Samantha Pierce

For the last few weeks my Bible study group has been looking at the lives of 19th and 20th century missionaries. It was my turn to lead the study last week but I was in a bit of a bind. I don't know much about any missionaries. To make a long story short I decided to look at the contrast between the missionaries we had been learning about and Jonah. It was a stark and stunning contrast. The missionaries we had so far looked at were women who had gone to great lengths to get to their mission fields. They sacrificed family, health, comfort, and safety. They laboured for decades in often hostile environments and often didn't get to see the spiritual fruits of their labours. Jonah on the other hand was a man with a reputation for being a prophet of God. No one would have stood in his way had he chosen to go directly to Nineveh as God had commanded. Instead he chose to run from God. Let me say that again, he chose to run from God. Jonah, a Hebrew, who most certainly knew the history...

Just saw this report on Fox News channel. Apparently some race car driver is claiming that female driver Danica Patrick has an unfair advantage on the race track because she only weighs about 100lbs. He's claiming that he won't race with her unless somebody does something about the weight disparity. Dude, go on a diet. Update: Wzizbang has got a post up about this.

I've started a new blog. It will be home to a lot of the pictures that I've been taking and haven't been able to do anything with. Check out Pierce Pictures . (If you've got any ideas for a better name let me know.)

I'm thankful for/that: My pre-pregnancy jeans fit! I've been able to wear them comfortably for a couple of weeks now. I'm just fast enough to catch up to Isaiah when he takes off down the street. Sunshine. The neighbours and their lilac trees. My kids. What are you thankful for?

This is what I found when I checked on Ethan last night before I went to bed.  How and why did he do this?  Unbelievable.  Notice that he's cuddled up next to his new favorite CD, Kid's Praise.  Here's Isaiah asleep in his favourite place.  The closet. 

This is what I found when I went to check on the kids before I went to bed last night. Ethan  Who needs a blanket and bed when you've got a floor and a carpet? Isaiah  He's usually in the closet. Sophia  At least she stays where we put her, for now.

Hubby and I watched The Pelican Brief on TV last night. For those who have never seen the movie the plot revolves around a law school student who uncovers some shady dealings connecting the murder of two supreme court justices to the president of the United States. The president's camp gets wind of what the law school student knows and proceeds to try to "take care" of the problem. The student turns to a investigative journalist to help her expose the truth and save her life. The movie made me think about, and mourn, the good old days of journalism. In the good old days of journalism if the little guy was being stepped on by the big guy the little guy could turn to a reporter for help. The reported would tell the little guy's story. Perhaps the big guy would be shamed into backing off or doing the right thing. Not so much any more. Now the reporter is just as likely to step on the little guy as any big guy they might have held in check in the past. There are still so...

My grandfather has disappeared . He went fishing last week and never came back. His boat was found adrift. Mom says authorities have since found the body of his son who had gone fishing with him. Please pray for the family.

What Is Your Animal Personality? brought to you by Quizilla I'm not sure that badger is quite right. I've got a bad head cold right now that might be skewing the results. (Hat tip Baldilocks .)

It's been rather entertaining listening to NPR report on Kenneth Tomlinson's efforts to bring some balance to public broadcasting. (And I can't help but wonder if there might not be some conflict of interest issues as well.) Here's a link to the audio of today's report on Tomlinson's efforts. Tomlinson was on the Diane Rehm Show on Wednesday but I missed it. The audio is available here but only works with Realplayer which I don't have and won't download. Call me crazy but I think a public radio program should be accessible to any readily available media player program. Does anyone know where I can find a transcript? When I listen to NPR I don't expect balance (whatever that may be). I do expect to get a glimpse of the world view of those who euphamistically call themselves progressives. They have an eclectic mix of stuff that often includes stories that don't get much face time on TV.

According to this press release New York state is again considering adopting California style vehicle emissions standards. New York first adopted the California Low Emission Vehicle (LEV) program in the early 1990s, and has continued to follow the cleaner LEV program as it has evolved. The regulation mandates new vehicle certification levels for all passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty passenger vehicles starting with the 2009 model year. Manufacturers of all 2009 and later model year vehicles will be required to meet a fleet average standard that becomes more stringent each year through 2016. The fleet average standard is the emissions standard that a manufacturer's average emissions must meet for its entire product line. There is one standard for passenger cars and the lightest trucks, sport utility vehicles, and minivans; and another standard for heavier trucks and SUVs. Given the problems that California has been having over the years I'd be hesitant to do a...

The list is a bit short this week. I am thankful for/that: Winter is most definitely over. Sophia has got her first tooth. What I thought was teething troubles turned out to be a tummy ache and a stuffy nose. What are you thankful for?

