Little Kitty had her class program tonight, and it was so cute. I was impressed with how hard the kids had worked as well as all of the extra work put in by the teachers. The gym was packed, and we all enjoyed the show! Here are some pictures for grandparents back in Little Rock and Hot Springs Village. Enjoy!!
KeKe and Her Friends Before the Show
A Tired Rowland, Wild-Eyed William and Posing Jia Waiting Patiently
The Finale
Great Job, Princess! We love you!!!
There is a growing interest in Oprah’s latest spiritual endeavor that is causing much uproar in the Christian community. As I have thought about this new path that she has taken and others are following as well, I have come up with a few ideas of my own on the subject. Specifically, Oprah is following a man named Eckhart Tolle’s belief system as outlined in his previous book The Power of Now and his newest book A New Earth. She is offering an online class (not an online church) with Mr. Tolle as the teacher as she sits next to him discussing his ideas.
If you are a Christian, you probably know that the Bible teaches that we are not to follow any man or any man’s teachings. We have to know the Word, and if the Holy Spirit lives inside of us (and He does), He will give us the discernment that we need. And we should be praying for those who are following ALL of the false teachers in the world.
Of course, I totally disagree with Oprah and with Tolle, but she is not someone to whom I’ve ever looked for spiritual wisdom or guidance. She’s a TALK SHOW HOST who’s obviously very misguided, but so are the Tom Cruises and John Travoltas who preach Scientology and the Richard Geres who preach Buddhism and the Shirley Maclaines who teach reincarnation…..The list goes on and on.
A video has recently been placed on YouTube (youtube.com/watch?v=JW4LLwkgmqA) put together by Our Eyes Are Open Ministries. After searching online, I was not able to find anything about this ministry, but the video it has produced calls this new movement “the largest church ever,” the “Church of Oprah,” and states that viewers watching Oprah and Tolle’s online class were put into a “mass trance.” (To me as I observed this “mass trance,” it was simply a moment of meditation, similar to what has been practiced in other religions for centuries.) The video presents another book called Don’t Drink the Kool-Aid - Oprah, Obama, and the Occult by Carrington Steele. According to www.csteeleonline.com, this book documents Oprah’s evolution into the person she is today and how she arrived at her current belief system.
To me, the most disturbing (and truthfully, irritating) part of the video was that it denounces Barak Obama because Oprah has come out in support of him. The Steele web page says that it his “sudden rise in power” is “creepy.” The Kool-Aid book ties Oprah, Obama, and the Occult together and suggests that the same brainwashing techniques used on POWs are being used on Oprah’s show. (Obviously, the Kool-Aid reference is to the Jim Jones’ Mass Suicide.) Just recently, I have seen Obama interviewed talking about his personal relationship with Jesus, his conversion, and his seeking the Lord (his terminology). Once again, the Christian organization that put together the youtube video, while full of great intentions, has attacked a fellow believer because an unbeliever, Oprah, supports him. Wonder how many unbelievers supported George W. or Bill Clinton, both of whom are professed followers of Christ.
We don’t need to fear Muslims or Jews or Buddhists or Scientologists or Oprahs or whomever. Since the beginning of time, people have denied God, and many of those who have accepted God have denied His Son. As Christ followers, God has not called us to take up arms against those who disagree with us. The call is the same as it has always been — We are to love God with all of our hearts and love others. It’s God’s responsibility to draw people to Him. We don’t have to protect people from false prophets (although speaking the truth in love is a definite option!) or try to bring down those who are preaching lies.
I would challenge those of us who call ourselves Christians to pray for Oprah and for Tolle and pray for those who are still seeking the Truth yet looking in the wrong places. Then, we need to get up and LOVE GOD and LOVE OTHERS REALLY WELL!!!!!
What a great weekend with good friends!! Dave and Carrie flew in from San Jose Friday night and flew out EARLY this morning. We had such a blast! They’re the kind of friends you don’t see for months and don’t talk to very often, but when you get back together, you’ve never missed a beat!!
