What will 2007 look like?

Over at Jewish World Review, James Lileks take a hilarious look back at 2007 from January 1st 2008. One section stood out in both hilarity and truth;).

American politics were in that blessed period between elections, but jockeying continued for the presidential spot in both parties. Hillary Clinton made a masterful move to the center by coming out against gay marriage for stem cells; Barack Obama continued to run on a platform of being Barack Obama, and Mitt Romney continued to remind people of his impressive chin. Rudy Guiliani rolled out a new campaign slogan: "Why? Because I'll Nuke Them Old-School Style if I Have To, and You Know It," while John McCain's team came up with a GOP base-tested slogan, "Suck It Up, Haters! It's Him or the Witch."

NerdDad says the McCain slogan is all ready for the bumper stickers.

Frustration

I am officially frustrated with book writers. I have been on the search for a biography (or auto) on a woman in church history or women's ministries. Not the wife of a pastor, missionary, or historical figure (like First Lady). I needed it for a class. I ended up ordering a book on Susanna Wesley (mother of John Wesley) and can find a way to tie it in but it isn't what I wanted. I know that there are women who are (and have been) involved in church leadership in roles other than pastor. So where are the books? There are many women who are involved in women's ministries like Elizabeth George, Beth Moore, etc but they seem to be to young to have biographies yet. Maybe I have found a calling or maybe I have just found a rant;).

Book Review: The Train of Thought Writing Method

Recently I read The Train-of-thought Writing Method: Practical, User-friendly Help For Beginning Writers by Kathi Macias (Published by AuthorHouse. She uses the easy to understand imagery of trains to enable you to successfully write. This is a wonderful tool that even includes areas to fill in with exercises she gives you. I am a person who loves the ides of writing but find the blank page and the initial organization very daunting. By going through her train steps (Laying the track, the cow catcher, etc) you never really deal with a blank page and everything seems to fall into place. I really enjoy her tone. Even though she is a very accomplished writer, she has a common sense approach that make you believe that anyone can write. Given that this book is only 78 pages, she is concise and straight to the point. Having taken a college writing course, I believe this is what every aspiring writer needs. I give this book a resounding 5 out of 5, a NerdMom first! So go read and write!
(I recieved this book from ACM for the purpose of reviewing it.)

Gingerbread Carcasonne

Now that Christmas is over here is a new gingerbread project. According to the instructions it took 6-7 hours over 4-5 days. Then they played the game and the ate it! I will have to think about doing this as a NerdFamily project.

(HT:BoingBoing)

Pregnancy Carnival

Welcome to the December 15, 2006 edition of carnival of pregnancy. My apologizes that there is once again a thrown together carnival. There has been a death in the family so at least I got it up!

Lisa Mitchell presents Common Cures for Morning Sickness posted at Let's Talk Babies.

Kate Baggott presents Eureka! Protection Ingredient of Breast Milk Identified posted at Babylune, saying, "They aren't lipids and they aren't proteins. In fact, your baby can't even digest them. Still, they will help prevent infections and viruses from taking hold in your new born baby's system. The only place to find them is in your breast milk."

Fun Facts Other

Julie Heath - More4kids Inc. presents Healthy Eating for Pregnant Women posted at Julie Heath - More4kids Inc..

Erik Halvorssen presents Order- Part 1: Clutter posted at A Guide to Rasing Great Kids.

Laurie presents Health Benefits of Breastfeeding posted at Home Natural Remedies.

Julie Heath - More4kids Inc. presents Changes In The First Month Of Pregnancy posted at Julie Heath - More4kids Inc., saying, "oops, got my timezones mixed up. Hope you can still take this, if not please put in the following carnival. Thankyou. Julie"

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of
carnival of pregnancy
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Past posts and future hosts can be found on our

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Christian Carnival

I have been blessed to once again host the Christian Carnival. We have received many great entries. Please read them all and let the authors know how you feel!

In the current events/media area there are some interesting posts. The Sun and Shield's entry for this week is "Christopher Paolini, author of Eragon, is an agnostic," and Martin documents this by quoting from Paolini's work. Paolini wrote Eragon, which will be released as a movie on December 15th, when he was a teenager. He is not suggesting that Christians shouldn't see the movie, or read Paolini's books, just reporting. AllThings2All is offering Review: The Nativity Story. Go check it out before you go to the movies. Gena over at Home Where They Belong has a post about Homeschooling in Germany. Tidbits and Treasures offers Pastor Reaches out tho the 'unchurched'. It is about a young pastor goes after those that have a hunger that has not been filled.

In this carnival we have a few philosophical posts. They primarily deal with the opposition to Christianity. Welcome to the Fallout presents No Further Questions. This discusses how secular critiques of the doctrine of divine punishment close court before they ever get started. Thinking Christian offers Talking Past Each Other? It deals with philisophical arguements dealing with God and how we should have them. The Romans 15:4 Project has a great post on Science Points to God! Resources are even included. Matt Jones at Random Acts of Verbage announces Letters of Faith Through th Seasons.

Veracity-The Way has a great post, Keeping Light in the Darkness, that teaches the importance of Channukah beyond the miracle of the oil. Just to remind everyone, Channukah begins December 15th!


Thursday's Child has a thoughtful piece on Communion. Nancy at What I Learned Teaching Sunday School has a scriptural discussion on God's Views on Marriage and Divorce. Chasing the Wind has an interesting post, Seizing New Opportunities. It is about a study of the book of Ezra chapter 1-3 shows how God can use unbelievers in order to faithfully fulfill His promises, and He sometimes answer prayers in unexpected ways. Parableman offers up Explanations for Evil, Part II. This continues a series on the problem of evil, this time looking at why God wouldn't just restore things to their final, perfect state much earlier than has happened. Strategic Christian gives us Sure-Fire Guaranteed Success! Tom tell us, "Yes, you too can be a guaranteed success! Just follow this proven, can’t-fail formula, and your dreams and goals are just waiting for you! Well, that sounds cheap--not something you’d expect about being a Christian with impact on the world, is it? Amazingly, though, in terms that are (ahem) a bit less breathless, there’s a promise just like this in the Bible. You can be guaranteed effectiveness, fruitfulness, never stumbling, and a rich entrance into the eternal kingdom of God." Every Square Inch offers us Spurgeon on Choosing Your Occupation. Charles Spurgeon offers timeless advice on faith, work and the choice of one's occupation. Whether you're a college student embarking on your career or a 45 year old executive in the midst of a midlife career change, these are truths worth remembering. This week at Light Along the Journey John explores the relationship between faith and fullness, emptiness and hope in the post Of Fullness & Faith. Everyday Liturgy offers a very interesting post with A Gendered View of God. Participatory Bible Study Blog offers us The Camp and the Cloud. As an example of finding spiritual applications in Bible stories he looks at the importance of focusing on God's presence as illustrated in the movement of the cloud and fire of God's presence as it guides the Israelites in camping and moving. If you've ever spent time waiting for that paycheck to come in, perhaps you can relate to what rev-ed is writing about in the post, Payday, at Attention Span. What does it take to achieve fulfillment of your life's purpose? Alex Jordan of Jordan's View addresses this theme in his latest post, On Fulfillment. Recognizing God's sovereignty over life and His omnipotence in bringing His purposes to pass (an emphasis found in Reformed theology) may help us remember that life is not about mere self-actualization, but about living in such a way that we bring glory to God.

Thanks for joining me and please submit an article for next week at BlogCarnival
. Then tune back in for the next Christian Carnival.