but it had been made good by grace

And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.”
-Matthew 13:3-9 
 

Sowing Seeds in a Field, Vincent Van Gogh

"The ground is described as good: not that it was good by nature, but it had been made good by grace. God had ploughed it; he had stirred it up with the plough of conviction, and there it lay in ridge and furrow as it should lie. When the gospel was preached, the heart received it, for the man said, 'That is just the blessing I want. Mercy is what a needy sinner requires.' So that the preaching of the gospel was THE thing to give comfort to this disturbed and ploughed soil. Down fell the seed to take good root. In some cases it produced fervency of love, largeness of heart, devotedness of purpose of a noble kind, like seed which produces a hundredfold. The man became a mighty servant for God, he spent himself and was spent. He took his place in the vanguard of Christ's army, stood in the hottest of the battle, and did deeds of daring which few could accomplish—the seed produced a hundredfold. It fell into another heart of like character;—the man could not do the most, but still he did much. He gave himself to God, and in his business he had a word to say for his Lord; in his daily walk he quietly adorned the doctrine of God his Saviour,—he brought forth sixty-fold. Then it fell on another, whose abilities and talents were but small; he could not be a star, but he would be a glow-worm; he could not do as the greatest, but he was content to do something, however humble. The seed had brought forth in him tenfold, perhaps twentyfold. How many are there of this sort here? Is there one who prays within himself, 'God be merciful to me a sinner'? The seed has fallen in the right spot. Soul, thy prayer shall be heard. God never sets a man longing for mercy without intending to give it."
-C.H. Spurgeon 

Weekend linkage

"Hey! Did your mom tell you to do that?!"
-Jared after Ellie spit up all over him

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Life with Ellie: Well, we discovered that our baby is cute even when she's sick. Yup . . . she came down with her very first cold. Runny nose, sneezing, and sometimes a little cough. She's better now, though, and really, she remained very pleasant through the whole thing (the only truly distressing thing about it, apparently, was cleaning her nose). She basically just slept a lot.

Of course, she passed her germs on to me, so now I'm the one with the runny nose. Sharing: it's what we do.

Another "first" was smiling at her reflection in the mirror. My wardrobe has a full-length mirror on one of the doors. If we stand in front of it, she doesn't always notice the reflection (because she gets distracted by the window! the fan! ooh shiny!), but when she does she just stares in awe and sometimes-- that precious sometimes-- she starts grinning.

And finally, I jumped into the world of cloth diapering this week. It's not nearly as complicated or difficult as I thought it might be. Yay! It makes a little more laundry, and that's about it. I'm just using prefolds and covers, and we have had none of the problems I feared (leaks, rash, etc). Besides, cloth diapers make for a really cute baby bum. :)

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Lots of funny stuff today. I may just email this one to my students. GET IT RIGHT.

Kid President and Josh Groban. Kid President's face when Josh says he doesn't dance? Hilar.

More kids, rockin' out to pop songs in the back seat.

Thanks to Luke for this: if Congress tried to get stuff done like roommates. (Some language, lots of laughs.)

Weekend linkage

"So your finger is like a gateway drug."
-Jared [after I explained that when Ellie gets confused about how to use a pacifier, which she does on a regular basis, I let her suck on my finger and then slip the pacifier in]

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Life with Ellie: It's been five weeks already! My life is, of course, so very different from how it looked pre-Ellie, but I do feel more like me now. Though I will never be exactly the same as I was, I don't feel like a tourist in a foreign land anymore. It's not because she has suddenly become predictable-- to the contrary, our days (and nights) never look exactly the same-- but because I have chilled out and have gotten to know my little girl better.

She learned some new tricks this week: squeaking and spitting up. :) She's also getting a lot better at being by herself. I don't like leaving her alone too often, but she can happily kick her legs on the changing table for a while, or blink contemplatively at the world in her seat while I tidy up the kitchen.

Educational ghosts.

All the types of coffee you've ever (and never) heard of. "Americano: 1 part espresso 2 parts hot water. Mexicano: 1 part espresso 2 parts taco seasoning."

One more comic! What to do with those darn phone books they keep sending us.

Ever wonder what Queen Elizabeth I would look like today? Well, here you go.

Just so you all know, these brownies are splendid.

Less splendid. But hilarious. Aspic Glazed Lamb Loaf, anyone?

OK, something serious now. "Philosophers for Hire," an interesting post on Christians, college education, and what a "useful" major might really mean.