It may be cold, but it's a stunningly beautiful cold...

How many people can say that about their cold???

A couple of weeks ago we headed up for a quick visit to the Canadian Rockies before the weather made it too difficult to do so. The Rockies covered with their pristine blanket of snow is simply stunning.



That's ice on that pond...


I just love a mass of trees in black & white...






...and I just loved this bench sitting all by itself in the deep snow.

Book Club - Calgary Extension

So I started a new book club, sending out invites to all my neighbors and several gals in the church. There were five of us for the first get-together, with two sending book picks to add to the list for the year. Our first "discuss the book" meeting will be at the end of this month. I am so excited!!!!!

So here is our list for the year. For so few people, we had a ton of suggestions. It was hard to narrow down, but narrow down we did to what I think is a great list.

2009-2010 Book Picks

November: Atonement by Ian McEwan
December: Get-together party - maybe a movie or a book swap of both - we'll decide at the November meeting
January: Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
February: Only the River Runs Free by Bodie Thoene
March: The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton
April: The Ladies #1 Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
May: The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs
off June and July but be getting ready for August's book
August: Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
September: The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman
October: Life of Pi by Yann Martel
November: The Prodigal God by Tim Keller
December: The End of the Alphabet by CS Richardson

So what are y'all reading these days?

In need of prayer...

One of Kevin's new best friends is in the hospital. He is the boy seated next to Kevin in the picture. He has sickle cell anemia and was hospitalized a couple of weeks ago for pain associated with his condition. This time he is in with a high fever - possibly H1N1 related and his sickle cell anemia just complicates things.

I am generally not into the high-panic breeded by the media frenzy, but knowing that Chris already has a depressed immune system, it is cause for great concern. So we ask for prayer.

From our church prayer list:
Please pray for Chris. He is in isolation with a high fever at Children's Hospital. It is most likely H1N1 and his immunity is compromised because of his sickle cell anemia. Pray for protection for him and healing, and peace for Isabelle and Joseph and the family.

UPDATE: Chris is doing much better. He had a non-H1N1 strain of the flu and has come through. He was to be released from the hospital on Monday. Thank you for your prayers.

It does matter

I was once told that it seems like the only issue important to Christians politically is abortion. I didn't really know what to say because I could see where someone who didn't find it that important could see it as a hobby-horse issue for the "unthinking". But as I thought about it more, I came to the conclusion that if it was the only issue, it was enough - it still mattered. How can life be just a political issue? It's not. And that's why we fight and pray and seek wisdom on helping women in desperate circumstances - how to love them and direct them towards life and not death. And to work to put those lawmakers who would fight for life into office and remove those who would not. The fight against abortion does matter.

So I was very excited and encouraged and awed when a friend sent me this link today from our home town.

On Humility

From G.K. Chesterton:

...what we suffer from to-day is humility in the wrong place.... A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed. Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly the part he ought not to assert-himself. The part he doubts is exactly the part he ought not to doubt-the Divine Reason.

Orthodoxy pg. 27

Fall Break in the Fergie house

We are kickin' it back this week after pushing hard for 10. All of our little brains need a break, especially mom's which is hanging on by a thread.

So what are the plans? Well, we were going to head up to Edmonton for a day - there is an old fort and the world's biggest mall. I'm not sure if we still will make the trip since it is supposed to snow and rain for most of the week. Not the best travel weather I would think - I mean, I don't know I am new here - it's just a guess. So we shall see.

But other plans include lazin' around, lazin' around and lazin' around, re-watching all three Lord of the Rings movies, and reading of course, with a never-ending glass of Coke Zero at my side...of course.

So, I better get busy. Time's a tickin' away...

...with all your Mind...

Two books I want to recommend - neither are light reading - but both are profitable "for such a time as this". They both call into question the default modes of thinking of Americans and Christians, of which I am both.

This is an important book, especially for our current political climate. The charge of "fascist" is often blindly given to political conservatives - in some cases this is true, but it is not because they are operating from conservative or right-wing ideologies, but from leftist ideologies. Fascism is simply the religion of the state, or to put it more bluntly, "state-worship". It calls for the state to solve all the problems of the nation and to "take care" of it's constituency because they don't know how to take care of themselves. In a fascist world, the answer to every question is "the state". Who will fix it? The state. Who will provide it? The state. Who will make sure all are beneficially blessed? The state. Sound familiar? Fascism is and was born as a left-wing phenomenon and Jonah Goldberg does an excellent job moving us through world political history showing the roots of fascism and how it is alive and well today across the world, and yes, even in America (take note of how much one hears the word "Progressive"), and yes, among both Republicans and Democrats. It was an eye-opening read - a heady read - a worthwhile read, and well documented to boot.

Total Truth is written specifically to Christians, but anybody would benefit by giving it a fair reading. It shows how we as a culture have bought into Secular Humanism and how even for Christians, it is our typical default mode of operation - but in a Christianized version, of course. Pearcy challenges the reader with a bit of philosophical history to show how we came to the dualism (nature/materialism/matter as "down here and provable vs. religion, aesthetics, philosophy as "up there" and unprovable, nice, but not really real) that so permeates our understanding of the world these days even without us realizing it. I am halfway through the book and already seeing how I have bought into something I would flat out deny in my rational mind. I am learning a lot and growing more in understanding how, like it or not, I am a product of my culture - and I need Biblical wisdom and insight to filter out those things that unknowingly draw me away from the Total Truth of Scripture.

BIG Snow

For us Texans, we had what I like to call, BIG SNOW this week - probably around 4 inches - certainly enough to cover everything with a pristine whiteness and enough to where you couldn't tell where the driveway or yard ended and the street began. It's actually pretty early for this much snow, so I think it is safe to say that we were the only happy family in all of Calgary. The natives were just lamenting the fact that winter is in fact here. Here are more than few pics involving snowmen, sledding, and yes, the dog. She actually liked the snow. Surprising, seeing as she is a fellow southerner hailing from Arkansas.









Looking into our Cul-de-sac

Jason found the snow quite "comfy"





Say hello to Jason's snowmwmen, Frosty and Snowy in the front, and Kevin's snowguy in the back.

Colton's snow-bug. Cute, eh?

A Reminder

I was out Thursday afternoon and overheard this conversation between a man and a receptionist:

Recptionist: Thanks a lot. Have a great weekend.

Man: I think I will. I am going to a workshop on Shamanism.

Recep.: Oh really?

Man: Yeah, it should be really good. I have been to one before where we were to figure out what our "Power Animal" was.

Recep.: Your Power Animal? So what was yours?

Man: Well, I thought it was going to be a racoon, but it turned out to be a tiger. I was really surprised.

Recep.: Really?

Man: Yeah, I named him Jordie (laughing).

Recep.: Ok, well I hope you have a good time. Tell Jordie hello. (laughing)

Man: I will. (laughs and leaves)

After hearing that, I thought, "And that is why we are here."