O.K., you’ve all played it, right? On a long trip, you have your kids keep track of all the different state license plates you can find. I forgot to write about it related to our trip to VA, but Serena and I did this in June. On an 11- day trip, driving through only 4 states, we found 44 states — all but Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, Nevada, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Of course, we did drive slowly through the whole parking area at Monticello, and we did the same each day we left a symposium at the conference hotel in Williamsburg. There were people there from all over the U.S.! It brought back memories of many other trips. Hey, Sarah and Lydia, we even found a North Dakota license. See? North Dakota DOES exist! (Inside family joke).
The New New Atheism
So what is a follower of the Warrior King doing linking this article about a thoroughly entertaining atheist named Christopher Hitchens? The same being a man who is making mounds of money ridiculing belief in any sort of God (god) and all such witless and benighted souls who profess the same? Well… read the article for yourself. Seriously– go ahead. If you can also check out the book and read it, I envy you, for I wish I had the time to do so. Finally, to get the flavor of my enjoyment of all this, read Psalm 2:4,5.
Ok, this is going to be hard, but you all have to hear it.
Ok, this is going to be hard, but you all have to hear it. For all you wonderful people who are reading our post PLEASE COMMENT!!!! I keep hearing that this person and that person is following my updates, but no one ever says anything to me. They don’t e-mail me or post comments on our blog. I can’t stand in front of you all and carry out a wonderful conversation on how my life is going, I can only do one side of the story, so I need you all to comment and start up the other half.
Some of you have e-mailed me, and believe me, I really apreciate that and love hearing from you. I doesn’t take much to comment, just register, not a complicated process. If you have any trouble, remember my dad is a computer genius.
I am glad that people are reading posts on our blog, but I’ll be gladder when people start commenting.
Love you all, can’t wait to hear from you.
Lydia
Halfway done
Well, I’m two and a half days away from being halfway done with the college quarter. It definitely seems weird. It is cliche to say “how the time has flown by”, or “it seems just like yesterday” so I’ll just say that each day has seemed to last forever, but when stacked in the past, makes but a small pile of time gone by. I believe that Continue reading “Halfway done”
Haiti Trip- Saturday 7/14
Sarah has sent in her first report:
dear everyone,
hi. So, I’ve been in Haiti since Thursday at noon, and so far it’s really cool. It reminds me of Mexico in a lot of ways, but not as hot. Yes, I just said “not as hot”. Maybe working outside every day has helped more than I thought. Anyway, here’s the basic overview. On Thursday we Continue reading “Haiti Trip- Saturday 7/14”
Sarah’s Trip to Haiti, plus Dani’s work there…
For those of you following Sarah’s interest in missions, you may know that she will leave this Tuesday (actually, Thursday- Ed.) for the Caribbean island of Haiti for a fact-finding mission trip, ending with a visit to her boyfriend (who is doing his own mission work there all summer) and his family. You can start by reading her recent support letter, and continue Continue reading “Sarah’s Trip to Haiti, plus Dani’s work there…”
Week Three
I met a man sitting on a bus stop bench on the street this past Thursday. His name was Mike and he was begging for money. I stopped and talked to him. He claimed that he had mental problems and couldn’t work, and got social security every month but it wasn’t enough. I tried to talk to him and encourage him. I shared Jesus with him. He claimed to know Jesus, not as one of his children, but he believed he existed. I tried to encourage him to pray and rely on the Lord for salvation. But Mike said he was afraid to pray, because he believed that every time he prayed, God punished him. In the end, Continue reading “Week Three”
Self Control vs. State Control
For many, the practices and motivations behind Wahhabi Islam (most terrorists claim this sect, including Bin Laden) are difficult and mysterious. The article linked under News (and here) gives great insight into at least one outworking of the attempt to please God by outward conformity, while ignoring matters of the heart. In fact, one Continue reading “Self Control vs. State Control”
Pics of My Room
Here’s my room. A bit messy, but I wanted to show you how it really is. At the moment, with all I have to do, keeping my room clean is at the absolute bottom of my priority list. Though I do more or less pick up every evening so I’m not tripping over stuff, my room is by no means a model of cleanliness. Don’t feel bad about me only having a mattress and box-springs for a bed. I actually like it much better than a bed, and it is very comfortable. I like being near the floor. Well, enjoy.
My name in Chinese Characters
Here is my assigned Chinese name in Chinese characters. It is To2ng Le3i. Those numbers right after the “o” and the “e” indicate a tone mark. Since you probably have no idea what those are, don’t worry about it. Tong Lei is Pinyin, the romanization of the pronunciation of the Chinese characters. Tong is just a family surname, no meaning. Lei means high as in social status, honor etc, and big as in great person/influential people. Not much correlation to me, but thats ok. Later, I think, after I am well into Chinese and really have a good grip on the language and culture, I can change my name. Many people do that. By the way, I wrote that vertically, but more and more Chinese people write horizontally, from left to write, just like us. Often if something is written vertically it is for traditional, artistic, or literature reasons.