Reasonable Faith: The Scientific Case for Christianity

by Dr. Jay Wile

Great, short book written by a Ph.d. in nuclear chemistry. A Christian view of the science you learned in school in just 100 pages. Also, if Evidence that Demands A Verdict is too daunting, this highlights some of that book. The last chapter also explains why so many scientists are not Christians.

Find it here.

Summer Fitness With My Teenager - P90X

Tony Horton of P90X

Three of the reasons why I bought the P90X Home Exercise System:

1. It is 100 degrees outside and too hot to exercise out there.
2. The system is not too cheesy for a teenage boy to do with his mom.
3. I am 50 years old and need to get serious about staying healthy.

So we are doing it together!  

 I would not do this with anyone younger than 13 for at least 2 reasons:

1.  I don't think anyone younger is supposed to work out like this, it might be detrimental to their development.  Don't know for sure though.
2. More importantly, the conversation going on during the workout is not kid sensitive.

Who knows, maybe my homeschooler will be hitting the ball out of the park next baseball season!

Baby Animals on the Farm

At the end of last summer, Ribeye, one of our pet cows, 

escaped into our neighbor's field 

for no more than half an hour. 

Then low and behold 10 months later, 

we have this little guy following her around in our pasture. Isn't he cute?

A Prayer in a Song

Lord, help me walk another mile,

Just one more mile.

I'm tired of walking all alone...

Remove the chains of darkness,

Let me see, Lord, let me see,

Just where I fit into Your master plan.

I never thought I needed help before,

I thought that I could get by on my own.

Now I know I just can't take it anymore.

With a humble heart, on bended knee,

I beg you please, Help me.

Sometimes.... no, a lot of times... I feel like this. 

The Christian Life should be a walk in fellowship with Jesus.      Most of the  time I am trying to walk alone.  Then, He cuts off all of my own resources and leaves only Him.  Then, with a humble heart, on bended knee, I beg Him to please help me.

The "chains of darkness"  could be the "valley of death" in Psalm 23 which is a valley of darkness -- though I walk through the valley of darkness, I fear no evil, for You are with me.

Follow this link to hear the song.

Buried Alive: The Startling Untold Story About Neanderthal Man

This book is recommended by Diana Waring in her Ancient Civilizations and the Bible History Textbook as additional reading.  She said that it reads like a spy thriller and it really does! 

 

An orthodontist goes to France to x-ray neanderthal fossils at a museum where they are stored and found that what he saw for real didn't look like the pictures in his reference books. To what lengths will 

zealous evolutionists go to stop him from letting the cat out of the bag?

Here is a link to the author's webpage.

If You Love Someone, You Will Want to Understand Them...

Know your audience.  

Know secular humanism.  

Read this book if you love someone who is secular

 in their thinking and you want to tell him or her

about Jesus Christ in a way that he or she can understand.  

That's exactly what missionaries do.  

That is what the Apostle Paul did.

Sunflowers

Robert wanted sunflowers in the garden.  I put them behind the cucumbers.

How to Eat Raw Vegetables for Breakfast Quickly --- Green Juice

Dr. Mercola, aka Dr. Cough Drop (per the men in the family because they confuse his name with Ricola), strongly suggests eating raw vegetables at every meal.  I have found that the best way to do that for breakfast is by blending.  He suggests a juicer, but I can't justify the expense of a decent one.  And besides that, they are a pain to clean out.  

Here is the recipe for my Green Juice:

• a handful of raw spinach
• 1/4 of a peel cucumber
• a spoonful of shredded, unsweetened coconut (for a great flavor)
• 1 packet of Stevia
• 1 tablespoon of protein powder (optional)
• a little bit of water

Blend on very, very high until all the lumps are out.  

Drink is ASAP as it doesn't keep well.   It is best not to add ice.  

For some reason, the closer to room temperature, the better it is for you.

This actually does not taste bad.  And believe it or not, 

if I leave out the protein powder, it tastes pretty good.

I drink this after eating a small amount of protein 

like a small pork chop or a small amount of beef.

This menu has all the RIGHT kinds of protein, fat and carbohydrates

I need for one meal.  Awesome!

spinach, cucumber, coconut,  Stevia, protein powder (optional)

Doesn't this look delicious?

Our "Bigger" Garden

We planted sugar snap peas, snow peas, onions, carrots, potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, corn and green beans.   The soil is so sandy, I was watering everyday until we finally got some decent rain.

Another Lunch at Our Homeschool

• Homegrown broccoli and greens in the salad (bibb lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard) - the rest is store bought organic
• From scratch Mexican rice (organic brown rice with homegrown corn mixed in)
• From scratch refried beans.
• Tacos made with organic beef and spices from the cupboard (not from a mix)

Yum! Yum!

