As far as the curse is found...

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found…

- From “Joy to the World” by Isaac Watts

Hello family! Brent and I usually banter about economic topics and post things about our families, but this time I thought it would be good to share something deeper that has been on my heart.

I love the Christmas carol "Joy to the World", not only for its beauty but also for its rich depth. I recently just finished listening to an amazing message by R.C. Sproul, “The Curse Motif of the Atonement.” This message was given at the Together for the Gospel conference back in April 2008. I would like to share with you some of the highlights from that message:

The joy we have in Christ is being released from the curse of sin so that we may know God and enjoy the blessings of fellowship with Him. In our culture, the term “curse” may conjure up images of Harry Potter casting spells and hexes or the Twilight series with vampires and werewolves. Our culture sees the term “curse” as one of superstition and fiction. But does it stop there? Is that as far as it goes?

No. There is a curse. A real, actual curse. And this curse came from God Himself. It is the curse that we incurred because of sin. It is the curse placed on the earth itself, while it, like us, awaits and even groans for redemption. And the only remedy for this curse is a bloody, primitive obscene death- by a perfect, spotless person, who is completely unstained by this curse. This death must provide a substitution, a swap, so that He can take away our sins and give us His perfect righteousness. Jesus has done this. He became a curse for us, so that we can be reconciled to God and enjoy fellowship with Him again.

Jesus has come so that God’s "blessings may flow, as far as the curse is found." If we've been freed from the curse, are we living like we're free? Are we experiencing fellowship with God and His grace?

May the knowledge of our freedom from the curse compel us to worship and enjoy our fellowship with Christ, our curse-bearer, our Lord and Savior.

Scriptures: Gal 3:10-14; Rom 8:20-23; 2 Cor 5:21;
Link: http://t4g.org/08/media/

Heroic Ben, Saving the World!

First a quote,

"The problem is that today's all-out attack on recession may well generate a surge of unwanted inflation in 2010 or after. But the Fed seems to regard that as an acceptable price to pay to avoid disaster now."

then the link: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_52/b4114022505333.htm

The "acceptable price to pay," is what we a paying now as a result of similar actions by Brother Greenspan. (Fighting the "recession" that came on the heels of the dot-com bust. I know I was naive then, moreso than I am now, but I didn't even realize we had a recession to fight back then).

Anyway. For the record. If you didn't already know. I think all of this hogwash is a really bad idea. All of the media says that all of these wonderful actions will result in a turn-around sometime in '09. Why? Well...nobody can tell you. Because nobody knows. They just assume that if nothing else works, then the eventually the kitchen sink will. Its got to, right?

The first person to throw me a rational opinion wins. I've not seen one out of Washington, or their media, yet. Actually, though, everything I've heard Sen. Shelby of Alabama say, which, mind you, isn't much, has been pretty top notch. Barney Frank, on the other hand, makes me want to dynomite my eardrums everytime I hear him blabber.

Keynes may be dead, but he's more alive today than either Elvis or Lenin.

Snow

We got a little bit of early snow this year. This is how we spent the first part of our day:

Looking at now covered hills.

Looking at really cold horses.

Running in the snow.

And eating muffins in the snow.

The rest of the day was spent at the Tennessee Aquarium or in transit.

Funny Smelling Free Markets

This may or may not be the right link for the NPR segment that was on this morning. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97933365. If not, I'm sorry I just wasted 4 minutes of your time.

Anyway, on we go. The discussion on the automaker bailout, which you may or may not have just listened to, discussed the automakers getting the bailout "with concessions." Well we know with about 95% certainty that the automakers are going to get something. Its the concessions, that are supposed to make the bailout palpable to the average Joe (be he a plumber or otherwise) is what I have a beef with: Top management must go. No financial engagements of $25-million or more without congressional review. Cabinet level auto-Czars, including reps from the EPA.

Is this supposed to make me like the bailout? This is giving them a lifeline with a brick attached. "You can have the bailout, sir, but only on condition that we saddle you with an impossible business model." Crazy!

So a family is going bankrupt. He asks for a congressional bailout. He gets one "with concessions." He has to leave the family. The remaining family cannot buy anything more than $50 dollars without approval from both sets of in-laws. And all family decisions are subject to review by the neighborhood association.

I thought we fought a cold war AGAINST communism and a real war AGAINST fascism. Now we can't get enough of it.

Our newest family member!

Presenting: Virginia "Geena" Lee Roberts
Born on Nov 25th, 2008
5 lbs 14 oz
20 in long

Mom and baby are doing awesome! Thank you all for your love and prayers! We look forward to seeing you all sometime soon!

-Brooke

Is does this make sense to you?

A column by a New York Times columnist, Thomas L. Friedman:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/opinion/16friedman.html

Apparently, we all need to go shopping and throw out "fairness" -- meaning, of course, that we reward stupidity, punish good sense, and hold the government harmless. In one respect, though, he's right: Obama is just the man for the job.

Sorry, Tommy, I care not for your opinions. I'm neither stupid nor a socialist. Get someone else to go shopping, and don't give any more of my money to AIG.

