Christians shouldn't forgive

I have been reading and adding comments to the following blog post by Ben - http://roughageman.blogspot.com/2006/08/conservatism-2.html

The thrust of it focuses around whether some deserters should have been shot to death or not in world war one. In his post he states categorically and I quote "In my eyes, there is no pardon for these men, just as there is no pardon for anyone else who thinks themselves above democracy."

I am not sure whether Ben claims to be a Christian or not, my impression is that he does. Neither do I know him personally so I cannot comment on his attitude per say - however - it has made me a tad annoyed.

I cannot believe anyone who is a Christian can portray such a message. Examining the statement he makes "... there is no pardon..." means that they should not be forgiven - is pardon not the same as forgiveness - or near enough. He therefore justifies these people being killed without any consideration. I can appreciate that people killing people is part of the world we live in, fair enough - but to support it and say its ok - is that right? He goes on to say that the people shot for dessertion had no consideration for those giving up their lives for freedom. A pointless and fruitless comment that only serves to bring about fear in peoples lives from within.

Jesus preaches forgiveness at all levels - as Christians we should stand up for justice, mercy and truth and not support this crappy world where people are "allowed" to kill other people because they are seen as weak and inferior. Jesus wouldn't so why should we. For God's sake get a grip.

Emma and Amber

Two weeks tommorow and Amber was born so here is an update.
Em has had an infection and suffered somewhat. She is just starting an antibiotic 5 day course so we are hoping that has sorted stuff out.

All of us very tired and the quiet moments are very precious. Two children are much harder than one thats for sure. Anyway, here are two of my favourite photos I have captured.

Cider....

I have always liked cider but over the past month or two I have seemed to have rediscovered it (unfortunatley via mass marketing).

My friends came down in July and when we were out one afternoon I didn't fancy lager, again. So I had some Magners cider ( you would have seen the advertising). Been lovely drinking it, especially with a tonne of ice in the glass. http://www.magnerscider.com/about-us/

The other is Frome Apple sweet cider. I have had a few friends drinking this and they thought it was one of the best cider drinks they have ever had. At 4.5 % its a weaker cider than most, hence the compromise in taste, but its Apple sweet is true to its word and is so drinkable. It can be bought in Tescos and has won many awards, details can be found here http://www.henneys.co.uk/products.htm


Enjoy a lot............. And use ice, it really makes a difference.

Amber Emma - more photos and update

Hi

Emma is doing really well. She has had a few showers and can walk around which is great. Amber is feeding like a true Montgomery (not knowing when to stop). So everyone fine and I am hoping that Emma will be allowed home tommorow (Saturday) which would be great. Thanks for all your messages it means a lot:

Amber Emma Montgomery

My new (and only daughter) arrived today (well, yesterday I guess now - 09th August) and she is simply beautiful.
She arrived by an B class emergency c-section at 18.30 weighing in at 8lb and 5oz.
Emma and daughter well, boys just getting along fine.
Here are the details of the day.

We decided to take Max to Nursery by walking today, this was primarily because Max wanted to walk. After dropping him off we went for breakfast at a local coffee shop where Emma first started to notice twinges. They weren't regular and fairly sproadic within a 15 minute window.
We carried on walking home and headed off to hospital at noon for a routine checkup as Emma was 12 days overdue.

In the monitoring the twinges got more distinct and after a trace (monitoring heart rate) she examined Emma to find she was already 4 cm (out of 10cm) dilated. Since it didn't feel too much the midwife agree to let us go home and get some lunch but to come back in straight away. We left there at around 1pm and by the time we got home things ramped up. Contractions were coming in at under 2 minutes and there was a real fear we weren't gonna make to the hospital.
We did though, and found that Emma had amazingly managed to go from 4cm to fully dilated in about 3 hours, which is incredible.

However, after a lot of pain and pushing the midwifes examined the head to find it was coming down brow first (called brow presentation) - a baby in this position cannot come through a womans pelvis and unfortunatley and dissapointingly it could only mean a c-section. Unlike Max, who's c-section was an emergency and was rushed out a resusatated in front of us, this was much more calmer as Amber was well and heart rate was great. They took there time and baby came out crying (which was a great sound). The surgeon who was a plastic surgeon also promised to tidy up Emma's old scar and make the new one even better.

