Happy Thanksgiving!!

We've been privileged to have my hubby's mom here this week. The kids have been enjoying having Memere here to dispense hugs and read stories. I think we got a few pictures of her to prove she actually made it here (usually she successfully dodges the camera ;-)).



She got me back though (at my s-i-l's insistence), so we have a dread "belly shot" to post. Now for the life of me, I don't get what the big deal is. Why on earth do pregnant women everywhere stand in front of full length mirrors & take pictures of themselves?? You still can't see the baby!?! Mom did get a great shot though... me standing on a dining room chair to take an over-head-view picture of the kids latest train-track arrangement.



Unfortunately I don't have access to her camera card at the moment, so you'll have to be content with the shot she took on our camera. Enjoy....... if you dare.


Thanksgiving dinner was a rousing success. Tried out a new pumpkin pie recipe this year. Think pre-cooking the filling, fresh ginger, adding 5 eggs & a cup of heavy cream. :) Gooooooooooood pumpkin pie!! The pecan pie wasn't bad either (if I do say so myself). Those chef guys do know how to make a mean pie and write good instructions! Washed said pies down with awesome Dominican coffee, prepared in a Dominican-style steam percolator, sweetened with Dominican sugar--all imported by the most awesome foodie ever--LJ! Goodness in a cup. Hopefully it wasn't as stout with caffeine as it was with taste--cause it was GOOD strong coffee!

Off to ruminate for a while longer before bedtime.


My apologies for the lack of recipe at the pumpkin pie link. I had picked up a copy of the magazine at a local high-end grocery store during my semi-annual stock-up on dried herbs and spices. One slice of that pie this evening was worth every penny of the newsstand price. Yeah, it was *that* good.

Profoundly Sorry

Statement about Race at Bob Jones University

At Bob Jones University, Scripture is our final authority for faith and practice and it is our intent to have it govern all of our policies. It teaches that God created the human race as one race. History, reality and Scripture affirm that in that act of creation was the potential for great diversity, manifested today by the remarkable racial and cultural diversity of humanity. Scripture also teaches that this beautiful, God-caused and sustained diversity is divinely intended to incline mankind to seek the Lord and depend on Him for salvation from sin (Acts 17:24–28).

The true unity of humanity is found only through faith in Christ alone for salvation from sin—in contrast to the superficial unity found in humanistic philosophies or political points of view. For those made new in Christ, all sinful social, cultural and racial barriers are erased (Colossians 3:11), allowing the beauty of redeemed human unity in diversity to be demonstrated through the Church.

The Christian is set free by Christ’s redeeming grace to love God fully and to love his neighbor as himself, regardless of his neighbor’s race or culture. As believers, we demonstrate our love for others first by presenting Christ our Great Savior to every person, irrespective of race, culture, or national origin. This we do in obedience to Christ’s final command to proclaim the Gospel to all men (Matthew 28:19–20). As believers we are also committed to demonstrating the love of Christ daily in our relationships with others, disregarding the economic, cultural and racial divisions invented by sinful humanity (Luke 10:25–37; James 2:1–13).

Bob Jones University has existed since 1927 as a private Christian institution of higher learning for the purpose of helping young men and women cultivate a biblical worldview, represent Christ and His Gospel to others, and glorify God in every dimension of life.

BJU’s history has been chiefly characterized by striving to achieve those goals; but like any human institution, we have failures as well. For almost two centuries American Christianity, including BJU in its early stages, was characterized by the segregationist ethos of American culture. Consequently, for far too long, we allowed institutional policies regarding race to be shaped more directly by that ethos than by the principles and precepts of the Scriptures. We conformed to the culture rather than provide a clear Christian counterpoint to it.

In so doing, we failed to accurately represent the Lord and to fulfill the commandment to love others as ourselves. For these failures we are profoundly sorry. Though no known antagonism toward minorities or expressions of racism on a personal level have ever been tolerated on our campus, we allowed institutional policies to remain in place that were racially hurtful.

On national television in March 2000, Bob Jones III, who was the university’s president until 2005, stated that BJU was wrong in not admitting African-American students before 1971, which sadly was a common practice of both public and private universities in the years prior to that time. On the same program, he announced the lifting of the University’s policy against interracial dating.

