Two Years Old!

Maddie turned two yesterday.  I can't believe it!  We celebrated over the weekend with our family.  Maddie was the center of attention, of course.  But it doesn't really take a birthday for that!

We tried teaching her to say "Thank you so much.  I love it!" when she received a gift.  What came out was, "Thank you, so I love it!"

The Steelers happened to play the Bengals over the weekend as well.  Em's family (including me) are Steelers fans while my family (excluding me) are Bengals fans.  Unfortunately, the Bengals came out on top.  But we had a good time.  Here's Maddie with her best friend Dindy (Em's Aunt Cindy).

Quick Facts Friday

This week, the quick facts focus is SOCIAL.

• In 2007, for the first time in history, the majority of people lived in urban areas.  Throughout most of the developing world, this results in larger slum populations.
• Nearly 30% of women worldwide give birth before age 18.
• Some 200 million women who wish to space or limit their childbearing lack access ton contraception.
• Nearly one in five parliamentary seats in 2008 were held by women, bringing the percentage to 18% -- with the highest percentages being in Europe and the Americas.  Out of 189 governments, women hold only 13 of the highest positions of state.
• Young peoples ages 15 to 24 represent close to half of the world's increasing number of jobless people -- estimated at 192 million in 2006.  This number is expected to increase by 50 million by the end of 2009.  In many countries, youth are more than three times as likely as adults to be seeking work.  This presents an especially urgent challenge for developing countries, home to 85% of the world's youth.
• Over one-third of all Internet users in the world live in developing countries, whose share of the world's "Internet population" grew by nearly 50% between 2000 and 2003.
• An estimated 20 million children worldwide have been forced to flee their homes because of conflict and human rights violations.

Please consider sponsoring a child through Compassion International today.

40 Good Reasons Not to Have Children?

Are you kidding me? 40 good reasons not to have children. That's the title of a new book by Corinne Maier. Here are the 40 "good" reasons:

• The "desire for children": A silly idea
• Labour is torture
• You avoid becoming a walking pacifier
• You keep having fun
• Rat race plus rugrats: No thanks!
• You keep your friends
• You won't have to use the idiot language when talking to kids
• Open the nursery, close the bedroom
• Kids are the death of desire
• Kids are the death knell of the couple
• To be or to do: Don't decide
• "The child is sort of vicious, innately cruel dwarf" (Michael Houellebecq)
• Kids are conformists
• Kids are a treasure, and will cost you one
• Kids are unbiased allies of capitalism
• A brain teaser: How to keep kids busy
• The parent's worst nightmares
• Don't be fooled by the "ideal child" illusion
• Your kid will always disappoint you
• The horror of becoming a merdeuf
• Parent above all? No, thank you
• Keep the experts at bay
• The family: a horror
• Don't revert to childhood
• It takes real courage to keep saying, "Me first"
• Kids signal the end of your youthful dreams
• You can't stop yourself from wanting your kids to be happy
• You can't get away from your kids
• Get used to it: School is a boot camp
• "Raise" a child...but toward what?
• Avoid benevolent neutrality like the plague
• Parenthood is a sad, sweet song
• Motherhood is a trap for women
• Motherhood or success: Pick one
• When the child appears, the father disappears
• Today's child is the perfect child: Welcome to the best of all possible worlds
• Danger, child ahead
• Why wear yourself out for a future that doesn't include you?
• There are too many children in the world
• Reject the ten absurd commandments of the "good" parent

I might be bias, but I think the title should be changed to 40 Selfish Reasons Not to Have Children. What do you think?

Quick Facts Friday

This week, the quick facts focus is on RELIGION.

• Religion around the world is broken down like this: 33% Christians; 21% Muslims; 13% Hindus; 6% Buddhists; 2.3% atheists; 0.4% Sikhs; 0.2% Jewish; 0.1% Baha'is; 12% other; 12% nonreligious.
• Brazil is the largest Catholic country in the world.
• Women make up 56% of the adult born-again population.
• Born-again Christians are more likely than the average adult to have volunteered their time to help their church in the past week (32% to 22%, respectively).
• Nearly half of all Americans who receive Jesus Christ as their Savior do so before reaching the age of 13 (43%), and two out of three born-again Christians(64%) made that commitment to Christ before their 18th birthday.
• Approximately 69% of Americans believe that God is the all-powerful, all-knowing, perfect Creator who rules the world today.

Please consider sponsoring a child through Compassion International today.

It's safe to say Maddie enjoyed herself...

This is in response to my last post. I think it's safe to say Maddie enjoyed herself last night. My apologies for the amateur video footage.

We left the house in disarray. When we got home, Em said, "Oh, I should have cleaned the house before we left." To which Maddie responded, "It's OK." and put her head on Em's shoulder. Hugging Em, she said, "Love you so much."

I took Micah upstairs to get ready for bed and heard Maddie singing, "Dory (Glory) to Dod (God), Dory to Dod, Dory to Dod forever!" while Em was putting her to bed.

Thank you God, for these precious moments!

Maddie's New Song

We're (including Maddie) going to see Fee tonight, so we thought we would teach Maddie a new song.

"Take my life and let it be
All for You and for Your glory
Take my life and let it be Yours"

"Glory to God
Glory to God
Glory to God, forever"

We can't wait to worship with her! Thank you, Fee, for lyrics so simple (yet so profound) an almost-two-year-old can learn them!