Disco Fever

Blockbuster Coupon...is a hoax

Sorry, everybody - I just found out the coupon is a hoax. My bad.

Posted earlier:
"I have a blockbuster coupon for two free movies, free popcorn and a drink, but I am not sure how to post it on the blog. So if you want one, send me an email (link on the right) or post a comment with your email address and I will send it to you."

Baby Blog

We had Israel's 9 month pictures taken today, and one of them made it onto Spirit Grove Art Photography's baby blog again.
Click here to see it!
And leave a comment - the more comments there are, the longer the picture will stay posted!

Lamentations 3:37-40

Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come? Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins?
Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.

The Golden Compass

There is a new movie coming out on Dec 7th called "The Golden Compass" and starring Nicole Kidman. It is based on the first of a trilogy of children's books by English author Philip Pullman called "His Dark Materials." Pullman is a proud atheist and secular humanist who despises C.S. Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia." This trilogy is supposedly "anti-Narnia." In a 2003 interview, Pullman said "My books are about killing God."
If you go to the movie's website, it tells you that every person has their own person "daemon" that follows them around wherever they go. It's like an outside expression of their soul. On the website, you can enter your name and answer a series of questions to find out what your "daemon" is. Creepy.
Also in the books, the "church" is kidnapping children and "castrating" them - cutting off their "daemon." It is intended to prevent the onset of “upsetting emotions” and allow children to grow up without ever feeling passion.
A conservative English columnist has described Pullman as the author "atheists would have been praying for, if atheists prayed." I have even heard (not researched yet, though) that the children in the books eventually kill God, who is sometimes referred to as YAHWEH.
The idea is...unsuspecting parents take their kids to see the movie. Kids like the movie & ask for the profoundly anti-Christian books for Christmas. The movie is a watered-down version of the least-offensive of the three books, so parents may not pick up on the disturbing undertones. Thanks to Harry Potter, kids are already into these kinds of witches and demons types of books and movies. (By the way, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling recently announced that "Hogwarts" headmaster Dumbledore is gay.)
The Catholic League has boycotted the movie. They have put together a pamphlet called "The Golden Compass: Agenda Unmasked" that you can order on their website. They have also posted a video of President Bill Donahue talking about the issue.
Parents, please be vigilant about what you let enter into the eyes, hearts, and minds of your little ones. You are held accountable for guarding their souls.
And please, everyone - get the word out about the anti-Christian, anti-God message of this movie and these books. Please don't be naive.

Pictures of Naomi

Welcome Naomi

Naomi Lynn Peterson was born today at 12:46 pm after only 20 minutes of pushing and no epidural. Amber had her first contraction at 9:07 am...and not even four hours later - a baby!
Stats:
8lbs, 5oz (I cannot believe she was that big! The doctor said she would almost surely be smaller than Elijah's 7.5 lbs.)
20.5 inches long
13cm head circ.
Apparently she has a lot of dark hair and looks much like Elijah. I am waiting for Rae to wake up from her nap so we can go meet her!
Thank you, Jesus, for a healthy baby girl!

Here She Comes!!!

I just got a call from my sister, Amber. She is on her way to the hospital to give birth to my sweet little niece, Naomi!!!!
Please keep her in your prayers!
I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!

Good Riddance

When JP and I first got married, we chose not to put a TV in our house. We lived that way for about a year. But when the '06 football season came around, JP decided he didn't want to live that way anymore and we got a very nice HDTV.
Now, a year later, we have decided to get rid of the TV again. It just ends up distracting us from precious time spent together and with the baby. So...now we embark on a period of TV "weaning." I think we've both gotten spoiled to it. I don't have it on much during the day, but on the evenings that JP works late I like to flip on a movie or re-runs of "What Not to Wear." :) And JP has used it as a prop to help him fall asleep at night.
It's going to take some getting used to, but I am already very happy with our decision. Last night our house was so peaceful. No flashing lights or blaring commercials. Just music playing softly as we hung out as a family.
As we did the first year of our marriage, we will probably continue to rent movies and watch them on our laptop from time to time. I won't have the Style network anymore...and we'll both miss the Colbert Report. I don't know what we're going to do when Lost starts back up again. :) But it's worth it.
So long, TV!!! And good riddance!!!

