Johann Sebastian Bach

Tonight John's parents came over to watch the kids so that we could attend a Christmas party. When they were putting Christopher and Sarah to bed, they turned on the music that was in the CD player and Martha (Nana) commented that it was such pretty music. Christopher said, "Yes, that's Johann the Baptist Bach...or maybe it's Beethoven." Apparently when we say "Johann Sebastian" what he hears is "Johann the Baptist." Pretty funny.

Do Not Fear a Colonoscopy

Today, I (John) had my second colonoscopy. A lot of people avoid them like the plague and refuse to have them done. They are not that bad. If you have any history of colon cancer in your family, as I do, I would love to persuade you to take the plunge.

My first one was about 5 years ago. I really dreaded the procedure, but once it was over I had two thoughts. The first was: "that was it!?" I fell asleep and woke up and it was over. Not bad at all. The second thought was, "Thank the Lord I had one, because they removed two pre-cancerous polyps." My dad was diagnosed with colon cancer at the age of 43. Thankfully they caught it before it spread outside the colon. Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death. But if it is caught early, it is highly treatable. And the only real way to check for it is through a colonoscopy. I had one at the age of 33, ten years prior to my dad's age when he was diagnosed. My paternal grandmother and many of her brothers and sisters had colon cancer as well. Since my dad was an only child and my sister passed away at the age of 16 of brain cancer, I have no other family history to go on. But I have enough to know that I have a high risk factor. Thankfully, they found a perfect colon with no polyps or problems today.

Of course, the worst part of having a colonoscopy is the night before. Yesterday I fasted all day and then last night drank 2 liters of "Go Lightly". That by far is the worst part of the whole thing, but it isn't that bad, especially compared to getting colon cancer. So if you are putting off having one done, don't be a wimp! If I can do it, so can you!

p.s. - they gave me pictures of the procedure, but out of mercy to you, I will not post them. :)

Turkey Chili

Mmmmm...what sounds more inviting than a nice hot bowl of chili on a cold December day? The only problem is that the high yesterday was nearly 80 degrees. Gotta love Texas. Texas may not be known as the winter wonderland, but Texans can whip up some good chili! This particular chili is yummy and remarkably easy to make, so I thought I'd share the recipe:

In an 8qt. stock pot, sauté 1 chopped onion (and 1 chopped red pepper, if you like) in a little olive oil on med-high heat.
Add 1+ lbs. ground turkey breast and brown on high heat. Season with salt and pepper.
Once the turkey is browned, reduce heat and add 3 Tbsp. chili powder and 1 Tbsp. cumin.
Stir until evenly covered and fragrant.
Here comes the easy part...
Add 4-16oz. (or 2-32 oz.) cans of fire roasted diced tomatoes (I use either Muir Glen or Hunt's brand).
Add 1-16oz. can kidney beans and 1-16oz. can black beans.
Add 1 small can of tomato soup (or if you're a purist, add 1/2 a can of tomato paste reconstituted in chicken broth. You'll have to add salt and sugar to taste).
Add 1+ cup frozen corn (I use whole kernel corn) and heat through.

Voila! Serve with cornbread or tortilla chips.

We had the annual staff/officer Christmas party at our house last night (31 adults, I think), so I made 3 batches of chili while everyone else brought appetizers or desserts. The "hardest" part in this recipe is browning the meat and seasoning it. After that, you merely open cans and dump them in (note all the empty cans to the left and in the picture below).


"Hooray for chili!"

Mitt's Speech on Religion & Democracy

As you probably know by now, Gov Mitt Romney delivered his speech yesterday explaining how his Mormon faith interacts with his political philosophy. Just as JFK gave a speech in Houston to Baptist ministers several weeks before the general election promising that he would not take orders from the Vatican, likewise Romney tries to reassure GOP primary voters about his own faith. I thought the most striking political line was about Jesus as the Savior of mankind. I take that to mean that he is especially trying to build a bridge with evangelical voters in Iowa to save his candidacy from the Huckabee surge. Two columninsts worth reading today are David Brooks and Peggy Noonan.

Huckabee rises in national polls to within 3 points of Giuliani

Today, in the first full round of national polling completed since last week’s “debate” among Republican Presidential hopefuls, Huckabee has pulled to within three points of the frontrunning Rudy Giuliani. Heading into the debate, Giuliani led Huckabee by twelve.

