Ellie has recently received a new pink bathrobe from her great grandmother, so she gave it a test drive after getting out of the tub.
She has also been giving the word "no" extensive test drives. Actually, I think she is done testing it and has signed the lease on that word. You hear it frequently now.. "Do you want a bottle?" "No." Sometimes she can be defiant in using the word, but most of the time she is just sharing her opinion. "Hey little wrinkled girl, do you want to get out of the tub yet?" "No!"
It is taking me some time to get used to this new verbal interaction. It's still very new to me to have my questions actually answered..
Naomi told me a story the other day about how Ellie walked around the kitchen pointing to each of the things she isn't aloud to touch (the stove, microwave, refrigerator, etc) and said "No, no" to each in turn. She then went to the living room and identified all the "no no" objects there too. Of course, that doesn't stop her from touching them.. she just wanted us to know that she knows the rules.
Labels: Ellie
An up and coming artist will begin displaying her works in fine museums and on better refrigerators across the country.
Ellie at her art studio
Her very first work was a piece from a recent HomeStar Runner episode, but since then has branched out into more original works.
Ellie prefers the crayon to other media. "Charcoal just doesn't have the colours I envision. It also leaves a gritty feeling in my mouth when I chew it. I prefer the buttery smoothness of crayons. And they taste better."
"Orange Victor over the Fields of Battle"
Ellie Starr's style is to juxtapose bright primary coloured squiggles next to each other, and sometimes overlapping in a splash of Crayola.
To view an exhibit of Ellie Starr's works, please visit the kitchens of her parents, grandmothers, or the Royal Ontario Museum.
"Blue Fish on Parsley and Red Stuff"
"Brown Moo Moo on Green Grass"
"Splotches and Spots"
"City at Sunrise"
"Ellie Starr - Self Portrait"_____________________________________________
Ellie at her art studioHer very first work was a piece from a recent HomeStar Runner episode, but since then has branched out into more original works.
Ellie prefers the crayon to other media. "Charcoal just doesn't have the colours I envision. It also leaves a gritty feeling in my mouth when I chew it. I prefer the buttery smoothness of crayons. And they taste better."
"Orange Victor over the Fields of Battle"
Ellie Starr's style is to juxtapose bright primary coloured squiggles next to each other, and sometimes overlapping in a splash of Crayola.
To view an exhibit of Ellie Starr's works, please visit the kitchens of her parents, grandmothers, or the Royal Ontario Museum.
"Blue Fish on Parsley and Red Stuff"
"Brown Moo Moo on Green Grass"
"Splotches and Spots"
"City at Sunrise"
"Ellie Starr - Self Portrait"
Labels: Ellie
The United Church of Canada is a very liberal organization that has questioned the deity of Christ, His resurrection, and virgin birth. It rejects the Bible as being verbally inspired by God. They face "a stunning 18-per-cent free fall in United Church membership" (MacLeans Magazine, Dec 1997 a great article describing a trend that has continued since then). It sees itself as an organization for important social issues (like this past summer's stand against bottled water), that is tolerant (except for conservative stands on theology and social issues), and open minded.
In light of all this, the United Church of Canada has launched a new advertising campaign. They have a number of controversial ads that they hope will provoke thought and discussion. They cover a number of areas such as parenting, homosexual marriage, how fun sex should be, the Bible, and Jesus.
Here is one of them:
"Want to explore your spirituality in a place that is as open-minded as you? Drop by wondercafe.ca and join in the discussion."
So I did.
Here is my first post on their Bible forum:
This ad boils down to the question “Did God really say…?”
People have been asking this question for a long time. In fact, it is the oldest trick in the book. Literally.
If the answer is yes:
then my disagreement is irrelevant. He is God and I am man. He is the perfectly loving and perfectly just Creator of me and everything else. If yes, then the Bible is God’s Word to man and we must accept the whole thing. If God said it, then our opinion must change to conform to His Word. We can’t change or disregard portions of His Word that do not conform to my opinion.
If the answer is no:
then the book is pointless and so is the church. Go find a secular social club to hang out in because the church has no authority and has nothing to offer but man’s opinions that are constantly changing. There are no real answers and everything truly is relative.
There can be no middle ground. No half and half. As unpopular as it may seem to this age of “tolerance”, it is either yes or no.
