The Auldridges

For those of you that know us and Caleb very well u probably know his obsession with candles….he asked me to take a picture of him with his pink candle today…and his big goofy smile shows how excited he was to take the picture…..

the boy is sooo stinking funny….he is the only almost 3 year old i know that when u take him to a store he will ask to go down the candle isle and not the candy or toy isles….he can be bribbed to leave a mall or any crazy place if u tell him we will go look at candles….its sooo funny!!!

here are some more of him with all his candles and the bag he got for Christmas to carry them in!

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--Shari

I left off in the last post early on Christmas morning. So I’ll mention the rest of the day now.

After finishing up with presents at our house, we all got ready for church and headed out. We had to pack everything for Christmas at Grandma’s as well as our usual church gear because we were heading straight there afterward.

Church was nice. There was no Sunday School which gives Shari and I a break from our teaching. And the service was a very nice arrangement of the songs of those individuals involved in the original Christmas stroy and the implications thereof.

After church we drove over to Grandma and Grandpa’s where we saw Great Grandad, Aunt Hilary and Uncle Sean with Shannon and Ethan, Aunt Emily (uncle Ira is out to sea), and Uncle Ike and Aunt Angie. There was lots of food, as always when Grandpa is cooking, and we enjoyed a great time of family, eating, and Christmas presents. The boys made out good (again) with assorted toys, to include the coveted Lego Bionicles sets, and savings bonds (which they will, of course, appreciate more in several years).

With our visit over we headed home and ended Christmas with getting the boys settled. Poor Cubby (Caleb) was so tired from being up late the night before, up early that day, and skipping his nap that he fell asleep on the way home and was in bed by quarter after 6pm. The other two were tired but lasted until their bedtimes.

The next day Shari was already getting the Christmas decorations down. We start to get a bit claustrophobic with all of it up, and Shari likes to have it down before her birthday on the 1st of Jan. Otherwise it feels more like Christmas than her birthday, says she. So that ends the Auldridge Christmas, though we do have a visit with Shari’s brother Jephery and wife Heidi and son grant next week.

It was a very nice time and the kids had a very nice Christmas indeed. I just hope they can someday understand how truly blessed they (we) are and feel humbled by all that we have received. It’s my job to teach them that, I know, but sometimes you just have to wonder if it’s all sinking in.

--Jim

Good morning and Merry Christmas! We hope you enjoy this special day and that you know the reason for the celebration. We hope that you not only know the reason, but that you actually know Him!

The boys had us up at 6:00 and the presents are open! They got new bikes, some Lego Bionicles costumes, Lincoln Logs, and much more. They are now trying to figure out what to play with first.

Last night we spent Christmas Eve at Nana’s and Papa’s (Shari’s parents). We had an awesome Christmas ham dinner with lots of fixings. The boys opened presents there and got some cool things. Most notably, Gabriel is very excited about a boom box for his room. We got home from there at about 8:30 after much Christmas celebration.

Today we will be heading to church, then straight to Grandma’s and Grandpa’s (Jim’s parents) house for Christmas celebration with them. You can imagine that our (spoiled ) boys will receive even more presents there and it should be another great time with family.

I must end this now to play with Christmas presents with the boys!

Merry Christmas!

--Jim

Christian was sitting there getting frustrated with the amount of toys he was supposed to clean up and said out loud ” im am getting brainwashed” and he said about 3-4 times and gabe says to him ” u don’t even know what brainwashed means…and Christian said ” yes i do it means your brain is getting wet” and gabe argues that is not what it means….and Christian said “no none believes me” so he asks gabe ” what does it mean then” and gabe replies “brainwashed means that you are confused and don’t know what it going on”

So I think that according to Gabe, Christian and Gabe are both brainwashed…..hehe

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--Shari

Yesterday, Dec 8th, was Christian’s 5th birthday! I wasn’t able to post about it yesterday because I was returning from my trip.

But I got home at about 3:30pm, and we all had dinner together and hung out watching a movie. He had the choice to go to a restaurant of his choosing or stay at home and have mom cook anything he wanted. He chose to stay at home and have hamburgers and macaronie-&-cheese. So we grilled up some burgers and had a nice dinner, then we all hung out and the boys watched the movie Robots.

Today is the day we are having the larger celebration with some friends and family. We’ll be going to Churck E. Cheese’s and then coming home for cake, ice cream, and presents. We planned it for today since we didn’t know for sure when I’d be home.