South Park Sam  I finally got around to making myself a South Park character. I don't know if I count as a South Park conservative but it was fun making up my character. You can make your own here . Check out the gallery at My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. See here for details on how to be included in the gallery. (Hat tip Baldilocks and NPI .)

I was channel surfing and came upon a show called Home Delivery . The show description in the channel guide reads in part, "A dispute among the parents of a mixed-race couple." Okay, we've been talking about interracial couples lately so I bite. I put the remote down to see what's what. The woman seeking help is a 33 year old white woman who has a baby (looks to be about 6 or 7 months old) with an 18 year old black man. This woman's mom is disgruntled because her daughter's boyfriend is so young and her dad is upset because he is black. Umm, I think they have bigger problems than race differences. (Especially if you do the math with the baby's apparent age, the normal length of human gestation, and the dad's age.) In some communities this woman is old enough to be her boyfriend's mother. Where do they find people like this? More importantly, why am I still watching this mess? It must be that perverse slowing down to check out the train wreck thi...

Someone did a google search for " why do many churches ban the throwing of rice today? what do people t " that got them to my blog. I don't have access to any specific legislation but I have heard that in many places throwing rice out of doors is banned by local authorities because it is a hazard for birds. Also, the church janitor probably got tired of cleaning the stuff up. I'm guessing that the person's next question was about what people throw instead. Bird seed and soap bubbles have been used as alternatives. And just in case anyone is interested rice is a symbol of fertility so it was thrown at newlyweds to wish them fertility and prosperity.

Update 8:30 pm EDT Yes this is a hoax . What a jerk. ************************************** "Michael Crook, the creator of the reprehensible ForsakeTheTroops.info website died last night, according to a posting on his personal website." This guy is from Syracuse. I'm in Syracuse. The local NPR station didn't mention anything about it. I watched the local news last night and there was no mention of it either. Nothing on the local CBS station website . Nothing on the local ABC station website . Nothing on the local NBC station website . In fact the leading story on all three sites is the local school budget vote taking place today.

You Are 30 Years Old 30 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax. What Age Do You Act? I guess marriage and motherhood have prematurely aged me. I don't hit the big 3-0 for another 13 months. I haven't got any gray hair yet though. My sister who's 2 years younger and single does. Hat tip hubby .

Here's an email I received on Saturday from someone who spent some time in Uzbekistan recently. I imagine some of you may have read the news on Uzbekistan from the last 2 days. The story is here http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/05/14/uzbekistan/index.html Most of you know that JP was there for 2 years and I was living in the same region, Fergana Valley, that this news is coming from. Right now there was a big protest by over 10,000 people against the oppression of the government in Andijon. They took guns from a police station freeing people in the jails there. The government opened fire killing hundreds of People. I emailed my former Manager out there and he said most of the people where he's at, Kokand, haven't even heard about it because the governments blocked all the media in the country and filter internet sites. But he said it's very peaceful where he's at. There are 2 mission families though in Andijon where the fighting occurred. They definitel...

La Shawn Barber has an extensive collection of links and trackbacks about this, Newsweek's rather weak apology, and the retraction. *************************************************************************** NPR is reporting this morning that the Newsweek story about desecration of the koran can't be authenticated. Still no comment though about the complete idiocy of rioting over a book. NPR audio will be online by 10:00 AM ET. See also Ramblings' Journal: " Newsweek lied, people died --Turk 182 " You have got to be kidding me Update: Baldilocks says , Note to those who are blowing the intentions of the “religious right” out of proportion: if Christians were to riot the next time some so-called artist puts a crucifix in a bucket full of urine , that would be religious extremism and then it would be time to worry about Christians. Wake me when it happens. (Hat tip The Anchoress )

I've been hearing reports about this for a few days now and I still can't believe it. (Hat tip SWE .) Grown people rioting in the street over a book. So what it's their holy book. Is it really worth rioting in the street and getting killed over what someone half way around the world is rumored to have done with it? And before someone asks, no I would not be out in the street protesting about what someone was rumored to have done with a copy of the Bible. I wouldn't be protesting over what someone had been proven to have done with a copy of the Bible. Neither would any other Christian with a lick of sense. The power of the Bible is not contained in any one physical copy. Its power and influence rests in the words within that can be written in the hearts and minds of men.

Remember Darfur .

I am thankful for/that: Isaiah's speech therapist called and cancelled today's appointment so I didn't have to. I had double booked appointments today but it turns out she couldn't make it anyway. Sunny summer like days. The bright green leaves on the trees. The many shades of white, pink, red, and lavender on the flowering trees. The scent of spring flowers in the air. The blog post that Sis 1 said she's going to write tonight. Bonfire in the country! I'm going to bring extra marshmallows. Finding new voices in the blogosphere. Missionaries who risk their lives to help people and share the gospel around the world. Not matter how difficult my day/week has been there's always something to be thankful for. What are you thankful for?

