The saddest day of the year???

My friend Michelle wrote a bit about the fact that some experts say that January 21 is the most depressing day of the year. I don't know if that is true, but it might be. I know I've been feeling a little post-New Year's drag.

I know in my case, it's not weather-related, because I'm in almost-always beautiful southern California. Some of it is physical, because I've been spending a lot of time inside recently. I don't think being locked in an tiny office for hours at a time is really conducive to good spirits.

Much of it is probably emotional and spiritual. When I'm working on a project, I tend to get wrapped up in it. And I neglect everything outside work and family. That means I don't call my friends back. Praying goes right out the window. I don't contact my family that lives in another state. Then of course I feel bad about my failures as a friend, child of God, and relative. That makes my mood even worse.

Yes, it is a lot of fun being me.

The good thing is that all of these things can be changed. I can only go down this road so long before I've got to make a u-turn. I think the turn is coming soon.

Sorry there's no wacky comedy today. And no kid pics either. I'm sure I'll be back to normal festivities within a couple of days...

The illness ends, so does basketball...

This has been a long week for the J family. The Mighty Mrs. J and I have been sick as can be since Monday. It seems to have passed over the children, who seem to have all the energy in the world. She and I are both exhausted.


But this week is going to be a great one. Friday we have the last basketball game of the season. I've had a blast coaching Little MacGyver and the rest of the kids. What a fun age to coach! Of course, I have no idea what I'm doing, but the kids are too young to realize that.

As you probably expected, I have pictures of the basketball excitement:


Here we are before a game. You'll probably notice the varying levels of boredom in the kids. And my boy is completely disinterested in what I'm saying...











Another pic of the kids completely ignoring my coaching genius...














Here's the result: kids wandering aimlessly back and forth, hoping to make a basket.

Seriously, I had a great time. I think the kids did too. Maybe they learned something. At least I hope they learned to enjoy the game. They can pick up skills later...

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo...

We went to the zoo, just after Christmas. We love the Santa Ana Zoo. It's small, just the right size for kids. They have a holiday "Lights at the Zoo" festival every year. I'm finally getting around to posting pics.

Here are the 3 suspects. You see the carriage made of lights behind them. The zoo had those kinds of "light sculptures" all over the grounds.





Little MacGyver and DisneyGirl meeting the mascot of the Rainforest Cafe. (I don't know his name.) Notice Toddler Houdini is nowhere to be seen. She's completely petrified of giant costumed characters like this. I don't really blame her...











Little MacGyver eating candy and hugging a goat. What more could a little boy ask for?

Notice that Toddler Houdini can't be found in this picture. She's also not crazy about animals up close.








Just to prove she was actually with us, here is Toddler Houdini snuggling close to Mommy...













Here are the older two, getting cozy with an inflatable penguin. No idea where Toddler Houdini is.









They really put on great programs at the Santa Ana Zoo. We went for their Halloween carnival and the kids loved it...

All new episodes coming soon!!!

In response to my friend Cap's post about my whereabouts the last week or so, there are 2 simple reasons why I haven't been around. (They are not nearly so interesting as Cap's reason, but that's the way it goes.)

Reason 1: I've been swamped with a work project that sapped most of my time and energy for several days.

Reason 2: I caught a nasty virus last week that I had trouble getting rid of. The doctor called it the Huckabee virus. He said it comes on strong, then fades quickly because it has no true core. Then it tries to take out more conservative organisms. Its ultimate goal is to become vice-virus on the ticket with a really pernicious liberal virus from Arizona. But I think I'm over it now. I just hope it doesn't become an epidemic.

Back shortly with more fun and hilarity...

Straight questions on gay marriage...

In my last post about Mike Huckabee, I mentioned that a lot of Christians are supporting him because he claims to be pro-life (which he isn't-he's pro-cash), pro-guns, and anti-gay marriage. Well, I don't know how pro-gun he is (he took money for speaking to an organization that wants tighter controls on gun ownership). But he does seem to be a man of his word in one area: he's very much opposed to homosexuals having the right to marry.

