My friend over at hillsideslide sent this to me today. I don't think I could write anything better than this.

From NPR:

Well, Which Is It? Speaking to reporters this afternoon, Sen. McCain made the following statement about the failed bailout bill: Senator Obama and his allies in Congress infused unnecessary partisanship into the process. Now is not the time to affix the blame. It's time to fix the problem. Ok, so, we're just going to blame Obama one more time, and then no more blaming, for real. The heck? -- Evie Stone

Today was James's 8th birthday. He got a few things that he was wanting, and had a pretty fun day.

After supper, we invited the neighbor kids down for some cake. My kitchen is pretty cramped and it pretty cluttered right now, so I asked the kids to sit in the living room. I brought the cake in so we could sing and James could blow out the candles. Then, on my way back to the kitchen, I totally dropped the cake right on the floor!!!

Fortunately, it stayed upright, so there wasn't a big flying WV imprinted forever on our carpet, but we did have floor cake tonight! The kids all thought it was just as good, so I guess no harm done!

It's been a rough day in the world. Stock market took a pretty big hit and everyone wants to blame everyone else. And as the 24-hour news gurus have been telling us for a week now: IT'S A CRISIS! (BTW, for my favorite thoughts on a news "crisis," I recommend picking up Dave Barry's fiction book "Big Trouble." Absolutely hilarious and he nails the crisis problem.)

Anyway, I know I've already done an R.E.M. song recently, but this one is another favorite, particularly on a day like today. It might be the End of the World, but I feel fine!!!

That's great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane -
Lenny Burnside is not afraid. Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn -
world serves its own needs, don't misserve your own needs. Feed it up a knock,
speed, grunt no, strength no. Ladder structure clatter with fear of height,
down height. Wire in a fire, represent the seven games in a government for
hire and a combat site. Left her, wasn't coming in a hurry with the furies
breathing down your neck. Team by team reporters baffled, trump, tethered
crop. Look at that low plane! Fine then. Uh oh, overflow, population,
common group, but it'll do. Save yourself, serve yourself. World serves its
own needs, listen to your heart bleed. Tell me with the rapture and the
reverent in the right - right. You vitriolic, patriotic, slam, fight, bright
light, feeling pretty psyched.

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

Six o'clock - TV hour. Don't get caught in foreign tower. Slash and burn,
return, listen to yourself churn. Lock him in uniform and book burning,
blood letting. Every motive escalate. Automotive incinerate. Light a candle,
light a motive. Step down, step down. Watch a heel crush, crush. Uh oh,
this means no fear - cavalier. Renegade and steer clear! A tournament,
a tournament, a tournament of lies. Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives
and I decline.

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

The other night I tripped a nice continental drift divide. Mount St. Edelite.
Leonard Bernstein. Leonid Breshnev, Lenny Bruce and Lester Bangs.
Birthday party, cheesecake, jelly bean, boom! You symbiotic, patriotic,
slam, but neck, right? Right.

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine...fine...

It's The End Of The World As We Know It by REM

I feel terrible, since I haven't written much of anything this month. No real reason, just not a whole lot of inspiration. I haven't been feeling very well for over a week now, and it's wearing on me. I'm starting to feel pretty cranky at this point, so proceed cautiously!

There has been a lot of political talk going on in our home. I must say, I find the whole election process this year to be truly fascinating. I know that it's interesting every time, but the political theater just feels extra fun this time. What amazes me is that while the celebrity is supposed to be Senator Obama, the true theatrics seem to be coming from Senator McCain. I really didn't think he'd be able to top picking Sarah Palin as his running mate, but the events of the past couple of days have certainly competed, if not topped it.

I admit, it baffles me that the same people who were screaming "flip-flop" non-stop four years ago at John Kerry seem to be taking all of the incredible flips that McCain has done in stride. I'm not talking about things like off-shore drilling where one could honestly study the issue and come to a different conclusion (like supporting a pre-emptive war, and then finding out that the information you received was bogus and flipping on that), but crazy stuff like going from the fundamentals of the economy being strong to saying it's in crisis HOURS later and then trying to sell some line of garbage that "fundamentals" means the ethic of the American worker. Or saying that he's suspending his campaign until the financial crisis is over and then picking it up a day later when NOTHING has been resolved and another financial institution was taken over by the government and sold to another bank. This was completely tactical and a flip for no reason other than political gain. But he's being lauded by the same people who crucified Kerry four years ago. It's really incredible to me.

Needless to say, I'll be interested to watch the debates tonight. I can't say that I wouldn't have enjoyed an hour and a half Q&A with just Sen. Obama this evening, but in lieu of that, I'll take a debate. I just hope that I'm feeling well enough to stay up to watch it. I know I can DVR it, but I want to watch it before I hear all of the pundits telling me what I'm supposed to think about it, and if I wait, it's going to be hard to avoid the analysis (or whatever that's supposed to be). Blurgh. I hate being sick!

Last Friday was the 11th anniversary of the death of one of CCM's greatest artists. Rich Mullins, a brilliant lyricist, was unfortunately known more for some of his less-great songs.

