Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms

'Nuff said.

Sunday is Reformation Day. I don't know if it will be observed or even mentioned in our congregation here. I'm curious to find out. However, thanks to Issues, Etc. I can enjoy loads of wonderful teaching on the subject. You've probably already noticed the video and the Lutran Air joke as well. I'm going to start getting a bit more serious now...but I'll still post a Lutheran joke if it's really good. ;) (Like, how many Lutherans does it take to change a light bulb? 10. One to change the bulb and 9 to stand around talking about how much they liked the old one.)

Every so often Issues, Etc. teaches us how to know if a sermon is preaching Christ or just "Christian living". This week the sermon that was used is a Reformation sermon. It's excellent! I just had to share it with you. Unfortunately I can't get it to embed. I've asked another blogger who I noticed successfully did it and followed his directions, but it still wouldn't work. Alas, I'll have to do it the old-fashioned way. Fortunately you won't have to scroll down too far to find it.

The name of the broadcast is A Reformation Sermon Preached by Rev. Don Matzat . It's from Monday's broadcast so it's a short scroll.

On a non-Reformation note...I think winter is coming. The temps are still in the 80's (although I think tomorrow should be in the high 70's) but it's raining! That means winter's on the way! I wish I'd had the camera on the way to the Boss's taekwondo training. The woman in the car next to me on the flooded street was snapping pics. I tried on my mobile but they just don't turn out well and I can't load them onto my computer anyway. I don't pick him up until 6 (another 40 minutes) and it's already dark. I got a couple from my bedroom window but they just don't say flood like pics taken from a flooded street do.

You see, there's no drainage on Kuwaiti streets. It would be totally useless anyway because they would just fill with sand and then where would the water go anyway? So every time it comes a decent shower you get flooded streets. Up to the bottom of the car flooded. The only time you see Kuwaitis happy to drive slow is when it's raining. For the most part. Except for this one guy who did a couple of 360's in the intersection on the way home from school. {sigh}

Anyway, here are the pics from my window. It was getting dark so I messed with the exposure. If I can get some good flooded street ones later I'll post them too.

Lutran Air

Sign up right away for the Frequent Flyer’s program administered by Ole and Lena.

WE ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE LUTHERAN AIRLINES IS NOW OPERATING IN MINNYSOTA! ALSO SERVING VISCONSIN, NORDERN MITCHIGEN, NORT & SOUT DAKOTA

If you are travelin soon, consider Lutran Air, the no-frills airline. You're all in da same boat on Lutran Air, here flyin is a upliftin experience. Dair is no first class on any Lutran Air flight.

Meals are potluck. Rows 1 tru 6, bring rolls; 7 tru15, bring a salad; 16 tru 21, a hot dish, and 22-30, adessert.Basses and tenors please sit in da rear of daaircraft.Everyone is responsible for his or her own baggage.

All fares are by free will offering, and da plane willnot land til da budget is met.

Pay attention to your flight attendant, who villacquaint you wit da safety system aboard dis LutranAir. Okay den, listen up; I'm only gonna say dis vonce: In da event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, I am frankly gonna be real surprised and so vill Captain Olson, because ve fly right around two tousand feet, so loss of cabin pressure would probably mean da Second Coming or someting of dat nature, and I wouldn't bodder with doze liddle masks on da rubber tubes--you're gonna have bigger tings to worry about den dat. Just stuff doze back up in dair liddle holes. Probably da masks fell out because of turbulence which, to be honest wit you, we're gonna have quite a bit of at two tousand feet, sorta like driving across a plowed field, but after a while you get used to it.

In da event of a water landing, I'd say forget it. Start saying da Lord's Prayer and just hope you get to da part about forgive us our sins as we forgive dose who sin against us, which some people say "trespass against us," which isn't right, but what can you do?

Da use of cell phones on da plane is strictly forbidden, not because day may confuse da plane's navigation system, which is by da pants all da way. No, it's because cell phones are a pain in da wazoo, and if God had meant you to use a cell phone, He wudda put your mout on da side of your head.

We start lunch right about noon and it's buffet style wit da coffeepot up front. Den we'll have da hymn sing; hymnals are in da seatpockets in front of you. Don't take yours wit you when you go or I am gonna be real upset and I am not kiddin!

Right now I'll say Grace: Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest and let deze gifts to us be blessed. Fader, Son, and Holy Ghost, May we land in Dulut or pretty close.

