Jonathan's blog

Santa came to Grandma B's house and left the boys a bunch of gifts. The favorite toy for both of them was the set of football men. The Birdwells had Christmas dinner at their house with the Cliffords, Uncle Bud, Moores, and Sullivans in attendance.

The annual Christmas Eve party was at the Duvall's house this year. The Sullivans arrived in time to go with us. Afterwards we also got a chance to see Prentice and Leslie when they came over to the Birdwells' house late Christmas Eve.

Who would have guessed that I have so much in common with Cheney? We both have to have our ipods... From a story titled "Cheney's iPod Takes Top Priority on Extended Flight" by Karen Travers on abcnews.com:

After a four-day overseas trip that took him to four countries in the Middle East, Vice President Dick Cheney really wanted to get his iPod charged for that long return flight to Washington. Since it is his plane, the vice president's iPod took priority and was plugged into one of the only working power outlets on Air Force Two, frustrating reporters who were trying to file stories. What's on that iPod that Cheney was so eager to charge it up and put on the headphones? The vice president's iPod library ranges from country to classical, according to an administration official. He has a good amount of music from the 1940s and 1950s (oldies but goodies) and apparently is fond of Johnny Cash.

Because the Bridges were planning to be in Arkansas for Christmas, we celebrated with them a little early (last weekend). The newest addition to the Bridges family, Beau, made his first visit to our house.

Something on the order of 1 to 4 million North Americans participate in a short term mission trips, at a cost of a few billion dollars a year. Conventional wisdom says these activities make a long-lasting positive impact on both the missionaries and the people they visit. Recent research by Kurt Ver Beek (his website is here and some discussion is here) argues that neither group is significantly affected in the long run.