Nephew: “Uncle Mark!!”

Dad/Mom/Sister: “Turn sideways.. See! He’s not fat!”

That’s what awaited my first entrance to my sister’s home. Apparently when you don’t get to see your 5yr old nephew for anymore than once every 4 yrs, he thinks you’re fat. For most, that’s payback.. for me, potentially a complement!

My parents had made it out here the day before & my arrival the night of Christmas Eve came with a house-tour by a 5 yr old(which of course included random attacks my dinosaurs) and a dinner of tamales.

Having not been ’round these parts much, there’s the mix of feeling bad for such a thing, and enthusiasm cuz it’s still fun and new. I haven’t played with play-doh for a good 10 yrs prior to today!  (did I mention my need to take a nap like he does/his Ohio State shirt!!)

All of us always wonder what life will be like for ourselves when we get out “on our own” and so when it starts to happen, you’re feelin’ the groove and know the reasons and path you took to get there. Stepping into someone else’s home, you don’t have those reasons or knowledge of the path taken; it just is. That how we all grew up, in a family that was before we were. But this entrance into my sister (and brohter in law’s) home is somethin’ else. It has a history that I know.. a familiarity of how she & I grew up.. of crock-pots and end-tables and thermos containers passed along.. and a brother-in-law who I’ve met twice.. how is that relationship supposed to work?

I’m so analytic! I’m so glad for people who aren’t. My sister’s husband was on the phone when I came in, and as soon as he got off, he yelled “Brother!” Again, a familiarity that isn’t so great, but and understanding of “I get to like you, so I better start now!”

I’m glad everyone’s together, and my dad is too. He’s just funny.. always seems so stubborn about coming out here, rather, so pressured about keeping his job and making enough income. But being out here, he’s more fun than I remember! Him with my 4mo neice, and story goes, he was actually playing mario-kart yesterday!! I heard it was a 50-59 tie back and forth..

But I’ve been tryin to talk to dad about dad for 3-4 yrs now. But whenever I’m ’round, life seems as well as it could be, and no reason to talk, cuz “he knows.. it’ll work out..”

Good thing: he liked the first season Muppets DVD I got him, and I liked the back/neck massager-pillow my sis got me. And of course my new canon sd600– smaller than my cell phone!

“Sometimes I just think that maybe, if I got one of these things, I could talk about what they talk about,” Natalie says of the kids she deems the “popular ones.” [Latest AP Article]

Yep. Didn’t I have an entry about this one? Hmm.. maybe I just meant to. Certainly have talked about it. As a parent, do you buy your kid the newest, greratest, coolest so they are able to talk with their peers (and thereby learn social skills required for .. everything..) or do you not buy them the toys & leave them without friends? (Yes, I know this is a drastic split.. so comment & lemme know how to fix this problem!)

But I love it anyways.

Strack & I keep having these late-night conversations about relationships. & that’s a good thing. It’s always interesting to hear what comes out of my mouth about relationships, so here’s a brief summary of what I can remember..

• Affirmation is not definition: that is, my influence in someone’s(read: potential wife) life is not a score-card on my self-worth or my abilities. Ideally, she’d respond well to all my Godly influences, and when that happens, that certainly is encouraging, but it’s not going to be at every moment.
• Marriage is like school: You go to classes everyday & ya do the required homework & usually, if you don’t make a point, you lose the vision of why you’re even in school. If you get burnt out on classes, you’ll get burnt out on marriage. You must take the time (especially as a leader) to renew to vision & hope & goal of what you’re doing & why you’re doing it: Why did you marry this woman & what is the purpose? Remember God’s glory & mutual benefit unto Christlikeness. Don’t let yourself get cynical about the vision. If ya are, be renewed in Christ by Christ.
• Right & wrong aren’t black & white: There’s a gradient & you can live at whatever level you wish. We all know what’s “right” & “wrong.” Most of us are slackers & let things slip. We can do that. God will let us mess up our lives. Sure He’ll put some reminders along the path, but if we want to live at 10% of our capacity.. not changing the oil, not rotating the tires or filling ‘em with air.. our life isn’t gonna turn out so hot. We won’t exactly be in mint condition 40 years from now. What level are you willing to live with? How tight will the screws & bolts in your life be kept?