So I’d like to say, happy birthday Christian. You are a very special and funny boy. You are very confident and unique and it’s going to be fun watching you continue to grow. Mom and Dad love you and your brothers more than you can ever you know!

--Jim

For the last 2 weeks (give or take a few days) I have been away from home taking a class for my job. Though I had Internet access while I was gone, the class was about a computer system and was very intense. So by the time I got back to my hotel (and did my homework ) I wasn’t in much of a mood to spend more time on the computer than it took to catch up with my e-mail. Plus I suppose it wouldn’t be best to announce to the whole world that I was away and my family was at home without me. So the blog went without update.

But, the class is over and I am home now. It was a pretty tough class. We were learning about a very secure piece of software, which involved learning a whole new operating system as well. The teacher was fairly confusing, and got tounge tied a lot. We had to be on our toes because she made so many mistakles we could really have been led down the wrong path. Even scarier–the final exam, which HAD to be passed because my agency paid $5000 plus travel expenses for the class, was written by the same person! There were several poorly worded questions on it.

But I came away with a 94% on the written portion. I missed 3 questions. One of them was one of the very poorly worded questions, and she wouldn’t back down when I challenged it. The other 2 were my own very bad mistakes. I got into a hurry and simply filled in the wrong bubble on them–I just wanted to be done and out of there!

But I was able to get home by 3:30pm yesterday which was Christian’s 5th birthday, so it was real nice to be able to come home and tell him happy birthday face to face and love on him. I really missed the whole family on this trip, like I do on all of them, and I am very glad to be home.

--Jim

Have you ever heard that phrase uttered from the mouth of a child? Perhaps an adult? With Thanksgiving having come around again, I thought maybe I could help remove that vocabulary from your personal lexicon.

What does the word “fair” mean? The dictionary mentions the idea of being “in proper or legal manner” and the word “just”. We often think of fair as getting what we deserve. But what is it that we deserve? With our daily-life blinders on, we think of fair as getting a promotion or reward for a job well done. We think of it as “what comes around goes around”. If I do good, I should receive good. If someone breaks a law, they should receive punishment or misery.

But let’s remove the blinders of daily-life and view the world through the eternal perspective. Forget that we did one thing at work above that which was expected of us. Within the eternal view, what is expected of us and how have we measured up?

Ultimately we can answer the question of what is expected of us by asking the first question in the Wesminster Shorter Catechism. “What is the chief end of man?” The answer is that “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” Did you read that first part? We were created–the purpose of life is–to glorify God. To properly fulfill this chief end, God’s reason for creating us, is to always obey all His commands and do everything in a manner that is worshipful to Him. Have you done that since the day you were conceived? I haven’t.

So, having failed at the ultimate purpose of my having been created, what would then be fair? What do you do when something you have created fails at its purpose? You destroy it! That is what we deserve. It would be fair for God to reach down and wipe us from the face of the Earth, removing us from his presence completely and forever. And, interestingly enough, God would be glorified in that action through a display of His holiness and His wrath.

So, in the eternal perspective, do you still want life to be fair? I certainly don’t!

Thankfully, God has allowed for us to receive that which is not fair–mercy. God gave us Jesus Christ who did fulfill the chief end of man. Yet he was sentenced to death by God in order that we can receive mercy. That should give us a new outlook on life. Never again should I worry about being treated fairly. If I am treated unfairly in life, I should simply turn the other cheek. I’ll continue seeking to treat others fairly because Jesus himself told us in Mathew 22:34-40 that a portion of the law hangs on it–we should love our neighbors as ourselves. But never, for fear of being a hypocrite and bringing into question the mercy that I have received, should I be overly concerned with my own fair treatment. Seeking proper justice is one thing, but seeking self-righteous and judgmental recourse is simply ignoring the mercy we have received.

How is all of this related to Thanksgiving? The point is that we should all be thankful each and every day that our cups run over. You see, by simply waking up and drawing breath each day, our cup is full. We have received mercy and been allowed to live in the world, in the limited presence of God, with the promise that through faith in Jesus Christ we will enjoy the fullness of His presence someday. Anything more than drawing breath–any food, clothing, housing, or comfort we receive–is the running over of our cup. So praise God and give thanks for the mercy to have been created, and the time given to live long enough to hear the promise of mercy through Jesus Christ. Then thank and praise God for running your cup over on top of it all.

