WSJ & Christmas

As of Tuesday I officially finished my first semester of fashion design classes! It has been a whirlwind as I started just 3 days after we moved to Houston. With one project after another I haven't really had much time for anything else. I realized just yesterday how non-stop it had been. So, now I am taking the much needed "free-time" to make dentist appointments, get in touch with old friends, and check un-read emails that have stacked up for months.

One I came across was this article from the Wall Street Journal. I think it is appropriate anytime, but even more so as Christmas is coming. I wonder what a survey would say if they asked people how they see Christians and Christmas relating. (Our sermon on Sunday asked us what we thought the most important thing about Christmas was. Since we were in Church, of course we knew Jesus was the right answer. But, what the pastor pointed out was what is really the most important thing for us is what we fight for and protect. Is it the tradition of how/when you open gifts what you are going to fight for and protect? Or will you fight and protect how you celebrate and recognize Jesus' birth? To be honest, I realize what I fight for is what food I will eat [its tradition!] or what ornaments I will hang [they are my special ornaments and it isn't Christmas without them!].)

I thought this article and the sermon point were both really applicable to all of us at Christmas. What do you think is more important - your traditions and the "right" thing or reflecting who Jesus really is?

When people look at us, do they see Christ?

Written by Tony Woodlief
October 22, 2007 58 Comments

A few weeks ago the Barna Group conducted a survey of 16- to 29-year-olds (Christians and non-Christians) to assess their impressions of Christianity. The findings, especially as Christians once again find ourselves poised to descend into the muck of national politics, ought to be troubling.

Researchers offered respondents 20 perceptions of Christians — 10 positive and 10 negative — and asked which apply. While considerable majorities perceive that Christianity has good values and principles, and is friendly, an even greater majority think it teaches the same basic ideas as other religions — and that this is a good thing. Still greater percentages of respondents, meanwhile, perceive Christianity as judgmental and hypocritical.

Lest anyone conclude that this is simply the assessment of heathens, half of the Christians surveyed say that Christianity as practiced today in the U.S. is not only judgmental and hypocritical, but too political. It’s hard to write off the opinions of the non-Christians regardless, because the average non-Christian respondent to the survey has five Christian friends, while four out of five regularly attended church themselves (probably as children) in the past.

Most disturbing is that the perception garnering greatest agreement among respondents is that Christianity means hostility to homosexuals. More than any other image, this best defines what Christianity is to young non-Christian Americans (80 percent of young Christians, meanwhile, confirm that it is an accurate perception of Christianity).

I can sense some commenters to this post already thumbing their way to Leviticus. My goal is not to provoke an argument about what Christ does or doesn’t say regarding gays. My point is that our words and actions shape how others see Christ, and a highly-respected research organization reveals that a great many young people perceive Christians not as a body of grace-filled believers, but as a crowd of angry, hypocritical politicos. It puts me in mind of a vignette in Philip Yancey’s The Jesus I Never Knew, about a woman whose life has been destroyed by drugs and prostitution. When someone asks her if she’s thought of going to a church for help, she replies: “Church! Why would I ever go there? I was already feeling terrible about myself. They’d just make me feel worse.”

Regarding the homosexuality finding, when researchers delved deeper, respondents told them that Christians not only hate the sin, but make clear their contempt for the sinner. A majority of young Christians, further, say that their churches have elevated the sin of homosexuality so that it is somehow a greater sin than others, all while failing to offer meaningful guidance about how to interact with gays in a manner reflective of Christ.

All of this — the perceptions of how Christians behave toward homosexuals as well as the general perceptions about Christian hypocrisy and mercilessness — can be summed in what the researchers say was one of the most common unprompted perceptions, that “Christianity in today’s society no longer looks like Jesus.”

We get overwrought, especially in election years, about the state of the country, and the evils of politicians (who almost always come, it seems, from one party and not the other). What if we took four years off from national politics, and devoted them instead to the politics of our own hearts? It seems that — in the eyes of young Americans, at least — many of us Christians are decidedly unchristian in our behavior.

Perhaps the silver lining in this cloud is that non-Christians seem to sense that Christ would not approve. Maybe, despite our sins of anger and hatred, despite our forgetting that we are forgiven as we forgive, and our overlooking that we are saved by grace alone, so that no man may boast — perhaps we may at the very least not sully the name of Christ in our zeal to condemn.

I’m going to try to think less about what Jesus is going to say to other sinners on judgment day, and more about what he will say to me, and to all of us who claim to represent him.

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Sander and I are off tomorrow morning to hear this "definitive" speech by Romney. My sister Victoria works as the Bush Presidential Library and has miraculously managed to get not one, but TWO tickets to this invitation only speech. Romney has chosen to fill it with only his invited guests and the press. We'll keep you updated.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16933414