Oh, and Christine, we’re not so sure about that whole “men need to be needed” thing. We’re must more ready to say that we need to be understood, and want our actions to count. If my (not-yet-existent) wife (why do i feel the need to qualify that? anyways..) were to “come up” with ways for me to apply my knowledge/ability, I’m not so sure that I’d be as fulfilled as if I knew that on her own accord, she was interested in/liked conversation about that which I know/do and spend my time & energy on, and she was fulfilled in a deep & meaningful way in her identity/interests/values/goals by what I can provide.  So perhaps, in that sense, I “need” her to be the recipient of what my life is churning out.. but I’d say that is just another way of saying, “we have the same goals/values in life.”

And those goals & values, I’m finding out deeply influence how I view any future relationship. My parents seem to have no/little goal or vision for their lives/marriage. And I don’t want that, to  such a degree that I’d post yesterday about the unity of the “business model marriage” which held a very appealing aspect to me!

I had associated the “husband-worker and wife-mother model” with lacking unity of purpose. Conversely, the business-model was appealing because it had such a CLEARLY defined purpose. But these are extremes and need not associated. A traditional family role marriage can have great clear-cut purpose and vision that is well defined. It’s just a matter of how much you’ll slack off in setting it & fighting for it.

Well, if that’s not enough to chew on for awhile, come back tomorrow, cuz at the rate we’ve been goin’ there just might be more!

Ok, so hopefully the Theology PhD’s are now hooked & waiting in anticipation for my announcement.. Who could it be? Lost editions of Calvin? Mohler or Moore’s newest at Lifeway? Try David Plotz. Who? Yeah. He’s a good-ol’ fashioned “regular guy.” Actually, he’s nominally Jewish, and self-proclaimed a “lazy man.”

Needless to say, he’s a great barometer of what the avg. TV-watching, non-Bible reading American would think.

there’s 2 kinds of marriages that are in my mind..

1. the ‘normal’.. where the husband is the working dad & the mom is the mom of the kids & not really the income-working type.
2. the business-model: dad’s “life-work” isn’t about kids, it’s about an economic success. & so he chooses a business partner more than a ‘mom’.

Who am I? I’m not a businessman, but i am a thinker! I view my life as an intellectual enterprise.. my life as a thesis to write, if you will. Does that mean i’m after a fellow faculty member?!

it’s a funny thought, but yeah.. maybe.. i dunno.. hafta work on that one. Anyone else out there follow my quick thought??

here’s a fun little quiz, found via another SBTS blogger..

Good to know I’m more a liberal than a fundy, I guess..

Interesting that I’m more wesleyan– I grew up in a nazarene church, but got all my theology from baptist cedarville.. I think cuz I answered in the middle on alot of things..

I’m curious about the neo-orthodoxy/pomo thing.. if/how they relate.. I only recognised the one Karl Barth question.. I’m surprised I’m not higher on the pomo thing though.

ok, so this is what happens when you hang with first-floor ppl.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbC0GeuQ7hc

Nothing fancy, just 5feet of coke. Only 2 are needed. more don’t do anything else. Next time: cap it. Or do like these guys–

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Zh1jYN2JPs

So i pulled the 3rd allnighter in the past hmm.. 2.5 weeks. It’s now standard for me for papers. We all know just how horrible this is, but it’s what I forced upon myself by skippin’ town (camping and to NYC !) every other week between papers being due! Above are 90% of the books I used.. here’s the final draft on God & infinity. More specifically, how Anselm conceived of God as “that which no greater can be conceived”, just what we mean by greater, with regards to quantitatively greater.

After turning in the paper, and while deciding where we’re all eatin’ tonight, a game of pickle-in-the-middle broke out in my room with a little earth squishy ball.. right. I was just sitting behind that little screen you see lookin’ for Sweet Pea’s. yeah.. that was good..

and TONNES of fun to draw on their table cloth-paper-thinger that we walked out with! Mine scenery is on the right & philip’s(he’s the pickle-in-the-middle up above!) on the left, mostly rooting for the Sooners & the Irish.

This is an actual hallmark eCard a friend sent us.. you WILL smile. like it or not. http://www.hallmark.com/ECardWeb/ECV.jsp?a=0349662083023M142230238Y

only, it’s me I’m pulling teeth from!