Fairy Tales

I was reading a book about the Chinese people, Christianity, and Communism. There was a comment in the book that Chinese people rely heavily on pictures and symbols to convey meaning. For example, a man has a old, beautiful, 200 year old tree in his yard. Someone (not his friend) may come along and cut down the tree. The meaning: leave town or your family roots will die when I kill or hurt you. (Remember, that Chinese families are only allowed to have one child, so if a son dies then that is the end of his family heritage.) In other cultures, I think that speaking in analogies is common also.

But when I hear an analogy or some other word picture, I am usually too dense to figure out what the meaning is behind the story unless someone gives me a clue. I wonder how many other people (particularly Americans) do not pay attention to the meanings behind a story (especially when the story does not have "real" characters). We have fairy tales of the ToothFairy, Santa Claus, etc, and then there are make-believe movies, which we have learned to not believe. There are fiction novels which are not true, however many fiction writers write with an underlying purpose in mind. So basically, we do not like to put a lot of thought into anything unless it comes from our own experiences or perhaps for academia. But how do we know when something REAL comes our way?

Jesus also spoke using simple word pictures to make the connection to greater things. He spoke of hidden treasures (Matthew 13), lost sheep (Matthew 18), seeds bearing fruit(Matthew 13), and unfaithful workmen (Mark 12). We can come up with some simple moral for each of his "stories", but the main point of these was not in a simple moral for everyday life, rather it was for us to know and understand who he is and what our relationship with him should be. He gave these to us to know how we may enter into the kingdom of heaven. So if all that you know are the simple morals that Jesus taught, then you are truly missing out. Please search out the truths in the parables of Jesus. A few hours of searching now may save you a lot of heartache in the future!

-Taylor

The Day the Bubble Burst

Yes, I work for a financial software company, but this post has very little to do with the current financial markets (though link below may be helpful if you are an investor). Today, Glory spent the last part of her quiet time with me in my office. While I worked, she also worked on another computer practicing her hand-eye coordination by moving the mouse cursor over a digital piece of bubble wrap and then by clicking it she could "pop" the bubble.

Now this may seem silly, but we actually had a good learning experience. Some times I would start a pattern of bubbles to pop and she would have to finish the pattern. Other times, she practiced spelling short words by popping the appropriate bubbles.

For those of you who need some bubble wrap, but do not have any currently in stock, then here is a cheap substitute: http://www.therightfoot.net/mystuff/whatever/swf/bubblewrap.swf.

Enjoy!
P.S. - Thanks for the webpage Granny B!

All Kinds of Smiles

I thought you might want to listen in on a conversation Glory and I had while playing with Daniel last night.

Me: Soon, Glory, Dan will learn how to smile at us! Can you help me teach him how to smile?

GH: Yeah!!! He can learn all the kinds of smiles!

Me: All kinds? What kinds are there, Glo?

GH: (Smiling like anybody should know a simple thing like smile classification,)
1) Thank You Smiles
2) Camera Smiles (remember, she just turned 4)
3) Teach-the-Gospel Smiles!

Now, to fully appreciate that last category, you need to know our shy little Glory, who by nature tends to give people a cold stare and hope they go away instead of saying hello. You also need to know her Papa, who works with her often on being friendly "so that people will know that Jesus loves her and that Jesus loves them, too". So, smile for the LORD today!

Done!

Today my thesis was officially approved by the Graduate School, and (as far as I can tell) I have fully met the requirements for my M.S. Math degree. You can even access my thesis from the TTU Library here: http://etd.lib.ttu.edu/theses/available/etd-09302008-094035/.

For those of you close enough to come to the commencement ceremonies, don't bother. We decided to forsake the official event and use that time and money to go see family in Houston.

Now it is time for a poll: What subject shall my PhD be in?
Enjoy!

Editor's Correction:

Well, I feel better about my linguistic intuition now! Thanks to Tim's comment on my previous post, "Dreaming of Good Literature", I found that "snuck" is indeed an acceptable past tense of sneak. However, it has not always been so. According to http://dictionary.reference.com, the word has truly "snuck" into accepted English vocabulary over the past hundred years, coming to the point of almost replacing it's predecessor, "sneaked", especially for the younger generation of writers. So...now you know...whether you wanted to or not! :)

Working myself out of a job

Glory made lunch for us yesterday! I helped her extremely minimally...in fact, with the exception of getting things out of the tall freezer and setting the temperature on the toaster oven, all I did was coach her verbally. Her masterpiece consisted of fish sticks and frozen vegetables, served with ranch salad dressing used as fish stick dip. (I still prefer ketchup, but I think she has invented a new favorite for her Papa!) She's getting so big! Her "helping" is really starting to be HELP! :)

Dreaming of good literature

Levi has started asking to take a book to nap,which we usually allow, since it tends to help him be quiet, aiding in his actually falling asleep. Falling...the book, that is...usually somewhere on his upper body, where he let it drop as he lost consciousness. Taylor sneaked in to check on him the other day and had to leave promptly so his laughter would not wake him up. (Though it probably wouldn't have, since dropping the book on his face didn't seem to faze him any. :)

P.S. I just learned something: Spell-check, and my old Webster's dictionary inform me that "snuck", as in the past-tense of sneak, just aren't proper English - regardless of the fact that it has sounded just fine to me for the past 20-something years. Good old West Texas English...it'll get ya every time. :)