A man was sick and tired of going to work every day while his wife stayed home. He wanted her to see what he went through so he prayed: 'Dear Lord: I go to work every day and put in 8 hours while my wife merely stays at home. I want her to know what I go through. So, please allow her body to switch with mine for a day. Amen!'

God, in his infinite wisdom, granted the man's wish. The next morning, sure enough, the man awoke as a woman. He arose, cooked breakfast for his mate,awakened the kids, set out their school clothes, sed them breakfast, packed their lunches, drove them to school, came home and picked up the dry cleaning, took it to the cleaners, and stopped at the bank to make a deposit,went grocery shopping, then drove home to put away the groceries, paid the bills and balanced the check book. He cleaned the cat's litter box and bathed the dog.

Then, it was already 1P.M. so he hurried to make the beds, do the laundry, vacuum, dust, and sweep and mop the kitchen floor. Ran to the school to pick up the kids and got into an argument with them on the way home. Set out milk and cookies and got the kids organized to do their homework. Then, set up the ironing board and watched TV while he did the ironing.

At 4:30 he began peeling potatoes and washing vegetables for salad, breaded the chops and snapped fresh beans for supper. After supper, he cleaned the kitchen, ran the dishwasher, folded laundry, bathed the kids, and put them to bed.

At 9 P.M . he was exhausted and, though his daily chores weren't finished, he went to bed where he was expected to make love, which he managed to get through without complaint.

The next morning, he awoke and immediately knelt by the bed and said: -'Lord, I don't know what I was thinking. I was so wrong to envy my wife's being able to stay home all day. Please, oh! Oh! Please, let us trade back. Amen!'

The Lord, in his infinite wisdom, replied: 'My son, I feel you have learned your lesson and I will be happy to change things back to the way they were. You'll just have to wait nine months, though. You got pregnant last night.'

The Reformation Polka

I was going to post this next weekend in honor of Reformation Day. But it's just too cute and I'm dying to post it now so I will. :D

Enjoy!

I'm thinking this wasn't quite the response they were expecting-LOL

Atheists Plan Anti-God Ad Campaign on Buses

LONDON — London buses have God on their side — but not for long, if atheists have their way.
The sides of some of London's red buses will soon carry ads asserting there is "probably no God," as nonbelievers fight what they say is the preferential treatment given to religion in British society.
Organizers of a campaign to raise funds for the ads said Wednesday they received more than $113,000 in donations, almost seven times their target, in the hours since they launched the project on a charity Web site. Supporters include Oxford University biologist Richard Dawkins, who donated $9,000.
The money will be used to place posters on 30 buses carrying the slogan "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life." The plan was to run the ads for four weeks starting in January, but so much money has been raised that the project may be expanded.
"A lot of people say trying to organize atheists is like herding cats. The last couple of days shows that is not true," said comedy writer Ariane Sherine, who started the campaign.


While most London buses carry posters for shops or Hollywood movies, Christian churches and Muslim groups have bought bus-side ad space in the past.
Sherine came up with the idea after seeing a series of Christian posters on London buses. She said she visited the Web site promoted on one ad and found it told nonbelievers they would spend eternity in torment in hell.
"I thought it would be a really positive thing to counter that by putting forward a much happier and more upbeat advert, saying 'Don't worry, you're not going to hell,'" said Sherine, 28. "Atheists believe this is the only life we have, and we should enjoy it."
The British Humanist Association, which is administering the fundraising drive, said it had been so successful the campaign might spread to other cities including Manchester and Edinburgh.
Most Britons identify themselves as Christians, but few attend church regularly, and public figures rarely talk about their beliefs. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair was rare among politicians in speaking openly about his Christian faith.
Dawkins, author of the best-selling atheist manifesto "The God Delusion," said that religion nonetheless held a privileged position in society.
"Religious organizations have an automatic tax-free charitable status," he said. "Bishops sit in the House of Lords automatically. Religious leaders get preferential treatment on all sorts of commissions.
"This campaign to put alternative slogans on London buses will make people think — and thinking is anathema to religion."
Dawkins said that as an atheist he "wasn't wild" about the ad's assertion that there was "probably" no God.
Sherine said the word was included to ensure the posters didn't breach transit advertising regulations, which stipulate ads should not offend religious people.
Few believers appeared offended by the campaign, although most doubted it would work.
"I think people will ask themselves, 'On what basis can they make that statement?" said Inayat Bunglawala of the Muslim Council of Britain. "So it will get people thinking, so in that sense it can only be good."
Ad agency CBS Outdoor, which manages advertising on many London buses, said it had approved the atheist campaign.
Sales and marketing director Tim Bleakley said "our decision to take an ad that promotes God, or one that promotes no God, is based on commercial terms, as long as the advertising copy itself does not breach U.K. advertising standards."
The Rev. Jenny Ellis, spirituality and discipleship officer for the Methodist Church, welcomed the ads.
"This campaign will be a good thing if it gets people to engage with the deepest questions of life," she said.
The religious think tank Theos said it had donated $82 to the campaign, on the grounds that the ads were so bad they would probably attract people to religion.
"It tells people to 'stop worrying,' which is hardly going to be a great comfort for those who are concerned about losing jobs or homes in the recession," said Theos director Paul Woolley.
"Stunts like this demonstrate how militant atheists are often great adverts for Christianity."

