Correction

Oppps, the Robeez are called Rodeo Star!

Fun Page too!
It's friday, so dave is at youth. I have the house to myself, so of course i have people coming over. I need interaction and socialization most of the time. Moreso in the evening than in the day? Are you like that? If you get energy from people you may be an Extravert like myself. Myers-Briggs... i'm telling ya. Also a good page. So, there are some things for you to check out!

I hope everyone's weekends are refreshing in their own way.

Human Rights and Human Nature

I don’t know if you’ve been following the story, but I’ve been very interested in the story of Mr. Abdul Rahman in Afganistan. Well it’s been on my heart for a while so I’m going to take the time to say something. My interest was peaked the other day when Janie and I caught Rex Murphy’s report on the National. You can follow that link and read it for yourself, but here are the first two lines:


Here's a pop quiz: Name the democracy in which changing your religion is a criminal offence and that offence carries the death penalty.

A simple follow-up question: If there were such a democracy, would it be worth fighting and dying for?


Rex’s basic point was that a democratic nation cannot enforce a restriction on religion, and that Canadian troops are fighting – and dying – to set up a democracy which has then threatened to execute Mr. Rahman for converting from Islam to Christianity. It’s been a very interesting journey.

Now Abdul Rahman has been released from prison (under what terms, I do not know) and has apparently fled the country. Reports were saying that his life was in danger even if he did avoid the death penalty, and that there was a public outcry for his blood.

Then came a very interesting article today, and this is where my point lies.

Time magazine released this article today, looking at Mr. Rahman’s “family values”. It reports that he was a deadbeat father, unemployed and prone to violence towards his family. The interesting thing was (and you can correct me here if you disagree) that the article seems to suggest that since he was such a indecent human being, perhaps we should not have been so quick to cry for his release. Perhaps, it seemed to suggest, organizations and governments should be more careful in whom they choose to rally behind, and how that person’s track record might reflect on them.

But I say otherwise. I think people/governments were correct in coming to his aid, because his right to freedom of religion was being violated and someone needed to step in. Simple as that. Now, I can see that it may have been very convenient for the Bush administration to have a Christian face that needed defending against a corrupt government right in the heart of Afghanistan. And I can see now why they would be embarrassed if he turns out to be violent and slothful, perhaps not quite so worthy of the Poster Child position he had attained. But I think that it makes a better case when the violated individual shows flaws. If a perfect person is wronged, everyone comes to her/his side. But what about an imperfect, even deplorable person? Who will stand for them? Who will be their advocate, even when they abuse their freedom?

I am reminded of a passage in Matthew where Christ says that we are to love all people, not just our brothers and sisters, but also our enemies. Regardless of his personal attributes, we must defend him because he is human. Now, wouldn't it have been interesting to see what the case would have looked like if a Christian nation was threatening to kill a convert to Islam? Perhaps that would have brought some of our motives for defending Mr. Rahman’s plight under closer examination. My question is this: would we stand so strongly united with someone seeking his right to defect from our side?

-Dave

Fashion SHoe Show

WELCOME to my fashion shoe show! I wanted everyone to know just how cute my feet look ALL THE TIME. I am excited that i already have a knack for footwear, for to go through life with no shoe fashion sense would insult my parents, family and friends. Thank you to everyone who has helped to start my first collection of beautiful shoes.
First up:
These adorable little Robeez were given to me by my very knowledgeable Aunt Sarah. She manages a shoe store and knows all about the latest trends. Really she is the one who started my shoe fetish. They add the finishing touch to so many outfits. These little robeez are called cowgirl. Isn't that cute? Now if only i could find a cowgal hat to go!

These puppies (ha ha, i am so funny!) are for all my lounging purposes. Plus, when i wear blue it helps me to understand the other gender. I feel i should get a head start on this, for i plan on being an equal in every way, and thus i am just fine with sporting some blue. You should try it, you might like the feeling! Thank you to Dave, Sue and Julia for providing me with my first insights into boyhood. My feet are warm, toasty, and friendly,
wouldn't you say?OOOOHHHHH, you'll just love these next ones! On with the show:
















So here we have the new line of Spring sneakers for babies. It looks like i know how to wear shoes with laces, but ha, you've been fooled: they're velcro! Baby shoe designers are so intelligent. These shoes are so sturdy and trendy. I just love the little flowers, and again i have the chance to look good in BLUE! Thank you Auntie Heather for having an eye for cuteness!


