Baby, Baby, I'm taken with the notion...

(couldn't help myself with the title of the post =) )

Baby on the way!

This past Friday we had our second visit to the doctor. All is going perfectly! We had such an exciting half-hour seeing for the first time our baby via the ultra-sound machine. It is beyond the two of us to try and put into words just how wonderful it is experiencing God's miracle hands. June 17th is the projected birthday, which means we are just at 13 1/2 weeks along. We are so, so eager to meet him/her. Until our next appointment in January we'll be staring and oogling over our ultra-sound picture below.

...To love you with the sweetest of devotion...(okay, enough Amy Grant)

A New Hope

Quick Quotes

Senator Barak Obama, 2001:

But the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth and more basic issues of political and economic justice in this society. And to that extent, as radical as I think people try to characterize the Warren court – It wasn’t that radical. It didn’t break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the founding fathers in the Constitution, at least as it’s been interpreted and Warren interpreted it in the same way that generally is a charter of negative liberties..Says what the federal government can’t do to you but it doesn’t say what the federal government or the state government must do on your behalf.

Thomas Jefferson:

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.

A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government.

Nikita Khrushchev, former Premier of the Soviet Union:

We can’t expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism.

Our Lord Jesus, in Mark 10:

You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.

"You Win!"

Get all your political frustrations out by playing Mortal Kampaign. Biden's 'shooting feet out of his mouth', Obama's deadly dove's, and Palin's shotgun attack moves are all priceless!

Uncle Owen!? Aunt Beru!?

Christianity and Politics

A worthy read.

Jude Michal Mardock

Darth Double Dogs

I turned 31 this last weekend. A few weeks ago Jeanne asked me if there was anything special I wanted to do this year. For some reason memories of my brother and me having themed parties growing up immediately flooded my head. I shared a few of those memories with her and we both decided a Star Wars themed party was the plan for this year!

The party was Saturday and I brought out a good portion of my Star Wars memorabilia including old collectors toys, a soundtrack, games, trading cards, and an old poster. We even utilized my new SW cookbooks I received as Christmas gifts a few months ago. We made TIE Fighter Dogs, Bubble City Salad, Darth Double Dogs, and Han-burgers.

The prerequisite for attending the party was that each person had to try and dress up as a Star Wars character. This was by far the most exciting bit of the party! What a fantastic time! On to pictures...

Josh as Luke Skywalker


Mike and Lianne as Queen Amidala and Obi-wan Kenobi


Rob and Rachel as Queen Amidala and Anakin Skywalker


A Jedi trio (Anakin, Obi-wan, and Luke)


Jeanne and me as Princess Leia and Han Solo


No messin' with Princess Leia!


Wielding Darth Double Dogs! The Jedi Knight on the far right is my co-worker Mike...


Star Wars Trivial Pursuit


Memorabilia


A fine resemblance to Anakin =)


An orbiting TIE Interceptor

The Perfect Shot

"Starbucks Promises Customers Perfection"

Instead of dumping shots straight into the paper cups they'll serve to customers, Starbucks baristas are getting back to pouring espresso into shot glasses first.

I'm gonna give all the credit to my bro-in-law, Rob, for pushing 'Bucks into thinking that quality might just be better than quantity =). The article mentioned the auto-shot machines but didn't say if the retraining had occurred on those same machines. Or are new machines are being rolled out? Maybe I'll go ponder this down at Stumptown.

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