February 2003 Archives

Many will argue that we are entering an age of no personal privacy, and I think they may be right. If you needed another reason to live your life right, that's one more.

Our information age is not without its diamonds in the rough, however. For instance, I enjoy the opportunity to look down like a bird on the beauty of this earth -- that crafted by the hand of God, and those by the hands of man.

For instance, this is a thumbnail of ...

... a 60-cm natural color image of Montreal, Quebec, collected by QuickBird [a commercial surveillance satellite] on May 4, 2002. The image is of Montreal's Olympic Stadium, which was unveiled for the opening ceremonies of the 21st Olympic Games in July of 1976. Eleven years later, in February of 1987, construction of the stadium's signature tower was completed.

You can see other images like this at the DigitalGlobe website.

We will be forced to take the good with the bad in this arena, I'm sure.

Purpose Four of the Purpose Driven Life Book is Ministry. These are my notes from small group two weeks ago.

For about the 5th time in three years, someone affiliated with our local Humane Society has contacted me about some website work I donated to them once upon a time. I'm really trying to be positive about it ... Here are a few things I've learned from the experience:

There is such a thing as having your heart in the right place but not your head.
There is no such thing as a wasted gift, only wasted time.
Dogs are a wonderful gift from God.

(This is the second version of the list. The first was too cynical.)

If you want to check out the website I created for the HS back in 2001, I've put up a copy here. You can visit their current site at:
http://www.humanesocietyofwhitleycounty.org

For the last year, the "under construction" page you probably see has replaced the work I did for them. The upside is that I can still enjoy one of the more fulfilling websites I have ever created -- even if visitors to their site cannot.

For those of you who haven't yet heard the good news, Hale is going to be a big brother! The new addition to our family is expected around the first of October (GrandBud is hoping for October 2, his birthday). Although we were quite surprised by the news, we are thrilled beyond words! We're quite certain that Hale is going to be an excellent big brother, and I am having a great time making plans for his "big boy room!"

On the right is a picture of Hale -- the fruit of Jill's Valentine labor.

To coincide with these pictures (including the one of Hale and Jill together), I have added a "pictures" section to the menu on the left. There are little thumbnails that, when clicked, open up a new window with a little larger version of the picture. This will be better for printing or whatever you want to do with it.

The picture will pop up without a toolbar on it, so just press CTRL-P to print it.

Don't forget about the albums section, though. That's where we'll keep most of the pictures. The menu will hold special pictures that I love to gaze at. I hope you enjoy them too.

Happy Valentine's Day to you! I hope that you had some time today to tell the ones you love just that, that you love them. Jill and Hale had a special surprise for me when I got home from work: pictures!

Here is a wonderful shot of Jill and Hale. They are both very precious.

My mom was in on this picture party, as were our friends Shelby, Jackson & Brooks. Under the pretence of "a trip to Walmart," they all packed up and headed to Fort Wayne and the mall -- home of The Picture People.

Several hours, a few tears, and a ton of pictures later you see the fruits of their effort. I love this picture. These two are CUTE! Don't you agree?

There is another pic of just Hale that I will add later.

Again, Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours!

I stumbled across this website today: The Social Security Administration Database of Popular Baby Names. In it, you can see the most popular names over the past 12 years in America (ending in 2001) and also take a look at where your name ranks.

For instance, in the 12 years represented, the name Kevin reached its peak in 1990 with a rank of 21. Jill peaked in the same year, ranking 346th. Hale did not break the top 1000 in any year of the study.

I guess in looking for a unique name for him, we succeeded with Hale! Also, I had no idea I was so popular! :)

My brother Joe's website has been updated with a plethora of new pictures and a Python-powered picture tool. Sssounds sssuper!

Check out his homepage here or jump right to the photo albums.

This last week, we talked about Discipleship in our small group. Here are the notes that I had. The bold parts were in the handout.

Well, it's official - Hale is a mama's boy! Not only does he cry when I leave the room or hand him off, he now is having trouble sleeping when I don't put him to bed myself. I can't help but feel googly-moogly inside about it. I need to remember these times, because fourteen years from now, he won't want to be seen with me!

On a different subject, is anyone interested (or know anyone who might be) in buying a '99 Mercury Cougar? We've got one for sale! She's all shined up and ready for her next owner!!

Also, we've got a friend who is seeking good homes for labrador puppies, due to be born this week. If you're interested, let me know!

What is this - the classifieds??!!

It is time for some new color around here!

Give me a couple of days to get the tweaks worked out and we will be on to a Springtime sworay of sensational colors!

Goodbye, Winter colors... Is the blue too light to read the text?

Through email, I get a daily devotion and today's was sort of timely. Jill and I have a lot of things going on, but it's nice to know that God is in control. A copy of the devotion follows.