Amber weighed in at an amazing 8lb 5oz and considering that the neatness and smallness many commented on of her bump, blew us away.

So there we go, story of my day.
For the record I wanted to say how proud I was of my wife. She was strong and brave and beautiful. She made me so proud as a husband and a dad and I know she is going to be a great mother again, to all of us. Thankyou my precious precious wife. XX

Shirt - y update

Well I never....

Took my shirt back in the hope of getting a bigger size (recall: XXL shirt not fitting this big lad). I was told by the woman that they were and I quote " a lot tighter fitting".

While I was there, a guy was changing his order from L to XXL, and he looked like a regular dad size man, not thin, certainly not fat like me. So if HE was an XXL then I had no chance.

Very dissapointed indeed and is the first time I have went to buy a Norwich City shirt brand new (£39.99 full price). Think I may write to NCFC and see what they have to say - the overall shirt saga in terms of just NCFC taking stock has been a fiasco.....

XXXXXXXXL

Well, I went and did the propoer thing and bought a Norwich City shirt with new Flybe colors on the front. Great I thought.

Now not being a petite person and especially as my diet has gone to hibernation like Rudolph I know I am of a larger figure. SO - naturally I opted for extra extra large (XXL).

I waited until the next day before trying it on and shock horror - it was like I had dressed in a bodice. It was so bloooming tight. Now I know I'm big and fat, but XXL usually does the trick, its usually fits. This was, as it appears, not down to the 4 steak pies I recently ate, but down to the fact that the t-shirts are skinny fit. That is, they are designed to hug your body and show off your best bits. I can gurantee it shows of a spare tyre or two.

This is great if your athletic, sportlike or can get away with XXL when your usually a L, but now I have to go back and ask for something bigger. I felt relieved tonight to read someone else on a message board complaining about the skinny-fit style they have.

Looking for a MQ size apparently - Marquee.......

Baby Update

Hi

Update on baby situation. Well, due date of Friday has come and gone, and we are now 9 days overdue.

The policy at the Norfolk and Norwich is that on average, a woman must be induced at 10 days. However Emma has convinced the senior consultant to let it go to 14 days. This primarily is because (a) she wants to spontaneously labour and (b) there is no real danger going to 14 days.

This week Emma will go in for monitoring Monday and Wednesday where fetal heart rate and movements are taken. Mostly bog standard observations. And if by Friday nothing has happened then she will have her waters broke.

As an aside, she is already 2cm dliated which is apparently a good sign, that was Friday. So prayers and fingers crossed we might see something happen before then. Max was late by 12 days and arrived on the 13th overdue date.

Spaces for Sport

I attended the opening of Carrow Park the other day. This is a Barclays Spaces for Sports scheme where land is rejuvenated for sports facilities. I have to say it looks pretty good. Here are a few famous / nearly famous faces at the opening:

Nigel getting a worthy grilling.

Byran Gunn (I think and Norwich MP Ian Gibson)

Robert Green looking like he needs to go to a weight watchers meeting.

Delia and Roger Mumby (I believe) announcing the opening.

The park itself (Astro turf, basketball court, kids play area and changing facilities).

Babies

Hey guys

Well its 00:01 tuesday night and we are still one male adult, one male child and a pregnant wife. Emma is / was / should have been due on Friday (28th) but friday's child never was.

So we are waiting in anticipation, expectation and hope something happens soon. Praying tonight together (which is fairly unique to be honest) the phrase that grabbed me was asking for pregancy to end and a new life to begin. Also, bit like Christmas day - presents have been under the tree for ages, all wrapped up and hidden and you want to know when you can play and use them, but you have to wait until all the Christmas party (in our case Emma) decides we can open something.

So we are waiting, I'm still working (completley unmotivated) and sun is still shining - hopefully not long, hopefully tonight.