The Muppets

Today, Avery and I watched the new Muppet movie, The Muppets. He LOVED it, and I quite enjoyed it myself.  I am glad we both liked it as now we have something else to watch besides Sesame Street.  Not that I don't like Sesame Street, but I have seriously seen every single episode several times and am up for something new.  Watching the movie made me want to see The Muppet Show as I don't think I've ever actually seen any episodes.  I also think that would be nice to watch with Avery because I would enjoy it better and Avery loves anything with people and Muppets (he has never liked any cartoons). I looked online and I can get all the seasons from the library. Yay!

What I Learned: Avery liked the Muppet Movie and I can get The Muppet Show from the library.

Little Henrietta

Today in church I found out that an acquaintance of mine (and a friend of Neal and Blake) gave birth to her baby prematurely.  There were a lot of medical complications that indicated that the baby would not make it and doctors had previously recommended that she terminate the pregnancy; she didn't.  The baby lived for only a short time and was able to be baptized before she was taken to heaven.  It's simultaneously a very sad and very happy story.  What a blessing for the parents to be able to hold their little girl and baptize her, even if only for such a short time.

What I Learned: Henrietta was born alive and was baptized, thanks to the grace of God, before she was taken to forever home in heaven :)

Old Friend

This morning, Jared, Avery and I went to McCarty Park to play on the playground. Upon arrival, I realized that there was a Lutherans for Life Walk/Run going on in the park so of course I immediately started looking to see if I knew anyone there.  I unfortunately didn't recognize anyone. After the race had begun, I saw a pregnant woman arrive at the playground with two kids and realized it was my friend Meg, whom I haven't seen probably since right after Avery was born!  I had heard that she was pregnant but didn't know when she was due.  After talking to her, I found out that she is having a boy and is due on July 10th.  Her two older kids (I think they are 4 and 6), were huge since the last time I saw them (obviously 2 and 4 is a lot different than a 4 and 6 year old!).  It's crazy how fast time flies when you haven't seen someone.  The ironic thing is that they live about 6 blocks away...we've gone on several walks in that direction and always stop at their house but they just have never been home, and next thing we know, it's been a year and a half!

What I Learned: My friend Meg is having a boy in July.

I Am a Pole and So Can You

This afternoon I was watching the Colbert Report from last night and found out that the children's book that Stephen Colbert jokingly (I thought) said he wrote and was trying to get published is now going to be available on May 8th!  You can preorder it on amazon.com for $8.49.  It is now on my wishlist for my birthday and if I don't get it, I guess I'll just have to buy it...for Avery of course...since it's a children's book.

What I Learned: Stephen Colbert's children's book got published.

New Blogger.com Website

Apparently in the past two weeks (when I haven't posted any blogs on time), they changed the entire blog website. Everything looks completely different! I suppose this would come as just as much of a surprise if I had been doing things promptly as no matter what, one day it would all be changed. So the fact that I am finding this out now probably makes no difference.  Regardless, I am now learning how to use and access everything on this website all over again. Usually I wouldn't mind, but I am having a hard time finding enough time to just write a post, let alone learning how to find everything on a website again!

What I Learned: How to use/find everything on the new blogger website.

Aleutian Islands

Tonight I was doing a puzzle book and came across the clue "Aleutian Isle." All I knew about the possible answer was that it was four letters long and had two syllables.  All I knew about the Aleutian Islands is that they are by Alaska.  So of course I went to wikipedia to find out more.  Here are some interesting facts about the Aleutian Islands:

-The chain includes 14 volcanic islands and 55 smaller islands
-The islands extend about 1200 miles west from the Alaskan peninsula
-The islands have 57 volcanoes total
-The largest islands are Attu (which is the furthest from the mainland), Unalaska, Umnak and Akun.

Map of the Aleutian Islands

The answer to the question in the puzzle book was Attu.

What I learned: I learned about the Aleutian Islands.

Masada

After church today, we had our monthly meeting for the Grace Book Club.  I mentioned in a previous post that we read The Dovekeepers this month, which was an amazing book.  Angela came prepared, as always, with pictures on her tablet of Masada that included scale models of Herod's temple as well as actual photographs of what Masada looks like today.  Apparently there is a museum at the site that opened in 2007 and the author visited it and was able to be more accurate in her telling of the story since she was actually there and saw the ruins.  She was able to know exactly where the dovecote was in relation to other buildings for example.

In reading about Masada, I also found out this interesting fact:


"The Chief of Staff of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), Moshe Dayan, initiated the practice of holding the swearing-in ceremony of soldiers who have completed their Tironut (IDF basic training) on top of Masada. The ceremony ends with the declaration: "Masada shall not fall again." The soldiers climb the Snake Path at night and are sworn in with torches lighting the background."

And lastly, I always thought that it was a confirmed fact that the Jews committed mass suicide to avoid being slaughtered by the Romans who had seiged Masada.  However, only 30 skeletons have been found at the site and there is no evidence of a mass burial.  This is odd since apparently there were 960 inhabitants at the time of the mass suicide.  I doubt that the Romans moved all the bodies off of Masada.  So it remains a mystery as to whether it was all a myth or did in fact happen.

What I Learned: It is not an historical fact that the Jews committed mass suicide at Masada.  Also, the Israeli Army uses Masada for their swearing-in ceremony.