Free Markets are [Probably] Rational

Whilst on my drive home yesterday I listened to the daily financial show, Marketplace, that comes on at 6pm on our NPR station. The story, for which I have attached a link below, bemoaned how markets are irrational. And this contrary to the theory put forth by Milton Freidman that they should be rational. When they say rational, we mean that we expect market prices of stocks to behave in accordance with the appropriate information. If profits and revenue at Company Z are up, then the stock price should go up. If the credit rating of Company B is downgraded, then the price should go down. But this isn't bearing up in what we are seeing in the market today.

I would argue that a FREE market would more than likely be rational. The reason our markets today are not behaving rationally is because they're not free. Can anyone guess the true market value of GM stock? No. And no because the price of GM stock today has a lot more to do with what the government may or may not do in its little magic box than what GM is actually worth.

This same logic applies to any bank stock in existence today. And this spreads from there to the entire economy because of the equally magic and mysterious "securities" created by a bunch of MBAs -- otherwise brilliant people I'm sure, aside from being so stupid. Well the rest of the economy bought this financial junk, gambling on the brains of an MBA degree. Now nobody knows what they or anybody else actually owns in terms of assets.

A lot of, again, otherwise brilliant people, forgot one of the investment rules of thumbs that only applies to us individuals of little brain: if you don't understand what you are investing in, you probably shouldn't.

Here's the link to the article: http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/11/10/economic_theory/.

One of the Joys of Home Ownership

As I am sure Dad can attest from our tenure in the Roebuck home, one of the joys of home ownership is being the proud guardian of the crawl-space. Seeing as our bathroom floor had been described with adjectives like "squishy", it became necessary for me to venture into the underbelly of the home to see what was amiss. Out of my own benevolence, I've invited you all along on a photo tour, and have even extended to Dad the deluxe-package personal tour. I'll spare all of the details because I am sure that you will all be eating at some point in time in the future. I thought about giving the Tennessee Cooperative Extension a call to see if they had a mycologist sitting around needing something to do...I'm pretty sure he could find a new species of fungus in here. So in we go.

Now our house, though only 1,450 square feet, has been added onto once. So apparently it was in vogue at one point in time to build one bed-room one bath houses. Anyway, so in-stead of just your ordinary crawl-space. we have a crawl-space that is only accessible from another crawl-space. And on top of that the inner crawl-space door is 80% blocked by a return duct. So after squeezing through an 8 inch wide by 2 foot tall opening, you then have to run the gauntlet to get where you are going. Yes, indeed, that is an old lawn-mower, two pairs of old boots, several random glass jars, and various and asunder other bits of junk. Also know as habitats.



So after crawling underneath by bath-tub and kitchen, trying to figure why a plumber gets paid what he does, and having a brief conversation with a camel-cricket convent, its time to meander back through the gauntlet and out into the light of day. Easier said than done.



I hope you all had a good weekend. Ours was fine, though parts of it were a bit cramped, dark, and musty.

We Actually Did Something

Unlike another branch of the Roberts family (that might live in the DC area), the Tennessee edition likes to take things rather slowly. We go to bed at a decent hour, and wake up relatively early. We don't spend a lot of money, don't eat out much, and generally don't have extensive plans for our weekends. Believe it or not, though, we actually had meaningful "plans" for three weekends in a row. Staggering, I know. Here's the run-down:

The weekend of October 18th we had two things going on. That Saturday we had our annual (if you can call something annual after only having two in a row) bon fire / weenie roast. I am pleased to inform that good times were had by all. That Sunday afternoon, our church hosted a concert by a gentleman named Jaime Soles from Canada who has an incredible brand of Bible-based music. Most of his songs are geared for kids, but not all. His music is very narrative, drawing on some of the prominent and obscure bits of Old Testament history. So, of course there a song about Noah and Abraham, but he also has a song about Shamgar killing 600 men with an ox-goad, Ehud giving fat-ole Eglon 18 inches of sword, and (one of Timnah's favorites) Korah, Dathan, and Abiarim being swallowed by the ground. Good stuff.

The following weekend, we had our friends from Florence, Becky and Eric, in town for a few days. We had a great time with them. The pictures I sent out last week of our family on a short little hiking trek were actually pictures that they took for us. I tried to convince Eric that the Nashville area needed some more pharmacists so he would stay, but alas, they returned.

And then last weekend was fairly tame, but some friends of ours from church had a Reformation Day party on their parents estate. That too was a great time. They had bratwurst and kielbasa (a step up from the franks we had at our shin-dig), a live bluegrass band, and a hay-ride.

For the foreseeable future, though, I think we are back to the settled, country life. No more of this urban whoop-in it up -- I about pulled a social muscle.

Democrats and Halloweeen...

This was sent to me by a mom in my youth group. I loved it:)

Kid quotes from the election

A conversation that I had with Kate Jeffcoat, a 5-year old at Cherokee Bend...I also know her family very well.
Mrs. Batts: Kate, why do you look so sad?
Kate: My parents aren't going to have any money for my birthday now.
Mrs. Batts: What do you mean Kate? When's your birthday?
Kate: My birthday is November 19th and my parents aren't going to have any money to buy me a birthday present now that Obama has been elected!