A Lebanese Mother

I received this joke in an e-mail. Enjoy!

A Lebanese mother went to visit her son Raed in Dubai for three days for he is working there...
She realised that he is sharing living space with a woman named Natasha.
She did not know what to do, but she noticed that Natasha is a very beautiful woman. Therefore she was very curious whether her son was sleeping with her or not?

Raed knew what his mother was thinking about, and he immediately told her: I know what you are thinking of and I want to assure you, Natasha and I are only co-workers sharing living quarters no more no less!!!

A week later Natasha comes to Raed and tells him: since the day your mother left here I have not seen the silver sugar bowl... Do you think she took it with her?

Raed replied: I doubt that, but let me send her an e-mail and ask her.
Then he wrote his mom:

Dear mother,

I am not saying you took the silver bowl and I am not saying you did not. But Natasha and I have been missing the silver sugar bowl since the day you went back to Lebanon?

Respectfully,
Your son Raed.

A few days later he received and e-mail from his mother that says:

Dear Raed,

I am not saying you are sleeping with Natasha and I am not saying you are not....But the truth is, if she were sleeping in her own bed she would have seen the silver sugar bowl on her bed since the day I left to Lebanon!!!
Respectfully,
Your mother

Amen!

Today I was listening to The Lutheran Hour on the way to work. The sermon I linked to was wonderful as was his response in the Q&A portion. My favorite part though was the recording of "How Great Thou Art" they played after the sermon. Oh, it was wonderful! And I can't find the CD online! {whaaaah!} Oh, well.

The sermon really gave me the boost I needed today. Not that I was down, exactly, but I was just off for another day of work. I'd had a nice boost Sunday night at church (great sermon) that had me going yesterday. Now another sermon to get me going today. I could easily get spoiled. I think I'll just store them up instead for those days when I really need them. ;)

My trip to Friday Market on Saturday was successful. I've enjoyed my computer at home now with my new power cord and I got a bluetooth earpiece! :D Before talking on the mobile while driving has been a bit of a trick. It's illegal to talk on your mobile without a handsfree device. Luckily my phone has a speaker so I'd answer my phone, push "speaker", and lay it in my lap. Handsfree and I can talk with both hands on the wheel. Just a little hard to hear...especially if Baba was calling me. His phone makes it difficult to hear him even when you hold yours close to your ear. So no more speaker phone on the lap! I have a cute little thing that hangs around my neck and I just push a button to answer. Sweet!

Oh, and I have a rug in my classroom. We now have a place for the girls to sit and relax while we read. Only problem is...where to put it?! My room is so small that we have the cubbies out in the hall and the girls keep their bookbags out there as well. I've put the girls back into rows to keep wandering eyes at a minimum. But I might have to put them back into clumps and steal, I mean, borrow, an idea from one of the 3rd grade teachers and use file folders to block their view of others' work.

Well, the girls' religious teacher is here now so I'm off to check my mailbox and scout for ideas on seating arrangements. Ciao!

Friday Market

Can you say, "swap meet on steroids"? Yep, we went to Friday Market today. These pics don't do it justice. I had to keep track of the twins while Baba bargained without his American wife along (I tend to cause the price to jump dramatically). I only took two pics from the front of the market but farther back there are rows and rows of clothes (mostly new, but many not), shoes (some new, some not), and toys (used and new). In the back are walls and walls of rugs.

There are tables of perfumes. Some with recognizable names...if you understand what Bossi is supposed to be and Crust toothpaste. Parts of it look like several dozen 100 fils stores blew up in it.

