5 Months and Counting!

It's hard to believe that Madeline is just 5 months old. Some days it feels like it should be longer than that, other days it feels like it was just yesterday! My how she has grown since she was born, click back to see some of those first pictures!

From a Delta Pilot

Check out this link, http://mrpreacherman.tumblr.com/, it is a wonderful story. I heard it read on the Neal Boortz radio show a few weeks ago and I finally found it today. Take the time to read it, it will at least wet your eyes.

Madeline's first time eating "real" food!

We decided last week that it was time to start Madeline on solid food since she was not filling up after 4oz of breastmilk/formula. We felt that it was best to start it at night, to help her sleep through the night...it worked pretty good last night. Madeline started to figure out the spoon thing pretty quickly, even though she just wanted to eat the Bumbi she was sitting in! Here's some pictures from last night:

Near the end, she was getting a little fussy...and she wanted to eat the food from the bowl...as you can see!

We had a situtation...

So, on Saturday, I told Erin to sit up front with me in church on Sunday. She's been sitting in the back because Madeline likes to talk back to me and can be a little loud. So, the girls sat up front with me and when the other pastor started his sermon I told Erin that I'd hold Madeline. First off, I left my mic on, so for quite some time she's oooing and aahhing, I didn't realize this. Then, while the other pastor pauses for a brief moment in his sermon, Madeline is completely relaxed at this point and she farted. It was loud. And my mic was on. Erin passed me a note, almost right away and said, "Was that you?" With laughter, I replied, "Nope, it was Madeline!" It was so funny, the people around us were laughing so hard and the other pastor said that he had to focus is attention to the other side of the church so that he could keep from laughing! It was a good time.

Brett's Dad was in the hospital

Here's the email that Karla sent concerning what's been going on with Al:
Good Morning to you all!
Some of you have heard that Al took a trip to the hospital Saturday late afternoon. While working outside all day on putting in our new patio in the heat and humidity Al started not feeling well. After complaining of shortness of breath and feeling tired came inside and rested for a few minutes. When he did'nt appear to be feeling any better, I took his blood pressure and it was 78/43. So I took him in and found out that he had also been feeling nauseous and chest/left arm pain. After running numerous tests, they figured that a combination of new blood pressure medication, dehydration and working out in the heat all day brought this on.He is feeling 100% better now (actually was starting to feel better after a couple of hours in the ER and was frustrated that he had to spend the night in the hospital). He has to monitor his blood pressure but other than that he can go about his normal activities.
Praise God that it was not any worse than what it was and that he allowed me to take him to the hospital!
Many thanks to those who have been keeping us in your prayers!
God's Peace to You All
Karla

Madeline is goofing off!

How Madeline got like this, we do not know! But she was having fun with those cloth rings!

What's in a name?

So, we get a lot of questions on how we came to Madeline's name and what we call her. Well, when Madeline was born, we had two names in mind: Madeline Olivia and Emily Leeann. When we were talking to her and looking at her, we said both names to her. She didn't respond to Emily. But she did respond to Madeline, so we went with that name. A pretty simple approach, we thought.

As for how we came to Madeline Olivia- We have no known family members with either of those names. We both decided that we will not name any children that we have after anyone in our families or anything like that. On Erin's side of the family, there are way to many juniors and so we did not want that! We both really liked the name Olivia, but we know a family where their last daughter's name is Olivia. We didn't want her to have the same name as their daughter. When we came up with Madeline, we liked the way that it sounded with Olivia.

With all of that, what do we call her? Madeline. We decided that if she wants to be called Maddie at a later time in life, that's her choice to make. So, we are calling her Madeline, otherwise why give her a name and not use it?

Madeline likes to work...already!

This is Madeline taking care of some business. Her only request is that you not take away her bunny-blanket...or she'll take care of you!

Finally, Some California Pics!

I guess our pictures from crossing the bay bridge were not that good, so we deleted them. But, what we have here is a few pictures from the pool at our hotel in Bakersfield and from the Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, you can see Madeline bundled up in a sweater because it was a little chilly.