All Things Considered, December 5, 2007 ·
In a speech at Texas A&M University, Romney will try to dispel concerns
about his religion, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The speech
has been compared to John F. Kennedy's address to Protestant Evangelical pastors
in 1960, and he hopes it will give him an easier forum to explain a complicated
religion.
For example, last week during the CNN/YouTube debate, Romney was
asked an awkward question for a Mormon: Does he believe every word of the Bible?
"You know," Romney sputtered uncharacteristically, "yes, I believe it's the
word of God, the Bible is the word of God. The Bible is the word of God. I mean,
I might interpret the word differently than you interpret the word, but I read
the Bible and I believe the Bible is the word of God. I don't disagree with the
Bible. I try to live by it."
Romney did not say he believes the Bible is
inerrant, which evangelical Christians do. Nor did he say he believes the Book
of Mormon is a new revelation from God, which Christians reject. Such
theological shoals are difficult to negotiate in sound bites. And so Romney is
offering a summary of his faith on his own terms – uninterrupted – in a speech
in Texas on Thursday.
Shaun Casey, an expert on religion and politics at
Wesley Theological Seminary, says Romney will be talking to the people he needs
to in order to win the Republican nomination: the nearly 40 percent of white
evangelicals who hold an unfavorable opinion of the Mormon faith.
"He has to
show that his Mormon values are equivalent with evangelical, Christian values,"
Casey says. "The difficulty is he really can't drill down very far doctrinally
or theologically because of some of the historic differences and the historic
animosity between evangelical Christians on the one hand and Mormons on the
other."
You could hear that ambivalence at Bob Evan's restaurant in
Springfield, Va., where a group of men met to study the Bible on Wednesday
morning. While Mormons insist that their faith is Christian, Lou Preebee says,
they hold different views of the role of Jesus, salvation, the afterlife and the
Trinity.
"By definition, you have to wonder if Mormonism is an authentic
Christian faith. Most evangelicals would say definitely not," Prebee says,
adding that electing a Mormon president would send a signal. "It gives a
validation of Mormonism as a legitimate Christian denomination, which it is
not."
Computer programmer Eric Hughes is willing to consider Romney — and he
says Romney's speech could help or hurt his vote.
"Probably the biggest deal
breaker for me would be if he were to go up there and claim that fundamental
Christianity and Mormonism are identical," he said.
Why would that be a deal
breaker?
"There are so many chameleons," Hughes says, "I would love to see
somebody who can be completely open and honest with their faith."
Ralph
Weitz, a lay minister, says he, too, is troubled by the doctrines of Mormonism.
"But on the other side, the Mormon faith does bring some values to the
table, just like Kennedy's Catholicism did," Weitz says. "And he needs to
clarify how much he will be controlled by the denomination, versus a faith that
brings value."
In September 1960, then-Sen. John F. Kennedy made a speech to
Evangelical leaders in Houston, Texas. Like Romney, Kennedy faced questions
about whether he would follow the wishes of his church in public policy. He
declared he would not. And he warned about religious intolerance.
"For while
this year, it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed,
in other years it has been, and may someday be again, a Jew, or a Quaker, or a
Unitarian, or a Baptist," Kennedy told the conservative pastors.
Kennedy
added: "It was Virginia's harassment of Baptist preachers, for example, that
helped lead to Jefferson's statute of religious freedom. Today I may be the
victim, but tomorrow it may be you, until the whole fabric of our harmonious
society is ripped at a time of great national peril."
But much has changed in
nearly a half-century. In 1960, political candidates were not expected to wear
their faith on their sleeve, as many do today. Kennedy also represented a
religion followed by nearly one-third of all Americans. Mormonism claims about 3
percent.
And yet, some evangelical leaders have been receptive to Romney's
message. Albert Mohler at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville
has not endorsed Romney, but says he finds him an "attractive candidate."
"I
find him attractive in terms of his policy positions," Mohler says. "And, I
think along with many evangelicals, I would find Mitt Romney very attractive in
terms of who he is as a man, as a husband, as a father. I think you're looking
at someone who really does have the kind of experience, who carries himself like
a president, and one that evangelicals could see in that office."
Mohler says
evangelicals who say they won't vote for a Mormon may reconsider:
"If, for
instance, there is a liberal Democrat, a Hillary Clinton, for example, at the
top of the Democratic ticket, I think an awful lot of evangelicals will
discover, 'Well, you know, a week ago, I didn't think I could vote for a Mormon.
But now, I think I will.'"
Mitt Romney hopes to make that easier for them,
starting with Thursday's speech.

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So much and so little has been happening here in Houston. We are settling into a schedule of work, homework, errands, and road trips. It hasn't been too exciting, thus no updates.

Fashion classes have been really fabulous so far. I am in an incredible art for fashion class with so many inspiring students. The creativity of all the other students oozes out

BLAH BLAH BLAH..........ugh.

Signed, Whitney

[Sander takes the wheel]
Right, so Whitney's in a couple classes that are really cool, and a couple that are not-so-really-cool. There's a lot of ooze in her art for fashion classes (as you've already heard), but from what I can tell, it seems to make them all work better. It's the class where she made that concrete silhouette, and since then she's made some more cool art projects, one of which was based on our experience in Istanbul. She has also just made a hat out of a shoe that she took apart, and it worked out great. She's consistently getting "top marks." In her sewing class, she's actually made a skirt and jacket...albeit a jacket from the 80's complete with double breast and shoulder pads, but that's because the teacher's old and doesn't seem to like to change her assignments from year to year. The other classes are boring and she'll take every opportunity to get out of them that she can, so we'll just leave it at that. Also, through a random friend of a friend, she's gotten to be a dresser at a bunch of fashion shows, the latest of which was a show by some big name designer at Reliant Park (whose name was actually so big it didn't fit in my head). Good stuff there.

Me...I'm back at designing offshore oil platforms and stuff. Not much to report, although I am in the midst of a pretty good practical joke on a co-worker. Can't say much more, but it's a good one. What else...I'm sick of the election and it's still a year away...I've started back up with New Testament Greek...I just killed a fruit fly that has been buzzing around here for days...my hair's growing at an alarming rate...oh, and my watch flew off my wrist and broke after 5 long years of faithful service and 3 real-life resurrections (literally, it stopped 3 times but magically restarted and I never changed the battery).

Oh, this is cool: we've settled down at Bridgepoint Bible Church and found out that the church was originally planted by the same guy that planted Grace Bible Church in College Station. So while we were "Central People" at A&M, we're apparently "Grace People" in Houston. Now we truly are spiritually healthy. Haha...

