I'm in Tucson for the week, attending a professional seminar, and enjoying the desert mountain view, right, to the east just before sunrise this morning.  

We're staying at the beautiful Hilton El Conquistador Hotel, where most of the rooms are first floor, and thus you can have a view like this sitting outside the back door of your room. 

I flew out from DFW Monday night, after enjoying a very nice day with my son and daughter-in-law in Dallas.  I fly back Friday morning. 

Table of Contents to HaigLaw blog, which covers stories from September 13,
2007, through the next-to-latest story:

Exercise restraint -- Here I am, right, trying to tighten a screw on the exercise bike we bought the weekend of June 28.  Becky's idea was that, if I had a convenient means of exercise handy, I would exercise more.  She may not fully appreciate how much restraint I've always exercised when it comes to exercise.  Or maybe she does -- which is why it was her idea to get this bike.

Away from Her -- We watched the Movie "Away from Her," left, June 21.  It was billed as portraying the agony of watching a beloved wife slip away to Alzheimer's disease.

Although it was a grippingly sad story, this movie did not really capture the horror of the disease in its final, violent stages.  The moviemercifully ended before that.

Recent happenings -- May 30 we had a fun-raiser for our church.  The idea was to raise funds for our new building, but we had fun with it too.  Becky had the poetic idea to decorate with bricks, which meant that we had to haul a bunchof bricks to and from the rented facility where we had the dinner. While we were hauling the bricks away, the pastor's 3rd daughter, Rachel, right, wanted a ride on the dolly.  What are dollies for, besides giving little girls a ride?

Bistineau clutter -- Here we are, right, happily on a picnic at Lake Bistineau State Park on Memorial Day weekend .  It wasn't a candlelight dinner, but it was lit by a couple of 12-volt lanterns. 

Light is light, right?

Utilitarian gifts -- I got Becky a yard wagon for our anniversary, and here she is, left, hauling shrubbery clippings in it the weekend of May 17.  Now, lest you think I'm not very gentlemanly in letting my wife do the yard work -- let me assure you that doing yard work is her idea and giving her this wagon was her idea too.  Except that she suggested it for Mother's Day and I got it for our anniversary instead. Gotta keep her guessing about a few things, don't I?

Daughter graduating -- May 9 was my daughter's college graduation night, and here she is, left, center, getting all the finishing touches from her brother and mother.

The yellow sash was because she was an honors graduate of San Jacinto College as a inductee into Phi Theta Kappa, the junior college version of Phi Beta Kappa scholarship honorary fraternity.

Daughter visit -- We were in Houston May 9 visiting my daughter, and stopped by an Aveda shop that morning in the Baybrook Mall where her Aveda agent, right, was helping her select some makeup. 

Hobo disaster -- The web has lots of links to recipes for hobo stew, but our camping experience the weekend of April 11 could be well described as hobo disaster.  Here's one kid, right, whose expression tells it all -- I can't stand even to look at this mess; do I have to eat it, Dad? 

LaP opposes FV --At its April 19 meeting the Louisiana Presbytery (LaP) of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) adopted a resolution affirming the 9 points of the "Declarations" or summaries of the findings of the PCA's Ad Interim Study Committee on Federal Vision found on page 2235 (Section IV) of the committee report contained in the 2007 General Assembly minutes, saying FV theology was out of accord with PCA beliefs in those 9 ways.  Point 2 of the 9, for example, found at the foregoing link, says this about one of the points attributed to FV theology, "The view that an individual is 'elect' by virtue of his membership in the visible church; and that this 'election' includes justification, adoption and sanctification; but that this individual could lose his 'election' if he forsakes the visible church, is contrary to the Westminster Standards."

Family court --Becky's parents, Dick & Mary Ruthe, came to see us the week of April 4, and they sat through a hearing in my courtroom, and here we are, left, afterwards.

Surrogate grandparenting -- about our weekend of March 15, when we babysat for a single mother in our church, for her 3 children, ages 11, 8 & 6, left, and the fun we had with them, and how tired we got after only 4 hours.

God knew what He was doing when he gave kids to the young.

Happy in-laws came to see us March 13-14, and Becky snapped a picture of me, right, sitting with them at the breakfast table.

Can't explain the lack of smiles, as they're usually happy people.  They are Probonose, middle, my wife's brother, and Black_Eyes_3, left, his wife. 

Renewing communities Community Renewal International Men met Thursday March 13 at the Shreveport University Club for lunch.  Dr. Mike Leonard, left, was the main speaker, introduced by his brother-in-law Jimmy.  Brave man, letting his brother-in-law introduce him; right? 

Brave man, more, for giving up his dental practice to go into community renewal full time!  That's believing in what you're doing.

