Koolaid Wormhole

Avery's Gym Party

Avery's Cake

By the way, the last picture in the last post (the shot of Dan) was taken by Alec.

Avery's Birthday

Avery's Birthday was yesterday. She is already six and she was so excited....it was really cool. We are having a party for her on Saturday but we took her to Incredible Pizza and opened presents with my folks. My folks got her a REAL Bible with a leather cover and her name embossed and everything and she was totally thrilled. She said it was the best present ever.
Erin and I had gotten her a V-Smile which is like a Nintendo but you subconscously learn numbers and math and problem solving and stuff. It's that thing on that commercial where the kid says "can I go to bed Mom?" and she says, "as soon as you've finished playing your game" because it's supposed to make you so smart.
But Avery was way more interested in the new Bible and I held back from saying, "put your Bible down and try the video game!" because somehow that didn't seem like the message I should be sending her.
At Incredible Pizza she and Erin rode in one go-cart and raced me in another and I would have won too but they totally cheated and cut me off and drove in a reckless manner. I really think women shouldn't be allowed to.....well, I don't know how many people read this so I'll just stop there.

Filament

Brian

Brookline Website Work Party

Thanksgiving

I'm thankful for my new studio. And that Adam came by just in time to take a group photo with me in it.

Paul

This is Paul 15 years from now.

Commissioned Project

Sorry Adam, nobody appreciates that kind of freaky art. Don't cut off your ear.

M.C. Escher

Good Friends Make It Fun

Brief intermission

We are gutting our new house right now and I've got to do a ton of urgent stuff so....I'll have tons of photos to put up later. Bye the way, if you want to comment and it won't let you, just email me your comment and I'll quote you.

Fast?

So it sounded like we weren’t going to get the house on Maple at the last minute. Because they were so close to foreclosure they had couldn’t get the loan payoff amount figured with the attorney fees added in, in time for tomorrow’s close (Friday). Then after I had pretty much resigned the situation as just not being a part of The Big Guy’s plan, it came through. I’m happy and anxious and excited but I was all of those things before too so I’m kind of just a little tired now on top of it all. Thanks for your prayers good people.
Angie (my sister) was here today and she and her hubby will be up next week for some Wild Turkey. Not the drink, actually it’s probably not going to even be wild. But anyway, I was so dazed with my world of confusion and what-not to really visit much so next week I hope we can catch up more.
Today I did retakes at the daycare and the little ones were really cute. Got some great feedback on the Old Testament thoughts. I think Kyle and Jane are both right but it’s just so weird to think about what those guys way back then had to do to be holy. I remember one time Brian Hudkins asking us to pray and to fast if we are called to. I was like, “Fast? What’s that? You mean BREAK-fast, right? You want some waffles?” And then I was all interested in studying about modern-day spiritual fasting. (Not that I could pull it off for more than a few minutes but hey, I can dream).
So then, what about fasting? When do we do it? Why do we do it? When do we teach people about it?
While you ponder that:
“I hope if dogs ever take over the world, and they chose a king, they don't just go by size, because I bet there are some Chihuahuas with some good ideas.”

Jell-O

Photo#1. Erin Amundson and Alec Amundson
Photo #2. Jell-O
Photo #3. Avery Amundson
Things keep getting better and worse and better and worse with the house situation. I won’t get into it too much but it’s currently a little hairy as to whether the sellers will have their stuff together enough for us to save them from foreclosure. In the meantime I’ve got happy parents from a daycare shoot that I did and Avery is writing sentences out of the blue which is way ahead of her kindergarten class. She figured out how to write “the sun is hot; the stove is hot; etc”. She’s amazing! Alec is in one of his sweeter but more destructive phases which are kind of fun to watch. But it’s also hard to discipline him when he’s being so sweet.
Church was great tonight and I think it was the perspective I needed. Paul Johnson gave a great talk that helped me and Erin both remember that we’re stressing out over something that really isn’t that important in the grand scheme. You won’t hear people saying somebody had a great house at their funeral.
It sounds like we’re going to be able to see Angie while she’s in town tomorrow. That’ll be good, she always makes me smile. J
Erin made some Jell-O tonight.
Kyle Brice had some interesting comments I’m contemplating, you should read them-he posted them the other day here.
And finally: If you're a Thanksgiving dinner, but you don't like the stuffing or the cranberry sauce or anything else, just pretend like you're eating it, but instead, put it all in your lap and form it into a big mushy ball. Then, later, when you're out back having cigars with the boys, let out a big fake cough and throw the ball to the ground. Then say, "Boy, these are good cigars!"

Branson High

Well nobody wanted to comment about the Bible question (or they were so shocked by the lame Photoshop image of Bobby) or maybe I should give it a day or so.
Anyway, finally both kids are healthy and it feels like fall. So we are rushing to get things done before we move. No time no time.
Angie (my sis) will be up here this week but she’d doing missile inspections or something for her work. She’s like James Bond’s helper or something.
We’ve got Scout and Winnies’ travel crates out so they’ll get used to having a special place when they get to the new house. They’re both pretty weird cats so they’ll need all the comforting they can get.
Anyway, the kids are always fun to put to bed, Alec likes to walk on us and get up and giggle and ask for things in his strange Yiddish/Portuguese/Korean language. OK, I’m too tired to type anymore

Does it matter how you cook a goat?

Avery had a fever again this morning. Erin stayed home with her and Alec and I went to church and then to the little youth Thanksgiving lunch. It was a lot of fun and the Samuels did a great job, as did Michelle Lindsay. I’m glad that there are so many people who care about the kids.
One thing that I noticed/pondered from Joe’s lesson was about Jonah and the Ninevites. It seems like there is little evangelism of any kind in the Old Testament which is another one of the big differences between it and the New. But here’s a situation where it’s clear that God was interested in non-Israelites before Acts. The differences and similarities between the Old and New have really plagued me for a long time. What is “the Law” that is irrelevant to us now and what is still the way things should be? Obviously we should still keep the old “Thou Shall Not Kill” going but what about the Sabbath? What about the sideburns and the head coverings and the “don’t cook a goat in its mother’s milk” bit that really seemed to be a big deal back then? How and where do we decide what is no longer important or applicable to us these days? I’ve heard people say we have a new Sabbath now, Sunday. But that doesn’t make sense to me really. Sabbath mean’s Seventh, not “Special” or “Bible Day”. Give me a comment here, I’d love to have some input and thoughts on this.