According to my poll, the ayes have it, but ayiyiyiyi, am I busy, and not sleeping enough. I think I’ll take sleeping over blogging, though it’s a tough call.

Rather than blow-by-blow, I’ll just give you a sneak peek:

We have met some very nice people, some famous, some soon-to-be (expanded list later).
We went to the Alamo with someone most of my readers know, and a miniature version of him.
We haven’t seen any movies yet, just a couple of trailers, one of which prairie muffins would like very much (thanks to the Harris brothers for writing it down, and they are giving a blow-by-blow account):

Come to the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival. Where Truth . . . is true. Evil . . . is evil. Men . . . are men. Women . . . are women. Modesty . . . is beautiful. Marriage . . . is for life. Children . . . are a blessing. Motherhood . . . is a divine calling. Fathers . . . always know best. And the good ‘ol days . . . are now.

Now I bring this impessive missive to a close, as it’s a toss-up between breakfast and writing. It’s a tough call .

The latest edition of this magazine was in our mailbox today. It’s called Leben which is German (as Dr. Black and my buddy Laura know, but others may need a bit of translating) for “life.” The quarterly magazine is edited by an elder from our old church in Sacramento, a publication of City Seminary. The seminary was started when several young men from that denomination left for seminary and returned rejecting the literal account of 6-day creation in Genesis. Elder Johnson and Pastor West and other men from the church decided to tackle the training of men for the ministry closer to home and in a way that wouldn’t fracture families during the time that education took place. The seminary has been in operation several years now, meeting evenings and Saturday mornings so that men can still work and support their families.

I’m so impressed with the content of the four issues of Leben they have produced so far. Each tells fascinating stories of heroes of the reformed faith, including several accounts of godly women. You can read a couple of the issues online; the previous issue features Lady Jane Grey. My readers may appreciate the story of Anna Zwingli, wife of the great Swiss reformer, reprinted from a book by James I. Good called Famous Women of the Reformed Church. Read the following about her devotion to her husband’s work and welfare, and you will both marvel at her commitment to him and mourn over how far reformed women today have veered from a biblical understanding of submission and headship in their marriages:

After marrying Zwingli, she ceased to wear jewelry. Zwingli addresses her as his dearest housewife, and such she was, a useful helpmeet in his work. She was a model minister’s wife, the foster mother of the poor, and the visitor of the sick. She was called “the apostolic Dorcas.” Her care for her husband was greater even than for the parish. She brightened his cares and sympathized with him in his sorrows. When her husband, with the other ministers of Zurich, began translating the Bible (1525) and published it (1529) complete several years before Luther’s complete Bible appeared (1534) it was his custom to read to her its proof sheets every evening before retiring. She afterwards spoke of the eager interest she felt in the story of the gospel as it was thus translated into her own Swiss tongue by her husband. When it was published he presented her with a copy of it. The Bible thus became her favorite book. She tried to introduce it into the families of the congregation so that it might become the property of each household.

When she found that her husband by early rising and excessive labors was becoming too deeply absorbed in his work, she would, as he says in a letter to Vadian, pull his sleeve and whisper in his ear, “Take a little more rest, my dear.” In her intercourse with others she revealed the Christian’s spirit. The more religious the conversation, the more she took part in it. No greater joy could come to her than to receive some new light on some holy truth. She loved to hear Zwingli in his homiletical works sometimes throwing new light on the character of Christ. She thus lived in a religious atmosphere. Toward her husband she always showed great reverence.

Subscription information is here.

Pieter’s not leaving for basic training until spring, but I have had to implement some military discipline with the other children regarding certain small things which ought to have been mastered long ago so we can graduate to bigger things. I know we are only at the end of October, but I thought that if our family needed this reminder early in the new school year, other families may benefit from this poem by Isaac Watts, too.

The Sluggard

‘Tis the voice of a sluggard, I hear him complain—
You have waked me too soon; I must slumber again;
As the door on its hinges, so he on his bed,
Turns his sides, and his shoulders, and his heavy head.

“A little more sleep, and a little more slumber”—
Thus he wastes half his days, and his hours without number,
And when he gets up, he sits folding his hands,
Or walks about saunt’ring, or trifling he stands.

I passed by his garden, and saw the wild brier,
The thorn and the thistle grow broader and higher,
The clothes that hang on him are turning to rags;
And his money still wastes till he starves or he begs.

I made him a visit, still hoping to find
That he took better care for improving his mind;
He told his dreams, talked of eating and drinking,
But he scarce reads his Bible, and never loves thinking.

Said I then to my heart: “Here’s a lesson for me;
That man’s but a picture of what I might be,
But thanks to my friends for their care in my breeding,
Who taught me betimes to love working and reading.”

I did have a birthday recently. If your conscience is bothering you because you didn’t send me a present, I’ll take anything you find here, but I’m particularly partial to the Geneva Bible on this page. They also have facsimiles.

For Reformation Day, why not read the history of the English Bible, a calorie-burning activity that won’t rot your teeth?

Psst…I think these guys are reformed. I wanna know why all my Arizona buddies didn’t tell me about this place, hmm?

Our quote of the day comes from Naddy’s daddy:

One Boy = One Brain, Two Boys = One Half Brain, Three Boys = No Brain at all.

Update: If you don’t have any of the little critters of your own to keep you entertained, here’s a link to an African “WildCam” from Miss Kyriosity.