I'm watching the White House briefing on the evacuation of the Capitol about an hour ago. These reporters are a trip! They are desperately trying to find some way to make this into a massive screw up to blame on the White House. What the? The event is all of an hour old and they are demanding minute by minute analysis about what exactly everyone who is anyone was doing? Come on! Why was there such a media feeding frenzy over this to begin with? The last thing that the people who are in charge of these kinds of things needs is reporters dissecting their every move seconds after they make it. It took less time for the news networks to get talking heads on the screen to start criticising people's actions than it took for the whole event to go down! Now we'll be subjected to wall to wall woulda, coulda, shoulda coverage of this because the mainstream media have no imagination whatsoever and won't be able to find anything else to talk about for the rest of the day in this g...

Baldilocks on Men, Women and the Church : And, frankly--to acknowledge my less spiritual side--sitting around with a bunch of women for a couple of hours listening to bad singing and a little bit of shouting and watching a lot of jumping up and down puts me in a foul mood. Girrrl, who you tellin'? I've been in some churches where I could count the number of adult men on one hand. Mean while the young men present were so uninspired by the goings on that they were either fast asleep or their expressions had totally glazed over. How many of them will voluntarily darken the door of a church when they grow up?

It never fails that when discussion about interracial relationships arises someone brings up loyalty to the race (see comments here and here ). The most common occurrence seems to involve black women being loyal to black men. Call me selfish but in my quest to find a mate I was loyal to no one but myself. Frankly, the qualities that make a good mate for anyone are independent of race. Limiting yourself out of (misguided) loyalty to a race is foolish. Where exactly did this idea of loyalty to a race in choosing a mate come from anyway? I think it is a hold over from the time when race and economic status were more closely aligned than they are today. The white elite sought to maintain their dominance in society by controlling the social mobility of all others through marriage. In clinging to the idea of loyalty to race we preserve artificial racial/class divisions that have caused much grief in the world. Do we want to perpetuate these divisions or strive for something better? In any c...

A happy Mother's Day to all of you lovely ladies who dedicate yourselves to raising children (your own or someone elses). Speaking of lovely ladies I've found some blogging mommas (well, they actually found me) that you might want to check out. Welcome to My Brain Vegan Momma Pausing to Ponder

It's that time of week again for me to stop, survey God's goodness, and give thanks. So I'm thankful for/that: Sophia has learned how to crawl. Isaiah singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" in Sunday school class and several times a day everyday since Sunday. Summer job offers for hubby. The many shades of green fluff unfurling on tree branches. Flowers everywhere. Far away friends. What are you thankful for?

Sophia has finally figured out how to consistently crawl forward. It's been fun watching her figure it out. The boys just seemed to go from immobile to instantly mobile skipping all of the in between steps. And as if that wasn't enough she just did the monster-rising-out-of-the-sea move. You know how in the old monster movies there was always some creature slowly and ominously rising out of the churning sea? Well Sophia crawled out from under the coffee table and then pulled herself up on it rising like said monster. She had a great big, "Look at what I can do!" grin on her face. She hasn't pulled herself all the way to her feet yet though. First she was distracted by all of the things to chew on on the table. Then she was distracted by the conveniently located edge of the table. It makes a great chew toy to little gums under the assault of some sharp baby teeth. Now we have to deal with the frustration of her learning how to get back down. The boys just plopped o...

Hubby tackles the topic of Interracial Couples in Popular Media that I initially talked about here . He points to (as I did ) the large number of interracial individuals all over the Hollywood entertainment scene as a good indicator of the acceptance and mainstreaming of interracial couples.

The quiz linked below tests your bloginality. I knew I'd test as INFP but the description was so right on that I had to post it. (Hat tip Messy Christian ) My Bloginality is INFP !!! As an INFP, you are Intraverted, iNtuative, Feeling , Perceiving. This makes your primary focus on Introverted Feeling with Extraverted Intuition. This is defined as a NF personality, which is part of Carl Jung's Idealist (Identity Seeking) type, and more specifically the Healers or Idealist As a weblogger, you have wonderful words to express your feelings because of your idealism. Because you don't like conflict, you may be likely to make one list of links and leave it for a long time without updating for fear of offending. [Emphasis mine.] That's pretty close to me. It's not so much that I don't want to offend as I'm not easily offended. I've got links to some blogs that I don't go to much any more for various reasons. Those links are left up because some people migh...

Hubby and I were browsing the stacks at the bookstore in the mall last night when I saw this title, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wicca and Witchcraft . First I thought, they need a book for this? Then I thought, do they have a complete idiot's guide to Christianity? I asked hubby this question. With out hesitation he answered, "They have the Bible." Good answer. But I can't help but wonder. If the folk who publish the Complete Idiot's Guide series asked you to write one for Christianity what would you include?