Review of "The Book that Made Your World" by Vishal Mangalwadi

I recieved a complimentary copy of this book through booksneeze.com. This book beautifully combines history, philosophy, anthropology and worldview all in one volume.  It addresses various aspects of life in the United States and the freedoms that those who live there are fortunate to have.  Dr. Mangalwadi shows his readers how principles found in the word of God impact life in the free world.  This is the sort of book that can be kept in your car or bag and can be read over a period of time.  There is so much information to be gleaned from these pages.  Dr. Mangalwadi has a very gracious way of writing, and tells the stories of various people and places with the utmost honor and respect.  I especially enjoyed the way Dr/ Mangalwadi compared and contrasted the lives of Johann Sebastian Bach and Kurt Cobain.  Their early lives are remarkably similar, yet Bach drew closer to God through his circumstances while Cobain's, sadly, made him more depressed and reclusive.  He does similar things throughout the book, showing how the truths of God's word have influenced and inspired many positive aspects of modern life.  Many efforts that now contribute to the physical, emotional and spiritual betterment of society were founded upon principles that God gave many years before now.

Review of "The Sacred Meal" by Nora Gallagher

I received this book from a website called booksneeze.com, which sends books to blog writers in exchange for a review of the book.  This book is not what I expected at all, in a good way.  I thought that the author would spend much of the text making a case for a particular format or an insistence that the bread and wine is or is not actually the body and blood of Jesus.  In many ways, it is more of a memoir.  Ms. Gallagher has served and received communion in churches all over the world, and her experiences are riveting.  She shares her stories in such a way that I felt like I was there.  Ms, Gallagher's message is grace centered and unifying.  What most of her stories have in common is the ability of the Lord's Supper to unify even those who have long been opposed to one another.  While the bread and cup might or might not be one thing or another, there is no question that God meets with those who come together in His name, and the effects are evident.  There are study questions included in the back of the book to allow deeper individual or small group study. 

A Moveable Feast

I am currently reading A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway. When I first looked at the cover, I thought that I would need to force myself through a chapter a day. Wrong..........I flew past page 50 without realizing it, and cannot wait to read more! Somebody mentioned that he read this book in Paris, and it made him cry in front of a group of native Parisians. Can't wait to see what elicited that response, but I might not have to wait long. If my daughter takes a nap, chances are that I'll find myself at "The End" before the end of the day.

Spring swing...........and slide!!

Like Daddy like Daughter =)

Merry Little Christmas snapshots

We love to learn in our family, especially by reading! Here is a website that has a lot of great book lists!!!!

www.listsofbests.com

Advent, Advent, a little light burns.

First 1, then 2, then 3, then 4,

then stands the Christ Child

at the door. ~

Happy thanksgiving from Eric, Laura & 'Loh =)

Shiloh Maia Arnason

We are so thankful to share our precious new arrival, Shiloh Maia. She was born at 6:12 AM on Tuesday, July 28. She was 20 inches long and weighed 7 lbs. 1 oz.

Little Blondback

Here is a photo of our sweet little Blondback, due in early August. =)

How do you cure olympic fever??

One of the highlights of our summer has been watching the olympics. I can't even count how many times we turned the tv on "just to see how it's going" and ended up watching for 2 (or more) hours! We love the competition, athleticism and national pride. Mostly, though, we loved that (for once) we regularly had something positive and encouraging to watch on tv. We wish it could be olympic season all year long (though, the athletes would probably hate us....or die!!).

Money saving links!!

Like most of you, saving money is very important to us. We love to use coupons and look for good sales (and Laura, the complete geek, thinks it's fun) =). Following are a few links I found on another blog..........
http://freebies4mom.blogspot.com/
http://www.afullcup.com
http://www.becentsable.blogspot.com/
http://www.centsiblesavings.com/
http://www.moneysavingmom.com/
http://www.afullcup.com/upload/cmps_index.php?page=printable_coupons

The point of the imperative

A Christian doesn't do something in order to gain God's favor. The Christian life is not about how you can prove yourself toward God, but about a worship-response to what God has done for you. There is nothing you could do to earn God's favor. There is nothing to be gained, as if I could secure God's pleasure by my "checklist obedience".

What about guilt? "If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed." "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome..." What is the point of obedience? If obedience is about the act itself, obedience becomes a checklist. Has God designed obediece as a checklist? Where are the commands pointing? My experience has been that the imperative drowns out or minimizes how glorious God truly is. Somehow, through obedience to the imperative, I miss knowing God. If the focal point of obedience is on appeasement or the quality of the obedience act itself, then obedience becomes more about me than about God. If, in giving thanks to God, I concentrate on something in myself, I lose all genuine affection for the Giver of all good, and fail to taste how glorious He truly is. When obedience becomes adherance to the imperative, one will never know the length and height and width and depth of God's love. He will miss it from preoccupation with performance.

Why Blondeback? Why not? =)

Some have wondered why our blog is called "The Blondeback Blog". It's simple, really.....whenever Eric washes his hair and lets it dry naturally, the effect can be monkey-like in nature (see photo for details).

There is a species in the primate kingdom called the Silverback. Eric is blond, sometimes looks like a monkey and we're both goofy--hence, The Blondeback Blog.

Ashleigh is here!!

Our brother and sister-in-law, Dan and Amber, had a little baby girl on Friday, June 27. Her name is Ashleigh Paige and, as you can see, she is adorable!! =)

Happy honeymoon!!

Here we are in Riviera Maya, Mexico! We stayed for 5 days. I'll spare you the "not so happy honeymoon" photos of lobster legs and us trying to outrun a very determined timeshare salesman! =)

More wedding! =)

The face says it all! =)

The sweet reward of a job well done! =)

Our wedding

We don't have our professional photos yet. Thankfully, we have very gracious (and talented) photographer friends!! =)

Welcome!!

Welcome to our blog!! We pray that God will use this to be a blessing to all of you. Thanks for stopping by!! =)