NateDogg34's Xanga

Mercy Claire Douglas

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 15:08:37 GMT

Dear Bloggery,

Let me start at the very beginning. It was late March when my Dad called me at school in Idaho, telling me that my Mom was expecting a child, due in late December. This would be blessing number eleven. I was elated.

Months passed, after an ultrasound we found out she was a girl. It's early November and I'm back at school. Dad calls me, this time with different news. They had just discovered that my sister has Trisomy 18, a genetic disorder. She would not be expected to live long after birth.

Looking back now, I don't think any of us could comprehend our feelings then, because we have never experienced anything like this before. We trusted in God, and prayed for a miracle, but we did not know what to expect. But as we have seen now...God had special plans...

We got to spend Thanksgiving together as family, which although emotional, was very pleasant and comforting. I went back to school on Saturday. That Wednesday, Dad called, Mom just had an emergency C-section (she had never had one before), a month and a half before she was due. Mercy Claire was born alive, but was only given a few hours to live.

It was at this time that God really began to move in mighty ways.

I was 2,000 miles away from a sister I thought I might not be able to see, and my family. It was at this time that God brought some dear friends (Leah, CJ, Donny, Jesse and Jacque) there to assist and comfort me. I was able to get a 6:00PM flight out of Moscow that night. Only to show up at the airport to discover the flight was canceled, the next one that would leave was the following day at the same time. But I was able to get a flight out of Spokane (an hour and a half away) the next morning at 6:00AM. Thanks to the Williams family's hospitality, I was able to stay at their house that night in Spokane. I woke up the next morning, talked with my Dad and Claire was still hanging in there. There was still hope. I had another flight cancellation, followed by two more delays, missed another flight, but was finally able to arrive in Dallas that afternoon at 4:45. I called Dad, he told me to come straight to the hospital and forget my bags. It was at this time that they had lost her. Claire had stopped breathing. I made it to the hospital, rushed into the room and there was Dad, holding her. She was alive! This was the first of many miracles and blessings that God would work.

The Doctors Gave Her Hours. God Gave Her Days.

I spent several hours at the hospital, then went home to be with my siblings. We woke up the next morning, to find that Claire was still hanging on. So I take everyone back to see her again. Saturday morning, Claire was still hanging in there. Since she was exceeding expectations, the doctors did tests to see if there was anything they could do to help her. But nothing could be done. Her organs were not developed enough, so it would only be a matter of time. But with Mom feeling better from surgery, we could take her and Claire home. That afternoon, Abbie was able to come, and take photographs of Claire, and our whole family together. These were two huge blessings that we had prayed for, that God had answered. That we could bring her home, and we would be able to get pictures taken.

Sunday morning comes, and Claire is still with us. It was during all of this time, that one of our family members was always holding Claire. She was never put in a crib or a bed. She was held through the nights. Monday, and she was still fighting. We kept holding her. Praying over her. She passed away peacefully that night, in our home, in her mother's arms. She was 5 days old.

We were able to bury her on our own land, on top of a hill with a magnificent view, just a few hundred feet from where our new home will be. This was a blessing as well. This is land we will keep in our family, and will be passed down for generations.

I can't really put into words adequately what this whole experience has done for me and my family. Being the oldest of 10, I have really come to understand the blessings of children to the fullest that only an oldest brother could. But Mercy Claire changed this in so many ways. She was a blessing beyond measure or understanding. Everywhere she was, she was a testimony of God's faithfulness.

When most families discover they have a baby with Trisomy 18, the baby is either aborted, or left in the nursery in the hospital. When we left the hospital, doctors and nurses were crying. God used her as an instrument to display His masterful plan not only to our family, but to the community. That we would be drawn closer to Him, and be more trusting than ever before.

It was also during this time, that God used the means of prayers and support from so many friends and members of His church, to sustain and strengthen us. I'm serious, we could feel them. There is no way that we could have gone through what we did without His power.

This past Saturday, we held a memorial service for Mercy Claire. We made it like a worship service. Scripture was read, psalms and hymns were sung, and an amazing sermon by Pastor Gene Franklin was given on...what else? The blessings of children.

