Mother's Day outing

I Went out with my crew last night. I treated myself to my first Guinness Draught since we were in Edinburgh a year ago. It's good stuff. I'm not a beer drinker in general - I have a hard time getting by an American beer's smell. A Guinness is a different beverage altogether. As you can see from my pix, it is very dark- almost black, and when served has a creamy head of foam. It has tastes of roasted malts, bitter chocolate, coffee, and an oddly sweet bit, sort of like molasses. It's not so heavy as you might imagine, but I'd never try to drink it with anything sweet. It's a match for salty foods.

At only 4% alcohol it is weak enough to sip all evening and never get a buzz, and at 198 calories in 20 oz, and 18 g carbs - less than a coke - it's a beverage even a teetotaler might take a shot at.

I had a plate of corned beef and cabbage with my Guinness for the fully Irish experience.

Garrett- What's the Irish equivalent of 'Slange!' ?

~M.E.

Mother's Day Gift

See anything gift-like here? Ah, that's because you're not looking close enough. My DH replaced the low-end kitchen sink faucets we put in when we built with some really snazzy ones. You may find this surprising, but he did it almost all by himself, and the two small leaks have been easily repaired.

Edit: Three, and the last was a bit of a bugger. The next one will be fixed by Collins Plumbing and Heating

Cheers! ~M.E.

DGA

The last day of the art history class was today. Discovering Great Artists (Fondly called DGA) Was very enjoyable for all of us. The art display today featured about 70 pieces from 13 kids. I was so proud of them! There was some real talent shown in that room today. It was my favorite class to have taught so far.

~M.E.

Allergy Season

Someone came home late (Tuesday) evening, spent 20 minutes careening through the house like a blind buffalo (looking for her telephone...) - her eyes streaming with histamine filled tears, and lungs starting to gasp. Looks like the mulberries (beeches, ashes, lindens - you name it.) are pollinating again.

The other allergy sufferers have all been on allergy shots and their seasonal symptoms have vastly lessened. They are soundly sleeping. 1 am and I'm doodling with this persleckeda computer - killing time instead of sending up ZZZ's, waiting to see if tonight is the night for our Annual Allergy Emergency Room Pilgrimage.

It's just easier than being awakened at 2:30 AM.

~M.E.

Yom, Compromise, and obsessing again.

I've been obsessing. I didn't even wait for my copy of "A Biblical Case for an Old Earth" to show up in the mailbox. Having the internet handy can be a curse.

It’s about ‘Yom’…

One little word in Hebrew: It can mean day, as in - the day is hot. It can mean an unspecified period of time, as in – the time Solomon ruled was 40 years. It can also mean a single year, or all the years in the future. I read that the ancient Hebrew of the OT had only about 5700 different words. They had to get a lot of mileage out of each of them. As long as YEC’s (Young Earth Creationists) cling to YOM as a single, 24 hour day they don’t have to consider another thing, from their pov.

It’s also about the definition of idea of there being no death before sin. It seems that the early Christian Fathers assumed that meant no human death. (But then again, the Church Fathers fought about the ‘days of creation’ too…) The young earth crew claims that nothing that was created died before Original Sin. I found nothing in Genesis 1-3 that stated that no animals died before Original Sin, and certainly the bacteria that was in Adam’s and Eve’s guts helping them digest their food was multiplying and dying at the same rapid pace it does in every human.

It’s about compromise. YEC are exhorted to never, ever compromise on Biblical truth. That’s a good thing. Then they are told that the Bible clearly tells us that the Earth came into being in October of 4004 B.C., and anyone who questions this rock-solid fact is a compromised, and not a true Christian brother or sister. That’s a bad thing. I never read in the NT that Salvation comes from my faith in Christ, AND that I believe that creation occurred 6000 years ago.

One tiny example: tree ring dating.

Using cores from very old living trees and overlapping cores from older dead trees, tree rings from the deserts in California can be traced back over 11,000 years. I’m not saying the Earth is 11,000 years old, I’m saying that people with no interest in this little argument, lining up pieces of wood and counting rings (very low-tech) tell us it is at least 11,000 years old. YEC's have to turn a blind eye, or explain away dozens of these types of examples.

I could go on like this, but no one is listening. I've been praying to gain wisdom. I've read Genesis 1-3, very slowly, in three English translations. I've read the Wiki, along with following a lot of the links, for multiple beliefs. (very well done, I might add) I've dug out and read the two kid's books that spout YEC we have lying around here, and I've browsed Hugh Ross's "The Creator and the Cosmos" I'm tired.

Creation is more mind-boggling than any human can imagine – both on microscopic and universal scales. Genesis tells us almost nothing about how this all happened, but I trust God has told Moses all we needed to know at the time – and is having a great time letting us figure out the rest.

My Current Working Hypothesis:

I Do Not Know How God Created Everything– but I will keep my mind open to the wonders around me, and that will make me very unpopular in some social circles.

~M.E.

Laundry Hint #2

This is shortly becoming a laundry blog. Yesterday a chap-stick went through the drier with a load of Hannah's clothing. Included were two of the blouses I had recently purchased. I rarely buy clothing, so I found this a wee upsetting. After trying a couple of things, and two re-washes later I remembered that goo-gone removes wax and grease from washable clothing. DUH. It finally came out - so I thought I'd remind you all. I bet DJ knew that.

Nothing interesting to write today. Life's all about dragging the kid hither and yon, and cleaning up after other people.

~M.E.

TP Done

TeenPact is 'mostly' done for the year. I'm typing along here while waiting for time to go and pick Hannah up from the last class. It was enjoyable after having the break. Hannah liked it mostly for the same reason Meredith did. She was able, for a whole week, to hang out with kids her own age and talk about real stuff.

The Uber-Conservative Young Earth crowd are still attending in abundance. One young lady who stayed with us asked very directly if Harry was a 'creationist' the second she heard he was a scientist. I affirmed that, yes, he is a strong Christian believer. She persisted in asking if he believed 'what the Bible says about creation' (emphasis hers) and without changing expression much I told her that he'd love to talk to her about that, if she had time she should ask.

I see that World Mag this week has a snippet about a book by David Snoke Ph.D. (Physics) on the subject. I've seen what astronomer Dr. Hugh Ross ( Creator and The Cosmos) has to say, but I think I'll order Snoke's "A Biblical Case for an Old Earth' just to see his take on it.

If anyone knows of a Young Earth resource written by someone with current, high-caliber scientific credentials in a related field (astronomy, physics, geology, etc.) let me know. I'd like to take a look.