Other People's Kids

Random Quote, Just Because

Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.

— Groucho Marx

posted by Dan @ 12:37 PM 0 Comments

Job

Allow me to quote the Bible, Job 1, 13-22:

¹³Now on the day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house,

¹⁴a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them,

¹⁵and the ^(W)Sabeans attacked and took them. They also slew the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you."

¹⁶While he was still speaking, another also came and said, "^(X)The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you."

¹⁷While he was still speaking, another also came and said, "The ^(Y)Chaldeans formed three bands and made a raid on the camels and took them and slew the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you."

¹⁸While he was still speaking, another also came and said, "Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house,

¹⁹and behold, a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people and they died, and I alone have escaped to tell you."

²⁰Then Job arose and ^(Z)tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped.

²¹He said,
"^(AA)Naked I came from my mother's womb,
And naked I shall return there
The ^(AB)LORD gave and the LORD has taken away.
Blessed be the name of the LORD."

^22(AC)Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.

Hm. In the space of what, 5 minutes, the dude lost all his stuff and all his family. He then proceeds to shave his head.

Talk about your bad hair days.

posted by Dan @ 10:33 PM 0 Comments

Stupid People and Other Things

Minnesota has one of the finest educational systems in the country. No lie...I've seen the statistics, and in most categories we're up near the top. I'm not sure of the reasons, but I suppose it has to do with the Northern European/Scandinavian work ethic, our social culture, the fact that there's nothing better to do here in the winter than go to school, or whatever.

But mark my words, there are some very, very stupid people here.

I say this because I've been witnessing them all week long. You see, here it is a state pastime in the winter (along with going to school) to go ice fishing. This is the "sport" where you walk or drive out onto a lake, drill a hole, stab a minnow with a hook, drop it down the hole and then sit and look at each other. Many drink beer during this activity. Lying about your catch is optional.

Thing is, fish houses come off the lake by law at the end of February. I'm pretty sure people don't stop driving out on the lake until a few fall through. I saw a pickup out on the ice as late as Monday...it may have even been Tuesday. Maybe he didn't get the memo that the ice will probably be going out on the lakes IN A FEW DAYS.

Today, driving home from work, I saw a guy sitting out on the ice. I have no idea how he got out there, because there was about a 10-yard or so gap of open water along the shore everywhere around that area of the lake that I could see, but there he sat.

A few hundred yards further on, there were a few people by a very open section of the lake casting out to the ice. Clearly they had stolen the other guy's brain.

Such is life in Minnesota in April.

I haven't been in the mood to write much lately, and tonight isn't really an exception. I did want to let anybody know who's interested that we have now "officially" been matched with a birth mom, who is due in September. She can change her mind at any time up until a few days after the birth, so I'm trying not to get TOO excited, but hey, what can we do except bite our nails all summer?

We met her, and she's very nice (I think I mentioned her in a previous post, come to think of it, but I'm too lazy to read back and make sure). I haven't seen or talked to her since, but The Wife seems to be building a pretty strong friendship, talking on the phone for an hour or so every couple of days. Anyway...it seems we're on our way, barring her deciding she can't go through with it. Pray for us.

The last item..."Melanie" is due with her second baby in October, she has her little one who is like half a year old, and her father threw her out of the house this week. Nice. She has no job, no skills, and nowhere to go except a few friends. We invited her to come live with us for awhile and she accepted...she was planning to move in this weekend. But now we haven't heard from her since early this week. No idea if she'll go through with it...we require certain behaviors (like making sure we know where she is, no men overnight, no friends in and out after a certain time) that she seems hooked on.

Stay tuned. Maybe I'll even start to write more. Stranger things have happened.

posted by Dan @ 8:46 PM 1 Comments