Spring Break 07

Family
Originally uploaded by markallenhowell.

Yea! Spring Break is here. No classes, no work for a week, Just fun, sun, poopie diapers and tons of homework to get done before classes start back up. Ann and Catalina are doing fine, we ran outside yesterday and took this picture when I realized that I did not have any "family" pictures with the four of us. Ann's sister Susan has been here this week helping us out while we get adjusted to the little one. For current pics, you can check the links on the right colume, which I will try to keep somewhat updated. I'll still have to figure out something for video clips, in my spare time. :>

New Site

Ok, So I've decided that I need a new format for my site, so today I'm upgrading everything. I have some posts I want to write, and there is alot of layout work to be done. Hopefully we will get things sorted out in the next few days. If there is something that you would like to see, make a comment and I'll see if I can get to it.

New Daughter!!

I am blessed to introduce to you our new daughter, Catalina Elizabeth Howell. Born 02/25/07 at 9:34am. We had a great delivery, very thankfull to all those who were praying for us. Baylor was wonderful. Ann went into labor last night at 8:30pm and we went to Baylor (1 block away) at 12:30 when her water broke. After several hours of increasing contractions, she was given an epidural and just progressed through the evening till everything was ready this morning. Her Dr. was the guy on call, which was nice, and she only ended up pushing for like 10 minutes. It was nice that we were getting to the last stage right as our SS class was meeting and would be praying for us. We felt prayed for and thank God for the "textbook" delivery. All the nurses and doctors were quite supprised after seeing Ann, who had been recently told she was not big enough to be pregnant, that Lina weighed a heatlthy 8 lbs 10 oz. and was 21 inches long. The baby nurses were calling her "chunky" :> Anway, I'm not sure if any of this makes any sense because we havent slept much, but I've gotta run back to the hospital to hopefully video the first bath. Here is a link to a couple pictures, and of course there wll be more to follow.

http://www.flickr.com/gp/16052718@N00/7wQd0g

Love, Mark, Ann, Ethan and Catalina Howell

Merry Christmas

Christmas in LA!
This is the last day of our vacation to LA (acutally Long Beach) to visit Ann's family for Christmas. It has been alot of fun and we have enjoyed the time with family that we get little chance to spend time with. It has beed warm here most of the time, and even though it is winter, we managed to make a couple trips to the beach and the kids even got in the water a bit! Mark and Ethan went to Disney with Ann's sister Susan and her family. Ann wisely decided to sit that one out due to all the walking. Ethan loved it and even rode his first roller coaster, SPACE MOUNTIAN! He loved it and had a great time with his cousins. Its now still New Years Eve and Ann's birthday here in CA and we are all hanging out together and awaiting the new year. Blessings to all and we pray for a wonderful 2007 as we contine studies at DTS while awaiting the rapidly appriaching birth of Ethans little sister. We have posted some of the pictures from our trip here for a glimpse of what our vacation was like.http://www.flickr.com/gp/16052718@N00/1R9d30

This is my preschool book, "All About Me"

My name is Ethan . When God made me He was happy . I am 3 years old and live in Texas . I have brown hair and blue eyes. I look like my brother . I have a big family. Let me tell you about them!
MY MOM
My mom is 3 years old. Her job is to sit on the couch . My Mom loves to go to work and study . My favorite thing to play with her is to get a butterfly . God mad my mom so that she can make Him happy.
MY DAD
My dad is 3 years old. His job is to sit on the couch . My dad loves to shoot . My favorite thing to play with him is light saber . God made my dad so that he can shoot a gun .
MY FAVORITES
My favorite thing to eat is snacks . I love the color green and to go to the mall . My favorite toys are all of them . My best friend is mommy . My favorite thing about God is that he is strong .

"B"

I was just haveing a conversation with my classmates regarding the gentile rule of Israel during the time of Christ. He mentioned that he appriciated the contrast between God's intented rule and the results of disobediance, gentile rule. I thought about this and responded that I thought he had hit a very big theological nail on the proverbial head. Even more than contrast, I think what we are seeing here is the "big dichotomy" thay plays throughout scripture. In my mind it goes all the way back to the question of why God permitted Satan when he could have made him cease to exist. It seems like a very necessary part of God's plan since the beinging is what I like to refer to as simply "B." Adam and Eve in the garden happly talking to a rabbit and eating some blueberries.God wants them to have a genuine relationship with him. As we know any genuine relationship has within it an important element of choice. But where is the choice for Adam and Eve? They don't have one. Enter the tree, enter the serpant, enter "B." The other thing which from then on man will keep going after and which the whole story of the bible is based on. In order to glorify God "A" there has to be a "B" because the way our eyes and minds were designed to function, we can neither see nor perceive anything without contrast. God is light, but without darkness, how would we know how bright is the light of God?