An Orderly Universe

"...All physics is rooted in the notion of law--the existence of an ordered universe that can be understood by the application of rational reasoning."

- Paul Davies, introduction to Six Easy Pieces


"If the solar system was brought about by an accidental collision, then the appearance of organic life on this planet was also an accident, and the whole evolution of Man was an accident too. If so, then all our present thoughts are mere accidents—the accidental by-product of the movement of atoms. And this holds for the thoughts of the materialists and astronomers as well as for anyone else’s. But if their thoughts—i.e. of materialism and astronomy—are merely accidental by-products, why should we believe them to be true? I see no reason for believing that one accident should be able to give me a correct account of all the other accidents. It’s like expecting that the accidental shape taken by the splash when you upset a milkjug should give you a correct account of how the jug was made and why it was upset."

- C.S. Lewis, The Business of Heaven

A Bit of a Mix-Up

Miss M likes the Hawaiian calendars and pictures that her Tutu (grandma) sends us, and she enjoys Mommy's dance class and watching the Merrie Monarch competition DVD's that we order online.

She also loves the part of our morning devotions where we sing, and has started singing her favorite songs later during the day, especially Jesus Loves Me, and one that we just now figured out. It's Holy, Holy, Holy . . . but she's been going around singing at the top of her voice, "Hula, hula, hula!"

The Difference Between Boys and Girls

I've had three boys, and they all used to as me to draw pictures for them: a car, a truck, a dog, a ball. One son used to ask me to draw pictures of his sippy cup.

Miss M asks me to draw a "meow-meow" ( kitty), "flah-luh" (flower) or "buh-fly" (butterfly).

It's a whole new experience. Butterflies and flowers are much easier to draw than trucks!

A Baggins Birthday

Yesterday was Bilbo and Frodo's birthday. We had a small party with some friends, dressed up, got into character, and had cake. We toasted Bilbo and Frodo with sparkling grape juice and read the song in praise of the halflings from RotK.

Long live the Halflings! Praise them with great praise! ... Praise them! The ring-bearers, praise them with great praise!

A toast

The cake with a replica of the ring. Though on second thought, I don't know why we'd want to celebrate it.

How a Homeschooler Prepares for a Hurricane

This is a post from one of my favorite blogs, The Beehive. It's about taking care of what's most important.

I have a sister in San Antonio and many friends in the Dallas area, so I'm watching the storm news anxiously.

A Birthday!

I'll let Tim post more about this.

Tea Time!

Last week's tea - there was cinnamon toast, apple slices, almonds, organic cheddar cheese, and healthy-ish cookies. The tea was a blend of berry teas.


Miss M's was one apple slice, a wedge of plain bread, half a wheat-free chocolate sandwich cookie minus the cream, and a wheat-free chocolate chip cookie. And a spoonful of tea at the bottom of her Fisher Price tea cup. :)

The Wind

I wrote this for a creative writing class I'm taking:

Summer turns to autumn,
Leaves begin to brown;
With a rush of branches
The wind comes dancing down.

She teases all the trees--they
Toss their haughty heads,
Dropping summer's raiments
Upon the grassy beds.

She races to retrieve them--
Gives chase across the lawn--
Twirling, spinning, whirling
Until her breath is gone.

Only for a moment:
She soon returns to play,
Chasing with the faded leaves
The fading year away.

Autumn turns to winter,
Golden turns to grey
I see the changing colors--but
I saw the wind today.

My Active, Inquisitive Toddler

Miss M is so alert and eager to learn and do everything! She can be a handful. This morning she wanted to try to get into her sippy cup--which she did. Orange juice was all over the floor, and her favorite bear is recuperating in the bathroom as a result. So now she's carrying around a stuffed yellow chick, cooing to it, asking, "aww, hurt?" and trying to nurse it. Then she wanted to "tuh-low" (color), so I got down her pencils and we drew a kitty and a teapot (she can say 'teapot' perfectly clear!) The phone rang, Daddy wanted to know if I needed anything from the store. In the couple of minutes while I was on the phone, she had gotten into something. She came out wiping her hands on her onesie, saying, "diddy" (dirty). Her chin was dark berry-stained. My mind raced. Had she eaten something poisonous? Did she find a marker and suck out the ink? Her tongue was stained. too, and her fingers. Then I saw the purple pencil with the lead broken off, and I knew what had happened. Luckily, they're non-toxic pencils!

She's quietly going through her toy dishes now. Daddy just came home with stuff to make pasta for dinner. That excited her. She's shouting, "PAH-duh! PAH-duh!" and hurrying to put her dishes away so she can eat. I guess she doesn't realize that it takes time to boil the pasta and heat the sauce.

I'm a Pirate!

My pirate name is:

Mad Dog Rackham

Part crazy, part mangy, all rabid, you're the pirate all the others fear might just snap soon. You have the good fortune of having a good name, since Rackham (pronounced RACKem, not rack-ham) is one of the coolest sounding surnames for a pirate. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.