Thoughts

Pumpkin recipe coming soon!  In the mean time, I here's a few random things I've been thinking about.

• Baby Names.  We're still working on this.  We may be coming a little close to choosing a name, but we still haven't decided for sure.  However, I recently discovered a great baby name website called Baby Name Wizard.  There's a name trend graph that's fun to see how popular different names have been over time.  My favorite names are the classical ones that were popular a century ago and are starting to make a comeback. For instance, the name Callie (our first daughter's name) was most popular in the 1880's, and has gained more popularity more recently.  We love that we're related to another Callie with our same last name that lives in Sweden, too.  This is a fun website - check it out if you're in the market for baby names, or if you're curious about the popularity of your kids' names.

• We heard a great sermon on Sunday that I was really challenged by (our current series our church is going through is called One Month To Live).  Don't you love it when a sermon or book comes just at the right time, when it's something you've already been thinking about?  Lately we've been so busy and I'm feeling like I'm just hardly keeping my head above water.  I've been reflecting on where I'm choosing to spend my time, how and where I can be most effective, while trying not miss the important things in life when I am busy doing all the other things.  I easily tend to focus my time on what's "urgent rather than what's important."  Our friend Ben (aka Savannah's dad) is a very gifted and talented preacher, and this Sunday shared some of these thoughts {click here to hear his talk}.  He asked the question are you busy doing the right things?  And reminded us of the verse in 2 Corinthians "so we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."  I am challenged to do better at focusing on the eternal things.  Like quality time with my family, time praying and journaling, reaching out to neighbors, reading my Bible.  And teaching Callie to do the same.

• Have you seen the movie Eat Pray Love?  You've probably been under a rock if you haven't!  I love Julia Roberts and just about every movie she's been in has been good, which in itself makes me want to see it.  However, this popular book-turned-movie (thanks to Oprah) seems to send a somewhat dangerous message.  A message that what makes you happy is what life's all about, and living selfishly {displayed by leaving an unhappy marriage} are the answers to life's problems. This is just something to be aware of if you see the movie...I'm not saying you shouldn't, but just giving you something to think about if you do.  There is an interesting article about theology and Eat Pray Love here.  {I'm not of the opinion that we should not see movies if they don't coincide with our beliefs, because rarely do Hollywood movies ever do that, but that we can use those exact movies to make us think about and strengthen our beliefs}.  What are your thoughts on this?