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--Jim

Yeah, it’s been a while. But hey–I didn’t go 17 days with no post like some people I know.

As you read last, I had strep and I had it bad. I can’t remeber being in so much pain before. After my throat stopped hurting, I realized it had also infected my sinues which caused some nice headaches until everything drained out. I didn’t wake up and feel like a person again until Wednesday the 16th–8 days after noticing symptoms. Between being knocked out like that, and then trying to play catch up, I haven’t had much time to worry about the ‘ol blog. But I’ll work on filling you in. I suppose a lot has happened, so I’ll try to organize it well.

Shari’s family in town
During the extended weekend that I was sick, the 10th through the 14th, all of Shari’s immediate family was in town. This includes her sister Jennifer and husband Ron with baby Cierra, and her brother Jeph and wife Heidi with baby Grant. Since Shari’s parents live in the area, this means the whole Guinan family was together again, with all 5 grandchildren. It has been quite a while since such a gathering. We had a good time just hanging out, and having great meals together. We also had a Thanksgiving dinner, 1 of 2 for us (one of like 40 for Jeph and Heidi ), since everyone was together and it’s that time of year. Barbara did a great job keeping everyone fed and comfortable and we all enjoyed each others company. Those new babies are really cute, and extraordinarily well behaved. They were so calm and peaceful the whole visit. I hope to have some pictures up soon.

Gabriel’s baptism
The same weekened that the Guinan family was gathered, Gabriel was baptized and took confirmation vows. All of the Guinan family mentioned above were present, along with my parents, my sister Hilary and children Shannon and Ethan, and my brother Ike and wife Angie. Unfortunately, my sister Emily lives too far out of town to have been able to come, or she’d have been there as well. So Gabriel, being 8 and having taken the classes to explain the churches beliefs and the mebership vows, was baptized into the convenant family of Christ and confirmed through public profession of faith in Christ. We were very proud, and know that he will contiue to grow in faith by the grace of God.

Getting things back in shape
So with all the activities going and on me having been very sick, things got pretty behind as far as household work goes. We spent this past weekend working very hard to get back on top, but there is still plenty to be done. Saturday I got the lawn taken care of for winter. I got all the boys stuff in the shed, pulled the old dead foliage out of the landscape beds, pulled the dead plants out of the vegetable garden, raked and mulched leaves, trimmed, and dropped some grass seed in bare spots to work into the soil over the winter. It all looked very nice when done, mostly because it all in such desperate need of being done. Shari spent that day deep in the holday baking that she does as part of Christmas presents–making the house smell of delicous baked goods. As far as the inside of the house goes, we worked on laundry, the kitchen, and keeping up with messes created by 3 boys. There is still much to be done though.

I think that covers much of the goings on. If I think of anything else, I’ll drop a note. And, as mentioned many times past, someday Shari will let me show her how to write in this thing and she can keep it up to date when I can’t. We’ll see.

--Jim

I have had a sore throat with minor fever for about 48 hours now. I had thought it was just drainage, but it wasn’t getting better–no, it was getting much worse.

So, after a sleepless night last night, I call the doctor who couldn’t see me until 4:45pm today. I suffered through today, almost in tears at one point. I then went in and went through the regimen of temperature, weighing, etc. I relay my symptoms and he finaly looks at my throat. His first words? “Oh Jesus!” Now, I don’t think he is a Christian, and I recognize he took the Lord’s name in vain. But I overlooked that for the moment because when a doctor makes such an exclamation while looking at your ailing body, it get’s your attention. Plus he is Chineese so it sounded kind of funny in his accent.

Anyway, it turns out I have been sitting on STREP throat for a while and it has gotten pretty bad. At least now I know I wasn’t a wimp–it really was a bad infection with lots of pain. And I have meds that should start clearing me up in the next 24-48 hours.

Boy do I hope it goes more quickly!

Of course, this all happens right when Shari’s sister and brother are to be in town with their spouses and babies (1 to each couple) under 1 year old. So I have been left out of tonights gathering, and Shari has now found out that I have strep which could make her a carrier. Thankfully the antibiotics will kick into me and let me see them all before they go. I got Shari an appt. for tomorow just in case.

--Jim

Just making notice that the Generic AJAX Library I wrote has now been documented more properly. Maybe it will make some more sense to a few folks now.

--Jim