da vinci code and what you all care about most - ellen happenings

i'm glad that i took this church history class this semester (i think - i should say, i'm enjoying it), but i am starting to feel like i wish i had no responsibilities. I'd love to just lay on the couch and read my new books after ellen goes to bed (she doesn't allow any reading of anything that doesn't have pictures when she's awake). But maybe instead of wishing these responsibilities didn't exist, i should just buckle down and finish them. instead i'm blogging. :) i just discovered your reply to my da vinci code review, Bryan. I think what you said is pretty accurate. (and I agree that my let down of angels and demons was da vinvi code induced) I' m not sure about the gnostic gospels stuff yet, because i've never really read them (which is why i purchased the nag hammadi and the lost scriptures) but what i have read seemed odd to me. maybe because i wasn't raised with it. so the gospels and the epistles and the bible as a whole might seem odd if i'd just started to read it...? I dunno - but what i have read (which is basically just the gospels of phillip and thomas) felt like they didn't really match up to me. like they just didn't fit somehow. i've also noticed that the gospel of john seems to have a bit of a gnostic bent, but i've always taken it as the gnostics took it to a degree that wasn't intended and that the later letters from john were meant to clarify the misunderstandings. oh! and the bit about the church and the Church - yeah, but that's all of our history. at least until the reformation . i suppose that's a bit cryptic. Historically i don't seperate myself from the Catholic Church. I think a good amount of the atrocities that were committed were committed before the Reformation (or at least I've heard about plenty in this last year of history class) and that's part of my church history too... it doesn't just belong to the Roman Catholics.) And after the Reformation, there were plenty of horrific practices by the protestant group. I agree that Brown definitely targets the Roman Catholic Church, but it seemed to me that his underlying agenda was to discredit the divinity of Christ which is an attack (for lack of a better word) and all of Christianity.) I'm not sure why he just identifies the Roman Catholics - that might be interesting to look into. maybe he just had to pick somebody and they were the most recognizable church-institution. (new topic) ellen has named her baby doll - George. Not quite sure why, but dave and i were suggesting names (his suggestions were China and MadeIn) and I threw out George and she got all excited and nodded and said George a bunch of times. so george it is. ellen's also really enjoying the van. she definitely prefers it over the saturn. sometimes she talks about it and says she wants to go for a drive. I think she might like it so much because she's sitting high enough that she can see what's going on out the windows. At least she's talking a lot more about what is outside. She's really fascinated by the hands on the crosswalk signals. if she sees one we have to spend the entire rest of the trip looking for more. she's also made a new friend. actually, dave and i have made new friends that have a daughter, Neveah, that is the same age as ellen. and, after a about 20 minutes, ellen warms up enough to her that they have a good time playing together. we hung out with them this last weekend and after about 3 hours ellen kept wanting to hug Neveah - which really is an amazing thing, because she doesn't usually actually come close to other people much at all. i should say she's okay with a close proximity (after a reasonable warming up period) but she definitely doesn't usually want to touch anybody - or let anyone touch her. this of course does not include the people that she knows from the pictures on our refrigerator. she's thrilled with everyone on the fridge.) last bit - she's finally seen the baby kicking or rearranging in my belly (he is quite a mover and a shaker) so now we talk a lot about belly's moving. ellen has been working her stomach muscles and now frequently lifts up her own shirt to show me that her belly moves a lot too as she sucks it in and out. i think i actually saw her do a little stomach roll or whatever you call it once.