The little man just chillin'...
And his sweet big sister!
After 22 long hours of labor, we were so blessed to meet our Baby Judah! He arrived in the middle of a peaceful, snowy night and captured our hearts just like his sister did almost three years ago... and that's about where the similarities of our children end :-) Judah is a sensitive little guy who prefers being wrapped tight and held pretty much all the time. Erin has taken to him well for the most part, and loves to kiss and hold him. She's still not convinced that he's here to stay, though, and keeps asking where Judah's mom and dad went (poor kid!!). We are happy to be home and we're ready to help Judah settle into life with our family!
Eagerly anticipating the impending candy gorge!
Trick or Treat!!
Allegedly there was a time when Pat Robertson was considered a leader of the evangelical movement and according to the news networks he still is a leader. I for one would have thought his repeated heretical statements (not to mention the claim of being able to leg press 2000lbs) would have disqualified him but apparently Christian leadership is determined by how many TV shows you own and/or how many people attend your church. Interesting.
Regardless, I must concede that even though I disagree with many things Pat Robertson says and does, I respect that he has always defended the biblical truths. He has not been afraid to say that homosexuality is a sin or label abortion as murder. Bravo! So I was surprised to learn that on Nov. 7th Robertson announced that he was endorsing Giuliani.
What exactly is happening to Christian Republicans these days? What could possibly posses people to throw their support behind a candidate who has shamelessly supported abortion, homosexual rights and repeatedly broken his marriage vows? Don't think that shameless is an exaggeration...the man has voiced support for partial-birth abortion, is famous for marching in New York’s June Gay Pride parade and publicly brought mistresses into New York Mayor's mansion while married. That is the short list.
So why are Robertson and so many other "conservative" Christians supporting Giuliani? I believe that it is born out of an intense (and irrational) fear of Hillary Clinton as the next President. Not a fear for our nation's children or otherwise people wouldn't support Giuliani, instead it is a fear for our money...the fear that Hillary's socialist agenda will tax us into poverty.
We should be ashamed by Christianity's eagerness to discard the pro-life agenda in exchange for their pocketbooks. Is it worth trading the lives of infants for acceptable tax rates? Or should the question be phrased, is it Godly/Righteous/Christian to trade the lives of infants for acceptable tax rates? No. As Pat Buchanan said, a Republican nomination of Giuliani is a “retention of power at the price of one's soul.”
Erin and her Daddy after finding the perfect "Daddy Pumpkin"
Caleb, the only one strong enough to hold such a huge gourd!
Our pumpkin family
Picking the "Mommy Pumpkin"
Having spent too many years in the tech industry I feel that I am qualified to say that it takes a fair amount of hubris to insist that for personal use a PC is better than a Mac. There was a time when Microsoft Windows was superior to anything Apple offered, but that time has passed and people should begin to realize that it isn't in their best interest to blindly embrace the past. Instead we should strive to buy the best product on the market and right now there isn't anything better than what Apple offers.
Last year Anne and I decided that our next computer would be a MacBook Pro. This decision was born out of a frustration with Windows and my corporate experience with Apple products. We choose the MacBook Pro because a) we only buy laptops now and b) I needed to be able to use the laptop for work purposes.
My experience has been that what I want in a work computer is completely different than what I want in my home computer. As a Network Administrator I wanted a computer that I had complete control over as a home user I want a computer that works without any effort on my part. There is no question that Apple has a clear advantage as a home computer, because of their attention to details that really make their product shine.
So without further ado, here are a handful of those superior “details” found in a Mac.
Hardware:
1. Magsafe Power Adapter.
On a typical laptop the power jack uses a physical "pinch" method to hold the power cord in place. There are two problems with this method, first over time that "pinch" wears out and the jack no longer establishes a firm connection with the cord. Second, if you or your children should trip over the cord than the entire laptop crashes to the floor. The Macbook uses a magnet, all you have to do is bring the end of the power cord close enough to the side of the laptop and "presto" it snaps into place. The beauty of a magnet is that the "strength" does not fade and the magnet is strong enough to easily hold the power cord in place but weak enough that it releases before your computer is pulled off your desk.
2. Illuminated Keyboard
Once you have used a keyboard that gradually illuminates as your environment darkens, you'll never go back. Simple as that.