Outside there are pens with sheep, goats, chickens, turkeys. We also visited the animal section and there are shops full of different types of birds, rabbits, cats, and dogs. Baba found Elektra there a year ago and we really lucked out. She's the best dog to have around the twins. A neighbor of ours was trying to figure out what purpose there was to having her. Baba put her in the car with himself and the twins and called him over. She growled at him and he figured it out rather quickly.

We almost came home with a bird or two. Baba is still thinking of getting a couple of canaries. Hang them high by the window where Dora can't get to them. They should provide her with endless entertainment. We also found the right adapter for my computer. Yeah! I can now be online at home without having to borrow Baba's. I'm glad he let me use his but I'm sure it was a pain today to have to save things to his thumb drive at the office.

So tomorrow is back to school. It's so nice to have another group of terrific girls that I look forward to seeing on Sunday mornings. The relaxation (so to speak) of the weekend is over but I don't mind so much. Isn't it great to have a job like that?

another Pepsi commercial

The woman in this commercial is a popular Lebanese singer. However I don't think she's exactly popular for her singing. ;)

Enjoy!

Sorry!

I'm so behind on blogging. Things are happening and I'm just running around like crazy. Add to that a computer with a bad adapter that needs to be replaced and that cuts down on my computer time considerably. We're waiting until tomorrow to try to replace it. Sometimes you can find what you need at Friday Market (swap meet on steroids) for a fraction of the cost of a new one. Hopefully we'll find it.

Things are moving along at school. Next week we close the grade books on the first quarter. Last year we were divided into trimesters so now that we're using quarters it's come up on us fast. It certainly didn't help any that we started in Ramadan so much of our work this quarter was crammed into shorter periods.

The kids are still loving school. Elektra and Dora are moving into a love/hate relationship. As long as Dora doesn't eat Elektra's food, Elektra loves her. When Elektra chases her away from her dog food, Dora hates her. LOL

I have more commercials and music videos I want to post here. I might do that today to make up for the absence. If I can get a new adapter this weekend I'll try to catch up as well.

Have a good one, y'all!

Whew!

What a week! I'm beat.

I'm actually adjusting to getting up at 5. A couple of times I was actually already awake before the alarm went off. A few times, like this morning, I was awakened by it from a sound sleep. I love snooze buttons.

The twins are exhausted. They now go an hour earlier and get out an hour later. They've been taking naps everyday this week! Hmmm, maybe I should have sent them to school when they were 2 and stopped being so cooperative at naptime. ;) They also love to do their "homework". We have wipe-off books for getting ready to write and colors and shapes. They literally spend a couple of hours at the table working on them. The Little Prince is such a perfectionist and the Diva is pretty picky too...either that or she just likes erasing and re-doing. That would probably be my bet. They love school so much that when they're naughty we threaten to keep them home from school. They shape up right away.

The Boss is back to the longer taekwondo workouts since they can drink water now. Between that and homework he's a pretty busy kid.

I'm enjoying the more normal schedule at my school. I've met several of my parents and they're very supportive.

Hopefully over the weekend I'll have more time to blog. I certainly can't have less, can I?

Back to school

Ramadan is over. Eid is over. Tomorrow we head back to school. Back to setting my alarm for 5 a.m. {waaaaahhhh!}

Yesterday we went to the beach. We didn't go until about 3 p.m. so it was a bit chilly once you got wet so we stayed in the water the entire 2 hours while Baba held Elektra on the beach. He wanted her to enjoy herself but didn't want to give her another bath when we came home.

I wore what I thought was a fairly modest swimsuit (very similar to the one in the picture). It's one-piece, not too low cut, with a short skirt on it. To be more modest I wore a pair of Baba's nylon shorts that are loose fitting and come down to my knees. I wore a t-shirt and jeans over these things there and back. All I did was walk into the water and back out again 2 hours later (where I put the clothes back on after I'd dried off with the towel). I stayed in the water the whole time because once I was wet I froze if air hit me. I swear the men on that beach couldn't have been more in shock if I'd been strutting around that beach buck naked!

The water is very shallow for a long way out. I kept my legs up so I could float and relax. But after 2 hours of that my legs feel like jelly today. But it's so worth it!

Today the twins are doing their homework. They have to practice copying the numbers 1-3. They feel like such big kids now. The Diva is over her earache. I'm thinking it was just water from the other trip. It didn't bother her last night at all after our visit yesterday. The Little Prince has a cough he can't seem to shake. I'm going to try to get him to a doctor today. The Ministry clinics are closed til tomorrow but we have a private doctor we've visited before we'll take him to. If we can't make it tonight we'll go tomorrow. He's feeling fine and active, just this cough that hits him at night and in the morning.