This pretty pair came all the way from Englad, with love, just for me! (I just love getting mail, and i have never gotten quite so much in all my life. Neither have my parents!) Thank you Uncle Mark and Aunt Rachel. I was just thrilled to have a dainty pair of "ballerina style" slippers. When I'm not quite sure which pair of shoes to wear i always pick these ones because the subtle pink flowers match every outfit and don't overpower my cute face! They are adorable and soft, i don't know what i did before these babies arrived.

Well, those are my shoes. It is just fantastic to share this part of my life with everyone. And again, thank you to everyone who so kindly is building my shoe collection and wardrobe!). Ya know, i really love doing these fashion shows so keep your eyes open for more. Maybe next time it will be the best baby sweaters for the season! Everyone has been so busy knitting!

Adios to my fans

Title!

Yippeee!

Alright! So I have to--Just HAVE to--get on here and blog about the wonderful, stupendous and fabulous Birthday I just had! Hurray! You guys are amazing!

Please note that my intention here is not to show off but I just have to acknowledge what wonderful, and thoughtful friends I have!

So my Birthday was on the Monday, but on SUNDAY my friends Bre and Ernie offered to take me out for a surprise. So they picked me up from work, I got weird looks from old ladies when I left church with a strange woman while Janie was nowhere to be seen, and they took me out. Where was Janie? "Oh, I don't think I can make it to church today." "Oh, I'm too tired!" Little did I know!! So Bre, Ernie and I go to Subway for sandwiches and then to the Cannes Lions International Advertising awards, which is basically about 2 hours of the world's best commercials. It was a lot of fun! After leaving the theatre we were a little "over advertised" but in the days since I've had a lot of fun remembering different situations and laughed at some of the very creative bits. So anyways, we go back the car and I'm thinking "That was really fun!" Then Bre says she's thirsty so I ask if they come up and have something to drink. They say yes, saying I'll need to open my present from them anyways-- then they probably said some other stuff but i couldn't hear anything else other than "present"!

So we go up to the apartment, and I go in and the TV is on and Janie says hello, everything seems cool. And I'm feeling good, because it's been a great day. Then I walk around the corner and "SURPRISE!!" Balloons! Streamers! Friends from across the city popping out all over the place! and the Food! My goodness the Food! Lots of hugs, lot of commotion (how i LOVE a good commotion!) and Five Iron Frenzy blaring on the Stereo. So good! Then there's more great food, and more balloons, then I found a whole tub FILLED with Jones Sodas! I love that! Even sugar-free Jones for our Sugar-free friends! (We have more than you might think!) Then came presents and cards which became toys and Cd's and wonderful things like that, and just a whole lot of sitting and hanging out and catching up and generally feeling loved.

Thank you thank you for all my wonderful friends who made it out and who helped make the event so special.

And thank you thank you THANK YOU to my wonderful wife who orcastrated it all, devious little master mind that she is, who worked so hard and who jsut got so darned excited! Thank you my love. You.... you are just the best. I love you.

Okay okay, this is long enough.
Take care all. God bless and be well.
-Dave

Coming Soon to a blog near YOU!

So for the last month we have had free cable from Shaw. How nice of them to offer a complimentary service! The shaw man came to the door today to inform me that "IF YOU DON'T START PAYING WE WILL VIOLENTLY RIP THE CABLE CORD FROM THE WALL AND YOU CAN SAY ADIOS TO THE FREE CABLE!!" He yelled so loudly at me that ! I shuddered in fear and scurried away from the door with trepidation in my heart. "NO!" i yelled, "YOU CANNOT DO SUCH A HEARTLESS DEED!!" My face was red hot as i dashed toward the cheque book. "ALRIGHT, YOU GOT ME! I AM ADDICTED AND MUST HAVE CABLE! HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO GO ON LIVING WITHOUT KNOWING "WHAT NOT TO WEAR" AND CONTINUALY WANTING TO REDECORATE MY HOUSE BECAUSE OF "WHILE YOU WERE OUT!" NO CANNOT TAKE IT AWAY!" Out of breath i slumped into a chair and began writing out a cheque. Gasping for breath i announce, in a very defeated tone, "I, I will pay...just take my money and leave my family alone, please." "Thanks," replied the rather cheery shaw man, "we appreciate your business!"
Alright, so that is not at all how it went. In reality he was very pleasent and i was not fearful of losing my cable, so i politely declined their offer for more cable at a low rate. I hope you enjoyed my imaginary, short, ridiculous thriller!

COMING SOON: A FASHION SHOW STARING CORRINA AND HER LOVELY SHOES! WATCH FOR PHOTOS!

in the words of elvis "Have a Happy"!