Uncanny

A lot of people have been telling me that Israel is starting to look more and more like me, but when I look at these pictures of JP as a baby compared to Rae...all I can see is her daddy.

Pulling Up

I can't believe Israel is big enough to do this already. Over the past couple of days, she has started pulling herself up to her feet. She pulls up on everything now! Yesterday for the first time I found her standing in her crib when I went in to get her up from her nap. The only problem is...she doesn't know how to get back down yet, so she cries when the fun of standing up is over.
She is getting so big so fast. It seems like it was just a couple of weeks ago that she was able to sit up (with stability) on her own. Now she's standing. And I'm sure it won't be very long before she starts taking those first steps....

Lift & Lunge

Here is a video of what I like to call Israel's "lift & lunge." It's not really a crawl, not really a scoot. But she sure does get around.
Sorry for the poor quality. This was taken in my poorly-lit hallway with my camera (vs video camera).

JesusBranded

I just stumbled across the coolest website: www.JesusBranded.com. It's just a bunch of young people who design and sell really cool Christian clothing. If I had enough money, I'd buy a ton of them. They are really cool. The one pictured here is one of my favorites. You can click on it to make it larger. Check out all the different designs they have. They've designed clothing for Leeland, Sanctus Real, Acquire the Fire, Jesus culture and more.
Besides clothing, they also have Christian resources, like song lyrics, guitar tabs, Christian myspace layouts, a blog, and info on an orphanage outreach they are involved in.
(Becky, their style really reminds me of stuff you would wear!)

New Website

My dear friend Nicole Russell (better known to some of you as "Beckett's Mom") has started a new web site/blog that will track the preparation of the 2008 GOP Convention happening in St. Paul.
Check it out: www.gopconventionreport.com

Solids

Israel got her first bites of rice cereal today - and she LOVED it! She did really well, too, as far as keeping it in her mouth, swallowing, etc. And her tummy must be good and full because she's been sleeping for a loooooong time this nap. :)

Mark Sathe

Our dear friend Jono's dad died today. He had been fighting cancer for years. The good news is that he is home now. He is with Jesus in glory, no longer in pain.
Thank all of you who have been praying for him. Please continue to pray for Jono, his mom, sister & the rest of the family.

Identity Theft

I am sorry to say that JP and I were the victims of an identity theft scam. Everything is ok now, but it sure has been a pain.
The day we were leaving to go camping, we got a call from our credit union saying there was some weird activity on our card. I went in and found out that someone had tried to make a couple of Western Union transactions in JP's name. A small one went through for about $26, but a larger one for about $279 was denied and we were contacted. There was also a weird $1 AOL charge that I didn't recognize. We got those taken off and our cards were canceled.
Today I got a letter in the mail from AOL saying that my payment was late because the card information we had given them was out of date. Funny thing is...we don't use AOL. The letter referenced an email account with the user name JAMESCHAR100. Using the information on the letter, I was able to access that email account. In it I found four emails from Western Union. So, basically, whoever got our information set up an AOL email account in JP's name and sent the bill to our house.
I called Western Union to see if I could find out where the money was trying to be sent. Of course they wouldn't give me that information, but told me to contact my local authorities so they could subpoena the information. I called the police today and got them started on that investigation.
Then I finally figured it all out. A couple weeks ago JP got an email from PayPal saying we needed to update our account information. He forwarded it to me, I foolishly clicked the link and updated the info. When this all went down, JP suspected that email may have been a scam. I changed the cookies on my browser and went back to that site. A message appeared on the screen that said the web site was suspected of Web Forgery. They're called Phishing attacks - fraudulent web pages and emails imitate sources you trust to get your info. I was not careful. There were numerous signs that - looking back - I could have picked up on.
All I can say is praise God that it wasn't worse. We didn't end up losing any significant money or have to go to great pains to get things rectified. Just be careful out there, people!

Back to Work Update

Monday was my official first day back on the job at WCCO-TV. Last week I went in a couple time to learn some new stuff they had changed since I left, but didn't actually produce the show. But yesterday I was back at it and so far things are going really well. I'm finding that it is kind of like riding a bike - stuff is coming back to me easier than I had thought it would, and Rae is doing great with her new situation. She is loving the time with her grandparents, and it is fun to come home to her because she gets so excited.
Thanks for all of you who have been praying for a smooth transition. One week out of eight is already done!