Now that our five-year anniversary is coming up (yeah, in November) I've decided to finally attempt to assemble a proper wedding album. Not some lacy behemoth nor something too trendy for its own good. I also don't want to struggle with paper corners, mucilage and scraps of pastel paper and end up with something looking like an 11th grade cheerleader created it to commemorate Homecoming.

Gotta find an album that fits me, that fits us. OK, that fits me. No lace, white leather or gold engraving will do -- it's got to be special. Handmade?

First step, I suppose, would be to go ahead and get prints of some of the fabulous black-and-white photos that Chris took. He only printed out a few of them in 8x10. The rest exist as negatives and 2x3 proof prints. I also have a set of color ones that Devin took, but I think it will look weird to mix the two sets -- I'll have to see. Maybe I'll end up creating TWO albums. Hm. Good thing I'm starting early.

You've heard of Dr. Dobson, right? Writer of Christian books on how to raise family, teaching kids healthy sexuality and all that? My mom actually used one of his sex education series to teach me (and some neighbor kids, with their parents' permission) about menstruation, sex, etc. AndrewSullivan.com has an excerpt from Dobson's latest newsletter:

"Barring a miracle, the family as it has been known for more than five millennia will crumble, presaging the fall of Western civilization itself. This is a time for concerted prayer, divine wisdom and greater courage than we have ever been called upon to exercise. For more than 40 years, the homosexual activist movement has sought to implement a master plan that has had as its centerpiece the utter destruction of the family. The institution of marriage, along with an often weakened and impotent Church, is all that stands in the way of its achievement of every coveted aspiration. Those goals include universal acceptance of the gay lifestyle, discrediting of Scriptures that condemn homosexuality, muzzling of the clergy and Christian media, granting of special privileges and rights in the law, overturning laws prohibiting pedophilia, indoctrinating children and future generations through public education, and securing all the legal benefits of marriage for any two or more people who claim to have homosexual tendencies." - James Dobson.

I don't remember Dobson's books being this nuts. All I really remember from our home sex ed course was Mom dropping a tampon into a bowl of water to demonstrate its absorbent properties, and all of us girls gasping in horror at the thought of having something the size of a Ho-Ho stuck up in there.

The idea that the clergy and Christian media are "muzzled" -- well, that just beats all. Everyone knows that the media nowadays is pay for play, and Christian dollars are as green as anyone else's.