Conversation overheard while walking through the 2nd grade hallway
Kid 1: I'm not voting for McCain, i'm voting for Obama.
Kid 2: Oh yeah, why?
Kid 1: McCain is going to send us to war and Obama is not.
Kid 2: What do you think we are in silly?

Quote from perhaps the spaciest kid in my class this year...
"So if Obama is an African-American, does that make him black too?"

Kids say the darndest things these days! That is just a sampling, I've definitely got more where that came from.

Reasonable People Can Disagree

This post will be in regards to a conversation that Brooke and I had yesterday afternoon. Brooke asked me what I felt about the current economic situation, its causes, and possible solution. We then proceeded to exchange our mildly-educated opinions and the resources who led us down that particular path. Here, I am going to repeat my opinion and reference my sources, to which I can own credit for said opinion.

Let me start first, though, by addressing the post title and conceede that the adjective reasonable when applied to my brother and myself is somewhat dubious. That being established, let's proceed to the boredom.

My answer to Brooke was short and sweet, and something like the following: "The less the government tries to do, the better off everyone will be." This espouses a laizes-faire, free-market view and approach of the current situation. My opinion is that the less the government tries to bail-out, force lending, and stabilize prices the faster the economy will hit bottom and proceed to recovery. The economy is headed south as part of a predictable central-bank created business cycle (more on this later). When on the downswing like this, there will be a bottom, and government intervention will result in either a slowing of the downfall (delaying recovery) or, much worse, a time-delay in the downfall, making the inevitable fall that much worse when it does come. This is much like hitting the snooze bar; the time comes when you have to get out of bed. Your head still hurts and now you're ten minutes late.

The business cycle I refer to above is that described in the Austrian Business Cycle Theory, or ABCT. According to the ABCT, cheap credit created by Federal Reserve Bank policies are the primary factor in the booms and busts we see in the economy. The Fed lowers interest rates, banks lend, people and institutions borrow, the money supply is artificially expanded, and the economy gets "drunk" on this infusion of cash (that is not backed up by anything solid such as savings, much less anything more solid like precious metals). The Fed, ever wary of inflationary pressures, eventually has to pull the plug and raise interest rates. The music stops, the party is over, Wall Street gives a nice big vomit, and the hangover begins (lets all hope we don't pass out).

Great analogy, right? So what do I mean by "drunk." Well what I mean is this: When the economy gets a infusion of cheap-credit cash, it has to go somewhere. Where it eventually goes is to portions of the economy that are ONLY viable because of the cheap credit, i.e. ventures that are profitable when the Fed has the funds rate at 1%, but are not when that rate rises. This is what is called a bubble. In the 80's with the Savings & Loan crisis, what we had was a commercial real-estate bubble. Now we're seen the demise of a residential real-estate bubble. This is compounded by a financial bubble that was perched on the back of the housing bubble. And, as we will see in the comming weeks, further compounded by the personal debt bubble that was also perched on home values. Bubbles are inflationary. Home prices were rising faster that incomes. This is not sustainable. When reality sets in, home values adjust to true market levels and this should be expected. But this is the very thing the government wants to stop as soon as possible. They want to prop up inflated home values. This is not only insane, but also likely impossible.

The popular thought is that they just need to prime the financial pump and get money, huge sums of cash, flowing again. Somewhere. Anywhere. And we'll all be okay. Sustainable lending practices can ONLY be supported by savings. That is what a bank is supposed to do: Take savings and funnel it into borrowers who need capital. But banks are collapsing because they are taking loans to make loans, and the tip of the inverted pyramid, the real savings, are being eroding. Look at banks today. Everyone is all in a hussy because they are not lending. They're sitting on cash. This is obviously terrible. They should, rather, be shelling it out willy-nilly to the economic equivalent of crack-addicts. No. Consciously or not, banks are doing what they are supposed to be doing in a recession: accumulating savings.

Now a rebuttal to Brooke's response.
His reply was what we see all over the media and in the current political climate: more and better regulation. Like McPalin, the idea is that their either wasn't enough regulators or the regulators were sleeping at the wheel. Well this line of thinking pre-supposes a great deal. That regulators are smarter and better than industry. Just yesterday, Greenspan was on Capitol Hill saying he was shocked at the current crisis. If he didn't see it comming why do we think a few extra neck-ties in Washington will? If the CEO's of countless financial institutions didn't see it comming, how will borrowing a hand-full of their inferiors and placing them on a tax-funded payroll going to solve the problem? I can't see that it will.

And now, my source.
I've been spending time on the website of the Ludwig Von Mises institute at www.mises.org. This is a libertarian think tank, based out of Auburn, Alabama who primarily focus on economics, the Austrian School of economics to be presice, and also spill out into general libertarian mantra which I'm not as keen on. There is too much to read there in my lifetime, so I'll share a few highlights from their blog that I have come across recently:

• Economic Depressions: Their Cause and Cure - probably a more eloquent treatment of my thesis above.


