Alison Graduates!

At the beginning of May, Alison turned in her last assignments for her last classes in her masters program. She has toiled for the year and a half - reading books, writing papers and solving problems. All of that while caring for two kids at home, supporting me in my work, and being involved in various church activities. The fruit of the labor is an MA in Curriculum and Instruction, and a wealth of ideas for education development.  You can see some labor bearing fruit here and here.

Alison Perkins, MA Teaching and Curriculum

To celebrate, I arranged a surprise party for Alison.  It was the complete package - a graduation gown, marching to "pomp and circumstance" and Alison giving the key note address.  Since Alison was unaware of the prestigious responsibility, I took the pains to write a commencement speech for her.  She was eloquent, if I do say so myself.  If you have a minute, send Alison an email or FB message of congratulations.

Giving the commencement address.

The question is, of course, "What will she do now?"  The possibilities are endless.  There are naps to be taken, recipes to be explored and books to be acquainted with.  I also have ideas to have her help me at school.  Well, she already has helped me, but now she'll have a bit more time and energy to contribute to my own development as a teacher. Below is the copy of her well-written and eloquent speech:

Alison's Graduation Speech
"We are never more than we were, than before we started the journey" - cheesy and meaningless inspirational quote #426

This month marks a month of many exciting milestones.  My son Gabriel, is celebrating his first birthday, I finished my masters degree, and most important, I am still not pregnant.  As exciting as that last point is, the reason we are gathered here today is to mark the milestone of having finished my masters (and partially to celebrate Gabe's birthday).

The question everyone asks now is "What are you going to do?" I have a lot of dreams and ambitions.  I expect those dreams to come during my afternoon naps which I now have time to take.  I also expect to do most of Josh's lesson planning for him, since I'm so skilled and masterful at planning lessons.  Lastly, I am going to work on getting everyone to call me "Master Alison".

Of course, I would like to thank those here who made that possible.  First, Gabriel, who took 30 minute naps during the afternoon.  Those short times forced me to become a better quicker writer.  Second, Eva, who occasionally shared "her" ipad with me so that I could read my articles.  Lastly, and most importantly, I would like to thank my strong, handsome, winsome, cool husband from whom I gained all my inspiration.  He even wrote a bunch of papers for me and basically did everything.

I would like to close by saying how thankful I am for everyone here.  Each of you has played a part in my life in some way, and I am grateful that you are here to celebrate with me.

Happy Birthday Gabe!

On Thursday, May 10, Gabe passed the milestone of his first birthday.  Those harried days when he was a month earlier than expected and mad rush to organize our lives before he arrived seem so long ago and yesterday at the same time.  He's gone from a frail newborn...

From Gabriel

...to a chunker that will someday be a linebacker for the Green Bay Packers. 

From Easter 2012

In true Perkins tradition (and tradition and tradition), we made our trek to Dairy Queen to give Gabe his first taste of ice cream.  

But true to the climate he has grown up in, he seems to have difficulty handling anything that is less than 75 degrees.  

We didn't get him any presents - but some friends saved the day.  Even though Gabe was a little unsure of his role with the crinkly box, Eva knew exactly what to do and was more than willing to lend her services.

Easter from the Muslim Perspective

This is a bit old, but I'll forget about it by this time next year.  The New Yorker published an article on how Muslim's view Easter.  The article does a good job of summing up the basic beliefs of Muslims regarding Jesus - that Jesus...

• does not hold divinity.
• was not crucified, but possibly someone else was (see the article for the range of explanations)
• did not die, but descended into heaven.  He will return at some point. 
• by extension, did not rise from the dead. 

There are more things in the article, but I wanted to focus on what the author says towards the end of the article, quoting an Imam (i.e. religious leader of a mosque):

"When Muslims and Christians meet, Sayer said, the Jesus connection can only take them so far. Getting into a deep conversation about exactly what happened to the Jesus in the Gospels versus the Jesus in the Koran only ends up emphasizing the gulf."

Anyone who says that Islam and Christianity are really the same have not taken a serious look at one of the (or probably both) belief systems.  This is not the only difference in theology, but it is possibly the most important.  And its true that it does emphasize the gulf between Muslims and Christians.  Not only that, but all the aspects of Jesus' life and nature that Muslims deny above have grave consequences:

• If Jesus was not divine, he did not bear the punishment for the sins of humanity. 
• If Jesus did not die, he did not bear the punishment for the entirety of humanity. 
• If Jesus did not rise again, he did not truly defeat the death of sin.  And followers of Jesus have no hope. 

And if any one of these are not true, we cannot enter into the holy presence of a sinless God.  (for a full discussion on that issue, see this video). 

The author concludes:

" [Sayer continues] 'In the afterlife we’ll see anyway who is wrong, who is right, what is Jesus—we will learn everything there.' Until that time comes, it might be best to focus on the kebabs."

He is half right - we will find out who is right and who is not in the afterlife (he also makes a good point that we should focus on kebabs).  When we stand before God, we will find out who and what Jesus really is.  However, leaving the discussion and focusing on "getting along" puts people in danger, from a Christian perspective.  Jesus states quite clearly in the John 14:6,

"I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me."

So it is immensely important what people believe about Jesus in this life.  Because it has eternal consequences.  And I praise God for His provision.

1 Peter 1:3-5  "³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvationthat is ready to be revealed in the last time."