Good books I've read lately: The Weight of Glory by CS Lewis, The Passion of Jesus Christ by Johnny Piper (it's good for devotionals), and Many Waters by Madeline L'Engle. Those of you who went to Arapaho Elementary...who am I kidding...Mark if he's reading this, will remember that as the 4th book of the Wrinkle in Time series that Miss Loeliger read to us in 4th grade. And I'm happy to say it's even better than it was during story time. Word up for my sophisticated tastes. I'm currently in another book on the Balkans - The Fracture Zone - at the behest of a Serbian friend, but it's not too stellar. It's written by a journalist and you can tell with some of the weird things he says and the way he's not that great at telling a story.

Well, that's it for me right now. I'm going out to look for a new watch. Whitney's scampered off to watch the Project Runway Season Premier with her sister, we still miss Aberdeen, and we're looking forward to Pumpkin Pie.

The End.

Retractions: We actually have 100 senators, not 50. Still, 41% ignorant, partisan opportunists is a sad number.

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Happy halloween! or should I say Happy "Veggie Tales Fall Festival!"

Sander and I went as a nerd...aka himself, and I went as a hula dancer. Oh yeah. I got such a workout doing lunges all night as I womaned the throw the ball through this hole booth. It was fun, but so busy! It made me want kids and not want kids all at the same time.

More soon!!!!

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Our senators...= (

So here is the brief story:

Rush Limbaugh spoke against the men who lie and say they have served in the military. There are quite a few "fake soldiers" who claim to have served for one reason or another and he spoke out against the way they cheapen what is such a noble job.

However, someone seems to have only heard a snippet of that broadcast. That someone happens to be 41 US Senators...yes, 41 of the 100 chosen to represent our nation.

Check out the ebay auction for more info:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Original-Harry-Reid-Rush-Limbaugh-Smear-Letter_W0QQitemZ260170172469QQihZ016QQcategoryZ4105QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

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I love the British Parliament!

If only this is what we had to look forward to as election season comes upon us!!

Watch the video and tell me this couldn't be prime time tv??

Yeahhhhhh!!!! RabbleRabbleRabble!!!

Cameron says Brown 'looks phoney'
Conservative leader David Cameron has said Gordon Brown looks like "a phoney" as they went head-to-head in their first Commons battle since July. Leaders clash The clash came with the PM facing claims he "bottled" a snap election - and stole Tory policy ideas on tax. Mr Cameron said the PM was treating people "like fools" by denying opinion polls led to him to reject a snap poll. But Mr Brown pointed to the grammar school row and said he would take "no lessons" from Mr Cameron. Since his weekend decision not to hold a general election Mr Brown has sought to regain the political initiative with statements on Iraq and on his government's tax and longer-term spending plans. But those tax plans - on inheritance tax, "non-doms" and green taxes on flights - have prompted accusations from both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats that their policies have been stolen. In the Commons, Mr Brown faced a volley of abuse from Mr Cameron, who accused him of lacking courage and "bottle". 'Flunk an election' The Tory leader mocked the prime minister for denying that he would not have called an election even if the polls showed he would have secured a 100 seat majority. "Do you expect anyone to believe that?" asked Mr Cameron, who added that Mr Brown's failure to hold a referendum on the EU treaty also "damages your credibility". "You are the first prime minister in history to flunk an election because you thought you could win it." He made fun of Mr Brown's book entitled Courage, saying: "Do you realise what a phoney you now look? Have you found a single person who believes your excuses for cancelling the election?" He pressed the prime minister to say if the draft pre-Budget report that was written before the Conservatives' conference had included plans to cut inheritance tax or on levying non domiciles. Mr Brown responded that the government had raised the exemption on inheritance tax on 10 occasions since 1997. He said the Tory leader would have to explain why the Conservatives' plans would only generate £650m rather than the £3.5bn that they claimed. Name calling Mr Brown said he would not take lectures from a man who had been for grammar schools, VAT on air fares and museum charges and then went against them. Mr Cameron said if the prime minister had questions about Tory plans he should "find a bit of courage, get a bit of bottle, get into his car, go down to Buckingham Palace and call that election". He added: "For 10 years you have plotted and schemed to have this job, and for what? No conviction, just calculation. No vision, just a vacuum. "How long are we going to have to wait before the past makes way for the future?" Mr Brown countered that Mr Cameron had said he was "a man who wanted an end to the Punch and Judy show" and "name calling". "We are the government that has created 10 years of economic stability in this country. We are the government that adopted a minimum wage against Conservative advice." Mr Brown said Labour had made the Bank of England independent and delivered record rises in investment in health and education. Lib Dems claim ideas "We will continue to govern in the interests of the whole country," he said. Earlier Liberal Democrat treasury spokesman, Vincent Cable, told BBC News 24 that Labour had actually stolen their ideas, rather than Conservative ideas. He said: "Most of these policies were set out by the Liberal Democrats. We had set out this policy on changing the basis of aviation tax, the Tories pinched it from us and now the government have pinched it from them. "I mean for the Tories to be bellyaching about it, it's like a gang of thieves complaining about their houses being burgled."

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Way to go, Poles

The Polish government has blocked an EU-wide day to celebrate the abolishment of the death penalty, saying it is hypocritical to celebrate abolishing one form of killing while still advocating abortion and euthanasia.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7001538.stm

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Houston - The Projects

Hi!