• Did Joseph Wharton Cause The US Financial Meltdown? - a fun jab at elite universities and MBAs.

That's it for now. If I come across any more goodies I'll be sure to share.

The Problem as I See It

This is in regards to Auburn football. So let me answer everyone's first question: How can I know what's wrong with Auburn football if I haven't watched a game since K-state over a year ago?

Well the answer is that I do happen to know a thing or two about the game in general. I can look at a game's stats and pretty much tell you how a game went. Any game. The three things you look at are total yards, turn-overs, and time of possession. This will tell you how a game went 90% of the time. The two notable exceptions are if there are lots of points scored on special teams (kick and punt returns), if a lot of points are scored on defense, or if a team puts a lot of yardage up between the 20s and the field-goal kicker is no good. All of these are pretty rare, with the exception of defensive points scored, and the number turnovers on the opposing team are generally indicative of such. But, say, there are 3 interceptions and ALL three were returned for touchdowns, this wouldn't be immediatly apparent from the number of turn-overs itself.

With Auburn, though, you can look at one particular statistic and see how they did. Rushing yards. Auburn is a rushing football team. Period. Why Tubbs is leaning towards a "spread" offense is beyond me (particularly when they don't have a QB). Auburn hasn't seen an attempt at a spread since that Bowden guy left.

In the three losses, the rushing yards are as follows: 70, 110, and 56. For Auburn, consistently getting fewer than 100 yards on the ground will get consistently get them losses.

War Eagle, anyway.

Ever the Optimist

So today the Dow hit a low it hasn't seen since Spring of '03. This means that if I start investing today, I can make up for having not invested during the first few years out of school.

Black and Gold Weekend!

With Vandy winning on Saturday over...yeah, you know, and then with the Steelers with another exciting victory over the Jaguars, this weekend Heather and I were all black and gold! Also, one for the record books: Vanderbilt (5-0) currently has a better record than the Steelers (4-1), but it would be really nasty to see them go head to head. I don't want to think about that kind of bloodshed.

Separately, Heather and I celebrated her birthday this weekend by going out to see the movie Fireproof and then going to Red Lobster. The movie was surprisingly really good. I wrote a more thorough blog post at our student ministry's site: http://cherrydalestudents.blogspot.com. Go VU! Go Stillers!

Another Question for the Bankers

What would you do, today, if the dynamic duo of Bernake and Paulson came up to you and said that, for the common good of society and the better welfare of lower income America, they would really like for you to do your best to increase lending to those on the bottom tiers of the tax bracket? To expand the American dream to all peoples, regardless of age, sex, race, religion, or ability to repay.

I know what I'd do.

[Key up the Batman music, please.]
Pow!
Smack!
Yowzers!

Except this time...the dynamic duo takes it on the chin.

Proud to Say I'm from Alabama

I just wish I could say that I voted there.

From the Nashville City Paper:

Alexander (Senator from TN) told his colleagues, "We've got to give the Secretary of Treasury enough money and enough authority to be able to buy all the junk in the middle of the economic highway and get if off the road and hope he is able to sell it for about what he paid for it, or at least to minimize our losses."

From an interview on CNBC:

"I believe the Senate will pass it overwhelmingly tonight," said Corker, a Republican [from Tennessee] who serves on the Senate banking Committee. Corker said in the interview that he was pleased with provisions for increased depositor insurance limits, adding he doesn't want to see any more measures added on.

From the Birmingham News (AL.com):

The two Republican senators from Alabama, Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions, are expected to oppose the $700 billion bail out.

Mixed Signals, Entertainment, and Opinion

Mixed Signals

So last night, Wachovia bites the dust. Today, the house is to vote on the bailout (as of this writing the house has already canned the plan).

But what is waiting in my E-mail inbox when I get to work?

A notice that Bank of America has increased the limit on our credit card.

I'm not sure what to think. Does this mean that Bank of America is a solid bet? Or rather, does Bank of America think that I am a solid bet?

Entertainment

On Saturday, our family started the day a bit unusually. Our normal Saturday routine is to head over to the Franklin Farmer's market. Well this weekend we had other plans.

I put gas in the mower. I then hitched up the dump-cart which Andrea got me for my birthday, threw the family in the back and then proceeded to drive around the front yard.

Now I'm fairly certain that this very scenario has been described in one of Jeff Foxworthy's routines through the years, but it was fun nonetheless and the kids enjoyed it.

Opinion

The house voted down the bailout. At least that is what they said when they voted. They might vote again on a similar bill Thursday. There might have been some hanging chads in today's vote or something.

Anyway...at the moment, I am proud that we at least have two more days to allow free markets -- as opposed to a central planner -- to decide where our money does and doesn't go. Call it a gamble, but I like my chances on the open market.