The Boss has finished his homework. He might have a friend over this afternoon. This friend is studying for some exam he's taking online. He warned the Boss that he wouldn't be able to spend much time with him out of school until it's over. We're hoping that he'll be able to squeeze in a bit of time today if he's not finished with it yet.

Off to work on the Little Prince's afghan...my new project. The Diva's will be next.

It is finished!

I started this project a year ago. I probably would have been finished sooner but during this time I discovered blogging (both reading and writing). I'm all set to start another project now. :)

Earaches etc.

Our break is almost finished. It's been a very relaxing week. I finished my cross stitch of The Last Supper (pic to follow eventually) and I'm planning my next project. I've found a pattern for a cute afghan. I'm going to make two of them, in different colors, for the twins. The way I figure it is I've got 2+ months before Christmas. The pattern isn't particularly difficult and since I'm making the same one for both twins, by the time I get to the second one I should be flying along. Keep downloading Issues, Etc. and I'll have plenty of listening material. Grandma used to knit while listening to the radio, books on tape, or watching TV. I guess I come by this need naturally to have something in my hands while the TV's on.

The Diva woke up a couple of hours past bedtime last night crying. Her ear hurt and she wanted to go to the doctor. I have her Panadol and ear drops and brought her to bed with me. She slept fine the rest of the night and it didn't bother her again until lunch time but she didn't want to take anything for it. During supper she started crying again and asked to go to the doctor. We went to the clinic and they were closed for Eid. They won't open again until Sunday. The guard was praying when we got there so when he finished he came to the door and told us to try this other one or the hospital. The other clinic was closed and we decided we'd be at the hospital until midnight if we tried it, if the traffic we had to get through was any indication. We'll keep her on Profinal and ear drops until Sunday. If she gets worse we can take her to the hospital but for now we'll just keep an eye. She wasn't too fond of the ear plugs she had to wear to take her shower but she'll get over it. There's also the chance that it's not infection. We went to the beach yesterday and perhaps she just got too much water in it. But we'll take her in Sunday to be sure, even if she seems to be feeling better. For 1 KD there's no reason not be safe rather than sorry.

Tomorrow morning I'm planning to head over to one of my favorite stores to buy some yarn. I can't wait. I'll start the download of IE and listen while I start my new project. I'm expecting the last few days of this break to be heavenly. {sigh}

The End?

As I float around the blogosphere and various discussion boards I find discussions of the Tribulation and the questionable theology surrounding this. There are many who speak of things as facts when their mention in Scripture is in apocalyptic literature. When Christ, Peter, and Paul speak of Christ's return they are very matter of fact.

First of all, when Christ returns we will all see him. He will return with great glory. No one will just suddenly disappear. (Matt. 24:27; Luke 21:27; Acts 1:11; 2 Peter 3: 10; Rev. 1:7) When Christ returns, He'll judge the world. He'll raise the dead and separate the sheep from the goats. He's not coming to set up an earthly government. (Sounds a little too much like the Muslim view of His return, IMO.) (Matt. 25: 31-32; John 12: 48; John 18:36; 2 Cor. 5: 10) Only God knows when Christ will return. Speculation on our part is silly and futile. Believing someone else's speculation is silly and futile as well. (Matt. 24:44; Mark 13:32; Acts 17:31) The idea of tribulation isn't false. There is tribulation mentioned in Scripture and it will be real. However, it's not what many people believe it will be. Things will continue to get harder and harder for believers as well as the rest of the world.(Matt. 24:7,22; 1 Tim. 4:1) The return of Christ is a source of hope and joy for Christians. Believers have nothing to fear. It is something for us to look forward to. (Luke 21:28; Heb. 9:28; Titus 2:13; Rev. 22:20)

Revelation is a beautiful book. The language is rich and vivid. However, it's not depicting events in chronological order nor is it to be read as narrative prose. It's apocalyptic literature and filled with numbers, colors, visions, etc. to convey its message.

When Christ comes He'll judge the world. Those who are believers will receive their new bodies and live forever in His kingdom. Those who are not will be condemned. There will be no more earthly governments and no extra time for more people to believe or not. When He comes, that's it. There's a great deal of comfort in that knowledge.