Oatmeal cookies

My dad worked for an appraiser. Dad would drive out, shoot the pictures and comps, and do the research, but the appraiser always had to see the property in person himself before he would sign the papers.

I got my son's at Hobby Lobby.

Okee Doke!

I would LOVE that! It took me this long to receive the email to respond to for registration. I was about to give up, and it was in my in box this morning. I'm still trying to figure out how everything works now.

If you read her first draft, you might be interested in reading the version she will be delivering on Sunday. Last night, she had her 2nd practice in front of the church leadership. She did such a great job. Everyone was so impressed. When she read her first draft, they kept telling her to dumb it down, and write it for a 3rd grader, and not a 3rd grader like her sister either. My daughter has Asperger's, so it was really challenging for her to get out of the intellectual realm, and try to make it more personal. I want to thank everyone for their ongoing support. It's a really big deal for her to get up in front of everyone to deliver it. She has one proud daddy! Punctuation will most likely not copy from Word. Living the A.D. Life In today’s Epistle, Paul reminds the Corinthians to “be in agreement, and let there be no divisions among you.†His words are as important to Christian today as they were when they were written. We can see the roots of divisions everywhere we look. Between 8 and 10 B.C., a Trojan prince (Paris) ran off with the King of Sparta’s beautiful wife, Helen. Furious, the king, Menelaus got his brother, (Agamemnon) the high king of Greece to send all of the minor kings, and renowned heroes to bring Helen back. After ten years, the king of Ithaca (Odysseus) constructed a wooden horse and, won the war. This is Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad, which was written over 2,000 years ago, and has influenced almost every one who has read it, including Alexander the Great and Thomas Jefferson. It has been said that the world of divine knowledge came through the Hebrews and human knowledge through the Greeks. . The Trojan War is widely considered to be one of the greatest conflicts of all time, but is it really a greater conflict than the ongoing struggles faced by Christians today? Remember the Scripture in Ephesians which states: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.†Before the Trojan War, the goddess of chaos Eris or Discordia in Latin threw down a golden apple inscribed, “For the fairest goddessâ€. All three of the major goddesses wanted it, so Zeus let Pairs choose between the goddesses Aphrodite (the goddess of beauty and love) who offered him the most beautiful lady on earth, Hera (the queen goddess of power) who offered him control of all Asia, and Athena (the goddess of war and wisdom) who offered to make him the wisest General ever known. He foolishly handed the apple to Aphrodite. His choice cost him his life, and destroyed his kingdom. Wasn’t the whole point of the Golden apple competition and division? Are you ever faced with “Golden Apples†in your life? Do you ever feel the urge to judge someone else? Do you ever feel judged? Does God ask us to judge others, or is He going to judge everyone Himself? Does God care what kind of car we drive, how much land we own, or what kind of clothes we wear? Does God really care who receives the golden apple? How do we know what choices God wants us to make? Well, He gave us specific instructions in the Ten Commandments and in Christ’s summary of the law. It is very simple, really. We are to “‘Love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and to ‘Love our neighbor as ourselves.’ During the long war, Menelaus (the king of Sparta) and Achilles (a renowned hero) both received Trojan slave girls as plunder. The god Apollo made Menelaus give his girl back, so he took Achilles’ girl as his own. This so enraged Achilles that he refused to fight; instead he sat on the beach watching the war. Are we only loyal to our own desires as Achilles was? Are we with him on the beach watching others wage God’s battles? Wouldn’t it have been better if he knew and followed the words of King David who wrote: “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity.†Achilles became a deserter because he did not want to lose face. Are we too proud to live for God today? Do we care more about our image and reputation than God’s commandments? What would people think of us if we refused to put the commercial gods of this world before Christ? What would our friend think if we refused to lie and cheat, and disobey our parents? Are we breaking commandments to save face like Achilles? At the end of the war, Odysseus constructed a gigantic wooden horse in which twelve men lay. The never suspecting Trojans dragged the horse into their mighty walls. That night the twelve Greeks inside the horse came out to open the gate. The Greeks killed every Trojan, and burned the city to the ground. Just like the Trojans, we invite in our own destruction. It is waiting at the gate, and we drag it into our homes and lives. How do we know if a gift is from God, or just a trick sent to defeat us? Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.†This all happened just ten years before Christ’s birth. A.D. actually stands for the Latin phrase "anno domini" which means "in the year of our Lord." So we should have left the wild, pagan B.C. behind and entered into a Christ based A.D. Many of us are still living the B.C. life. To get into the A.D. life, we must make every decision based on Christ and his teachings. Just because there aren’t colossal white stone temples on every street corner doesn’t mean that these gods aren’t still around. Although we don’t go to the temples to worship these ancient Greek gods, and we don’t call them Aphrodite or Hera or Eris, we still know these so called “godsâ€. We see them every day. Are you like Aphrodite, worshiping looks and beauty? Do you know anyone like Hera who places power and jealousy above all else? What about “Eris†with her chaos and “golden apples.†She is alive and well in Cypress, Texas. We are in a modern A.D. 2008, so why do we STILL have these deities? Why can’t we break away from these gods and live the A.D. life? Don’t worship these B.C. gods, for they can only bring false and destructive “gifts.†Instead worship the A.D. God, and his son Jesus Christ for they alone can bring the true gift; salvation. Remember Romans 6:23 which states “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.â€