Here is a statement which my Dad wrote, that was put in the orders of worship for everyone to read. I couldn't say it any better:

Thank you for joining with us today to give praise and glory and honor to our great God and King for the life of our daughter and sister, Mercy Claire Douglas. This memorial service is not a grieving service for Claire or her family. Claire was a child of the covenant who this very day enjoys the peace and comfort of her heavenly reward. She lives in a place where there is no death, mourning, or pain. She will never know sorrow, or loss, or separation from her heavenly Father. Some might refer to Claire’s five-day life as short, yet what is the sum of our days in light of God’s eternity?

Claire was made in the image of God. She had the countenance of an angel and the heart of a lion. She was a blessing. We will miss her. We will never forget her. We will love her forever. Our family has been changed by Claire’s brief life and God has been faithful to us in the process. We have seen our faithful Christian community and the broader Christian community from Moscow, Idaho to St. Petersburg, Russia rise up to pray for us and the needs and desires of our hearts during this time. Many are the stories I could share of God’s tender mercies to us. Our faith has grown and continues to grow. God has revealed Himself to us in ways we never thought possible in the midst of testing we never imagined. We serve the one, true, great and faithful God. We do consider it all joy to have been tested by this trial.

May I exhort us all (as we pray, sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, hear the Word of God preached and participate in this memorial season) to remember that just like Claire, we were all once knitted together in the image of the one true God. That God became an infant man to communicate His great love for His children and propitiate their redemption. Being made in the image of God carries obligations of faith and repentance, obedience and service. We can respond with faith or folly. Our lives can be a blessing or a burden to our family and friends. Claire’s life should remind us all that time in this life is short, that God’s blessings for faith, repentance, obedience, and good works are true and the alternative is unspeakable.

Thank you all very much for your prayers and support. Your comforts have strengthened us in so many ways that they are incomprehensible.

Our family is doing well. Please pray that God will fully utilize these instances for the spreading of His gospel and the sanctification of His people. That this story will be a testimony of His faithfulness, and that it will change people.

Mercy Claire was the most beautiful child I have ever seen. To think how much she was loved here, and then compare it to the love of our Father...is truly amazing. May He be glorified.

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,
   the fruit of the womb a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
   are the children of one's youth.
Blessed is the man
   who fills his quiver with them! -Psalm 127:3-5

Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." -Luke 18:15-17

"Count it all joy my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds,
for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete,
lacking in nothing." -James 1:2-4

<>< Nate

The Repuplicans Should Have the Jackass As Their Mascot

Mon, 20 Nov 2006 06:47:58 GMT

Dear Bloggery,

I don't think the Republicans will understand why they lost election. After the 2002 and 2004 elections, the voters started recognizing how bad and ineffective liberalism is in a candidate (and as a mindset). Just look at John Kerry, who would never accept the label of "liberal" two years ago because it would hurt his ethos. Today Democrat candidates are now running with the liberal label and proud of it too! And America is buying it, because the stupid Republicans dropped the ball...again. Americans are so naive, they will overlook candidates who will raise taxes and not present specific policies on protecting citizens against terrorists. All we want to see is a change in the status quo, and any change is a change for the better. Hopefully Christians will understand and realize that the Republican party is not the answer to our problems. The Constitution, the Bill of Rights, Conservative values, thinking we survived 9/11 attacks, or Patrick Henry College's shallow evangelical political paradigm (not to bash PHC, they're doing a going thing, but I don't think it'll will go far and Farris is looking in the wrong areas, I experienced it first-hand) will not save us as we look to the future. It goes deeper than that. We look at history and see people that looked at history and don't learn from it. Let's not be like that. No pressure to my generation, but we are going to have our hands full.

Only Scripture will be the answer (not to sound gung-ho and cliche), but a lot of Christians don't even know what that means either. In order to change the nation, we need to change the culture first, not try to get somebody in as President and hope for the best. Imagine having a godly President and Congress, ok great. But do you see that changing MTV? Don't think so. We're going to take dominion of our nation and the culture through scripture, using the means of the church, the family, and the proper Christian education (but man that's a broad term 'Christian education'). You know Christians are doing a good job when the world starts hating us. That's means we're annoying them. We're making them feel uncomfortable. They're realizing their flaws. This is war, let's start playing by our rules, not by societies. That includes the dumb republicans.

