How Noah Knew What To Do
Author: Karen Moore
Illustrations by Pete Kerston

How Noah Knew What To Do is a wonderfully written children’s book by Karen Moore with bright vivid colorful illustrations by Pete Kerston. It is the story of Noah, which is easily understandable, as well as sensible biblical life lesson geared for toddlers and younger children. The story is written in rhyme which my grandson absolutely loved, it is also an easy ready. This children’s book can be enjoyed by the entire family, or may be enjoyed from the younger child that is reading on their own. Between the rhyming of words and the beautiful illustrations your child will be delighted with this one.

Noah with wide-eyed wonder: Bella, did you know tigers are CATS?

Bella nods.

Noah, grinning: Don’t you sink dats SO funny?

Bella looks around, clearly a little put out, and shakes her head no.

Noah a little shocked: It IS funny, Bella. Tigers are CATS!

Bella shrugs and moves on with her life. Guess the wonder of things is lost because she’s 6 and has known for years that tigers are cats.

What I have learned today in Genesis that I thought was very interesting or that I didn’t know already!  The rainbow is Gods promise to all living creatures of every kind on the earth that God will never ever again destroy them with a flood Genesis 9:8-13.  Now when ever I see a rainbow it is like Gods signature in the sky!

Vad det är skönt när det dyker upp dagar utan en massa måsten! Eller ja, det gamla vanliga vardagstragglet slipper man ju förståss inte undan, men dagar då lägenheten är städad, ingen tvättid är bokad, inga jobbiga ärenden finns att göra. Dagar då man kan ta det lugnt, göra ingenting eller passa på att göra sådant som annars inte hinns med. Som att dricka kaffe i lugn och ro. Eller hänga upp ett par tavlor som stått och skräpat i en garderob det senaste halvåret.

Igår var jag ett vrak. Stress, ångest, rastlöshet, irritation. You know the drill. Som det brukar vara när jag glömt ta min  medicin två dagar i rad. Eller, glömt är kanske fel ord. Attans, medicinen, tänker jag. Den måste jag ta efter att jag gjort ditten och datten. Varpå det aldrig blir av med mental kortslutning som följd.

Men som sagt, idag har varit en bra dag. Det kan till viss del bero på att jag tagit mina piller som jag ska, men framförallt stavas nyckeln till framgång team work. Familjen Svensson/Östlund har fungerat som ett väloljat maskineri idag. Klockan 19.00 var köket städat och två nybadade barn låg och sussade sött i sina sängar. Not bad, huh? Mer så tack!

Det är också sådana här dagar som man inser varför man älskar ungarna så innerligt trots utbrott, vaknätter och faktumet att man aldrig får vara ifred. Alice har varit på sitt allra ljuvligaste humör och skrattat mest hela tiden och Noah överöste mig med blöta pussar när jag hämtade från dagis. Vi lagade mat tillsammans alla tre och Noah var så fantastiskt duktig. Mycket kärlek i den köttfärssåsen!

I’ll be getting my copy sometime today.

Check back later for more details!

UPDATE

I was at Barnes and Noble when it opened its doors at 9am. The sales clerks in the DVD section had no idea what I was talking about but eventually located a copy with a retail price of $59.99.

Unlike the covers for the previous few seasons, this one doesn’t feature a cast shot but rather individual pictures of the characters. Staring out from the center is Hilary Swank (Carly). I’ve been complaining about this ever since the art was first released as Swank was only in 16 episodes. Sure, she was billed as a lead character (and hired to be in the whole season) but with limited cover space, that spot should’ve gone to Vincent Young (Noah), who was not only in every episode of the season but also seasons 9 and 10. I’ve been told the decision to put Swank front and center was a marketing decision designed to capitalized on the Oscar winner’s recognition factor. Apparently that applies to the individual disc covers as well as Swank is also featured prominently on one of those while this time the MIA actor is Brian Austin Green (David), who’s been with the series since Day 1.

