31 Types of Snakes

We have had a good year after a tough 2007 and 2008. Angie's health has improved greatly, Ian is fully potty trained, and I can enjoy the football season again. We give thanks to God. It is great to have an awesome God and a great family, and we would like to give a quick update on what He is doing in our lives.


Angie
She is experiencing stability and incremental improvements since January. She went from not walking to walking with crutches last spring. Today, one can hardly guess she has been very sick. Angie plans to resume her career and perhaps go to graduate school once she has clearance from the doctors.

Day out with Thomas

Growing up in a big city, I rarely had a chance to ride a car. Instead, I used public transportation daily, including trains and subways. Today, I had to drive over 2 hours to give my son an opportunity to have a 25 minute train ride. Granted, it was not an ordinary train. It was Thomas the train in person. Pretty nice guy despite the smoking habit. It was a great day. Ian is growing up in a different world from mine, but I pray that my son will know the same love and grace from God I experienced as a kid.

Angie's Condition

Angie's health has improved significantly since February. She was able to enjoy life again this summer. We thank you for all the prayers and support. Our families and church family were phenomenal supporters.

I can now enjoy seen Angie going to the park, to the grocery store, helping with chores around the house, and most importantly,participating in Ian life. Simple abilities most of us enjoy, like standing for more than 2 minutes, was a dream 12 months ago. I borrow the words of a country song by Lonestar "the view I like the most if my front porch looking in."

Psalm 25

More Children

Children are a wonderful blessing and I want more blessings. Last week, in Kansas City, while visiting Angie's doctor for one more checkup before changing doctors, we were reminded again that our plan for God's blessings depends on God's blessing. The doctor told us that the chances of another pregnancy are very low. We would have to wait for at least two years before considering the odds.

Thus, we begin to pray as we embark on the arduous journey of adoption and conception. I really hope we will get another YES from Him on this one.

KIDMO Review

I have been using KIDMO (www.kidmo.com) on Wednesday nights for about a year. It is a nice video based curriculum for children in grade school. It is easy to implement and requires relatively less preparation time. It includes a 10 minutes small group time at the end of each lesson, which can be lead by volunteers or parents without seminary degrees. On the down side, it could become a lazy way out for children's discipleship. We counter balance by offering other small group opportunities for children to participate (Sunday School, Connection groups, and children's worship).

Earth Day: Why Christians Care

Earth Day: Why We Care

It is cool to be green. Sadly, there is nothing more to it for those who have abandoned plans to replace a gas thirsty vehicle for a hybrid one. The Toyota Prius went from having people on a waiting list for months, to the unprecedented practice of offering rebates to bump sales. Apparently, it was cool to preserve natural resources and reduce carbon emissions, when the gas prices were hovering four dollars per gallon. Now, at less than two, who cares? I tell you who does care: God. He has always cared about it, and so should His people.

We care for our planet because God cared about it first. After creation, God took the time to appreciate and enjoy it. He saw everything he had made and said “it is very good” (Genesis 1:31). Words such as preservation, conservation, recycling, and sustainability, came straight from His vocabulary. God values his creation. Conversely, creation reveals God’s qualities and speaks of his perfect character (Romans 1:20 and Psalm 19).

As disciples of the living God, we should also be passionate about this planet because God has entrusted creation to us (Genesis 2:15). God has commanded us to serve and preserve. We are stewards of every natural resource. We have no other option but to take the lead and be examples.

I really appreciated the joined statement by Pope John Paul II and Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople on this matter. It is called the “Declaration on the Environment.” It was released on June 10, 2002 under the title “We Are Still Betraying the Mandate God has Given Us.” The mandate we are ignoring is “to collaborate with God in watching over creation in holiness and wisdom.” These two leaders of the church also wrote “A solution at the economic and technological level can be found only if we undergo, in the most radical way, an inner change of heart, which can lead to a change in lifestyle and of unsustainable patterns of consumption and production.” We know this change of heart is result of faith in Christ and holy living. The full article is found at http://conservation.catholic.org/declaration.htm.

I wonder how the Earth would look like if we would take God’s mandate seriously. I hope our children and grandchildren can find that out.

William Silva
On Earth’s Day 2009

Social Networking for Dummies

If you are going to stick with email only, regardless of what I tell you, please, do all of us a favor: stop whining to your friends at the dinner table, and let the rest of us, who plan to stay around for most of the century, enjoy the benefits of its technology.

If you are still telling your family and friends that you "don't do this or that" (meaning you don't subscribe to a social network and don't know what IM means), please, stop. You don't have to justify your choice. You are not being forced into browsing the internet. Keep it for yourself. It's embarrassing. It's like seating with a group race drivers and telling them that you would rather drive your ford Focus than a M3, because the Focus is plenty for your needs. It would be even more ridiculous if the BMW would cost 15K (Focus' MSRP) rather than 75k. If you have a computer and an Internet connection (required for email), you don't need to spend more money nor more time. Yes, you can drive a M3 for the same cost of a Focus.

Instead of trying to convince a race driver to go slower or your friends that Facebook, Orkut, and Twitter are the evil beasts from the Book of Revelation, try them for yourself. I suggest the following strategy to beginners:

1. Cut through the clutter: there are many social networks and free online services. Find out what your family or close friends are using (Facebook, MySpace, Orkut, etc.);
2. Start Small: spent 10 -15 minutes setting up an account with Facebook for instance; don't try everything at once. You also should consider sharing the photos you are accumulating on your hard drive. You have already spent money on a digital camera, go ahead and subscribe to a free online storage site (photobucket, flickr, etc.). Two accounts to begin.
   
3. Think Long-Term: stop using the email service from your internet provider. Create a free account with a major online email provider (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, etc.). You don't have to change email address every time you take advantage of a new cable company offer.
4. Save Time: guess what? You do not have less time than I do. It's arrogant to tell your friends that you don't have time to browse the internet and check out their MySpace site. I bet you spend time reading jokes sent by email and forwarding them around. Nothing says "I'm old" more efficiently. You don't have to spent much time if any. Learn how to feed information automatically into your social network. Do you remember the photo website you created? Have that linked to your Facebook page. You can do that for just about every site. Some networks will allow you to read and write updates by phone (with or without internet connection);
   
5. Be Safe: If you are over 40, you probably hesitated about using emails back in the 90's too. If you sent money to Nigeria, following the email instructions, rejoice: this is relatively safer environment. Please, be aware of the safety guidelines and security features of your computer and websites you are joining.

You can do all that at home in front of your computer. Nobody needs to know about it. In that case, if all the hype proves to be another busted Bubble, you can tell your friends at the dinner table "I told you so."

Will

Truth about Angie

Today a friend came over the house with her kids. It's good to see Angie socializing again after 5 months of deep depression. She made some banana bread muffins; not from scratch. It's a huge accomplishment for her since her functionality is nearly none.

Bolo de Fubá - Corn Cake Recipe

This is an excellent cake to serve with coffee:

3 ovos/eggs
1/2 copo/cup de óleo/oil
2 copos/cups de açucar/sugar

1 1/2 copo/cup de farinha de Fubá/corn flower
1 copo/cup de farinha de trigo/all purpose white flower
1 copo/cup de leite de coco/coconut milk (one can will do, 400 ml)


1 collher the sopa/soup spoon de fermento/baking powder