Our sincere desire is to exhibit a truly Christlike spirit and biblical position in these areas. Today, Bob Jones University enrolls students from all 50 states and nearly 50 countries, representing various ethnicities and cultures. The University solicits financial support for two scholarship funds for minority applicants, and the administration is committed to maintaining on the campus the racial and cultural diversity and harmony characteristic of the true Church of Jesus Christ throughout the world.

Released November 20, 2008
---------------------------------------------------------------

Rejoice with us!! I never thought we’d see “profoundly” and “sorry” in the same sentence. The clarity and directness of this statement regarding our unity in Christ is a delight to read. Praise the Lord!

Please-Reconcile

If you're in any way a part of BJU; student, alumni, faculty or staff-present or former... please consider signing the open letter at Please Reconcile if you have not already done so.

If you want our take on it, read here.

For the record, the letter doesn't actually call for an apology for past actions (as a LOT of it's detractors claim), rather (at least as I read it) asks the admin to reconcile between statements made in the past (that haven't been repudiated) and their current position.

Even on Larry King Live, Dr Bob III said the rule was being dropped but the principle behind the rule was an important one.

JONES: Well, being a Bible believing institution, Larry, we try to base things on Bible principle. The problem we have today is that our principle is so greatly misunderstood. People think we don't let them date because we are racist, in other words to be racist you have to treat people differently. We don't. We don't let them date, because we were trying, as an example, to enforce something, a principle that is much greater than this.

We stand against the one-world government, against the coming world of anti-Christ, which is a one world system of blending, of all differences, of blending of national differences, economic differences, church differences, into a big one ecumenical world. The Bible is very clear about this.

We said, you know, way back years ago, when we first had a problem, which was -- by the way, we started this principle, back in the mid-'50s, I was a college student at BJU at the time and it was with an Asian and Caucasian is -- we didn't even have black students for another 15 years. So it was not put there as a black thing, I think people need to understand that.

KING: So the fear of one world relates back to two people dating?

JONES: Now, we realize that a inter-racial marriage is not going to bring in the world the anti-Christ by any means, but if we as Christians stand for Christ and not anti-Christ, and we see -- we are against the one world church. We are against one economy, one political system.

We see what the Bible says about this, so we say, OK, if they're going to blend this world -- and inter-racial marriage is a genetic blending, which is a very definite sort of blending -- we said as -- let's put this policy in here, because we are against the one world church and, way back, 17 years ago when I was on your program, I was saying on programs all across America, we are not going to the Supreme Court fighting for our rule and our -- we are fighting for our right to it. There is a religious freedom issue, that's all we ever fought for.

KING: You are a private institution, you don't get the tax benefit because -- but you are entitled to the thing -- I'm trying to find out why you have the rule.

JONES: Yes. We have the rule, because it was a part of a bigger -- it was a -- it wasn't the rule itself. We can't point to a verse in the Bible that says you shouldn't date or marry inter-racial.

KING: You can't back it up?

JONES: No, we can't back it up with a verse from the Bible. We never have tried to, we have never tried to do that. But we have said there is a principle here, an overriding principle of the one world government. But let me tell you how insignificant this is. Students never hear it preached. There have been four, five, six generations of students that graduated from there have never heard this preached in our chapel or taught in our school. To us...

KING: But it's a rule, though, they know they can't.

JONES: It is a rule, it is, but it's the most insignificant thing, but now, we are being defined as a racist school. I mean, that is all the media talks about.

KING: Partly, during the era -- you know -- the era of segregation, segregationists said, well, we are not racist, we just think the races should be apart, they should be treated equally, but not together, and that was regarded as a kind of a cop-out.

JONES: Yes.

KING: Do you think maybe -- I mean, you could change that, you think it is a stretch maybe? In other words, have you given thought to maybe that's taking it too far, down to two people into a whole one world concept?

JONES: I don't think it's taking it too far, but I can tell you this, we don't have to have that rule. In fact, as of today, we have dropped the rule. We have dropped the rule for this reason.

KING: Today?

JONES: Today. I met with the administrators this afternoon before coming here. But let me tell you why we dropped it. We don't want this to be a -- here is a great institution, one of the premier academic institutions in America, one of the premier Christian colleges of America. We have a broader testimony. And if all anybody can see is this rule, which we never talk about or preach, which most of our students couldn't even tell you what it is. It is that unimportant to us.