Not only that, new polling data released today shows that Huckabee has pulled to within a single percentage point of Hillary Clinton in a general election match-up. Huckabee is also a frontrunner in Iowa and essentially tied for second in New Hampshire. Some pundits believe Huckabee’s numbers will surely go down as fast as they’ve gone up while others are beginning to consider the possibility that the bass-guitar playing Governor may become a serious contender for the Republican nomination. Full article here.

Here is a pic from our brief hello with him at a home in Plano this past summer. We've posted the pic before, but since we're so proud of him, we thought we'd post it again!

Would somebody please tell me what Christmas is all about?

The following is a talk that Mindy gave earlier today to a gathering from our church. I thought it was great and I want to share it with you all:

Many, if not all of you have seen, “Merry Christmas Charlie Brown” on TV at some point in your life. I watched it growing up and I’m enjoying it again as a parent (although I’m a little more alarmed at all of the name-calling that goes on throughout the show!) But if you’ve seen it, you’ll remember that amidst all of the Christmas festivities and cheer, Charlie Brown is depressed. Why is he so down?

He just doesn’t understand what Christmas is all about; he is annoyed by all of the commercialism and focus on presents. He senses that there is a deeper meaning to it all, but it is grossly overshadowed and trivialized by all of the modern practices.

We can relate to this, can’t we? It seems as though “Christmas” begins earlier and earlier each year, and the madness persists and bombards us from Black Friday until Christmas Day. And all of the excitement seems to be over who is getting what for Christmas, and the big celebration inevitably reaches its climax under the tree on Christmas morning. Then after all of the presents are opened, everyone feels the big let-down, emptiness and fatigue from all of the shopping, the office parties, school parties, gift wrapping, family gatherings, traveling, etc. Our culture is very effective in bombarding us with every distraction imaginable until we find ourselves grasping for the real reason why we celebrate this Day in the first place.

And so finally when Charlie Brown comes to the end of his rope, Linus, the young theologian, takes center stage and tells Charlie Brown and everyone listening what Christmas is all about:

“There were shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, an angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shown round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, “Fear not! For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:8-ff)

Now it warms our heart to hear Linus proclaim these verses of Scripture on national television year after year, but I fear the power and significance of the angel’s proclamation to the shepherds is lost on us because it may be overly familiar.

The angel is essentially saying, “Today in Bethlehem a baby has been born who is your Savior and Messiah…and by the way, this baby is also God Himself!”

God’s people had heard of and had been waiting LONG for the promised Messiah, the One who would save them. So it would have been incredibly exciting to hear that He had finally come! To hear that He came as a baby would have been perplexing, but to then hear that this baby, this Messiah, was God in the flesh, would have blown their minds. It should blow our minds, too.

So instead of glossing over this verse as a nice thing to write on Christmas cards, let’s unpack the punches that are found in this original proclamation of Christ’s arrival.

It should raise questions in our minds like, Why did he come in the first place? Why did he choose to come as a baby? Why did God send Himself, and not another?

The angel says that this baby born is our “Savior.” That, in and of itself, implies that we need saving or rescuing from something. What is it exactly that we need to be saved from? Sin.

When the angel of the Lord appears to Joseph, he tells him that “(Mary) will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)

Now, in order to fully appreciate the wonder of Jesus’ birth, we must understand why He came. We cannot and will not grasp the beauty and glory of our salvation if we don’t understand our desperate need for it. We must first understand what we’ve been saved from.

No one can argue over the existence of sin. No one has to teach a child to be selfish or to throw a temper tantrum. My children may learn how to call each other “blockhead!” by watching Charlie Brown, but that’s only because the roots of sin are already in their hearts. If you search every nation, every people group, every economic class, every age, and every heart, you will find sin and its effects. If we as a people know nothing else, we know how to sin. J.C. Ryle once said that he knows of no greater proof of the Genesis account of man’s origin than the power, extent and universality of sin.

So while we may be fully aware of the existence of sin, I think it’s fair to say that we don’t have a clue as to how vile, heinous and offensive it is to God. Sin isn’t just about making bad choices or being a mean person. It has everything to do with offending our perfect, holy and loving Creator and Ruler.

Kris Lundgaard writes in his book, The Enemy Within,
“Few people have come to terms with the law of sin. If more people had, we would hear more complaints of it in prayers, see more struggling against it, and find less of its fruit in the world.” (p.23)

Just as skunks don’t realize how offensive their odor is to others, we are all too content to live amidst the stink of the very thing that separates us from God, who cannot have sin in His holy presence.

So why did Jesus have to come? Couldn’t you just ‘pull yourself up by our bootstraps’ and ‘become a better you’? Why not simply make sure our children get a better education than we did? Can’t we just work harder?