The back cover also doesn’t feature Young but manages to include him and everyone else in the description (though in a different order than the opening credits): “The Real World: 90210…School is over and the friends of Beverly Hills 90210 are discovering that life after graduation is not as easy as they thought! Come along with Brandon (Jason Priestley), Kelly (Jennie Garth), Donna (Tori Spelling), David (Brian Austin Green), Steve (Ian Ziering), Val (Tiffani Amber Thiessen), Noah (Vincent Young), and Carly (Hilary Swank) as they explore love and life outside of college in all 30 titillating episodes of Season 8. Experience Kelly’s recovery from a drive-by shooting, Brandon and Kelly’s wedding plans, and Donna’s drug overdose. It doesn’t take long for the gang to discover that the real world can be just as unpredictable as college.”

The set contains 7 discs with descriptions on the back of the individual cases. It’s pretty much a given there’s going to be errors (or, at the very list, vague summaries that miss the key points) but there are some doozies here! (1) “Racial lyrics lead David’s band, After Dark, into problems.” First off, the band wasn’t David’s–he was pseudo-managing them. But more importantly, After Dark is the name of the club that’s been on the show since season 5, not the name of the band (which was actually called Cain Was Able). (2) Continuing with the band name errors, they say “a member of Jasper’s Legend tries to sue Noah after a car accident” but the band was called Jasper’s Law. (3) We’ve got a serious reversal of events when they say “Valerie accuses Noah of date rape when she wakes up without any memory of the night before…and Donna and David get into a car accident.”  Considering Donna and David’s interaction is partly the catalyst for Valerie and Noah even sleeping together, the order is crucial. (4) And the biggest error comes in the description for the two-part series finale: “Kelly takes an AIDS test after she comes into contact with the blood of an HIV patient. Trying to calm their new female news achor, Brandon ends up getting her drunk. Mel issues David an ultimatium. Valerie anxiously awaits her HIV test results. Brandon and Kelly have some very big news for their invited guests a few hours before the wedding.” The first half of that (from “Kelly…” to “…ultimatium” is from an episode in season 7! That’s right, folks. How a description for an episode that wasn’t even in this season–and wasn’t even a season finale, for that matter–ended up merged with the description for the actual season finale is beyond me. And, just to be totally accurate, Brandon and Kelly had their “surprise” *at* the wedding, not hours before.

Also worth mentioning is the pamphlet advertising other shows on DVD, including 90210: The First Season. The description reads: “New Drama. Same Zip. There’s a new generation in town, and they’re turning up the heat at West Beverly High. For hook-ups, break-ups, drug busts, and betrayals, 90210 is the place to go for the ultimate in guilty pleasures! Packed with Special Features.”

Unfortunately, this set isn’t “packed with special features.” Just as it was with season 7, my biggest complaint is the absence of special features altogether. I can only hope they are making some kick-ass ones for a complete series release. (And if there’s no complete series release, I’ll be hella pissed.)

Season 9 comes out in February.

Stay tuned!

Wee Worship Singers Pre School from Georgetown Christian on Vimeo.

Deluge was the debut feature film by a 23 year-old with the enviable name of Felix E. Feist. Sounds like a Marx Brothers pseudonym, but it’s the real name of the son of an MGM sales manager, who had an almost-there career in movies until he switched to TV production in the 50s. Deluge was believed to have been lost, until a print surfaced in Rome – accordingly, the suriving version of the film is dubbed into Italian. It is noteworthy mostly because of its spectacular scenes of tidal waves destroying Manhattan, proof that Roland Emmerich didn’t invent the wheel: he just enlarged and nuked it.

The film clips along at an alarming rate. Before the main characters have even been introduced, we’re into a montage of baffled scientists, international news reports of earthquakes, military aircraft being returned to base, preachers predicting the end of the world; this all establishes the communication networks, the babble of opinions that tells us this is global catastrophe affecting even the biggest structures of nation states.