One of these days, I am going to teach my homeschooler how to cook these things.

Home Economics Project - Banana Split

created by Robert

Save Money - Make junk food at home

If they have to eat, at least make it at home to save money.  The boys always want something special after a ball game.  These are Rachel Ray's Devilish Chili Dogs along with Southern Potato Salad and a tossed salad.  The lettuce is from the garden!

What to do with Leftover Sweet Potatoes - Make Muffins

Sweet Potato Muffins

Cookey: A Real Show Stopper

Cookey just got her spring hair cut.

A Better Way to "Cut" Logs for the Fireplace

Burn them in half!

Junk Food - Homemade Fries - Yum

Lunch at Our Homeschool

Almost Vegan Black Bean Burger Patties

Black Bean Burger/Patties

I say "almost vegan" because I used one egg instead of Ener-G-egg replacer

Mix in food processor:

1 cup cooked black beans

1 carrot

1/2 onion

3 potatoes

Then mix in:

1 cup corn

1 t hot sauce

1 beaten egg or egg replacer

Heat and spray a nonstick pan.  Fry on one side for six minutes and on the other for 4 minutes.

So far, I have just eaten these with homemade picante sauce.   I am going to put two in a bun (they are small) for my sandwich to take to church on Sunday.

Yes you can Square Foot Garden in Houston....

Just start early.  It is gets hot quick and so it is a short season.  Not shown in the pictures are tomatoes which did well.  If I still lived there I would try to grow lettuce in the fall/winter.   

Peppers, dill, arugula, lettuce, squash, carrots, beets, cucumbers

One Year of Youth Devotions - Wholesome Reading

My student finished this book and I bought the next one at his request.  Actually, he read it at least twice - once all the way through when I gave it to him last January and then almost every night.  There is a one page chapter for each day of the year.  It is interesting for a preteen. However, I would not recommend it as a substitute for daily Bible teaching.   He just picks up the book and reads it alone, without his Bible.

What I am Reading to Be a More Effective Homeschool Teacher

I think I can identify the secularism everywhere, but I hope this book will help me be able to communicate all the problems with it more effectively to my student.

SAVING LEONARDOA Call to Resist the Secular Assault on
Mind, Morals, and Meaning

New book by Nancy Pearcey, best-selling author of Total Truth,
goes on sale Sept. 1, 2010, published by Broadman & Holman

Feb. 11, 2010 -- Is secularism a positive force in the modern world?  Or is it a destructive ideology that must be unmasked and resisted if human beings are to live as whole persons with dignity and freedom? 

In Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, and Meaning, Dr. Nancy Pearcey offers an unflinching analysis of the profound personal and social devastation wreaked by secular worldviews in every area of life.  The assault is being launched from the classroom to the courtroom, from the talk shows to the television screen, from the pulpit to politics.

In this riveting account, Pearcey, a former agnostic, also exposes the stealth secularism that is transmitted through stories and images, where people are often unaware of its insidious impact on their minds, choices, and behaviors. 

It is a colorful narrative, boldly executed, with more than 100 images from high art to popular culture, from books to films.  What you read may change forever your outlook on the “hot button” political issues that dominate cable TV and talk radio, by offering a fresh and surprising diagnosis of the underlying ideologies that shape those controversies.

Saving Leonardo brings those ideologies to life with rich historical drama, illuminating the rise and fall of hopes and dreams as secular worldviews spin out their dehumanizing impact into our daily lives.  It is a highly readable account that brings into sharp focus the ideas and the people—scientists, philosophers, artists, writers, film directors—who have woven secular themes throughout the entire fabric of modern culture. 

What can be done?  Having once been captured by secular worldviews herself, Pearcey understands them from the inside.  She is an unerring guide to the fatal weak points where they can be exposed and overcome.  She is also a trailblazer, pointing the way forward toward a humane worldview that is rationally defensible, life-affirming, and rooted in creation itself.  As the American Founders themselves affirmed in the Declaration of Independence, human rights are unalienable only when a society respects them as endowments from the Creator. 

In a culture where the center is deconstructed and character is disintegrating, Saving Leonardo offers a practical and inspiring program to resist secularism and recover freedom and dignity—one that no free-thinking person who cares about the future of his family, or his nation, can afford to ignore.

Nancy Pearcey is editor at large of The Pearcey Report and professor of worldview studies at Philadelphia Biblical University.  For additional biographical background on Dr. Pearcey, please seehttp://www.pearceyreport.com/about.php.

For more information, please contact J. Richard Pearcey, editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (www.pearceyreport.com), atpearcey@thepearceyreport.com.

Generational Lego Robots

Last night we stayed up, watched TV and constructed Lego robots.  Guess which ones are mine (I'm 50) and which are my son's (he's 12).