Do you ever get the feeling...

that you're being stared at?  Like someone can't take their eyes off of you and their eyes are locked like lasers on the back of your head.

I get that feeling every day when I sit at my desk.

How can a girl work when this Angel Bug is staring at her???!!!

Labor Day Weekend Fun

Happy Labor Day! I just looove long weekends. Actually, I had to work today but it still felt like a long weekend since my boys got to play together for three days. They had all sorts of fun today without me. When I got home from work David and Blaine had the most wonderful surprise waiting for me: a spotless house! They vaccumed and scrubed and dusted and did those odd jobs than no-one wants to do (re-caulk the tub). I was ecstatic, to say the least. Thanks babe, I really appreciate you doing all of that "labor" :)

We spent the weekend getting some exercise, playing at the pool (Blaine jumps in from the side of the pool over and over and over and ov... it's pretty funny),

and Saturday night we had a delicious dinner at the Pemberton's house. Steak, ribs, salad, corn on the cob.... Mmm, Mmm Good! (Thanks Elliot and Kari.) Siri let Blaine play with all of her toys while we (the parents) observed the striking difference between the two. Blaine is definitely a boy and Siri is definitely a girl. Blaine throws dolls across the room and Siri lovingly hugs them. Blaine swings a golf club like he's smashing out a windshield and Siri gently swings the club to softly hit the ball. Blaine carries the football between his teeth and wait... Siri does that too ;)
Siri is on her way to being fully potty-trained. She has a few accidents here and there but overall, this girl has got it! (You go girl!) Here she is checking out Blaine's diaper - remembering the "old days".

One of the highlights of our evening was the wonderful music that Blaine and Siri made together. Here they are jammin'.

We hope you all had a relaxing three day weekend.

The Taste of New Wine

My boss, Keith Miller, wrote a book in 1965 (his first in a long line of books, small group courses and musicals) called The Taste of New Wine. In 2000 William J. Petersen and Randy Petersen wrote a book called 100 Christian Books That Changed the Century. Keith's book was one of their top 100. Pretty cool. Here is the excerpt:

“Taste and see that the Lord is good,” the psalmist wrote (34:8). That’s pretty much the thesis of Keith Miller’s refreshing book. His title is an apt metaphor. You might say the church of the mid-1960s was manufacturing the wine, bottling the wine, marketing the wine—but few were actually tasting it. Miller exclaims that the Christian life must be more than a matter of holding correct doctrines. We must experience a relationship with Jesus Christ!

This idea of Christianity as a relationship rather than a religion may seem hackneyed to you now. But in 1965 it was revolutionary. Miller, who was directing a spiritual-growth conference center in Texas at the time, was calling Christians to live what they said they believed. He mentioned in the preface to this book that when he invited conference participants to write anonymous questions, “they secretly tell us that they do not know how to pray, how to witness to other people about Christ without being embarrassed, how to simply communicate with their wives and families, or how to approach their vocational and social lives as committed Christians.” It’s interesting that these questions had to be anonymous. Christians were supposed to know all these things, and few would openly admit that they didn’t.

So Miller’s first challenge is “a new honesty.” It was a time of pretense, both inside and outside the church. People were taught to pretend everything was okay when it wasn’t. This had to change, Miller said. “We must realize that our fellowship is incurably crippled until and unless we recognize and face squarely the nature and extent of our deceitfulness with God, with each other, and with ourselves.”

Miller modeled his new honesty in the pages of his book, illustrating many of his points with stories from his own life, from his marriage, and from his business. This too seems old hat to us today. We’re used to public confessionals and tell-all memoirs. But Miller was doing something new, especially for the church. He was admitting that he struggled, that he didn’t have all the answers, that he was learning new things as he went along.

The book goes on to talk about commitment, family life, prayer, support groups, and living for Christ in the business world. Miller himself was a businessman with an oil company before he came to the conference center, so he spoke from experience. As he challenged people to let their faith infect their daily lives on the job, he knew it wasn’t easy. This short chapter touches on issues that Christians in business are still exploring today. Miller challenged his readers to try to see their vocation as a Christian calling, but he also noted, “…Christ does not promise the businessman great material success in his vocation…but rather Christ brings the inner security which one seeks through great material success… and having found this, the burden of succeeding is lifted.”

Miller was also ahead of his time in his chapter on sharing the new wine. He charged that Christians had “cheapened” the Christian message, that we should never see people as “prospects” for the church or “objects” for our witness. Instead, we should try to “listen to people with the idea in mind of making friends for Christ.” Miller recommends that we respect people’s privacy and not be too anxious to try to convince them. We should merely be honest about the role of Jesus in our lives, and encourage them to be honest with God as well.

