Preliminary Pictures

Here are some preliminary results from the Ford-Hays-Warmath as Hays-Warmath-Ford Halloween Reformation Day party.

First as Martin and Katharina:






Then as each other:

In Honor of the Last Ancient Church History Class

I would like to share my favorite Dr. Hannah quote of the semester and some of what T and I gleaned from the course. Auditing the class was worth our drive-home discussions alone! When I told Dad I would be going to class with Thomas he described it as a way to have "good inputs" for our conversations together. Lisa McG described it as "glue" for our young marriage. They were both right.

So here's the quote that stuck with me the most:

"My wife and I used to have arguments until we found out that was socially unacceptable. So now we have discussions." :)

In a more serious vein, some other things that struck me:

Christians are "Trophies of Grace, not Perfect People."

One evening Hannah went off on a tangent about Scripture reading/quiet times. Thomas and I were both encouraged and convicted. Dr. Hannah compared our mind to a sieve and the Bible to water saying, "If you constantly pour water through a sieve, it won't collect dirt." And later, "We read the Bible not to learn, but to be in the presence of God...Don't worry about learning it; it will conquer you."

He encouraged the seminarians to always be reading three things:

1. The Bible

2. A Confession (I think his favorite is the Heidelberg)

3."The great hymnology of the church" aka learn the hymns, boys. We always sang a hymn at the beginning of each class. All the verses, of course.

And in honor of the Luther party this weekend...

"We love Luther because he is foolish...with commitment. You don't cross him."

My favorite thing about Dr. Hannah's class was how he viewed and explained the Church, especially all the different denominations of Protestantism. He was pretty mild as he explained that there are a lot of unclears in Scripture. He used baptism as an example and showed how you can take texts and argue for any side (which he did). So you try to group some together and make decisions on these types of things with as much consistency throughout Scripture as possible, but there will always be texts that work for the other side. So at the end of the day, most of us just "dance with the old gal who brought us" and settle on a tradition. It was wonderful to know that all these seminarians were hearing a mild view from a godly man.

He also shared some beautiful pastoral asides. He told the class more than once that at least 60% of what they learn in seminary they will never use in preaching or counseling. In fact, they will never share it with their congregations at all. Instead, it is a foundation and a stronghold to which they can retreat when they are poured out to emptiness. It is to convince them of the truth so they will be unshakeable. It is to comfort them so they can keep ministering when they have nothing to give. He sounded like such a kind, seasoned shepherd of the men in his class as he shared that.

And finally, he also taught them that no matter what theology you hold, there will be times when you are called to comfort someone instead of correct their theology. His example had to do with parenting. He has several daughters and they always had plenty of pets (sound like any family we know?) In an attempt to teach his children about reality and a fallen world, whenever the animals died they were buried in the back yard. Well, one day they got home and the rabbit was dead. "He was already stiff as a board." So, he went out to the back yard, dug a hole, and "tossed that sucker straight up into the air. It landed smack in the middle of the hole and I was about to start packing on the dirt" when his very young daughter came running into the yard with tears streaming down her face. "Daddy, can we pray that his soul will be with Jesus?" Thankfully, Dr. Hannah decided this was not the time to discuss theology and so they knelt in the yard and prayed for the rabbit's soul to be with Jesus. I think all men who have extra-strong convictions and beliefs should have daughters so they can never take themselves too seriously.

Speaking of kids, Annalise and Noah are coming over tonight to trick-or-treat since we'll be out of town this weekend. I believe Annalise will be wearing her flower girl dress with fairy wings :) Maybe we should get out our matching cheerleader costumes, Michelle!

Takin' care of business

To our many faithful readers - please excuse us, as we use this post to take care of some unfinished business.

First, Halloween costumes.
OK, here is the official costume ruling:

• Hayseses dress as Warmaths
• Warmaths dress as Fords
• Fords dress as Hays

So bring your best overstated outfits and props for the Sibling Party this Saturday night at the Home of the Eldests. Remember to wear your thick skin and don't be too scary - we're handing out candy to kids, after all. The rest of you - stay tuned for the funniest picture of the 6 of us that you've seen in awhile. (This will definitely be one for your desk at work, Daddy.)

Secondly, Christmas gifts.
The wives have decided that gifts for the 6 siblings and 2 parents should fall in 1 of 2 categories. I will provide examples of each-

• homemade gifts - Michelle could give baked goods; Chandra - sewn goods; Amy - cuddling handbook; Rob - mixed CD; Thomas - Hebrew flashcards; Walt - a YouTube movie called "Hunting for Dummies"
  
• gifts under $10 - not to give too many hints, but the Hayseses have found books, CDs, and small clothing accent pieces online for under $10. (You have to use your best sneaky online sales knowledge, or married someone that has this!)

Thirdly, Holiday calendar.
Please see the super duper secret forum.

That's all I've got. Please let me know if I'm forgetting something. Glad we're all organized now. :)

Truths we share

My husband and I share a lot of things. But the things we most love to share are not coffee, books, meals, or even our bed - it's truths.

Rob and I first read about shared truths early on in our dating relationship when reading "The Four Loves" by C.S. Lewis. Lewis points out that friendships spark when two people see a common truth - a shared love of grammar, the truth about God, a common problem or dislike. This blog, in fact, is built around a shared truth that has captivated our hearts and bound us together - the discovery and delight of early marriage.

"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You too? I thought I was the only one." - C.S. Lewis (Four Loves)

Sometimes I tell people that Rob and I are almost the same person. That's really not true at all; we're actually very different in lots of important ways (he's an extravert, I'm a recently-discovered introvert, we "recharge" and relax in different ways, etc.) What I really mean is that we share so many truths about life. We see beauty in the same obscure things and find joy in the same places. This makes for a truly meaningful friendship because it gives us many strong ties in lots of areas of our lives - which makes for an even more delightful marriage.

Three truths Rob sees and enjoys sharing with others are his love of Houston, his appreciation of good writing, and his delight in me (yay!). :) He shares all three of these with the readers of The Curator magazine in his article you can read here.

FYI - he would want you to know that the title is not his. :)

In honor of Ann

When Amy and I have children someday, they will know English grammar. If they don't admire the order it brings to our written language, they will at least know how to avoid syntactical anarchy. I'm enthusiastic about the usefulness of grammar as a result of writing philosophical papers and studying dead languages, from punctuation to noun-pronoun agreement. I'm also cognizant of the proper use of English grammar. Amy also knows the wonder of grammar. From what I've been able to tell, I should thank Ann for this. I've heard that Ann always pointed out missing commas and apostrophes on everything from signs and advertisements to cakes. Therefore, in honor of Ann I quote and link an article about the Apostrophe Protection Society.

"This is why Truss started the Apostrophe Preservation Society. In her rather militant way, she pickets businesses that have apostrophe errors in their signage. Off she goes with a great big apostrophe on a stick and marches around in front until the business owner is shamed into correcting his punctuation."

-Thomas

(Hopefully I don't have any grammatical errors in this post. If so, take them as irony.)

Now that the weddings are over

Here is a slide show pertaining to an article entitled "Cakes Gone Wrong." It's about a blog and book on cake wrecks. Good thing we didn't make it.

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/10/13/dining/20091014-CAKE_index.html

-Thomas