<>< Nate

Note: Not that there are not good Republicans, I think there are some good godly men with great Christian values that reflect their policy making. Haley Barbour, Mike Pence, Chip Pickering, and Rick Santorum are examples. John McCain, Newt Gingrich, Rudy Giuliani, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Bill Frist are not, and that's where the Party is going.

Nuns With Guns

Fri, 10 Nov 2006 19:17:13 GMT

Dear Bloggery,

Beware!

<>< N8

Motivational Posters

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 04:57:46 GMT

Dear Bloggery,

Need motivation? Look no further.

May you take on the world.

<>< N8

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Thu, 31 Aug 2006 07:36:22 GMT

Dear Bloggery,

I'm doing great. Into my third week of school now, and everything is spiffy. But time is short...so to briefly summarize the last few weeks.................

-My school was named one of the Top 50 schools in the NATION by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. Other schools on the list were places like Princeton, Hillsdale and University of Chicago.

-Trinity Fest

-The amazing speakers (Dr. Peter Lilback, Pastor Steve Wilkins, Pastor Doug Wilson)

-St. Brigid's Feast

-Raised Eyebrows

-Blue Tongues

-Undescribable Faces

-Swimming in waterfalls

-Jumping off cliffs

-Last Saturday, our rugby team played the #16 team in the country, Washington State University. We lost, but played well.

(notice the fear in the enemy player's face because I'm coming after him *cough cough*)

Our tradition is at the end of every game, to sing the doxology to the crowd, away or home, win or lose.

Regular season starts in a couple months, where we play our division rivals Gonzaga, University of Idaho, Boise State, and University of Montana.

-Trinity Festival Windy (dance)

Parties, Buck Buck, Cliff Jumping, Friends, Food, Scenery...still to come...at some point.

<>< N8

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Thu, 10 Aug 2006 14:59:29 GMT

Dear Bloggery,

As of 20 years ago today, the world would never be the same.

My teenage years are over.

Two decades. Sounds old. But I already reached that "old feeling" milestone.

But in a way, I still feel young. Ha!

May God bless me as much for this next score of years as He did my last.

Watch out world! It only gets worse for you from here.

<>< N8

P.S. Trinity Fest was amazing.

Friday, August 04, 2006

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 03:25:10 GMT

Dear Bloggery,

State Of Castro

Ladies and gentlemen, I am just about to show you rare and exclusive footage of the current state of the ailing Fidel Castro.

He is ailing indeed. You saw it first, here, exclusively on the Nate Douglas Blog.

The Rest Of The Week

I leave tomorow Moscow. Got to say goodbye to some of my friends tonight, and my family. Next week is Trinity Fest, which will consist of food, dancing, food, movies, plays, food, lectures (on the Constitution baby), fellowship, concerts, food, parties, friends, and food. The week after that school starts. Looking forward to getting back to the grind, still have a lot more to learn and accomplish.

The Rest Of The Videos

Also, here are a couple more videos from the conference.

You can find a better camera angle and picture of our song here. But it's still cut off half-way through the song. Anybody have the full version?

*edit* Bwhaha! Thanks to Luke, we now have the full version!

Also, here is the full video of our skit featuring our whole cast as the speakers, and the good looking, bright, handsome, intelligent, eligible and single young man, Donny Linnemeyer. You prolly won't get many of the jokes if you weren't there. We're playing off what the speakers said in their lectures.

The Church Worship Postings: Vol. 1

What I hope to ACCOMPLISH by all of this is for everyone to learn about not only their spiritual walks and their churches, and act accordingly to what Scripture says. I want you to be challenged and this to be thought-provoking, and then ACT upon it. Not think to yourself "You know, ole Nate may be right!", and then write if off and continue on with life. You don't have to agree, but at least, please, use your grey cells. Do yourself a favor. Christ want's you to.

I got some great responses to my Church Worship post, thank you very much for all of you who participated. What i'm gonna do is lay down some basic summations/responses to ya'lls comments. These are not going to be very comprehensive to each topic. So everything is still open for much more detail, debate, and insight. When you read this, also go back and see what everyone else has said about the issues. Here are just a few of the topics, the rest we'll cover over time. Again I apologize for any incoherence and/or rambling.

