The Untruth that Sinners Love to Believe

"The law of attraction is a law of nature. It is impersonal and it does not see good things or bad things. It is receiving your thoughts and reflecting back to you those thoughts as your life experience. The law of attraction simply gives you whatever it is you are thinking about."
-- The Secret

Sounds a lot like Jiminy Cricket: "When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are. When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true."

In reviewing the best-seling book and movie The Secret, Donald S. Whitney states, "The problem with The Secret is that it focuses our hope selfward and not Godward. It is all about self-empowerment, self-fulfillment, and getting whatever we want."

More interestingly, Whitney draws the following comparison: "The Secret is nothing more than Name It-Claim It, Positive-Confession, Prosperity Theology (without God and the Bible), built on a foundation of New Age self-deification."

I have not read this book, nor do I intend to do so. But its worldwide popularity is stunning and indicative of how badly our sinful nature wants to believe that we are truly in control.

Ew, Gross!

A great reason to stick with run-of-the-mill spa treatments...

Not So Fast

Almost all of the schools in the Montgomery and Birmingham areas have closed for the day, due to the threat of severe weather this afternoon. I am trying to remember a time that my elementary schools let out early because of potential tornado threats, and I can think of only one. (Incidentally, my mother was out driving around in the weather and didn't know that there was a weather problem, much less that we were let out early.) Instead, I remember several trips out to the hall with a heavy textbook in hand, where we would sit against the wall with the book ready to cover our heads in the event disaster struck.

But the phenomenon of late seems to be letting students go home when severe weather is a strong possibility. And I'm not sure this is such a great idea, for several reasons:

1. It causes chaos and confusion among the students, and the teachers can just kiss the whole day good-bye.
2. It forces parents to drive with their children in the inclement weather, which we all know is dangerous.
3. It brings the possibility that little Suzy's parent didn't get the message, and she's left sitting by the carpool line until someone gets in touch with her mom, who just happens to have gone out of town on business for the day.
4. The best reason is one that someone mentioned on the radio this morning: in Alabama, many students live in mobile homes. Everyone knows that (a) mobile homes are extremely dangerous in a storm and therefore (b) tornadoes seem to aim for mobile homes. Any school building in the state would be safer for a student than his mobile home, where he has no protection from the elements.

This is not a snow day. Letting out early for snow makes sense. You may not be able to get your child from the school once the snowstorm hits. But once a tornado or storm system has blown through, you can go get your child. You may have to dodge some debris to do it, but you can get there.

UPDATE: Following the devastating loss of life at Enterprise High School a couple of weeks ago, I gave further thought to my original stance. Although I certainly understand the argument that keeping so many students in one place can result in more lives lost if a tornado hits a school, I continue to believe that students are safer in their schools than on the road going home or in mobile homes. I sincerely believe that the school did everything that they could do to protect the students. Sometimes you can do all you think possible and still wind up with disastrous results.

Proper Attire

Two young Christian men have compiled a modesty survey, which was taken by other Christian men online in January. The results are in, and they are interesting.

Jason and I find ourselves in more frequent conversations about modesty and appropriate attire these days...thinking of Hallie wearing some of the clothes we see around us sends a chill through her daddy's spine. I don't agree with all of the findings of the survey, and I am hesitant because of the legalism that such "rules" could engender. But I think it's helpful to think about the specifics of feminine attire and the practical application of the Biblical instruction to "dress modestly, with decency and propriety." (1 Tim. 2:9)

"Please Come to Boston in the Springtime"

Our jaunt to Boston this weekend was great--good friends, lots of good food, and fun. Hopefully I can post a picture or two here in the next couple of days.

I am happy to report that we braved the extremely icy conditions without a single fall, but I think it's safe to say that our next trip up north will be a spring or summer vacation!

Cookie Deprivation

I have to go have another gestational diabetes test next week because my blood sugar was too high on the last one (thanks, Mom). I'm not really that upset about the fact that the next test takes three hours, and consequently three blood draws. I AM upset, however, that the nurse tells me this on the day the Girl Scout cookies that I ordered arrive. Now I can't even eat those delicious Tagalongs without worrying that they're causing problems...

Cutie in 4D

Hallie had a 4D ultrasound today, and we got lots of pictures! Here is one of her smiling (more of a smirk, really).

Poison in the Pantry

Jason and I discovered what made him sick for over two weeks last month: our peanut butter. We threw away two jars this morning, which were contaminated with salmonella.