To hear people like Obama (and to some degree Bush and McCain as well) say that free markets have failed is short-hand for I like socialism more than capitalism. Ever heard of the business cycle? There are ups and downs in any economy. To say that free markets have failed because we're now in a down-swing is pretty short-sighted at best and downright stupid at worst. Yes, the stock market is down, today. It would have been down today anyway with the Wachovia news. And it might be up again tomorrow. Who knows? If anybody knew for sure they be in the game making money hand over fist one way or another. What about Wachovia, you say? Shouldn't we have more regulation to prevent bank collapses? Wachovia screwed up and now they're out of business. Looks like they just regulated themselves fairly efficiently if you ask me.

That's all the opinion I'll make you suffer through today.

Hail, Comrade!

Well the deed is all but done. And so now I present to you two things: our new title of "Comrade!" , always spoken deeply and with gusto, and also our new flag. Hail, Hail!

Also, Brooke, I've been doing some thinking about the house you are trying to buy. If the mortgage holder is indeed, IndyMac, you need not even worry about buying it. You already own it. We all own it.

Hail, Hail!

Bailout?

Ok. I am not a banker, nor an economist. I understand a little about how this works, but I would love to hear from the familial bankers and construction weenie (haha) what their thoughts are on this. My first take on this is that this is not a solid idea. Don't get me wrong, Heather and I are being greatly affected by this. It turns out that the house we put a contract on, the current mortgage holder of that house is Indymac, which is currently owned by the Federal government. Hence, the large amount of waiting we're having to do, since the mortgage process is now like an extended multi-month long trip to the DMV. The Feds at Indymac even told the seller's real estate agent: "It's taking 60 - 90 days to get around to the paperwork, so don't call us, we'll call you. But you can send in letters and faxes." (I guess they need things to burn?) Anyway, Heather and I are being affected by this like many others, and we're financially sound. What I want to know is, how would the government buying all these "troubled assets" be a good thing? Are we simply "passing the buck" (literally speaking) to the next generation? A report said that, "the aim is for the government to buy the securities at a discount, hold onto them and then sell them for a profit." Anyway, I am just not sold on this idea. I think I'd rather pay the heavy "finanical meltdown" pricetag now rather than wait a generation from now and have China effectively blackmail us with all of the treasury note debts we'll be owing them...talk about a meltdown. Enough of my unskilled rants- speak to us, Oh great bankers and weenie.

Go{a}t milk?

While supplies of other commodities appear to be running thin, our fridge is currently at near capacity levels of goat milk. Capacity being a function of how many quart mason jars we have on hand and how many we can safely fit into the fridge around any leftovers. This is currently about 6 gallons and some change. Between the two girls, we're getting about 1 gallon a day. That's 7 gallons a week for those who are counting. Considering we only consume about 2 to 3 gallons a milk per week as a family, and there is a limit to how much you can give away to friends before they start to look at you funny, we might need to enter the cheese business.

Cheers, everyone.

Have a Happy Weekend

Smiles.

Kiddley-boos

Pictures. These are a few days old, but its the best I can do, okay.


Nahum with Pops



Timnah having a bad day



Elias smirking



Nahum. Hyper.



Photo of the kids, with everyone at attention...kind of.

Enjoy.

5 Amazing Years

In keeping with the…uh, tradition, set by my brothers, I also have decided to write about my anniversary, 5 amazing years!  Heather and I treated ourselves to a fantastic Bed and Breakfast out in Lovettsville, VA (no, I have no real idea where it actually is, but it is about an hour away from DC).  It was a beautiful mansion on a quaint country road: http://www.mycountryretreat.com.  We also took a visit to the bustling metropolis of Harper’s Ferry West Virginia!  (Yes, it got its name from a time in ages past when some guy named Harper had a raft on ropes that would ferry horses across the incredibly dangerous 1-2 ft of water in the rivers.) Even the ice cream ‘parlors’ were closed by like 4pm on a Friday night!  But, at least the view was nice (it overlooked the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers).  It was a wonderful time though.  A great time for us to relax and reflect on our past 5 years of marriage, and then look forward to our future into the uncharted realm of parenthood!  Here’s to another 5 years and many more!     

Tennessee Happenings

Hello, peoples. The TN branch of the Roberts family has been doing very well. Last week-end was incrediblt. If I could vote for a three day weekend every week, I would. Work gets done, kids get attention, books get read, people get naps...its great.

This weekend we will be ridding the farm of the two remaining goat kids. This will diminish the chores a little bit, but will also mean milking twice a day as opposed to just once a day.

Timnah was a little sick earlier this week so we took her to the Doctor. Just a virus, so everything is okay, its just not like Timnah to be lethargic even when she is not feeling good. While at the doc, we had a weigh-in for all the kiddies. If I remember correctly the run-down was Timnah 38½, Elias 30, and Nahum 12lbs, 10oz.

For our anniversary, Andrea bought me a dump-cart to pull behind our mower. Sounds silly, but I thought about one everytime I had to lug things down to the garden. Over the three day weekend I was able to squeeze in enough time to put the mower back together (the steering wheel was falling off), and also make use of the new toy (to help with barn clean-up).

Other than that, everything is just peachy. I'll have to post up some updated pictures of Nahum...she's getting big, and fast.

