May 12th, 2008 Weekend In New Jersey!

Yes, that’s right: on Friday, I hopped aboard a plane! Thanks to those week-long business trips to China and France that Jay used to take on behalf of his job, Abigail and I had free plane tickets for a weekend trip to my home state, where much of my family still lives. The reason for our visit this time was my little sis’ Bridal shower given by several members of her wonderful fiance’s family and a lovely aunt of ours. We had so much fun, saw extended family that we hadn’t seen in many, many years, and met quite a few of Keith’s relatives, all of whom we enjoyed greatly. Jay and the boys bonded back here on the home front, and it was nice to come home to everyone fed, bathed, and happy!

I took a few pictures of our weekend, which you can see here on our picasa site. Here are just a couple.

This is Abigail and I with my little grandmother, Lolly, as we call her. It’s been four years since I’ve seen Lolly so we were thrilled to spend the day with her.

And here is the happy bride-to-be modeling a new creation from a very talented cousin-to-be of hers, who painstakingly molded a paper plate, tissue and ribbon into a thing of beauty that was only more lovely when worn atop my sister’s head.

And to see Sandra’s album of pictures from the shower, click here. Enjoy!

May 9th, 2008 It’s all about the Views

It is with great pleasure that I announce I am now an employee of Viewzi. It’s a great bunch of folks working together on a great product, and I am extremely excited to be part of it. I began contracting for Viewzi on April 7 after a whirlwind interview/discussion period. On May 1 I became a regular employee and showed up on the About page yesterday.

Viewzi’s got several great ideas all rolled up into one product. Ask yourself, should search results always look the same (e.g. a text list)? No! The display of results should merge two things: the intentions of the searcher and the results. I may enter “Madrid” as a search term, but I likely have a goal in mind such as “I wonder what it would be like to stay in Madrid?” or “I think that song I heard on the radio had ‘Madrid’ in the title”. Should travel information and MP3s be presented in the same way? Not to humans. Viewzi solves this need. It’s all about the Views.

Also, should everyone be forced to use the same means of traversing search results? No! Even with multiple Views, you still need to be able to customize your experience. Viewzi is currently hard at work on the first wave of enhancements to support user customization.

What about the long tail of niches? If you know you are searching for recipes, why get song titles or travel destinations in your search results? Why even search sites other than recipe sites? Why indeed? Viewzi tailors niche Views to appropriate data sources. So for general search Viewzi uses the big 4 and others. But for all the other Views, it pulls from a rich diversity of specialized sites and data sources.

And all this is built on an open platform that (eventually) allows anyone to build their own View. Viewzi isn’t trying to figure out the best way to search automobiles. Instead, Viewzi is building a platform that will allow the wisdom of crowds to settle that issue, and even come up with a diversity of answers.

If you are interested in joining the beta, I’ve set up 50 referrals for our steadfast readership. Go to www.viewzi.com/invite and enter the referral code “hornes.org” and you are in.

May 8th, 2008 Airing Our Dirty Laundry

Yesterday the little boys and I drove a very full carload of donations from our school class over to the wonderful folks at Wycliffe Bible Translators. The ministry has a little boutique on site, where they sell donations of clothing, housewares, etc to raise money for their nonprofit organization. The third grade visited Wycliffe as part of a field trip earlier this year, and our service project for the year centered around supporting this international ministry.

It’s a pretty long drive down to Wycliffe, and since I had the kids with me, we unloaded things pretty quickly so we could return to school for afternoon carpool. And somehow, in the midst of dropping my huge carload of stuff to these good people, I managed to donate our family’s dry cleaning. A very big bag of dry cleaning. With the only pairs of dress pants that still fit my sweet husband who has lost 15 pounds in the past few months.

I wasn’t aware of what I had done till this morning when I realized the bag of cleaning was absolutely gone, and I dreaded telling Jay. Feeling utterly stupid, I slunk into the bathroom where he was brushing his teeth, and relayed that I had donated all his clothes to a ministry. He looked at me dumbfounded for several seconds, and then just burst out laughing.