I said to our administration, you know, guys, this thing is of such insignificance to us, it is so significant to the world at large, the media particularly, why should we have this here as an obstacle? It hurts our graduates, we love our graduates greatly, it hurts maybe the church, as well. I don't want to hurt the church of Jesus Christ.

Later...

JONES: It is ended, and I want it to be very clear why it has ended. Our concern for the cause of Christ, our concern for our graduates, our concern for our testimony, our concern for the school's broader usefulness is greater to us than a rule that we never talk about and that is meaningless to us. The principle upon which it's based is very, very important.

(Emphases mine)

Of course, that's not quite so hard a stance as saying it's a Biblical rule (like they said in the Supreme Court in the 70's...), but the fact remains the principle is "very, very important"??? Um..... What?!?!?

These clips from this interview are what has grieved me the most through all of this... "BJU is a racist school" stuff. I was a student at BJU during the "four, five, six generations of students that graduated from there have never heard this preached in our chapel or taught in our school." Believe me--"this" WAS taught. It was NOT just a dusty old rule that no one heard about. Students of certain minorities heard about the rule--loud and clear, and some times frequently. Please do not misunderstand, I AM grateful the rule was dropped; but I am also grieved at the representation given on LKL.

What the signatories of the open letter are asking of BJU's leadership is not an "apology for past actions" per se, but some attempt at reconciliation of these two facts.

1. The rule was indeed dropped.
2. But, even in the dropping, the principle behind the rule was called "very important."

Another Quilt Give-away...

... 3 of them actually. You know, I've never met a quilter who wasn't generous to a fault, but I never knew so many quilters gave away quilts!!! Dana at the Red Barn Co. is actually giving away 3 quilts (one each to three different people). Entry ends on Nov.17th at 7pm EST, so anyone interested in entering needs to get over there quickly. :-) If nothing else, go look at the pictures of her quilts--beautiful!!!

Quilt anyone??

Of all the things I've wanted to learn, quilting is one of those things up on top of my list. One of the gals from church makes a baby quilt for each new addition to our church nursery... one of these days I'll hit her up for quilting lessons. But in the absence of time to quilt for myself and others, what could be better than a chance to win a free quilt?? Thanks to my s-i-l for pointing out these two give-aways...

The first quilt is being given away by Karen--she found the top at an antique store!!





The second quilt is being given by Abbie, who made it in honor of a friend who had donated bone marrow!!


Entry for both of these give-aways ends soon, so if quilting is your thing... go enter!!!

Read This!!

Good thoughts from Molly on mercy... (and wet beds). :-)

A teaser:

In the Midday Office of The Divine Hours today, I read, “There is forgiveness with You; therefore You shall be feared,” (Psalm 130:3) and I sat and thought about that for a little while, because it didn’t seem to make sense. Then I realized that the One who can remove guilt and does, is, of all things, the most merciful person there is. That level of mercy in One who has that kind of power? It is palpably frightening. It’s not normal. It’s not what we know.

Gender Prediction Quizzes??

These always crack me up... With our first two dragons, I had ultrasounds done. Now that we have one of each gender, we're not going to bother. But, I do these "gender prediction quizzes" with each baby anyway. Usually I come out about 40/60 in one direction or the other--usually the *wrong* direction, I might add. *grins* This baby's quiz is no exception... The results??


Congratulations!

You have a 43% chance of having a boy.
And you have a 56% chance of having a girl.

And Here's Why...

You are carrying the extra weight around the hips and bottom, so it's a girl.--but I did this with my first (a boy), and not with my second (a girl).

The hair on your legs is not growing any faster during your pregnancy, so it's a girl.--mine grows fast, pregnant or not (blame it on sorta-PCOS).

Girls are carried high. You are going to have a girl.--I carried my boy *really* high, and my girl *really* low. Go figure.

Sleeping in a bed with your pillow to the north indicates that you will be having a boy.--I've slept the same way with both prior pregnancies.

Your feet are colder than they were before pregnancy. You are having a boy.--my feet are *always* cold, just ask my long-suffering husband!

You prefer the heel of a loaf of bread. You are having a boy.--Preferring the heel *might* be pregnancy related, or it might just be that I like home-made bread crusts!! :-D Either way, I liked them with both prior pregnancies.