Week 5: Closing – Springfield, VA.

Friday, Aug 29th.  What a week…the 5 weeks are finally over, and none were more emotional or dramatic as this one.  After vacating our beautiful home, we awoke this morning in a friend’s house.  Heather was sad and I was happy, the exact opposite of where we were when we agreed to the contract on July 19^th.  The day started off rocky.  We were rushing because we still had some items to get out of the house and into storage before the walk-through at noon.  And it was raining.  Pretty hard.  An ill omen for anybody, especially a pregnant couple who is saying goodbye to their first and honeymoon home.  I will replay some dialogue for you, just so you can feel some of the intensity of the day: B: “I’m really frustrated with you right now…(the rain beats down harder, at the same tone as my voice, and you can hear it wash down the open back door of the Jeep)”. H:…..........(glaring at me through tear-stained eyes).  B: “You hate me.” H: “I don’t hate you.  It just hurts. (accompanied by some expectant sobs).”  There you go- we spanned the entire Psalms concerning our emotions today.  There were happy laughs, sad looks and sobs, laments and praises, mean glares, great hugs, sweet prayers, many 'I love yous' and some holy kisses.  Through it all we remain faithful and hopeful in the providence and sovereignty of our glorious God and King, the Lord Jesus Christ.  He will provide for us, and we will continue to wait upon Him.

Week 4: Birthday celebration and move out week – Falls Church, VA.

This week has been crazy!  After recovering from summer camp, we had some friends come over on Sunday afternoon to enjoy some BBQ chicken, cake and ice cream for my belated birthday celebration!  The rest of the week was filled with getting details arranged for moving out!  We had to rent a truck, get a storage facility, find a place to live while still waiting on the short sale contract, and also get our awesome friends lined up to help us move!  Oh yeah, and Heather took me out for a belated birthday celebration.  Busy for sure!  But now our house is basically empty – thanks to our fabulously amazing friends – and we’ll soon be ready to close this coming Friday!  I’ll post week 5 sometime next weekend following closing.

Week 3: Summer Camp – Bradley, WV

Although it was a busy time (since I was in charge), this was an awesome week, enjoyed by both leaders and students!  The drive was long (5 hours), but the West Virginian mountains were beautiful.  Our theme was from Psalms 121, “Lift up your eyes to the mountains.”  We looked at how God’s desire all along has been to dwell with his people.  We looked at 4 mountains, Eden, where the rivers flowed down from; Mount Sinai, where the law was given; Mount Golgotha, where Christ was crucified and then raised again; and Mount Zion, the new heaven and the new earth.  We also went rappelling, white water rafting, hiking, and did a high ropes course!  What a week!    

Week 2: Vacation - Outer Banks, NC.

This is always a sweet time.  The waves were pretty weak this year compared to years past, but it made for some excellent diving!  I had an enjoyable time wearing my goggles and swimming around looking for "aerobies" that small children decided to launch 300 yards out into the ocean and watch them sink.  It also made for an excellent week for getting swimmer's ear!  I don't know if you've ever had this before, but it hurts like crap.  It's a bacterial infection that grows in your ear, and gives you a splitting headache!  Also keep in mind that we still weren't feeling so hot from Mexico!  I had to go to the doctor before leaving the beach, because I had summer camp to get ready for!  Before I go there, I should also mention that on Monday of vacation week, Heather and I checked the internet, continuing our seemingly endless search for a new place to live.  Well, a house that we both really liked and had seen twice dropped $50K in price.  It was too good to be true, so we contacted our realtor and proceeded to place a contract on the house, while 300 miles away from home on vacation!  Technology is awesome, but it also made our vacation a little busy and short.  I’ll post on short sales later, I've gotta get through the 5 weeks first.

Week 1: Missions Trip - Reynosa, Mexico.

Reynosa is a border town of McAllen, TX.  We were working with a group called "World Servants." We were serving a church plant in one of the "colonias", a poor small village town. We were mainly doing construction/renovation work, a kids club program and reaching out to the moms in the area.  We had a great team, taking 7 excellent students along with Heather and my assistant Ashleigh.  There were also a few other churches there- specifically one from Quebec, Canada.  It was so cool to be in Mexico, hearing lots of Spanish, and then hearing French as well.  It was quite an international experience- the only real issue was that it was so freaking hot! Anytime you went outside you would start sweating almost immediately!  Ah, but the Lord was gracious.  We had a great trip.  We also had a tough time recovering!  The food was really good, but post trip it also was, uh, not exactly coming out quite the same way that it should.  I'll spare you the details, but we thought we might have had some kind of parasite.  It appears that that is not the case, but it also made week 2 a little uncomfortable!

 

Five Weeks!

Starting on July 27th, Heather and I have now completed an incredibly busy time of our almost 5 years of marriage (for me possibly THE busiest time of our marriage).  I'll take this very long post and break it up into pieces, as they will get very long and unwieldy. 

Happy Birthday Elias!

The big man is now two years old.