Left to ourselves, we don’t even want to do what pleases the Lord. Sure, we may want to be better people – but it’s usually with the goal of getting people to like us or respect us, getting into a good school, getting a better job, or simply feeling good about ourselves. Left to ourselves, all we think and care about is our self.

Ephesians 2:1 says that we are dead in our sins. We simply cannot save ourselves let alone approach God for salvation.

God knew this. And in His infinite mercy, He moved toward us. There wasn’t a single person in all of human history who could pay the debt we owe to God. So God sent Himself.

How did He do it? Humbly, as a baby. The infinite, eternal and invisible God took on human flesh.

He came down to earth from heaven who is God and Lord of all, and his shelter was a stable, and his cradle was a stall; with the poor and mean, and lowly, lived on earth our Savior holy.
(“Once in Royal David’s City”, C.F. Alexander, 1848)

This is hard to get our minds around. God, who is perfect, holy, righteous, wise, good, and pure…this same God whom we have so grievously offended, took on our flesh. He chose to become like one of us and live among us. He experienced all of the temptations and frailties of human flesh. And yet, He never gave into the temptations. He did not live for himself, as we do. He lived for the perfect will of His Father – God.

So why did He come as a baby? To fulfill every law that we break and obey every command that we ignore…and He did this perfectly from the moment of His birth. Jesus Christ earned God’s favor on our behalf.

But we know that’s not the end of the debt we owed. A price had to be paid – death; the penalty for our sins and offenses against God. Only a perfect person could sufficiently pay for debt that we owe.

How much does God hate sin? Look at the cross. Look at how much our sin cost Him.

How much does God love us? Look at the cross. Look at the manger.

We think of birthdays as a fun, party day on which we get to indulge ourselves with food and presents.

Jesus’ birthday was not a glorious day for Him. Think of how much God the Creator of the universe condescended to take on the flesh of His creatures, to suffer all of the ills of humanity, and then to die for the very people who rebelled against Him.

However, Jesus' birthday, the day that He took on human flesh was a glorious day for us.

God did for us, what we could not do for ourselves. The reason Jesus came in the flesh was to live for us and to die for us. Remember what the angel told the shepherds – “For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord!”

And the mystery of it all is that He didn’t have to do it. God does not need us. Think of how much easier things would be without us! The incarnation of Christ was an act of self-sacrificing, unconditional love.

So how should we celebrate Christmas? - worship. Remember that without Christmas day, we would still be dead in our sins and without hope in this world. But because of Christmas day…because God moved toward us by taking on human flesh, we have unshakable hope. Therefore, cling to the Savior, who is Christ the Lord! Bask in the love that God has for you in Christ!

How deep the Father’s love for us, how vast beyond all measure; that He would give His only Son, and call a wretch His treasure!
(“How Deep the Father’s love”, Stuart Townend, 1995)

“And that’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.” Linus

Happy Thanksgiving

This is what our succulent turkey looked like before we hacked it to pieces and devoured it. I had to post of picture of what I consider to be my best roasted turkey yet! I've produced many a dry, chewy or just plain tasting turkey in the past. I even tried brining the turkey last year, which I found to be an enormous waste of salt and not much difference in juiciness or flavor. This year I bought a fresh, free range, 12 lb. turkey and rubbed it with olive oil, minced garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, and onion powder, then stuffed it with fresh thyme & rosemary sprigs, orange & apple slices, and onions. I cooked it upside-down for the first 2 hours and then flipped it for the last 30 minutes or so. Yummmmm.....


This is where Hannah hung out while I cooked the turkey, peeled sweet potatoes and whatnot. John took Christopher and Sarah with him to the gym where he worked out for nearly an hour before feasting time.


After all was cooked, we packed up the car and hauled everything over to Nana and Pop's house, where Nana provided the cornbread dressing, pumpkin pies, cool whip, and best of all: a clean house with a table that was already set!
Side note: John, his parents and I have had an ongoing debate as to which is superior - cornbread dressing or bread stuffing. I've given up on making bread stuffing because everyone down here (south of the Mason-Dixon) prefers cornbread dressing to what we are used to in the North. I still prefer bread stuffing (comfort food, I guess), but I've grown to like cornbread dressing and even had 2nd and 3rd helpings of it today.


Would you believe that it only took 2 shots to get all of us looking and smiling at the same time?! This would make a great Christmas card photo if only we didn't have a much cuter one of the kids in their matching pjs.

