Posts from — December 2003

Interesting word of the day:

borborygmus \bor-buh-RIG-mus\ noun
: intestinal rumbling caused by moving gas

Hark! The herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!”
Joyful, all ye nations rise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
With th’angelic host proclaim,
“Christ is born in Bethlehem!”

Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

Christ, by highest heav’n adored;
Christ the everlasting Lord;
Late in time, behold Him come,
Offspring of a virgin’s womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
Hail th’incarnate Deity,
Pleased as man with men to dwell,
Jesus our Emmanuel.

Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

Come, Desire of nations, come,
Fix in us thy humble home;
Rise, the woman’s conquering seed,
Bruise in us the serpent’s head.
Now display thy saving power,
Ruined nature now restore;
Now in mystic union join
Thine to ours, and ours to thine.

Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface,
Stamp Thine image in its place:
Second Adam from above,
Reinstate us in Thy love.
Let us Thee, though lost, regain,
Thee, the Life, the inner man:
O, to all Thyself impart,
Formed in each believing heart.

Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

Hail the heav’n born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Ris’n with healing in His wings.
Mild He lays His glory by,
Born that man no more may die.
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.

Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

Merry Christmas!

I want a fruitcake this year.

dangit.

On the radio this morning, I heard of a man who was pulled over for drunk driving with a blood-alcohol level of 7.0%.

Most people pass out at 3, and die at 4.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Oh, and all my comments were lost.

Ice and sleet came down Saturday night, so Church was cancelled. Then work was cancelled today. I began pruning our apple tree. Man, that thing needs some work. It felt good though… taking dominion, working with the ground, sort of.

That reminds me of a fascinating thing… immunizations. It’s all about taking dominion.

Even the possibility of immunization just blows my mind. The way God created us so that we make things in our bodies – antibodies – that actually remember what infectious bodies ‘look like’, and can mark them immediately as ‘food’ for our immune system is just flat out amazing. Anyone that has even a hint of an understanding of what is going on at the molecular level, and also believes in evolution is just stupid. Really.

But then we take that glorious fact of creation, and put these things into our bodies, and into the bodies of our children when they are young (which I got a bill for today, and reminded me of how amazing it is), is an example of the dominion we are to take of this creation.

Tonight we’re doing some caroling. I haven’t done it for years and years. Should be fun.

I’m looking forward to singing Joy to the World.

I posted this in a comment on This Classical Life, because Kristen is teaching it to her students.

But it really deserves all the glamour of a full fledged post, so here we go. It’s a good Christmas song by one of my favorite musicians, Andrew Peterson. It’s a little over 2mb.

Matthew’s Begats.

Children are so fun. They learn so much and so easily.

About a month ago, I instituted a new little family tradition. I made a list of a few things that we can say/sing together before dinner. On the list, so far, is The Lord’s Prayer, the Apostle’s Creed, the Doxology, the Gloria Patri and Psalm 150B (from The Book of Psalms for Singing). We would cycle through them during the week. Geneva knows the doxology and recognizes Psalm 150, but the others she didn’t have a clue on. And since we weren’t repeating it, she wasn’t getting it. So starting some time last week, I decided that we’d just stick with the Lord’s Prayer for the time being so she can learn it (I chose that from the list because we say it corporately at church, and Geneva can therefore say it with the rest of the body).

She’s already getting it. Last night she was saying it with us. She didn’t get all of it, but she’s learning it. I don’t know why it should be surprising to me. I know in my head that it’s the way God designed things to work. But when I heard her saying that prayer with us, I looked up with a big smile, and looked at Megan, who was smiling back at me with the same look. It’s so exciting to see my little girl learning these things.

Heh… I just remember this… Last night, when we sat down for dinner, I asked Geneva if she knew how the Lord’s Prayer begins, and she said “Bread and wine”. Isn’t that cute? She thought I was talking about the Lord’s Supper.

And, just for fun, here is a list of Geneva’s favorite things this week: If You Give A Moose A Muffin, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and taking off her pants and diaper and running around the house fully liberated.

Today is my Mom’s birthday.

Only, she didn’t get another year older today. She died on 03/28/2000. It’s strange… all the years that I spent with her, I don’t seem to remember so much. I guess, though, it’s the things that you don’t specifically remember that are most important. The things that are simply a part of you.

I’m thankful my mom made me a quilt. Even though it was when I was a stupid idiot kid and chose the pattern titled “swastika”, and said I wanted it to be red and black (not that I was ever a bigot white supremacist… I was just a punk wanting to stir things up). I’m glad it doesn’t look as stupid as I wanted it to look back then.

I miss her.