General scoundrel  -- about the Civil War Roundtable meeting Tuesday March 11 at the Bossier Historical Center, with the topic being a book review of Thomas Keneally's American Scoundrel: The Life of the Notorious Civil War General Dan Sickles, right. 

Speaker for the occasion was U.S. District Judge Maury Hicks, of Shreveport, a Civil War buff.

Smoking brisket -- Here I am, left, after smoking the meat 2 hours at high heat, putting it into the oven overnight at 210F.

This is a story about the weekend of March 8-9, when we smoked a brisket on Saturday for Sunday lunch, and a little about the recipe and family history of smoking meats.  With comments from our son-in-law Cezar about how to do such things more better.

LA snow -- Yeah, it snowed Friday morning, March 7.  This was the view, right, as I came out of my garage leaving for work.

LA, as in Louisiana, not Los Angeles. 

LaP admonished -- on March 7 the Standing Judicial Commission (SJC) of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) entered an admonition on the Louisiana Presbytery (LaP)'s guilty plea to the SJC's indictment saying the LaP had not timely recognized probable cause to believe that the “Federal Vision” views of Rev. Steve Wilkins, left, were out of accord with the constitutional documents of the PCA.

This story reviews a little of the history of the case and how LaP came to view "Federal Vision" as out of accord with the PCA's view of Calvinism. 

Romantic fraud -- a movie review explaining why the movie Feast of Love, right, is not "Romantic Comedy". 

And why we didn't really like this movie.

Presuppositionalism simply -- an introduction to the Christian apologetic method called presuppositionalism, which was popularized by a Dutch emigrant to the U.S. named Cornelius Van Til, who taught at Princeton and later Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, and was defended by Van Til's second generation including R.J. Rushdoony, and third generation including Greg L. Bahnsen.  The introduction, though, is mine, and thus not as academic as the people named.  It is written primarily for Christians who have never heard of it, but may have heard of its alternative in Christian apologetics -- evidentialism, the view that we go outside the Bible to verify the Bible. 

Conscience Sake -- a summary of how the conscience works and its defense in church history, particularly from the Reformation forward, and how concerns to protect conscience influenced the U.S. First Amendment's religious liberty clauses.  I decided to start a blogring on Xanga named “Conscience Sake,” dedicated to this liberty. 

Resurrection skeptics -- an article answering the claims of atheists and agnostics who like to pretend the Bible story of Jesus Christ’s resurrection was made up by the faithful, who were perpetrating a fraud.

The article summarizes the Bible's documentation of events before and after Christ's resurrection.

Atheist dialog -- a summary of some dialog starting February 2008 between me and a group of atheists and agnostics.

This summary has provoked over 60 comments to date, back and forth between them and my supporters and me.

You're wonderful -- a story about us, left, sitting in the den Feb. 19, and Becky wanting me to find a file on our "House," which she thought would be filed under the H's, and couldn't find it, so she asked me to look, and I found it under the S's, because the file was labeled "Shreveport House," so I told her she oughta be more organized, like me, and she told me I was wonderful, or something like that.  It was funny at the time.

Bipcie feast -- a story about the Bossier Parish Community College (BPCC, pronounced "Bipcie") Culinary Arts Program's community dinner, which they offer every Tuesday night when school is in session.  We ate out there Feb. 19 and always enjoy it.

Clever cons -- a review of The Hoax movie, right, showing it does not answer the question why Clifford Irving thought he could ever get away with it, or whether his attempt is the real reason why Nixon's henchmen burglarized the Watergate's Democratic National Committee suite in 1972.

But those tantalizing questions infuse the movie, and make it interesting.  A third teaser is the pomposity of the major publishing houses foaming at the mouth over their next sensational best seller, to the point that the reader/watcher almost sympathizes with someone conning them like Irving almost did.

messianic politics -- a review of the movie, Bobby, left - which is about the day when and hotel where RFK was shot in June 1968.

2006 movie about the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, on June 5, 1968, the day Sen. Bobby Kennedy was shot after winning the California Democratic Primary for President.

Golden Age -- a review of the 2007 movie "Elizabeth, the Golden Age," right, about England in 1585, when King Henry VIII's daughter Elizabeth I was Queen. 

Henry, you remember, was obsessed about producing a male heir, and went through six wives in the attempt.  England had been Roman Catholic before that, but Henry bolted and formed the Church of England, so he could get a divorce and marry someone else who might produce a son.

LaP hardens -- a story about a meeting Feb. 9, 2008, of the Louisiana Presbytery (LaP) of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), at which its opposition to the so-called "Federal Vision" theology hardened.

Between the Jan. 19 LaP meeting and the Feb. 9 meeting, a leading proponent of the "Federal Vision," Rev. Steve Wilkins, left, departed from the LaP and PCA, along with his church, Auburn Avenue Presbyterian, in Monroe, LA.