It has been way too long since we have posted on here. Moving back to Texas has been even more of a challenge than we thought. We moved into our apartment on a Wednesday, and the follow Monday I started Fashion Design classes. It has been on hectic rush ever since with commuting, errands for the apartment and the classes, working on one of my many projects, visiting friends, seeing family, and more. We still haven;t worked out a great schedule yet to manage everything and still sleep and eat regularly, but hopefully we will soon. As for me and my classes, they are a surprise! A pleasant one in some ways as they are much more challenging and thought provoking than I thought they would be. Some are a waste of time, but I think that is required for any degree/school you attend. = )

The classes I really like this semester are Textiles, Art for Fashion, and Apparel Construction - all of which have on-going and time consuming projects. I just finished my first "little" project which required that I design a dress form from paper mache. We were then required to pick a prominent artist or designer and portray their philosophy or heart behind a certain piece of art they have created. I chose an early piece of Georgia O'Keeffe's art. The pictures are below. My inspiration for the base came from the way she chose things from her natural environment to paint, so I chose a piece of concrete with rebar sticking out as that is from my natural environment. I then have tulle coming from the base, out through the heart from inside of the form. This is to symbolise the intuition and soul she saw behind objects in nature (as well allude to her home at Ghost Ranch). The color shooting out from inside the form echoes the colors and forms of one of her early water colors of the prairie. I have also included Stieglitz, the man who first displayed her works in New York and later became her husband and lover. I have him behind the tulle as I have also included the Imagest poem In a Station of the Metro on the body of the dress form. I included that poetry, music, and other artists greatly influenced O'Keeffe, especially as she joined the inner circle around Stieglitz in New York. Imagest poetry was being written at the same time O'Keeffe started her career and shares a lot of the same qualities that she projects in her painting - get rid of any unnecessary fluff, get to the point, leave an image in the audience's eye, and then let them interpret the image for themselves. It is much more challenging and time-consuming than I ever imagined, but I am enjoying it as well.

We'll keep you updated on how the rest of this month goes!

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Adios Aberdeen

Have you ever had movers come in and ask immediately for a cup of tea? I put the kettle on and fixed their 'white' teas. Now I am hiding out in the bedroom trying to stay out of their way as they are so friendly they just talk and talk if I am in the living room. I think I'm going to miss the British more than I know.

This past week has been difficult saying goodbye to some truly great friends. Well, I honestly don't like to say "goodbye," so it was more of "sees-you-laters". This probably has less to do with some nice idea that we will all meet again, but more to do with my denial that we are actually parting. I get so weird emotionally during times of change. I want to cry, I feel like crying, but something inside can't grasp that this is actually a goodbye moment. It won't be until I have actually gotten on the plane at the airport that I'll actually realize I won't see everyone again for a really long time. Sigh.

Overall I am extremely torn about this transition. One the one hand we have had an incredible time this year in Scotland, have been included into a great circle of friends, and have experienced so many new things/ways of doing things. But on the other hand we have had a really hard time adjusting to the weather, the 6 hours of twilight in the winter, and coping without our close Texas friends and family. In Aberdeen everything is close, the countryside is all around you, and you have to drive for hours to find a 6 lane highway. In Houston we certainly don't have that but we do have incredible food, diverse cultures, and affordable clothes. One side doesn't necessarily win, but being a bit closer to family does tip the balance. But even that is hard to get as excited about as we will still be 5 hours away from most of our immediate family. My sister and her husband have moved to Houston while we have been gone though, so I am excited to see how that helps.

Our leaving "dos" have been really fun, so that has helped alleviate some of the sadness. Scott MacDonald gave us a Quaich, the Scottish cup of friendship. You fill it with whisky and then pass it around, everyone taking a sip as you go.

Mmmm…Famous Grouse is the only whisky I've been able to stomach yet.

We also had a great dessert party to say goodbye to all the friends we made through the Hebrew's Study, Breathe, SNAC, and YA.

As you can see, we had fun. Too bad I forgot to bring out the camera until half the people left. Well, that just tells you how much fun we had.

Our last Sunday at IBC (International Baptist Church) was difficult too. Sander and Chris played one last time in the band and we had a nice time to say farewell at the coffee fellowship. The church "family" there has been so welcoming to us and instantly let us jump in and serve in the band, Sunday school, and the youth. It was our first experience in a small church and we loved it. When we said goodbye it was wonderful to know every family's name and have a connection with each one. We will really miss that.

Elspeth, Me, Valerie (my neighbor), Kirstie, and Val. These, minus Valerie and me, are the girls that just started SNAC this past year.

The band.

Sander and I with pastor Andrew and his wonderful wife Laura.

Adios Aberdeen – We'll miss you!!!!

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Weather Report

We are packing up and saying our good byes here in Aberdeen. It has been a hard and emotional weekend so far, but more about that serious stuff later.

We know we will be facing a lot of changes and some reverse culture shock, but the biggest shock could be the weather.

Look at this comparison:

HOUSTON, TEXAS

Sun

37°C | 26°C

Mon

37°C | 26°C

Tue

36°C | 25°C

Wed

36°C | 25°C

ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND

Sun

18°C | 10°C

Mon

18°C | 9°C

Tue

16°C | 11°C

Wed

16°C | 10°C

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Who Pays for the Delhi Sands Fly?

Here is an interesting article from NewEnviromentalism.org

The Endangered Species Act keeps on not saving endangered species.

Environmental activists are howling over proposed revisions to the Endangered Species Act (ESA). House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) is circulating a draft revision to the ESA that, according to Defenders of Wildlife Executive Vice President Jamie Rappaport Clark, "takes a wrecking ball to the whole Endangered Species Act."

But taking into account that its goal is to conserve and recover endangered species, the Act already seems pretty well wrecked. Since 1973 some 1,264 species have been put on the Endangered Species list and there are 286 candidate species waiting to be listed. The idea behind listing species is that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would devise plans aimed at recovering listed species so their wild populations would grow to the point where they could maintain themselves.

How successful have the Feds been at recovering species? Not very.

Since 1973, only 40 species have been removed from the endangered and threatened species list and only 15 of those have been de-listed because their populations had recovered. The other de-listed species either went extinct (nine species) or shouldn't have been listed in the first place (16 species). Only about one percent of listed species have been declared no longer in endangered or threatened by extinction. Despite this sorry performance, the activist group Endangered Species Coalition hails the ESA as "one of our nation's strongest environmental laws."

