Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Random Thought #17

Google earth has the wrong street view/address for my house. If you ever need directions to my house, you will have to type in 2190 instead of 2124. How about that little tidbit of useless information for you at the end of 2008!

Happy New Year!

Top fifteen signs you are on the mend

15. You no longer have the loudest cough in the office.
14. People are no longer offering to call a doctor for you every time you cough.
13. Your co-workers are no longer following you with a can of Lysol.
12. You can no longer tell the exact minute that your medicine runs out.
11. You accidentally skipped a dose of medicine.
10. You no longer consider buying stock in the companies that manufacture Mucinex and Tylenol Cold due to the money you are spending on the products.
9. You no longer have to run a heater in your office.
8. You can smell the Vicks when you open the tub instead of when you rub it on your nose.
7. Your appetite for milder foods (instead of spicy) returns.
6. The first thing out of your client's mouth on a phone call is no longer "Honey, are you sick?"
5. The last thing out of your client's mouth on a phone call is no longer "Now you go home early and get some rest. Get better."
4. You do not have to go home early from work.
3. You can sleep through the night and wake up without a stopped up nose.
2. You do not anticipate any emergency trips to Wal-Mart in the near future to pick up the new (AWESOME) Puffs tissues that have lotion AND Vicks in them.
1. You no longer watch House marathons hoping that someone comes in with your symptoms so that you can learn what the magic cure is before you feel that your only option is a lung transplant or giving up on breathing all together!

You guessed it ... thanks to several rounds of Mucinex and Tylenol Cold, I am feeling more like my old, well self. I hate cold season!

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Random Thought #16

I saw The Dark Knight last night for the first time, and for some reason I cannot keep from thinking about it today. It is rare that a movie captivates me in a way that The Dark Knight did. For one, I am trying to figure out who is more evil - the Joker or Two-Faced. Both seem equally disturbing to me today.

Monday, December 29, 2008

You know you are sick when ...

... you sneeze through an extra tough tissue. I didn't even know it was possible until this morning. I guess that means I need to actually admit that I am sick.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Church Discipline

First of all, I am not sure why this is newsworthy on Fox News. The story (for those of you who might not click on it) is about a woman who is whining to the press that the church she used to attend, and that her children still attend, is about to publicly point out her sin to the church congregation. What baffles me is that she doesn't want her sin told to the whole congregation because of the embarassment that it might cause her children, but she has decided to talk to the media to make it national news on Fox News (and maybe others).

Church discipline is a sensitive matter in churches and should be left to the individual congregations. What this story does not inform the public is that it appears (at least from the church's website) that this is a conservative congregation which takes church membership very seriously. New members are required to attend a membership class before being accepted into the congregation. I am sure that this membership class informs prospective members about the discipline policies of the church since most do, especially in churches that take church membership seriously enough to have a new members class before being accepted as a member. Another thing that this article overlooks is that, although this lady may have informed those in the church that she will never attend there again, she is still a member of the church. Therefore, the church has a duty to its members, and this church believes that part of that duty is carrying out church discipline for matters addressed by Paul and Jesus. Paul makes it clear in Corinthians that those who are caught up in sexual immorality and refuse to repent should be treated as unbelievers. This combined with Jesus' instructions on how to carry out church discipline give this church a biblical basis for going through the stages of church discipline on this unrepentant member.

No one knows the full circumstances behind the church's decision to carry out discipline for this church member. A church is meant to be a place where believers are able to help each other in the struggle through sin, and the members should love each other enough to encourage someone not to continue to live in sin. Church membership should be limited to believers, and quite frankly, this woman is conducting herself as a non-believer. I am encouraged to see a church that is trying to carry out the duty of church discipline and that is loving its members enough to confront sin. This does not mean that what this church is doing is completely correct - we do live in a fallen world and most attempts by a church to fully conform to God's word will likely fall short. However, the letter written to this woman (which can be read through the news article linked above) seems to be in line with God's Word.

My prayer for this church is that God will use this situation to bless this church in the persecution that is sure to come in the next days and weeks. Somehow God is able to take persecution and turn it into triumph for His kingdom. I pray that this situation will be no different.

Although I did not read it close enough to know if I agree with everything, here is another opinion about this story.
Pyromaniacs: BREAKING NEWS: church dares to practice NT Christianity!

Free, Legal Holiday Music

I have never used Amazon mp3 to download music/albums before this week, but so far I am impressed. To me, it seems easier to find albums on Amazon than in iTunes. If you are looking for a way to quickly add to your holiday music, I would suggest checking out this Holiday Music page at Amazon. There are quite a few songs of all sorts. Plus, it automatically imports the songs into iTunes.

Random Thought #15

The newspaper in Texarkana finally spelled my name right. This is a huge deal because for the last three years, even though I have told reporters over and over and even though we have submitted things in writing, I have been called Cynthia. Today marks a new day where maybe I will be referred to by my correct name for here on out – of course that is wishful thinking. At least it is a step in the right direction.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

It’s Nice to be Nice

Brother Martin, long time director of the Carver Center in New Orleans, would walk around saying, "It's nice to be nice" over and over again to the kids. I have taken this same phrase and each year teach it to a new group of little league basketball players lucky enough to be chosen for my team J. I think that I need to start doing the same thing with lawyers from two of the three largest cities that are within three hours of Texarkana. Niceness and professional courtesy go a long way in the legal field, but lawyers from the two large cities (and not the closest one to Texarkana out of the three) seem to have forgotten that it is nice to be nice. Fortunately they also forget to take their big city attitude out of letters in small town cases, and although judges might be impressed with the attorney's knowledge of the rules and rudeness in the big city, judges outside of the big city fortunately do not share the same view. That is another reason that these lawyers should learn that it is nice to be nice – I am more worried about my letters being read by a judge than an attorney, and I write my letters accordingly. Over the past few days our office has received a few that we cannot wait to show a judge!