The rest of the story is about how LaP reacted to Rev. Wilkins' departure and dealt with PCA church court proceedings pending against LaP for its prior dealings with Rev. Wilkins.

Church & son -- About our trip to Dallas Jan. 29, when we attended the "Acts 29" South-Central Regional workshop held at the Village Church in Highland Village, Texas, right, pastored by lead pastor Matt Chandler, and visited my son who lives there.

Freedom Writers -- We watched this 2007 movie, left, the other night, and enjoyed it.  It was a heartwarming movie about how a caring teacher can make a difference in the lives of troubled high school freshmen.

The film stars Hilary Swank, who plays real-life Erin Gruwell, who in 1994 was a 23-year-old student teacher assigned to teach freshman English at Wilson High School in Long Beach, Calif. 

Jefferson Museum -- about our spending the MLK Holiday visiting historic Jefferson, Texas, a town that is mostly a museum, but the museum itself is worth a visit and we visited it, getting a picture taken of us in front of a bust and portrait of Thomas Jefferson, right.

Federal Vision -- a story about the January 19 meeting of the Louisiana Presbytery of the PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) in Pineville, LA, devoted to the "Federal Vision" controversy.

What is the Federal Vision?  Well, it seems to be a view of spiritual salvation that is tied more to participation in the church's rituals or sacraments than some kind of emotional experience or spiritual renewal apart from the organizational church.  Its proponents have webpages such as this one that explain and defend their views. 

Over the past few years the Louisiana Presbytery has interviewed a leading proponent of the Federal Vision, Rev. Steve Wilkins, left, Pastor of the PCA Auburn Avenue Presbyterian Church in Monroe, LA, and found his views not to be out of accord with the PCA's Constitutional. 

The PCA's Standing Judicial Commission (SJC) was not happy with that, and directed the Presbytery to reconsider.  After much debate and numerous resolutions that failed a majority vote, the Presbytery adopted one that acquiesced to a SJC accusation "that some of the views of Teaching Elder Wilkins were out of conformity with the Constitution," and referred the matter to the SJC rather than holding a trial over whether some of Pastor Wilkins views were out of accord.

angst movie -- a story about watching a depressing 2005 movie, The Weather Man, right, the other night. 

About all the good I can say is that it captures the existential angst of a meaningless life quite well.  A Chicago weatherman played by Nicolas Cage is making a 6-figure salary working 2 hours a day and knows nothing about weather.  The NYT reviewer says he's hard working, but doesn't say at what.  I'd say he works hard at screwing up his own life and that of his ex-wife and two kids. 

Chiros chronos -- about Mack McCarter, left, the head of Community Renewal International, being the featured speaker at the January 10th monthly lunch meeting of Community Renewal Men, which meets every second Thursday at Shreveport University Club.

Mack's topic was "get your chiros engaged with your chronos." 

His meditation was the inexorable passage of time and the increasing frailty of life, and how important it is to focus on God's priorities with the majority of our waking hours. 

Male bonding -- about the monthly men's breakfast, right, at church Jan. 5. 

New Year -- about our visits with family and friends over the New Year's Eve & Day, like with the Spiers in Abilene, left. 

Christmas visits -- a summary of stories about our visits with family & friends from Dec. 21-29, like this one, right, with Becky's step-grandma Nadine. 

Church friendships -- about some little girls at our church, left, who were missing a friend who had moved to upstate N.Y., and sent her a care package. 

Kitchells Christmas -- about a family in our church who invited us all over to their house Dec. 15, and Becky's Boomwhackers, right, were a big hit. 

Wedding Stories -- It has taken me over a week to write 5 different stories about my son's wedding Dec. 9, and here they are summarized, in reverse chronological order:

Post-wedding pictures, like this one, left, of them leaving in their limo, a vintage Rolls, which was classic Justin, who is a vast encyclopedia of car knowledge.

Pre-wedding pictures, like this one, of my daughter Kiersten, right, giving Becky a hug. 

Wedding morning, about Justin and his parents attending church together at the Village Church in Highland Village, Texas.

Outside rehearsal, about us going over to the Dallas Arboretum on Dec. 8, the day prior to the wedding, to practice having the wedding in the gardens, although it later turned out too cold to do so.  Here is a picture, left, of the bride, facing away from the camera, giving instructions to her wedding planner as her dad, right, and the groom and I, left, listen in. 

Rehearsal luncheon, a story about how everyone gave advice to the bride & groom, like kiss each other at least 10 seconds every morning and night, and here they are into their first 2 seconds, right. 

That's it, for wedding stories.  Click on any of the titles above, for those stories, or the titles below, for earlier stories I've blogged. 