I've been confused for a while about how vehemently Christians oppose gay marriage. Especially since the rationale I hear for opposing it is always the same: it goes against God's design for marriage. Here's what Jesus said about it in Matthew 5:32--

But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.

I totally agree with that. Gay marriage does go against God's plan for marriage. But so does divorce, unless infidelity is involved. How many Christians are pushing to pass strict anti-divorce laws? Or anti-infidelity laws? Or anti-remarriage laws? How many Christians are committed to only voting for candidates who want to see a no-cheating amendment added to the Constitution? Not too many.

Mike Huckabee said this recently:

I don’t think the issue’s about being against gay marriage. It’s about being for traditional marriage and articulating the reason that’s important. You have to have a basic family structure. There’s never been a civilization that has rewritten what marriage and family means and survived.

That's great, but he's not for any other laws that would forbid people to act in ways that hurt marriage. Like inifdelity, for example. And no-fault divorce. And having babies outside of marriage. Where's his outrage in these areas? Or the outrage of the preachers who rail against gay marriage? Or the outrage of ordinary Christians who pour millions of dollars into campaigns to pass "defense of marriage acts" in states across the country? I don't see it.

Maybe you can help me see the reason behind all the passion against gay marriage, while there's no outrage about these other "marriage-degrading" activities. I can only come up with 2 possibilities. One, infidelity and divorce are so rampant in the church that no one dares to talk about it any more for fear of stepping on toes. Or two, Christians don't like gay folk very much, and they feel safe speaking out against homosexuals. Or maybe a combination of the two.

Last question: which is worse for society, the massive number of straight marriages that end up in bitter nasty divorces, or a tiny number of homosexuals (US Census estimates 700,000 homosexual couples in the country) who want to get married?

Looks to me like our priorities are out of whack...

Huckabee in '08???

I need to apologize. Not just to you, my blog-tastic friends. But to this great country of ours. Why must I apologize? Well, I am an evangelical Christian, a recovering Southern Baptist. So I need to apologize for what my well-intentioned brothers and sisters in Iowa have done tonight. They were largely responsible for making sure Mike Huckabee won the Iowa caucus.

I believe they were bamboozled by the good reverend. You can hardly blame him. He sounds like a conservative. He says he's against abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and gay marriage. And he says he's for lower taxes, school choice, stricter immigration laws, and gun rights. What's not to love?

The problem is that the good reverend has the right talk, but his actions reveal a totally different person with very different values. According to this article, he's taken money from businesses that endorse call embryonic stem cell research "essential" in curing disease. He also took $13,000 to speak to a group that advocates the expanded use of the "morning after" pill. He pocketed another $4,000 to speak to a group that wants to expand health care coverage to illegal immigrants.

Speaking of illegal immigration on that front as governor of Arkansas the good reverend proved to be a good friend for those who want to come here illegally. See reports here and here for details. No matter what he's saying now about immigration (and his current plan is still amnesty for illegal aliens), his past record says he's an open-borders guy, just like the current president.

Then there's school choice. He had the support of a lot of homeschool families in Iowa, but he signed some of the most restrictive laws in the country regarding homeschooling in Arkansas. He has even picked up the endorsement of the New Hampshire chapter of the National Education Association (they're an ultra-liberal teachers' union.) As governor, he partnered with a branch of the United Nations to bring "international standards" to several schools in Arkansas. (Read the story here. It's too long for me to go into in detail.) He's no conservative on education, and no friend of homeschoolers.

This post is running way long, so I won't even go into detail about how he raised taxes, or let rapists and murderers out of jail early, or how he's clueless when it comes to foreign policy. I also won't go into how disgusting I find his attacks on Mitt Romney and his faith. Or his hypocrisy on the WGA strike.

To sum up, Huckabee is a fake conservative, and he's playing conservative Christians for the suckers we sometimes are.

And I, as a conservative Christian, just want to apologize...

Prayer for the new year...

"Thank you, God, for this good life and forgive us if we do not enjoy it enough."
--Garrison Keillor