There have been a few responses and I have posted more replies to their forum over the last few days. I really don't know why anyone would bother to attend a service at the UCC. It seems so... empty.
_____________________________________________
In light of all this, the United Church of Canada has launched a new advertising campaign. They have a number of controversial ads that they hope will provoke thought and discussion. They cover a number of areas such as parenting, homosexual marriage, how fun sex should be, the Bible, and Jesus.
Here is one of them:
"Want to explore your spirituality in a place that is as open-minded as you? Drop by wondercafe.ca and join in the discussion."
So I did.
Here is my first post on their Bible forum:
______________________________________________
This ad boils down to the question “Did God really say…?”
People have been asking this question for a long time. In fact, it is the oldest trick in the book. Literally.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" Genesis 3:1Satan used this question to plant doubt in Eve’s mind about the authenticity of what God had said. “Did God really say??” She chose to believe Satan rather than God.. with disastrous results. This is a question of the authority and authenticity of God’s Word. Satan has been using this same trick throughout the ages, and now The United Church of Canada is now asking us.. “Did God really say?”
If the answer is yes:
then my disagreement is irrelevant. He is God and I am man. He is the perfectly loving and perfectly just Creator of me and everything else. If yes, then the Bible is God’s Word to man and we must accept the whole thing. If God said it, then our opinion must change to conform to His Word. We can’t change or disregard portions of His Word that do not conform to my opinion.
If the answer is no:
then the book is pointless and so is the church. Go find a secular social club to hang out in because the church has no authority and has nothing to offer but man’s opinions that are constantly changing. There are no real answers and everything truly is relative.
There can be no middle ground. No half and half. As unpopular as it may seem to this age of “tolerance”, it is either yes or no.
2 Timothy 4:3I say yes, God really did say..
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
______________________________________________
There have been a few responses and I have posted more replies to their forum over the last few days. I really don't know why anyone would bother to attend a service at the UCC. It seems so... empty.
"But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People... having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them."end rant.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
Labels: Rants
For quite a while Ellie has cruised around the house pretending to talk on a phone (or a remote control). Today we saw something newer..
After pretending to fill her cup..
she takes an imaginary drink..
and refills her cup. The dawn of a great imagination!_____________________________________________
After pretending to fill her cup..
she takes an imaginary drink..
and refills her cup. The dawn of a great imagination!
Labels: Ellie
On Wednesday we had a young missionary couple share about the ministry that the Lord has laid on their heart. They are preparing to go and share the Gospel to the country with the highest population on earth.. China. This country alone makes up 20% of the worlds population.
Anyway.. I'm sure this couple had an impact on our students. Not just because they are just a few years older than our students and are recent graduates of a Bible school. This couple also has a shared experience with our students.. Several years ago they both came (at different times) to a special missions event hosted here at WOL. While here they were challenged about world missions, and both of them made decisions to do whatever God wanted them to do. After that they went to Bible school and met each other, and the rest is history.
A few weeks ago our students took part in our missions emphasis weekend along with some teens from churches around Ontario. Seventeen of the students made the same decision at that event that this young couple had years before. I wonder if in another 5 to 10 years we may have some of these 17 standing before students telling about how the Lord has led them to serve Him in needy areas of the world.
I can't wait to find out._____________________________________________
Anyway.. I'm sure this couple had an impact on our students. Not just because they are just a few years older than our students and are recent graduates of a Bible school. This couple also has a shared experience with our students.. Several years ago they both came (at different times) to a special missions event hosted here at WOL. While here they were challenged about world missions, and both of them made decisions to do whatever God wanted them to do. After that they went to Bible school and met each other, and the rest is history.
A few weeks ago our students took part in our missions emphasis weekend along with some teens from churches around Ontario. Seventeen of the students made the same decision at that event that this young couple had years before. I wonder if in another 5 to 10 years we may have some of these 17 standing before students telling about how the Lord has led them to serve Him in needy areas of the world.
I can't wait to find out.
Labels: WOLBI
..was a very busy weekend. Testify, a student ministry team that shares with music and drama, were out in a couple of different churches. They were able to minister to a few youth groups and also in a Sunday morning service. The brought back 10 info cards from young people interested in the Bible Institute. More importantly, one young person got saved through the sharing of the Gospel. Other student teams were active in churches around the area here. In the French division of our ministry, there was a Moonlight Madness event held in Montreal, a large rally for youth. Over 450 Quebec teens were in attendance for games and activities and a presentation of the Gospel, with several making decisions about their eternal future. In the Maritimes there was a Word of Life SuperBowl with around 2300 teens. This is our largest single event, and this year we had 119 teenagers believe in Christ as their personal Savior.