-Sanctification:

Most of you were of the general agreement that church should be to use a good summation word, “sanctifying”. Rachel H. said, “A church should be as close to you as your family. It’s not what your church can do for you, but what you can do for your church.” This is very true, and gives us an example of one of the primary purposes of the church, that being sanctifying all of its members. Fellowship with fellow believers is extremely important. They are there to help you grow in your spiritual walk, as you should do to them as well. Christ said we are not to be like the hermit on the top of the hill. We need to actively participate in Christ’s bride, the church. After all, we are brothers and sisters in Christ, and just like family, we need to look out for each other, and do more then just pray for our fellow believers, but be physically and emotionally providing for them as well. Shaun said there should be “Love and non-snottyness”. If you really love your brother or sister in Christ, do more then just smile at them. Sanctify them! Have them over for dinner! Loan them your landscaping trailer or ice cream maker! This goes for the elders and deacons of course as well. Keep it “real” as Priscilla proclaimed. Katie M. said “A church with great preaching but little to no application of that great preaching is an oxymoronic church.” This is a great summary, this is where you practice what is preached, and the best place is in the church. This means activities and events outside the church, prayer meetings and Bible studies. This means elders should be watching out for their congregation. There must be accountability. In other words, this means that the church should NOT be a time where you just show up every Sunday, listen to a goody-goody sermon, smile and shake everyone’s hands and then leave and talk to nobody until next week. No increasing in holiness in your life, or your fellow believers if you just do that.

-Good Sermon Content:

Jayni stated, “A church with a pastor that doesn’t waste half an hour saying what could be said in five minutes.” Rambling pastors in their super churches delivering a shallow message with clichéd analogies are a joke. Good content is essential, content that takes awhile to hammer into our stubborn, sinful heads. Especially when you compare it to what Fraser said, “Preaching to conform to God’s Will, and not to attract worshippers to make them happy.” Churches these days are geared to much towards attracting worshippers because “We’re gonna make you feeeeeeeeeel good! This is where the soul power is at! Come here and clap to our songs, raise your arms in the air, and be emotionally stirred by our ‘worship’ rock band!” I once saw a church bulletin describing their plans for Super Bowl Sunday. This consisted of everyone attending church in their favorite player’s jerseys, and doing a special tail-gate party afterwards. Not only is this sacrilegious and not reverent to our God on the Sabbath, but it takes away the whole purpose of worshipping God just one day out of every week! It’s no longer about growing in our faith, but about feeling good. But churches today don’t want to preach that message, because it will scare people away. Most Christians don’t get it. Our walk is supposed to be HARD with OBLIGATIONS. Not a walk in the park with happy-clappy-knee-deep-in-glory-services. David L. said that “It must have practical and relevant teaching.” This means teaching that proclaims spiritual growth. Not warm fuzzyness. Katie M. takes this to the next level when she says that “Fills the needs of the congregation”. This includes doctrinal issues or certain sins. It should be relevant for a guests in your church, but at the same time it should have the BIG PICTURE in mind for the believers in the church. If a pastor can accomplish this, then you know he is a good one. Julia stated what I think is an excellent quote (so kudos to her for coining it), “First, a church that understand that the world is irrelevant to the Bible, not the Bible lacking relevance to the world.” Now we’re starting to get an idea of what the big picture is. Scripture is the ultimate objective standards to our lifestyles EVERYDAY of we live. This includes our worship. It shouldn’t be what my cousin Chelsea said, “It drives me crazy how many churches have their own rock band and a big screen projector but the preaching is stuff I learned in kindergarten sunday school. I want to be challenged.”

-Dress: This is rampant then most people would think in the church. God set the Sabbath aside for His glory, and for us to worship Him. This should be done with reverence and fear. Because we know we are His people, does not excuse us from having a “Jesus is my homeboy” mentality. This mentality ties into my earlier comments on worship being directed to “feeling good”, and one of the ways it reflects outwards is in our church dress. Because of the Jesus is my homeboy mentality, this means that we can go to worship in flip-flops, jeans, shorts, or t-shirts. WRONG! Dress nicely! We’re talking about your “Sunday Best” here. Why in the world would you come into God’s house to worship Him when you’re wearing flip-flops or jeans!? Would you go into the White House wearing that? I sure as heck hope not. Worship should be taken seriously, and if your heart is serious, it will reflect outwards in a neat, nice appearance. Anna said, “But when I go to church I like to think of it as though I'm standing before my Savior, and I want to look nice.” It’s treating our bodies that God gave us as the temple they are, and it sets us apart from the world.

