allen arnn: December 2005

Saturday, December 31, 2005

Three Billys and a Benno

We spent most of today assembling Ikea furniture and re-arranging our house. I love ikea. Not just for the good prices on sturdy furniture, but more because going to Ikea feels like you are stepping out into the cosmopolitan realm. You see people from all over the world. It's a touch of cosmopolitan, urban life in our boring suburb.

For pix of today's adventure go to my flickr

The adventure ended tonight when Debbie's mom had to be taken from the rehab hospital to the emergency room for uncontrollable blood sugar. The hospital got it stabilized. Still some concerns though...

Gotta run...

Happy New Year!

Sunday, December 25, 2005

No longer in the lead!

I've always been ahead of my parents as far as obtaining technology goes. They still had a camcorder that took VHS tapes til last year. They also were still using a Sony Mavica digital still camera which took floppy disks. They could fit 20 jpegs on a single 1MB floppy disk.

This all changed Saturday night when my Mom opened a gift from my Dad. It was a new digital camera. I figured it was probably 5 megapixels like mine. I was so glad to see my mom (who loves to take pictures) be able to abandon those floppy disks. She didn't get into the camera box immediately but sat it aside to open other presents.

I waited and waited for her to get into the camera but then curiousity got the best of me. I went over to take a look for myself. It wasn't 5 megapixels like mine. It is 7.1 MEGAPIXELS.

Ok... I'm jealous... Mom and Dad I have to say you are the new technology leaders in our family.

Sunday, December 18, 2005

Christmas Pictures 2005

Today we went to this nice new urban development in our area (intriguing place for a vox cafe!). We like to take pix of our kids in their Christmas clothes. I'm finding that the pictures I enjoy most are ones of candid action instead of posed shots. Also, $10 in ice cream bribe is a lot better than $100 in a photo studio!

Friday, December 16, 2005

A conversation I had

I had a very interesting conversation this morning with a guy while I was working out at the rec center. He is originally from India, has spent time in the northern US, and is looking to leave our suburb near Dallas to head back north as fast as he can. He says that as a result of Sept 11, he finds the southern US to be very skeptical of him. He can feel the discrimination often down here and says that there is a lot less of a condemning eye on him in the north.

It's sad to me that we in the Bible Belt still can't impact our culture to embrace people from every land. We are so behind.

It's also sad that this gentleman says he needs to go soon to England or another European country to receive some medical care he needs. If Republicans are going to be for small government and personal responsibility in caring for people in need here and around the world then churches and conservatives need to step up and take care of the needs. I think many try to have the best of both worlds... they want to control most of their own money and then they use most of the money on themselves.

I was really energized by meeting this new friend this morning. World concerns and people from around the globe keep popping up in my life. In our conversation, I tried to downplay any role I have in the church since it seemed that being down on the politics in the south led him to also be down on the evangelical church. I did gently but boldly weave the gospel naturally into the conversation. I apologized for the discrimination he feels in the south and I offered to pray for him and his needs right there on the spot. He was a little apprehensive but consented. I prayed for him.

I'd ask you to pray from him too. He has no job. He has no insurance. And, he has a medical condition that needs attention.

If this tugs on your heart and you would like to help him out and show him the true church, you can donate money to help him through this difficult time at www.legacychurch.org/egiving. BE SURE TO INDICATE "HELPING HANDS (BENEVOLENCE)" FUND and TYPE IN THE FIELD AT THE BOTTOM THAT THIS IS FOR "ALLEN'S INDIAN FRIEND". I'll be sure the money gets to him.