growing clover

the day-to-day of a daddy-daughter duo

[growing-clover]

The force is strong with this one 💞

Kylo Ren: “You come from nothing. You’re nothing.”

Clover: “That’s not true because Jesus said! Every life has a purpose!”

[bluegreen-marina]

“You’re the most handsomest man I’ve ever met!”

-Clover to her daddy during the repentant stage of her evening meltdown

[growing-clover]

Followed by "Can you tell mama she is the most beautifulest woman I've ever met? Promise?"

[bluegreen-marina]

Chloe Noelle and Emery Mae: love at first sight

[growing-clover]

I have no words to describe how happy this makes me 💞💞

[peterdwebb]

Do you believe Jesus is God? There's many Christian denominations such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Adventists and so on that don't believe He's God, but rather just a prophet, or angel, and so on. If you believe He's God, how can you know it? And what do you make of other Christian denominations that say He's not God?

I absolutely do! 

The doctrine of Christianity has always been that Jesus is

Emmanuel: God with us.

The power of the cross is that God experienced death for the sins of the world. The perfect lamb of God. No mere human could have died and redeemed humanity. Only the perfection of Christ, the only begotten Son of the living God.

Philippians says:

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

God is three in one.

God the FatherGod the SonGod the Holy Spirit

The whole reason Jesus was killed was because He claimed to be God. Who else can forgive sins? God is ultimately offended by sin, and so only God can ultimately forgive. And Jesus confirmed it his power to forgive through signs and wonders.

The gospel of John tells us so much about Jesus. Just from the first chapter we can be certain:

a) The Word was in the beginning.b) The Word was with God.c) The Word was God.d) By the Word, all things were made.e) Without the Word, nothing was made.f) In the Word was life.g) As many as who received the Word, He gave the right to be called children of God.h) The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.i) The Word is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

If Jesus is all of those things, how could He not be God?

[growing-clover]

Excuse me. Adventists believe that Jesus is FULLY God. (And fully human at the same time.) I don't know where anon gets his information but it's not from a good source. Try Adventist.org.

[micdotcom]

Watch: Amandla Stenberg wrote, directed and edited this short film — and it got her into NYU

[christeenabean-deactivated20160]

Does everyone have to submit a film to get into Tisch? Because all I did was write an essay for SVA and I got in. Somethings fishy here…. 

[bluegreen-marina]

My husband got into Tisch by writing an essay about Superman :)

[growing-clover]

The DEATH of Superman and my experience as a seventh grader observing a day-long moment of silence.

[peterdwebb]

Do you think Christians should be vegan? If we're pro life should we be pro all life including animals? Genuine question. I know so many people who, when I bring this topic up, say that since the bible says we can eat meat it's fine to do. But wasn't that a time where they needed meat to survive? Unlike most of America now with so many grocery stores and we can be conscious and actually choose what we want to eat.

Is there anything in scripture that would lead you to believe God wants us to be vegan? You can make whatever decision of conscience you choose, but I’m not seeing evidence that it’s God’s will for everyone.

[growing-clover]

Of course it wouldn't be God's will for everyone as a doctrinal matter; nonetheless Genesis 1:29 plainly states that man's original diet was meatless, in a world where nothing died. So too will Heaven be deathless, and thus meatless. Even after Adam's sin God expanded the diet to include the 'herbs of the field,' but not meat. God's people were permitted to eat meat only after the Flood (Genesis 9:3) when the barren world no longer produced as it did before. Notably, man's lifespan dropped dramatically in the immediate generations that followed.

'Food' for thought.

[bluegreen-marina]

hey look at 6ish year-old me. you know you’re jealous of my bows

[growing-clover]

You still make that face. Especially with the eyes.

[whiskey-jenna-deactivated201710]

Also, I figured out today that I spend about $1500/year on glasses, contacts and EYE INSURANCE. Can you imagine how much it would be without the insurance?! 😶 Can’t win ever.