Cookies, Movies, and other ill-propagated suffixes

Everyone needs to ask Janie for her Oatmeal Raisin Cookie recipe. They're awesome!

Speaking of words that end in "ie", have you ever thought about how funny the word "Movie" is? It's hilarious! It's just a basic observation of one aspect of the product, dumbed down without a real suffix. It sounds about as child like a description as possible. Like Dave Naus naming his childhood favourite toys "Brownie" or "Blackie" or "Greyie". Why? Take a wild guess. "Movie." I can't say the word anymore without giggling.

And who am I to say that giggling is a bad thing? I say we take things one step further. I say we start referring to all film-industry related positions in more child-like terms. Lines and scripts could be the "talkies". Special effects workers could be "blower-upers". Wardrobe could be know as "playing dress up". Because isn't that what the movies (giggle) are after all? A giant game of make-believe?

In conclusion, don't forget about that recipe.
-D


PS> I get to work on a movie set in few weeks time! I'm so excited! I feel so "grown up!"
= D

The frustrations of a ASCII Gorilla

Any of you who have read the infamous bre's lastest blog know how I tried to make a gorilla for her comments section, only to be thrawted by the limitations of font choice. Knowing the same fate would no doubt await my ASCII creation on our own blog, I have decided to post a screen capture so y'all can see that I'm not crazy and that there really is a picture of a gorilla here. (Note: This is not the EXACT same image, as I increase the resolution to fit the wider margins of this page).



















How did I do it? Did I slave away over a hot keyboard all day? Was it through shear will and determination of spirit that I carved this primate from the depths of txt? Of course not. Follow this link and try it for yourself with any picture. Enjoy!

-D

PS> For those of you who were wondering, yes, I did make it to my meeting. Thank you to both moms who phoned to remind me.

two months old!

Wow! Another month. Corrina has grown alot! I don't know her weight, but i measured her the other day and she is 24". She was 21" when she was born! She is having lots of naps these days, and her bedtime is slowly moving forward (10pm), although some of her nights have been a little rocky lately, and she has been waking up numerous times throughout. She is also starting her days earlier: 7am! She is having lots of fun discovering the world around her. She smiles alot more and makes so many cute noises. Although most of her smiles are random (and therefore hard to catch on camera), i think she is begining to smile in response to our smiles!
Enjoy the pictures!

The 10th Commandment

Please allow me to get theological for a moment:


At Church this Sunday I am responsible for the weekly Reading, the proclaimation of the Word, and this week's reading is Exodus 20:1-17, the Ten Commandments. Now, when it comes to the 10 Commandments, I do well with 1-9, but I always struggle to understand the 10th and last one, "You shall not covet..."

This this is the question that I shall post: What is the sin of Covetousness? Is it materialism? Is it jealousy? Is it an unholy dissatisfaction? Eugene H. Peterson paraphrases the term "covet" as "lust", an interesting interpretation to be sure.

So what is it? What does it mean, in our 21st Century world, to Covet?
I look forward to your comments (that means you too, Dad!).

-Dave
PS> Yes, I looked it up a bit and asked my pastor, but I'd still like to hear your point on the matter. Thank you.

Personal Favor

I need your help for just a little something.

On monday, March 20th, I have a Vestry meeting at church. I really need to attend this meeting, but since I don't work Mondays I have a terrible time remembering. So how about this: How about YOU call me at 6:00pm on Monday and tell me to go to my meeting!

Note: Prov allumni will probably get a kick out of this, since if you replaced "Vestry Meeting" with "Stuco Meeting", I was saying pretty much the same thing 3 years ago! I even wore a button saying "Remind me about my STUCO MEETING". At least it worked!

So it's up to you now. If I miss this meeting, on Monday March 20th at 6:30pm, I'm holding each of you responsible! Vesty, here I come!
-Dave

Look! A duckie!

IMG_1859
Originally uploaded by JAnie & DAve.

I am playing with flickr right now (even though i should be asleep because Corrina just went down for the night), and i am learning to connect the photos on clickr to blogger! SO much fun. So... now if you click this picture you will see a TON of other Corrina pictures, just taken this week.. she is 6 weeks! Wow. See ya

Auntie Candace

IMG_1860
Originally uploaded by JAnie & DAve.

Candace and Sarah came over on saturday to help us out because Dave brought home a cold virus. Both Corrina and I are sick right now; lots of icky stuffy noses here! Auntie Candace and Auntie Sarah got to experience Bath Time! Corrina is such a joy to have in the bath tub. Here is Candace and Corrina (such a cute face!) being adorable and cuddly! Thanks for the help girls!