Over the next few weeks, the other church elements we will cover will be: The Lord's Supper, Music/Singing, Liturgy, "Church-Hopping", Church Unity, Confession of Sins, and Church Denominations. Keep your insight coming! We can't learn without "blog participation".

Relationship Building Question #57

Why do you have a xanga?

<>< N8

Friday, July 28, 2006

Fri, 28 Jul 2006 13:11:29 GMT

Dear Bloggery,

THIS ARTICLE MAKES ME SICK! JUST SICK!

Sure, it's no surprise that this is from the New York Times. But let's be honest, this reflects most of the liberal drive-by media. In this article they portray Hezbollah leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah as a "folk hero", and they term Al Queda as "violent Sunni Muslim extremists"...WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE WORD "TERRORIST" PEOPLE!?!? You never hear the media call anybody "terrorists" anymore! It's crazy! We have FORGOTTEN what happened in Sept. 11, 2001. Nobody gets the message. Israel has soldiers kidnapped and rockets launched upon them (acts of terrorism), and they get blamed defending themselves and not striving for peace. NOT STRIVING FOR PEACE!?!? GIVE ME A BREAK!!! Israel used to own Lebanon! They gave it up for peace! Israel used to own the Gaza Strip, they gave that up for peace. Both within the last 6 years. Now Hezbollah and Hamas want a bigger piece of the pie, and Israel is sitting on it! This makes Israel the bad guys! Not the "Muslim extremists". There is only one agenda seen in today's postmodern culture, and that is the stupid, humanistic, liberal's agenda.

*breaths*

This reflects the big picture. It's more then just the world hating Israel. It's more then the world hating the United States. When it comes right down to it, it's the world vs. Christianity. Christians don't get that either. The world hates us. It's supposed to. There is an anti-thesis, and that means war.

*goes out back to roundhouse kick down some trees*

The Weekend

This past weekend was a really nice one. On Saturday afternoon I left to go to church with Daniel Elliott and Aaron Watson, and then we along with Barnabas Chapman and Sam Linville went camping off Lake Grapevine. Hadn't done any camping since my boy scout days, so this was especially fun. The high temperature for that day was 108 degrees, but a cold front was coming through that night, and brought a lot of wind which made it cooler, and blew away all potential mosquito problems. But it did make cooking a bit trickier, and it took me awhile to get the fire started. I eventually did (without cheating...IE- using kerosene), and we cooked our hotdogs and chili over the fire. Then we all sat around the fire, visited, discussed the world's problems, and sang "Coom Bye Yah" (sp?) and then played some cards.

Just good all-around guy time. Male bonding. Whatever you wanna call it. Next morning woke up to a hot sun (so much for the cold front), had Sabbath devotion time and prayer, and then packed up and headed to the lake for some wet action.
Nothing like getting together with some good guys, to go out in the hot weather when you could be in air conditioning, to sleep on the ground rather then a bed, to look up at the stars rather than the bottom of the bunk bed, do get all dirty preparing a meal rather then wearing a pink apron...good times.

Then Mr. Watson brought the jet skis. I had never been on a jet ski before, and boy did I regret any potential opportunities I had turned down to drive them (ok...so I never had an opportunity...but yeah), because they were awesome!!! They were these huge 1200cc wave runners, I got up to 52 mph with one. Then after zooming around the lake for about an hour, we busted out the tube and did some tubing. The tube was a really nice size, not too big...just the right size to do barrel role flips. I had been tubing before, but they were always too big to flip over and back around. Anyway, we were doing this...and let me just say that I would not recommend performing these maneuvers with board shorts on. That is if you intend keeping them on. Each time I flipped over on my back, the water dragged my shorts down, and by the time I twisted myself back up, there was a half-moon in Texas that afternoon. Guys, say no to crack. I was getting the flips down now everytime, so now the challenge was doing the flips and keeping my shorts on. Succeeded a couple times, but not all the time. Then Daniel (who was driving the jet ski), got the idea of showcasing me in front of this big party barge. So he swung me out of a turn, and sure enough....yeah. Let's just say I quit trying the flips...thus my streak ended. Harhar. Pun intended.