And that is how you know you have a great husband: instead of being angry at you for sending all his clothes to a ministry, he laughs and thinks it’s the funniest story he’s heard in weeks. I’m glad he can laugh; I am so angry at myself I feel like crying. I cannot wait to tell the volunteers at Wycliffe that I need to take back my donation! Here’s hoping they haven’t already sold our dirty laundry to some unsuspecting patron.

Updated to Add: Great news! Our bag of dry-cleaning has been found - hooray!! and my wonderful sister saved me another long round trip down to Wycliffe by running over there on her lunch break from work, and rescuing all our clothes, not one of which had been sold yet. Thank you, Sandra!

May 7th, 2008 These Babies…They Just Keep On Growing Up!

Another child of mine has passed the huge milestone of graduating from pre-school. I remember distinctly when Jonathan finished preschool and I knew he’d be entering Kindergarten the next year. And he just felt too old, too soon.

Today was our last day of Chapel School, a sweet preschool coop which the little boys and I have loved greatly this year. We have made new friends, gotten to know some old friends better, and been very blessed by the loving and fun environment that is Chapel School. While we will not return next year, I hope when Josiah is older, that he and I can perhaps someday enjoy time again at Chapel School.

Along with our end of year picnic (held inside due to the rain), there was Chapel School graduation. And so I give you pics of our proud little graduate –

Here he is after passing through the streamers, waiting patiently while his cap and leigh are put on him:

A close-up of the grad with his special “diploma”:

And one more…just for fun!!

Congratulations, Nicolas! Kindergarten, here we come!!

May 1st, 2008 Happy Endings

It is my delight to show you the newest dog to make the Happy Ending’s Page on Lone Star Lab’s website!!

Sweet baby Lulu has been adopted, and not just by any family, but a great family whom we happen to know and love! And whom we never anticipated would have any interest in a tiny lab puppy. But…we are completely thrilled at how this all turned out. My children, who had a hard time saying goodbye to Lulu, are so excited for their friends who now have a dog of their own to love. And they are more than a little happy that now they will get to watch Lulu as she grows up.

Me? I am happy for all that and more: we are back to just one crazy puppy at the Horne house, and for now, that is quite enough for us!

April 27th, 2008 Brothers

Our neighbors who live behind us bequeathed to us this lovely little rocker that is perfect for our deck. Since it was just their size, the little boys had to try it out right away, and they looked so cute that I grabbed my camera and quickly snapped a couple of pics. Rarely do I take two out of two great shots, especially when wiggly little boys are the subjects, but here they are.

April 25th, 2008 Big News

Yesterday I received my very own copy of what I am affectionately referring to as My Educational Bible in the mail. I’ve already read and re-read the library’s copy, but it is nice to have my own finally. And it will certainly be an indispensable part of our home schooling adventure this coming year. Yes, you read that right: The Hornes are going to home school next year!

After feeling conflicted about next year’s schooling plan for quite some time, it is a glorious thing to have finally made a decision. We are in no way pulling out of Covenant for lack of love - we are still crazy about our school. It is an amazing place, and we hope to be back there in the near future, but a set of complex circumstances as well as a huge change of heart as regards home schooling have led us here, and we are very excited about next year.

If I didn’t admit to being somewhat nervous about how it all happens I would be lying. But in the past several months I have discovered such a vast array of amazing resources in the Dallas area available to families who home school. The truth of the matter is that we will have to carefully pick and choose enrichment and other extras so that we actually have some down time here at home to get the basics done!!

I will certainly write more on this topic in the weeks and months to come. Those of you who have known me for some time and hear that we’ve decided to home school for a year may well think I’ve lost my marbles. So be it. I am looking at it as a way to savor some of the precious time with my children while they are still relatively young, and as an opportunity to try out some things we haven’t had time or resources to put toward in the past. We are looking forward to the journey!

April 22nd, 2008 Name that Doggie Contest!

As of today, we are the proud adoptive family of one sweet little yellow lab. Her name has been Dixie, which we like ok, but we are trying to determine if we can come up with a name we like better, that fits her perfectly, and that everyone in this family can agree on. Probably not on that last count, but it’s worth a try.

So…..all of our wonderful readers: will you please help?? Submit your best pick for a name for our new dog, and the lucky winner will receive…..um…..well….the SATISFACTION of knowing you helped the Hornes find the perfect name for Dixie, also known now as, “What’s-her-name”?? In addition, “What’s-her-name” will send you a letter expressing her personal thanks, signed by her very own self.