Sarah's birthday

Sarah turns 3 this Tuesday, November 20th, so we celebrated today with a few of her girlfriends. She had been looking forward to her party all week long and had a great time. I've learned that with 3 year olds, all you need are balloons, pizza, cupcakes and juice boxes...and a place in which they can run wild and trash with toys. Instant party.


The only group photo where all of the kids who attended actually sat in the same place for the picture.


As soon as the pizza was served, the house got suddenly quiet.


There really are 3 candles on that cupcake. One of them just got eclipsed by the other. Although, whenever I ask Sarah, "How old are you?" and tell her to say, "I'm 3" she says, "No, my number 2."
Sarah actually sang "Happy Birthday to Sarah..." along with everyone else. It was pretty cute.

Christopher's choirs

By looking at the picture above, you'd think that Christopher is sounding out letter sounds or attempting to spell words. But if you have spent any amount of time in our house where Christopher makes repeated, lengthy visits to the magnets on the fridge while singing songs, you'd realize that he is organizing his 'choir.' What's funny about this is that this is just the most current in a long line of his obsessions. When he was crawling, he was obsessed with spring-bound door stoppers and drawer handles. Every time we would enter a new house, he would make a b-line to find the door stoppers and drawer handles and flick them. You could see his satisfaction in getting several of these going at the same time. It really was pretty impressive (and noisy) considering he wasn't even 1 yet, but he could crawl from one door stopper to the next with breakneck speed. On the flip-side, you can imagine his confusion and disappointment at finding certain door stoppers that were not spring-bound or handles that wouldn't flip. After he started walking, he left door stoppers behind for bowl-spinning. Don't ask me how this started, but I guess he noticed over time that throwing my plastic lids and bowls (I kept a stash for him) a certain way would cause them to spin, so he eventually figured out how to do this intentionally. I think the most he could get spinning at once was about 7 or 8 bowls. This was a long-lived obsession (and I mean obsession) because he would be content to spin bowls, lids, rings, or anything remotely round for hours in a day. He was actually kind of 'famous' for this particular skill as kids at church (and sometimes adults) would ask to see Christopher spin the bowls. Whenever we would visit someone's home, he had no qualms about asking to play with the hostess's kitchen bowls and friends were rated according to the size and quantity of their bowls. The louder the better, so spinning the big, stainless steel bowls on the tile entry hall or the cement patio in the backyard (no tellin' what the neighbors were thinking...) was most satisfying.
Thankfully, we went digital before he kicked the bowl-habit, so here's a picture of him in the act taken in March 2006 (he was 1 month away from turning 3).

Back to the choir: As you will see in picture number 3 (below), he will even organize his cars into a choir. I remember finding him in my bathtub one time (no water, mind you) where he had gathered everything within reach (soap, shampoo bottles, candles, etc.) and organized them on the floor of the tub, singing choral songs. When I walked in and looked at him, he simply looked up at me and explained that this was his sea choir as he waved his hand over the objects. John and I both enjoy listening to choral music, so we were happy to foster his interest. For a long time now, Christopher has been able to identify the basses, tenors, altos, sopranos, and various orchestral instruments when listening to classical or choral music. We just had no idea that he would incorporate this into his playtime. One time I pointed at one of the lines in his 'choir' and asked if they were the altos, and he said, "no, those are the mezzo-sopranos." Duh. Sarah will provoke him by stealing one of his magnets and then run through the house. I am alerted to this by the sound of, "NO, Sarah! That's a soprano! She just needs to praise God!" It would sound so spiritual if he weren't yelling...

His very favorite choir to listen to is the St. Olaf college choir. We recorded their annual Christmas program last year and I cannot tell you how many times we have watched it. Nana bought him another St. Olaf choir video for Christmas, where all of the various choirs at St. Olaf college sing in a combined concert with the full orchestra. Shortly before I am discovered taking the video below, you'll notice the color groupings of the magnets which represent the different choirs and you will hear him singing, in a raspy voice, one of their songs - "Gloria in Excelsis Deo." 

The one thing that all of his various obsessions have in common is that they're all noisy.

Ok, forget Halloween...Horray for Reformation Day!!

As is usual when John is out of town, I am having a hard time motivating myself to shut it all down and go to sleep. So what highly productive thing am I doing? Blog-surfing. Don't ask me how I got there, but I found this post regarding October 31st and creative ways to celebrate Reformation Day. It's short and enjoyable to read, so I recommend it. Now I'm all inspired to implement this fun and much more worthy practice in our own family. Besides, John would make a great Martin Luther, don't you think?