thirtysomething

During Pete's "routine checkup"

Dr. Webb: Can Peter count to four?

Amanda: Um, yes.

Dr. Webb: Peter, how high can you count?

Pete: I dunno. Twenty seven? Twenty nine? I'm workin' on my thirties.

Are you smarter than a preschooler?

Daddy: Peter, do you know what today is?

Pete: Is it Sunday?

D: Did we go to church this morning?

P: Nope.

D: Then I guess it isn't Sunday.

P: Well, I have Cubbies tonight. Does that help you?

Best laid plans

The Setting: During Day 1 of Amanda's trip to St. Louis:

Me: Uh, Pete. Why don't you have any pants on?

Peter: Because I'm taking my second pair of underwear off.

Me: OK. Why did you have two pairs of underwear on?

Peter: I thought it would be cool, but… it wasn't.

Me: Fair enough.

Don't worry. She'll be back Sunday night.

Elf you.

OfficeMax wants you to know that you can go elf yourself this Christmas. Amanda already elfed the Wittmann family (sans Tess) this morning. See the results here.

tess.mikewittmann.com

If you're looking for more pictures and stories about the new baby, you can head on over to Tess' brand-spankin' new website.

Tess Clementine

11/06/2007

Upon you I have leaned from before my birth;
you are he who took me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is continually of you. - Psalm 71:6

2 years old

It occurred to me this morning that when you are turning two years old, the term "birthday spankings" takes on a whole new meaning.

Happy birthday, Else!

A message from Baby Tess

A million dollar question

Consider yourself warned…

I just started reading A Full Quiver, by Rick and Jan Hess. The subtitle is "Family Planning and the Lordship of Christ," and the focus, as I understand it so far, is on thinking about children the way God thinks about them, rather than how the World thinks about them. As I progress through the book, you can expect some of my thoughts and observations to make their way into blog format.

As you anxiously await further musings on this topic, consider the following questions from the book:

Would you rather win one million dollars in the lottery or have another child?

–or–

Would you rather win ten thousand dollars in the lottery or have another child?

–or–

How much would God have to pay you to convince you to have another child?!?

For me, these questions were helpful in "diagnosing" my perspective on children. Though it wasn't in the book, one more question dawned on me that really cleared things up:

If you already have children (or a child), which of them would you be willing to sell back to God for one million dollars?

If that question is preposterous and offensive, then why are we OK with the idea of forfeiting "not-yet-conceived children," or even going to extreme measures in order to eliminate the possibility of having more kids? If we have a "Children are a blessing, but…" mindset, where can we logically draw a line between enough and too many? If God calls children a blessing, and it is God's business to decide how and when to give this blessing, it seems biblically inconsistent that we would take the reins on this issue and decide to limit the number of blessings we are willing to receive.

If we can't trust God to manage the number of children he decides to bless us with, what can we trust him to be in control of?

Observations from church last Sunday

You know you're in a PCA church when four kids show up to your 1st grade Sunday School class and two of them are named Knox and J. Calvin (Yes, the J stands for John).

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Another sure sign that you're in a PCA church is when 3 of those same four kids are home-schooled.

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I don't have a musical bone in my body, so I was absolutely amazed when Amanda pointed out that Esther was playing the piano with just a chord sheet and no "real" music. Of course, Ann never seems to have any music when she plays the violin, either. Incredible. Simply incredible.

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Another benefit of sitting closer to the front than we usually do was that I was able to notice that the Jesus on the wall at the front of the church looks an awful lot like Kirk Douglas.

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This probably makes me an evil and wicked person, but I'm learning that the younger kids are, the less I like them.

Did you know that first graders barely know how to read? Yeah, me neither. I'll take a room full of hormone-drenched high schoolers wrestling with the sovereignty of God and the free will of man over a bunch of illiterate first graders any day.

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All Creatures of Our God and King is one fine hymn.

And all ye men of tender heart,
Forgiving others, take your part,
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Ye who long pain and sorrow bear,
Praise God, and on Him cast your care,
O praise Him, O praise Him,
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

That St. Francis of Assisi sure knew how to write 'em. 1225 A.D. was a banner year for hymns, if you ask me.