One aspect of the draft revisions of the ESA that raises the ire of activists is the proposal to permit compensation when a property owner shows that a government action aimed at protecting an endangered species has diminished a property's value by at least 50 percent. The Center for Biological Diversity tendentiously declares that this draft provision would "bankrupt the federal agencies by diverting conservation funds to pay landowners and corporations to obey the law."

At a recent seminar at Seattle University, Holly Fretwell, a senior fellow at the Property Environment Research Center in Bozeman, Montana, offered some case studies showing why compensation to landowners is not only fair but also in the interests of saving endangered species. Fretwell cited the case of Ben Cone, a tree farmer in North Carolina. Cone owns 7,200 acres on which he raises southern pines in an 80 to 100 year rotation—that is, once he harvests an area, he allows new trees to grow for 80 to 100 years before harvesting them. This kind of forest management is very favorable to wildlife and his woods attracted and sustained a wide variety of animals, including 29 red cockaded woodpeckers The woodpeckers were listed as endangered in 1970, three years before the ESA was enacted. Red cockaded woodpeckers prefer to make nesting holes in pine trees that are about 80 years old.

Suspecting that Cone's woods might be home to the woodpecker, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) which administers the ESA, required Cone to pay a biologist $8,000 to find woodpeckers in his forests. In 1991, once the woodpeckers had been identified, the FWS prohibited Cone from harvesting timber on 1,560 acres of his land in order to protect woodpecker habitat. The cost to Cone: $1.8 million. Note that the Fish and Wildlife Service paid nothing and the taxpayers in whose names the woodpecker was being protected paid nothing; the only person out any money was Ben Cone. Between 1983 and 1991, Cone had been harvesting 919 tons of timber annually.

Cone, trying not to lose more money and control over his land, increased his rate of harvest on the land he could still access more than 10-fold. His goal was to prevent his pine trees from maturing into trees suitable for nesting woodpeckers. Obviously, this was not good for the woodpeckers the FWS was supposedly trying to help. Later researchers found that as Cone's problems became widely known among North Carolina foresters, many also feared that the feds would some day prohibit them from harvesting their timber. They began to cut their trees on a faster 30 to 40 year rotation in order to prevent woodpeckers from inhabiting their woods. Ultimately, Cone had enough money to hire lawyers to sue the Fish and Wildlife Service for compensation. Afraid that they would lose the case, the feds eventually settled with Cone.

Others have not been so fortunate. Fretwell briefly discussed the economic harm to the impoverished city of Colton, California, caused by uncompensated efforts to protect the Delhi Sands fly. On the outskirts of Austin, Texas, Margaret Rector's 15-acre property plummeted in value from $831,000 to $30,000 once it was declared suitable habitat for the Golden-Cheeked Warbler. As Fretwell noted, "Under the Third Amendment to the Constitution, Americans cannot be forced to quarter soldiers in their houses, but under the ESA Americans can be forced to harbor listed birds, snails, wolves and bears."

The Fifth Amendment also guarantees that private property will not be taken without just compensation. In other words, cities, states, and the federal government can't just take someone's property to build worthy projects like schools and roads without paying them for it. And while it would be far cheaper if the land were just seized, we don't do that and claim that such payments would "bankrupt" government agencies.

Why should the case be any different for protecting endangered species? The draft revisions of the ESA would partially right this current wrong, but why should landowners be compensated for only 50 percent of their losses? We would all think it unjust to give people whose land is taken to build roads and schools only half the value of their property. If the public values endangered species (and most of us do), then it seems only fair that we fully compensate the people on whose land they live for taking care of them for us.

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Freezing cold!

I'm freezing. It is 55 degrees outside and the wind is 15mph from the north. I'm a little confused as 1) I thought it was August, 2) I thought it was supposed to get warmer in the summer!!!

To add to it, no one here seems to mind and continues to worry about Global Warming. Wouldn't that be a good thing to people who haven't felt the warmth of the sun in two years? I would be ok if people at least acted a little sad that it was still cold. Instead they say things like, "Well, Tuesday was really nice, wasn't it? I was almost roasting that one time I went outside." It was about 63 degrees on Tuesday and the sun stayed out about 2/3 of the day.

Well, I have turned on the heater and put some socks on. I'm sure I'll feel warmer soon...

Here is a little somthing though that shows I'm not alone in my thoughts:

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an explanation

We had a complaint so - warning! Gross-eshness ahead.

Also, I thought I should let everyone know publicly that the following picture is not a stock file. No, it is in fact of an item once owned by Sander and CSISD. Interesting, eh?

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Turkey Pictures

Hey Ray-stalkers!

Just wanted to let you all know that we've finally made all the comments to the Turkey leg of our trip and that they're up and ready for viewing. See what everyone's talking about at picasaweb.google.com/sanderandwhitney!

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We're Back!

Well, after what has seemed a lifetime away, we are back at our flat in Aberdeen! We made the big decision to fly back to Scotland after Istanbul, foregoing Bucharest and Vienna. It was a hard call, but we realized that we can really only travel so much without burning out. We had a fabulous time everywhere we went, but the high temps (100+) and lack of air conditioning on the trains and in towns was beginning to wear us down.

We have millions of pictures we'll post this weekend to http://picasaweb.google.com/sanderandwhitney with lots of captions so you can get all the details (if you care) about our recent adventure. Turkey was by far our favourite place and we can't wait to fill you in on all we saw and experienced there. We will be posting all this weekend to our blog. Check it out for all the updates about the Turkey leg of the trip as well as details for our return to Texas!

Whitney and Sander

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Dolmus! Selcuk!

Hey guys,

 

It´s Saturday and after a looong trip, we fınally made ıt to İstanbul.  You may notıce some of the letters are weırd, but please dısregard as we´re on a Turkısh computer, whıch ıs...dıfferent. 

