We’d like to welcome Anna Elizabeth Heerema to the world.

Born June 2nd, 2011, 7:56am in Ames Iowa at Mary Greeley Medical Center.

Vital Stats

• Sex: Female
• Height: 20″
• Weight: 7lbs. 15oz
• Head: 14.5″
• Hair: lots
• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Chordata
• Class: Mammalia
• Order: Primates
• Family: Hominidae
• Genus: Homo
• Species: H. Sapiens
• Race: Human
• Alignment: Chaotic Good
• Class: Princess (Baby)

Meaning of the Name

Anna is a latinized Greek version of the Hebrew name Hannah, meaning “Grace” or “Favor”.

Elizabeth is a Greek translation of the Hebrew name Elisheva meaning “God’s Promise”, “God’s Oath”, or possibly “I am God’s Daughter”.

Of course all these names bear great significance to us, but our intended meaning is something along the lines of “Grace, God’s Promise”, which is the most important concept one can grasp. Also, we just like the sound of “Anna Elizabeth Heerema”.

Namesakes

There are several people we have in mind specifically with these names. Anna (being a fairly common name) is frequent in our family in various forms. Nancy, Diane, Hannah, Ann is the middle name of my sister and mother and also Nancy’s sister. It is also the name of several great grandparents: Nancy’s Great Grandmother Anna Elias, and Great Great Grandmother Anna Wigdahl.

Most preciously to us, two biblical figures:

First, the Asherite prophetess Anna, daughter of Phanuel, who was in the temple when the infant Jesus was presented and upon Jesus’ arrival there “began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38)

Also, Elizabeth, relative to Mary the mother of Jesus, who recognized Jesus as the Messiah before he was even born. (Luke 1:39-45).

Both these women waited long for God to answer various prayers of theirs (Anna was widowed at a very early age and spent her widowed years in prayer at God’s temple waiting for the promised redemption, Elizabeth was “very old” when she conceived her firstborn), and both were let into the “inside track” of God’s plan: Jesus.

Our prayer for our Anna is that God “lets her in on” His plan: Jesus. This is our highest desire and greatest goal for all our children, receiving the lion’s share of our prayer and effort in their lives.

Thanksgiving and Amazement

I am amazed and thankful for many things. I cannot believe I am a father to three children, let alone three girls. I consider this an honor, privilege, high calling, and a whole lot of fun. I have grown accustomed to pink princesses, and I think trucks and guns would take some getting used to (though I’m sure the adjustment would come ;-)).

Nancy never ceases to amaze me. She went through a Cesarian section smiling (yes. smiling.) And has born through the last two days of recovery with amazing poise. It hasn’t been easy for her. God has been merciful and given us both strength.

I am also very grateful for and astounded by the incredible health care we have here in Ames: the access to medicine, the technology – even just our own private, clean room and a dedicated ward for this purpose. Our anesthesiologist made reference to his medical mission in Guatemala and our desire to complain that we weren’t in the super-deluxe birthing suite and instead had to “settle” for a small recovery room evaporated. We have it good.

Thanks for all of your well-wishes and prayers. We feel very loved.

Soli deo gloria.

After seven, long, happy years as a Dreamhost customer, the last straw has been added to the pile.  A fileserver apparently crashed, losing all of my current data, along with my archived data.  Fortunately, this did not include my MySQL databases, so all of my text content is intact, but does include all other files: layouts, designs, css, javascript, templates, and photos.

As such, this blog is looking a little… sparse.

It does give me an interesting opportunity to “reboot” my personal web sites; rethinking their purpose in the universe, which I will be taking some time to do over the coming weeks.  Hopefully something cool will result on the other side.

Thanks for bearing with me in the meantime.

About three years ago, Matt came home from some far-and-away business travels all excited about eating sushi. I was definitely, um, hesitant to say the least about trying it, but after a taste, I realized that it was something for which I could probably develop a taste. Eventually, spider rolls (fried soft-shell crab…no real spider in it ;) ) became my favorite but I still turned up my nose at the actual raw fish rolls. But recently, I have turned over to the dark side…and now I really, really like the raw fish stuff. Matt and I now drool at the mention of a fancy rainbow roll. Good sushi is definitely not a budget food, so to tide us over between visits to our favorite local spot, Matt has become very adept at making homemade California rolls. They’re definitely not fancy, but we love them!