Dixie is, and probably at full-size will remain a rather petite-ish lab, topping out at probably 55-60 pounds. She’s a very pale yellow lab, “blonde” in color with brown eyes and a nose. She is loving and sweet, and can catch a frisbee like no dog we’ve ever been around before. For seven months old she is pretty well-behaved. She loves car rides, practicing her obedience training moves, catching frisbees from Jay, and pretending she is a lap dog.

If it is any help, here are some names that were put forth by various people around here as good possibilities. My personal favorite is Lucy, chosen because it was the name of the littlest girl in one of our favorite stories: CS Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, but Jay feels uncomfortable with that name because his paternal grandmother was named Lucille. Ah well….

Other possibilities which we cannot get unanimous agreement on include:

Maisie, Trixie, Tansy, Rosie, Sweet Pea, Pixie, Myrtle, Chloe, Charlotte, and Shiloh.

So come one, everyone, send in names!!! Little Miss “What’s-Her-Name” patiently awaits your wonderful suggestions!

April 21st, 2008 Something to say

I am very excited to say… not much, at this point. But in about 4 weeks, I’ll have lots to say, and I’ll be excited about it, and I’ll also say why I don’t have much to say right now. But suffice to say, as of today I am no longer looking for new employment. And that is very good news at the House of Horne. Thanks be to God!

April 17th, 2008 Yet Another Addition

Is there anything cuter than a fat, roly-poly puppy with big paws, a sweet face, floppy ears and soft, soft fur?

I saw this little face (the dog’s, not Josiah’s!) on a shelter website early in the week. Lone Star Labs told us they would love to pull her from the shelter but only if a foster home was available. Most people aren’t too enthusiastic about fostering a puppy; sure they are cute, but they are also a mess! But we said yes, why not? Hmmmmm.

Yesterday, Marsha of LSL arrived with a second crate, bag of puppy food, puppy biscuits, and some chew toys for the newest foster to play with. Today the two little boys and I picked up Lulu from the vet’s office and took her through afternoon carpool to the delight of all the schoolchildren!

Well, she IS a really cute puppy. And the children are having a ball with her. Dixie is not so sure about the little encroacher, and we have had to closely monitor the two girls when they are together. But we have no doubt Lulu will find herself a loving home VERY quickly. Till then, we are soaking us up some puppy love! Updated to add: Check out who made the Lone Star Adoptable Pets Page!!

Oh, and by the way, the only thing cuter than a little roly puppy, is the man of your dreams holding that puppy!

April 15th, 2008 Watchful Puppy

Today Josiah awoke with a bad stomach virus, and spent the day on an air mattress in the living room, alternately getting sick, crying because he felt so miserable, and falling asleep with the exhaustion of it all. We have had several sick wards in the living room already this year, but this was one was a little different, because today, in the middle of it all, was Dixie the pup, who lay near Josiah’s side through much of the day. And who even several times attempted to lie almost on top of Josiah on his air mattress, perhaps in an effort to help him know she really, really wanted to be as close to him as possible, and comfort him in his distress. Sweet doggie.

April 15th, 2008 My Boring Bible Story

Near the end of 1997, at the tender age of 26, I wrote my first Deacon’s corner article in my church’s monthly newsletter. I was just sifting through old files on my laptop, and came across it. I ask you, what is more fun than plagiarizing yourself?