Signs of the Times

It's not that I disagreed with the statement, or that I objected to the sentiment. I in fact appreciated the comfort which her statement brought me. But what exactly does the phrase "It's okay. Ebay loves you" tell us about the world which we have created?

Regardless of any implications the statement still rings true, and the feeling is mutal. I just can't believe I forgot to send something on Valentine's.

-D

Swinging, swining, swinging

It is 8:30pm, friday night. Dave is at the Church with the youth group. Behind me is the constant whoosh of a wonderful baby swing (borrowed from a friend.. Thanks!) entertaining Corrina. When dave got home from work at 5:30 i had just finished feeding Corrina, and she was ready for some cuddles with Daddy. I was microwaving some frozen casserole (life savers!) and Dave decided that we may as well plunk Corrina into the baby swing to see if we might attempt having a meal together. This swing has quite a wide motion and she was very happy to quietly emjoy the wind rushing through her hair. We looked over to check on her, and wala! she was asleep! How nice. She is in her swing again, happy but not sleeping this time.
From the baby front lines i had an excellent week. Last week was a little stressful because i was trying to start a routine with Corrina. These things take a few days, and these few days are long and arduous. After much hard work Corrina is taking regular naps, albeit short (30 mins), eating better and less often ( every three hours), is much less ccranky/fussy/gassy, and has some super fun "play times" throughout the day. I too am feeling like i understand her much better and thus are able to care for her better.
And boy is she growing and developing new skills. Anyone who has been around to hold and love her knows that she has a very strong neck and can lift and hold her head up for a few minutes. I can't wait until i can sit her cuteness on the floor and play peekaboo! Just the other day Corrina was lying under her mobile and we watched her follow one bug all the way around the mobile. Her little eyes made a full circle, and she even moved her head up and around to follow the little ladybug! It was so wonderful to see her respond to her environment!

We are having a great time as parents, and everyday just keeps getting better. When i feel discouraged and overtired i reflect upon the things we have accomplished (that took lots of time), and i know that the months to come will just be filled with delightful times, and even more sleep!

Thanks to everyone who has been helping us out with keeping our house sane, keeping us entertained, and keeping us fed. We really appreciate all the gifts and packages that have come in the mail and all the cards and phone calls we have received! We all feel loved, and Corrina feels very welcomed!
Sorry no time for pictures, Corrina is asking to be put to bed now. Love to all,
Janie

It's not that I'm materialist, but...

There are WAY too many really COOL toys on the market today!

And not just children's toys, oh no. Many toys on todays market are aimed at the +18 market! Take, as a point of reference, the warning on the bottom of a toy advertisment I saw recently:

Warning: The Product Emits An Electric Shock. Keep out of reach of children. Not suitable for those under the age of 14. This is a novelty item, not a toy. May interfere with electrical devices such as pacemakers.

You see my problem? How can I resist such an statement! The words "Electric Shock" alone make me start salivating.

Alas, (or should that read, "Thank goodness"?) I cannot afford any of the following goodies. BUT, on the off chance that YOU can and would let me come over and see them, here are a few suggestions:

Airzooka Air Gun
This simple, battery-free device emits a powerful vortex of air (and Noise!) up to 20 feet across the room, savagely disturbing careful-sorted documents, destroying expensive hairdos, and scaring that heck out of your cat. $14.99
http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/warfare/60b6/

Green Laser Pointer II
Not only is this laser pointer GREEN, and not completely-boring, runofthemill red, but the beam itself is visible, not just the point at the end. Perfect for presentation, stargazing, and looking like a wizard/jedi. $99.99
http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/lights/5a47/

Marshmallow Blaster
Who of us can honestly say that we've never been in this situation: You're trying desperately to chuck marshmellows at friends/co-workers but your aim is off or you just can't throw it far enough. Worry not, fair citizen! Marshmellow Blaster to the rescue! $29.99
http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/warfare/7b54/

And, for those of your who just can't wait to find out which product I was describing before...

R/C Laser Tag Shocking Tanks
Remote control tanks that shoot infared beams at eachother and register each hit by sending an electric shock into the hand of your oppentent. "Two shock levels (wimp and tough guy) are available. How brave do you feel?" "Handy wrist straps are built into each controller so that when you shock your boss and he freaks out and drops his controller, it won't hit the floor" $49.99
http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/rc/7485/

Please let me know as soon as you order these, so I can set up camp in front of your mail box and let you know the instant you recieve your package. In fact, just because I like you, why don't you send the items to MY address, and then I'll be able to bring them to you! You won't have to worry about a thing!

=D

-Dave