We have yet to find a really good source of sushi-grade fish (as in here in Ames…any hints, anyone?) so we just use what we fondly call “Krabb” (imitation crab). And yes, we like to spell it out when we talk about it. :) A little avocado, cucumber, seasoned rice and KRABB on nori (seaweed paper) and don’t forget the sesame seed! DeLISH!

C.J. Mahaney wrote a great article in response to a parent’s letter asking this:

I am afraid they (my children) do have hard thoughts of God and that’s largely because of my own sinfulness (anger, impatience, anxiety), which I am eager to continue killing by the Spirit. But apart from that, the question I have is, how do we as parents insist that our children obey us in the Lord without cultivating hard thoughts of Him?

I love his response to this.

In case you hadn’t heard in other channels, I am leaving AOL to go to work for Desiring God. More details at mattheerema.com

This is a great brief summary of C.S. Lewis’ and Jonathan Edwards writings about humility in their own lives.

John Piper writes about the sovereignty of God in his salvation. This really resonated with me and makes me so thankful that our God is in control of every part of life:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. Romans 8:28-30

Since rhubarb season is drawing to a close (experts say not to cut it after the summer heat hits the 90′s) I thought I’d post my favorite new recipe this month: Grandma Stribe’s “Talk of the Town” Rhubarb Muffins. (I gave the recipe this name because Grandma was raving about this recipe and told me that her friends and neighbors just loved it :) I’m a big fan, too!)

“Talk of the Town” Rhubarb Muffins

1 egg, beaten
2 t. vanilla
1/2 c. oil
1 c. buttermilk (OR 1 T. lemon juice mixed with 1 c. milk, let sit 5 min…I used this and it worked well)

1-1/4 c. brown sugar
2-1/2 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1-1/2 c. rhubarb, finely chopped (so you get a rhubarb “kick” in each bite :))
1/2 c. nuts, chopped (optional)

Sugar topping:
1 T. butter, melted
1/3 c. sugar
1 t. cinnamon

Mix wet ingredients and add to combined dry ingredients. For sugar topping, mix sugar and cinnamon before adding melted butter. Fill 20 muffin cups and sprinkle on sugar topping. Bake at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes, using toothpick test to determine “doneness.”

This is a great recipe to share with friends and neighbors since it makes such a big batch (20). Maybe it’ll be the talk of YOUR neighborhood soon!

I don’t know about you, but often feel like I’m wading through Jell-O trying to keep the house picked up, or kids fed/bathed. C.J. Mahaney wrote this blog entry about self sufficiency:

At its root, weariness is often the result of pride and self-sufficiency in my life. When I neglect casting my cares upon the Lord, the heavy fatigue of weariness will settle into my soul.

Saw this on Lifechurch.tv’s Swerve blog:

Crazy stuff with awesome implications.

I’m starting a series over on my other blog called “9 things that remind me I’m not God.”

Part 1 is up (numbers 1-3).  Check it out.

Today
when i open my lips
may i breathe life and healing
may i not get caught up in the singer or the singing
but may the object of the song leave my ears ringing
my heart spinning
my soul winning

In a few hours, barring major controversy, lawsuit, and other scandal or error and confusion, we will get to see who God has appointed as president for us, and how he feels our House and Senate should be balanced.

All speculation over who Jesus would vote for will be over and we will know what his will for our country is. This gives me great peace in this otherwise very stressful time.

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. Romans 13:1-2

I wish I could have said it like this.

In God We Do Not Trust – Mark Driscoll.

…people are longing for a king who will keep them safe from terror in his kingdom. In the Old Testament the concept of a peaceable kingdom is marked by the word shalom. In shalom there is not only the absence of sin, war, strife, and suffering but also the presence of love, peace, harmony, and health. And, this thirst for shalom is so parched that every election people cannot help but naively believe that if their candidate simply wins shalom is sure to come despite sin and the curse. The bottom line is obvious to those with gospel eyes. People are longing for Jesus, and tragically left voting for mere presidential candidates.

Gabe Lyons on Doing Internet Ministry:

“Non-Christians aged 16-29 years old were asked, ‘What is your current perception of Christianity?’