_____________________________________________
Praise the LORD , all you nations;
extol him, all you peoples.
For great is his love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.
Praise the LORD .
Psalms 117
Labels: Ministry Update
Really.. she does. She is very disturbed about the snow outside. A couple weeks ago when we had a bit of snow on the ground, my mom opened the door to let Ellie see it. She immediately got upset and started to cry. After our snowfall last week I brought in a small snowball to show Ellie. She got so distressed she was shaking and wouldn't stop crying for several minutes.
Then we took her out for a walk in it. She would only go on the walkway where there was no snow, then when she had to cross the snow covered driveway, she was very annoyed about the snow that got on the toes of her winter boots. Later, she fell in the snow and was angry at the snow stuck to the knees of her snow pants. She was only happy when carried above the evil cold stuff.
Its going to be a long winter.
Ellie looking very unimpressed.Pictures stolen from Missy's blog
Labels: Ellie
Sunday, November 5 marks 50 days until the due date for our second child! I guess I better start figuring out what I want to name him/her..
Coincidentally, it is also 50 days until Christmas. When I say that it immediately makes me think I have lots of time. After all, I normally wouldn't start my Christmas shopping for another 40 days. Therefore I shouldn't rush to come up with names as I have 40 days.
Then again.. Christmas can't come early, but the kid could. Hmm.. better get to work on names._____________________________________________
Coincidentally, it is also 50 days until Christmas. When I say that it immediately makes me think I have lots of time. After all, I normally wouldn't start my Christmas shopping for another 40 days. Therefore I shouldn't rush to come up with names as I have 40 days.
Then again.. Christmas can't come early, but the kid could. Hmm.. better get to work on names.
Labels: Naomi
Last night I had to look around our basement to find our shovel. After digging it out I had to use it to myself out this morning. We got our first dumping of snow, with about 16 cm (6.5 inches) of snow coming down over night. Quite beautiful outside this morning..
Imagine you had two vehicles.. a minivan and a customized sports car. Your minivan is the standard vehicle on the road, it is just like everyone else's. It sometimes won't start or get you to work, and it has some weird noises that the mechanics just can't find a solution for. You can get lots of upgrades for your van, but it will cost you.
The sports car is one you have worked on a bit to get it to look and run just the way you want. It is fast and sleek, with lots of options. Sure, it took some work to get it the way you want, but it is what you wanted, not the mass market minivan. If you want to install more options, they are quick and easy to add and the parts store gives them to you free.
In fact, the whole car is free.
Both vehicles will get you most places you want to go, but, only one of them is fun to drive! [Trust me, for a while I owned both a sports car and a minivan.. big difference in the driving experience]
Lets call the minivan Windows XP, and your customized sports car, Ubuntu Linux.
_______________
A year ago I installed a new operating system on my home computer. I wanted to try something new. XP had been out since 2001 and I was tired of it's buggy software and lack of improvements (why innovate when you have a monopoly? but don't get me started...). So I decided to set up a second operating system on my computer. I didn't replace Windows (yet) but I made it so that I could start the computer in either operating system, Windows XP or the Ubuntu brand of Linux.
I was able to try it out before installing by using a Live CD. You simply put the CD in your computer, reboot and it starts up Ubuntu without copying any files to your computer. I liked what I saw and just a couple of clicks more and I had installed the new operating system.
If you follow computer/tech news at all, you have likely heard of Ubuntu. It is currently the number one user version of Linux, and it is completely free. It comes with lots of full featured software (also free) that are as good or better than what you can purchase for Windows. OpenOffice is an example of a free office suite (word processing, spreadsheets, presentation, etc) that is available free for XP, Linux, and Macs. In fact, I use OpenOffice at home and at work.
My old Ubuntu desktop
My Ubuntu 8.04 desktop with Compiz 3D visual effects
Here are a few excerpts from recent articles about Ubuntu:
Sell photos on photrade | Tux on the Beach :: By tjphoto
Every day in our office our poor, overworked IT guy gets swamped with new problems our Microsoft computers are having, or problems they have communicating with our Microsoft servers(!). Meanwhile, I've quietly been working with Ubuntu on my office computer almost exclusively for a couple of weeks now and really enjoying it. After all, sometimes it isn't just about getting to your location, sometimes its all about the ride.