The onscreen declaration at the start really dates this film:

Deluge is a tale of fantasy, an adventure in speculation, a vivid epic pictorialisation of an author’s imaginative flight. We the producers present it now purely for your entertainment, remembering full well God’s covenant with Noah.

Yeah, because nothing kicks off a bit of pure entertainment like a Bible reference.

Note to Roland Emmerich: in Deluge, the buildings start falling seven minutes in – within thirty seconds, millions are dead and the entire Western coast of North America has crumbled into the sea. The radio announces: “Indescribable disaster is causing havoc everywhere. There’s no cause for panic. Shut off all gas items.” Now that’s efficient.

There then follows a remarkable sequence in which all of New York is washed away by the sea. This footage was never lost with the rest of the movie (I wonder if it was a flood which washed all the prints away), because it was reused in the Dick Tracy serial, and in King of the Rocket Men. YouTube helpfully has a clip, though the quality is not stellar:

I wonder if the miniature sets were built especially for the film, or whether RKO had some leftovers from the same year’s King Kong that needed knocking down. It looks like an expensive miniature set, and presumably was destroyed all in one go. The earth trembles, buildings explode into chalky oblivion, and the sea rushes in to wipe out any last traces of life. After this rather definitive destruction, the film follows the plight of survivors. Although a couple of months has passed, within a couple of minutes of screentime, they’re fighting to the death over Claire (Peggy Shannon), who has taken the trouble to wash ashore wearing only her undies.

Shannon has an unhappy biography – a former Ziegfeld girl, she was signed up by Paramount in 1931 as a new “It” girl to replace Clara Bow (who had suffered a nervous breakdown), she drank herself to death in 1941. A couple of weeks later husband shot himself dead on the spot where he’d found her. Incidentally, Feist’s ex-wife Lisa Howard, an actress who became a hugely successful journalist and newscaster, also killed herself in tragic circumstances after suffering a miscarriage. Feist died of cancer a couple of weeks later. Wow, so much death. Back to happier business. In Deluge, Shannon gives a fine account of a self-reliant and feisty (see what I did there?) woman lumbered with the tiresome burden of being the last woman in sight. She sets up temporary home with Martin, who has been separated from his wife and children in the chaos, believing them to be dead.

Elsewhere, life is picking up again, in a sequence of vigenettes from small town life in places where banks, barbers and families are trying to reinstate their old communities. The Italian dub might even allow today’s viewers the fantasies that this is some apocalyptic neo-realist drama. But only briefly. Martin’s wife Helen (Lois Wilson) is still alive and hoping to be reunited with him, but Tom, yet another survivor, informs her that a new law (how quickly people take the chance to pass new laws in the wake of catastrophe!) commands that women of marrying age must marry. Ah, romance.

Tom has other things to take care of, too, leading a mob against the cruel Bellamy gang, who’ve been raping and looting like only a post-apocalyptic all-male crowd of burly guys can. Thus is dramatised the struggle between the opposing factions of society’s remnants – women get the raw deal: stuck between forced marriage and random attacks by randy thugs, they become the fetish objects through which the male survivors differentiate themselves from one another. There’s some nicely ambiguous drama when Helen and Martin are reunited at the end. Claire refuses to give him up just because his wife turns out to be alive – it’s not as if there’s still a church around to give a crap (I’m paraphrasing her words), and for a while it looks as though they’re about to find accommodation as a threeway family, but it all ends with Claire swimming off to sea. An earlier comment that, unable to become an aviator, she became a professional swimmer tells us that Claire is not necessarily swimming to her death, but it looks for all the world like a suicidal martyrdom, as if her brand of trouser-wearing femininity can’t be assimilated with the newest world order. She did earlier escape from one unsatisfactory settlement to another by stripping off and swimming to the next port of call, so I like to think she’s going to keep going until she finds a refashioned society that can incorporate her desires. In any event, God’s covenant with Noah isn’t helping much.

