We (OK Jenn is) are at 19 weeks and found out today that we are having (95%) a girl.  Healthy as far as they can tell and full of energy the way she was moving.

I didn’t really have a preference for the sex of our first child.  We are having more, so no pressure. 

Jenn and I agreed on more boy names than girl.  We actually had the name, if it was going to be a boy.  As for a girl name we are a little less decided.  But we have plenty of time.

 Jenn just bought her first outfit.  A little number with “Mommy’s little girl” on the chest.  I gues I will have to lay my claim as well:)

Solemn.  Good Friday at Mars Hill is more like a Funeral than the name implies.  As we approached the church, two men dressed in black stood at the door.  With guarded smiles on their faces they opened the doors for us.  As we entered they handed out little black cards that read “Jesus died for my sins.  My sin is:_____________”  The normally bright entrance was shrouded in darkness and a thick quietness, enforced by several signs reading “Please enter in Silence.” 

The music was dark and the reading of the crucifixion was emotional.  It was a very moving experience.  This was the first Good Friday service I have ever been to.  Easter didn’t have much meaning, besides dying eggs, in my childhood.  Today as a Christian I am faced with the reality of my own sin and knowledge that our Lord and Savior was hung on a tree for them. 

As we walked outside with solemn faces and thoughts, a good friend said “brighten up guys it has a happy ending, He comes back!”  Yes, he does.  But the sullenness in my heart was for my casual attitude towards my sin, not towards the service.  Jesus died for my sin.  My sin. 

I have been blessed with great transformations in my life.  It’s really the stuff movies are made of, maybe I’ll write about it sometime.  I am miles away from who I was ten years ago.  I was ripped from being a tool of the deceiver, and placed on the long path toward God.  All of those miles and I am still filled with sin and inequities.  I will be for the rest of my life.  But it isn’t something for me to take casually.    

We don’t have a TV, but watch a little streaming video from abc, nbc,and fox.  Ok so what we really have is a laptop that plays like a TV with less commercials.  I have been lost lately in the Kongregate; mindless games that absorb my life without giving much back.  I want to have my time filled with activities that give back.  So here I am confessing and doing it publicly, kind of, not many readers here.  I will devote more time to blogging, less time on Kongregate.

Before I spent most of my writing energy on G2SRE and less here.  I would like to divide my time up more evenly.  With only 5 months left till we bring our first child into the world I want to have the habits of personal blogging ingrained.  I am so envious of the posts with beautiful pictures I see of my friends children, their lives filled with joy. 

Jenn and I are so happy to have had God open our eyes to him and led us to each other.  We just got back from Ocean Shores for our 2nd anniversary.  We had a blast.  We played Safari in the sand dunes.  Here is Jenn, laughing harder than ever, pretending to be a lion crawling through the grass.

I spent a little time reflecting on our last two years of marriage and what my life was like before.  I had always known that I would marry, someday.  But at the pace that I was going it would have been two weeks after never.  I was absorbed in filling my life with selfish joys.  Hiking, Climbing, Cycling, Ambition, Drive, Perfectionism, Self Esteem, these can all be great things, but it was all I pursued.  Without family what lasting value can those pursuits have. 

Meeting Jesus has changed me and how I look at life in so many ways.  I still do all of the things I used to, moderately, but with “right motives.”  My ultimate focus is more towards God, Family, and Community instead of Me, Me, and some Community.  Every time I take a non-Christian to Mars Hill and Mark preaches Jesus, Marriage, and Babies, I smile deep inside.  Praying for their blinders to be lifted and the light to shine in.

Our doctor said that the test was normal. We asked about what could be done if the test came back positive. Abortion. She said that we should get the test unless we were “in the camp” of people who if they knew they were going to have a child with Downs wouldn’t get an abortion. CAMP, wow I forget that we live in Seattle and abortion is considered a normal treatment for selfishness. I guess we are “in the camp.” I googled it immediately when I got home. From wiki:

A 2002 literature review of elective abortion rates found that 91–93% of pregnancies with a diagnosis of Down syndrome were terminated.

I am just shocked.  We didn’t get the test.