This was a pretty amazing man. Despite being a relatively successful musician, he chose to have his church receive all of his money, and they paid him the salary that the average American made each year, while donating the rest to various charities. Wiki has a great quote listed in their article about him (which I highly recommend reading!):

Jesus said whatever you do to the least of these my brothers you’ve done it to me. And this is what I’ve come to think. That if I want to identify fully with Jesus Christ, who I claim to be my savior and Lord, the best way that I can do that is to identify with the poor. This I know will go against the teachings of all the popular evangelical preachers. But they’re just wrong. They’re not bad, they’re just wrong. Christianity is not about building an absolutely secure little niche in the world where you can live with your perfect little wife and your perfect little children in a beautiful little house where you have no gays or minority groups anywhere near you. Christianity is about learning to love like Jesus loved and Jesus loved the poor and Jesus loved the broken.

It was hard to decide which song to post here, since he has so many, so I decided to go with one of my favorites. The word picture that he paints here is just breathtaking and absolutely captures the beauty of creation and the wonder of being able to serve such an incredible God. Enjoy The Color Green.

Again! Yeow, I've been a lousy blogger of late. I think I've written longer comments on friends' blogs than I've written on my own lately. Anyway, I don't have tons of time right now, but I did want to try to drop a line and let folks know what's happening in our home.

School is in full swing now, and all of the kids are doing very well. Deborah has been fitting right in at the middle school and is making friends. She competed in a talent show a few weeks ago and came in second place. Any concerns I had about her moving up to middle school have been greatly diminished as she has continued to excel there. She's also participating in the Stomp dance team for KidSTUFF at CRC. Her first performance with that will be next Sunday. I can't wait to see her doing her thing up on the stage!

James is having a great year. He has the same teacher Deborah had in 2nd grade, and he's having lots of fun with her. She taught the gifted classes at the high school or junior high (I know my FIL has told me, but I don't remember which!), so she is able to guide James when he gets bored with the class work. He should be tested for the gifted program at school this year, and I look forward to him being a part of that. I think it will be really good for him.

Faith is enjoying first grade. She is turning into a little singer, just like her older sister. The other day, Jason found her with the window open in her bedroom, singing along with a song on the computer. He asked her why she was singing out the window and she replied that all princesses sing out of windows! Of course! And really, her logic is pretty rock solid on that one. Anyway, if you walk past our house on any given afternoon, you may see a little Faith head singing out of the window.

Christopher is doing great in kindergarten. He's got an awesome teacher, so his transition to school has been just great. He still needs a fair amount of work on his fine motor skills (writing, coloring, cutting), but he's doing great with reading. Faith had her reading book home the other day and he was able to read a good bit of it to me, so he's fine there. He's learned all of his "information" pretty well (address, phone number, etc.), and he can spell his looooong name, now we just need to spend some more time working on writing it out.

The adults are doing well. I've been busy with work this week. We're training in some new aspects of DHL, so my time has been busy between taking calls and completing training. It's kept me from getting as much done around the house as I'd like, but such is life. I was able to do some deep cleaning in the kitchen today. Took everything out of the cupboards and scrubbed them out and pitched some stuff that had been in there an embarrassingly long time! It looks much more organized in there now, though, which is good.

This weekend we're taking a trip up to visit my parents. We haven't made the trip in too long, and this is going to be one of the only weekends we don't have church obligations for a while. The kids only have a half day tomorrow, so as soon as they're out, we're going to make the trip. Jason is staying behind to do some work around the house and to just veg out for a while. I hate to miss him, but I think he's going to enjoy the time alone.

And that should, more or less, bring me up to date. Thanks for checking in! I hope to be a little more frequent with my posting!

My favorite indie artist, JJ Heller, is giving away her most recent cd for free. I'm pretty sure I've posted one of her songs as a Musical Monday before, and I'm certain I've mentioned her before.

Anyway, click below to download her most recent cd. And consider buying some of her older stuff too. You won't be disappointed!

But this video absolutely slayed me and I have to share it here. It's definitely a bit to the left, but I think even some of my more conservative friends will get a smile out of this one.

Before I get into the Musical Monday (on Tuesday), I wanted to give a quick update on my sister & brother in law. I got a text from Laura last night. They made it through the hurricane fine. They drove back yesterday afternoon, but the road to their home was flooded. Jonathan went in on foot, and according to Laura's text, their boat was fine, but their cottage was flooded. I still haven't heard the extent of the damage to the cottage, but she said that the surge was supposed to be around 10 feet in their town. I'm just hoping to hear from them soon, but I know that communications are hard in times like this. I appreciate everyone's prayers and ask that you continue to pray for my family and for all of those affected by this storm.

On to the music! Because of what's going on in the Gulf states and what is likely to happen later in the week on the east coast southern states, I'm going to use the song "Praise You in the Storm" by Casting Crowns. I know that they are speaking in a more figurative sense, but there are many right now who are watching what they have rebuilt being destroyed again by a very literal storm. I know that praise during the "taking away" part of loving God can be difficult, but I see that desire in my sister and brother in law. I pray that we are each able to make that decision when the storms of life come, both literally and figuratively, we are able to say, "Blessed be Your name!"

I was sure by now,God, that You would have reached down
and wiped our tears away,
stepped in and saved the day.
But once again, I say amen
and it's still raining
as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain,
"I'm with you"
and as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise
the God who gives and takes away.

Chorus:
And I'll praise you in this storm
and I will lift my hands
for You are who You are
no matter where I am
and every tear I've cried
You hold in your hand
You never left my side
and though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I remember when I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry to You
and raised me up again
my strength is almost gone how can I carry on
if I can't find You
and as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
and as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise
the God who gives and takes away

Chorus

I lift my eyes onto the hills
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth
I lift my eyes onto the hills
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth

Chorus