_____________________
Sell photos on photrade | By tjphoto
Sell photos on photrade | By tjphoto_____________________________________________
The sports car is one you have worked on a bit to get it to look and run just the way you want. It is fast and sleek, with lots of options. Sure, it took some work to get it the way you want, but it is what you wanted, not the mass market minivan. If you want to install more options, they are quick and easy to add and the parts store gives them to you free.
In fact, the whole car is free.
Both vehicles will get you most places you want to go, but, only one of them is fun to drive! [Trust me, for a while I owned both a sports car and a minivan.. big difference in the driving experience]
Lets call the minivan Windows XP, and your customized sports car, Ubuntu Linux.
_______________
A year ago I installed a new operating system on my home computer. I wanted to try something new. XP had been out since 2001 and I was tired of it's buggy software and lack of improvements (why innovate when you have a monopoly? but don't get me started...). So I decided to set up a second operating system on my computer. I didn't replace Windows (yet) but I made it so that I could start the computer in either operating system, Windows XP or the Ubuntu brand of Linux.
I was able to try it out before installing by using a Live CD. You simply put the CD in your computer, reboot and it starts up Ubuntu without copying any files to your computer. I liked what I saw and just a couple of clicks more and I had installed the new operating system.
If you follow computer/tech news at all, you have likely heard of Ubuntu. It is currently the number one user version of Linux, and it is completely free. It comes with lots of full featured software (also free) that are as good or better than what you can purchase for Windows. OpenOffice is an example of a free office suite (word processing, spreadsheets, presentation, etc) that is available free for XP, Linux, and Macs. In fact, I use OpenOffice at home and at work.
My old Ubuntu desktop
My Ubuntu 8.04 desktop with Compiz 3D visual effects
Here are a few excerpts from recent articles about Ubuntu:
Unlike Microsoft, Canonical releases new versions every six months, despite the fact that these releases are nearly as comprehensive as Microsoft's and the changes more dramatic in structure. Surprisingly, Ubuntu Linux supports even more combinations of desktop and server hardware than Microsoft does, since it supports a huge variety of Intel-based platforms and peripherals (including specialized 64-bit and AMD versions), PowerPC systems, and a variety of other architectures. Ubuntu bundles literally thousands of programs in with its releases, including OpenOffice 2.0, and downloads of tens of thousands of programs available to users at the click of a mouse. Ubuntu's latest cutting-edge graphics capabilities rival those featured in Windows Vista. Ubuntu installs on everything from your five-year-old PC to the latest and hottest hardware in about 10 minutes. And it's all free for anyone to use.
The company that makes billions of dollars a month and has a $7.5 billion R&D budget is the one that can't get a release out in five years. The tiny South African company that supports Ubuntu is the one that does releases every six months like clockwork, using software developed all over the world.
http://software.seekingalpha.com/article/19286
South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth, not satisfied with being the world's second space tourist and the first African in orbit, has created Ubuntu, one of the most user-friendly versions of Linux yet available for desktop and laptop computers. Shuttleworth is using Ubuntu to take on Microsoft globally, but especially in places where low incomes make paying Microsoft's licensing fees impractical.
...
Shuttleworth and his team at Ubuntu have done something amazing--they've created a truly usable desktop operating system that rivals WindowsXP in ease of use and features, accomplishing finally what many of us so long felt impossible. They've mirrored the simple elegance of the underlying system with an interface and applications that make it a delight to use.
Personally, if I were setting up a company, a school, or a non-profit organization tomorrow I would use it on nearly every desktop and laptop.
From the article Ubuntu: The Seabiscuit Of Software
Sell photos on photrade | Tux on the Beach :: By tjphoto
Every day in our office our poor, overworked IT guy gets swamped with new problems our Microsoft computers are having, or problems they have communicating with our Microsoft servers(!). Meanwhile, I've quietly been working with Ubuntu on my office computer almost exclusively for a couple of weeks now and really enjoying it. After all, sometimes it isn't just about getting to your location, sometimes its all about the ride.
_____________________
Sell photos on photrade | By tjphoto
Sell photos on photrade | By tjphoto
Labels: Linux