JUNO.  If you haven’t seen it, see it.  While yes it has an unmarried pregnant sixteen year old, it rocks.  It even has a decent message.  I was very impressed.  The soundtrack was  pretty cool too.  I won’t ruin it, but I really enjoyed the portrayal of decent parents.  All to often in movies that are based on weird and "Alternative" youth, the parents are too messed up to know what is really going on.  This movie wasn’t a youth against adult movie, refreshing.

It is about time a Pro-Life message came out of Hollywood.  I guess with pregnancy being in "fashion", Life has value again.  They even poked a little fun at your average sign holding activist, but still held to the +life message. 

The movie was definitely wizaard!

Sure, some French hippie said that in the 1770s. But it feels like a first amendment related  quote doesn’t it. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

I am definitely not a constitutional scholar, however I think there is a reason that amendment was first. The spirit of it defines much about who we are as a country. It addresses our inner desire to be independent to ourselves and to be able to express ourselves freely. I wouldn’t define myself as a politically active person. I vote, but give my money to non-political charities and causes. Today I am going to talk a little about politics.

Article 6 paragraph 3 of the constitution specifically states that our Senators and Representatives shall be bound by oath to support the constitution, but that no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.

Our legislation and judicial rulings are derived from the constitution. The Amendments are the postulates from which our laws are created and judged by.

Our Constitution even protects a person’s right to disagree with the constitution. The KKK, Neo-Nazi’s, Communists, and even extreme fundamentalist Liberals are protected by our Constitution. Beliefs, Religions, and Ideas are protected. What they might lead to, are not, murder, discrimination, fraud, and throwing fake blood on people who wear fur. The constitution defines what our laws look like not what our hearts and minds should look like.

I am a Bible believing Christian. My relationship with God is the most important aspect of my life, more important than everything else. The Bible contains the postulates from which I strive to live my life. It defines my love for my wife, my friends, my neighbors, my community, and even the world as a whole. It allows for my support of our constitution and the laws that are derived from it. If I am remembered by one thing I hope it is that “Jonathan walked with God.”

That being said, I would vote against any Law requiring a specific religion, even mine. If God would have wanted mankind to all walk in a line, he would have made it so. I agree that our government and laws should not determine or restrict individual political or religious beliefs. The first amendment and article 6 paragraph 3 are well written and needed to protect us from ourselves. Neither have jurisdiction to personal beliefs. Neither control what our press reports. Neither dictates what a political candidate believes in.

However, to expect a candidate for political office to keep their religious views private is ridiculous. It is a farce to demand a person keep what they hold most important quiet, to expect them to misrepresent who they are and what they support, in order to please those who may have different opinions.

Yes, there shall be no test. No legal requirement. No quota to meet. A candidate is allowed to be who they are. Voting eligible citizens are allowed to vote for whom they wish, based on their own test. When we choose who to vote for, we test a candidate against our beliefs. If they don’t pass we don’t vote for them. Our democracy promotes and protects this test. It is our foundation, beneath even our constitution.

Freedom of Religion, separation of church and state. Yes there shall be no laws against a specific religion. But we live in a republic; we elect representatives to make our decisions for us. These representatives are people, not laws. They are protected that same constitution as we are, they are allowed to believe in what they want. We either vote for them or not.

To ask a person to not take their faith into consideration when making political decisions is trivializing that faith. Trivializing it like it is a fashion soon to go out of style. I admit it is difficult when we live in a world of hypocrites and fashionistas. How can you take personal beliefs serious when we live in this post-modern culture of sarcasm and irony? It is easy to believe, the seemingly logical axiom that with all the false and misguided, religion should take a backseat position. It is just as easy to disbelieve a career politician who talks about change.

People often talk about all the evil done under the guise of religion as an argument against it. I would say that most religions would agree with you, about the evil part anyway. Humanity has done many horrible things throughout time under the guise of anything they could hide. Today is no different whether it is under the guise of the Palestinian Refugee, or the Insensitive Corporation, or the Struggle against the Axis of Evil. People do horrible things. But don’t discount displaced people, our employers, or our own government. To say that all is bad would be to leave the whole story off the table. We live in a complex and intertwined world. Conflict is unavoidable.

