Coming Soon

FOB will have a new look soon. I know you are excited. Please contain yourself. Stay tuned.

A Very Sufjan Christmas

My wife really enjoys Christmas music. Me...not so much. However, Sufjan Stevens recently released a 4-disc box set of Christmas music. It is interesting enough to keep my attention. There are some familiar tunes as well as a few originals. It is definitely worth the listen. It takes a special person to add a banjo to "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" and Sufjan is certainly special.

If you are cheap like me you can go to the web site and stream the songs here for free. In fact I am listening to "Angels We Have Heard on High" as I type.

Holly Phirrups

My sister has her own blog now. She is married to Robert Alvin. She is now a Phillips. So is Robert Alvin. His name hasn't changed. You can learn more about the Phillips Phamily Pharm phere.

2 necks

The turkey we had for Thanksgiving had 2 necks stuffed inside. Is that normal? Do most turkeys have two necks? I know they have two of some other parts but necks?

Get your own nest!

I read about the cuckoo today. This bird does not build its own nest. It lays its egg in the nest of another bird. That bird is then held responsible for caring for the egg and raising the young bird. The young cuckoo is usually larger than the other baby birds. The cuckoo throws the other babies out of the nest so that she gets all of the food.

I am sure this would make a great illustration for something. What say ye?

A brilliant waste of time

My friend sent me a link to the most brilliant waste of time. It is so much better than PlayStation 3. If you want to try your hand at LineRider click here! Please let me know if you perfect the loopty-loop. If you do - you are the LineRider genious!

(ht - jason s.)

Is that a squid eye?

Future Fax

Finally! NBC's The Office put out a laughable episode in season 3. Jim's prank on Dwight last Thursday was classic. The entire Exclusive Producer's Cut may be seen here in 4 chapters. Jim's prank is in the beginning lines of chapter 1. It is worth the watch.

North Dakota

Last week an acquaintance (one who is a life-long North Dakotan) sent me the following list of ways to know if you live in the great Peace Garden state. The statements are to the tune of Jeff Foxworthy's comedy routine. After living here a little over a year we understand most of these statements.

If "vacation" to you means going shopping for the weekend in Grand Forks, Fargo, Minot or Bismarck, you might live in North Dakota.

If parking your car for the night involves an extension cord, you might live in North Dakota.

If you're proud that your state makes the national news primarily because it houses the coldest spot in the nation, you might live in North Dakota.

If your local Dairy Queen is closed from November through March, you might live in North Dakota.

If you have worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you mightlive in North Dakota.

If you think that ketchup is a little too spicy, you might live in North Dakota.

If you measure distance in hours, you might live in North Dakota.

If you often switch from "heat" to "A/C"in the same day and back again, you might live in North Dakota.

If you can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard, without flinching, you might live in North Dakota.

If you see people wearing hunting clothes at social events, youmight live in North Dakota.

If you've installed security lights on your house and garage and than leave both unlocked, you might live in North Dakota.

If the largest traffic jam in your town centers around a highschool basketball game, you might live in North Dakota.

If there are 7 empty cars running in the parking lot at Wal-Mart at any given time, you might live in North Dakota.

If there are more people at work on Christmas Eve Day than on the opening day of deer gun hunting season, you might live in North Dakota.

If you design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit, you might live in North Dakota.

If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow, you might live in North Dakota.

If you consider Fargo exotic, you might live in North Dakota.

If your idea of creative landscaping is a statue of a deer next to your cottonwood, you might live in North Dakota.

If the sunbelt to you means Bismarck, you might live in North Dakota.

If you find 0 degrees a little chilly, you might live in NorthDakota.

Bedhead

We have a running gallery of bedhead pictures on our family web site. I have mentioned before that we would take additions from people outside of our family. Some have taken us up on the offer. Dave, a friend from the other side of the lake, sent this photo. He was not brave enough to show his face but his hair is pretty amazing.

If you would like to enter your photo into the great hall of bedhead fame send me a photo. If you send it to me it may appear on this blog or on our web site. Thanks Dave.

Difficult Lessons

The blogosphere is littered with posts about the Haggard scandal. I have nothing more to say than what has already been said. Challies Dot Com posts a great piece reminding us of our own sin. He closes the article by saying,

If we look to Ted Haggard as a representative of all that is wrong in Evangelicalism, I think we miss the most important lesson. The lesson we need to learn is that we are every bit as sinful and fallible and willful and depraved as Haggard; perhaps more so. It is only the grace of God that, like a spider being held over the flame by a nearly-invisible web, prevents me from giving in to all the sin that is in me and being dragged down by it. Oh, that He would continue to extend this grace! And oh, that I would take heed lest I, too, fall, for what is in Haggard is in me.

Mark Driscoll gives several practical tips to pastors at The Resurgence. Both Driscoll and Challies are great examples of men who use difficult situations as lessons for themselves and not as harmful allegations.