 

Belgrade was great and on the traın trıp out we made frıends with these two Serbıan guys that were really funny.  It was an over-nıght traın to Sofıa, Bulgarıa where spent the next day.  Sofıa was an ınterestıng placeç  There´s really no hıgh street or center of town to start from, just a lıttle church near the mıddle that everone seems to agree ıs the center, so we started there and worked our way out.  We saw churches, houses of government, an ethnographıc museum that dıdn´t really exıst (ıt was on the second floor of another museum and although there was a lady at the door, there was nowhere to pay and the lady refused to let us ın), and my personal favorıte, the changıng of the guard ın front of the presıdent´s buıldıng.  İt was really cool and there should be a vıdeo of ıt up on Pıcasa after we get home.  Sofıa was nıce for ıt´s hıgh poınts, but we were done seeıng thıngs by mıd afternoon and ended up sıttıng ın a cafe to kıll tıme, and were really glad we dıdn´t plan to stay for an extra day. 

 

We were scheduled to leave Sofıa at 7:00 that nıght for a 13 hour traın rıde to İstanbul.  We dıdnit leave at 7.  We left at 11:30, but at least they were kınd enough to keep us hangıng on every 30 mınutes to post another delay ınstead of just tellıng us they´d be shamefully late and that we should go out for a long meal...thanks Bulgars, really knocked ıt out of the park on that one.  Our traın was also an experıence.  We had booked ıt ın Belgrade because none of the other European countrıes wıll even let you book the traın to İstanbul, and although we got a two-person sleeper (awesome consıderıng how late we booked ıt), we were on the Turkısh - not Bulgarıan - sıde of the traın along wıth a guy the polıce had ın handcuffs and a lot of shady lookıng characters.  Luckılly enough, I had made pretty good frıends wıth some Serbıan guys on our last traın and İ thınk our standıng and chattıng wıth them whıle waıtıng 4 1/2 hours gave us street cred.  No one messed wıth us except the traın conductor, who dıdnit gıve us the room we were booked for, but the room he was supposed to have whose wındow wouldn´t open...needless to say ıt was hot.  After a lot of `negotıatıng,´ we agreed that he would try to pry ıt open wıth a screwdrıver whıle İ pulled down as hard as İ could, and by the grace of God, ıt opened about an ınch, whıch was plenty after the thought of not havıng any aır for 13 hours.  The rest of the journey was relatıvely paınless, wıth a few stops for border checks, customs, and gettıng off the traın ın Turkey to buy a Tourıst Vısa.

 

Istanbul ıs huge!  İt was crazy to see the old walls of Constantınople (much of them stıll lyıng ın ruıns) wıth modern apartment buıldıngs around them and churches datıng back to the 500,s AD sprınkled around mosques and places of busıness.  We were only there for a few hours, gettıng ın at the traın statıon and takıng the lıght raıl to the aırport, but we´re really excıted about that leg of our trıp, whıch starts tomorrow.  We flew from İstanbul to İzmir, where we ended up takıng a Dolmuş (pronounced Dole-moosh) for the 70km journey  the town just outsıde the ruıns of Ephesus. A Dolmuş ıs basıcally a van that people here own and drıve regularly to and from towns.  They´re totally legıt, but ıt´s a rush to get ın a van wıth some random Turkısh guys drıvıng and a smarmy guy ın a button-down shırt standıng next to the slıdıng door takıng money...haha.  But ın all serıousness, the Turks are a great people.  All of them couldnit be frıendlıer, and when we had no ıdea how to fınd the rıght Dolmuş, they were all really happy to help.  They even served bottled water ın plastıc cups on the rıde...whıle they swooped ın on every person walkıng down the road screamıng out the wındow `Dolmuş! Selçuk!´  We had a blast.  Now we´re here ın Selçuk where we´re havıng the best tıme yet.  Our guest house ıs run by an Australıan guy and a Turkısh famıly and they´re great.  They´ve clued us ın on all the good places to eat, shortcuts and scenıc vıews to take, and the good markets to buy tea and fresh fruıt.  And to top ıt off, we got to go out to the ruıns at Ephesus today.  It was amazıng.  The whole town used to be lıned wıth Whıte marble, and there were colums and statues wıth Greek and Latın all over the place.  We also got to see the place where Paul preached to the Ephesıans and the place where the ıdol makers rıoted from the Book of Acts.  İt was amazıng and really spırıtually encouragıng.

 

Now we´re off for another nıght of Turkısh bbq, and tomorrow we head to İstanbul.  And you can bet your sweet bıppy we´ll be takıng the Dolmuş!

 

Later,

Sander & Whıtney

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We're Serbin it up in Belgrade

Dobar dan!

We are here at our hostel in Belgrade using a painfully slow email server...so please just ignore any typos or oddities. 

So far we have seen the leaning tower of Pisa, the highlights of Florence and Venice, and made it fine through the 4 border stops through Slovenia, Croatia, and into Serbia.  The flight to Pisa really set the mood for our time in Italy as it was almost full of Italian high school students who weren't shy to express their opinion, especially about the pilot's landing skills.  Parrucca!

Pisa was little more than a quick photo op near the tower, then we were off to Florence.  We started our Sunday off with a trip to the Baptistry.  With its mosaics and gold backgrounds, it set the foundation from which the Renaissance sprung.  And it sprung in the Uffizi.   There we saw the influential pieces that marked the 1300-1500's shift from a spiritually focused worldview, to a man/earthly centered view.  One thing that we both noticed was the change in the way the angels were portrayed - from larger than life, masculine images into baby like cherubs who could barely get their arms around a guitar.  We saw a few more sites, and retired back to our lovely hotel room (even though it did smell like Mary King's Close...).