• 91% said antihomosexual
• 87% said judgmental
• 85% said hypocritical
• 78% said old-fashioned
• 75% said too involved in politics
• 72% said out of touch with reality
• 70% said insensitive to others
• 68% said boring
• 64% said not accepting of other faiths
• 61% said confusing”

Fair or unfair? Are we these things?

We often say in counseling others that when someone is offended, the reality of the situation (in a sense) takes second place to the perceived reality.

That is, if someone is offended, it is unhelpful for the offender to demand clarification of the offense so as to show that offense should not have been taken. Rather, apology (explanation) should be humbly, gently, and sensitively made for having given the grounds for offense. Once the situation is “defused” a bit, then we can start talking reality, admit mutual fault, and ask for apology for overreactions.

We call this “peacemaking.”

I wonder what would happen if we applied the same to our apologetics…

(Via ChurchRelevance.)

My wife and I are delighted to announce the birth of our second daughter: Katharyn Joy (Kate) Heerema!

Born yesterday (October 12) at 3:45pm.

Vital stats:

• 9lbs 13oz
• 22 inches long
• head circumference: 15 inches (I’ve been told by several women that this is an important stat… ;-) )

They say she’s a large baby but she seems perfect to me. Happy and Healthy. Mom is doing well also.

We’ll have copious amounts of pics available on flickr for those who are interested.

Katharyn is derived from the greek “katharos” meaning “pure”. The “yn” spelling comes from my dramatic flair ;-). We’re calling her Kate. I’m pretty sure I will be calling her Katie within days, which Nancy isn’t a fan of because that’s the name of her parents’ cat. I say “bah”. Katie is a cute name.

Once again I am proud father. I now have two beautiful daughters. Elena and Kate. They are going to be quite the pair.

Found some great financial advice in a e-newsletter from ING Direct in my inbox today.  Wrote about it on mattheerema.com (where I will probably be writing more frequently).

Check it out.

Today I recieved a letter in the mail… from myself… age 13.  No, seriously.

Read all about it here.

I’ve been a little perplexed by a sentiment I’ve seen rolling around the intarwebs recently… “Vote your conscience, not your religion.”

I wholeheartedly agree with the statement “Vote your conscience.”  That is how we are to vote.  Not by party lines, not according to media hype, not according to a resigned sense of “if ya can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”, not according to what anyone else tells you to do, but according to your conscience.

If your religion does not affect your conscience, then you have an impotent religion and may I suggest that you are wasting your time on your religion.

Of course I know that what is meant by “vote your conscience, not your religion” is that you shouldn’t simply vote according to how your church tells you to.  I agree here (partially), see above.  However, there are worse ways of determining how to vote, and I might submit that if you don’t let your church affect how you vote at least slightly, then you are in fact going to vote the way someone else tells you.  (I really need to get around to writing that post on my feelings on free will… someday…).  You might also be wasting your time in that church.

I also believe that a church should not mandate a particular voting direction.  HOWEVER, a church SHOULD educate itself (i.e., the people in the church should eductate themselves) on what scripture has to say about various issues, let that sink into your “conscience”, and then vote accordingly.

Sad fact is, most churches don’t take the time to teach this thoroughly and so simply state one candidate is God’s man, and the other is obviously the anti-christ.

Interestingly, I’m not hearing that (yet) in this election.  Probably because most church leaders are rather baffled by the (lack of) good options.

I also find it interesting that the most likely candidate for the anti-christ I’ve seen in awhile is running and no one is saying anything (oh, snap.)

I was pretty much shocked to read this article from the Sovereign Grace blog about how Joshua Harris’ “I Kissed Dating Goodbye” has been used in classwork at a liberal school like Boston University to discuss modesty as a virtue. Then again, I have to think that there is a chance that a least a few are starting to notice the devastating results of the “hook-up” culture that seems to be prevalent today. In her article in the Wall Street Journal, Donna Freitas says of her students after reading Harris’ book,

“They seemed shocked that somewhere in America there are entire communities of people their age who really do “save themselves” until marriage, who engage in old-fashioned dating with flowers and dinner and maybe a kiss goodnight.”

I could probably just rehash everything that CJ Mahaney wrote in the article, but he probably says it better himself :)