The celebration began last night with Aunt Amy and Uncle Scott having us over for dinner and some opening of presents. We'll seal the deal this weekend when Granna and Pops roll into town.

Five Years and Counting

[I'm going to continue on with the precedent set by John Christopher and make a post here about my anniversary. No pressure, Brooke.]

First lets have a run-down on some numbers (in no particular order). Five years. Three cities. Two appartments. Two homes. Four vehicles. Three children. Two jobs. Two construction projects. Two churches. Too few vacations (I can think of five "trips" off hand). One dog. One cat. Two goats plus three goat-kids. Two snows. And zero nights apart.

With the exception of the dog, I'd say we've made some pretty decent choices along the way. Every day has been better than the one before, and that makes me all the more hopeful for the years to come.

To Andrea: thank you, and I love you. You truly are a blessing from God.

To everyone else: Just so you'll know how we are celebrating, I have gotten Andrea some flowers and chocolate (Andrea likes chocolate), and Aunt Amy will be coming by this afternoon to play with Timnah and Elias while we treat ourselves and Nahum out for a lunch and afternoon stroll on downtown Franklin.

First Day Jitters

As another school year starts (my 4th year to be exact...that means i'm tenured...wahoo) I am now sitting at home watching the Olympics and replaying in my mind how my first day was with a new group. I knew very little about this group of children except that I was getting one Autistic student. Since I knew very little about my class I was really quite nervous about what to expect. It turned out to be a great day, which will hopefully lead into a great year. As crazy as this may sound the success of an entire year typically has a lot to do with how good or bad the first week was. So here's to another year!

Brothers

A story from this mornings news on NPR (warning: I'll likely preface a lot of posts with a similar phrase) was an interview with one of the brothers of the now-deceased suspect in the anthrax scare from 2001, Bruce Ivens. At first, Ivens's brother, Charles, maintained Bruce's innocence...until he read the FBI's affidavit. It was really kind of heart-wrenching to hear a man's opinion of his brother change in the course of an interview.

This brings up a couple of issues:

• First off, How well do you know your brother?


• I've made up my mind about a man's innocence or guilt in multiple trials that have come across the news. OJ, this guy, Enron execs...How much evidence did I thoughtfully consider? Hmm...whatever was on the news.


• If this man barely knew whether or not his brother was a bio-terrorist or not, how well do we know anybody? How well can we know anybody? How can we know others, people, better?

The link to the NPR story is below:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93483076

Nahum Photo Session #3

Andrea had a bit of a photo-shoot with Nahum Yesterday. Below are the results. Enjoy and have a good weekend.

    

On Going from Two to Three

It can be done, just ask anyone who has done it before...Mom, Dad.

What's funny is that two kids to one parent seems easier than three kids to two. Multiple dynamics going on here.

I think the hard part at this particular juncture, though, is the frailty of the newest addition. I've joked with Andrea about life with Nahum being like living with one arm tied in front of your back. But it is way harder than that, because it is more like living with one arm while juggling a glass ornament with the other. Everything is a potential hazard: stove, door jamb, other kids, counters, sharp objects, other kids...

So one parent tends to take Nahum and sit quietly while the other does the grunt work. The theory here is that this divides the battlefield, leaving one with a slam dunk -- holding a sleeping child -- while the other does what has been done for the past several months -- cook, clean, etc. while simultaneously monitoring the semi-autonomous activities of Timnah and Elias. But the older two, having little regard for our theories, exploit parental weakness where it can be found and their semi-autonomy creeps ever and ever closer to the other front. So the previous slam-dunk is now a dance of 3 to 1 odds. Being mindful to keep Timnah and Elias included in the "new" family arrangement and bonded with little Nahum, while trying desperately to prevent a fumble. The other parent is pretty much left just watching.

This is my perspective. What Andrea contends with while I am at work...I'll remain sympathetic, but I'd prefer not knowing first hand, at least not until the glass ornament has had a little more time to solidify.

Warning

On NPR this morning, there was a warning not to eat lobster livers...consider yourselves warned.

Nahum Dawn

It is with great fanfare and much ado that Andrea and I announce the arrival of our latest, and out third...

Nahum Dawn Roberts

She was born on Saturday, July 19 at 6:14 am, in our home.

She weighed 8 lbs 6 oz, has brown hair, dark eyes, nice pink skin, and long fingers and toes. Of course she is gorgeous and beautiful. We were at a loss at first, but the consensus is turning out that she looks like Elias when he was a baby.

Her first name, aside from being the name of one of the minor prophets, can also translated from Hebrew as "comfort." In response to much questioning, we did actually choose her middle name before she was born early on a clear morning. Andrea and I enjoy naming our children, and we particularly enjoy choosing middle names that complement the first. Our comforter, the Lord, has come and is currently reigning as king, and he is coming again. We are eagerly awaiting the dawn when our comforter reappears in blazing glory.

Here is proud Elias enjoying his first peek at Nahum, whom he has nick-named "precious baby."


Here is Timnah who is very thrilled to have a little sister. Timnah is already good about sharing with the wee one.