Monday we boarded our train for Venice and who else did we find not only on our train, but in our car??  Our friends Heidi and Maggie whom we hosted last week! I only noticed Maggie by her earings, but glad we did as we were able to catch up on their eventful travels so far.  Unfortunately we decided to part ways once in Venice as we only had a few hours between trains and didn't feel up for paying the exorbitant fee of 26Euro to ride the vaperetto over to St. Mark's square.   We headed off on foot and actually had a great time exploring the back roads to the main sites.  Then we found the Rialto bridge and we feel into Dante's 6th level of hell, tourism in St. Mark's square.  We decided it was basically Europe's answer to the American theme park.  It costs a fortune to get in, there is tons of crap to buy once you get there, and you have to wait hours in line for a 10min thrill.

We had our thrill and headed back to the train station to catch our 4 hour connection to Ljubljana and then it was onto the night train to Serbia.  I have to admit, it was a bit daunting to see it at first as it really was shelves hanging down from the wall, but we only had to share with a really considerate Swedish couple, so it wasn't bad.  We were woken up 4 times by the kind border guards, but it wasn't terrible and we made it here safe, on time, rested, and only a little sweaty.  Our massive 1 1/2 hour walk/bus ride to the hostel though helped make sure were were really sweaty by the time we truly arrived.

Today we have seen St. Sava, the largest Orthodox church in the world which is currently being renovated.  Next we walked around town and saw the Nicola Tesla museum which was ok, but I was really only impressed when dead florescent light bulbs lit up from across the room and when Sander went through and really explained what they were doing (the translated commentaries were less than expressive).

Now we're off for a nap as we know the next two nights on trains will be a bit tiring for us.  So far all our travel plans have gone splendidly and we have arrived safe and sound at the right time everywhere we've gone.

Hvala,

Sander and Whitney

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Eastern European Extravaganza

Hello all!

We haven't set out yet, but we leave tomorrow (or should I say today) at 2:00pm for our Eastern European Extravaganza! For those of you that don't know, we are travelling by train from Florence, Italy to Istanbul, Turkey and then back to Vienna, Austria over the next 17 days. I don't know how often we will find internet access, or how long we will have to write, but we will send at least a few updates along the way and wanted to keep you in the loop. Feel free to forward these updates to anyone we may have left of the list. It is really late and I am not thinking as clearly as I should.

Also, sorry we have been so out of touch lately. Hopefully we can keep more up to date through these updates as the trip progresses.

We are excited but would love your prayers for safety and protection as we explore the east! It should be an adventure to say the least.

Hoşça kalın,

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Father's Day...a little early

Here is an article from the Wall Street Journal:

Boys to Men
By TONY WOODLIEF
June 15, 2007; Page W11

I think Father's Day ought not to be a celebration of every man who managed to procreate, but instead a time to honor those increasingly rare men who are actually good at fathering. But what makes a good father? This question holds more than philosophical interest for me. Though my father left when I was young, and my stepfather found me uninteresting, I now have three sons of my own (ages 7, 5 and 2). Not knowing any better, they think I have fatherhood figured out. They believe Father's Day is rightly my day.

Judging by the greeting cards, Father's Day is like a Sabbath for many men, a day Dad puts his feet up. I think the Almighty was able to rest one day a week because he had just the two kids, only one of whom was male. I could really use a restful Father's Day, but recently I found my sons huddled over a book on traps, which makes me fear that they're planning for my gift to be something live. Already this spring they've captured a snake, a bullfrog and at least one deadly spider. While other men think about golfing or napping tomorrow, I'm praying I can weather the day without getting bitten.

There's more than a little irony in the fact that I have three sons. I'm not what you'd call a master of the manly arts. I can't start a fire without a match, or track a deer, or ride a horse. I don't know how to fix cars, and my infrequent forays into home repair usually necessitate medical attention. But these are the things little boys want to learn -- I remember wanting to learn them myself. Or maybe it's that boys yearn to do things with fathers, and those things usually involve a little danger. A new wildly popular book of essential boy knowledge recognizes this in its title: "The Dangerous Book for Boys." My oldest has dog-eared nearly every page.

I'm allergic to most danger. I get a stomachache at the thought of confrontation. I'm grouchy and self-centered, and have few of the traits that William McKeever, in his curmudgeonly 1913 classic, "Training the Boy," considered essential to manhood: "courageous action in the face of trying circumstances, cordial sympathy and helpfulness in all dealings with others, and a sane disposition toward the Ruler of All Life." I'm hardly qualified to be a role-model for three boys.

Many academics would consider my lack of manliness a good thing. They regard boys as thugs-in-training, caught up in a patriarchal society that demeans women. In the 1990s the American Association of University Women (among others) positioned boys as the enemies of female progress (something Christina Hoff Sommers exposed in her book, "The War Against Boys"). But the latest trend is to depict boys as themselves victims of a testosterone-infected culture. In their book "Raising Cain," for example, the child psychologists Don Kindlon and Michael Thompson warn parents against a "culture of cruelty" among boys. Forget math, science and throwing a ball, they suggest -- what your boy most needs to learn is emotional literacy.

But I can't shake the sense that boys are supposed to become manly. Rather than neutering their aggression, confidence and desire for danger, we should channel these instincts into honor, gentlemanliness and courage. Instead of inculcating timidity in our sons, it seems wiser to train them to face down bullies, which by necessity means teaching them how to throw a good uppercut. In his book "Manliness," Harvey Mansfield writes that a person manifesting this quality "not only knows what justice requires, but he acts on his knowledge, making and executing the decision that the rest of us trembled even to define." You can't build a civilization and defend it against barbarians, fascists and playground bullies, in other words, with a nation of Phil Donahues.

Maybe the problem isn't that boys are aggressive, but that we've neglected their moral education. As Teddy Roosevelt wrote to one of his sons: "I would rather have a boy of mine stand high in his studies than high in athletics, but I would a great deal rather have him show true manliness of character than show either intellectual or physical prowess." Manliness, then, is not the ability to survive in the wilderness, or wield a rifle. But having such skills increases the odds that one's manly actions -- which Roosevelt and others believed flow from a moral quality -- will be successful.