Ice Skating -- a story about photos I took of a skating event in Shreveport Dec. 1, of people we don't know, left, ice skating.

Some cute stop-action shots.

Keepin Busy -- a story about 3 events we attended on Dec. 1, our church men's breakfast (below right), a Christmas musical by another church some friends attend, and a party with fellow judges from work. 

Yeah, I've gotten behind in blogging, as events have happened faster than I can blog them.

Hugs & helps -- Sunday, Nov. 25, I caught a snapshot of Bill Tice, left, hugging Wade Anderson, and I thought initially -- how nice that they're buddies.  But then I remembered:

The rest of the story is that Bill, under 40 years old, had a stroke several years ago, and couldn't drive. 

With a wife and 2 young kids, he had a lot of needs.

One guy who really helped him was Wade.  Wade drove Bill around for months, and helped in other ways too.  And Wade himself is a kidney-transplant patient who's not in the best of health himself.  But he would do anything for you. 

Cooking Come-uppance -- a story about a young couple, Brady & Anna, right, recently married, and even more-recently pregnant, coming to our house for dinner and bragging on the cooking. 

But with morning sickness the next morning, that supper didn't taste so good coming up.  Click on title link above for full story.

November nooner -- a story about wandering off from work Friday after Thanksgiving and having a nice quiet lunch with my sweetie, left. 

One of our favorite haunts for a downtown lunch is Olive Street Bistro, and no, we did not eat lunch in the bar. 

For the full story, click on the title link above.

Thanksgiving Catchphrase -- Here's the group we spent Thanksgiving 2007 with, right, hosted by Mike Kitchell, center foreground, and his wife, Becca, right foreground -- sans Becca's dad, who took the picture, as we finished up Thanksgiving dinner.

Second only to the food and good fellowship, was the fun we had playing Becky's game of Catchphrase. 

Here is Becky, right, in one of the calmer moments trying to act out her phrase.   For some of the less-calm moments, you'll have to click on the title above and read the whole story.

Cooking together -- Sunday, Nov. 18, we got to fix a pot roast together, something we don't have much time for anymore. 

Here's Becky, left, spooning the beef out so we could get to the juice (which my Grandmama Edwine Haigler, 1901-66, used to call "pot liquor") to make the gravy. 

Wasn't much to it, really.  We used one of those oven roasting bags.  Just threw it all in the bag at 325, and came back 3 hours later and pulled it out.  It was a 4 pound brisket.

Weekend -- about our activities on Nov. 17-18, when we ate dinner at Columbia Cafe, and what happened at church the following morning. 

One of the nice things about our little church is that the little kids have a snack of cookies and crackers and juice between Sunday School and church.  So, of course, I have to sit with them and talk with them, and sometimes someone will take a picture of me with one or two of them, like here, with a little guy named Stewart, right.

Happenings -- about our weekend of Nov. 10, when we ate at the Noble Savage Restaurant, right, and other events. 

Cardiac care -- about my visit to the emergency room November 5, and being admitted to a room for two nights, left, after having some arrhythmia (PVC - premature ventricular contractions) and shortness of breath Monday evening. 

Bridal shower -- On Nov. 3 Becky attended a bridal shower for my son's bride to be, Kati, seen right smiling with Justin and the bouquette of roses he brought to the shower for her. 

Methodist breakfast -- about me, left, scrambling the eggs at the neighborhood Christ Methodist Men's Breakfast October 31.   

SC Beauty Gets Bum Rap -- a story about Miss S.C., Caitlin Upton, right, getting bummed as a bimbo. 

Vice Grip -- a photo-commentary about a boat outing, left, and some of the vices that grip us.

3X Shopping -- about going shopping with three beautiful women, right, buying wedding dresses. 

End-zone thinking -- Shreveport Community Church's executive pastor Rick Berlin, left, speaks at Shreveport Bossier Community Renewal.

Grand cat -- about my daughter Kiersten adopting an orphaned kitten, right,  and bringing him to meet his grampa.

Grand nieces -- a story about Dave & Becky's recent visit to see two of their grand-nieces.

Action shots -- a story about Dave & Becky's granddaughters, left, taking a tumble when pulled in a wagon.

Punkin patch -- a story about the grandchildren visiting a pumpkin patch in Floydada, Texas.

Quality time -- about a recent visit to friends and family in Texas. 

Saturday events -- about a visit by Dave & Becky, left, to Lake Claiborne State Park, Louisiana on September 15, 2007. 

Lake Claiborne -- more happenings and pictures of the camping trip. 

Community renewal -- a story about the September 13, 2007, meeting of SBCR Men, at which Chief Sandy Davis, right, was the speaker.