Then we went to the Watson's for the birthday party for Aaron and Alisha.

While there, Aaron and I reenacted the epic battle between Achilles and Hector.

It was a battle for the ages.

And will be talked about for many generations.

Oh, and Daniel is a stud.

There was a lot of fun, good food, fellowship, and friends which I do not get to see frequently. While we were there, the Rapture happened, and shone brightly for all of us to see. I wasn't ready to go up yet, the world had not been taken dominion over, I wasn't exactly dressed for it, and I remembered that I left a kahlua cake in the oven. So I outran it.

Thus concluded my very eventful weekend, with a bang. Haha again.

The Most Amazing Catch. Ever.

For those of you who do keep up with baseball, and even the ones you don't. This catch was amazing. It has been termed by some as the greatest baseball catch in the history of the game. Texas Ranger, Gary Matthews Jr., robbed Mike Lamb of a home run, by propelling himself up the wall and reaching several feet above it for the steal. It is incredible. Check it out here, and go to the bottom of the page and click "Matthew's amazing catch". Wow.

Blog Law #1

Women should never, ever, purchase fourteen pounds of lottery tickets, have them run through thingymachine, and then write a check for them. They always move at the speed of smell and I could read St. Augustine's "City of God" by the time they're finished.

Blog law?

Next Time...

...I will cover your responses on church worship. They are all great, really appreciate it. If you have any more opinions, feel free to add them.

Go ahead and jump!

<>< N8

Church Worship

Tue, 25 Jul 2006 04:03:27 GMT

Dear Bloggery,

What elements must a church have, so that you would want to join it, and worship there? No "preaching of the word" answers, thats a no-brainer. In other words, what are you looking for in a church?

Church worship should be the central, most important event in a week of the Christian. This is where we come and worship our God with the saints, on a day that He has set aside for us to do. This is a big deal (whether we treat like it is or not).

SO PLEASE ANSWER! I have an eclectic group of readers whom I'm sure go to different kinds of churches, I wanna hear your opinions, or at least let the question provoke your mind into thinking, "Wow, never thought of that. What elements SHOULD my church have?" For those of you who are so sure in your church worship beliefs that you think the answers are very obvious, you'd be surprised on how many people never even thought of your views, so please share those as well.

Tidy Josephs

For the first time in the history of the Douglas family, we made sloppy joe's for dinner. Joe was quite confused to have a food named after him.

I'll send an S.O.S. to the world.

<>< N8

Friday, July 21, 2006

Fri, 21 Jul 2006 04:50:17 GMT

Dear Bloggery,

Here are our songs we did, on video. Quality isn't steller and it was cut off in the middle of the 2nd one, but better than nothing. Thanks Anna! (She downloaded it...she is not to be held responsible for the state of the video, unless it is only positive feedback. Oh and she's a peach.)

The link for the video can be found here.

Sit By Me...at CWSC

As requested, here are the lyrics to "Sit By Me" and "C-W-S-C" (see previous post).

Sit By Me (tune from the Temptations "Stand By Me")

Lyrics written by Sam Popiel. Snaps and Bum-Bums written by Jed Schlissel and Nate Douglas. Guitar written by Richie Lort.

When the lights/ Turn down/ And the room is quiet

And the speaker/ Is the only/ Guy we see

No I won’t/ Be afraid/ No I won’t/ Be afraid

Just as long/ As you sit/ Sit by me/ Sit by me

If this guy/ that we look upon/ Should ramble on and on

And there is no/ Hope of any liberty/ I won’t sleep/ I won’t sleep

No I won’t sleep away/ Just as long as you sit/ Sit by me

So darlin’ darlin’/ Sit by me/ Woah sit by me

Woah sit now by me/ Sit by me

C-W-S-C (tune from Outkast's "Hey Ya")

Lyrics written by Lort/Douglas/Popiel/Schlissel. Guitars by Lort/Douglas. Super-cool-singing by Lort/Douglas/Popiel/Schlissel.