Carrie, Rowland, and I are trying to get them to Parker. We looked at some beautiful, truly amazing homes to get an idea of how much more they can get for their money here versus in San Jose. Carrie and I both fell in love with an amazing $2.2 million home - with the 4500 square foot basement UNfinished! I’d have to sell every piece of furniture I have and buy all new. I felt like Tiny Tim walking around a giant’s home. The inside was beautiful rock and dark wood with every convenience you could possibly imagine. It even had a laundry room the size of my bedroom on the main floor with a small one upstairs in case you had a few things you wanted to throw in before you went to bed, I suppose. Carrie said that the main one was for the maid to do the laundry, and the upstairs one was for anything you personally wanted to wash! The pantry was nicer than any room in my whole house (and I’m not trashing my house!). You’d need to buy 50 bottles of wine just to begin filling the built-in wine racks. As we walked away with Carrie’s eyes lit up, she was saying, “I could soooo picture myself in that house!” Always the good friend, I brought her quickly back down to reality, and we headed back to the “slums!”
We went to our favorite restaurant Saturday night, Terra Cotta, in Old Littleton. Fabulous food, cozy environment, delicious wine AND VANILLA CREME BRULEE!!!!! The owner is a friend and treated us to a glass of dessert wine and a glass of port after all else was done. Needless to say, we were all happy that Rowland was in the driver’s seat! He kept passing the extra wine off to Dave. Wonderful, wonderful night!!!
We also made a decision on our next cruise and are ready to book! It’s an eight day/seven night cruise to San Juan, Puerto Rico, St. Maarten, and St. Thomas cruising out of Miami on the Freedom of the Seas Royal Caribbean ship. There are a gazillion things for the kids to do on the ship from rock climbing, ice skating, in-line skating, a movie theater, great shopping (for the girls and me!), swimming, an off-boat dock with seadoos, etc., etc., etc. And the most important thing for me is that there are Kids’ Clubs and Teens’ Clubs as well as on-ship babysitters, a spa for my every other day massage, and a work-out room! Can’t wait for March 22nd to get here!!!!!
Great memories were made this weekend, and I’ll be reliving them for a while!!!
Dave and Carrie on the Cruise in February
Rowland and I on the Cruise in February
Rowland and I took the boys to see Bon Jovi this week and had a blast. Carson knows a lot of the songs since he’s a classic rock guy, and he also has Bon Jovi’s newer stuff. William also knew a lot of the older stuff. Our kids are going to be those weird kids that don’t have a clue what their friends are listening to because they’re stuck on their momma and daddy’s music!!
Jon Bon Jovi still has it! He rocks! The whole band seemed so young - hmmm…….I guess because I’m old now, too!! It amazes me that they can fly into Colorado and have so much energy on a stage that’s a mile above sea level. It took me weeks before I could walk up a flight of stairs without being winded!!
The concert was a great mix of old and new and was worth every penny! Of course, the boys had to have t-shirts, hats, and posters, which seemed like a good idea at 10:30 at night after three beers! It was another memory that they’ll hopefully hold on to for years!
William’s like his momma. He dances, jumps up and down, and sings his heart out. Carson and Rowland hang back and really listen to the musicians. Eventually, William got sleepy and laid his head in my lap. (Yes, that was the only time we sat down all night!) At 105 decibels, the sweet boy fell fast asleep!
Oh, yea! The concert was opened by Chris Daughtry, and while I still think he deserved to lose to Carrie Underwood on American Idol, he rocks, too! He’s definitely very comfortable on the stage and put on a great show as well!
Here are a couple of pictures from the night:
Rock ‘n Roll Carson
Double Rockin’ William
Mom and Dad Loving Every Minute of It!!
Do you ever have those days when you just want to do absolutely nothing? I’m there right now. Trouble is that I have an appointment to get my hair done in 22 minutes, and I’m not even close to being ready. I stayed out too late last night at the Bon Jovi concert (which was AWESOME!) with Rowland and the boys. (I’ll post pictures and scoop later.) I woke up in the middle of the night with a headache (so I can’t drink three beers anymore!). Jia wants to “tell me something” every three and one half minutes. KeKe and William were sooo excited about Cowboy Day at school. They posed for a million pictures, causing them to miss the bus. (My fault - I was enjoying playing photographer instead of mommy!) Driving them to school made me a little more off schedule. I talked on the phone FOREVER (as usual) with my bud Amy this morning, then my husband. Now, instead of getting ready to go, I’m typing on the computer. I’m supposed to drop Jia off at the church in 3 minutes. It takes 15 to get there. Hmmmmm…….. Think I might be late! Okay, here goes……I’m off and running - LATE, of course!!!