[growing-clover]

Have you calculated how much it would be without the insurance? Glasses and contacts are routine expenses. The 'insurance' company expects these expenses and therefore has to collect more premium than these routine costs or else they'd go out of business quickly. I bet with the right monthly budgeting, you could come out ahead without the 'insurance.' Especially if you give up the contacts, cuz that's the big expense. I quit contacts a couple years ago, and haven't missed the expense yet :)

[bluegreen-marina]

unannoying things

~(finally) seeing my best friend today

~(finally) getting a baby shower at my workplace next monday 

~(finally) got maternity leave paperwork straightened out with hr people after many hours of correcting their errors and miscommunications

~(finally) got our taxes done/turned in (all credit to the husb, but still exciting)

[growing-clover]

Yes, taxes. It took two days of solid effort. Lots of combing through statements and expenses, and of course selecting various and multiple online tax services for federal and state to make sure I could do it all for free, because really the last thing I want to do is spend money for the privilege of sending my money to the government. (The free federal service I used last year isn't free anymore, despite saying it would be, and of course I didn't figure this out until I was well into this process.) All said and done, my brain feels mushy. My secretary asked if I was okay because apparently I was visibly drained. I just don't think taxes should be this hard.

[bluegreen-marina]

trimmed my hair and cut a bunch of layers into it last night… somehow it looks like I’ve got even more than before

[growing-clover]

Oh goodness you're so beautiful and I miss you so much.

[bluegreen-marina]

so glad the projects they have me on are fairly slow because the senioritis is baaad

[growing-clover]

Exacerbated, I'm sure, by the secrecy of it. At least, that's how I would feel. When they know you're leaving, you don't have to pretend.

[bluegreen-marina]

narrowing down the town we want to buy a house in means i’m avoiding housing listings because i’m going to fall in love with houses too soon, before we’re ready, and so much heartbreak lol

[growing-clover]

Fail!! The Internet's siren call has quickly overwhelmed my poor wife, who must now face the above mentioned heartbreak. 😰😭

[bluegreen-marina]

stuffnthings

so the husb got a new job offer/promotion-type dealio that will take him from part-time to full-time plus all sorts of other cool perks and awesomeness that he’s been working superhard toward for like 5 years

they kinda want him to start asap (in like 3 weeks) so he’s gonna do that

meanwhile i will continue working at my full-time job until my leave (through end of march)

but after that he will no longer be the primary stay-at-home-parent

and i will no longer be working full time (!!) if at all (!!!) cuz yeah shhh don’t tell my job but i’m kinda not coming back after maternity leave haha unless they let me work both part time and from home, which i don’t really see happening

we are also moving, because his new job is not here… he and clover are going down there (yes it’s farther south) in mid-feb and i will be joining them for weekends only, till i finish working at the end of march, then for good

it’s still in california but in a place with a much less ridiculous cost of living

we are also gonna start looking for an actual house with garden space kinda asap, i have some areas i’m considering already

meanwhile we already have a planned spot to park the RV (fo free!!) …having a home on wheels sure makes this transition so much easier

oh yeah there’s a baby coming at some point during/shortly after all this too

but yay omg i haven’t not-worked, except for my other maternity leave, officially since i was 15 but really longer because i was babysitting and car-washing and dog-walking starting at age 11

so yeah you all get to witness my weird transition from corporate slave to SAHM so that’ll be fun

babies!

um the end i think? i’m sure there will be more to tell as things develop

oh yeah i might volunteer at a crisis/suicide intervention center again (that was my full-time job for 4 years prior to this job) so i can not go crazy being home with babies all day every day

[growing-clover]

It will certainly be an exciting year :)

We’ve been praying for something like this for several years.

Even though we’ll be living within two hours of my sister now. Which isn’t necessarily a good thing. But her two kids will be good for my kid I guess. Cousins or something.

[growing-clover]

You're a great daddy.

Clover this morning, in her sleepy sweet period immediately after waking up

[bluegreen-marina]

oh it's starting?

Me: /comes out of shower Clover: I’m going on a date with my boyfriend! Me: Oh! What’s your boyfriend’s name? Clover: Uh… I’ll tell you after our date. He’s here. He got my text.

Later

Clover: His name is Petmaster.

[growing-clover]

She did this with me first. I'll be honest, I disapproved of Mr. Petmaster immediately.

[growing-clover]

"Smell my eyeballs."

-my wife, who really says things like this

[mamaslittlecubs-deactivated2017]

Been here 45 minutes and I already want to die

[growing-clover]

I've felt this away about my family's events for as long as I remember. I live 2,800 miles away from them all. I have for 13 years now. I still feel like this. I don't even want to call them tomorrow. It's been so much easier just starting my own family instead.