Hey everyone... Before you state your utter amazement that
Kaylie FINALLY got around to posting an update, know this: It is
NOT Kaylie updating, it is I, Kimber, the magnificent sister,
who doth so taketh the opportunity to update for my
uncommunicative older sibling ...eth.

John Luke is doing very well, but having trouble staying asleep
at night which causes some undue stress. He has learned to turn
over from his back to stomach, been 1/2 way potty trained, and
is soon about to begin consumption of solid foods. Kaylie has
adjusted fairly well to motherhood, yet she hasn't had to deal
with much disciplining yet. And she got a VERY cute haircut,
which I don't have a picture yet of.

Patrick is doing well with fatherhood, but almost never has much
time to himself except for his daily nap between lesson planning
and teaching school, writing papers and reading for his college
course, preparing sermons, being a daddy and probably something
else I have forgotten.

I think that about covers the basics. Hope that helps to quench
some of your curiosity.

Oh, and Patrick turns 25 this coming Monday. A whole quarter of
a century.

OK, so, I have no excuse for not being on Pleonast for—ever. I just lost interest. Here is an update, with answered questions:

Official due date: Oct. 1
Our baby is said to be a boy. We'll see!

Cravings to date: chocolate soy milk, root beer, grilled cheese and tomato soup, ice cream (I cried for twenty minutes one night because it was too late to go get any), orange juice, I think that's all.

The baby has been dropping, dropping, dropping, and it's making me bigger and bigger! Nothing fits!

A birth center is a hospital alternative. It is an outpatient facility, meaning they don't keep you there longer than about 12 hours. They are much more accommodating to my attitude toward traditional medicine. They focus on natural birthing methods and have mastered many special tools and techniques for accomplishing a natural birth. Yes, they can do water births. I think I will consider doing one, but you have to keep your body under the water the whole time. We'll see if I can do that.

I think we are ready (I don't want to be too sure!). I know Patrick will be great at the birth and helping me get adjusted afterward. He gets a week off from school after the birth, and I am due one week before his two week fall break, so if we're on time, he'll get three straight weeks off! I'm hoping!

- I am no longer experiencing morning sickness.
- I am having an ultrasound on Tuesday and may know then what we're having!
- I have had no cravings.
- I am due the end of September.
- I am going to a birth center.
- Anything else?

In case you have not yet heard...in six months the size of the Halbrook family will increase by one.

And no, we're not getting another cat.

Myth #1 Vine's Dictionary is a professional tool.

FALSE! Vine's Dictionary is actually a theological dictionary, meaning that he treats words more as themes. This means that Vine would, and did, assign whatever theological significance he saw in a word. He is responsible for the "Agape means 'unconditional love'" view, patently untrue, that is so pervasive in our circles. Please use Thayer's! Or better yet, just ask me for help.

Myth #2 The Apostasy of the Catholic church was due to a gradual disruption of the biblical pattern of church governing.

Also FALSE! A preacher at a church where I grew up had a sermon he preached every three or so years about the danger of letting the church eventually become a Christianized version of the surrounding culture. Sadly, this church quickly became a mirror of the community, which was exclusive. Many members hung in cliques, and I remember not a few women who proudly wore their minks to church while my family lived on food stamps and in subsidized housing.

This Catholic apostasy, like all others, arose from the church becoming like the culture. It was an adultery of the heart much more than it was ever a light attitude toward biblical "authority." The Catholic apostasy was a combination of Greek and Gnostic philosophy and Roman social structures being subsumed into Christian teaching. Nothing less than a corruption of the fundamental, underlying, Jewish philosophy of Christianity could lead so quickly to such oddities as original sin (Tertullian, A.D. 210) and isolated monasticism (Jerome, 4th century).

Use this example to teach you to look to the "slippery slope" of being like the world, and less of the slope of salads in the building.