Brance, Lauren & Haddie

Oh my, I’ve really neglected this little blog. Here are some cute pictures taken of Haddie on Halloween. My friend and neighbor Deepa and I took Haddie on the trick-or-treat trail in town. I think she had a lot of fun, even though she wasn’t exactly sure of what was going on .

Here are some photos from the last couple weeks. The first two are from our trip to Louisville, KY. The rest were taken at home here in Pulaski.

Haddie does some of the silliest things. One evening she covered Lauren with stuffed animals, and was obviously proud of her handiwork. Another night she put on Lauren’s shoes, picked up a broom, and carried her dirty diaper to the diaper pail. One day when I was keeping her and Lauren was gone, she got out the huge plastic sunglasses they gave me after having my pupils dilated at my last eye exam. And finally, she wore herself out and rested on the couch. The last one is from her nap Wednesday afternoon. What a life she lives!

I found this leaf on the sidewalk outside my office, and it’s the biggest one I’ve ever seen.

The talented Mr. Carney was here for a visit over last weekend and he kindly took some pictures for us. He took a bunch of Haddie, and some of us as a family. The family pictures are going to be left unpublished at this point because Lauren wants the Christmas card to be a surprise for everyone. But she did give me permission to share a few photos with you.

Dave took all but two of these. I took the one of Dave under the bridge, and the one of Lauren. Dave took the rest.

So Lauren is gone tonight (and tomorrow) at the Extraordinary Women’s Conference, leaving Haddie and I home alone.

Shortly after she left we both got hungry so I nuked a bowl of Spaghettios (with meatballs, of course!), and we chowed down. Man that kid can eat! She ate half of them. Playing peek-a-boo in between bites.

Then we went to the church and completely rewired the stage getting it ready for Sunday. The first Sunday with our new worship leader. I wanted to make sure everything was going to work properly, so we checked all the lines and labeled everything carefully.

Then we printed bulletins and folded them.

Then we came home. She was tired, but…she was saying “eat” over and over again. I couldn’t see anything else so I fried us up a couple eggs and made us each a slice of toast, filled her water cup, and made myself a glass of chocolate milk (in a frosty glass – there are some perks to being the daddy!).

Again, she was chowing down. She was hungry and eating too fast. Three bites from being done (with a whole egg and slice of toast), she chomped down good and hard on her own tongue and started crying something terrible.

I jumped up and got her out of the highchair and hugged her good. She had tears running down her face and haltingly said, “pa…pa…paaappy…” I gave it to her and she settled down.

I cleaned her up and then she picked all her toys up, singing her “clean up, clean up” song the whole time. Once the living room and her room where clean, we got her ready for bed, she put her dirty clothes away, and then we read Psalm 108, prayed for Mommy, and then she went right to sleep hugging her elephant and kangaroo (known affectionately as “Roo”).

She’s so cute. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful little girl. And a wonderful wife, even if she did leave us to fend for ourselves tonight. She’s already extraordinary, I don’t know why she had to go to this conference!

Again in the chapters on Hinduism and Buddhism, like that of Oral/Native Religions, we are made aware of the timeless acknowledgment of humanity in regards to our own frailty and the need or desire for a reality larger than ourselves – a purpose or meaning to life, an ultimate truth. Such a purpose that the author of our text in chapter 1 speculates, by citing various sources, wells up in us as a result of human mental insecurity or weakness, at worst, and noble effort (but misguided, none-the-less), at best – but all biological in essence.

Like I mention in my previous discussion board post, it seems this compelling driving force of all humanity, for all times (as far as archeologist have been able to discern), to uphold this intrinsic moral parameter, so often repeating itself even in isolated people groups, is fascinating, at least, and miraculous, at most. For example, the issue of good and bad kharma (Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism), light and darkness (referred to in early Chinese religions as yin and yang), sickness and health/ good and evil spirits (Oral Religions), desire and suffering (Buddhism), good and evil (Islam, Juddaism, Christianity)… ultimately, salvation and an final relief.

Is there an ultimate truth to be found in the claims of these various religions? Is there even a truth to be found at all? Darwinistic evolution, which I believe influenced the opinions in regard to the origin of religion in the the first chapter, taken to its final conclusion tells its adherents and faithful that the only truth that exists is the cold biological truth – matter is all there really is, nature doesn’t care, and any other “truth” outside of that is a fanciful coping mechanism.

Even though unlike other religions, Buddhism rejects the idea of god, even in their founder Gautama (though in recent years, a certain renown Hollywood actor made claims to the sinlessness of the Dahli Lama, which the Dahli Lama so humorously dismissed as false), they like the Hindus appear to be guided by an internal compass in regards to what is right and what is wrong. This seemingly intrinsic code of morality that reminds us of the value of all life, compassion, the importance of refraining from selfish behavior, and a recognition of the spiritual reminds us that there may be more to life than the physical – that there may be a good and satisfying ultimate truth to be found after all.