Steve Wilkins don’t mess around/ Because he loves us so/ And that’s the deal fo sho.

How can we know he cares/ He’s always countin’ change/ Picked up from off tha floo.

Don’t you be hatin on Sandlin/ No he ain’t no tomist/ At least we assume.

He said we like Aquinas/ I guess Kant’s ok/ And there’s no cause for Hume

C-W-S-C (2x)

Oh its Godawa/ You know its Godawa/ He and Jack Bauer made an awesome film after a-a-a-a-a-a-a-all.

You know it’s Schnieder/ Loves ecclesiastes/ We didn’t think we’d ever get that word in at a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-all.

Oh yeah and Wilbur/ Yeah my homie Wilbur/ Yeah what makes (5x)/ Art so beautiful?

And why oh (5x)/ Can’t we stay awake awhile/ When we know we’re so happy he-e-e-re.

Yu-huh.

Yeah you know it’s

C-W-S-C (4x)

©Copyright of the Somethin' Somethin Suite Band. All lyrics do not necessarily represent the views of the artists, but should be used for entertainment purposes only.

There ya have it folks. Hopefully I can some video up of it soon. *subtle hint hint*

Plethoraness Of Pictureness

More pictures.

Michelle, Mandi, Katherine, Rachel. All lined up like cell phone signal bars! Not sure if that means anything, but yeah.

The one and only Donny Linnemeyer! (with unidentified female with laptop)

Somethin' sweetness.

The Q&A skit.

These would be our "Model Looks"...? L to R: "Too Cool", "Roman Statue", "Fuzzy", "Blinding Sun", "Magnum" and "Blue Steel".

People messed with my hair. It did crazy things.

Ha! Now try!

Pirates of the Kryptonite

Watched Pirates of the Caribbean and Superman Returns the other week.

Pirates I was impressed with. It was a good, fun action. But they key element was they kept it fresh. I went into the movie thinking they could only do so much with the character Jack Sparrow, and this sequel would be cliched and get old. But they kept adjusting his character and inventing new idiosyncrasies. But the part that I thought justified the movie beyond it's sheer entertainment value, to make it actually a good story, was how they finally portrayed the flaw in Cap'n Jack. After the first film, Cap'n Jack became a huge culture movie hero icon, and a favorite. But at the same time, when you think about it, he has to be one of the most selfish, prideful, self-absorbed heroes of any movie you have ever seen. He does not possess any qualities that you would want to embody into yourself. Essentially, he was his in own moral standard, bringing humanism to a new level. Well in Dead Man's Chest, this flaw in Sparrow is exploited, making his character fallible, less invincible, and more realistic. This I thought saved the movie by giving it an aesthetic moral standpoint, taking it to the next level.

After seeing the previews for Superman Returns, I had absolutely no interest in seeing the film. It looked boring, dull, and a story that has already been done oh so many times. But I started to become intrigued after I heard they edited key phrases such as "Truth, Justice and the American Way", to just "Truth and Justice". The American way was done away with. This sparked my interest, so I went and saw it for myself. It did not exceed my low expectations. It reeked of infidelity and dishonesty portrayed in a positive light. The dialogue was pathetic, acting was mediocre, and even the love story crummy. They did away the patriotic Americaness that helped defined the original film for what it was. Instead this film appealed towards world unity, and did away with the good/evil antithesis. No drama or tension either. "Let's see how many bullets we can shoot at Superman! This is real drama! Woohoo! Go team!" The whole plot was predictable from the beginning, and I was never on the edge of my seat. In other words this movie was NOT fresh. All what Batman Begins was, Superman Returns was the exact opposite. Don't see it.

Going To Extremes

Ya'll think Israel is taking it too far? Sure, they should act in self-defense, but Lebonan is getting their bacon creamed and many civilians are being killed. But back in 2000, when Israel gave up Lebonan to be a sovereign nation, one of the deals was that Hezbollah had to be done away with. Well it's obviously still there and rampant. Is this a war the United States should fight personally as well? Hezbollah does represent the evil global terrorism we have sworn to destroy. Then do we take it to Hamas? Then Syria? Iran? The stage is being set. What would the Christian response be?

Like a polaroid picture

<>< N8