3. Two-finger Trackpad support
Drag one finger to move your cursor, tap one finger for a left click, drag two fingers to scroll a window, tap two fingers for a right click…never use your trackpad buttons again.
Software:
1. Stable
Because Apple doesn't have to worry about thousands of possible hardware configurations, they can design their operating system to work perfectly with their hardware. The result is no more crashes, no more restarts and no more hassle. Seriously.
2. Authority
Have you ever installed a spyware off the Internet, without even knowing it? Well if you had a Mac it wouldn't be a problem, because software can't install without a username and password! Why Windows didn't have this option before
3. Simplicity
Mac OS X is frankly far simpler than Windows. An example of this is plugging in a USB mouse. When I'm on my Windows laptop, I get three pop-up messages when I plug in my mouse "USB device detected", "USB Human Interface Device Detected" and "Your new hardware is installed and ready to use". When I plug the mouse into the Mac a grand total of 0 message are displayed…the only thing that happens is that the mouse works and that is all I care about! OS X does an excellent job of only alerting you if there is a PROBLEM. Not so for Windows, I can't even count how many messages you receive when you first use Windows that give you some pointless information plus the option to never display that message again. Apple has the mindset that if the information doesn't need to be displayed "ever again" than it didn't need to be displayed in the first place. Bravo!
4. Ease of Use
The location of everything on a Mac makes sense. Preferences are all stored under preferences. Applications are all stored under Applications. Documents are all stored under Documents. You are never left wondering where something could be. How about searching? Can't remember what you named that document with the chicken recipe? Begin typing recipe into the search field on the title bar and results begin to instantly appear, no more waiting for that timer to stop spinning…
Macs are far from perfect yet and some differences are particularly annoying if you are a Windows user (Hello, no delete key?!?), but the overall Mac experience is FAR superior to anything else available! In the past finding applications for the Mac was one of its biggest
detractions…that isn't an issue now, not only can you run Windows programs on a Mac there are also many MANY more native Mac applications available! (ie. there is a nifty recipe program that operates like iTunes, automatically scales any recipe for any size
group, creates custom shopping lists based off the recipes you choose, will export that shopping list to your ipod and will respond to voice commands by reading your recipes out loud to you while you are in the kitchen! Nice!)
Plus with the new version of OS X coming out October 26th, why waste your money on a Windows PC? Do yourself a favor and try something new!
Here's a couple of recent Erin snapshots... She wasn't too happy about the second picture :-) These days, her Dad and I are in wide-eyed wonder at her stamina and will. She has given us a run for our money regarding daily (seemingly constant) discipline and doesn't seem to have intentions of letting up anytime soon. If I let my guard down, she capitalizes. If I'm tired, she knows it. If I'm tempted to laugh at some act of disobedience, she hams it up. She knows all my buttons and has declared war. Good thing we're bigger and smarter than she is... I'm just hoping we can match her in energy :-) Honestly, we have seen improvement since we've tightened up on our tactics and I know in time her will can be bridled! She really is such a treasure to us and I am constantly surprised at what she teaches herself... hopefully she's as willing to teach her little brother when the time comes :-)
They put the 'red' in Red River :-)
Erin being shy (yeah right)
Waiting for dinner...
Caleb relaxing
Hmm...
Still waiting for dinner....
Me and Nate being stupid
IDK, my BFFs Jack and Shelley?
Timmy being tortured, still waiting for dinner....
Nathan, playing hard to get
Aunt Ruth out on the porch
Caleb on the well. This well was dry, and up until last year Aunt Ruth and Uncle Luis were collecting rain water from the roof. They now have indoor plumbing!
Erin on the porch waiting for breakfast - we were treated to homemade walnut pancakes, fresh fruit and piping hot bacon. Yum!
The Sandoval's Adobe home
The front door
The guest house where we stayed
The chapel on the grounds
The corral... There was also a bunk house that I didn't get a picture of because it was too far back on the property.
The Gorge
John Caleb and Shelley
Erin and Daddy
Me, right before I panicked :-P
The Happy Couple!
The handsome groomsmen and his family :-)
Me and Naomi in our matching dresses - no, we weren't in the wedding party.
