Saturday Tulsa roundup

Time to catch up with the Tulsa bloggers on my blogroll. It's a diverse bunch.

Don Singleton is tracking blog commentary on treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo.

MeeCiteeWurkor has figured out how to use built-in features and the Adblock extension of Mozilla's Firefox browser ("the Internet, your way") to block most of the annoying, slow-loading features of the KOTV website, but he's still stumped by the Javascript ad ticker.

(Here are my Firefox puzzlers. 1. How can I get back the right-click "Send Page" option that I had in Mozilla? Firefox only gives me "Send Link", and then I have to attach the page manually to the e-mail message. 2. I can put my blogroll in my sidebar in Firefox, but if I click on a link, Firefox tries to open it in a frame in the sidebar, not in the main window, which is how it works in Mozilla. What's up with that?)

Ladies and gentlemen, Voyager 1 has left the solar system. (HT: Steve Roemerman.)

Steve has also been writing about parenting, along with a number of other Tulsa bloggers. Steve has set up a magnetic "responsibility chart" for his two-year-old.

Bowden McElroy writes about the goal of parenting: "The goal, when raising children, is NOT to have a precious 2-year-old, or a precocious fifth-grader, or a model teenager. The end goal is to raise independent, fully functioning, adults who love Christ with all their heart, soul, and mind." The previous two entries are also about parenting and discipline, and if you go back even further you'll find some insights on being a father of three daughters.

Marsupial Mom is expecting baby number four and says she looks farther along than she is.

Her husband Swamphopper asks if we're trying to raise good kids or redeemed kids:

It sounds so simple, but I must keep reminding myself that my first priority in parenting is not helping my children be good but helping them understand the gospel. Of course I have a responsibility to educate, instruct, and protect. But first and foremost I must rehearse, explain, model, demonstrate, and reiterate their need and my need to trust in Jesus Christ.

First of all, we do our children a disservice if we point them to truth (or to Jesus for that matter) to primarily safeguard them from the pitfalls of life. History is replete with examples of good, moral people who respected Jesus but rejected His Lordship. Learning about Jesus is more than just learning about his life and teachings. We do well to take our children to church, to protect them from negative influences, and to encourage good behavior; however, our hope really rests on the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on our behalf.

Swamphopper and Marsupial Mom have a joint blog about family life called Little House, where they go by Pa and Ma and they call their girls Mary, Laura, and Carrie. The blog features lovely, funny slices of home life.

Something I meant to blog about at the time, but never finished, so here's the link anyway: Marsupial Mom had an excellent entry a couple of months ago about the dangers in the idea that everyone has a soulmate or One True Love -- one perfect match among billions, and if you don't find your soulmate, you're doomed to a life of misery. She writes about the approach she took to making the decision about who to marry. Her entry was inspired by a longer article on the topic by Jollyblogger. (My headline for the entry: "Happily ever after is not a beshert thing." Beshert is Yiddish for destined one, soulmate, and you have to Americanize the pronunciation of the second "e" for the pun to work.)

Bobby of Tulsa Topics has been visited by the utility company's Angel of Tree Death. (Update here.)

Don Danz wonders if the Strawberry Nirvana from Jamba Juice isn't a bit too good.

Dan Paden writes of a friend who wants to go back to school to get an education. Dan says his friend is better educated than most college graduates he encounters -- particularly when it comes to basic logic.

Doug Smith reflects on a day of prayer, laying hands on the walls of the Tulsa County Jail. (Yes, the post is a month old, but worth reading.)

Over on the LiveJournal community "Tulsa Time", we learn that the Parks Department has installed a labyrinth at Hunter Park, and that Backwoods in The Farm Shopping Center has maps of the Illinois River, Robbers' Cave and other such places printed on bandanas.

Bitweever has a job and will be staying in Tulsa.

Joel Blain has built a very, very big tire swing. And he discovers just how unpleasant it can be to be sitting next to the last empty seat in the theatre. (The soundtrack for the latter entry should be Weird Al singing "Another One Rides the Bus.") He's also got a cool link blog in his sidebar, powered by del.icio.us.

Linda Carlton is on a mission trip to Guatemala, but should be back posting in the next day or two. In earlier entries, she writes about an adventurous three-year-old who got into the toy-grabbing crane game at Wal-Mart, and she reflects on how God has used her children's genetic medical condition and her husband's computer skills to minister to other families in the same situation, helping to answer questions and save lives.

Linda's husband Danny responds to an ESPN writer's nasty jab at homeschooled kids.

Update your links: Greta "Hooah Wife" Perry has joined a group blog called Elephant in My Coffee. Her blog-partners are also her partners in a business called We Surf for You -- they do personalized Internet research, blog setup, transfer, and customization, website design and critique, and they have a large collection of favorite family-friendly web links.

Did I miss anyone?