Peter Pan peanut butter has a recall on any jar with the numbers 2111 on the top.

Hell on the Tarmac

Tomorrow, I am flying to Boston with my husband. For the first time in a while, I am flying anxiety-medicine-free because of little Hallie. However, if this happens to us, someone better have something I can take! Otherwise, you'll be reading about me in the headlines.

Isn't it ironic?

Don't you think?

Sugar Rush

Today is my personal "Fat Tuesday." Tomorrow morning, I have a doctor's appointment, where they will test me for gestational diabetes. If I fail the test, they'll likely put me on a very restricted diet. The test is standard at 28 weeks, which is where I am in my pregnancy.

I am slightly concerned that my family history may haunt me here (read: a mother with gestational diabetes and a grandmother with diabetes). So, I've decided to ingest enough sugar today to tide me over for the next couple of months, just in case I can't have much sugar beyond tomorrow.

Thanks to my husband's Valentine's Day gift of dark chocolates, I am well on my way to a full-blown sugar high. And just maybe a Blizzard from the DQ is in order tonight...

UPDATE: I went with a humongous blue coconut slush from Sonic instead of a Blizzard...more straight sugar that way. And an added bonus: my tongue is still blue this morning.

Now, that's a relief!

Some scientists have figured out how to have "the Noah's Ark of food," built to withstand the imminent doomsday from global warming. Somehow they fail to realize that God saved the species on Noah's ark, not men.

A Rude Awakening

I realized something this morning: I am not going to sleep for the next decade of my life.

The thing is, I didn't even know how good I had it before getting pregnant. For twenty-five years, I would go to sleep and would not wake up until morning. I never got up to go to the bathroom, I never tossed and turned. It was heavenly. Then I got pregnant, and I have not had an uninterrupted night's sleep since.

And it's only going to get worse. Instead of merely dealing with my own discomfort, I will be tending to the needs of an infant during the night. Gone are the days of a full night's sleep, not to return until my last child is about 3.

So, if I'm in a haze for the next ten years or so, you'll have to forgive me. I'm semi-permanently sleep-deprived.

Progress Report

Happy Third Trimester Day! Today marks our official move into the homestretch (and into more sleepless nights, I've heard).

"The Time-Money Trade-off"

Interesting article from the ABA Journal about billable hours.

Things are Heating Up over Global Warming

As you might expect, your friendly "In My Defense" blog is on the cutting edge. It appears that, since my James Spann post a few days ago, Mr. Spann has come into the national spotlight. His blog-initiated battle with the Weather Channel over global warming has earned him time on the Drudge Report, as well as a spot on Hannity & Colmes tonight. (Spann believes that the recent warming of the globe is a national phenomenon, not a man-made catastrophe.)

Clotheshorse

It's a shame there isn't a facebook group called "my unborn daughter has more clothes than I do." Perhaps I should be the founding member.

Dragged onto the Bandwagon

Thanks to my husband's insistence (and the fact that he created a profile for me), I am now a member of facebook. And it's every bit the time-waster I knew it would be. So why can I not help but log in?

We're Not in Birmingham Anymore...

I was awakened from my Sunday afternoon nap by tornado sirens. And, as anyone in my family can attest, those sirens usually send me into a state of slight paranoia. While Jason went to check the weather reports, Archie and I hung out in the guest bathroom until given the "all clear."

After emerging from Tornado Headquarters, as we affectionately call our guest bath, I watched a little bit of Montgomery's version of weather coverage. And I was actually shocked to not be able to find my weather expert James Spann. It seems that, because we got Birmingham stations while we lived in Tuscaloosa, I had assumed that James Spann reached the entire state. I had not stopped to realize that in Wetumpka I would depend on someone else for weather updates. And, after watching about 15 minutes of Montgomery weather coverage, it's safe to say that I miss James. I'm pretty sure that I could have done the weather better myself yesterday afternoon.

While a program interruption by James Spann can be annoying, I'm hoping, for the sake of my television set, that these Montgomery guys don't need to break into any regularly scheduled programming anytime soon. And, as anyone in the South knows, more tornado alerts are imminent as Spring approaches.

UPDATE: Apparently Mr. Spann has a webpage, which links to his blog, and I'm not his only dedicated fan.

Happy New Year!

And we're back. I hope everyone had as good a vacation as I did. More posts to follow in the near future...