Wondering Snowleopard

Little Boy's baptism.

2012-01-30T19:12:00.001Z

Well, it has to be said, we've had a busy week. In fact, we're in the middle of a busy fortnight. In fact... (I could go on, but I'll stop)
But yesterday was the highlight of it all. Little Boy got baptised. It ended up being a sort of fusion of the various communities of which we are a part. It happened in the chapel here at school; the service was led by mum, and we had family, friends from church and lots of people from school there. It was great to draw together these different parts of our lives.
We were delighted to have so many people with us, celebrating Little Boy's life, and committing him to God.

The numbers grew as the weekend progress - 10 for Saturday dinner, 30 for Sunday lunch, and about 4.7 million (or thereabouts) in our house for tea after the service.
I explained it all to Big Boy (again!) on the Sunday morning, so he had fresh in his mind what we were doing and why. He came and stood with us while we were making our promises (the photo is from after the service - that's the top of his head at the bottom there, along with the top of his cousin's head). Granny also got Big Boy to light the candle and hold it while we prayed. That night, as it happened, our Bible story was about Jesus' baptism, which was rather apt.
All-in-all, a great day, and hopefully one which will help others to understand our faith better.

Gorgeous Big Boy.

2012-01-21T15:07:00.001Z

Blogging seems to have tailed off recently (something about trying to get a book published, I suspect...) But Big Boy has come out with some crackers of late, and it would seem a shame to deprive you of them.
Today's classic was about wind turbines. (Don't call them windmills; he'll correct you!) We drove past one in the next village and the conversation went thus:
BB: Why do wind turbines have to be in fields?
Me: They don't have to be sweetheart, it's just a good place for them to get lots of wind.
BB: Maybe it's so they can blow all the leaves off the trees, so that the apples can come.
I have to say, that was a very amusing picture - farmers erecting enormous fans in their fields to hasten the harvest. Perhaps one day I'll explain to Big Boy that turbines harness the wind, they don't create it...
He's also started cheating. Not because he doesn't understand the rules of a game; it's not so innocent as that. A couple of days ago, we were playing a game called Crazy Chefs.

Basically, you have a card with a bunch of ingredients to collect. A whole bunch of tiles with these ingredients (for a total of five chef cards) are placed face down, and players take it in turns to turn them over and take them if they're on their card. It's sort of a memory game. When you've got all the ingredients, you spin a spinner to try to collect a plate, and then again to try to collect your completed meal. Sadly, when we played, Big Boy failed to take all the tiles out of the box, with the result that I lost.

Today, we were playing Shopping List. (Incidentally, they're both 'Orchard Toys' games, which are fab)

It's a similar game, where you have a trolley and a list of eight items to collect. There are five trolleys and lists, so forty tiles to turn over in the course of the game. Of course, when there are only two of you, that means that there's always a greater statistical likelihood that you'll turn over one that neither of you needs (especially when, like Big Boy, you're prone to turning the same tile over two or three turns in a row...) As we were approaching the end of the game, I was about two tiles ahead (not unusual, given his dodgy memory) but was struggling with the final ones. I eventually found the teddy bear tile, but didn't manage to find the toilet paper one before he'd found all of his tiles (with some guidance...). I thought this was a little odd, as I was pretty confident I'd been through the whole set. When I said, 'I can't find the toilet paper anywhere', and starting turning all the tiles face up, Big Boy laughed and said, 'that's because I tricked you - I left it out', and proudly produced it from the box.
Cheers Big Boy. Turns out crime does pay.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

2012-01-05T20:36:00.000Z

I just came across this comment on TED.com. I think it's brilliant. I'm sometimes guilty myself of what the author says.

Also I'm wondering why so many people on here find it necessary to attempt to belittle each other and prove intellectual awesomeness. It's absurd how often I read comments suggesting someone else is just a complete retard and they don't even deserve to be listened to. We all have different influences and experiences in our lives so of course we have different information in our brains that we can draw from. Even if someone's argument seems crazy to you, maybe that's because you don't fully understand it. Maybe the other person is having trouble expressing their beliefs. Some people are better then others in debates, or with words in general. Make an effort to understand other people instead of just taking what is written as all there is to it. Both sides make this same mistake. Many people are on this site to learn. Some people are on here to find selected videos that support their current beliefs. Some people get sucked into the "I'm smarter than you" competitions and lose site of what matters. If you don't agree with someone, at least make the effort to fully understand why they believe what they believe. People rarely ask questions, and most of the questions that do get asked are undeservedly condescending. If we are seeking improvement and ultimately truth, then we should be seriously interested in opposing viewpoints. If my questions were ignorant, I'm sorry I'm not perfect, please don't attack me.

(Taken from http://www.ted.com/talks/alexander_tsiaras_conception_to_birth_visualized.html?awesm=on.ted.com_A9OG&utm_campaign=alexander_tsiaras_conception_to_birth_visualized&utm_medium=on.ted.com-twitter&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_content=ted.com-talkpage the author's name is Tim Walinga)

I guess maybe a solution to this is to pose questions more often than we make statements, in response to the ideas and beliefs of others. Rather than coming out with 'that's ridiculous', consider a gentler way of approaching the subject. That's not to water down the truth at all. I'm not suggesting that we should kowtow to everyone, merely that sometimes conducting a discussion with respect might be more productive than smashing an argument to smithereens and destroying the relationship in the process.