Andrea is recovering well and the two of us are adjusting to life with three, currently aided by the much appreciated help of grandparents.

2nd anniversary

After 2 wonderful years of marriage I am sitting here reflecting on the previous 24 hours. It is 3 minutes until midnight and I'm watching the bottom of the 13th inning of the MLB All-Star game. Naturally Les has already started counting goats. The stakes are high as the winning league gets home field advantage in the world series. No more tie nonsense like we saw in 2002. So the day was pretty normal; get up, go to work, go to class. For anniversary festivities Leslie was surprised by a new watch that she picked out over the weekend and had no idea she was getting. I'm sneeky like that. She came by my office with a fantastic peanut butter desert which we enjoyed after an unhealthy lunch at Momma Goldberg's in Homewood. After class we enjoyed a very nice and late dinner at Brio, a little Tuscan restaurant at Brookwood Mall for all you out of towners. The day of course could not be complete without finding out that we will have to replace one of the A/C units which has been out for the past 2 days. Ramen noodles will be on the menu for the next several months. Thankfully the humidity has been low so the heat is somewhat bearable. If Heather was not expecting I would only wish that B & H were visiting this week at our house so we could return the July hospitality we received in DC a few years ago. It is now 12:09 and the top of the 14th is still tied 3-3. Blessings to all.

A first taste. A pleasant surprise.

I've had goat milk before, and the results were regrettable. Think of a large vat of milk (like you are used to) add to it a few bales of hay, and then let it steep in the hot sun for several hours. Strain out the straw and pour out a glass and take a swig. Enough said, I did not like it. I had it over a bowl of cereal once, and I about couldn't get through the whole of it.

So from the begining, I've been riding along with Andrea on the goat thing. She can have her milk, and as long as there is a gool old red cap in the fridge for me everyone gets along just fine.

Yesterday, I get a really excited phone call from my wife excited about how good our goat's milk tastes. We had just gotten together all the equipment we needed to do it right and safe. She saves me some. I get home, dinner time roles around, and I muster up the variety of courage it takes to down something you know is going to be bad.

But it was good. In fact: it was really good. Take the red cap vitamin D milk that us Roberts kiddos are used to, make it a little creamier and a bit sweeter. Good, good stuff.

But don't worry. I know we'll be having some visitors in the near future. We'll make sure we have some cow-juice for you in the fridge.

Finis

I need to go ahead and throw this out there, because after our third child is welcomed into the world it will become a "who cares."

So after a little over two years, one trip to the ER, and enough money to pay for another cradle (or two, probably), I have completed my first woodworking project, the cradle.

Be wowed and amazed and impressed.

Headaches for Breakfast

Child: "Mom, what's for breakfast?"
(crack! smash! [the sound of a head-butt])
Mom: "Not now. How about never?"
Child: "Aunty, can you spare me some leftovers?"
(bang! double-smash!)
Aunt: "No...I don't even like you"

Alas, the happy ending.

Our buckling goat, Bingham, was brought to a happy adopting home yesterday to a family that is going to bottle feed him. His mom, Kelly, nursed him for a few days, but then decided that brother, Boyd, could eat but that Bingham could not. Bingham's aunt, Kate, never really cared much for Bingham either. We had been keeping him nourished by putting Mom and Aunt on the milk stand and letting him take what he could get. Bingham's desperate attempts at eating were starting to disrupt nursing for everybody, because if Boyd or cousing, Hully, started nursing, Bingham played opportunist and caused Kelly and Kate to jump away.

We'll miss Bingham, because since he didn't get along well with either his mother or aunt, he was the most personable towards people. I think that the new arrangement will go well for everybody, though.

Wild Sweet Orange

The band Wild Sweet Orange was on David Letterman a few weeks back. Obviously I didn't watch it...I don't have a television set. But I thought you might be interested. If you've never heard of the band let me hit you up with their roll-call: Preston Lovinggood, Garett Kelly, Taylor Shaw, and Chip Kilpatrick. That's right. We know these people.

Freedom!

"It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery." - Gal 5:1

As I enjoyed watching the fireworks over Vulcan in Homewood, AL, I couldn't help but wonder what celestial fireworks, what thunderous applause must have occured when the prince of glory, the very Son of God, entered into the true temple in heaven, offering Himself as a sacrifice once and for all to satisfy the Holy justice of the Almighty God. "Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" What celebration! What exaltation! As Satan is cast down and the very power of sin is broken and the sting of death is finally removed- our transgressions flung as far as the east is from the west. Oh that we would ever live our Christian lives in light of this glorious liberation. May every day be a new independence day from sin.

New Life

A few days ago Heather and I found out that we are going to have a baby girl! So excited...but how do you get prepared for that? What would you recommend a new father of a girl to read, study up on, or familiarize himself with? How different is it than raising boys (not that I really have experience there either- but at least I am a boy)? I know that adequcy for everything is found only in the Lord. He is our purpose and our value, so it's silly to be all anxious and worried. But, I just want to be as prepared as one can be- and that's about all I can do.

An Idea

The outworkings of an idea...