We are tired and happy here at the hoemke home. We just got back from our trip to Florida to baptize the boy. The service was perfect -- small and intimate. Tobo learned so much from his godbrothers. He was facinated to watch them playing on the floor, goofing around and generally being boys. It's like the little switch clicked in his brain saying "oh..I get it! I'm suppose to interact with my environment!" This has lead to a couple of major steps:

ATTENTION: this post has nothing to do with Tobo. : )

So today is bible day. If you know me, you know that I struggle with reading the bible in any kind of a regular way. I'm not familiar with it. I want to know it like the back of my hand, but I don't. That might be a bit a shock from a missionary in the US but it's true. My background is Episcopalian, which means that I generally know all major points of protestant faith, but don't ask me to quote a verse or how to communicate these points to anyone else. Kind of sad for someone who is suppose to be lighting people on fire to take their part in the great commission. If you do ask me to state my faith, I have a tendency to end up saying the Nicene Creed. (which isn't bad in itself)


So I'm trying something new - bible day. It's simple: I pick a book of the bible and read it to it's conclusion during the course of one day. So in between Tobo's bath, laundry, meals, and naps, I'm reading Romans. If you listen very closely you can hear Paul jumping up and down with glee. I'm also reading along with it a commentary on romans by Nygren. It's harder than it sounds. I'm only writing to you now because I'm eating lunch. Discipline is one of my weak points.

So far I'm not feeling too overwhelmed. I keep telling myself that I'm reading over the whole book and then go back and dive into the meat of it once I have the whole picture. I read the commentary introduction first which has helped a lot.

In the meantime i'd like to challenge you to a) read along at home and b) pray for all of us reading that we will be strong in our resolve to stick to this new habit.

Happy Hunting.

PSA:

Come join the communications team at OMF! If you or any of your friends are called to be creative in God's service, please get in touch with us at 800.422.5330 or info at omf.org. We have a lot of great work to do and need as many hands as we can find to do it. :)

We are looking for fully supported:
Graphic Designers
Writers
Videographers

Is God calling you to mobilize?

I did not worry about diaper cream on mother's day. I did something more constructive, like put together the changing table. It has had a long journey, but has finally arrived at our home.



It felt good to finally complete something. We also managed to vaccum and wash all of our bedding. (see previous post) We finished the day by watching some sci-fi, all of us cuddled on the couch, eating pizza. It was a great mother's day. The best part of it was tobo. He's really what I was celebrating.

I can't believe Tobo is two weeks old. Where has the time gone?! My days have all blended together in a big, diaper-changing, breast-feeding, sleeping, rocking, lovefest.

Nothing much else to add.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled day.

I was watching tv and kept seeing flashes not unlike lightening out side. But no, there is no rain storm in January. Not when it's below freezing, right? Oh yeah? Welcome to colorado. Tonight's forecast takes the cake: 26.6 °F / -3.0 °C - Light Thunderstorm Snow Mist. Apparently different than hail in some way only known to westerners.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled evening.

from glassbooth:

quizzy goodness:
1 Barack Obama 72% similarity
2 Bill Richardson 70% similarity
3 Fred Thompson 69% similarity

Environment and Energy	very similar	find out why
Taxes and Budget	very similar	find out why
Gay Rights	very similar	find out why
Crime and Punishment	very similar	find out why
Trade and Economics	very similar	find out why
Immigration	very similar	find out why
Civil Liberties and Domestic Security	similar	find out why
Abortion and Birth Control	similar	find out why
Iraq and Foreign Policy	different	find out why
Gun Control	different	find out why
Health Care	different	find out why

just a quick plug: we have a new blog here called pray-it that is all about us, asia, omf, and it. Updates will be happening over there, so if you want to get in on the ground floor so to speak, please feel free to visit. This blog will keep going as a personal site. That one will be specific to ministry stuff.

we now return you to your usually lj-stuff.

If I had known that this was an option for the christmas party...well I still probably would have been to chicken to wear it, but wow, that's some beautious materinity wear:

little lavender dress

From misc

(it's an auction, so look quickly before it goes away tomorrow.)

My mom asked me recently if I had enough clothes. I've got basically enough for a week, with a few additions that I just ordered tonight from jcp. The biggest thing I've noticed though is that I need to learn how to hem pants. Both Paul and I could benefit from being able to sew up cuffs and such. Any suggestions?

In other fabric news, I have about 5 sets of double bed size sheets that are in good conditions. Do I have any takers? Let me know before the end of December and I'd be happy to send them to you. Otherwise I'm passing them on to folks who need them at goodwill.

Also, does anyone know how to get rid of black marks on white clothing from the dryer? Our dryer occasionally leaves black smudges on things. Unfortunately it left it the second time I washed the only white maternity t-shirt I own.

Just a quick note to say I'm very excited about this:

CAFFEINE CONTENT
White chocolate 3ounce bar or 1 cup chips
Caffeine 0.0 mg
Theobromine 0.0 mg

Because it does not contain any cocoa solids, one benefit of white chocolate is that it also does not contain any caffeine, which means it can be consumed by individuals who must avoid caffeine for medical reasons. - the infallible wikipedia

And sad to hear about this:
4 shot in arvada. We have friends who were a part of ywam many years ago and they are some of the most awsome christians we know. :/

question: What is our baby?