Pictures of Madeline

So, about a month ago, we had a photoshoot at our house. A member of our church just started a new photography business, we decided to try her out. The pictures are great! The link to her website will be at the bottom of this blog, if you want to order any of the pictures, let us know! When looking for Madeline, go into "Family/Children" and then you should see a pic of Madeline!

http://www.photographsbyjill.com/photocart/

California

We'll post some pictures on here in the near future, but as for now we just wanted to say that we are back from California! We had a good trip and Madeline did surprisingly well on the plane flights! We'll post some pictures on here soon of our trip to Bakersfield and the Bay Area.

Training

So, Madeline is trying hard to train her mommy and daddy. Sometimes she wins and on occasion we do.

Lately, she has been really cooing. And each time she wakes up, she is all smiles. It's great to see her happy!

One of the things that we are really working on with her is her ability to crawl...I know, she's only 11 weeks old, but she's an active girl! She's always kicking her feet, so we are helping her with her belly exercises!

Being a parent is a wonderful thing. Sure, there is some of the hard things that go along with it, but the overall benefits of being a father outweigh anything else!

Cousins!

Madeline had a cousin born last Wednesday: Riley Lynne Eidman. Here's some pictures of the two cousins:

Maddie is calm as can be.

Maddie is a good mix between Erin and I. But, I think that Riley is all Jessica (Erin's borther's wife.)

Pictures of Madeline Olivia Snider

Madeline is now about a week old and she is keeping her mommy and daddy awake at night! From time to time, I'll post some pictures of Maddie on here as I make my attempt to get back to blogging!

Baby Update Picture

As promised, here's the latest picture of Erin and I. The question is though, Who will give birth first? ;o)

Global Warming?

According to the latest Washington Times article, the world had a cold year in 2007. In fact, a record cold year.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/COMMENTARY/10575140

Read the article for yourself. The evidence of "global warming" looks like a crock.

Theodore Roosevelt's Ideas on Immigrants

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an e xac t equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people." Theodore Roosevelt, 1907

I think that our country needs to reexamine what many of our forefathers have spoken concerning our beloved country. This is a good start for us here!

Executive Pastor Job Description

According to the lcms.org website, where my church found my job description, this is what it means to be an "Executive Pastor"

POSITION: EXECUTIVE PASTOR

PURPOSE: To serve the church by coordinating and implementing the program of the church. Working under the direction of the senior pastor to facilitate the vision, develop new programs in keeping with established goals, maximize the effectiveness of present program, give leadership to program staff members and supervise staff members, and volunteers involved in this ministry.

PRIMARY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Meet on a regularly with the senior pastor to clarify vision, goals and strategy.

2. Evaluate the evolving needs of the congregation, and work to strengthen the present program in keeping with those needs.

3. Supervise the work of program staff members, meeting regularly with, and providing leadership to them in areas of individual goal-setting and accountability. Receive quarterly goal statements and evaluations from staff members for the purpose of review and discussion.

4. Facilitate the development of program through staff members, committees and boards of the church.

5. Build solid staff relations by:
- developing written personnel policies and procedures;
- developing job descriptions;
- participating in hiring of departmental or program staff members;
- evaluating staffing structure and proposing adjustments as the need arises;
- conducting annual performance evaluations, and reviewing the calls and compensation of professional staff members;
- working to resolve conflict.

6. Work under the direction of the senior pastor, taking primary responsibility for the preparation and policy management of the church budget, in consultation with appropriate staff members and/or committees.

7. Supervise development and maintenance of the master program/facilities calendar of the church.

8. Supervise the communication of the program of the church to the congregation by:
- overseeing preparation of weekly bulletins;
- overseeing production of newsletters;
- writing press releases.

9. Administer the work of program staff members by encouraging teamwork and mutual support and providing leadership and nurture to all staff members.

10. Establish departmental goals and objectives by prioritizing related programs, managing the use of facilities, planning an appropriate budget, delegating tasks and evaluating progress regularly.

11. Work closely with the senior pastor in leading staff meetings and retreats.

12. Work with appropriate committees, officers and leaders to carry out the mission and ministry of the church.

13. Participate in the selection of church officers and provide officer training.

14. Attend board(s) meetings as a resource and for informational purposes and moderating in the absence of the senior pastor.

