Thursday, January 31, 2008

First woman horse racer got her start in...Thorncliffe Park!!

Found this interesting article the other day about a horse racing story that began in ...Thorncliffe Park
..the fight Williams put up on behalf of all women in the sport began long before that, defying even her husband's wishes against her being permitted to race to embark on a 21-year career, beginning with her first win in 1951 at Thorncliffe Park in Toronto and running through 1973, retiring as the winningest driver in North America.
If you didn't already know, Thorncliffe Park used to be a racetrack - one it seems that has historic significance!

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Shenk & Shabir

One of the neat things about being in BC last week was that I got a chance to hear and meet Dr. David Shenk, one of the most respectful and thoughtful Christian scholars when it comes to Muslim/Christian dialogue. His book "A Muslim and a Christian in dialogue is used as a textbook in many places in the world as a platform for understanding between these two faiths. I saw him speak in Abbotsford and he spoke about his recent trip to Iran -click here- where he was an invited guest, asked to share the message of peace through Jesus with 1500 Mullahs as well as the President. I appreciate Shenk's respectful discussions with Muslims and his emphasis on the peace and forgiveness through Jesus.

I looked up his videos -here- when he had a dialogue with Shabir Ali. Check em out and see what I mean. I would encourage all Christians to clothe themselves with this attitude of peace when engaged in dialogue with Muslim friends.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Parenting 101 v16 - Days of our lives

When I am confronted with a difficult parenting situation, I'll put the issue out there to plumb the depths of the vast parenting knowledge of my beloved readers....Here is our sixteenth edition of Parenting 101.
__________________________



Today we were driving in the car when Lukas said:

Dad...how many days have there been? Including today?

Any ideas for a good response?

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Thorncliffe "Running & Reading" Club starts Jan 23rd

For a while now we've been hoping to help get a kids club going in Thorncliffe. Lots of kids need help with English since, for 93% of the kids at the school, English is not their first language. Last summer we started discussions with an amazing organization called Kidsfest Canada and so starting January 23rd Thorncliffe Park Public School will have their own Running & Reading program!!

We need loads of volunteers so if you'd like to run around and read to kids from all over the world one day a week, just email me!

Friday, January 18, 2008

Video of the week - best video ever!!

Ladies and gentlemen, I have just viewed the greatest video ever posted on the internet. Behold:

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Ron Paul 4th in Michigan

I was excited to see Ron Paul coming in a solid 4th in Michigan, well ahead of both Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson - here. This is the second time Paul has defeated both Giuliani and Thompson and solidifies him as the 4th place candidate in the race, officially part of the "top tier" candidates. It will be interesting to see how the media handles this.

Halal meat thief sells to drug dealer

I found this article interesting:
In less than an hour of watching the location on Wednesday night, detectives allegedly caught the store’s 46-year-old owner selling pot to a patron and buying cheese and halal meats from a customer who had stolen the food from a store in Thorncliffe Park.
So first of all the guy is selling pot, but then he is buying stolen Halal meat? It seems funny to me that he would keep halal even though he's breaking other basic laws like drug dealing :)

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Videos of the week - More reasons to love Ron Paul

During the South Carolina Republican debate Ron Paul spoke the best one-liner of the entire campaign so far (5:30-5:58)
Paul: Let me see if I get this right. We need to borrow 10 Billion dollars from China and then we give it to Musharaff who's a military dictator who overthrew an elected government, then we go to war we lose all these lives promoting democracy in Iraq? I mean, what's going on here
:


Another great quote was when he smacked John McCain about the middle east - here - for McCain's quip about foreign policy (7:57-9:41):
Paul: So why don't we trade with everybody and talk with them (instead of endless wars), and then there's a greater incentive to work these (Middle East) problems out...

McCain (smiling like an idiot): I'm not interested in trading with Al Qaeda all they want to trade is Burqas. I don't want to travel with them they like one way tickets"

Paul: Can I answer that...that's what I've been talking about, we USED to support Saddam Husein and we USED to be allies with Osama Bin Laden!! What I want to do is stop that. Who's our friend one day turn out to be our enemies the next...the senator says we need to be in Iraq for 100 years if necessary...I say BRING EM HOME!


As a Christian I whole heartedly agree with Ron Paul. War is never right and the war in Iraq especially needs to end immediately. The troops need to return home and bases in the middle east closed so that the US can salvage what's left of their international reputation. That is the only way to reduce terrorism.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Move over Toronto FC

Make way for Thorncliffe FC!!!

Monday's hot topics - An Agnostic Follows The Bible For A Year...

Yes I know it's not Monday but forum member Michelle posted a very interesting link today on the forum - here. The article details an agnostic who "follows the Bible literally for one year". Michelle writes:
I thought this was a pretty interesting article to pass along. I know that for myself, even though I don't consider myself Christian I have adopted a lot of the Christian morals and practices. Even prayer. It's not that I don't believe God exists or even that Christ exists. I just don't believe the bible is the full story. Maybe it was divinely inspired, maybe it wasn't.
To check out the article and interact with Michelle on the forum click here

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

The sayings of Lukas v41

Today Hayley and I were talking about the possibility of taking a vacation in Egypt (if anyone has connections let us know). When Lukas heard this he was concerned:

Lukas: Daddy, if you go to Egypt won't that bad King make you work hard??

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Thorncliffe Community center construction finally begins!!

Well, it's been quite a while since Jane Pitfield dug her shovel in the ground in 2006 but construction on the Thorncliffe "Jenner" community center has finally begun! Construction was supposed to start in the fall of 2006, and while there were many delays I'm happy to report the area is now fenced off. Even though the center will be closed for an entire year and a half to double it's size - here - it is good news for residents like myself.

Friday, January 04, 2008

The sayings of Lukas v40

Lukas is reading a bit now and is asking interesting questions about words. The other day he asked me:

Lukas: Dad, why does the word Library have 'lie' in it?

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Video of the week & Need a title v40 - Christmas tree disposal

Charlie Chaplin eat your heart out! This video was supposed to have detailed commentary on how to dispose of a Christmas tree in Thorncliffe Park, but now I just have to let the picture speak for itself. Can anyone think of a good title for this video?:

Happy New Year!!!

Wow, you could say I've been a bit busy recently - log in for our latest news.

Here's hoping everyone has a great 2008!!