So thank you for all the phone calls and hellos. I tried to get back to everyone but I missed a few because of the time zone difference.

Here's the update you were waiting for: We're having a boy!
A very _not_ shy wiggly boy (that he is a boy was very obvious), who yawned for the ultrasound before getting up and trying to wrap his foot behind his head. Silly baby. We had some trouble getting him to let go of the cord and stop moving his left foot. We nicknamed him appropriately.

Only one person voted right. Collect a zillion brownie points at the desk. :)

I can't believe the things they can see with ultrasounds these days. Like kidneys. The two hemispheres of his brain. Crazy. Pictures will be posted after we sort out our apartment some more. We are in the end-days count down at kva. A few more trips and we should be ready for clean up Thursday/Friday.

Okay, hormone lady is tired and off to bed.

it's been a while since I posted, so I thought I'd give you some memery instead of an update. I find it highly entertaining that I tied for Moya, Serenity, and SG-1.

Which sci-fi crew would you best fit in with? (pics) created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Serenity (Firefly) You like to live your own way and don't enjoy when anyone but a friend tries to tell you should do different. Now if only the Reavers would quit trying to skin you. Moya (Farscape) 63% Serenity (Firefly) 63% SG-1 (Stargate) 63% Babylon 5 (Babylon 5) 56% Heart of Gold (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) 50% Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda) 50% Millennium Falcon (Star Wars) 50% Deep Space Nine (Star Trek) 50% Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix) 44% Enterprise D (Star Trek) 38% Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica) 31% Bebop (Cowboy Bebop) 25% FBI's X-Files Division (The X-Files) 25%

Ladies and gentleman ... welcome to the second trimester. (applause)

I just thought I'd throw that out there.

Also: these are hilarious: (from MomShops): gas mask
turn it to 11!

Here is an article where I learned many things, including:

Someone working from an IP address linked to MySpace appears to have been so irritated by references to the social networking website's over-censorial policy that they removed a paragraph accusing MySpace of censorship.

The scanner itself is here: http://wikiscanner.virgil.gr/

now for something a littlet less dire sounding: Legos!

So we did our first batch of house hunting today and have come with 3 possible candidates. All of which are at least 35 minutes from work for both of us, 2 of which are at the very top of our price range. None have HOA fees to contend with. So, real estate wizards, which house would you choose?

A. Ye'old Standard House
Plus: It's in our price range, comes with all appliances, will need no cosmetic work before we move in.
Minus: Back yard is small! No AC (with that being said we were out here today when it was 90 something and it was pretty cool in there. )

B. The Big Lot
Plus: It is on 0.32 of an acre yet still residential, backs to something like an open space, has lots of shade and patio.
Minus: House is a bit beat up and will need some cosmetic paint and carpet fixing. It is above our price range some, it has no appliances. No AC but an attic fan, which sucks all the heat out the top of the house. These work ok, but you never get cold in these houses, you just stop melting.

C. The Big House
Plus: It is huge for the price: 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, plus a study, front room. It just keeps going. Cul-de-sac that is right next to an open space. Good neighborhood, which could make it a money-maker if we resell.
Minus: People got about half way through redecorating and quit, so every room has something cosmetic to fix, only major issues fixes would be back stairs off porch and carpet in lower level before we could move in. Also, this is over our budget and again, no appliances. No AC, but has a swamp cooler, which works based on evaporation.

Poll #1013364 which house???
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Which house should we buy?

Why?

We saw a lot of other properties today, but none have captured our imaginations like these three. Guru is drooling over B and I'm placing furniture in my head in C. We are going to look at townhouses next, which will definitely be in our budget, and closer to work. (read reality check) But the whole idea of owning more space than we can fill is really tempting, either inside or outside.

So I signed up for LastFM because I'm a bit of a lemming, and the site has come up twice now during lyric searching. So, join me and together we will not listen to the same music but agree to disagree about it. or something.

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EDIT: Had to go back and fix the quilt. I've also introduced guruzilla_lj to lastfm. Uploading his listening history took like an hour. You should fear.

Well, that was exciting. our personal site and my highly out of date portfolio site are both now relocated and up at their new home, provided by lertulo. Email is finally working too, so if you were trying to reach me and had things bounce, that would be why. When in doubt you can always contact me at choemke at gmail dot com. But now everything seems to be working.

Speaking of whom, lertulo has a great licensing agreement for his software. He will give you free games if you learn Esperanto. So for all you language geeks (and you know who you are) go take a gander at random's software.

Much to do today before we are off to enjoy what the hills (ie. the rockies) have to offer. More later...

So here's the new pet: lilium. Named again for a plant.He is a very mellow betta, and as you can see he has beautifully decked out fins. And I haven't killed him yet. So far so good.

lilium

this is why I adore skzbrust's writing. The last book he wrote (Dzur) I metered out the chapters; slowly relishing them because I could see from the binding that though the book was good, it was too damn short. I am pleased to hear that much is being made of Vlad's next travels and some day I hope the genetic stuff is explained more fully by Aliera. I mean before 2030.

Related silly coincidence: I've apparently been reading Emma Bull's blog now for many months without putting it together who coffeeem was. *doht*

I made my first (and probably only) wikipedia entry the other day about a kage baker short story called Nightmare Mansion". Every body's doing it.