15. Assist in worship and preach at the request of the senior pastor. Teach in the education program of the church, as requested.

16. Conduct weddings and funerals, providing appropriate preparation and support.

17. Represent the church to the press and media.

18. Represent the church by serving at denominational levels, and in community and civic organizations, and coordinate staff involvement in the same.

19. Cooperate with the Senior Pastor by performing any other duties when asked to do so.

Achmed: The Dead Terrorist

First things, first, today: I love listening to Neal Boortz on talk radio...he's a libertarian, which I don't fully agree with- moral conviction has me on some of his (their) issues- but he's great! Very funny and has a lot of good points! Today, he was speaking about Jeff Dunham (I've seen him live, just great! And I was made fun of by his pimp puppet...Ross S. or John T. might remember that!) and his new puppet. It was so funny, check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y-waHLz-TU

Global Warming: A SCAM!

For those of you who didn't know, I think that man-made global warming is nothing but a scam. There is has not been anything that has been put out to otherwise change my mind and, in fact, more scientists are showing that this "concensus" is nothing but false!
I found this website today in my media research time, http://icecap.us/index.php/go/joes-blog/comments_about_global_warming/
This is what was said:

The Blogosphere
Wednesday, November 07, 2007 Weather Channel Founder: Global Warming ‘Greatest Scam in History’
Intro by Joe D’Aleo, Icecap, CCM
"I was privileged to work with John Coleman, the founder of The Weather Channel in the year before it became a reality and then for the first of the 6 years I was fortunate to be the Director of Meteorology. No one worked harder than John to make The Weather Channel a reality and to make sure the staffing, the information and technology was the very best possible at that time. John currently works with KUSI in San Diego. He posts regularly. I am very pleased to present his latest insightful post.
By John Coleman
It is the greatest scam in history. I am amazed, appalled and highly offended by it. Global Warming; It is a SCAM. Some dastardly scientists with environmental and political motives manipulated long term scientific data to create an allusion of rapid global warming. Other scientists of the same environmental whacko type jumped into the circle to support and broaden the “research” to further enhance the totally slanted, bogus global warming claims. Their friends in government steered huge research grants their way to keep the movement going. Soon they claimed to be a consensus.
Environmental extremists, notable politicians among them, then teamed up with movie, media and other liberal, environmentalist journalists to create this wild “scientific” scenario of the civilization threatening environmental consequences from Global Warming unless we adhere to their radical agenda. Now their ridiculous manipulated science has been accepted as fact and become a cornerstone issue for CNN, CBS, NBC, the Democratic Political Party, the Governor of California, school teachers and, in many cases, well informed but very gullible environmentally conscientious citizens. Only one reporter at ABC has been allowed to counter the Global Warming frenzy with one 15 minute documentary segment.
I do not oppose environmentalism. I do not oppose the political positions of either party. However, Global Warming, i.e. Climate Change, is not about environmentalism or politics. It is not a religion. It is not something you “believe in.” It is science; the science of meteorology. This is my field of life-long expertise. And I am telling you Global Warming is a non-event, a manufactured crisis and a total scam. I say this knowing you probably won’t believe a me, a mere TV weatherman, challenging a Nobel Prize, Academy Award and Emmy Award winning former Vice President of United States. So be it.
I have read dozens of scientific papers. I have talked with numerous scientists. I have studied. I have thought about it. I know I am correct. There is no run away climate change. The impact of humans on climate is not catastrophic. Our planet is not in peril. I am incensed by the incredible media glamour, the politically correct silliness and rude dismissal of counter arguments by the high priest of Global Warming.
In time, a decade or two, the outrageous scam will be obvious. As the temperature rises, polar ice cap melting, coastal flooding and super storm pattern all fail to occur as predicted everyone will come to realize we have been duped. The sky is not falling. And, natural cycles and drifts in climate are as much if not more responsible for any climate changes underway. I strongly believe that the next twenty years are equally as likely to see a cooling trend as they are to see a warming trend."