Dad-to-be hasn't been gaining weight along with Mom-to-be, so it will be a girl.--OK, so I didn't *really* make him get on the scale, but he didn't gain a substantial amount with either prior pregnancy.

The maternal grandmother doesn't have gray hair (dyed or natural), so a girl will be born.--This one is just weird. I know gals whose moms had grayed early, yet had all girl grand-babies, and natural colored grandmas with all-boy grand-kids. Funny, I always though *Dad* cornered the market on boy-vs-girl babies decision. LOL

You didn't have morning sickness early in pregnancy, so it will be a boy.--I don't do morning sickness. Period.

You are looking particularly good during pregnancy. Therefore, it must be a boy, because girls steal their mother's looks.--I don't ever look "particularly good." *snickers* However, my skin stays "looking good" because I drink tons of water. Y'all try it. Water is good for you--and contrary to popular quotes, drinking the water will *not* get you pregnant. ROFL.

Your chest development has not been very dramatic during pregnancy. You should expect a boy.--Gee, isn't that a bit personal?? Frankly, there's not a lot of difference between pregnancies. ;-) You'll just have to take my word for it. LOL

Since the sum of the mother's age at conception and the number of the month of conception is even, it will be a boy.--Yeah, OK.

A needle on a thread held over you belly moves from side-to-side, so it will be a girl.--My boy did the side-to-side, and my girl did the circles. Getting the idea that my kids are contrary??

Your urine is a bright neon yellow color, so you will have a boy.--Taking extra Vit. A or most any pre-natal vitamin has the same effect.

You are craving sweets, which means that it is a girl.--Funny, I *craved* sweets with my boy (and I do mean CRAVED); but with my girl I was constantly putting half-eaten bowls of ice cream back in to the freezer "for later." Trust me--this was NOT normal behavior for me, just while carrying my little girl. This pregnancy is back to sweets-as-preferred... er... normal. :-D

Your nose hasn't changed during pregnancy, which indicates a girl.--Yeah, OK, whatever. My nose doesn't change when I'm pregnant, neither do my feet for that matter.

You have been craving meats or cheeses, so it is a boy.--This is a universal sign of being pregnant for me. I'm a meat-and-potatoes kind of gal anyway, but really do crave protein anytime I'm pregnant. Not a gender-differential for me.

Your baby's heart rate is 140 or more beats per minute, so it's a girl.--My boy's heart rates were always above 140, and my girl's were always below 140. Go figure. (This one's are high again.)

You must have orange juice every day, so it's a girl.--Maybe I just want vitamin C to help absorb the iron in my pre-natals?? I couldn't *stand* OJ while carrying Little Miss. Don't remember from BD#1s pregnancy. OJ is OK this time around though...

You are not having headaches, so it's a girl.--Bwhahahaha. I didn't get headaches with my boy; but I had the worst headaches ever while carrying my little girl. Too many female hormones in one body, if you ask me!! LOL (Or maybe I'm the obstinate one. :-D)

Your belly looks like a basketball, so it's a boy.--Check. First one (boy) was a BB. Second one (girl) was a watermelon. Back to a BB for this one. Hey, they've got to get one or two correct, right?! :-)

You show them the palm of your hand, so it's a girl.--Eh, I'm always palms-up. Not a pregnancy thing for me.

You use the body of the mug, so it's a girl.--No, I have big hands, so I *always* use the body of the mug. Incidentally, that's also why I don't like little .22 pistols. Their grips are always WAY too small for my hands. Gimmie a .357 any day of the week. ;-)

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So.... while they say this one is 56% more likely to be a girl than a boy... For 7 of the 13 questions that predicted BD#3 will be a girl, what they said predicted "girl" were characteristics of my previous boy's pregnancy but NOT of my girl's. Sorta conversely, for 9 of the 10 above questions that predicted BD#3 will be a boy, what they said predicted "boy" are general pregnancy characteristics for me--things I had in common with both prior pregnancies, or that just describe my life in general. Only ONE of the "boy-predictor" questions was true of my pregnancy with my boy. *snickers* So, yeah, I think I'm the obstinate one.

The final--prior track record adjusted--tally of the 23 characteristics is... 8 votes for boy and 15 undecided. ROFL And for the record I do think BD#3 is probably a boy; but don't tell the baby, just in case it's more obstinate than I am. LOL