[See more images from Deluge in my slideshow below:]

]]> http://texasag03.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/noah-scott-biorkman/ Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:28:36 +0000 Jeff http://texasag03.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/noah-scott-biorkman/

Noah Biorkman passed away today; he was freed from his suffering this morning.  God bless him and his family.  Farewell, little angel.

After a long battle with Stage IV Neruorblastoma cancer, Monday morning at 8:02 AM, Noah Biorkman passed away at his home in South Lyon, Michigan.

Scott and I, along with our families, would like to thank everyone for the continued support over the past few years during Noah’s illness. As most of you know, Noah has received more than one million Christmas cards over the past few weeks. The outpouring of love and compassion has been remarkable and we are extremely grateful. We are now asking for everyone please respect our privacy during this very difficult time. The funeral services will be for family only. We are asking that instead of sending cards and flowers to Scott and me; please make a donation in Noah’s name to either of the organizations below. With your donation, Noah’s legacy will live on for many years to come, if not forever.

Thank you so much for your support and love.

Sincerely,
The Biorkman Family

Please send donations to the following:

Department of Pediatrics and Oncology
University of Michigan
1500 East Medical Center Drive
D4202MPB
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-5718
Checks payable to: The University of Michigan – Noah’s Pediatric Oncology Fund

OR

Make-A-Wish Foundation of Michigan
230 Huron View Blvd.
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48103
Checks payable to: Make-A-Wish Foundation of Michigan – Memo: Noah Biorkman

WOW!  More than 1 million cards.  What a showing of love and support.  Thank God that little boy got Christmas this year.

For as long as I can remember, my Dad had this picture hanging in his work area.  I never really thought much of it, other than it was a silly picture. 

But worry can rob us of so many things.  I don’t know where I heard or read this statement, but it makes a lot of sense:  “when you worry, you say “I” instead of leaving it in God’s hands.”  Worry can actually make us physically sick. Worry causes us to lose sleep.  Worry causes us to miss out on all the good things that are taking place around us. Worry can shake our faith in God. And many of the things we worry about never actually take place!  Matthew 6:27 asks, “Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?” 

In the story of Noah, the Bible tells us that Noah spent his time doing as God commanded.  He built the ark, collected the animals, etc.  Noah did God’s work – God took care of the details.  We often do just the opposite – worry more about the details than about the things we do have control over. 

Now all of this is not to say that there aren’t times for genuine concern.  But the difference between “worry” and “concern” is that worry often immobilizes us, while concern should cause us to take action. We should plan for tomorrow, trusting in God’s guidance.  Planning can sometimes eliminate worry.  But Matthew 7:34 tell us, “Don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries.  Today’s trouble is enough for today.” 

Philippians 4:6-7 tells us, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.  Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.  If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand.  His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”

Idag har vi varit på vårdcentralen och fått vaccin, barnen och jag. Jag tyckte att det gick smidigt och barnen var jätteduktiga. Trodde faktiskt att det skulle vara mer folk.

Jag överlevde mastodontveckan, mot alla odds. Helgen inleddes med en riktig rövfredag, fortsatte med en helt ok lördag och avlutades med en fantastisk söndag. Jag och barnen var hos Tove och tjuvstartade med lite glögg, lussebullar och pepparkakor. Supermysigt som vanligt! Noah fick ett tåg i födelsedagspresent som vi har haft väldigt roligt med:)

Lägenheten är städad, hör och häpna. Det är väldigt skönt att slippa fastna med strumporna på köksgolvet;)

19 and Counting!

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar of Tonitown, Ark., who have 18 children and one grandchild on the way, are expecting a new addition to their household – baby No. 19 will arrive in the spring.

“We are so thrilled,” says Michelle, 42. “We just couldn’t believe it is happening.” Jim Bob, 44, agrees: “This never gets old. We are so grateful for each child. We are looking forward to our first grand baby and our 19th child.”

Oldest son Joshua, 21 and his wife Anna, 21, are expecting daughter Mackynzie Renée next month, so she will be older than her new aunt or uncle.

Read the rest here.