The good father, then, needs to nurture his son's moral and spiritual core, and equip him with the skills he'll need to act on the moral impulse that we call courage. A real man, in other words, is someone who doesn't run from an Osama bin Laden. But he may also need the ability to hit a target from three miles out with a .50 caliber M88 if he wants to finish the job.

Not only do I believe that trying to take the wildness out of boys is a doomed social experiment, but I'm certain that genetic scientists will eventually discover that males carry the Cowboy Gene. That's my name for whatever is responsible for all the wrestling in my house, and the dunking during bath time, and my 5-year-old's insistence on wearing his silver six-shooters to Wal-Mart in order to protect our grocery cart. I only pray that when the Cowboy Gene is discovered, some well-meaning utopian doesn't try to transform it into a Tea Party Gene.

The trick is not to squash the essence of boys, but to channel their natural wildness into manliness. And this is what keeps me awake at night, because it's going to take a miracle for someone like me, who grew up without meaningful male influence, who would be an embarrassment to Teddy Roosevelt, to raise three men. Along with learning what makes a good father, I face an added dilemma: How do I raise my sons to be better than their father?

What I'm discovering is that as I try to guide these ornery, wild-hearted little boys toward manhood, they are helping me become a better man, too. I love my sons without measure, and I want them to have the father I did not. As I stumble and sometimes fail, as I feign an interest in camping and construction and bugs, I become something better than I was.

Father's Day, in our house, won't entail golfing or napping or watching a game. I'll probably have to contend with some trapped and irritated reptile. There's that cannon made of PVC that my oldest boy has been pestering me to help him finish. And the youngest two boys are lately enamored of climbing onto furniture and blindsiding me with flying tackles. Father's Day is going to be exhausting. But it will be good, because in the midst of these trials and joys I find my answer to the essential question on Father's Day. What makes a good father? My sons.

Mr. Woodlief's pamphlet "Raising Wild Boys Into Men: A Modern Dad's Survival Guide" is available from the New Pamphleteer. He also blogs about family and faith at www.tonywoodlief.com.

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Picture Update!

Just so everyone knows, we switched our "online photo album supplier" in April to Picasa. We just uploaded whatever pictures we had taken since April and then I got lazy. I didn't upload a lot of the previous month's pictures but today I have gotten ambitious and put a lot more up. So, if you think you've seen all the pictures - you haven't.

Check them out with the "our pictures" tab above.

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All aboard for the Orient Express?

Above: Under the arclights, after midnight, at Kapikule on the Turkish frontier... You need to get off the train for a few minutes here to buy your Turkish visa then have your passport stamped.

Since my family came in mid-May we have had a few more visitors. Marcus & Co. came a week later and stayed through the end of May. It was great to see them and catch up with what all has been going on at Breakaway and in their lives the last year or so. But I have to admit that it was a bit overwhelming having that many boys under one roof. Coming for a family of all girls it has been a big shock to me to live with just one boy, so when you add in three more, it can be eye opening. Basically girls and boys are not the same. I’m sorry, but anyone who argues otherwise obviously hasn’t lived with anyone of the opposite sex. We think differently, we talk differently, we act differently, we eat differently, and we smell differently. Oh my!

We now are hosting two guys, one who works with Sander back in Houston and his friend who has tagged along. They are here in Aberdeen to go to Matt and Faye’s wedding in Nairn (close to Inverness) on Saturday and then they are off to walk all 95 miles of the West Highland Way. We are so excited to join them at Matt and Faye’s wedding and I am even more excited not to join them on the walk! Sander would love to walk some of it I know, but I am so incredibly happy to miss out on that adventure.

The wedding should be quite an event with a traditional Scottish ceilidh and outdoor “marquee” reception. For the occasion Sander is even wearing a kilt!! Our good friend Scott McDonald is letting Sander borrow his, complete with belt, flashes, sporran, sgian dhub, ghillie brogues, and bow tie. I am so excited for him and we will be sure to take lots of semi-professional pictures. I am wearing an old bridesmaid dress that I wore exactly a year ago to Julie and Daniel’s wedding on 10 June, 2006 (happy anniversary guys!). Isn’t it ironic…

We are busy planning out our future plans as our time here is getting really short. One big possibility is for Sander and I to take the last 2 ½ weeks in July and go on a European adventure. We are considering taking our own version of the Orient Express to travel from Paris to Istanbul…by train! Since we have lived in the UK for 6 months we are eligible for the InterRail pass that will allow us travel on any train from here to Turkey for free or for a small reservation fee. The price for an the InterRail pass, since we are under 25, is about $300. A flight from Aberdeen to Istanbul is $850. Yes, we would spend more overall with food and sleeper train reservations, but this of the adventure!

Some possible routes for our own “Orient Express” include:

London-Paris-Vienna-Budapest-Bucharest-Istanbul:
London-Paris-Vienna-Belgrade-Sofia-Istanbul:
London-Paris-Athens-Thessaloniki-Istanbul:

These are just the most direct routes. We can chart our own way and make detours along the way. I would love to stop off in Italy for a few days, but we will just have to see how the traveling goes. It would be quite an adventure!! We were looking at traveling by train to Cappadocia (in central Turkey) but realized we would have to be careful which one we took. There is one train that runs from Istanbul to Tehran and says in bold letters “For International Travelers Only.” Can’t you just see it? Two Americans on a train full of Iranians? Don’t worry though – there are lots of other trains to take and we would be sure and take the local ones, not the Iranian routes!

We haven’t finalized our plans though, but if we do I will let you know. What a blog journal that trip would be! I would love writing about it as it seems a lot more exciting than anything going on here.

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