden, but I say a whole lotta manure will turn your garden into a jungle of food.

Thought 3) After much deliberation and careful consideration, I am ready to name my favorite chemical molecule: Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2). Not only is it an effective mouth gargle (see Thought 4) and disinfectant, but it also is an unbelievably reactive molecule. White Blood Cells in the body use it as a Smart Weapon, shooting what essentially are hydrogen peroxide missiles at engulfed foreign bodies. It decomposes in air to pure water and oxygen, both molecules of which are vital to (many) living species. Hydrogen Peroxide can be a highly hazardous substance when stored for long periods in your laboratory, thus requiring regular disposal and replacement. It reacts in other ways that would not be responsible for me to detail, but what brought me to designating H2O2 as my go-to molecule was this: It helps regulate the biological clock of most all cells. Peroxiredoxins. In the peroxiredoxin enzyme, cells use peroxide substances to cause chemical reactions to occur. New studies show that the by-products of these chemical reactions regulate processes along a repetitive 24 hour time frame. So the next time your spouse gets those midnight munchies, instead of telling him/her to grab those Oreos from the pantry, just tell him/her to cool their peroxiredoxins.

Thought 4) Mouth gargle? You'll want it after this. If you don't floss (guilty), you leave colonies of bacteria called biofilms growing in the crevices of your teeth. (To envision a biofilm, have you ever walked into a lake or stream and picked up a rock from under the water? It's usually slick on the bottom. That is most likely a bacterial biofilm.) Those biofilms cause gum disease and tooth decay, which create small abscesses that allow the bacteria to enter the bloodstream. Once in the bloodstream, those bacteria race to the heart where they stick to the heart walls and wait until they can burrow into the wall of your heart, thus causing heart disease. What's the moral of the story? You might think floss and brush your teeth, but I'm more amazed at how innovative the bacteria are in displacing themselves to a place in the heart where antibiotics and host immunity cannot affect them. Amazing, right?

This is getting a little long, so I'll leave off here. I have a Thought 5, but I'll leave that as a cliffhanger. Kelley wants me to have a regular guest post on here. That's a lot of commitment, especially considering I don't even have a cool blog title yet. (Ideas?) Depending on the thumbs up or down, maybe Thought 5 will be forthcoming.

So just to recap: Wear linen boxers, Use manure on your garden, Choose your favorite chemical molecule, and Floss.