Random Thought #14

I think I am allergic to our office. Seriously. When I am at home, both at night and on the weekends, I hardly sneeze, cough, or get stopped up. Yet when I walk into our building each morning, my sinus pressure continuously increases throughout the day, as does my sneezing and coughing. I must be allergic to the office.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Random Thought #13

I had the desire to send this link to someone in our office who shall remain nameless, but is not an attorney and who yelled at me this morning. The person really needs to read it though so that maybe the handwriting on the wall can be seen.

Random Thought #12

Sometimes there are articles that make you think - and praise God for His grace during a year of loss. This article is one of them. Sometimes you really cannot do anything to save someone, but there is comfort in knowing that you tried.

Monday, December 15, 2008

In case you are looking for baby names ...

... I would not suggest following in this couple's footsteps. The Johnny Cash song "A Boy Named Sue" comes to mind - although I think he would have agreed that Sue is better than that name.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Snow in NO



I see that my NO kids are able to enjoy the snow today. It always find it strange when it snows in NOLA!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

What our week has been like ...

I will let Summer, Cory's wife, share the news with you about our week. Just a little background information. I was attending trial as Cory in our office tried his first case on his own (meaning without the partner present). The outcome was good for our client, and, well, let's just say that Cory "moved" one of the potential jurors on the panel.

Monday, December 8, 2008

The Importance of Teaching Children Generosity

On Thursday, our local young lawyers association donated law related books to children at the local Texarkana Baptist Orphanage. In the spring we will be taking the children out for a night at the theatre so that they can watch the production of To Kill a Mockingbird. One of our local young lawyers was kind enough to bring cookies that she baked for the children. She has a young daughter of her own who was watching her bake the cookies. Her daughter is at an age where she asks many questions because she is curious about everything. Naturally she asked her mother why she was baking cookies. Her mother explained that she was baking the cookies to take to boys and girls who did not have a mommy and daddy to take care of them. This caused quite a bit of concern for the little girl who cannot imagine life without a mommy and daddy. After thinking about it for a while, she told her mother that she wanted to share her apple with the children at the orphanage who did not have a mommy or daddy. Although the piece of apple would not come close to feeding the 15 children at the orphanage, her mother allowed her to package the piece of apple up to give to the children. This story reminded me of the importance of teaching children generosity, even when they may not be completely able to understand. The natural tendency of children is to be selfish all the time. However, with little hints here and there about how fortunate the child is can go a long way in teaching an attitude of generosity. I think it helps with the attitude of entitlement as well. Since Christmas is usually a time of getting gifts for children, I hope that there are other parents like this young lawyer who are teaching their children that it truly is better to give than to receive.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

More Pictures of Verchaun Guy

 
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Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Thanksgiving

Here are some fun pictures of my cousin's children from Thanksgiving. James is the oldest, Luke the middle child, and Emily the youngest. For some reason, James and Luke think that I am just a big toy to play with. This year, though, I was the puppy-sitter because they just got a new miniature daschund and they were afraid that my cousin Lisa, who loves animals, was going to steal it. They did not get nervous about me stealing the dog until I let them know that I have a dog at home that needs a friend because he doesn't have another dog to play with. James said that their dog did not have a dog friend to play with either. Then he got nervous because maybe it would be better for the dogs to be friends, and maybe I would take her. Children are so funny!

James



Luke


Emily


Brotherly Love




Random Thought #11

Sometimes I wonder what the people in the Walmart photo department think when they see my pictures. Take yesterday, for example – my pictures were of my cousin's children and of Birdie and the baby. Half white people, half black people. I wonder if they wonder what the story is there. I am sure that my pictures are not the strangest pictures that they see though.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

The Happiest Days are Days Babies Are Born



Verchaun Guy was born on November 30, 2008 at 2:25 p.m. I received a nervous/excited phone call from his daddy at 2:00 p.m. informing me that the baby was about to be born, so I hopped in the car to head to New Orleans. He was 5 lbs. 14 oz. and 19 inches long. I walked into the room and had him in my arms within seconds (of course!). His proud daddy stole him away a few minutes later though :).




His proud daddy gave him back a few minutes after taking him from me too! I think his daddy really wanted pictures - especially since he even smiled in the picture.

We had to try to wake Verchaun Guy up in order to feed him. Let's just say that Verchaun Guy was very stubborn and would not wake up! Here is video of us trying.



We tried everything we could think of, but he would not open his eyes until there was no light in the room other than the light coming from the TV. Here is him seeing me for the first time.



His daddy was so cute telling him, "This is Miss Cyndia!" I am sure that he is going to be seeing a lot of me. I will also be teaching him to call me Dia instead of Miss Cyndia, but I guess it is habit for his daddy after 7 years.

After an hour and a half of trying, he finally had eaten 25 ml and been burped twice, but he still proceeded to throw up all over me with his daddy gagging in the chair beside me. I am sure that won't be the last time he throws up on me! I guess he just was not hungry. Or it could be because his daddy discovered he could hold him with one arm and swing him a little.



We talked a little bit about Guy on Sunday, which is where Verchaun's middle name came from. It reminded me of the verses in Job that say, "And he said, 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.'" (Job 1:21, ESV) This baby is truly a gift from God during a year when it seems that the Lord has taken away so much. Babies are a reminder that there is hope and that life continues to go on.