Evangelist fiction author cries foul when another fictional novel counters his own.

So Tim LaHaye, co-author of the badly written "Left Behind" novels (that's fiction, folks) is throwing a stink that his publisher is releasing another novel that comes from a different theological angle.

Apparently, publisher Tyndale House asked LaHaye and the new novel's author, Hank Hanegraaf, to tour together in a series of debates meant to promote both books. The article states, "LaHaye rebuffed the idea of a debate saying, 'A lot of Christians have been hoodwinked into this amillennial viewpoint. I’m not going to promote that flawed theory.' "

Dude, your books are fiction. Hanegraaf's books are fiction. Exactly what is the big deal here? Unless you are admitting that you don't think your books are fiction at all?

--Sparki

Good for America

Amid all the inagural stuff yesterday, Nebraskan Mike Johannes was confirmed Agriculture Secretary for the Bush administration.

This is a very good thing for our country. I think the world of Mike Johannes. He is not a politician in the traditional sense. He's a hard-working, disciplined, fair-minded, morally upright man. As mayor of Lincoln, he kept the city operating on a balanced budget and improved our local economy. As govenor of Nebraska (up till Wednesday afternoon), he attempted to do the same, though our state legislature gave him a run for the money on that. He's also Catholic -- he attends our parish and went to daily Mass whenever possible, frequently serving as an acolyte (his wife Stephanie served as a reader). He comes from a farming family, and he worked diligently as governor to promote Nebraska agriculture and protect food production facilities in this state from potential terrorism attacks, so I know he's a good man for U.S. ag secretary.

Still, I do hate to see him leave Nebraska. His successor is not the same caliber of leadership. In fact, if there is anything I could complain about Mike Johannes, it's that he started out believing that everybody else was just as morally upright and disciplined as he is himself. Combine that with an utter lack of quality candidates who were willing to join state government, and you have a guy who had a lot of trouble selecting cabinet members and filling other posts. His lieutenant governor -- now Governor! -- was his third or fourth pick, for example. The first and second refused the job, and when Gov. Johannes got down to Dave I-Was-Born-to-be-Governor Heineman, he was kind of scraping the bottom of the barrel. We had a nice little travesty with the State Treasurer last year -- Dave's right hand and campaign chair person had been appointed State Treasurer in Dave's place when he got bumped up to Lt. Gov., and she was an unethical mess. But I know Secretary Johannes learned from this situation, and he is definitely not the "fool me twice" kind.

Okay, enough politics for today. Be well!

--Sparki

No more hacking coughs!

I think it's safe to say -- we're finally all over that virus. No more hacking coughs! Hooray! I'm going to keep the humidifier going though, because it sure makes the house more comfortable.

Happy New Year everybody, belated but heartfelt. My resolutions include cleaning out all the closets in the house AND the basement, donating anything useable to Cathoic Social Services or St. Vincent de Paul or the Crisis Pregnancy Center or the parish school, and reorganizing everything so it's easier to keep things clean and find what I want, when I want it.

Two closets are done. One more to go. Yes, that's right. We only have three closets in the whole house. It's an old house, so there are no closets at all on the first floor. But I have cabinets and bureaus down there that will count for "closets" when I finish the bedroom closets.

I don't know if I ever told you all this or not, but we bought our house the same day Zooey was born. (My water broke & then we stopped at the bank to sign the papers for the house, then went to Target to buy a camera and film and then went to the hospital to have Zooey -- CRAZY!) Obviously, I didn't do much of the moving with a newborn in arms. I'd packed up most of our duplex, but Zooey was early and DH had to finish the last few things while I stayed at his parents' house. Anyway, I had a drawer full of baby clothes that were very special, from friends in Italy, my parents' trip to Europe, etc. Some girl clothes, some boy clothes, since we didn't know what gender we were having. They never showed up at the new house, and I was very upset about it because there were some great things in this particular drawer. Still, I had lots and lots of other supplies, so I decided not to complain to much about it.

When I was expecting Edyn three years later, I decided to give it a shot and searched high and low for those missing baby gifts. The girl clothes were awfully cute, and I wanted Edyn to wear them. No luck.

Well, last Saturday, I was cleaning out the closet in the children's room, and I pulled out a box from the way, way back marked BLANKETS -- West Bedroom. It was the West Bedroom closet, so that was right. I opened the box, and there were the blankets. I decided since they'd been stored for 5 years, we might as well donate them, so I started to pull them out to count them and make sure they were in good enough shape to donate. One -- a nice warm blanket from Mexico. Two -- a nice wool plaid blanket, perfect for this time of year. Three -- oh, the light-weight Christmas throw I used to drape over the back of the couch. Wish I would have found this two months ago. Well, that can go in the Christmas boxes down in the basement. Four -- aaaack! The baby clothes!!! Six outfits, two bibs and a hat, all in perfect condition, still in the package. The beautiful little girl outfits. The stylish unisex number from Italy. Baaaaah! All for newborns, all waaaay too small for Lola, who is now one.

Well, I'm disappointed, but I can donate brand-new clothes to the Crisis Pregnancy Center and bless some new mom who doesn't have much for her baby. Could be worse, huh.

Lola is walking!

She can take up to eight steps unassisted, slowly and with perfect control. It just hasn't occurred to her to get up and run around the house yet. (Our house has an entry with a door to the living room, which opens into the dining room, which has a door to the kitchen, which has a door to the entry way, so the kids really do run around the house.) I wonder how long it will take. It took Zooey only two days. It took Edyn about two minutes. Lola's been doing eight steps unassisted for six days now. We're all sort of holding our breath, waiting for the concept of "freedom" to dawn on our baby and turn her into an official toddler.

Zooey and Edyn were both exactly 13 months old when they started walking. Lola is only a year plus a week, but close enough. My, they do grow up so fast! How can my baby be a toddler all ready?

--Sparki

The baby turned one today!

I'm always surprised that I'm surprised by the kids' birthdays. One is such a big milestone, of course, and I turned around today and saw my baby, hardly a baby any more. She so close to being able to walk and talk and do all that toddler stuff!

We've all been sick, so poor Lola got a little jilted on the birthday party. We did a snowbaby theme -- a round white cake with an orange-frosted ice cream cone nose and mini Snicker bars for coal eyes and mouth. She loved her cake but was amazingly dainty about it. Didn't get all covered with goo until she was well into it. I actually thought she'd be the one who didn't get messy for a while there.

It's too bad we were all too sick to make more of a big deal out of it! But Lola, honey, it's not because you're the youngest. Honest.

--Sparki

Here, but coughing...

We've all got a nasty cough and feeling generally miserable, plus the baby is cutting her molars on top of it. So we're just laying low.

Anybody know the difference between a hacking cough and a racking cough? Let me know, so the next time I call the doctor, I can tell her. I do know that none of us are whooping, which is good because there's a bit of a pertussis thing going on in Nebraska right now.

Tsunami Update

My friend in Sri Lanka and her daughter were on Fox News last week. I didn't see it myself, since I rarely watch Fox. They are still trying to raise money for their mission projects. If you haven't yet donated and are interested in a project that will go directly to supply new housing, clothing and other necessities for poor folks who live right on the beach in Sri Lanka, please go to their web site to get more information about their projects and consider a monetary gift in whatever amount you can muster. I can personally vouch for the organization, and I guarantee you that 100% of the funds you donate will go right to the poor -- my friend and her family have other sources of income, so they do not take one dime for themselves or any "administrative" costs.

Excuse me while I go on another coughing fit...

--Sparki