Honesty is the best policy. It was sadly lacking in the church of Miller’s day, but this book helped people begin to be more open about themselves. We should note another book that almost made our list, Honest to God by John A. T. Robinson (1963). That book also challenged the church, as Robinson opened up about the modern struggles with traditional theology. Honest to God had significant impact on the mainline denominations, but from an evangelical perspective, Robinson was questioning too much. His honesty seemed to lead to a greater alienation from God. On the contrary, Miller’s book hit home with evangelicals, because he was asking questions that led to a closer relationship with Christ."

100 Christian Books That Changed the Century
By William J. Petersen and Randy Petersen
© 2000
The Taste of New Wine, 1965 Pages 151-152

That's DOCTOR J. Keith Miller to you...

On Tuesday May 12th, 2009 my boss, Keith Miller, was honored in a major way. An Honorary Doctorate was bestowed upon him... Below you'll find the citation that was read right before Keith was awarded the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.

"Passionate Christian, eclectic writer, marketplace apostle, dynamic public speaker and gifted counselor, you thrive on leading people to God.

Searching for that elusive “Something Else,” you left the oil exploration business in Texas and Oklahoma in the early 1960s to help launch Laity Lodge, the bucolic retreat center operated by the HEB Foundation outside Leakey in the Texas Hill Country. You and two others created retreats to help lay people grow their faith. During that time you wrote your first book – the immensely popular The Taste of New Wine – that has sold two-and-a-half million copies and been translated into eleven languages.

Since then you have written or co-authored another twenty-three books on topics ranging from Christian living, addiction/co-dependence and self-realization to spiritual formation, devotion and entrepreneurial business. Your book A Hunger for Healing brought the Twelve Step principles of Alcoholics Anonymous to Christians since sin, of itself, is addictive.

In addition to being a prodigious writer, you are a renowned public speaker. When former Archbishop George Carey came to this country – the first such visit ever from Canterbury – you and Verna Dozier were the keynote speakers at a conference for lay people in Washington, DC. Carey confided that your New Wine book was one of three currently on his night table. Three former Presiding Bishops of the Episcopal Church have asked you to speak at major church conferences.

While your writing and speaking are impressive, your ability to fully accept and love people – all people – is phenomenal. Authentically humble with bedrock honesty, you live out and model the Christian life everywhere with everyone. You truly care for and want to help all you come to know.

We welcome you back to Seminary of the Southwest and recall the carrel you used in our seminary library in the mid-1960s while studying for a master’s degree at the University of Texas. Building upon your past theological studies at Berkeley Divinity School at Yale and the Earlham School of Religion, we take special joy in awarding you the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa."

I am honored to work with Keith and his equally amazing wife, Andrea. Congratulations, Kei... I mean, Dr. Miller.

Technical Difficulties

(I had a video, but can't get it to upload! Doh! But will post text anyway) So here I am, sitting at my desk and Blaine is doing what he does best-playing under me and around me, waiting for me to pick him up. Keith and Andrea and I have created quite a wonderful play-room for Blaine at work, but the only place he wants to be 95% of the day is climbing up my legs or underneath my legs (pulling at computer and phone cords nonetheless!) He's just so dang cute that I can hardly stand it, but his adorable face is not going to pay the bills, so I move him to his toys and he comes back to my legs about 50 times every day. Phew... makes me tired just thinking about doing it. Anyway, we're doing really well. Mister Man's personality is really starting to shine through. He is very inquisitive, thoughtful, active, and d-e-m-a-n-d-i-n-g... I mean this kid thinks (and probably is) in charge. When he wants something he wants it now and he wants it his way. (Who in the heck did he get that from!? :) When something doesn't go his way he shrieks with dissatisfaction and shows his angry face (eyes closed, lips puckered) and then repeats until he's satisfied. It makes us laugh.

J. Keith Miller & B. Miller Lyon

The dialogue I imagine these two are having is well... priceless. Here, Blaine is pictured with his boss, rather, his Mom's boss. Blaine and Keith have all the fun! Hopefully we get more work done tomorrow.

working hard

After a great nap and some good meals Blaine was able to put forth extra effort at work today. You see him here break dancing on Keith's office floor. :) I only saw his "mad-face" a few times today, specifically when I had to put him down so I could go use the bathroom and then when it was nap time. (He hates nap time because he doesn't want to miss out on anything.) Teething is still a big pain in the rear (for us all, I might add). Besides the drool-soaked clothes, bibs and hands you can tell the kiddo is in a lot of pain (poor thing). If we even show him the infant-tylenol bottle he starts feeling better. A new discovery today: Blaine has a hard head! While helping the Miller's with some work upstairs, (Blaine was helping of course), he fell over while (attempting to) sit up and hit his head on the buffet. It was loud! I looked at him waiting for him to scream, but he looked at me with a smile... so I didn't make a big deal of it. Well, it's MM's (mister man's) bedtime. Off for now.