This is wonderful news and I rejoice with the Duggars on their 19th child.  I pray the Lord blesses them and gives Mrs. Duggar a blessed time during her pregnancy.

There is such a need for women to understand that children are a gift from God.  Our culture seems to think that it is “sad” when a woman desires to have the children God intended for her to have.  Whether we are given 1 or 19, the issue should not be that she is having children.  The issue should be…is she doing right in God’s eyes!  According to Gen. 1:28, “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

Did it stop there?  After commanding Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, did God rescind His command?  Let’s see what else the Bible has to say about it.

Gen. 9:1, 7, “And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.  And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.” Next we see God telling Noah to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth after the flood.

Lev. 26:9, “And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.” Here we see God telling the Israelites to multiply and be fruitful!

Ps. 127:3-5, “Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.  As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.  Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.” God has given us an idea of what He thinks of children.  See what is said here?  Children are an inheritance or an heirloom of the Lord and the fruit of the womb are His compensation, benefit or worth!  Wow!  What an amazing expression of children in the Bible!  But wait!!! It doesn’t stop there…the Bible continues on with saying that the man who has a quiver full of them is HAPPY!  When you read the article, you will notice that Mrs. Duggar is very happy to have another child in her family!  How much more exciting could this be?

Ps. 128:3-4, “Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.  Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the LORD.” This is the way it will be, i.e. being blessed by having children for the man that fears the Lord!  The excitement continues on building!

Jesus spoke about little children and even rebuked His disciples because they were forbidding them to come to Jesus.  What?!  Are children to be banned from God’s presence?  Are children nuisances to us adults?  That seems strange because we were all children at one time.  Maybe all of us should have been viewed as a nuisance and bother!

How does God look at those of us who are saved into His family?  He looks at us as children and even uses the apostles to call those he is writing to, “Little children.”

1 Cor. 3:1, “And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.”

1 Pt. 2:2, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:”

Mt. 18:3, “And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

Mk. 10:15, “Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.”

So, is it Mr. and Mrs. Duggar who are wrong in having so many children?  Absolutely not!  It is the culture and those who complain that they have had too many children who are wrong!  The Duggars are simply following God’s command and fulfilling it according to His Word!  Oh that more families would take the time to see what a blessing children are instead of viewing them as a curse!

Typical guy/girl convo happened between my two kids:

Noah: Bella, when you wear dresses you look pretty!
Bella: When I don’t wear dresses do I look pretty?
N: When you wear dresses you look pretty!
B: But when I don’t wear dresses do I look pretty?
N: Uh….you look kind of pretty. <long pause> I mean, you look really pretty!

He’s got about 12 years to figure out that that second response should have been the first response!

Photo by Helico

Well, I read Genesis 5. All this begetting did not make much sense to me. While it is interesting to ask why this part is included in the bible at all, I am more interested in stories, so, I jumped to Genesis 6.

Genesis 6 is the beginning of the story of Noah’s Ark. But the story starts with a dark twist:

And Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented Jehovah that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And Jehovah said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the ground; both man, and beast, and creeping things, and birds of the heavens; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found favor in the eyes of Jehovah. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, and perfect in his generations: Noah walked with God.

Don’t we all feel sometimes like men can only imagine evil continually? Every morning we open the newspaper and see all the horrible things that are happening around us. It is so easy to think that this is a true representation of the world. We are bombarded with bad news, with the extremes. It would not be a very interesting news reports if the news started with: “today, 5 billion people did nothing evil; most of them actually helped their friends”. Nevertheless, The fact that we only see and hear about bad things does not mean that only bad things are happening.

And what does that have to do with Noah’s story? Well, even God, who is not swayed by the new-age media and news reports, first assumed that everybody is evil. However, when he looked deeper, he found good. True, it was only one man I a world of evil, but it means that there is always hope. And that  the search for good is always worthwhile. If we look deep enough and continue to believe, we will find good in the world. We will find the people who are willing to help and sacrifice and change the world for the better.

It is easy to find (and to practice) evil. It is much harder to find (and practice good).

Elad