My Boring Bible Story

circa November 1997

This morning, chapter seven of Numbers happened to be part of my devotional reading plan. It is a favorite of mine, because I learned a great lesson from it a couple years ago when I listened to it in my car for the first time. Unlike a book, one cannot skim a passage when listening to the Bible-on-cassette. There I was, trying to keep a disciplined focus on the words coming through my speakers as I cruised down the highway, when God ‘enlightened’ me. You see, Numbers 7 [+/-]Numbers 7 [7:1]On the day when Moses had finished setting up the tabernacle and had anointed and consecrated it with all its furnishings and had anointed and consecrated the altar with all its utensils, [2]the chiefs of Israel, heads of their fathers' houses, who were the chiefs of the tribes, who were over those who were listed, approached [3]and brought their offerings before the LORD, six wagons and twelve oxen, a wagon for every two of the chiefs, and for each one an ox. They brought them before the tabernacle. [4]Then the LORD said to Moses, [5]"Accept these from them, that they may be used in the service of the tent of meeting, and give them to the Levites, to each man according to his service." [6]So Moses took the wagons and the oxen and gave them to the Levites. [7]Two wagons and four oxen he gave to the sons of Gershon, according to their service. [8]And four wagons and eight oxen he gave to the sons of Merari, according to their service, under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. [9]But to the sons of Kohath he gave none, because they were charged with the service of the holy things that had to be carried on the shoulder. [10]And the chiefs offered offerings for the dedication of the altar on the day it was anointed; and the chiefs offered their offering before the altar. [11]And the LORD said to Moses, "They shall offer their offerings, one chief each day, for the dedication of the altar." [12]He who offered his offering the first day was Nahshon the son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah. [13]And his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; [14]one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; [15]one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; [16]one male goat for a sin offering; [17]and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Nahshon the son of Amminadab. [18]On the second day Nethanel the son of Zuar, the chief of Issachar, made an offering. [19]He offered for his offering one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; [20]one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; [21]one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; [22]one male goat for a sin offering; [23]and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Nethanel the son of Zuar. [24]On the third day Eliab the son of Helon, the chief of the people of Zebulun: [25]his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; [26]one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; [27]one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; [28]one male goat for a sin offering; [29]and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Eliab the son of Helon. [30]On the fourth day Elizur the son of Shedeur, the chief of the people of Reuben: [31]his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; [32]one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; [33]one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; [34]one male goat for a sin offering; [35]and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Elizur the son of Shedeur. [36]On the fifth day Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai, the chief of the people of Simeon: [37]his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; [38]one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; [39]one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; [40]one male goat for a sin offering; [41]and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. [42]On the sixth day Eliasaph the son of Deuel, the chief of the people of Gad: [43]his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; [44]one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; [45]one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; [46]one male goat for a sin offering; [47]and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Eliasaph the son of Deuel. [48]On the seventh day Elishama the son of Ammihud, the chief of the people of Ephraim: [49]his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; [50]one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; [51]one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; [52]one male goat for a sin offering; [53]and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Elishama the son of Ammihud. [54]On the eighth day Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur, the chief of the people of Manasseh: [55]his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; [56]one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; [57]one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; [58]one male goat for a sin offering; [59]and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. [60]On the ninth day Abidan the son of Gideoni, the chief of the people of Benjamin: [61]his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; [62]one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; [63]one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; [64]one male goat for a sin offering; [65]and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Abidan the son of Gideoni. [66]On the tenth day Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai, the chief of the people of Dan: [67]his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; [68]one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; [69]one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; [70]one male goat for a sin offering; [71]and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. [72]On the eleventh day Pagiel the son of Ochran, the chief of the people of Asher: [73]his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; [74]one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; [75]one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; [76]one male goat for a sin offering; [77]and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Pagiel the son of Ochran. [78]On the twelfth day Ahira the son of Enan, the chief of the people of Naphtali: [79]his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; [80]one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; [81]one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; [82]one male goat for a sin offering; [83]and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Ahira the son of Enan. [84]This was the dedication offering for the altar on the day when it was anointed, from the chiefs of Israel: twelve silver plates, twelve silver basins, twelve golden dishes, [85]each silver plate weighing 130 shekels and each basin 70, all the silver of the vessels 2,400 shekels according to the shekel of the sanctuary, [86]the twelve golden dishes, full of incense, weighing 10 shekels apiece according to the shekel of the sanctuary, all the gold of the dishes being 120 shekels; [87]all the cattle for the burnt offering twelve bulls, twelve rams, twelve male lambs a year old, with their grain offering; and twelve male goats for a sin offering; [88]and all the cattle for the sacrifice of peace offerings twenty-four bulls, the rams sixty, the male goats sixty, the male lambs a year old sixty. This was the dedication offering for the altar after it was anointed. [89]And when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with the LORD, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim; and it spoke to him. (ESV)
is perhaps the most boring chapter in the entire Bible.

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