1. Jordan has learned how to go up & down the ladder to the top bunk where Caleb sleeps. Reuben learned this skill at about the same age. We just didn’t remember the joy / fear. Perhaps we’ve blocked it out.

2. On Saturday we were privileged to have a screening of the newest VeggieTales video, Abe and the Amazing Promise, at our church. As we prepared we planned to be excited if 100 people attended. We were overwhelmed by 175! Fantastic!

3. Mocha, our lab / terrier cross puppy, has grown and learned to jump the baby gates we’ve used to keep her in & out of the kitchen.

Reuben: [Whining / crying about his hat]

Me: Reuben why don’t you whine about it, cry some, throw your hat on the ground and stomp on it!  Maybe that will help.

Reuben: [Crys & whines some more] I can’t! My seat belt is on so I don’t know how!

Sharalyn and I started laughing.  It made for a lighter moment in a the midst of frustration.  Sarcasm wasn’t a helpful parenting technique in the moment [is it ever?]. Sometimes 3 year olds are exasperating.

It was really well done.  Fireproof is a film that takes a hard look at marriage and challenges people to fight for the marriage.  I was really impressed.  The Love Dare book [watch the movie, it will make sense] is now available in stores and is bound to have an impact, along with the move, on many marriages.  

This is a movie not to be missed my married couples or singles who desire to become married.

Oggsync | In late 2007 I made a significant shift in how I manage my life.  I’ve been a calendar person for quite a while, but have always disliked MS Outlook.  I made the shift to go all Google, and my ability to do so was largely because Oggsync allows me to keep my google calendars [I have 12] in sync with my phone.  In 2008 Oggsync added contacts sync, which I now also use.  Oggsync does have a freeware version which is limited to one calendar and a limited sync range; I purchased a subscription and regularily sync up to 12 calendars with a range of 2 months in the past and 2 years in the future.  To be honest, as much as a rely on Oggsync, I’ve been disappointed with the software for about 6 months because its creators have not updated it to fix several small problems.  However, it is still, in my mind, the best option for sync to Windows Mobile until Google themselves create a real usable method for this.

Windows Mobile 6.1 | In 2008 Microsoft released an update to its Windows Mobile software which added several needed changes like threaded SMS and better GPS integration.  For my part, I updgraded both my phones [the 6800 and then when I switched to the 6900 that as well].  The main reason for my upgrade [other then just being a geek] was to gain GPS through Google Maps.

Google Maps | On my phone, one of the freeware programs I use less frequency, but apreciate the most is Google Maps. For example, on thanksgiving weekend in Canada we were travelling to join Sharalyn’s clan at her sister Karilyn’s new home near Fredericton.  The problem travel-wise is that I had been told in general terms that they lived in Fredericton, NB.  They live near Fredericton in a place called New Maryland.  Its one of those times when you tell people you live in the nearest big area because they likely had never heard of the place you live in.  So, as we were driving I was sucessful in getting horibly lost.  Using Gmaps on my phone, I was able to figure out where we were, where they lived, and then use GPS to drive through much of Fredericton to arrive at their home sucessfully.  Thanks, Google.

Email Scheduler | Really, this freeware program is something that should be natively a part of Windows Mobile.  With active sync its possible to schedule the times of day when you allow your phone to connect to a remote server.  In other words, you can set the times of day that you want your phone allowing push email / calendar / etc. to arrive.  However, with email [pop or imap] this isn’t possible.  Enter Email Scheduler. Essentially, you can set the time that your phone stops checking at night and starts in the morning.  Perfect for those of us who leave their phones on at night as an alarm clock.  

PIM Backup | Again, something else that really should have been a part of Windows Mobile.  Just like its name says, PIM Backup is freeware that will backup your data [email, calendar, contacts, files, etc] either manually or by a schedule you determine.  The backups can be saved to your microSD card, and can be restored from there.  The only way this could be better would be for the backup to be automatically over the air to a server rather than on the microSD card.  Several services exist for that idea [Drop Box, Dash Wire, etc] but I’ve not taken the time to explore them yet.  

Facebook | Lets face it, if you don’t have a Facebook profile and are not checking the site at least once a day, you were missing a large part of the social world in 2008.  I’ll write more about Facebook in the web applications post, but I’ll say here, that Facebook Mobile [not a true program on my phone, but a web ap for my phone] has made communication with people and learning about their lives better for me in 2008 than ever before.

Google Reader | Another web application, GReader has become a regular part of my life.  I’ll explain more in the web applications post, but I’ll say here that the mobile version allows me to put the spare 3-10 minutes I often have waiting in different places to good use.  

Pocket Uno | What can I say, everyone needs one game.

Hosea was a prophet of God – a prophet is someone who brings God’s message to the people.  Normally prophets would bring God’s message through their words. However, God chose to use Hosea’s life and marriage to convey a message in a very visual illustration.  God, through Hosea’s wife and children, painted a picture of the state of the relationship between God and Israel.  

That relationship was an up and down relationship.  Throughout their history, Israel had alternated between closely following God and meandering away from him and toward other gods.  Through Hosea, God told Israel that because of their constant prostitution of themselves that there would be significant consequences.  However, God also declared [Hosea 2:14-23] that his willingness to receive them back would not change.

As we begin 2009 my desire is to no longer have a roller coaster of a relationship with God.  I want to earnestly seek him and stop prostituting myself to other gods.  For us all we must remember, that God will restore us when we return and seek him.

The theme for the morning, from Faith Weaver [our curriculem], was Jesus is Born.  Not that the Christmas story isn’t engaging, but at grade 3/4 a group of mostly church kids already have heard the story.  As I was getting ready I decided to do something different.

I divided the group into two [guys on one side, girls on the other, of course] and told them that they had 10 minutes to work as a group to create 10 questions about Luke chapters 1 & 2.  The questions they created would be asked by them to the other team, and the goal was to stump the other team.  The questions were quite funny – the girls focused on mostly details about angels, Mary, and the time of Elizabeth’s pregnancy.  The guys were more abstract.  In all the idea worked perfectly, the kids had a lot of fun, and learned, I think, the point.

[Note: The photo on this post are the questions that the guys created.  To read it in a bigger size, click here.]

The part that was sad for me was seeing a crowded room and several hundred children all celebrating the Holiday of Christmas instead of the Birthday of Christmas.  The whole night, while a great presentation, reminded me first hand of what is so frequently missing from this season.

That said, like every other parent in the room, I enjoyed seeing my children on stage singing.  I joined the paparazzi near the front and took video of the songs our children sang.  Video below.

A little while ago I started scanning the pictures.  It allows me to share them on facebook, which is fun, and also allows for not all of them to stay forever.  We do save the best or more meaning filled.

I have to say, that of all the things that they could spend their time with, we are very blessed to have creative children. I have created a new section on our blogs while provides links to the facebook albums of their artwork: Click Here.