Now we all know the rules. “Don’t talk about Politics or Religion in polite conversation and light company.” Why not? Politics and Religion are two topics that people hold of high importance and are bound to disagree on. I have never understood why it is thought that these are two separate topics. Both are about “solutions to problems,” “How you define right from wrong,” “Who is going to fix it.” If we have already broken the rule once, and we are talking politics, why stop there.

I have said before that there isn’t a candidate that represents me well. I am going to have to choose the lesser of two wrongs. I will test the candidates against my values, beliefs, and positions on subjects of debate. Then I will vote accordingly. I support your right to do the same. Test your candidates against your values, beliefs, and positions. Vote for your right candidate. But we are not in a position to demand that our candidates not talk about their values. If we do, then we are being the censor, we are the ones drawing lines in the sand.

It has sat in our “china” cabinet ever since.  Then I read my friend Grace’s Blog about how she has finally acquired this pot.  A Le Creuse, what ever that is.  Ours is a Emily Henry, France it says.

After reading Grace’s Blog I felt left out.  We thought this was just some ole casserole dish.  Not eating many casseroles we left it to collect dust.  Oh well it is just a pot.

Three day pass and I am talking with a member of my Toastmasters club about cooking.  She raves about her favorite pot, a Le Creuse.  Ok, now I am really feeling left out.

Saturday we venture out to have dinner at a friends house and what do you know they have 3 of these pots.  Three time this pot has been mentioned in just a week, and never before in my life.  I am beginning to think I had better pay attention. 

I made potatoes for some guests in it after Mars Hill on Sunday.  nothing special just potatoes, I still feel like this pot must have more to it.  The potatoes tasted like potatoes to me.  I guess I will have to learn why this pot is so cool.  Maybe I’ll ask Grace.

Notice the other crane in the background?  That is for the Mural building being built on the former Petco parking lot.  The amount of building in West Seattle is just amazing.  I think that it is going to be great for the local businesses, as long as they are able to hold out against rising rents.

However getting furniture into our home was a challenge and is for most town home owners.  We bought a 9ft long sofa, it is soft and fuffy, but it wont fit through our stair well.  For about a year we converted our first floor bedroom into a “TV” room and avoided moving it into our “living” room on the second floor.  Recently we are expecting our first child and need to move our “office” from a third floor bedroom down to the first floor.  How to get the huge sofa up stairs to make room for the office?

Being an avid rock climber and mountaineer, ropes and rigging are my thing.  Check out this great system to get a couch to the middle floor in a typical West Seattle town home.  A little hoist and pull using a three to one pulley system and after removing the second story balcony.

We even have a little video of the final stages:

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While maximizing your DTI isn’t always the wrong move, it can be devastating. I work with several clients who have had their homes listed with another agent and had the listing expired because it was overpriced.  Often these clients purchased their home just in the last few years and even threw in a little refi when the rates looked good.  Now that the market has changed and values are being re-examined, they’re in trouble.  For whatever reason they have to move and need to sell their home, often because of other financial stressors, to reduce their monthly outlay.  Unless you absolutely have to, it is best to sell you home in favorable market conditions.

So, we have two issues, clients that are already facing unfortunate financial stressors and the need to sell in an unfavorable market.  These two combined can lead to financial ruin if not approached carefully.  I have had one client who, by a series of unforeseen incidences, fell behind on a payment or two and now are unable to refinance their ARM.  With high payments and other bills, they are over their heads and their home isn’t worth what they owe.  They have had to make the hard decision to cash out some of their retirement to hold on to their home until they have the ability to sell or Refi as it may be.  Caution: This solution isn’t right for every situation.  It is important to have advisors that are willing to give you the right advice even if it means they don’t make a commission.

Working with clients whose homes have expired, I have the unfortunate role of turning down business because I am unable to help.  I do my best to give them good advice on how to proceed, but the best possible advice to give is to not end up in that situation in the first place.  Find what you want in the price ranges that you can afford, not qualify for.